America goes to Prague

As I mentioned to you earlier, Tovah (my friend from the Conservative Yeshiva) and her friend Jess wisited Prague at the beginning of the week. It was a very quick visit, they spent just one day and two nights in town, but it seemed they enjoyed it nevertheless. A day after Tovah had left, Joseph Robinson and Yael Buchler (also my friends from the Yeshiva) came to Prague with their American pilgrims. I came to meet them in their hotel today in the morning, davened shachrit with them (the first time after I came back from Israel I had a chance to participate at an egalitarian shachrit) and joined them for their walking tour around the Prague Castle area. To see Joseph and Yael again was a pure pleasure, I am sure I do not have to explain why. To be among Americans felt very familiar – and I think I dont have to explain why either:o)...during the breakfast, everybody talked about milk products, proteins and about what kind of tuna they eat or don’t eat – it will never stop surprising me, how much time Americans can spend talking about food... I enjoyed spending time with the kids a lot - they kept asking me all kinds of questions about the town and the country, I told them all kinds of stories from my life, taught them how to say "Hi", "Good morning," and "Thank you" in Czech and - most importantly - I taught them how to open a TetraPak box of milk. For me, the most moving moment of my time with the group was when we walk down the Castle hill. After we passed a park with huge lime trees that obstructed our view, we came to a terrace of the Strahov monastery, which overlooks the whole Old and New City of Prague (you can see a part of it behind me and Joseph on the picture. Unfortunately the photo does not do justice to the real view.) The view is truly stunning, even for me who has seen it dozens of times. Today we were also very lucky with the weather and the town spread before us in all its splendor. All the kids with their mouth open started to run to the railings at the edge of the terrace in excitement to take pictures. Joseph, obviously taken aback by the sight as well, stopped walking and stared at the town for a couple of seconds in awe. Then he looked at me calmly and said: “Gafna, you do live in a beautiful city.”