NOVEMBER 2006
Welcome to all new members and those of you who have renewed your subscriptions. I think you will agree that it is worth renewing just to get the amazing Bridge Magazine. Receiving this brilliant edition keeps us informed of what is happening and gives us all an opportunity to join in with activities.
I congratulate the team of ladies involved in putting together this magazine: Lesley Simmons, Carol Sanford, Bev Wolf, Tuulikki Forsström, Theodora Papadopoulou, Inta Wiest, Nicky Longo, Elisabeth Heys, the rest of the editorial team, and the many of you who write interesting articles for us all. Also thanks to Anne Heggie and her team who work on advertising every month. The hours and creativity these ladies put into the magazine each month on a voluntary basis is unbelievable.
For me, as President, the main objective for the magazine is to bring people together. From new members to old, from 45 different countries, how much richer our lives are from knowing each other in this beautiful city.
My personal objective this year is to be in touch with the Czech people and, as a foreigner, to be able to get to know them better and understand their traditions and history.
As I mentioned last month, Gary and I were privileged to be invited to a birthday party for one of the men from Gary’s office, David. The party was held at his country chata an hour south of Prague. Our GPS system only took us so far, and then we had to follow a hand drawn map to his chata, which was on a forest road. Our host was happy to see us and treated us as one of his family. There were about 20 people there altogether; four of us were foreigners.
We had the most wonderful time. Most of David’s Czech friends spoke English and we managed with the little Czech we knew. David cooked on his homemade BBQ, the women had all bought salads and one had bought a cheese cake that we put candles on, we sang happy birthday in Czech and then again in English.
The Czechs at the party told us that this was the first party they had been to with members of the expat community and that it was wonderful to have spent time with us. We felt the same. It was a privilege to spend time with these people whom we now call friends and have met up with again in the past weeks. Gary and I wish to get to know more of these new friends whom we are sure will continue to make our stay in their country a memorable one.
Please note that this month’s General Meeting will be on Tuesday, 14 November, at the newly renovated Lobkowitz Palace where we will learn more about the history of a country that many of us now call home.
See you soon,
Dianne