LivinginBrno

 Comfort is good. Being able to enjoy, relax and thrive in your living space is desirable. However, when I am too comfortable, I tend to also become lazy. I think not much value comes out of too much coziness. No one actually made great achievements by being all the time in their comfort zone. Being too comfortable, at times has its price.  In time we learnt to live in a small place. A big family in small house. A house full of children. A small garden filled with joy and all the noises that childhood bears. A tree where kids can climb and imagine they are what their hearts desire. Maybe they feel like Mowgli, I want to think. Seeing them grow in this small but lovely place is all I ever wanted and what makes us parents fulfilled and happy. Who doesn't want to fully sip from the cup of happiness, joy and wholeheartedly live these precious moments that might be the best years, after all.  The reality is not everyone affords a house nowadays, or maybe I have the wrong view ...

 Natural disasters happen all the time, all over the world. Luckily Czech Republic is somewhat safe and not many disasters here were ever caused by aggressive weather. We feel good knowing that in our part of the world an aggressive tornado was rare. The last one was approximately 900 years ago and historical records described it as hellish event, that frightened the people of those times. Climate change is a reality and if it caused the tornado to form over two small villages in Hodonin, on 24th June 2021 is not something I can judge or explain.  The event that took everyone by surprise was caught on camera by people who more or less realised the dangers of a real tornado. Despite the devastating material costs and manpower needed to recover from the ruins that now is all over the news, the worse is that there were people dying, 6 victims are already counted among which a 32 year old pregnant lady and a 2 years old baby. The injured were at around 85 people. These numbers are...

 There are various spots in the neighbourhood and nearby regions where one can go sleighing these days. We have chosen the one which is suitable and had nice rides during the last week. Using the garden for easy sleighing and we even improvised a sleigh from an old IKEA laundry pot: Other ways for having fun in winter time si making a Snowman (sorry we do not have the photo fot this one here) We also had nice rides with this great sleigh from STIGA: I liked this one so much that I even made a short  video presentation on my Youtube channel  for it. How do you spend time outdoors these days?

 Dear Reader, I know there are many possible explanations for me not posting anything the entire of 2020 and there are no suitable excuses so I will try not to make one. Instead, I want to thank you for being here and taking time to read into my posts for a little while. I am thankful for all the great things that happened during 2020 and most of all I am happy that our kids and families, loved ones are doing well and healthy. The boys grow so fast and we love every moment spent with them. We spend a lot of time in nature this year, even if we are outdoorsy by nature, yet we managed  more time outside during this year. We learned to have more valuable time together as a family. We got them big boys' bikes and our 2nd boy learned how to bike. Our 3d boy walked on Mikulas holiday, just one month before his 1st birthday. We played a lot of board games and thanked God each day that we are all well and together. The boys bring so much joy and happiness to our hearts, Thank you God ...

I gathered all details and necessary documents for requesting a refund from insurance company VZP and will summarise all steps here, on the blog, for future reference and easy use. Is possible to request an yearly maximum of 2000 czk from the VZP klub, under the mother section - this includes also vaccinations, special dietary needs, exercise during pregnancy, dental hygiene or the initial screening during first trimester. In my case, I will submit a request for the initial screening and this tutorial is how I did it using the czech postal services. As you know, you may request it by post or in person at closest VZP branch. Is not guaranteed that money will be refunded but they usually do it, withing 1 month - at least in all my previous applications the money were refunded. It helps a lot, as the 2nd or 3rd trimester special morphological screenings are not covered by insurance, so at least you can cover one of the 3, in case you go for all special screenings. With my first 2 boys, we...

Finding a free place to a state Czech kindergarten is quite difficult , not only for us as expats but for the Czech people as well. I do trust there is no difference between czech and non-czech kids in this country, the people of Brno and Czech Republic in general, really respect and put children on the first place. I try to think and trust that we are not competing against czech families because I have seen how difficult is for them, as well. Now, that we know we have equal chances, how do we enroll our kid to the state kindergarten. Except for few broken pieces of information available on hidden Facebook groups there is little to almost no information available for the non-czech speaking people.  Maybe you work fulltime and don't have time to read all FB group discussions, that information stays buried there as opposed to having it on a forum or blog. It's odd to me that no other expat parents made such information available to help the rest of us, there are many out...

In 2014 when we had our first son I remember wanting to know other expats' birth experiences but at that time not much information was available online like these days. However, I still don't find an existing online presence where mothers share their expat adventures, except for few meet-ups or facebook groups. So, here it is - documenting for you both in video and text format my own experience with giving birth in Brno. If it helps at least one expat mother to be, my mission is accomplished. The birth of bot our kids took place at Brno FN Bohunice hospital. In this country there is no private maternity hospitals, in case you are wondering about the possibility to give birth at a private center. The public health systems works well enough so all births can be covered by the insurance. In the last 2-4 weeks gynecologist explained me we need to start the special weekly scans and check-ups at the hospital where I want to give birth. Based on her recommendation, I went to Bohun...