10 American Pleasures I've Enjoyed Since Coming Home

1. Regular Cheerios with banana for breakfast.

2. Browsing the new books at Barnes and Noble.

3. An American-style Egg McMuffin.

4. An American-style bed with a mattress and box springs and loads of covers and pillows.

5. Spices in bottles.

6. Knowing exactly where to shop for clothes because I'm familiar with the brands and the stores and can get the whole thing done in an hour.

7. Ice cold creamy A&W root beer served in a frosted mug at a pull-up drive-in window.

8. Fabulous farmer's markets.

9. Getting to watch w-a-y too much political commentary on TV.

10. Cooking in a fully-equipped kitchen, not my expat kitchen.

OK, so I enjoyed that. I'm ready to go back now.

Could Tap Water Come to Prague Restaurants?

A Czech company is trying to bring tap water to Prague restaurants. What a terrific development! But it's doing market research to see if Czechs would pay for tap water. Why would someone pay twice for something they've already paid for once through their taxes. Tap water is already theirs. It's a mystery to me Czechs haven't demanded it sooner at the table. Click on my title to read the Prague Post story.

A Table for Tyrants

What is the antidote to cynicism? Action.

In this New York Times editorial, Vaclav Havel takes action by demanding that the human rights organizations dissidents in countries with poor human rights records would look to for help -- actually be able to help them from a position of moral authority and credibility. Click on the title to read his recent editorial.

Hard Times Give New Life to Prague's Golem

Here's an article in the New York Times about the Jewish and Czech legend of the Golem. Click on my title to read it. Enjoy!

I'm a better American citizen for having gone through this

I have to admit that if an American immigrant told me their hardship story about how awful it is to deal with American immigration, my reaction before I went through my own problems in the Czech Republic would have been "good, I"m glad it's hard. The whole world wants to come here and America should honor those who are gritty enough, determined enough, and persistent enough to go through whatever it takes to get in. How bad do you want it? "

Soooooooo, I've experienced a little personal growth here in compassion. I realize now my "survival of the fittest" mentality about American immigration is rude.

I now see how dehumanizing the mix of a language you don't speak and arcane immigration laws that seem to float can be. My friend Lenka, a Czech native, who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin says "Karen I spent hours and hours and thousands of dollars to get my American visa."

This experience has opened my eyes to see that an immigration interaction between a foreigner and my government is just as important to my nation's image as any other interaction. Maybe even more important because it so deeply impacts people's finances.

Prior to this, I could care less about immigration stories in the news because I knew people who were in my country illegally were doing jobs natives wouldn't do, for salaries natives wouldn't work for, and they were most likely leaving a place where they couldn't find work. My eyes would glaze over at descriptions of how awful the legal immigration process is.

However quixotic it sounds, I have learned that it now matters to me how my government treats people who are only trying to improve their life. I want my government to fund enough people to make it not such a laborious process so that even if the answer to whether someone can legally immigrate or not ends up "no," they leave feeling like they were treated with respect. I want there to be enough funding for people's paperwork to be processed quickly.

I was treated with respect by the immigration authorities in the Czech Republic. Yet that one day at the foreign police was enough to make me realize how awful the whole process can be, especially when I know that in my country, it's much worse.

Real and True Blessings

I've safely arrived in Madison and am up early because I can't sleep. Maybe because it's high noon in Prague. Luckily, there's some leftover lemon chiffon birthday cake from my daughter's 21st birthday and ice cold milk.

My journey was totally awesome. Have you seen the floor at the Prague airport? It's perfect for rollerblading! They should shut down the airport for a day and just let everybody try out that floor - it's huge.

I hung out with a 23-year-old Quebecois waiting for the plane. He was so excited about the Obama administration. Wow, it's nice to hear that again. Appreciation for an American administration by someone from another country. I had to ask him about his own region's politics.

"Are you a separatist?" I asked.

"Yes. Being part of Canada is like trying to make a woman love you who doesn't want to love you. She still wants to live in the same house cause she she wants the house, and she doesn't want to be alone, but she doesn't love anymore. Quebec has been sleeping on the couch for years."

Later I asked him, "does all of Quebec use that analogy?"

"No," he said proudly. "It's mine."

My flight was booked on Swiss Air. Oh my, do the Swiss know how to pamper people. That eight hour flight went by quickly, helped by interesting passengers, a totally fantastic entertainment system, and good food and wine. It was like being cocooned for eight hours. I watched the movie "Burn After Reading" which had me rolling in my seat it was so funny.

Part of the time on the flight, I sat and mused how truly, truly blessed I am with my friends. I know I said it yesterday but to be given so much love in so short a time by so many people, it was such a gift. I could not believe the outpouring of caring. That is my real and true blessing.

Na Shledanou

If you are one of my friends or students or blogging buddies I would just like to give you one big giant hug and say thank you for all of the wonderful support you've given me over the last couple days. You have been amazing and I can't thank you enough for all the kind words and caring you have given me.

This morning I'm flying back to America, specifically to where my oldest daughter lives, in Madison, Wisconsin. She said, "gee, if you fly out on Friday, you can make it here in time to watch me play rugby on Saturday." So that's what I'm doing. Ciao. Ahoj.