Skype and Na zdraví (to your health)!

What a great thing!  A free way to keep in touch with our friends and family.  Everyone should check this out!  Get a free download and then give us a call!
http://www.skype.com

Our skype name is:  brianjonberger






We attempted to check out banking in Prague.  Dena spent at least 10 minutes on a completely Czech site attempting to decipher the unique language.  That was, until she finally saw the small British flag that changed the site to English....got to be smarter than the machine!

Brian and his mom watched a PBS video from Rick Steves.  Here is the Hulu link to the video, it is about 30 minutes long and great!  Na zdraví (to your health)!

www.hulu.com/watch/100479/rick-steves-europe-prague-and-the-czech-republic#s-p9-5o-i0

It's just a couch!

Today we sold our wonderful couch, you know, the one that's 'just right.'  Interestingly harder than imagined, but after 5 minutes we were feeling better.  It reminded us of one of our favorite scenes from American Beauty.  Follow the link below, and remember, it's just a couch!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xCCoull3I4

2/24/2010 - Fletch: I'm John. Gail Stanwyk: John who? Fletch: John Cock... tos... ton.

Today we asked Jeff:
What ID do you need?

His answer (comprehensive as always!):

Technically, everyone is supposed to have their passport on them.

Now, do we? No, definitely not.
Two reasons. One, you know- a passport is much too valuable to risk losing. And two, the law isn't enforced. No one has ever asked me or my wife for our government ID.
The safe alternative is a photocopy of your passport. I did this for a while. Then after a few months, the copy was looking pretty beat up and I stopped carrying the copy.  Like I said, no one has ever said to me "Your papers, please."

The only time I have my passport on me is when I know in advance I'll need it that day.
Some reasons I do need my passport:

• going the post office to pick up a package
• visiting my bank branch
• visit at the notary
• running to the hospital (I always have my insurance card on me)
• renting a car

This is good to know, we were worried about carrying our passport around!

2/22/2010 - Housing and Eye Twitches...

Over the weekend we decided to secure short term housing for a month in order to explore the city, search for jobs, and narrow down places we would like to have a long term apartment.

We searched all weekend and came up with several options, a little more expensive for short term, but we think a good choice in the long run.  To be certain of our choices and prices, we asked Dana at Relocare to also look for us (they charge 10% of the total cost for short term).

Monday we heard back from Dana.  She had found a place for a very good price in a great location with all the things we need:  wi-fi, washer/dryer, full kitchen.  The total price even with the 10% is cheaper than we could find on our own so we felt good about it and completed the reservation, yeah!  Here is a link to our place:
http://www.rezidenceostrovni.cz/apartman-c-3

And Brian and I have both officially developed eye twitches...

2/18/2010 - In dog training, jerk is a noun, not a verb. (Dr. Dennis Fetko)

Yes, we have two dogs.  Nova is 9 and Otto is 7.  And yes, we are taking them back to school.  It appears that we have been lazy and need to re-train ourselves.  We have been a house where the living is easy for all of us, especially with the large dog toy in the form of a swimming pool outside.  So, we are building our arsenal for apartment living.

For instance, we have tried to get up and go walking.  Funny thing is, we have made excuses for it being TOO COLD!  Problem?

Otherwise we have been good.  We signed up for a 6 week obedience course which has been very good for all of us.  We bought and received our kennels, Petmate Skykennels from Dog.com. They are very nice but, of course, Otto is not sure of it.  Nova loves it, she spends hours inside sleeping.  We have dog whistles for barking, just in case they are crazy (ha!) and we can give dog whistles to the neighbors.

Our trainer is truly the second coming of the dog whisperer, we appreciate Bryan and his knowledge!

2/15/2010 - Air Animal Pet Movers

At this point we has spent 2 weeks cleaning out the house and selling things through Craig's List.  It is typically taking 1.5 weeks to sell each item.

It was time to finalize how to move the dogs, Nova and Otto.  We originally obtained several quotes from various 'pet mover' companies while planning for Australia.  Who knew that was such a lucrative business!  We also began looking into requirements for their health.

We decided on a company call Air Animal Pet Movers where the first page of a google search was the various reviews.  Those of you who know us know how important the dogs are to us, so this has been a painstaking process.  This company was founded in 1977 in Tampa, Florida, by Dr. Walter Woolf, a licensed veterinarian, and his late wife Millie.  They sent us a fancy folder with tons of information and gave us a contact person, Traci Bastien.  She has been a consistent communicater and thorough with the necessary requirements.

After the intensive process in preparing the dogs for Australia, Prague is a breeze!  They need updated rabies (done!) and updated vaccines (done!).  Yeah!  Dena faxed the necessary information to Traci today, the dogs will be picked up at Dena's parents and delivered to our door.  Traci made sure to let us know that there will only be one stop for them while flying (if necessary) and that there are boarders all over the world who help if there are complications.  What a relief.

We started looking at kennels for flying and training, Traci suggested taking them in the car in their kennel through a car wash to simulate the airplane.  Now, the hard part is getting the pig (Otto) into his kennel....

Photos!

Hey - check out the link on the left side of your screen and on this post.  It will take you to our photos!

http://livingoffthewall.shutterfly.com/

2/1/2010 - Liquidating our life

This term was coined by Brian's mom.  She asked how the "liquidation of our life" was going.  It has been an interesting process for us, sad but liberating.  We began the process in October with the first garage sale and random listings on Craig's List.  Dena had a difficult time getting rid of books, many special ones were packed to save.

Little by little, things began to go.  The house opened up and the dogs had a great time!  After the final garage sale in January, we packed up the final boxes of 'keep' items.  We are sending these boxes to Dena's parents to hold until we decide where to settle for good.  We ended up with 4 standard size boxes.  It's amazing how much extra stuff we had!

The rest of what is left is sitting in the garage for charity pick up.  We plan to list the big items in a few weeks, here is what we thought we should keep for a while:

couch
stereo
bed set

1/29/2010 & 1/30/2010 - Garage Sale!

Thanks to our community - we have done very well with our garage sales.  We had one in October, in anticipation of leaving for Australia in January.  We waited a while after to decide what we were going to do.  Now that we had made a decision, it was time to purge the rest of our things.

Dena's mom came up and helped to manage the sale, we posted it on Craig's list on Monday (GREAT advertising, people were calling to see if they could come by early!), and basically sold everything.  There was only a handful of things left.  We closed early on Saturday after watching too many people do the 'drive by.'

We celebrated that night by going to one of our favorite restaurants in downtown Phoenix, www.sensake.com with Dena's mom.  We told her the news over a couple of bottles of Sake.  She was excited and sad, but ready to see us live out our lives!

1/26/2010 - Job Search

We spent several days making a comprehensive list of English schools, Preschools, Private Schools, and colleges.  We spent two straight days applying to various schools and openings on www.expat.cz.

We heard back from several schools, most indicating that they did not have openings but to be sure to check again when we arrived.  We felt this indicated that we would have more luck when we arrived in Prauge.  Dena, however, heard back from 3 preschools asking for her to make an appointment to visit the schools when she arrived.  We felt very good about the feedback and decided to put our efforts into more pressing issues at home and save the job search for our arrival.

1/24/2010 - Taking the Plunge

On Sunday we decided to go to Prague!  We reviewed our research over and over again, but it just comes down to making the decision.  Dena got online and did a google search for cheap airfare.  We really liked this site:  http://www.economytravel.com/

1...2...3....purchase!  Done! 

And away we go!

1/22/2010 - Still Undecided

Although undecided between Prague and Munich, we began to focus our efforts on Prague.  We contacted four different relocation companies thorugh email on www.expats.cz.  We heard back right away from a company called Relocare, http://www.relocation-prague.com.  Dana offered to call the next day at a time of Dena's convenience and they talked for 45 minutes about the legalization process and other services Relocare offers.  Brian also spoke to Dana the next morning to receive the same information.

We would have liked to have information from another service, but we only heard back from one other service and didn't feel necessarily valued there.  At Jeff's advice, we posted a question asking about other's experiences with relocation services (posted on expats.cz 15/02/10 but no response yet).

Here was the initial quote for some services from Relocare that we were interested in:

Preparation of application for granting new Czech visa for NON European citizen- Price is 6,400czk+ 20% VAT / per one person.

*Administrative fees are not including (1,000 CZK)/ per person

*Translation of documents and legalization (verification) of documents are not including.

Trade License – can be ready in less than 1 week

Price is 6,400 CZK + 20% VAT / per one trade license

*Administrative fees are not including (6,000 CZK)

*Translation of documents and legalization (verification) of documents are not including.

• Home Search – 75% of one month rent.
• Insurance (health) – assistance with health insurance 500czk
• Airport pickup – small car 840czk, big car (in case you have many suitcases) 1,200czk
• Visa & Legalization – prices given above
• Orientation Day – 4,000czk
• Bank Account – 2,000czk
• Connect Utilities - internet, cell phone – you may not need that as some of the connection will be already install in the flat you will rent – so lets wait and see what you will actual need.

1/18/2010 - What now?

After a the back and forth with Jeff and his gracious answering of our steady questioning, we began to favor Prague.  This for a couple of reasons:  1) Nova and Otto - our dogs - and the various "dog friendly" comments we continued reading, 2) Cost of living - less expensive than Munich, and 3) Gut feeling that we might find Prague more to our liking.  We thought maybe we should apply for jobs to see what the responses might be.  We created websites for ourselves that highlighted our careers.  We also constructed form cover letters, converted our resumes to CVs (curriculum vitae), and began hunting through the schools.  

http://.denaaucoin.wetpaint.com
http://brianberger.wetpaint.com

At the same time, we began laying out the details for the cost of moving:  the dogs, the legalization process, and possible relocation help.  More on that to come!

1/13/2010 - Expat Yourself

Dena quickly heard from Jeff in regards to her Munich vs. Prague posts.  Jeff graciously discussed living in Europe in general, leaning toward Prague as he enjoys it there.  He offered links to explore in both cities and gave us food for thought.

We spent two days coming up with initial questions for Jeff to post in a forum on his website:
*Good place to live w/dogs
*Schools to go apply to first
*How to plan a monthly budget
*What to expect with income; etc (we have the finances to live for 3-5 months with no income. We hope not to burn through that though!).

Here is the link if you'd like to see the dialogue:
http://www.expatyourself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3

He also included a helpful e-book with great information about Prague:
http://www.expatyourself.com/docs/InfoB ... igners.pdf

1/11/2010 - European Discovery

The educated decision: don't make a decision, do research first! Dena spent the majority of the day putting a cost of living comparison together. Along the way, she found a website, www.expat.cz.

There were several members of this website called "expats," people who live and work abroad of their home country. There is a section for US expats, and research calls for interviews! Brian created a message asking the following questions:
1. Why did you choose Prague/Munich?
2. What is the job market like for educators?

That is when we found and were adopted by Jeff from www.ExpatYourself.com. And the rest, as they say, is history!

1/4/2010 - The Pondering

The week of 1/4 to 1/10 was spent talking and talking and talking about what options we had. We have every support here in Arizona: our families and a free place to live while we wait for visas. In ten years, will we look back and be glad we spent two years in Tucson, or will we look back and see the two years we spent in Europe? One option is more financially sound, and the other is more adventurous.

What to do...

1/1/2010 - Time to make a decision

Well, it has officially been over a year since we began our journey toward permanent residency in Australia. Dena's sister has lived there for almost 20 years and after visiting several times, we fell in love with the culture and people. The process has been difficult, taking large amounts of time for 1-2 steps and then hearing that we missed one minute detail and must start over. It is incredible to us and our family there that the country would willingly turn away two highly qualified teachers who want to join their culture and stimulate the economy! Unbelievable!

Around November of 2009, Dena's father sent her an article about a new bill passed in Canada that reinstated former citizens and gave their first born generation Canadian citizenship as well. Since Dena's father is from Newfoundland, Dena qualifies and is now, unofficially, a Canadian citizen. We got the paperwork together and submitted in January.

So, we now have several options in front of us:

1. Australia - Dena's sister will be the sponsor for permanent residency. The necessary materials are ready to go, not submitted yet, and will take at least 18 months to receive the visa.
2. New Zealand - We appear to meet their point system but are still waiting for the initial process to be approved. Once every step is completed, this will take up to 15 months.
3. Canada - A wonderful gift! Unfortunately, another 15 months of wait time.
   

That said, after a year of endless paperwork and funding, we said "enough is enough" and started to think about other options. We could stay in the US for up to two years, even when we have been preparing for year for a new adventure, OR, we could go to Europe! Why not, right?

Thus began 2 weeks of research between Prague and Munich. Neither of us has been to either city (gasp), which may cause people to call us crazy, but to us life is a verb, not a noun!