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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
As it’s the last weekend of the holiday season, so a perfect opportunity to share a little bit about 2019’s holiday season and our Christmas spent in the Salzkammergut. Before we left, we had a nice relaxing weekend wrapping up the work year and taking in some tunes and last punches in our beautiful square. On our way home from doing some Saturday morning errands, I noticed a tree in the park near our house full of fruits and things tied on with a sign. (Below, with the message “Christmas tree for homeless people – Have a beautiful Christmas”) I love when whimsy and kindness intersect and to see this…
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Lately, Fall
life here in czech republic is picking up again! alex and i’ve both started back up with our lessons for the new school year. i chose to stick with my job at the language school that i’ve been with since february instead of teaching only children with alex. i loved being around the kids during summer camp and i do enjoy having young students, but i thought that personally, i have a lot i can offer adults as well. so, i will continue to teach a variety of ages, 7 through 60+. what i like about this job is that i can accept or decline new students as i feel…
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It’s Summer! Pt. I
backyard in the city shots of lazy beginning of summer days! lounging in the backyard, on the balcony in the warm evenings, fresh juice and berries at farmer’s markets… and yesterday’s brilliant discovery of the outdoor swimming pool complex here in town! the pool is the nicest i have been in, on par with the most luxury of hotels. surrounded by a lovely grassy lawn for lounging, also with a restaurant and did i mention… right above the vltava river! so it reminds you of one of those “infinity pools”. i know where i’ll be this season! my lessons are dwindling with the summer holidays approaching, and alex has begun…
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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czech language
today i had my first real czech language class. i’ve had two 45 minute beginners’ classes before as part of my TEFL course (thank goodness for them). but today i bicycled on up to the center of foreigner integration – an NGO that offers free assistance to foreigners, and this is the first month they’ve had the funding to begin the czech language courses. i’m thinkin’, it’s free… it’s two times a day tuesday and thursday…. it’s a close bike ride away…. it might give me some good teaching or classroom management tips… what’s my excuse not to go? i love learning languages so i was pretty excited about the opportunity of a…
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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spring has arrived?
above, facades of buildings of lannova trida, ĉeské budějovice– or “budweis”– the german/more international version everyone calls it when speaking in english. life is good here– alex celebrated a birthday last weekend and we celebrated in true low-key alex fashion: talking a walk, doing whatever at home, going out to a nice czech dinner, and watching a movie he loves (the professional). unfortunately the next morning i came up with an unfortunate bout of mild food poisoning so the past few days have been getting back to normal for me. (coulda been worse, but i’m pretty sure i have a stomach of STEEL) below, one of alex’s all-british birthday gifts… the…
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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here we snow again. photos of the green (well, white) stretch of park that is wrapped around the northern border of the city center, na sadech. only a few minutes walk from my house. today: staying warm, planning a sunny summer sweden holiday (ahhhh), and overcame my fear of czech post offices. it’s not soooo bad!
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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still winter
sure it may be mid-march, but it ain’t spring! currently, it’s snowing again. with no wish nor reason to venture out today, i will likely be practicing german, reading books, tea drinking, and un-stretching my favorite wool sweater, blasted thing. here are some photos of a sunnier time but no less cold time, two weeks ago when alex and i ventured out to some lakes in the north part of the city, Ĉeskê Vrbne. i really had never seen an entirely frozen over lake before that day.
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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any day now
this past week has been a good one– one that pushed my comfort zone and made me nervous (as i had my first classes) but i think the more i teach the better i’ll feel about it! i’ve been patiently awaiting a ton of things it seems: my visa notification and a couple of packages from the U.S. that have not arrived for whatever reason. arghhhhh. a great week for alex though, as he got his visa notification and had an excellent first full week of teaching kids. he says “it went as expected”, which i think means it went well. above are some photos of budejovice from this week.…
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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employment
yesterday was a monumental day in the life of “cynthia abroad”, for i have been hired by a language school as an english teacher. as clients come up, they will assign me classes and slowly my open schedule will fill. i have already been assigned a course with an employee at a local firm here that will start the week after next, as this next week is the czech “spring break” holiday. the czechs LOVE skiing and usually plan ski trips for their families to nearby ski resorts in the south of the country or in the austrian alps. i also had my first paying gig last night– first lesson…
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
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next phase
on thursday, we moved from prague to ĉeské budêjovice– about a two hour, twenty minute bus ride in complete snow. upon arrival (in which i, not going to lie, felt a liiiittle nervous about… “am i going to like it?”) we were whisked away by our landlord and alex’s new manager, marketa to our new home for the next five weeks. our landlords are super nice and thoughtful, and the woman reminds me of mrs. hudson from sherlock (yes, i have watched the entire BBC ‘sherlock’ series thus far. now i’m into ‘the wire’). it cannot be overstated enough that our flat is GORGEOUS and giagantic and i can’t believe…
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An Austrian Alpine Holiday
