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Christmas + A Big Surprise
veselé vánoce, friends! my second czech christmas is technically still underway (as people traditionally get the 24th-26th off work) and it’s magical. this year my mother has joined us from far away washington state and we’ve been doing a whole lot of wandering the cobblestoney budějovice city streets, last chance advent markets, and of course: eating a TON of food (i may have gone overboard with grocery shopping, perhaps to make up for what is now known as our poor czech christmas last year) and a lot of relaxing before our trip to salzburg tomorrow. and, oh yeah……. i got engaged! alex and i have had a few chats about marriage before, both…
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A Word on Christmas
i’m now approaching my second christmas abroad here in the czech republic. for me, being away from home for christmas isn’t such a big deal since i’m from quite a small family anyway, and a christmas of two or three people feels normal. of course i really think quite fondly about christmases spent at home on fidalgo island and how lovely the christmas season is back in the city streets of downtown seattle or the polar bear plunge at golden gardens and i know i’ll have more to look forward to in the future. honestly, how i celebrate the holidays abroad really isn’t so different from back home in WA–…
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Jindřichův Hradec (or as we call it, Henry Castle)
i haven’t even begun to write and i’m getting distracted by czech kids singing “we wish you a merry christmas”, echoing in the hallway. adorable. CHRISTMAS IS COMING, PEOPLE! HOOBOY! it shows in the amount of lessons i’ve been having lately (ehhh…. 10 out of the normal 15 per week) because of cancellations galore. but that’s alright since it gives me ample time to do what’s important in life, like bake cookies! make homemade decorations! write this blog post! cook dinner! and visit the town square, which is an absolute hot-spot of yuletide activity right now. i can’t walk by it without wanting a glorious vanoci punč– the aroma always…
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Living in Europe, pt II
there’s this weird phenomenon that starts to happen after about a year of living abroad: it becomes harder and harder to imagine returning home. the thought is scarier and scarier…. not only because we still are not confident about where we would work, where we would live, and what we would do…. but because that would also mean leaving life over here. which is pretty great. i mean, gosh! i live in europe! every day i feel lucky to enjoy life here. meeting other expats that have stayed here for years is quite interesting too; to hear their take on living in a small czech city vs. prague vs. the…
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Bohemia Autumn
when you move to sobo (southern bohemia), the first thing everyone tells you to do is go to the top of klet’ mountain. at 1,084m (3,556ft) it is the tallest mountain of the blanksý forest, southwest of ĈB and northwest of ĉesky krumlov. to put it in comparison, mt. erie in anacortes is about a third of the height at 388m (1,273ft). they say on a clear day you can see the austrian alps! so, it wasn’t exactly a clear day…. but we finally made it there. we took the train 35 minutes south to holubov, a hamlet popular with outdoor enthusiasts and mushroom collectors (ie, pretty much all czechs). on the…
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The Five-Petaled Rose Festival in Český Krumlov
one of the biggest festivals of the year in this region, held in little ĉesky krumlov. it’s a city-wide renaissance fair with many stages and areas of interest for acts like juggling, snake-charming, renaissance songs, sword fighting, falconry… and a band that claims the genre “castle rock” (awesome). many festival goers wander around in traditional medieval dress– especially since free admission with a costume as an incentive. what is not to love about wandering around a cobblestoney old town drinking a mojito? as well as this, we ate at the ever lovely vegetarian joint laibon, snacked on ice cream cones, watched the canoers wipe out at rougher points in the river…
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Mrhal Pond Days & Kofola
sunny warm day at mrhal rybnik (pond, also known to us as small lake) lounging about after a short hike and drinking kofola, everyone’s favorite communist era beverage! actually, kofola was czechoslovakia’s answer to coca-cola, which wasn’t available here until the revolution in 1989. it tastes like coke but much more herbal. really delicious. summer weather is now upon us after that heinous flooding period. feels like a NW summer already, except i have already been witness to a handful of thunderstorms. nothing like walking in the countryside and hearing that booming thunder! and hoping that the skies don’t open up and drench you in the next ten minutes, but…
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happy czech birthday
turns out, czech republic is a wonderful place to celebrate my birthday, as it is a public holiday! whoop whoop! that called for a day trip to good ‘ol ĉesky krumlov, UNESCO heritage site small town cuteness as well as being only a half hour away with much quaint winding streets, cobbestones, and a castle. it has truly sprang back to life since i visited in february. with enough asian tourists to prove that it is indeed high season again. (i’m just saying!) first off, horse-back riding was in order. alex has never been on a horse before! this had to be remedied. so we went to ol’ slupenec riding club, where…
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tre-bon! & a witchy holiday
on tuesday, alex and i were invited to celebrate witch’s night with a couple of our students and their families. i don’t think anybody really knows what kind of holiday this is, and almost no one can describe how it came to be like it is. but i do know that it is primarily celebrated in small villages and in the early evening, most of the men in the village help to erect this giant may pole called “maika”. here it is at dusk…. then when the maika is erected, the children burn witch effigies in the bonfire and the men sit around the fire near the maika drinking beer and are…
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every day is a holiday
weekends like these are reminders of why i chose to come try my hand at living, working, and traveling in europe. so i can go take hikes, eat at czech restaurants, stroll around castles, and lay in the grass in the spring sunshine. explore new areas! eat dinners on the balcony, listen to birds tweeting. life in budêjovice is so chill. walking to work, which barely feels like work takes seven minutes and on the way i walk over a canal, walk down a beautiful street (my favorite in the city: česka) and pass some old churches. the other half of my lessons i actually go to the homes and the places of…
