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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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spring happenings
i got a bike! borrowed to me by a student’s mother for the duration of my living in budejovice. then i rode it home from her house along the vltava river, then turned off at one of the bridges and rode through the main town square and up towards home. even that little ride which probably took no more than ten or fifteen minutes was quite exhilarating– riding through cobblestoned streets with beautiful colored buildings all with different ornate early 20th century facades, and thinking “i live here!!!!” gotta hand it to the czechs, during this period in time they sure knew how to make buildings look beautiful. the weather…
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living the dream pt I
i have taken no photos to show you yet of bandromin farm, the b&b and farm we are staying at but it’s quite nice… lots of rolling green hills with a nice view of a loch (what the scots call “sea lakes”). our hosts have been incredible so far and i’m feeling quite lucky at the moment! there are over 500 sheep, a handful of cows, and a good amount of chickens as well as a dachshund, border collie, a kelpie and three kelpie puppies. we hit the animal jackpot! typically we start our day by taking care of the sheep– we’ll go with jamie and as well as feeding…
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isle of skye
skye is the biggest and most well-known island off the west coast of scotland, and with the ferry landing only a ten minute drive from arisaig house, it seemed like a must do. however, trying to visit skye in a day and a half is kind of like trying to visit whidbey island in a day in a half. the buses are hard to get around on and can leave you out in the cold sometimes. i’ve been much too spoiled with the beautiful scenery lately that skye looked like just another beautiful island, but the cuillin hills are the real star of the show. that’s why people come here–…
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isle of eigg
being in one area for three weeks affords us a lot of time to get to know it a lot better than a short stopover, and is definitely my preferred method of travel. i couldn’t imagine just stopping at a hostel for a couple days and moving forward and saying that i’ve been to this area– you really wouldn’t know it a bit! already one week in arisaig and i feel that the folks at the house are warming up to us a bit more, as we are to them. we are learning a bunch of lovely british words (my favorite is brits calling vacuuming “hoovering” and that we place…
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across the pond to glasgow
so where did we leave off? we had about four days worth of canadian adventure when we drove to niagara falls with alex’s family, who dropped us off in toronto and it was only at that point did it really hit me that: whoa, we’re really doing this. or rather, to quote lloyd christmas in dumb & dumber: “we’re really doing it, hare!” it’s one thing to say you’re doing it but quite another when it comes to making the big steps…. like actually getting on that plane. first of all, my backpack is HUUUGE and weighs more than alex’s (i think 18lbs ish). its tough to cram everything you…
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west side of the state
a week from today i am leaving the united states for awhile, not quite sure when exactly i’ll be returning. been hanging out in the east side of michigan, specifically the thumb knuckle region. (note: people ALWAYS use their hand to show where in michigan they are from… it’s handy stuff). while this side of the state is lovely, it’s quite a bit different from the always forward global thinking ways of my washington upbringing. however a short visit to the west side of the state this week made me realize how different this state is depending on the region. excellent sushi was had and i experienced probably THE most…
