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august in berlin, week two
happy september (aka “back to hogwarts” day), friends! i am relishing this anything-but-lazy saturday morning, planning to tidy a bit, do my first bake along with this year’s great british bake off which just started this week, and finally, some work continuing my german studies. in order to finish the current textbook i’m revising and working through by the time i start again with my lessons, i’ve calculated i have to do one textbook unit every three days… challenge accepted! so it is “back to books” a bit this month for me. anyone else going “back to school” somehow? continuing speaking about august in berlin experience – catch up on week one here.week…
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august, lately: the first week in berlin
phewww. what a month! i didn’t have time to write this past month (save for that one post about traveling with your dog – check it out if you missed it!) because from the beginning of august, i was immersed in a berlin-language study-do all the things whirlwind! i left my inbox almost fully unattended until i couldn’t possibly put things off any longer while we were away for most of august in berlin, i working on my studies and alex starting his next writing project on his pretty portable olivetta lettera (above) he dragged all the way from budejovice in this sweet little kollwitzkiez flat that i termed “the treehouse” because of…
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traveling with your dog: what to know
we got our ferdinand mostly because of his breed and size (but chose him specifically for his extremely calm temperament). with an on-the-go lifestyle, we needed a dog we could take everywhere… and we do! he only weighs four kilos (about 9 lbs) so he’s easy to travel with. one of the first things we did when we got him was obtain his doggie passport. many people who saw this photo were baffled: “dogs have passports?” the answer, as far as living in the EU is, yes, but it doesn’t seem absolutely required. they are available, but i’ve noticed the information is exactly the same as in his medical booklet the breeder…
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summer reclaimed (& this month’s travels)
i have a lot to say lately, it seems! so far, this has been, by and large, a good summer. but the day after the solstice, i found out some immigration news that has made me become an incredibly stressed person for the next month. i was able to mitigate this stress while on vacation in france by just sort of hitting pause and enjoying the holiday we had planned for so, so many months. that’s the thing about worry: it’s stupid. either you can either do something about it, or you can’t. if you can do something, do that thing. if you can’t, don’t worry. especially when you spend…
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cardamom oatmeal with roasted plums (recipe!)
we had a particularly dreary winter this year. it was long. it was neon grey (am i in seattle?). it was cold. it was a bit lonely. so upon the first of april, the earth woke up. immediately we were launched into one of the warmest and sunniest springs i’ve ever experienced. because of how warm and dry it has been for the past four months, our growing season here in south bohemia was accelerated and everything started ripening extremely early. my tomatoes were ready to eat in early july! squash is already in season, for example. one fruit that i always associate with autumn here in bohemia is plums.…
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postcards from arles
bonjour… from the czech republic. i wanted to share with you a little more of our recent trip to provence, and then i realized that i had so many photos of arles in particular. this picturesque city really seemed to merit a post itself. we started our trip by renting a car* at the marseille provence airport and heading straight to arles. i had originally hoped to see a handful of little towns on the way up north to our cottage in the drôme but arles turned out to be enough as it was. this lovely and very historical city (a great stop if you are into roman ruins sites in southern…
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10 reasons why i (still!) live in the czech republic
in the midst of on-going visa strife, i thought i would talk a little about the reasons why i like living in the czech republic. it’s bittersweet to post this today because i’m having a pretty low day in terms of my optimism. when no one can give you any definitive answers whether or not what you’ve submitted in your visa reapplication is good enough, it makes my mind do crazy things. i’m feeling a little numb, to be quite honest. what i wouldn’t give to have another visa card like the one (above) from a couple years ago. that funny time that i was given a large box of…
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provencal vacation + our cottage
why, hello there. i think this is the longest i’ve gone without a post in the six year history of this blog. that’s owing to a culmination of a very busy june calendar, finishing the end of the school year and the fêtes that go along with it + visa stuff + a long-planned ten day vacation to provence! believe it or not, i was on the computer, only ten minutes until we had to go trying to get a post out, but it would’ve been all rushed and harried and no one wants that. plus, we didn’t bring any computers with us! so there you go. i know i…
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running down a dream
now we’re fully into june! but here’s a little ol’ post i wrote about the beautiful month of may. from the very first day of the month spent with our lovely neighbors and friends at at our garden party, to the middle very high highs and low lows, to the last day of the month where i rose much too early after five hours of sleep from an all out rock party the night before to cook breakfast for our visiting family from chicago before sending them on their way to ljubljana to finish off their european tour… then crawling back into bed and getting a few more hours rest…
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bureaucracy woes & overcoming hurdles
as i walked to the financial office one morning last month, i swung alex’s fancy umbrella with the wooden handle around like an extra in ‘singing in the rain’, feeling like a baller. ohhh yeah, they’re totally going to know exactly what i want. that i mean biznis, especially when they see me with this! we get there, ride on up to the security guy at the front desk (vratnice) all like “yo – we’re here looking for mrs. piksova.” him: “so, how do you spell that? like pixsova? or piksova with a k?” us: “errrrrrrr………….” him: “OH, you’re foreigners. what are your names?” me: “cynthia & alex.” him: nonplussed,…
