december, lately + travel tuesday

happy christmas week! it is another literal travel tuesday as i’m spending the morning heading to a tiny village in the salzkamergut (austria) where we are spending the christmas holidays this year. (if you can’t be at home with family and friends, go somewhere awesome and eat tons of schnitzel)
so i thought i’d bring you a few moments and things going on from december. it’s been a good week: the last week before lessons end is always so much fun! i am continually surprised and amazed by the generosity and kindness of our students and family… it almost brings a tear to my eye. packages have rolled in from our mamkas as well, bringing us a little taste of home.

because remember my list of things i miss from this post about living without stuff? it’s a good thing my mom reads my blog i guess, because…

it may seem like normal drugstore stuff like burts bees lip balm and oberto beef jerky, but not to me. suffice it to say, I AM VERY HAPPY this week. other things…

+ no czech christmas cookies this year, sadly (lots of coffee mugs instead), but i had a baking afternoon and made some pb blossoms and russian tea cakes. i think they’re the best tea cakes i’ve ever tasted, let alone made. i shared some of the latter with my landlords this afternoon but when i told them they were called russian tea cakes, some eyebrows were raised.

+ my young student told me his teacher told him santa claus came from coca-cola. upon hearing this i immediately countered with a “no, sorry, it’s not true”. i thought this was quite a ridiculous thing to hear, but i later found that it is actually widely believed that the coca-cola company “created” the image of santa in the 1930’s for their advertisements. however: not true! and they weren’t even the first company to do so: white rock beverages was actually using the santa likeness in the early 1920’s, and there were definitely instances well before this as well.

+ nevertheless, today, santa and coca-cola go together hand in hand. i couldn’t help but notice this coca-cola truck parked outside my local LIDL a few weeks ago with a large queue of kids waiting to see santa, and it was all being broadcast by a local radio station.

+ this pop-up “bethlehem” that occurred yesterday afternoon near the post office. live musicians, three kings, and marie and josef with baby jesus, and the sweet singing of czech christmas carols. this was happening amidst a bit of chaos from buses pulling up and passengers trying to get on and off, but i love that there still are moments of whimsy to be found here in budějovice if you look hard enough! i enjoyed looking at the bewildered faces of passerby leaving the post office or pulling up to this bus stop.

+ and lastly, soaking up as much christmas tree magic as i possibly could this month. my favorite parts from this twenty-two day festival in the square were all the times i spent watching live music on the stage while sipping punch and noticing everyone around me singing along all together. even though i couldn’t participate, it’s such a heartwarming feeling to be a part of this, even though i just kind of stand there and smile.

so merry christmas, my friends, wherever you spend the hoildays this year. looking forward to writing more after my return from my alpine christmas. you can catch what i’m up to in austria on the @girlgoneinternational instagram account that i’ve taken over this week.

….. and now, onto #traveltuesday! this week i am spotlighting darci’s inspirational post about why you should study abroad and how it will change your life– a cause i can absolutely get behind as i don’t think i would’ve developed the itch to live abroad for so long if i hadn’t gotten a good taste of it during my studies abroad. well done!

if you’re a blogger, now’s the time to link up your travel post with us & meet some new travelers like yourself! here’s how it works: share a post about travel, link back to co-hosts bonnie, courtney, yalanda, & myself (cynthia) using the button below. add your link & hop around.

next week, as it will be the last tuesday of the month, join in on the (optional) themed prompt: best travel memories of 2014. the new year is already almost upon us which is a wonderful time to reflect on our travels this year. what were your favorite trips or specific travel moments you want to remember?

{TIPS} one post per person (save others for future tuesdays!). share the love on social media with the #traveltuesday hashtag. only properly linked posts will be featured!