-
Hallo-Week
hello listopad (november) in czech republic. i’ve seen you somewhere before. oh yeah– it was last year when we moved into you! yes, we arrived on a train from berlin fraught with worry and anxiety over an incident with the ticket checker and also our failure to follow instructions and meet our contact person at the correct place and time at hlavni nadraži (central station), prague. finally we were whisked away by taxi and shown to our simple apartment on kolbenova street, vysočanska district (prague 9). boy, that day was a culture shock. and going to one of the many chinese restaurants to realize we couldn’t say anything… not a lick…
You May Also Like
October, Lately
Life, Lately: Autumn With a One-Year-Old
How Does Your Garden Grow
-
Passau Passt – An Autumn Bavaria Trip
we had a three day weekend thanks to czech national day! three day weekends are just made for trips. so we went to bavaria to a lovely little city on the SE german/austrian border called passau. passau is a small city in south-eastern bavaria (at approx 50,000 it has only half the population of ceske budejovice) and is only a four hour train ride away, with a change in linz, austria. (a great reminder of why living in europe is so wonderful and always exciting: getting anywhere in a short amount of time!) i wanted to go to passau because during my prior travels in germany (which are admittedly quite…
-
Travel on the Mind + More Sweden (Stockholm & Uppsala)
funny how trips work. day of return from trip: BOY I’M SO GLAD TO BE HOME! NOW I CAN DO ALL MY “HOME” THINGS AND BE COMFY AND COOK MEALS! I’VE MISSED YOU, BED! day after return: oh, it’s kinda nice to sit and read and have a cup of tea, isn’t it. but hm, i wonder what is the best way to get to south-eastern germany from here. two days after return: OH LIFE IS SO DULL, the weather’s such crap, when is the next trip?! okay, the last one might have been slightly exaggerated (only slightly though) but there’s no doubt that already the gears up there are…
-
Leaving Home, Living in Europe
when i left seattle last july–almost a year ago–i didn’t have a goodbye party… something i sometimes kick myself for. although that’s what most people do when they go away for a long time, it didn’t seem real to me then. i told everyone where i was going and when but i didn’t feel like the occasion warranted a full-out goodbye party. sometimes i downplayed my departure. that seemed too definite at the time. when i packed my clothes in anacortes last august, i didn’t quite understand what i was packing for. even though it was august, i forced myself to pack a warm winter hat and a sweater or…
-
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…
-
Blustery June
june came in all blustery-like. i can’t remember the last time the rain started in the day and rained all night into the morning without stopping. reminds me of my favorite, “winnie the pooh and the blustery day”. south bohemia really isn’t well equipped to handle this quantity of rainfall. in cesky krumlov the river is starting to flood into the city and transportation problems abound all over the country and in austria. i don’t really bat an eye when thinking about all the rain but then i realize i’m in a place with very different geography, and the water can’t just flow to the sound. i don’t expect it will…
-
travel bests & worsts
hey er’body! this weekend has been all about SERIOUS relaxing in preparation upcoming weekend jaunt to linz, austria. park days saturday, sunday, and even today before the nice weather goes away. also, finishing the wire’s last season (incredible: one of the best TV shows of the 21st century thus far for sure). today my class was canceled so i had a nice sit…. seeing how’s i’ve spent over nine months “on the road” and have lived almost entirely on things that i brought with me when i packed all my belongings up last july. it sure is daunting to pack for over a year, and i’m surprised it went so…
-
cooking in the CR
food, food, food. i love food. living in seattle, i got pretty dang good and cooking asian food and had some great resources– uwajimaya, huge asian superstore in south seattle. living near the ballard market was a big win for cooking in general as well. so after alex and i were finished with our work-stays in scotland and arrived in paris, we were now on our own for cooking. i fell into the cook position at that point and have been cooking almost all our meals ever since. i’ve never cooked consistently for two people before– as before i would feel free to make whatever super crazy healthy concoction i…
-
starbucks abroad
i never was a starbucks sort of person and before i worked there i never ever went to one… besides getting caramel frappuccinos in high school or something like that. while i worked there, i would try to go to other independent coffee shops on my days off over it. right after about three years working there though, something snapped and inside, i declared my love for it and would choose to go there over other places (hey, i had a discount!). i even bought those little ceramic starbucks cup christmas tree ornaments last year. now that i’ve been away from the official world of starbucks for over three months, my…
-
two weeks in paris, pt II
we arrived back in berlin this sunday after a tumultuous day of travel. our flight from paris was only and hour and a half, but alex had just developed a 24-hr stomach flu the night before so it was the worst possible time for the poor guy to get up and put a huge backpack on. i half expected him to want to cancel the flight but he didn’t even think about it– he just pressed on and i’m really proud of him for that. it was NOT easy. i didn’t get that OH i’m in berlin!!! feeling that i always get. instead i felt as if i was just coming home,…
