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the villages of the drôme provençale
this summer heat has got me thinking about one year ago on our holiday in provence. i wrote a little bit about the stay at our cottage in the drôme region and a day in arles, but nothing much about the many, many provençal villages we visited. the most known area of provence is perhaps the luberon, thanks to the popularity of a year in provence by peter mayle (a book which i highly, highly recommend if you’re going to provence at all), but we ended up staying in the northern drôme (southeastern france about halfway between marseilles and lyon) which was even more beautiful than i ever could have imagined. every day we would…
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prague | 24 hours in holešovice
last month we were in prague for a concert and ended up staying in holešovice, simply because the cheapest private accommodation available was there. and not only in holešovice (which is a large swath of prague 7 that sort of encircles prague’s bubny train station), but east holešovice. i go there whenever i visit the DOX museum, but industrial east holešovice does not seem to be a favorite area of praguers. i asked a couple that i knew, “hey! where do you like to go in east holešovice?" "um……..”“i mean, pražská tržnice is there. and so is cafe jedna. right?”“……can’t you just go to letná?” the letná side of holešovice…
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a spring wander around brixton, london
what is it about blogging, lately? i have a theory that other forms of social media is slowly killing off blogging (do you agree?) and i am taking staunch measures to prevent this, at least for myself. in the past, if i haven’t written, it meant i couldn’t think of anything to say. nowadays, over six and a half years into my life abroad, if i don’t write, i’m too busy with life or my personal studies (language or herbalism). but! i can’t let spring fade sweetly into warm, sun-drenched summer without talking a little tiny bit more about our spring day out in brixton at the end of april.…
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travel, living abroad, and a more ecological lifestyle.
travel + an ecological lifestyle – can these two things belong together? it’s a hard thing to reconcile for any traveler – how to lessen your personal impact and be a more responsible traveler? there’s carbon offsets you can purchase, either as you make your flight purchase or separately from a few different organizations. there’s booking a trip from a company with a ecologically-responsible policy. (in the past week, rick steves just announced all his tours will be certified carbon neutral) there’s opting to take the bus or train more vs. flying. we live without a car here and do almost all of our errands on foot (including grocery shops, hoofing it…
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herbalist in training
i don’t know what it is about herbalism that initially appealed to me. maybe it was the resourcefulness, learning about the plants already growing around you, what medicinal properties they have, how plants can help heal your body. maybe it’s that i didn’t have a garden and the idea of wildcrafting and foraging seemed really accessible (also, free!!!). i think a combination of all these things, but when a friend referred me to some local herbalism workshops, i got really into them. so much so that i decided to enroll in my first herbalism course, which i took online from the herbal academy over the past year and have just recently…
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may, lately
hey, it’s may! may sure starts quiet slow and cool but boy does it ramp up quickly! especially when you live in the czech republic which has a holiday two weeks in a row. i don’t know about you guys, but i can already feel the slowing of the school year and delighting in the approach of the second half of spring (the better half). here are some things that have been making me smile lately… our hiking holiday at the end of april really got the spring/warm weather mood going! i posted the above photo in that particular post but it’s just too darned cute not to share again.…
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walking london + the afternoon tea bus tour
i don’t really ever go on those “weekend away” trips everyone talks about when they move to europe. well at least, not of the kind with an airplane. flying is a much bigger “to-do” than the ever-convenient train, and when you live in the center of europe, it’s easier to get almost everywhere by train… except great britain. but a couple weekends ago, i did! it felt really fancy! i went to london, mainly with the intent of seeing a band i love so much i’d fly for– which i could write a whole post about in and of itself as it was incredible– but all the other in-between stuff…
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find your spring bliss {south bohemia easter hiking weekend}
hi all, i hope you had a nice easter! it’s our tradition to go on a trip every easter (as here in the czech republic, we have a nice long four day weekend – five if you’re lucky!) and as this year it fell deliciously late into the season, we opted for another countryside hiking trip. last year’s trip was much too cold and bleak, and this year, all i wanted was sun and relaxation with a bit of hiking, which led us to the czech/austrian borderlands, basing ourselves in vyšší brod, a kilometer or two from the border. we had been to vyšší brod once before as we started…
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april, lately
i’m writing this from a place of calm. something about the weather lately, maybe. every day, noticing new buds, green leaves unfurling, cherry blossoms starting to make themselves known. or possibly it’s because these april weeks have felt really nice and slow – it’s that strange and unexplainable cancellation time of year that many language teachers seem to be feeling right now. life is starting to feel lighter again. it has meant a lot more leisurely time spent with a nose in the book on cushy sofas, hiding under blankets, nestled between pillows. i’ve been reading michelle obama’s ’becoming’ (after being on the library wait list for months) and the…
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we are permanent residents.
the reason we decided to apply for permanent residence is, simply, that it’s a longer visa. we have been on the two year freelance visa for ages and as many of you know, our last go-around was rough. it kicked our asses. after five years of residence in the czech republic and passing a basic language exam though, you may qualify for permanent residence. well, this was our first chance to apply (now having lived here for over six years) and the language test wasn’t so difficult, seeing as we have lived here long enough to soak up loads of language and had three full years of czech lessons by…
