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musings on identity & being an american
at one point, i thought that the longer i lived here, the more immersed in all things czech i would be to the point of “no going back”. and sometimes that feels like the case. the way i was wondering what i was doing getting on the airplane going back to the states this summer (that thought actually occurred). but then another thing happens: the longer i live in europe, the more thoughtful and also grateful i am to be an american. this is not to say another place is somehow “less than”, but rather, that i truly realize all the ways in which i am so american, but wouldn’t…
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a time and a place
this time of year always gets me thinking around my time studying in berlin, incidentally, ten years ago. this time of year when it would get dark at four o’clock and the sky would turn from neon-grey to a shroud of black. it was the coldest novembers i have ever lived through. so cold and dark, but i was deeply inspired and knew full well time was of the essence to make the most of my semester. this is my berlin – the short days, the long nights. although the summers are fantastic and are like a prize for making it through the other eight months of the year, cold,…
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november, lately + pumpkin miso soup (recipe)
i have been having the worst time putting words on paper (er, screen) lately. i suppose this is the teacher’s busy time of the year and i continue to take on so much, that i forget to take time. i consider this a big “life lately” dump so i can start fresh and start recording more of the day to day stuff. going back almost two weeks ago to halloween – we had a great one. alex and i reprised our costume from six years ago (our first halloween together) as wayne and garth from wayne’s world and it almost went even better than the first time. we like to utilize halloween as…
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spooky october movie series, pt III
spooky movie time! do you know what you’re watching on halloween yet? as you may know, alex and i do a sunday night movie series every sunday throughout october (i’ve taken to calling it ‘goth advent’ because of our recently obtained black skull candle) this movie series was born because there’s only so many viewings of ‘hocus pocus’ you can take! we’re on a mission to dig up some lesser-known but perfectly halloween-worthy films, old and new. here’s what we’ve got up to… i hope it may give you some watching inspiration! (rated on a scale from 1 – 5 “ghosts” based on how appropriate i feel the film is for…
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autumn dreamland
one thing i really like about living in české budějovice is its proximity to some pretty interesting places. we are only two hours from both prague to the north and linz, austria to the south. of course, because of international public transport tariffs, prague is by far the more affordable place to head of the two when you’ve got a free day and wanna soak up some big(ger) city lovin’. especially if you are a loyal české dráhy (czech trains) customer like i am and rack up enough points on the regular to earn free train tickets (public service announcement: if you live in the czech republic and frequently travel…
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yoga journey thus far
you know what is super daunting? moving to another country in a city where most people don’t speak english and trying to join normal activities that involve group classes. when you want to do all of those normal people things you used to do that get just a tad bit more complicated in your new environment. the past few years before this big adventure abroad, i had only merely dabbled in yoga but i knew i wanted more. i used to go every so often to a beautiful studio in ballard (seattle), and i wanted to continue this venture while vagabonding across europe in 2012 and finally settling in the…
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autumn moravian wine trip, take two
living in central europe, autumn conjures up feelings of, among other things, harvest with plentiful beer and wine. i am fortunate to live in a country that currently does both quite well, but you have to travel a little bit to get to the wine part, which is the south moravian region; essentially, the southeast corner of the country bordering austria and slovakia. after we returned from the united states, it was time to kick trip planning for the rest of the year into high gear, and i somehow managed to find a couple nights’ accommodation on late notice in an area we’ve been wanting to see for a little…
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lately, september
when you have too much to write about and get behind with recording life’s happenings that you just don’t even know where to start anymore so you don’t post. sound familiar? well, it’s finally time to talk about september & all recent life things here in south bohemia! it’s clear to me now from my post earlier this month that i was hur-ting. still getting over a serious bout of homesickness involved with leaving washington, i was not over it. it took about two weeks or so but everything found itself back to normal here in budejovice. fortunately early september brings fun markets and happenings like the annual vltava žije…
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at summer’s end
i love the annual tradition of doing these summer’s end posts – i think they’re a great way to catch readers up on what’s been happening lately around here as well as a good time for reflection. normally i would do this post right before the official start of autumn, but let’s face it: autumn has come early this year. last year we were graced by record warm temperatures and a beautiful indian summer (babí léto) which brought with it many september garden parties, beer garden nights, and hikes well into the autumn season. this year, as if like clockwork, autumn graced us on the first day of september –…
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discovering (more of) oregon
i have severely overestimated the amount of downtime i would have on our big trip back to the united states this summer. i had quite enough last summer in iceland, isolated on a farm with no means of transportation in borgarbyggd (west iceland) and only my own two feet to explore the hills and tiny nearby villages, but this summer has been a different story altogether and so different than my trip home two years ago. then, there was a real abundance of time, but i’ve had to be so strategic with what i do each day or how many people i can visit over the past almost five weeks.…
