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say hello to my little friend
adventurings, now, with 56% more dog! we have been thinking about getting a dog for over a year now (with a little drama in between: we were told we couldn’t have one in our building, then later it turned out we could, but only a very small breed). as i grew up with a dachshund, it seemed like the best choice for us at this time. alex got to know a bit about the breed with sweet mika from our workstay near oban, scotland, so he was on board too! and here we are, first few days of december, and finally met our little ferdinand! (ferdie, for short!) the amazing…
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friday things: thanksgiving weekend
it seems that after the initial dust cloud settled after the first week of the american election, things starting to feel a little happier, thank goodness. so i bring you five happy things for the end of this third week of the month, from recent trips to expat life successes… 1. vienna! we enjoyed a long weekend in the austrian capital last week. although busybusybusy, it was so good! shopping, eating schnitzels as big as our ‘eads at figmüller, seeing the pointillism exhibition at the albertina (i do adore this museum), wandering around the innere stadt until our feet felt like falling off, and of course… plenty of cakes and…
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traveling is not everything
so you’re probably looking at this title thinking “duhhh”, or you’re in the “the more, the better” camp, like some many of us living abroad when it comes to travel. while it certainly can bring some much needed excitement to life (travel is accelerated living!), there’s something to be said for taking some time to be at home for awhile. after our big nordland adventure this summer, we have planned and gone on some great (shorter) trips, but the focus is, happily, more at home right now. what are the advantages to not traveling? 1. doing all the local things drinks with friends, going to the market, snuggly weekend brunches…
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so bad, yet so good
alex and i have talked before, half jokingly, about that if trump gets elected, i guess we’re staying here four more years. this was when we both believed there was not a single chance in a million years this would be happening to our country. and yet, here we are. i certainly never left the united states on any political ground, whatsoever. no, i just wanted to live in another country, study other languages, learn about other cultures, and work so i could travel and use central europe as my spring-board, if you will. then, the more time we spent here, we woke up to the fact that, “wow, life…
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a first taste of southern moravia
of all the belated trips, a visit to the southern moravian region of the czech republic (southeast, north of the vienna-area austrian border) was the one that has been pushed off for much too long. i mean, how did we just only now go there? well, i can tell you it likely will not be the last time, because i found moravia just lovely. everyone from over here in south bohemia often says that the people from southern moravia are the most friendly, and this has got to be my experience as well, just from a short weekend away at the end of october. not only that, but the scenery…
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life lately /on pursuing your hobbies
hi all, did you have a nice halloween and first week of november? this was our most low-key halloween celebration to date as we were in moravia for the big “halloweekend”, as it’s come to be known, and that meant no dressing up for us this year! that’s just how the calendar days fell. i’ve learned when you get a long weekend, you don’t take it for granted! more from moravia coming very soon – i have just been too ding dang busy this week to even think about writing more than i already have, in my last post about my first day in the czech republic. a full schedule…
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an (im)perfect arrival – the first day in the czech republic
sometimes, i think where you stay when you are traveling has a big effect on how you end up feeling about the place. ease of your arrival there can really set the tone, too. but what if your arrival just goes haywire? as we are nearing our fourth czechaversary now in a couple of weeks, it gets me thinking a lot about our arrival to prague on that cold, mid-november day. such a thrilling feeling to be on the road for months and then have a one-way ticket to a country that you don’t know when you’ll leave (as you might know, i never did). however, the arrival definitely did…
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preparing for a central european winter
winter is coming, friends! well, not too soon, but just soon enough to start thinking about whether or not you have the right stuff to last these cold, frosty months in the heart of central europe. the first winter i ever spent in europe back in 2007 was memorably freezing. as we followed our tall danish-german professor around berlin, the wind seared through my jacket like a hundred tiny unforgiving knives, while he seemed completely unfazed. we were all from the continental west coast, and we all were dying. i bought a couple of cheap coats at one of the various kurfürstendamm h&m’s, but none of these coats were big…
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the spooky october movie series, pt. II
coming up with the idea to watch a festive spooky movie every sunday night in october was basically one of the best ideas ever for getting one in the proper mood for the season. we try to select slightly out of the ordinary films – not exactly what you would expect. the quintessential halloween movie for me is one that is a bit creepy and spooky, but also equal parts enchanting, charming, funny… not just a typical slasher film or something like that. here’s what we’ve got up to so far this month – i hope it provides you with some ideas for your halloween viewing! week 1: crimson peak…
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october things + my favorite autumn breakfast (recipe)
i have been a studious, busy little bee lately now that my brain is fully embracing autumn and has already gone back to school! i’ve decided to take a less crazy schedule than i had last year because, you should’ve seen me last year – i was running around like a mad person! there is this cycle that happens to english teachers here (and maybe other places, i don’t know) where you want to get more and more lessons to fill up your schedule. you keep gathering more and more until finally, you have so many that you are starting to go crazy. you are running in and out of…
