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travel dreamin’ 2015
my goodness, the weather is dreary this week. two weeks ago i was in such a fantastic mood because of all the sunshine (even though it would always get right in my eyes during yoga), but now we’re back to the typical total spring weather: heavy wind, flash showers, cool temperatures. i woke up to a thin blanket of snow on the ground outside… some cruel april fool’s joke, no doubt. it’s helped to daydream about fairer, distinctly more french locales lately. i am so excited that my mom and i are planning on meeting up to celebrate her milestone birthday in style… in gay paris! not only am i…
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calm before the storm
mild sunny days mixed with rainy cloudy ones, but the latter still seem anything but gloomy. i see the peace in them, especially on a quiet friday morning to myself with an over-sized mug of chai with milk and honey and a big bowl of oatmeal (my favorite, banana with cinnamon and chia seeds) topped with dried cranberries, walnuts, and brown sugar. these rare rainy sort of days we don’t often see in south bohemia make me feel so peaceful, calm and relaxed. i really don’t miss the rain too much and moving here to a sunnier climate has been really lovely. sometimes months pass without a drop of rain,…
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ways in which i’ve become more czech
i’ve lived here almost two and a half years and i’m sure i have a long way to go if i would really like to be more “czechified”, but some of these things i couldn’t help but notice… tolerance. you those new yorkers depicted in various films (like this one above, midnight cowboy) that yell at cars and say things like, “EY! i’m walkin’ ‘ere!” that was so me in seattle. four years of working in the heart of the retail downtown (from early mornings and swing shifts) had hardened me. i had seen a lot of things… and dodged a lot of cars. (but nowhere is the driving worse than…
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march noms
this past week, having almost half of my lessons cancelled for all kinds of different reasons, i had time. oh, sweet time. and i embraced it: long-ish yoga sessions, walking to lessons across town instead of taking the bus because of the sunny spring weather and the want to get moving a little bit more as we get closer to spring. but my favorite way to celebrate a nice relaxing weekday? make a weekday cake! i adored this weekday cake (raspberry ricotta) of molly’s– very moist and took less than thirty minutes to whip up! just as she described herself, there is something that makes you feel really put together…
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living without stuff, pt. III
this is the third in a series of posts titled living without stuff recording the personal progression of a girl in her mid-to-late twenties to living with very few belongings over a period of over two and a half years (and counting). if you’re just tuning in, i’m cynthia, a girl who i packed up only the most practical clothes i owned that could comfortably not so comfortably fit in a backpack when i work-stayed across scotland, eventually hopping over to the mainland to decide what i was going to do next (which unbeknownst to me at the time, was take the TEFL and settle in central europe). as i…
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Czech Republic’s Must-See UNESCO Sites
sometimes it feels like you may have all but exhausted the travel opportunities in your immediate surroundings. when this feeling strikes, turning to a list of UNESCO heritage sites in your vicinity makes for some great trip (or even day trip) inspirado. i am unofficially trying to see all (or as many possible) of the UNESCO sites in czech republic. here are some that i’ve already checked off my list, and some more that i’m hoping to see in the future… PRAGUE’S HISTORIC CITY CENTER why is it UNESCO? it’s one of the most important and best preserved medieval city centers in europe! in few other places in the world…
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march, lately
001. a rain-soaked main square002. vincentka. czech mineral water and apparent secret cure of everything that ails you003. prague’s beautiful art noveau obecní dům 004. finding this mural of the main square in an empty lot!005. my favorite nábřeží (quay) reminds me a bit of paris 006. doubling down on denim for george harrison’s birthday 007. we’ve passed the hundred day mark! (on our new tea cup chalkboard)008. my winter reading-nook009. alex is locally published! (in cz/en budejovice rag, milk & honey) and some march thoughts! // czech republic, like most of the european continent experienced beautiful sunny 13 degree temperatures during the weekend! this has inspired me to plant some…
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lost in translation
stories of miscommunication from about two and a half years living in the czech republic. to be honest, i’m just great this is all that’s happened… of the things i haven’t already repressed, that is. kombucha cappucinothere is this fantastic vegetarian buffet restaurant in budejovice. only problem is, it’s not a self-serve buffet; you have to tell the well-meaning woman behind the counter what you want. this can’t even be easy for czechs, because as a vegetarian restaurant, it’s often hard to tell what something is made of or has in it just by looking. basically, an unlearned foreigner’s nightmare. i have gone twice and both times i have stumbled…
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local lore in south bohemia
near the samson fountain in české budějovice, where i currently live, there is a stone that is a little larger than the others and is oval shaped, whereas the others are square. it is also marked with a cross. legend has it that a traveler who steps on it will never find their way home again. there is also a variation that he who steps on it after 9pm will not find their way home again until morning. the stone symbolizes the straying from george of poděbrady (jiřího z poděbrad) of a ropemaker named fillip and eight others who were planning an uprising to overthrow the king. however, the plan…
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how TEFL changed my life
i never thought that i would feel supremely confident that i could hold down a job in many different countries on any continent, especially with the economy still in recovery. having a TEFL certificate gives me this freedom.i decided it was time to stop struggling to pay rent in expensive seattle and see the world while working– something that has always made sense to me. since i was in high school, i would think about how people work so they can go on vacations and stay in exotic locales. but my line of thinking was always just, “why don’t you work where you really want to be?” whether that’s in…
