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A Surprise Berlin
when i returned from sweden, i had no intention of planning any more international trips this summer. but SURPRISE! i ended up planning an impromptu berlin weekend: summer’s last gasp. and it was a fabulous weekend to be in my lieblingsstadt: gorgeous weather and plenty going on. i’d only been in berlin for the summer once (2008) for a few days and fell in love with the buzz and energy i never quite fully felt when living there in the fall and winter months. winter in berlin can honestly feel like the darkest coldest place you can imagine that can make you want to hole-up in your flat drinking A&P…
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Stockholm
definitely enjoyed my time in stockholm. when people ask me how was it, it’s really hard to describe it in a concise and telling way besides saying it was “great”. it was big, easy to get around, very maritime, very clean, very nordic… it was like going home, except things were generally in swedish and really expensive. really, it felt like i was going “home” when i was there. sometimes i would forget that i had to go back to czech republic, as if i was going to just stay forever. my favorite things i did in stockholm…. wandering around gamla stan on the first evening– a warm and balmy…
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Grinda Island
hello! i have returned from sweden yesterday. deciding not to post or really spend that much time online was a conscious decision so i could spend all of my time in the moment. and i am so happy i did! sweden felt very familiar to me– it was friendly, welcoming… and even their word for “hello” is “hej” so it sounds like everyone is greeting you like a friend: “hey!” instead of the formal “dobry den” (good day) that i’m used to here. first i wanted to share about one of my absolute favorite parts of the last eleven days… i stayed in a cozy cabin on a little island called…
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On Loss
it has been a sad weekend here in budejovice. and washington. and michigan for that matter. one of the coolest chicks i’ve ever met, candice bailey, passed away saturday morning in seattle. she had been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer the year before i met her, but you would never know it because of how full of life, energy, and spirit she always was. alex met her in high school and they had been good friends since then (fourteen years!). in 2009, candice (who with her husband had recently bought a fixer-upper house in the madison/capitol hill area) invited alex to move into the basement apartment and help fix…
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How Soon is Sweden
the time is soon for sweden! summer camps are over for the year (post coming soon) and last-minute trip preparations are underway. this is the big one of the summer– a trip i planned so long ago that it seemed like i had ages to plan… but it really just snuck up on me. (can you believe august is already upon us? and this blog’s one year birthday too. awww) i am quite looking forward to sweden in mere days. finally: a journey to my homeland! still need to finish watching the rest of vikings (HBO) before we depart. really, that show is truly excellent. and loading my mobile device…
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Summer Camp, Pt II
week two out of three of summer camps is complete! boy these days do fly! we have so much fun even though we’re so busy, and the kids have so much fun too. we’re having them recite “double double toil and trouble, witches brew and cauldron bubble” on the thursday field trip the castle to make the princess leontynka (me) appear from the window. and one of us pointed out that that phrase is actually from shakespeare’s macbeth! WE ARE TEACHING CZECH KIDS SHAKESPEARE. best english summer camp ever, ya heard? enjoying it here in SoBo (south bohemia— i’m coining it now!) and learning so much czech language and about…
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Summer Camp, Week 1
as you may know, in february i signed on as a teacher (with alex) to teach three weeks of childrens’ english summer camps. this means just under ten hours (7:15am to 4:30 or 5pm) of hanging out with kids per day. and good news: i have survived week one! i’ve never taught groups of kids before, and it was a pretty amazing, fun, sometimes extremely tiring, and really rewarding experience. in this camp, the kids are surrounded by two native speaker teachers and one bilingual czech teacher in hopes they will pick up on the english phrases we tell them: stand up! sit down! line up! come on! let’s go!…
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Camping in Hallstatt
spent an amazing three nights camping in the salzkammergut lake district of austria on the hallstätter see (lake hallstatt). hallstatt is a tiny village crammed on the edge of a mountain right on the huge beautiful blue and green lake, with crystal clear glacier water. i wanted a decompress-relax holiday and i got it! walking back to the campground there was a lot of this! pretty as a postcard what says holiday like ice cream cones? in mein neues hut! the bone chapel– over 1200 skulls, half of them lovingly painted with pictures to represent characteristics of how the person was in life. started due to the small size of…
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SIFF vs KVIFF; The Top 5 Films of 2013
it’s way too easy to compare something that’s new to something you know well, and i forced myself not to think like that and just to enjoy the moment. but, somethings can’t be forgotten and i thought it would be an interesting “study” to compare these two very different film festivals. here are the main ways they differ. 1. festival passes mean very little. at SIFF, if you are a pass holder for 25 full days worth of film, you are one of the chosen few. you can get into any movie at any time and are generally looked at in higher regard than the rest of the festival goers.…
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Vary Good Times
hello friends. i’ve just been to karlovy vary for one of my most anticipated trips of this summer– the karlovy vary international film festival! i am a film festival addict. from the very first summer i lived in seattle (2005) i have been involved with SIFF; first as a patron, then volunteered, and finally interned for three years in guest relations. i count down the days until the film festival catalog comes out every year, and then spend hours poring over the films and making a detailed color-coded google calendar. this year was the most special because: i’m not working!!! no job to go to, just as many films as i…
