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Bohemia Autumn
when you move to sobo (southern bohemia), the first thing everyone tells you to do is go to the top of klet’ mountain. at 1,084m (3,556ft) it is the tallest mountain of the blanksý forest, southwest of ĈB and northwest of ĉesky krumlov. to put it in comparison, mt. erie in anacortes is about a third of the height at 388m (1,273ft). they say on a clear day you can see the austrian alps! so, it wasn’t exactly a clear day…. but we finally made it there. we took the train 35 minutes south to holubov, a hamlet popular with outdoor enthusiasts and mushroom collectors (ie, pretty much all czechs). on the…
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It’s Not Me, It’s You: The Remnants of my Berlin Dream
i love berlin. everyone who knows me knows this. everyone who knows me and doesn’t know this, should. i first visited in 2006 on a whirlwind month backpacking central europe where it was by far my favorite stop on the trip, made even more fun by the fact that i knew some locals living there at the time (uw german department professors and affiliates) and they really pulled out all the stops to show me a good time. dinner parties, city tours, an evening at a crusty prenzlauer berg bar trying different flavors of berliner weisse– i loved it all. my friends there convinced me to take german language classes…
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Leaving Home, Living in Europe
when i left seattle last july–almost a year ago–i didn’t have a goodbye party… something i sometimes kick myself for. although that’s what most people do when they go away for a long time, it didn’t seem real to me then. i told everyone where i was going and when but i didn’t feel like the occasion warranted a full-out goodbye party. sometimes i downplayed my departure. that seemed too definite at the time. when i packed my clothes in anacortes last august, i didn’t quite understand what i was packing for. even though it was august, i forced myself to pack a warm winter hat and a sweater or…
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travel bests & worsts
hey er’body! this weekend has been all about SERIOUS relaxing in preparation upcoming weekend jaunt to linz, austria. park days saturday, sunday, and even today before the nice weather goes away. also, finishing the wire’s last season (incredible: one of the best TV shows of the 21st century thus far for sure). today my class was canceled so i had a nice sit…. seeing how’s i’ve spent over nine months “on the road” and have lived almost entirely on things that i brought with me when i packed all my belongings up last july. it sure is daunting to pack for over a year, and i’m surprised it went so…
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cooking in the CR
food, food, food. i love food. living in seattle, i got pretty dang good and cooking asian food and had some great resources– uwajimaya, huge asian superstore in south seattle. living near the ballard market was a big win for cooking in general as well. so after alex and i were finished with our work-stays in scotland and arrived in paris, we were now on our own for cooking. i fell into the cook position at that point and have been cooking almost all our meals ever since. i’ve never cooked consistently for two people before– as before i would feel free to make whatever super crazy healthy concoction i…
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some photos i’ve taken of my new neighborhood, malá strana. malá strana (which means “lesser quarter” in czech) is located in prague 1 on the quieter left bank of the vltava river. this is one of the most beautiful places in all of prague, i am pretty darn sure. it definitely gives paris a run for its money! full of gothic and baroque architecture, comes complete with a catheral and, well, prague castle! you can walk to all of the important places in prague if you should want to from here, which is pretty darn cool. i’ve been a bit busy with my job search as of late, but now…
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starbucks abroad
i never was a starbucks sort of person and before i worked there i never ever went to one… besides getting caramel frappuccinos in high school or something like that. while i worked there, i would try to go to other independent coffee shops on my days off over it. right after about three years working there though, something snapped and inside, i declared my love for it and would choose to go there over other places (hey, i had a discount!). i even bought those little ceramic starbucks cup christmas tree ornaments last year. now that i’ve been away from the official world of starbucks for over three months, my…
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rolling into london
“picadilly circus? what a shitty circus.” — garth just rolled into paris from london on a nine hour bus journey! (and remember kids, book your channel tunnel train tickets early!) it really wasn’t that bad since we were on a ferry for three hours of it. we were really lucky to be able to stay with one of our previous host’s sister, who lives in the pimlico district of london, so i felt right at home. my favorite part of london was the first night we got in which happened to be warm and calm (before it starting gradually pouring down rain): walking along the opposite side of the river…
