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kitchens around the world
(add your kitchen to the list! more info at the end of the post) it’s been a quiet, sunny, winter week here. so uneventful that i was scrolling through photos i took last year and couldn’t help but notice how many photos i took of kitchens i stayed in. the thing that fascinated me the most about spending time in someone’s house is their kitchen, especially if they are from a different country than me. like most people, i only knew the kitchen in the house where i was raised and there, we do things a certain way. so it’s super interesting to see what others’ kitchens look like and…
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a year of travels: 2015
oh man, you guys, this year. it was one of the best. although i managed to pack a ton of travels in the second half of 2015, the first half was alllll about that local travel while saving up my korunas to come back to the states for the wedding. i am feeling just so grateful with the travel opportunities that have popped up and looking forward to what might come in the new year! but first, let’s take a look at 2015 as it was… not much happened in january after the aftermath of our our austrian christmas, but we managed to make a few day trips and a…
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melding traditions
the other day, my student asked me in the middle of a class, “so if you celebrate the holidays here, do you participate in czech or american traditions?” (cut to a dream sequence) hmmmm, that’s an interesting one! it’s now my fourth holiday season here (and my first married christmas!) in the czech republic and i do love adapting to different christmas traditions, much like a sponge. (below, large shoe box full of cookies we were famously gifted in 2013) czech christmas cookies? this is an easy one to adapt to! particularly the linecký and the rohlíčky! it is so common in the czech republic for babičkas and maminkas to…
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december/prosinec
hi friends! happy it’s december? you know i am. i’m trying to get a head-start on christmas stuff this year (well, aren’t we all trying to do this every year?) and i decked our halls two days earlier than my usual first of december decoration day. i’m trying out the “after thanksgiving” method, but now that it’s fully december i can play all i want for christmas is you with impunity. oh, don’t try to act like you don’t like that song. christmas trees aren’t available for sale in the czech republic until around halfway through the month, but i’ve been keeping an eye on all the usual places in…
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my favorite things
“raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittensbright copper kettles and warm woollen mittensbrown paper packages tied up with stringsthese are a few of my favorite things” a fun assortment of things that make cynthia tick… or at least that light up my day. funnily enough, most of these are in some way related to travel. of course. nudelboxes in berlin doner kebaps, currywurst, and really legit fallafels from that place in neukölln are great, but i have been and will continue to be all about: the nudelbox. asian noodles. with vegetables. in a convenient, carry-out box. sometimes you can find nudelboxes with tofu, like from this place on skalitzerstrasse near schlesisches…
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the european grocery shopping experience
it all started in berlin, schlepping the goods back from my local kaiser’s at annenstrasse (which i later learned is generally regarded as one of the more fancier, spendier supermarkets in the city) in my canvas tote bag, feeling all so proud of myself for having shopped for myself and able to walk to the store whenever needed every so often to get those weekly or twice weekly groceries for dinner making. and oh, i do have fond memories of those cold, dark autumn months cooking away in my berlin kitchen, making chicken and dumping soup or maybe one of those dr. oetker mozzarella frozen pizzas when i felt lazy…
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at summer’s end
so, it’s time to face the cold hard facts that my whirlwind summer of wonder has come to a close. and oddly, i’m pretty okay with it. it has been the hottest and longest feeling summer of my life, and earliest as i technically count it starting when we flew to the united states in late may, for upon our arrival, it was the warmest, most delicious purple evening on fidalgo island and the marine breezes blew in and i was all, “ahhhhhhh, i’m home”. of course, after months of heatwave and knowing all too well what it feels like for sweat to drip down your back (yuk), i am…
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how i travel often (on a teacher’s budget)
it’s not a secret that ESL (english as a second language) teachers in europe aren’t the wealthiest lot (although i have heard a different story about asia– that’s where you can really rake in the $$). no, for us here on the european continent, the job is a labor of love, but one that puts us very near many intriguing and interesting new places to visit. my travel list is always a mile long and it never ends. a day after returning from a trip, i am already thinking of the next destination! in my three years abroad (yep, i just hit big three! hooray!), besides getting acclimated, settled, and…
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the bake off bake along, week 1
so, what do you do when it’s too hot too go outside? stay in and bake, of course! i have never seen the bbc program, the great british bake-off, until a couple days ago when i decided to give it a go. (hey, it was too hot to do anything else) i actually really enjoyed it– it reminded me of my love of british programming and britain itself. after my seven week stint falling in love with the UK three years ago living with hosts throughout scotland, you can go ahead and call me an anglophile. (full on. card carrying member.) so! with the dog days of summer in full…
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taking stock
i was hoping that my time in the united states would help me figure some things out… to take a step back from life in europe and glean some clarity from looking at the whole adventure from afar. now i’m heading back to czech republic, the country that takes hold of you (or as kafka once said, “grasps you in its claws ”) and doesn’t let you go where it’s hard to make these big decisions about the future. the easy stuff: i knew i would return to the czech republic. (already kinda had that return plane ticket!) i knew i would spend at least one more school year there.…
