řijen / october

i bring you: silly czechpat tales from the first week of october!

on monday, i noticed a reasonably fashionable dressed young woman on the street… carrying a whole tomato that she had just taken a bite out of like an apple. had to text alex about what kind of silly country we live in.

that evening, i famously had a huge ramble session with myself about life here and life in the united states that alex kept cracking up about. i was in a philosophizing mindset, thinking about how life might be if we moved back to the states, but i probably should’ve just wrote it down in a journal instead of word-vomiting. most quoted line of the night…..

“Should i be buying a juicer? Should we be sitting in our robes in the living room eating steaks and watching Comcast?”

who doesn’t wonder that from time to time? do you ever wonder if you should be living a life more ordinary? the grass really is always greener, isn’t it.

 tuesday was one of those days that was way more humid than it looked like. was standing at a bus stop and decided i need to take off my tights. then a long thought process occurred as to whether or not it was ladylike. and if it mattered that i was ladylike. and whether or not taking off your tights in public is actually acceptable by any standard. finally decided waiting is the better idea.

happily, figured what the heck is going on with all my classes i’m teaching this semester. got loads of new ones and next week should be interesting to meet so many new faces over the course of five days.
later that afternoon, noticed a girl riding a bike near one of the busiest intersections of the city holding an umbrella. i can’t even ride my bike holding only one handlebar for more than two seconds. she was carrying an umbrella.

on wednesday i overwhelmingly came down with an urge for pumpkin spice that needed to be fulfilled. instead of waiting around and wishing and hoping, i decided to just straight-up ask friends if they would send me pumpkin spice via from starbucks, and i got a few takers! most of the time i just sort of mope around about not having certain products from the states and it doesn’t occur to me to just ask. bless my lovely friends’ hearts! i like to be self-reliant and it doesn’t always occur to me to ask people for help, but i’ve decided to try doing it more often and see what happens.

after leaving my german class on thursday morning, i turned the other way because i need to go buy a new monthly bus pass. but on the way to the square, i noticed the loveliest little market going down in piaristicka square: fruit and vegetable sellers, pumpkins, flowers, crafts, wreaths, and all sorts of cheerful goods were on offer. i stopped in front of a woman selling ořechy (walnuts), which i needed. i paused for longer than seemed natural to think of how to tell her how much i wanted, took a breath and gave the ol’ czech a go. “deset deka, prosim!” (thank god for learning about deka or decagrams in my czech crash course) the transaction went off without a hitch!
seconds later: lured by autumnal decorative gourds and feeling bolstered by a positive previous customer transaction, i marched right up and tried out my czech again. “good day! i speak a little czech. is this for decoration or for……” (om-nom eating motions). “neee, not eating. decoration!” she replied. i took three.

we have also been dealing with the immigration office again lately; this time attempting to renew our visas for a whole year. let’s see how that goes. when we went last week, the lady told us to just pop in and give her all the paperwork. however this week, we were faced with a woman we had never seen there before who was convinced that we don’t make enough money to live here. i know there’s been a period of brokeness in the not so distant past, but if it was good enough for the other ladies, i have no idea why it’s not good enough for her. we’ll be back next week for “further questioning”. the joy.

so, who else is pumped about october? i’m looking forward to eating more pumpkin cookies and trying to decorate for the season in a non-gaudy but still made from construction paper kind of way. bring on the spooky tunes and movies! alex and i have nailed down our halloween costume… i can’t wait to show you if it works out! but first i have to navigate the uncharted territory of czech thrift stores… now that is spooky.

speaking of czechland, i’m declaring next week czech week here on adventurings: a week of only czech-related posts! anything you’re curious about or want to see?

happy autumn, friends.

linking up with kate for daily diaries