second czechaversary

i’m the kind of person that can’t help but to remember anniversaries of everything. if i met you once ten years ago, i probably still remember your birthday (with a couple days of leeway, of course). so it stands to reason that i think about and celebrate every little milestone associated with living abroad. mostly because i am still amazed that i had this kind of hare-brained idea to leave my job in seattle and fly across the world. not only that, but there is a wonderful country that has let me live here for two years now: the czech republic.

i didn’t even really know when i became an expat… mostly because i never sought out to be one so the idea never occurred for a long time. i just wanted to live abroad somewhere and have an adventure for awhile! but with every passing month, i appreciate this little country more and more. so it felt great to celebrate this czechaversary in the city where it all got started: prague, of course.

on saturday, alex and i went to the annual coffee fest! the concept was pretty great: three whole floors of nothing but coffee. espresso bar tastings run by a different (and well-respected) prague cafe every two hours. brewing demonstrations. cuppings. loads of sweet treats! we had a grand old time for a couple hours. the only downside was that everything switches every two hours, so once you’ve tried the various coffees you have to wait another two hours until they change it up again. this resulted in us getting bored and heading out to meet a friend instead, but it was a good time.

it was funny to see prague’s entire hipster contigent out and about in one place. especially, all the hip kids! for example: a three year old girl sporting a mini-skirt, black tights, and knock-off dr. martens. coffee fests do bring out the hip. and apparently i was not hip enough to buy whole-bean as they wouldn’t grind it for me. yeahhhh, i get it. coffee should be ground fresh right before brewing. but what about the accidental expat seattelite who has virtually no kitchen appliances, let alone a burr grinder?! what about that person?! (not cool enough for your sun-dried ethopia sidamo)

we celebrated our big two year in czechland dinner in good ol’ vysočanska, prague 9. there is no good reason for any tourist to ever go to prague 9. it’s bleak. it’s dark and cold. but it was our first prague home, and we had a fantastic czech dinner at a place that carries a lot of meaning for me: cortez restaurant. despite the spanish name, this place is as czech as you can go outside the center. and since it’s been nearly two years since my last visit here, i was pleased to find the waitstaff much more pleasant once you know a little bit of czech and you try. after a pilsner i was trapped in a nostalgic memory loop, but fortunately a swift metro car took me away from the past to the present and future.

and in that future was the one and only villa štvanice. this villa is on small štvanice island in the vltava (between florenc & vltavska) that is basically prague’s “neverland”: a place seemingly taken over by kids (at heart). i showed up late in the evening, exploring this island under a dark purple sky with only the nearby city lights brightening my path. after stumbling upon a really badass bmx ramp course, i came to the fabulous villa, which has just recently been converted into an arts and theater space. as soon as i walked in, burlesque girls were dancing on the bar, followed by a vocal & piano jam session that for some reason included several versions of the rolling stones’ angie. as if everyone was trying to do better than the last person that sang angie. alex and i just kind of looked at each other, marveling in the strange but wonderful things we always manage to get ourselves into.

i can’t mention my second czechaversary without saying that it happened to fall one day before the 25th anniversary of the velvet revolution: the restoration of democracy and abolition of communism in czechoslovakia. you can’t walk around prague without noticing all of the signs and banners honoring vaclav havel, the first democratically elected president of czechoslovakia in 41 years and a czech hero (the airport is named after him).

another nod to a great czech: paying tribute at the brand new franz kafka art installation/mechanical statue which now sits behind the new quadrio shopping center at národní třída. if you’re in the area, this david černy built “statue” is well-worth a visit: sort of a moving jigsaw-puzzle of kafka’s head that twists, turns, and has hundreds of different positions.. you could watch it for fifteen minutes and still not see the same thing twice!

having monday off to celebrate the holiday has been a great day to catch my breath and think about all the good times and everything i love about living in czech republic. it’s a very free place to live, and a very laid-back live and let live sort of country, which i have really grown to love! i wrote more about adapting to life in the czech republic recently in my internations’ expat interview. if you’re interested on all the funny things and tips for those soon to be czechpats.

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and now, happy travel tuesday! this week i want to spotlight holly’s post about her friend kim’s experience in china. i have to say that this post single-handledly made both myself and alex want to visit china to see these world-class sights, modern politics be damned.

if you’re a blogger, join us for travel tuesday this week! share a post about travel, link back to co-hosts bonnie, courtney, yalanda, & myself (cynthia) with the button or a text link. add your link, hop around, & leave others some love.

{TIPS} only one post per blogger please. save others for future tuesdays! share the love on social media with the #traveltuesday hashtag. as next week is the last tuesday of the month, the (optional) prompt is: best and worst cuisines abroad. have you had a particularly exceptional meal (or terrible one)?