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february city hangs | prague & linz
it’s been such a great month so far! i thought january was good, but february seems even better and the fact that we just had our semester break and i enjoyed most of a week off work was just the thing. i was thinking i’d head to prague on sunday, the second day of the month, until there was a “severe snow advisory” (??!) warning and decided not to mess with that. (besides, a friend of mine had to spend the night on a train last autumn when she insisted on traveling in heavy winds! trains + inclement weather = not going there) instead we went on monday when there was…
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january lately
ah january, time to hunker down with a candle, cup of tea a stack of books and your favorite tv shows and films. or my favorite winter activity: i call it the ‘read-nap-read’ (or “the reading nap”) on a cold sunday afternoon with falling snowflakes outside the window. it’s typically hard to grant myself time to do those things, but winter does give me permission! what have you been enjoying? i’m making my way slowly through a little life (and all of its seven hundred something pages) as well as chunks of other books also on my nightstand. i’ve also been watching a bit of ally mcbeal season 4 (the…
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a simpler sort of christmas
hello all, i hope you have had a magical christmas wherever in the world you celebrated it, if you are in fact celebrating, that is. once again, we had a truly czech christmas here in budejovice. normally we get almost two full weeks of holiday for christmas, and we opted to stay put this year mostly because 1) iceland, which i felt was almost like a christmas in and of itself, but also 2) our visa issues (from receiving it to reapplying for our next) making us a bit lighter in the wallet this time of year. but no matter, we had decided to fully embrace a simpler sort of…
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november, lately
hello all,happy thanksgiving week! it started snowing sunday night and there was a blanket of snow on the ground by monday morning – and still snowing (despite what the photo above from a lovely day last month shows!). i really got in a more wintery mood in iceland as there were no leaves on the trees anymore and festive decorations all over the main streets, but there is absolutely nothing like a blanket of snow on a monday morning to get your week going! (if you like snow, that is) since coming back from my trip, i’ve just felt like there are endless things to do – catching up on…
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autumn leaves
beautiful fall weekends are here! after last weekend in which we were mostly hanging around budejovice, i very much wished to get out of the city this weekend and enjoy the beautiful foliage this time of year. alex suggested popping over to třeboň for the day to walk around svět lake – it’s such a nice walk, and it occurred to me that i had never been there in the autumn before. in fact, the last time we even walked around the lake was over five years ago! those times that we were scrambling every weekend to see as much as the area as we could, thinking we could be…
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10 reasons why i (still!) live in the czech republic
in the midst of on-going visa strife, i thought i would talk a little about the reasons why i like living in the czech republic. it’s bittersweet to post this today because i’m having a pretty low day in terms of my optimism. when no one can give you any definitive answers whether or not what you’ve submitted in your visa reapplication is good enough, it makes my mind do crazy things. i’m feeling a little numb, to be quite honest. what i wouldn’t give to have another visa card like the one (above) from a couple years ago. that funny time that i was given a large box of…
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bureaucracy woes & overcoming hurdles
as i walked to the financial office one morning last month, i swung alex’s fancy umbrella with the wooden handle around like an extra in ‘singing in the rain’, feeling like a baller. ohhh yeah, they’re totally going to know exactly what i want. that i mean biznis, especially when they see me with this! we get there, ride on up to the security guy at the front desk (vratnice) all like “yo – we’re here looking for mrs. piksova.” him: “so, how do you spell that? like pixsova? or piksova with a k?” us: “errrrrrrr………….” him: “OH, you’re foreigners. what are your names?” me: “cynthia & alex.” him: nonplussed,…
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chateau birthday
there’s a place about an hour northeast of prague in the middle of central bohemia where there stands a hill that has had both christian and pagan significance for hundreds and hundreds of years. finally a chateau was built on this spot, overlooking the valley below and a family lived there until 1948. it sat unoccupied until the early-aughts when a czech woman bought the decrepit chateau and fixed it up, meanwhile happening to fall in love with an american man who had entrepreneurial visions of what this space could one day become. today that place is called chateau mcely, and it’s exactly where i spent a few completely relaxing…
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the shores of bohemia
last month, i was hit by the annual spring homesickness wave and could think of nothing but the ocean. whether in washington or in iceland, i just wanted to walk along a beach, to smell saltwater, to feel waves lapping against my feet. i spoke to a couple of people about this great wanting to be near the sea – something that i feel has been deeply embedded in my soul, if i want to get sappy. one person i talked to (a dane) mentioned they do not share my need for the ocean. somebody else mentioned – well – here in czech republic, we are river people! fortunately my…
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a snowy getaway in the bohemian forest
i haven’t yet had the opportunity to write about this year’s trip to the šumava for the long easter weekend! as we have four official days (or five school days) off for easter, it is our tradition to go on some kind of trip. if easter falls earlier in the year, we typically like to head to a city. if it falls later – some after about the 10th of april– we like to head to the natural wonderland in our backyard that is šumava national park. this year, everything was set and booked to head to a city we both enjoy to get to know it a bit better……
