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how moving abroad changed my attitude on cooking
pre-moving to europe, there were some kitchen items that were just self-evident. lean cuisines. a microwave. pancake mix. a toaster. a coffee maker. (alright, actually i’ve always rebelled against these, but they certainly are a staple in most american kitchens) a microwave. because EVERY good household needs a microwave, right? how would i heat up my lean cuisines otherwise? here’s an old kitchen behavior for you: i used to keep this giaaaaant container of minced garlic in the fridge that i was so proud of ‘cause whenever a recipe called for some, you could just reach in for a pinch. no chopping or peeling necessary. bam. so smug about that.…
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april: friday things
hello! is it just me or do things in “blog world” seem to be a bit quieter than usual? i suppose me as well, i’ve been writing only about once weekly, which seems to be a fine pace for a person who is not new to making a transition abroad and being immersed in a completely new culture. i’m feeling pretty at peace with that. but, i think it’s time to catch up on some life lately! so here’s my “five for friday” of what’s been happening lately. (above, some delicious smoothies and koláče picked up from a bakery last saturday and eaten on the balcony) 1. teaching i am…
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me and the music
(i am aware this is a britney spears song title, which makes me love this post all the more) alternate title: living without stuff, pt. IV. music has long played a big part in my life… but then again, so has travel. unfortunately, playing music and travel are two things that don’t often seem to fit well together i’ve found (unless you’re in a touring band, of course). back in my late high school/early university days, my music buddies and bandmates seemed always sort of perplexed when i up and left for a few weeks for up to a month every summer, sometimes missing gigs. “why… how did you get…
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spring around here
officially, spring has sprung and since easter weekend, we’ve had a handful of gorgeous warm days here in south bohemia with highs above 22ºC! (although you wouldn’t know it by how bare most of the trees here still are!) i’m still not quite used to this continental european “spring”. it seems to come in mid-april, still with bare trees sometimes, and by early june, we are blasted with either heat-wave temperatures (or rain and floods, depending on the year). spring is a blink-and-you-miss-it affair, unlike western washington with our first cherry blossoms blooming in late february! i’m really trying to get into it this year, though… embrace those mild temperatures…
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our little household
although i often scheme and dream about being back “on the road” (which we actually will be doing for a month this summer!), i can’t say enough about how much i love our little home here in south bohemia, a dreamy, slower-paced corner of the country near rivers, farms, and forests. i love our beautiful altbau-style building and flat that was actually built by my landlord’s grandfather in 1913, exactly one hundred years before we moved in. i love our big heavy wooden table, our kitchen full of light. our balcony, which i am dying to spend more time on and really create a special space with more plants than…
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eye on the prize
living in central europe working as an english teacher, you can get by pretty well. i know you read a lot about the wages of ESL teachers in europe being basically enough to just slide by on, but that’s not necessarily true. sure, if we’re talking u.s. dollars, we are totally below the poverty line. however, if we’re talking about the average wages in the czech republic, we are doing pretty well! salary vs. cost of living results favorably. i have talked at length about how it’s possible that we travel a lot on a teacher’s salary. even so, when we live a life in which we should, for all intents…
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gratitude
“so, when are you going back to the states?”well, we have some friends that are engaged, so probably whenever the weddings are.[laughing] “.. err… so, are you going to be staying there for awhile?”ah-hah, there it is. the question i get basically every time i talk to my dad on the phone. not that i want to get into what is happening in the united states at the moment, but i don’t really think i am a victim of the recession. well, in one way i sort of am, as i graduated college at the worst possible time in decades to try to find an entry-level position, even in a…
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contentedness
so far this year, there’s been no big milestones, or “lily-pads” as emma calls them. but even so, life “between the lily-pads” has been rolling along. i was so thankful just to stick around in one place in january, and although february brings even more travel scheming and dreaming, i have just been perfectly content lately. content to be here, with life… not in a “my life is so exciting!” kind of way but just a quiet sort of happiness. my instagram, usually buzzing with photos of czech architecture i pass on my day to day life has even been quieter than usual. no need to take photos or write…
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winter, unplugged
temperatures here in southwestern czech republic have hit probably the lowest that i can remember since we moved here. three years ago living in prague, i remember some cooooold temps but it is rare that i am experiencing 2ºF/ -16ºC like it was this morning! i could hardly believe it. i’m from a place where it snows about once a year and that snow is duly celebrated, and then the next day or day after next, it all melts away. so imagine my happiness at a full week of snow– such a strange but welcome phenomenon! starting on the very first moments of the new year, it snowed and has…
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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…
