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christmas in st. gilgen, austria
why did i choose to spend christmas time at austria’s wolfgangsee? well, by the beginning of autumn, we hadn’t heard any talk of visitors so i thought it would be a great idea to experience an alpine christmas somewhere. austria, with its close proximity to southern czech republic fit the bill perfectly, especially the salzkammergut area (lake and alpine region near salzburg), which is closer to us than tirol or the other famous alpine regions of the country. we booked a sweet family-owned hotel and christmas was planned! it only took two and a half hours to get to st. gilgen from budějovice (mostly because our driver flew like a…
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my czech expat christmas: guest-posted
today is the first weekend of advent, friends. to me, this means that the christmas markets are open and the tree lighting ceremony happens to be tonight: a wonderful evening of drinking vanočni punč, eating trdelnik, and listening to live music in the old town square. better than a birthday. join me as i gush more about my excitement for this season and explain some czech christmas traditions over on a guest post over on my buddy van’s blog, snow in tromso. she is doing this fabulous “christmas around the world” series featuring a different holiday guest-post every saturday… something i can really get in to! a little change from…
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prahably, october
we were in prague for the weekend under the pretense to take in the signalfest– a newer festival in only its second year a little bit like berlin’s festival of lights. however, the whole deal with signalfest is that it’s only over a couple days instead of a couple weeks and the projections are actually short films (around 5 minutes long), projected on famous prague landmarks and incorporating the architecture playfully into the film as well as some almost 3D effects. so, signalfest was pretty cool. except that prague was packed. i mean, to the gills. thousands of tourists descended upon the city for the weekend and it was near…
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lately, october
i am in an adjustment period. last week was the first week of my new fuller, busier reality: a huge load of lessons that i happily took upon myself in a measure to save money for both our alpine christmas holiday, the big wedding, and associated costs with visiting the united states year for almost two months on the czech crown, which right now is even weaker than usual against the dollar after most european economies took a bit hit last week on the global market. sigh. on the plus side: now is a great time to travel in europe if you make north american money. the weather is good…
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show me your neighborhood
have you ever wanted to take a peek into the neighborhoods’ of others all around the world? i do and i love seeing where other people live. finally it’s my turn to show you my current neighborhood in české budějovice, czech republic (where i’ve been since january 2013) through the show me your neighborhood around the world project. the rules state that i must include photos of these six things: a school, a typical method of transportation, a playground, a supermarket, a street nearby, and a typical house or building. the thing i like most about living in budějica is that everything i need is so central and that i can walk to work…
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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…
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september noms
it’s the time of the month that i talk about what tasty goodness i have been creating! even for all of the budget measures that had to be taken, we have done quite well for ourselves.last night, knowing it would be my last very free evening of the week, i went on a three hour cooking “bender”. (woooooo) i turned on a couple of podcasts (rick steves, this american life) and finally prepared my second annual kimchi canning, this time with almost two kilograms of delicious spicy cabbage. last year i made one jar and it lasted until spring with no problem! looking forward to eating even more delicious fermented…
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broke as a joke: the $35 grocery challenge
i mentioned at the beginning of september that this month is typically known as the month of austerity measures. this is because we return home from our august travels, each year seemingly bigger than the year before it, and realize we have not budgeted properly to get by normally the following month. (we’ll get there one day) it doesn’t help that the first payday post-vacation is early october. so, it was time for drastic measures. i instated a $35-40 grocery store challenge (two people, one week) last monday. before the big trip (everyone’s favorite discount market, LIDL to be the store of choice), i carefully planned cheap but healthy items to…
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září/september
september is here again in south bohemia. all the little kiddos are scrambling around with their new backpacks and school supplies and the leaves on the trees in na sadech park are just beginning to turn the slightest hint of orange. just like my hair has! this may be a fluke and i may need a couple more weeks to correctly prove this, but people here in budĕjovice seem to be friendlier lately. i cannot for sure tell if this is czech republic smiling upon me after my grand return from summer trips abroad (reason one), everyone has been in a good mood these days (reason two), my own good mood…
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two years abroad
so, that snuck up on me. just back from my extended trip to realize that today is my two year europe-versary. two years abroad, two years since the day we came across from toronto to glasgow (ah, we were like wee bairns then), unsure of what the future would be like here in europe. well, far better than i could’ve expected, for starters. i never would’ve dreamed i could live as good (or better) in a small czech city than i did in a massive american metropolis. and when things are going good, why mess with it? we are really enjoying life in europe and are keeping an open mind…
