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three important places
hello friends. this week i’m sharing three important places with you all. funny thing about these choices is that i’ve lived in all three! the place i’ve been that i love the most? i have to say my “second home” of berlin, germany. i’ve written extensively about it and why i love it before, but in a nutshell, berlin is fascinating. i can be easily bored in one place, but there is always something new to discover in this city, not only because it is just so darn HUGE but because it’s ever-changing. it’s a place where you can feel free to do whatever you want without judgement. artists, entrepreneurs, immigrants,…
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café i love: kavárna liberál, prague
i’ve not yet spent a good chunk of time in prague in the spring, so i was overjoyed to find myself there on a warm sunny day with all flowers fragrant and in bloom. we were in holešovice (a district north of the river) to go to the annual holešovice fashion market at the pražská tržnice hall near the river, which was fantastic and super hip– there was bahn mi sandwiches on offer, fancy juice drinks, liquor, single-origin coffees, anything you could hope for. lots of czech fashionistas sitting around smoking, drinking, and people watching… but, we were craving a calmer atmosphere so we took off for heřmanova street to…
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bohemian forest
hello friends! just spent a lovely few easter days staying at a pension by lake lipno and hiking through the bohemian national forest, known here as šumava. this was my big chance to actually get out and explore the country that i find myself living in instead of being swayed by more famous or sexier destinations. in the year and a half i’ve lived in czech republic, i’ve only planned one holiday here… something which needed to be remedied! the šumava forest area is in the south-west corner of the czech republic, hugging the borders of both germany and austria. it’s not only full of beautiful forests but many hills…
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lambcake
on wednesday afternoon after i returned home for the day, i noticed a large white box (with breathing holes… ???) sitting on the kitchen counter. having no idea what to expect, i opened it to reveal this… the most elaborate and precious holiday food creation that has ever been gifted upon us. THE LAMB CAKE. i squealed with equal parts joy and confusion. for a couple days this massive cake (called beránek) has been shrouded in confusion and mystery, until i was discussing czech easter traditions with a student yesterday and i found out that lamb cake is a thing. every mamka and babička makes one… and they simply won’t be stopped. you…
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springy, pt II
i am bursting with love for this spring weather and the new greenery that’s popping up around me every day. it’s the time to start waking up and do all the things you’ve been wanting to do in the long winter months. i love that it’s when things start to happen: the first day of spring, alex’s birthday, easter weekend, the may 1st holiday, and then my birthday. this year i also got to add in a visit from my dad into this line-up. killer view of the square from my dad’s suite at hotel zvon looking at the north entrance to knezka street, the black tower greenery along the…
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what i do differently now
since i’ve recently passed the year and a half abroad mark, i thought i’d share a collection of things i do differently now than back home in the states. some of it is completely out of necessity but some of them are things i might decide to adopt if and when i return. so let’s have a look…. FOOD/COOKING I used a counter-top “dorm” refrigerator for over six months until we upgraded to a medium-sized one last fall. there really wasn’t a freezer so anything frozen had to be consumed immediately. it has been nice for reducing waste- you have to really look at your food more! generally, i have to…
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what a week
they say the hardest part of doing nearly everything is taking the first step, which was last week. this week feels as though the first steps are starting to bud: my first german lesson since 2008 will be next tuesday (!!!) and we met with our chill and laid-back engagement shoot photographer to talk plans for the end of the month. last time i’ve had professional portraits taken was over ten years ago at age 17, so what better time than now to have a go at it again? even if we don’t use these photos for really anything, they will be such a special keepsake of our time living…
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springy
some photos above from last weekend’s “spring fest”: a 20C day that was spent taking strolls around the neighborhood, eating ice cream (and a delicious breakfast of apple oatmeal, as you can see above), and loving life. there is something about the first couple warm days of the year that really instills that life loving feeling in you. this week has generally been really exciting and busy. i bought my wedding dress on monday evening, and the entire dress process was so ridiculously painless that i thought i might be doing it wrong. many ladies go to bridal gown salons with all their best friends so they can help them…
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a conversation
so, i’m standing in the kitchen at my language school, washing a tea mug when a fellow teacher (czech) enters the room. Her: (something in Czech)Me: …….. ?Her: You don’t speak Czech?!?!?Me: No……….. not really.Her: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE? Me: Well, it’s been over a year now…. [By now, it’s safe to say I was feeling extremely sheepish]Her: Well, are you going to learn?Me: I would like to, it’s just… I don’t know how long I’ll be living here for.Her: When will you know?! [She’s kind of a ball-buster, this one]Me: Sometime this spring.Her: It’s spring now!Me: (start to slowly back away) Err… well, definitely by May or…
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march noms
a low-key, windy weekend here in south bohemia: i focused most of my time and effort on planning the epic slovenia trip in june. and have realized, dang, slovenia is AMAZING! a country half the size of switzerland with so much to offer: alps, adriatic beaches, caves, glacial rivers, countryside, karst plateaus, national parks…. i am really looking forward to it. and with the recent acquisition of a blender last month, i tried my hand at making delicious creamy almond milk– a drink which i would buy exclusively instead of milk while living in the states but never have been able to find it here. fortunately, it is so easy…
