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říjen / rambles
goodness, i needed a day like today. when half of your classes cancel and so does your czech class, it was a godsend on a day like today when i just couldn’t wake up for several hours. i got in some good paris research (so excited to head there soon!) as well as research for day-trips and slight updates here on the blog, like the destinations page updated with all of the greece pages! you may have caught that i said czech lessons. yep, finally cynthia (and alex) have enrolled in private czech lessons. let’s hope this experience goes better than the first one, but i have every reason to…
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haunted by excess
there is a specter haunting [cynthia in] europe. (and no, this isn’t a spooky halloween tale, although that sounds like a nice idea) more and more, the longer i live outside of the united states, i am noticing a great widening divide. the divide between my political views and that of my family or other people i know. the divide between lifestyles that i consider excessive and that of so many other countries in the world. i have been feeling an increasing amount of animosity between those urban dwellers who live in a rapidly gentrifying area full of micro-breweries, yoga studios, hip new pubs, etc. alex and i had a…
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prague autumn magic
i am totally down with visitors, man. i think if i was in a bigger or more well-known city, i would probably have more friends passing through, so i am pretty much ecstatic when someone comes to visit. enter, long-lost college buddy, monica, who happens to be a fellow seattle to europe expat living in luxembourg! we had so much fun taking her to all of the tasty nom-nom places, wandering old town at night just waiting for that fifteen second “morality play” at the beautiful astronomical clock. climbing major hills for some of the best views over the city. buying halloween costume implements at the costume shop. drinking our…
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the european grocery shopping experience
it all started in berlin, schlepping the goods back from my local kaiser’s at annenstrasse (which i later learned is generally regarded as one of the more fancier, spendier supermarkets in the city) in my canvas tote bag, feeling all so proud of myself for having shopped for myself and able to walk to the store whenever needed every so often to get those weekly or twice weekly groceries for dinner making. and oh, i do have fond memories of those cold, dark autumn months cooking away in my berlin kitchen, making chicken and dumping soup or maybe one of those dr. oetker mozzarella frozen pizzas when i felt lazy…
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things you have to explain when you’re an ESL teacher
a response to the all too true, “11 things you have to explain when you’re an esl (english as a second language) teacher”. number one: “our job is more awkward than yours.”well, if that ain’t the truth. being an english teacher can sometimes seem not so far away from prostitution. your services are in demand, you go back to your place, receive cash afterwards, they leave, the next client comes in. it involves acting like a total extrovert, and oh, there is a load of acting involved. it also involves telling a forty year old man , oh so gently, that the “n word” is not the most acceptable term…
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lately, september
time for coffee chat & catching up! + last weekend (above) was so beautiful and warm that something particularly summery was in order… and what is more summery than a picnic! just to throw a big middle finger to fall and be all, hey, it’s not time for you yet… back off. (alright, i know autumn is creeping on us and i do actually embrace it!) + a strange a wonderful phenomenon has occurred with the changing of the weather into autumn and getting out the cold weather coats for the first time: MONEY! there have been two recent instances within a recent one week span of pulling out a good…
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at summer’s end
so, it’s time to face the cold hard facts that my whirlwind summer of wonder has come to a close. and oddly, i’m pretty okay with it. it has been the hottest and longest feeling summer of my life, and earliest as i technically count it starting when we flew to the united states in late may, for upon our arrival, it was the warmest, most delicious purple evening on fidalgo island and the marine breezes blew in and i was all, “ahhhhhhh, i’m home”. of course, after months of heatwave and knowing all too well what it feels like for sweat to drip down your back (yuk), i am…
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best summer prague day (along the vltava)
as prague is still sort of a winter city to me (scowls, trams, winter coats, and the smell of svařák come to mind) i wanted to make an effort to change that and get to know its lovely summer self this month a bit better. and it has come to my attention that hangin’ by the vltava river for the day is a very good way to spend a breezy summer day. start, for example, at náplavka on a saturday morning… of the markets i’ve seen, náplavka has something reeeeal special, which explains its popularity. the best vegetables that this hot weather could produce, fresh-squeezed juices, some seeeeriously delicious looking single-origin…
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august in bohemia
on the last day of being in athens, i was ready to come back to the czech republic. that sounds kind of awful to write about the last day about your long-awaited honeymoon and i hate to admit it, but the intolerable heatwave had me dreaming of breezy czech august days. getting back to the flat. cooking. getting back to normal. boring stuff like that. fortunately it’s been far from boring. after summer camp, we’ve made it a mission to tick a handful of experiences off of the list. you know, that list you make when you move somewhere of things to do and places to go that you just…
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i heard it at summer camp
ahhhh, summer camp. the obligatory summer job that helps keep the lights on around here in those slower months when people aren’t exactly jumping at the idea of having lessons, but it also brings us great joy… when summer camp is administered in small doses, of course. we almost missed out on summer camp this year entirely because of our back to america travel plans but managed to teach one week of it right after we came back from greece. one thing i love about it, besides tasting all of the czech meals at lunch time, is it’s not so much just teaching as it is hanging out with kids.…
