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a tree blooms in žižkov
žižkov is one area of prague that i never really got to know on a personal level. it’s supposedly got the most pubs per capita of anywhere in the world and is well known as a place where expats congregate and live because of cheaper rents and um, said pubs. my prague expat existence never included ol’ žižkov as i was swept from crumbling kolbenova to plush malá strana in one day (and ohhh, what a day it was). but a part of me can’t help like i missed out on the experience, with our schmancy st. nicholas cathedral and trdelník on demand (well, we were pretty broke then; i…
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where i’m from & why i left
before i got my ire up to buy a one-way ticket to the european continent in may 2012, i knew deep inside that living in seattle was not a permanent situation; at least not at the moment. i spent eight years trying to find my own path there while slowly discovering and eventually learning to love washington state’s largest city. staying was never exactly part of my plan, but it seemed like what i was resigned to. i took a job there after college in 2008 as a barista that i knew i could easily quit when my plans to live abroad started to materialize…. but the thing is, they…
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cafe day
as we had no plans for most of friday, we deemed it a “cafe day”… this means that the main event of the entire day is going out to one of my favorite cafes in the afternoon, like le chat noir. and cafe days are just so special. for that hour (or two), it’s like i’m on holiday and i’ll order whatever beverage that tickles my fancy at the moment, like this foamy cappuccino, and just relax and take in the old world viennese style surroundings. cafe days are also excellent for having really important conversations about life. the conversations you can’t quite have at home because there’s always internetlaundrydinnerpreparationvideogames or some…
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calm before the storm
mild sunny days mixed with rainy cloudy ones, but the latter still seem anything but gloomy. i see the peace in them, especially on a quiet friday morning to myself with an over-sized mug of chai with milk and honey and a big bowl of oatmeal (my favorite, banana with cinnamon and chia seeds) topped with dried cranberries, walnuts, and brown sugar. these rare rainy sort of days we don’t often see in south bohemia make me feel so peaceful, calm and relaxed. i really don’t miss the rain too much and moving here to a sunnier climate has been really lovely. sometimes months pass without a drop of rain,…
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ways in which i’ve become more czech
i’ve lived here almost two and a half years and i’m sure i have a long way to go if i would really like to be more “czechified”, but some of these things i couldn’t help but notice… tolerance. you those new yorkers depicted in various films (like this one above, midnight cowboy) that yell at cars and say things like, “EY! i’m walkin’ ‘ere!” that was so me in seattle. four years of working in the heart of the retail downtown (from early mornings and swing shifts) had hardened me. i had seen a lot of things… and dodged a lot of cars. (but nowhere is the driving worse than…
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march noms
this past week, having almost half of my lessons cancelled for all kinds of different reasons, i had time. oh, sweet time. and i embraced it: long-ish yoga sessions, walking to lessons across town instead of taking the bus because of the sunny spring weather and the want to get moving a little bit more as we get closer to spring. but my favorite way to celebrate a nice relaxing weekday? make a weekday cake! i adored this weekday cake (raspberry ricotta) of molly’s– very moist and took less than thirty minutes to whip up! just as she described herself, there is something that makes you feel really put together…
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living without stuff, pt. III
this is the third in a series of posts titled living without stuff recording the personal progression of a girl in her mid-to-late twenties to living with very few belongings over a period of over two and a half years (and counting). if you’re just tuning in, i’m cynthia, a girl who i packed up only the most practical clothes i owned that could comfortably not so comfortably fit in a backpack when i work-stayed across scotland, eventually hopping over to the mainland to decide what i was going to do next (which unbeknownst to me at the time, was take the TEFL and settle in central europe). as i…
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march, lately
001. a rain-soaked main square002. vincentka. czech mineral water and apparent secret cure of everything that ails you003. prague’s beautiful art noveau obecní dům 004. finding this mural of the main square in an empty lot!005. my favorite nábřeží (quay) reminds me a bit of paris 006. doubling down on denim for george harrison’s birthday 007. we’ve passed the hundred day mark! (on our new tea cup chalkboard)008. my winter reading-nook009. alex is locally published! (in cz/en budejovice rag, milk & honey) and some march thoughts! // czech republic, like most of the european continent experienced beautiful sunny 13 degree temperatures during the weekend! this has inspired me to plant some…
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wedding planning from abroad: four months to go
i’ve only been to about five or six weddings in my life. because of this, it’s strange to plan something that i have so little experience with. on one hand, i am able to create a vision of my own that doesn’t exactly follow all of the normal traditions (mostly because i don’t even know what they are!) but on the other hand, some things are kind of baffling. the dresswe are now into the fourteenth month of our engagement. i bought my wedding dress online at about month three. it seemed like a fine idea to me… however, people have since told me i am absolutely crazy for buying…
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zima
zima (winter) thoughts… // since i’ve cooped myself up for the entire month of january planning our honeymoon, i feel ready to get back out into the world and out of my hibernation! the only problem: it’s too damn cold. weeeee’ll see how that goes shortly. twenty one degrees farenheit doesn’t exactly scream “day trip” to me, as much as i’d love to. // finally getting my wedding dress tailored and looking at rings, thanks to a lovely student of mine who has a seamstress friend and knows all the best jewelry stores in town. with the czech koruna the way it’s been lately ($1 = 24.5kc… dear lord, please…
