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language learning goals this year
hi, all! january is treating us pretty nicely around here although there is none of that typical lovely january snow thing that usually occurs right about now. even though the days are dark and short, i’m feeling kind of pumped right now. the dust has finally settled after the holidays and all of the decorations are put away, leaving only the space for something new. that is really exciting to me. sure, i’m pretty stoked about the arrival of longer days and more light (because i am just such a day/light/warm temperature person), but i’m happy there’s still loads of time to cuddle up with books and cups of tea.…
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a year of life & travels: 2017
today is new year’s day and it’s time for a recap of last year! it was another great year of being based in southwestern czech republic, feeling like home both here and back in my home country (and realizing that “home” is just a construct), and going to some magical places. let’s revisit them, shall we? i changed the title of this year’s post to “life & travel” because, as i learned last year, travel isn’t everything and it is also important to capture what else was going on in one’s life. although for this post, it still remains the focal point. (don’t worry) so without further ado…. in january, we…
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year of dog
this post is in honor of our dearest ferdinand, our long-haired miniature (rabbit) dachshund whom we adopted one year ago this week! i’ve only written one other post completely dedicated to him so far, one month of dog, all about that first difficult but wonderful month. i suppose i hadn’t written much else between then and now because i knew there was and was to be a lot of learning that would take place in the time between then and now – not only for him, but with us. in fact, the most surprising thing about this first year with ferdie has been the amount of learning that needed to…
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the expat’s guide to christmas away from home
i can barely believe that this is already my sixth holiday season away from home. at first, spending christmas in europe was an absolutely fantastic and magical thing and i couldn’t have been happier! the christmas traditions here are beautiful and even more elaborate than i can remember from childhood. however at about year four, i noticed it started getting a little harder; perhaps the sheen had dulled ever so slightly. despite not being home (again) for christmas and being away from my dear family and friends, i am a die-hard forever merry christmas celebrater and i wanted to share with you how you can make this upcoming holiday season…
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november, lately + pumpkin miso soup (recipe)
i have been having the worst time putting words on paper (er, screen) lately. i suppose this is the teacher’s busy time of the year and i continue to take on so much, that i forget to take time. i consider this a big “life lately” dump so i can start fresh and start recording more of the day to day stuff. going back almost two weeks ago to halloween – we had a great one. alex and i reprised our costume from six years ago (our first halloween together) as wayne and garth from wayne’s world and it almost went even better than the first time. we like to utilize halloween as…
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autumn dreamland
one thing i really like about living in české budějovice is its proximity to some pretty interesting places. we are only two hours from both prague to the north and linz, austria to the south. of course, because of international public transport tariffs, prague is by far the more affordable place to head of the two when you’ve got a free day and wanna soak up some big(ger) city lovin’. especially if you are a loyal české dráhy (czech trains) customer like i am and rack up enough points on the regular to earn free train tickets (public service announcement: if you live in the czech republic and frequently travel…
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yoga journey thus far
you know what is super daunting? moving to another country in a city where most people don’t speak english and trying to join normal activities that involve group classes. when you want to do all of those normal people things you used to do that get just a tad bit more complicated in your new environment. the past few years before this big adventure abroad, i had only merely dabbled in yoga but i knew i wanted more. i used to go every so often to a beautiful studio in ballard (seattle), and i wanted to continue this venture while vagabonding across europe in 2012 and finally settling in the…
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lately, september
when you have too much to write about and get behind with recording life’s happenings that you just don’t even know where to start anymore so you don’t post. sound familiar? well, it’s finally time to talk about september & all recent life things here in south bohemia! it’s clear to me now from my post earlier this month that i was hur-ting. still getting over a serious bout of homesickness involved with leaving washington, i was not over it. it took about two weeks or so but everything found itself back to normal here in budejovice. fortunately early september brings fun markets and happenings like the annual vltava žije…
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back from USA + 10 things i love about home
hi friends, happy september. i feel like i’m just guiltily creeping back to writing after being m.i.a. for about a month because holy heck, it’s been a month. i’ve been back in the czech republic for just a couple days now and errrmahgerd, i am still jet-lagged as a mofo – this has got to be one of the worst instances of it i can recall. (case in point: it’s 9:15am on a saturday morning and i’ve already read, taken the dog out, had breakfast, read some blogs, then lounged around while loudly complaining about how tired i am) we just completed a five week trip across four states, and…
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july things
hello all! i’ve been a bit of a summer camp haze for a little while, but i got up today and realized that it is july twentieth and it weirded me out a lot. my favorite month full of all thing summer and fun is flying by! you know what i got up to at the very beginning of the month, in karlovy vary! i spent an uneventful independence day (because, let’s be honest, it’s usually not so much fun abroad unless you’re traveling or at some kind of expat party). although, one of my favorite fourth of julys so far was spent nine years ago in switzerland at a…
