• Summer

    valentine’s day (& why i’ll always love it)

    valentine’s day is the zenith in an otherwise cold and dark season. it’s nice to feel excited when february rolls around to celebrate this day of love. something i don’t get, however, is why people are so darn stanky about it. i mean, i see why a little bit on social media where everyone is posting photos of their significant other with mushy declarations of love.  to me, valentine’s day is not about just one person and has never been. i will always remember how my parents would surprise me with chocolates and other lovely treats on valentine’s morning every year growing up. or the time that my dad and…

  • czech culture,  South Bohemia,  Spring

    tre-bon! & a witchy holiday

    on tuesday, alex and i were invited to celebrate witch’s night with a couple of our students and their families. i don’t think anybody really knows what kind of holiday this is, and almost no one can describe how it came to be like it is. but i do know that it is primarily celebrated in small villages and in the early evening, most of the men in the village help to erect this giant may pole called “maika”. here it is at dusk…. then when the maika is erected, the children burn witch effigies in the bonfire and the men sit around the fire near the maika drinking beer and are…