Week 49-52 of 2024 (Year in Review) – Year of Life and Travels

Wow, y’all. The year 2024, the year in which I had a one and a half year old to now a two and a half year old was not a great year to try to blog more – big oopsies to try something ambitious as blogging every week but I tend to be the type to say yes to too much, bite off more than I can chew and all that. It’s not for lack of trying! In October things heated up when M stopped napping and I am fairly confident that I say that never in my life have I ever had less free time than I do now.

Although it’d be nice to have had the kind of free time I enjoyed a decade ago (remember 2014 and just crankin’ out those posts?), I’ll still continue to post when I get the urge to say something. Lots of thoughts rattling around in the old noggin about raising a third culture kid and trying to do it the best I can.

So, as one does at the end of the year, let’s take a wee look back on this slow and lovely year that was. A look back at “Life & Travels” as I used to call it…

I actually like January now, is that strange? We enjoyed nice snowy days (stillll waiting on that first sticky snow this winter!). I got a haircut, made a list of all the reasons why I like January now and started a great mind/movement program (Feminine Leadership) from Living Yolates that truly inspired and got me through the winter. If I hadn’t already taken the entire 12 week program, I would for sure do it again, and maybe will sometime? Inspired by visiting the public library’s children’s section a lot in my Washington hometown the summer before, I finally walked in to sign up for a library card and we have been enjoying it all year long, so very much. My nose was in my German textbooks, my eyes were watching Oscar nominated films as every January and most of my time was hanging out with my cutie one-and-a-half-year-old who was just starting to go on walks outside our building for the first time.

February was mostly about wintery trips to Dívčí kámen, Valentine’s Day dates (and copying Meg Ryan’s look in When Harry Met Sally) and celebrating Lunar New Year. It was an incredibly mild February, weather-wise, and winter had already been done doing its thing by mid-January. This month I was also preparing to go back to work for the first time in twenty months! (Admittedly, I was embarassed to admit that to my American friends) Although I had a few hours of private freelance work since Mouse was three months old, this is the first time I went to a specific place of work alone to teach a class, one full morning per week, and it felt like a slightly big deal! I had been mentally readying myself six months before (at least) and was looking forward to getting back to it. I saw a fantastic concert (always love seeing Lenka Dusilova!), we went to Pisek (to Sladovna) and saw the first little purple crocuses popping up over by Hajecek. I cooked a lot from the Toddler Healthnut Cookbook and the Solid Starts Lunch/Dinner Cookbook this winter, very focused on finding delicious baby-led-weaning meals that everyone would enjoy. My little one received a belated Christmas present – the kids Ikea armchair to match my yellow one and it was and continues to be to this day socute whenever he decides to sit there.

I enjoyed a week full of culture: reading philsophy texts, going to the opera by myself (to see die Zauberflote, or Mozart’s Magic Flute) and going to an incredible evening of Icelandic musicians performing for us right here in Budejovice in March. I may or may have not stood in line at the grand opening of the first Starbucks in Budejovice at Mercury shopping center (if you want to know why on earth I would do that sort of thing, you will find that here). Mid-month we had ourselves a lovely little spring break in Vienna and stayed in a beautiful fifth-floor flat in Funfhaus/Sechshaus which had a balcony that my son enjoyed running to-and-fro across which scared the bejeezus out of me every time. We went to all our favorite Austrian/Vienna places (Demel, Akakiko, Trzesniewski’s) and enjoyed the fair weather and signs of spring in the big city, catching the beginning of the Easter markets on our way out.

We also had such a beautiful Easter and Little Mister’s first Easter egg hunt. We did a long hike around Svet pond (in Třeboň) using our backpack-style hiking carrier and quickly realized that we got all tired out from the 3-4 hour walk but our toddler was bursting with energy from having sat or slept the whole time! Lesson learned on that one.

April brought the first warm days of the years when I and all the other toddler-moms scrambled to find reasonably-priced summer sandals for their kid. We celebrated Alex’s birthday at the grand opening of the new La Cukrarna desserterie and, not that it was my birthday, but it is so fun to crash someone else’s party when it’s your birthday and have your own little birthday party that you can leave whenever you want! Best idea. Loads of garden parties, first festivals of the year, the typical April basking in the warmth of the much-missed sun outdoors as much as possible and enjoying the balcony again. I was so tired of my summer wardrobe before the season even began and did a huge spring shop. (noteable enough because I almost never do this?)

May brought thunderstorms and gloomy skies, but even so, I booked somewhere fancy-schmancy to spend my early May birthday in the very heart of Cesky Krumlov. Even as a tourist back in 2006 on my first time there I had never stayed so directly in the center, right below the castle. It felt luxurious, even if the weather did not! In keeping with that tone, this year’s Majales festival was nearly rained out, but we gave it a good effort and enjoyed it while we could. I think I liked Mother’s Day even better than my birthday — coffee (obviously), hanging out at the river beach bar/playground, visiting the garden store and loading up our pram of geraniums and other flowers for the season and sunshine.

As usual in May and June, lots of choir concerts, bringing me to tiny village chapels and festivals in the middle of nowhere, South Bohemia, which is always fun. Our choir was a part of Oda na me mesto, a very special event bringing together many choirs and orchestral groups and musicians in Budejovice, written and created by professionals from the Jihoceske divadlo (South Bohemian Theater). To be a part of this amazing project – an original song with Budejovice-centric lyrics to the tune of “Ode to Joy”, the product of many rehearsals and then performed at a neighborhood block party-style festival as a love letter to the city was a poignant moment for me. I think perhaps the moment that eventually sparked my last post. The moment I realized that, even as a foreigner, this is (actually) my city, too. I am a part of this just as much as anyone else there, even born and raised, and performing this love song to other Budějčáci was really special. I am still so honored and grateful to have been a part of it with my group.

Our little one turned two and we took that show to the zoo – the first time I think he actually was online enough to enjoy it. Pro tip: Go to the zoo on a rainy spring day because all the animals will, oddly, probably be out. The second time in a row his birthday has been pouring with rain, which is funny because his day of birth couldn’t have been more sunny and gorgeous.

I love going somewhere on the first day of the month – it’s just a really cool way to set the tone for a month, don’t you think? Exactly what I was thinking when we sped off to KVIFF (the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival) for the umpteenth time… with my son willingly napping in his pram on the way there! Like, he decided he was sleepy and it would be a good idea. I always love being in Vary buth this trip was a little too busy for us this year… and a bit exhausting, but with some notes and ideas for next time on how best to do it with a dog and toddler. We always end up staying on the dang hill about Divadelní náměstí for some reason, but the reward is the impeccable hilly views from our window.

Our little guy also went to his first summer camp with us! I went back for the first time after having a baby to teaching at the summer camp part-time and Mouse enjoyed being there so, so much with the kind children who were excited to play with him and include him in their fun. He still talks about it. It’s a little bittersweet that we aren’t having our traditional summer camp this year (as we’re all taking a little break from it) but I sincerely hope we will all decide to restart it when he comes of age to participate as a full-time camper.

And did I mention we finally bought a fan? These Central European summers are growing more and more brutal every year… (just remember who pioneered the original “cool-cation”, thank you very much)

We spent the end of July in Berlin! Not many things, oddly, feel super surreal but bringing our two-year-old son to the city where I studied abroad in 2007 and taking him to the burrito joint where I used to go eat with my friends or a playground in the neighborhood where I used to live on the Mitte/Kreuzberg border… it was incredibly dream-like. As it was near impossible to find both a dog-friendly and toddler-friendly accommodation, we ended up staying in Karow, a neighborhood on the very northern outskirts of the city which had its pros and cons. A cute little cottage and lovely garden, but farsofar away from all the fun. We did take advantage of being so close to the lakes to the north and spent a day at Wandlitzersee. Bit by bit trying to visit as many Berlin/Brandenburg lakes as is possible.

The beginning of August brought a trip to the North Sea coast– our big summer trip. We took the train to Flensburg (which ughhh, the Deutsche Bahn construction of summer 2024 was absolutely terrible to deal with on this trip, wish I had been warned) and then thankfully rented a car from there to the coast. We stayed directly on the German-Danish border for eight days on a farm (it was so agricultural in this area) and every day poked around both the German side and Danish side of the border. I will maintain that the best summer trips involve renting a car and then just staying in one place for over a week and exploring at your leisure, or just chilling. My favorite spot from this trip was Rømø island, Denmark where we spent two days at the incredible Lakolk beach (one of the biggest in Europe).

On the way home we stopped for a couple nights in Senftenburg (Eastern Germany) to break up the long trip between the North Sea coast and southwestern Czech Republic to have a chill day by the pool. I have to admit here that I read the bus schedules wrong before booking this accommodation and completely relied on the kindness of the owners of the resort to both pick us up at the train station and drop us off. They are the nicest and this little resort was so cute.

At the end of the month we explored Pisek (city about an hour north of us) to visit our friend Marketa & her kiddos. I’d been to Pisek a handful of times but forgot it was so fantastic in the summer… and the most epic childrens’ section of a library I think I’ve ever witnessed. Run, don’t walk, to the Pisek Public Library, for real. The month closed out with the annual “end of summer” city festival which we rarely get to go to anymore because of our USA summer trips so it was nice to really soak it up, the whole weekend long.

I also wore all my best tiny sundresses to beat the heat and even started jogging in the mornings sometimes! (this lasted a month until Alex went back to work but even so, I’m still proud of that!)

In September we were bent on enjoying every last one of our summer vacation days all together before Alex started work again, which took us to the zoo (always the zoo) and Divci kamen to splash around in the creek near Hamr. I drank my first PSL from the newly-opened Starbucks near my house (so weird how we’ve gone from no Starbucks for 11 years to suddenly two Starbucks in Ceske Budejovice) after truly a summer of chocolate cream cold-brew (the best drink). We celebrated the autumn equinox and enjoyed that perfect time of dimness during the evening at this very specific time of year (end of September/early October) when you can eat dinner by candlelight. It’s so fleeting but beautiful.

I think I’ve never made pumpkin muffins more time than I did in October. I voted by mail, went to the Alšova gallery to see that fantastic “trees” exhibit with art from the Belvedere in Vienna (ahh, it was good) and did all the outdoor things with my little family as the weather would hold out until the very last day of the month, as if on purpose, just keeping October nice and warm. I took my little one out and around with me to all the playground and cafes as usual, relishing my time off with him as I started two mornings a week at work (up from one morning a week the previous semester) and even successfully convinced him to nap on the couch with me a few times after he quit napping mid-month, sending me into a several week-long freakout of “what do I do now?”, but isn’t that the nature of having a child – nothing ever really stays the same. I spent all month working on my Halloween costume every time I got some alone time, and unveiled it at a Halloween party and was pretty freakin’ proud of myself. She back, baby! We spent Halloween at a friend’s and had such a fun time doing Samhaim crafts, lighting candles, Halloween books and shows… and of course, the damn pumpkin muffins again to close out the month. But they are so good.

Our little Ferdie turned 9 in November and although I had never done it before, I feel more resolved to start celebrating his birthday as he nears double dog digits in age. He is such a sweetie and it’s hard to come to terms that he won’t keep “living forever” and coming with me into old age, or something. I absorbed Iceland Airwaves from afar as always (the live streams were so good this year!) and then my mom came into town from Washington to visit us for two weeks!

We did some fun things like immediately celebrate her birthday, take her to a childrens’ St. Martin’s lantern festival, shopping at the mall, and of course, she went with me to all of our weekly appointments and events, like Mouse’s swim class. Even though it was one week early, we celebrated Thanksgiving together on Thursday, the 21st of November (because I think you can definitely celebrate Thanksgiving if it’s in the “twenties”!) and it was so fun to have a family visitor for this day, capped by the first Christmas market of the year. We had a fun little trip into Vienna (also to take advantage of the gorgeous Christmas markets) before we saw my mother off back to the USA. Even though Rathausplatz is fun for Christmas, it has got so much more crowded over the years than my first visit. I really enjoyed the wares for sale at the Belvedere Palace more. Our little one still fondly speaks of “Vie-nenna” and the time he got to drink punch outside at nighttime.

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving again a week later with American friends, so honestly, November was one of my favorite months of the whole year this go around.

We kicked off December with a choir concert in which I sang a solo for “Amazing Grace”. I spent November struggling with this solo (which I was asked to do), to be honest, because it’s far too high for my vocal range and I would’ve never chosen the song or to do it, and I’ve never had a bigger vocal-related challenge in my entire life, honestly or ever struggled performing anything, so it was huge to spend weeks finally overcoming this block and be able to do it and do it well.

Mouse had his first visit with Mikulas on St. Mikulas (Nicholas) Day at a childrens’ party. Even though he was nervous, I carried him up to Mikulas, waiting at the front of the room with the Angel (Andel) and the Devil (Certik), and he said “ahoj” and “dekuju” as he received a gift. I am, honestly, proud, for a kid who didn’t know what Mikulas was the day before.

I spent the whole month enjoying our lovely Christmas market here in Budejovice but apparently the word has now gotten out about it because it is constantly packed. The only time it wasn’t was, like, one o’clock on a Tuesday or something. I enjoyed sneaking off in the evenings to watch a jazz ensemble or whatever was playing on stage and Mouse loved riding the little carousel and literally anytime he could be there, especially at night. How many times did I hear, “Can we go outside at night?” And do what? “Go to the Christmas market?” 😀 I took my thermos coffee tumbler everywhere, baked St. Lucia buns on St. Lucia Day and spent what felt like every damn weekday evening that I had any free time finishing up Christmas shopping. Uff-da. But it was so worth it and we had a beautiful Christmas time.

We opted to stay at home this year – hosted a family Christmas party, went to see the zoo lights, enjoyed the charming little Christmas market in Hluboka and lit a candle for my dad (he would be 70 on Christmas Eve), baked all the different kinds of cookies and watched great movies (even though Home Alone is one of my favorites of all time, I think I liked watching Die Hard more??)

My favorite Christmas moment was baking cookies and preparing a special Christmas Eve dinner during a couple free hours to myself and listening to the annual King’s Chapel concert from Cambridge on BBC. How I love the reverence and stillness of this evening.

The MVP of 2024

Coffee. Other than my child, I think I appear in photos more with a cup of coffee than anything else and I think that says a lot about the year 2024.

Other things I liked in 2024

The new Alkaline trio album. The movie Poor Things. Getting a handle on my grief journey. Obviously, Eurovision. Watching the Euro Cup! Days with my little one in which we leave the house in the morning and don’t come back til later in the afternoon and anytime I could be outside.. Getting a cute haircut. Inviting people over more often. Going to see a favorite band (by myself) and dancing my booty off with a bunch of strangers. All the good books. Doing yoga outdoors by myself. Scheduling in online Czech lessons when I had a free evening and the ire. Singing all the time, especially to my son. Small joys, especially a hot cup of tea or aforementioned coffee and sitting at the kitchen table for over an hour. My child letting me nap on the couch sometimes while he played independently. Seasonal reading. Every moment of being in Vienna.

It was a quietly lovely year and I know I’ll look back very fondly on all of it one day.

This year, in 2025

“Perfect is the enemy of good enough.” – my mantra for this year

I mentioned a lot of my ideas for the future in my last post, but it’s just a miracle we’re still blogging in 2025, hey. I don’t think I’ll ever have less free time than I will at this particular moment but I hope to pop in if something’s on my mind or I want to share a little bit!

This year we’re planning to go to the USA in the summer for a long and relaxing visit, two years worth of beach and nature visits packed into several weeks and maybe visiting some family and friends we didn’t see in the past couple years. My brother is getting married! And we will be celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary in the place where we got married which I am very excited for.

Other than this big trip, I have it high on my list to take a “fancy-ish” tropical vacation! We’re still thinking about and planning out the year so let’s see where it takes us.

So it’s done! My half-assed attempt to chronicle every week of the year didn’t bode the best but I actually finished it. I’d love to try this again some year that I actually have time.

A heartfelt thank you for sticking with me and reading this space, and your comments and emails, even if I sometimes forget to reply to them. I definitely read each one and try my best to get to it! Something about social media feels a bit soulless and it’s nice to have a place I’ve created on the internet that has nothing to do with that. Wishing you all the best in the New Year. If tradition has it right, a Books of 2024 post will hopefully drop before the month is out!