winter, unplugged

temperatures here in southwestern czech republic have hit probably the lowest that i can remember since we moved here. three years ago living in prague, i remember some cooooold temps but it is rare that i am experiencing 2ºF/ -16ºC like it was this morning! i could hardly believe it. 

i’m from a place where it snows about once a year and that snow is duly celebrated, and then the next day or day after next, it all melts away. so imagine my happiness at a full week of snow– such a strange but welcome phenomenon! starting on the very first moments of the new year, it snowed and has been snowing here and there into january, but last saturday we got a big dumping.

(en route from the post office, where i picked up my new book!)
sunday provided a full day of winter delight as it snowed morning ‘til night; big fluffy flakes. i was a bit stressed out that day with “my schedule is too insane!” thoughts, but i forced myself to get out on an “afternoon constitutional” and play a little. how can the bright white snow do anything but improve a stressful mood? 

monday was a bit easier to take in with all of the beautiful fresh snow and the token “mr. bean” car that’s usually parked on kostelni street.

on tuesday, our internet went kaputt (could it be from the extremely cold temps?) which is not completely unusual around these parts. in fact, i have a few unplugged posts purely about what i get up to when the internet goes down… ain’t talking about an acoustic mtv show here.

it’s sort of a love-hate thing though, because it sure made for three solid days of productive book reading! (trip planning for march and yoga, though, took a sad, neglected, backseat). it’s truly amazing and really shows just how much of a time suck (for better or worse) the internet is. my new red star light (which i noticed were extremely popular in germany during the holiday season) adds a delightful warm glow to our living room and brightens up the night for book reading. 

which by the way, i’m killing my goodreads goal so far. i think i was just so ashamed to fail the second year in a row that i’ve made it a point to ace it this time around. also helps when all of your books you’ve been on the hold list at the library come in at exactly the same time. bookstravaganza.

a few weeks ago, i had noticed just how beaten up my good ol’ doc marten boots, which are my rock, my bastion of strength in any weather, climage, or situation, were looking lately and discovered a pretty good sized hole on the side! what awful timing. i had this feeling like docs are so indestructible, but clearly with the way i wear shoes, that’s not the case. i have a tendency to wear shoes really hard, not to mention, this is my only pair for cold, wet weather and i really wouldn’t like to go buy some other boots. i’d love to take ’em to a shoe repair shop, but have to wait until a spell of dry weather comes. normally that would be any given week, but we’re in the peak of winter wetness here. argh. 

some winter wonderland shots from around town over the past week… as if budejovice didn’t look beautiful enough without the snow. this photo below, in na sadech park, is actually in the middle of the city, believe it or not!

…and i leave you with this banana chocolate bar my student brought me as we were discussing czech sweets. i was extremely skeptical it would be any good (because, uh… artificially flavored banana candy? fui!) but i was pleasantly surprised by a somewhat marshmallow-y, fruity banana base complemented by dark chocolate. if i was into candy (which i’m not since i can barely stomach high quantities of sugar anymore), i’d probably even buy this myself!