less than 4 weeks...

...until I move to Barcelona! Woohoo!

Actually, it's exactly four weeks from yesterday...

I learned a new Czech phrase to describe what I'm doing, it's called cutting the meter. Some people only use it as a phrase to decribe counting down (usually from 100) but others actually cut one centemeter off for every day they want to count! I would have had to start counting over 2 months ago to do it properly!

So, in continuation of my favorite thing, cutting the meter, it's also my birthday in less than two weeks! I leave for Barcelona two weeks after my birthday, what a great present.

On a totally unrelated note, the weather here sucks. It was unbelievably hot (and still is in lots of places in Europe) but now it's freezing and grey. Bleah.

It's official

I have been here for one year! Yesterday was my one year anniversary.

It seems so recent and so long ago that I arrived in Prague... Boy, time is funny that way. Here's a picture that I took during my first week.

It was so HOT that week! And the day I took this phot I just wanted to escape the heat a little, so I walked from my hostel down to the river to see if there was a breeze, but nope, it was just as hot there as everywhere.

I got so lost that first week, and weeks after, and now I'll walk by the places I was hopelessly lost in and think, 'huh, I was lost here once.'

It doesn't exactly feel like a long time, but there's so much that's changed...

And in exactly a month from today I'll pick up and move to Barcelona, where I'm sure I'll get lost tons and feel strange, and wander around like a zombie... and a year from now I'll walk by places and think 'huh, I was lost here once.'

Cesky Raj, Part Two

One more photo... This was in a small town where we had a mediocre lunch, but because we're in the Czech Republic we drank great beer!

From left to right: Martin, David, Tomas, Me, Nina

Czech Paradise

Last weekend I went to Cesky Raj (Czech Paradise) with two of my favorite students and my friend Nina. We had a great time. It's a beautiful part of the Czech Republic and so close to Prague! Castles and rocks and rivers, it was great. Here's a photo that Martin's son, David (4 years old) took. Not bad.

I'm on the left, Martin's in the middle, and Tomas is on the right.

I'm bad

So, it's been AGES since this happened and I haven't written about it yet...

Set the scene: AGES ago when my mom was visiting, before I went to Paris...

It was a cool and lovely day in Prague and my mom and I nipped off to have some one-on-one mother-daughter time. After leaving Roger we realized we didn't have any money, so we sat in a park overlooking the river (actually less of a park and more of a wall) and chatted forever. It was lovely. Then we decided it was time to start walking towards their hotel because we had planned on meeting Roger soon.

We were walking along the river and there were lots of tourists walking by and as we were walking by a group of tourists (they looked like tourists because they were all standing ready to have their photo taken, not because they were wearing american flag button down shirts or anything awful) one of them asked me (yep, american) if I could take their photo. "Sure," I said.

And as I was centering this lovely smiling family on the digital screen I realized I knew one of them... It was Krista Kozel who I knew at UNM! I looked up, and said "holy, oh my god, what, Krista??!!" And she was making the same grunting noises with the same expression on her face as I imagine was on mine. Well, I took the photo and after we caught up a little.

Small world, right? I hadn't seen Krista in a zillion years, she looks great btw, and she had no idea I was in Prague, and what are the odds, really? That someone would randomly ask me to take a picture and I would know one of the people, what?! So, that's my story. Sorry it's taken me so long to blog it.

I'm in love

with a search engine! Check out my new love, this one's gonna last, www.stumbleupon.com

Every time I click it I say "aaah", really! Check it out. It's fantastic. Who needs anything else?

Language Exchange

Ok, so I'm procrastinating again, but I found this really great website for language exchange... It's www.italki.com and you can find people to talk with in your chosen language, study buddies and teachers. It's cool, and I'm going to start working on my Spanish, I hope, and Catalan... At least I procrastinate in a sort of useful way.

Better Photo of the People

My friends will be angry if I don't post a photo where they have their eyes open! So, here's a GREAT photo that a woman sitting near us took.

Food Photo

OK, I promised and here it is, the food shot from Cesky Krumlov. Actually the real food shot that I took was blurry--my hand must've been shaking from excitement!
From left to right: Curtis, Adam, Denis, Nina

Two cool websites

First for all of you who like to fantasize about food here's a GREAT site for recipe sharing and stuff: www.grouprecipes.com

Second, for all of you literary chaps out there check out www.mcsweeneys.net

Cesky Krumlov

One of the UNESCO sites, Cesky Krumlov, is a gorgeous castle in southern Bohemia. We went yesterday and had a great time. The castle is completely painted with frescoes and the city itself is a fairytale backdrop with winding streets that are cobbled with irregular stones and really lovely buildings. The Vlatva River, which runs through Prague, twists through the city and looks less like the placid sluggish river that we see in Prague and more like a real river. People were canoing down it, well many of them were doing more drinking and singing than canoing, but it was pretty lively.

We ate at a restaurant that Curtis likes. We ordered a feast for 4 because one of us only had salad, and we got it with chicken and rabbit. Mmm, bunny. I don't know how to put pictures in different parts of the blog yet, but I'll post a picture of the food later.

It was a pretty sweet day even though the weather was cold and windy and we had some travel mishaps at 7.15 AM. Can't complain, really.

Also, it's cherry season in CR and on the walk to/from the train station there were cherry trees with ripe, although extremely sour-I think they were pie cherries, cherries. I love eating fruit that I can pick as I walk.

First Post in My New Home

Well, here goes, from myspace to blogspot. I hope this will be easier for people to see my photos read my ever titillating posts. Thanks Will and Kate for your suggestions, as you can see I took them to heart!
Bits and Pieces

I left my first flat in a swirl of anxiety, my landlady went nuts toward the end of my stay and I got paranoid and thought that she would come into the flat and trash my stuff... So, I called on my people, it's great to have people, and got the last of my stuff moved out one day earlier than I had originally planned. I then spent a blissful night on another friend's couch and moved into my new flat the next day! And here I am.

I'm going to buy myself a plane ticket to Barcelona today. I'm a little afraid to commit.

I'll only have 2 friends left in Prague after next week. My friends Alex and Vicky are leaving this afternoon, my friend Barbara is leaving sometime late next week, and all my other people have already left. Its pretty sad. Good thing I still have my ex-flatmate Nina and Curtis.

I guess that's all. Here's a photo of me and Melissa toasting in Barcelona. I think it's appropriate!