our pho experience

today matt and i decided to head a little ways away on the outskirts of prague to a vietnamese market called sapa. we saw anthony bourdain on no reservations go to a place around there to eat pho. whenever i see someone eating it on tv i always want some. we walked into this place called pho something or other. we stuck out like sore thumbs. none of the people working spoke english, which i didn't expect anyhow. a lady handed us a menu with three options- 1,2, or 3. we ordered 1 and 2 not having a clue what we were getting.

we were served:

• a bowl of shredded lettuce, bean sprouts, and basil
• a dish of lemon slices and chili pepper pieces
• 2 dishes of seasoned soy sauce or something like that
• 2 bowls of rice noodles
• 2 bowls of seasoned broth
• 1 plate of some hot meat
•  another place of some other cold meat
• and 2 small empty bowls.

we should've ordered only 1! it was a lot of food. we assumed we had to just put everything in the small bowl little by little and eat it up with chopsticks. i tried spying on other tables to see if we were doing it right. there was a big party of vietnamese men sitting beside us drinking shots of finlandia vodka and obviously very loud and talkative as a result. they had already finished eating so we couldn't spy on them.  

anyhow, the pho was delicious. it was really filling. i would've really enjoyed chicken or tofu more, but i don't think it was on the menu. oh well.  glad we went!

4 day weekend; europeans love their "holidays."

little draha gone wrong

my alarm wakes me up at 5am. i go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, put some clean clothes on, and blow my nose a thousand times. the three of us walk out our apt door, down 83 steps, and walk through the 40 degrees to tram 17. we get off and take our time to find our way to the metro to meet our lawyer, drahamira.

we arrive around 6:05, 5 minutes late, and there she is, waiting on the other side of the platform of the train. we walk underground to get to her. she says "my car is litt-ul because i am litt-ul". oh little draha stands about 4 foot 10 inches. we head to bratislava, slovakia. it took about 3 hours. we arrive at the embassy to find out that draha did not make appointments for us to apply for our visas. ugh. she argues to try and get us in, but it just wasn't happening. you could tell she felt bad. we assumed she had made appointments. now what? today is our 89th day here, and you can only stay up to 90 days without a visa. 

well, we're all hungry by now. it's about 11am and we go to a brazilian restaurant called rio. it was nice. she paid for our lunches cause she felt bad for messing up. we walked around the center for a few minutes in the drizzling rain... then headed back to prague. she found out she could only make appointments between the hours of 1 and 2, so at 12:58 she called and they turned her down. she giggled in embarrassment and then called a couple minutes later. she got an appointment on november 10th and told us she could go without us this time as long as we give her our passports and permission. phew, let's see how this will work. apparently she is going to fib and say we were in london with her which gains us a few extra days on our stay in the "shengen zone". i have no idea if that will work or not, but i just hope when she goes that we will get our visas without getting in trouble or whatever.

so, our day consisted of being in another country for approximately 2 hours. 

fun.

you can find a few photos of our failed trip on facebook.

just the two of us

while the roommates were away in vienna, this weekend was kind of all about matt and i.

our weekend(which went by way too quickly):

friday nite we had dinner at orange moon, a thai restaurant. then we went to a place called the prague beer museum which was of course more for matt than me. they have 30 beers on tap. i tried the raspberry beer and he had some american lager and an IPA.

on saturday the weather was beautiful. we decided to walk around outside. we walked alongside the river, saw the lennon wall again, and ate at such a yummy place called cukrkavalimonada(sugar, coffee, lemonade). we shared homemade pasta and an elderberry mint lemon drink. then matt had hot chocolate and i had a cappucino and we shared the apple cake with almonds. mmm i am already craving to go back there. here's a review about it in someone's blog with photos.

our drinks

afterward we walked through the old town of prague and there was, as usual, some sort of festival happening. all these vendors selling amazing smelling food and whatnot. i wanted it all. well, mostly just the cheese stand.

today we scheduled to take a boat ride through "little venice" of prague, but it was cold, windy, and cloudy, so we canceled, made pancakes then saw eat, pray, love instead. i really liked it! the soundtrack was so good. i love julia roberts & javier bardem.

....since we finished all of mad men, we started up on breaking bad. oh geez- we're already on the second season.

now i'm just relaxing in our freshly washed sheets(which took all day to dry since we don't have a dryer, mind you) and dreading waking up at 5am to drive to bratislava to apply for our visas. it might be awkward driving 5 hours with our lawyer who doesn't speak much english. we'll see.

wish us luck. <3 goodnite all.

and i leave you with this...

composing

so i guess on monday we're going to the embassy in slovakia to apply for our visas. it's silly how they make you go out of the country just to do that. i dunno. i'm not a big fan of all these laws. it's going to cost a lot of money. somewhere between 800-1,000 dollars for all of this. the rules are strict, and there is a lot of paperwork involved. i just hope it all goes through without problems.


i am getting a bit homesick. i miss my family a ton and friends as well. i miss driving a car... and knowing where to find exactly what i need. i'm adjusting, don't get me wrong, but it's only natural at this point. it has been almost 3 months since i've been gone, and if i had the money to go to florida for a visit, i would, but i'm pretty sure when i buy a ticket to the united states- it'll be 'cause i'm moving back to the united states. there's no constant in my mind right now. i'm finding it extremely difficult to stay/live in the moment. i know it's important, but all i keep thinking about is what's next for me. what state?


i was talking with my brother iam earlier and said i am here to gain some experience outside of the box. i really mean that. i gotta stick with it, stick it out, adapt. i'm in europe and i know not everyone gets that kind of opportunity... or you do and you don't realize how crazy you are to pass it up! i am so glad i took this leap and i am here with who i am with.


listening to my boyfriend serenade himself on the guitar is rather distracting(in a good way), and i think it may be time to finish mad men season 4. it is just too good.


g'nite :)

my brother leif

he is one of a kind. i love him to pieces. he is an amazing chef interning in denmark at the number one restaurant in the world! noma restaurant

he is in the ny times magazine that came out today. here.

a video to watch on noma: 

i am so proud of him, it's ridiculous. i'm not far from copenhagen... wish i could go out there to see him...

8th day with no hot water or heat....

i a m s o c o l d.

tom cruise ziplining topless

right around the corner from our flat...

 

at a loss

hobbies. i need one. i want to say the truth. which is... i never try to succeed brilliantly at something. i'm not sure why i give up or just stop at a certain point, but it's getting to me.

i  love taking pictures. i had a couple photography classes in highschool. i loved the whole natural process. i told myself i'd continue using a manual camera and developing my own photos, but did i do it? no. i searched delray beach for a darkroom, found one, and never did anything about it.

my mom bought me a guitar for my 8th grade graduation. a pretty little ibanez acoustic. i might've taken a couple lessons? wait did i? no. i might've used the vhs tape that came with it. the guy with long hair, using his soft voice to talk about chords. his cat sitting behind him only distracted me. it ended up just being a decoration in my house. it sat underneath my spiral staircase in baltimore for four years. (after having it sit in my bedroom in florida for 4 years prior to that.) it got played more by my friends than by me. by far!

i took reading more seriously starting in highschool. i read some kerouac, cummings, and of course murakami. however, my memory is shot. in the moment i enjoy it, but it's sad that during intellectual conversations about authors, i can never contribute. "yeah, i liked that...." is usually all i can say. i had a dry point for a bit, but i've picked up a few books recently such as on relationships  by krishna murti, the book of laughter and forgetting by milan kundera, and now i'm reading another by him called the unbearable lightness of being that i'll hopefully finish today. i have quite a few more in line. my mind needs to continue this, even if it takes me some time to get back into the habit of reading rather than fb-ing. you can imagine.

i kinda want to stop there. if i don't there would be an endless amount of paragraphs about crocheting, massage, and my passion for american sign language even though i know nothing about it.

one day i will be an interpreter.

i'll figure out my niche.

for now, i'll stick to listening to music... and pretending to be a "teacher".

i adore this website! 


p.s. it is freezing in our bedroom. i think there are leaks in the windows. i wish i knew how to turn the heat on... and our hot water broke. so showering has dwindled down. hot tea is my savior for my cold blooded hands.  i had to ask matt to wash my hair yesterday. we had to fill the kettle atleast 5 times to get all the shampoo and conditioner out. i don't want my scalp to freeze so it's the only way...

p.p.s. oh yeah and apparently scenes for mission impossible 4 are being filmed around the corner(literally a block away) from our flat. tom cruise is here.

true romance.

it rained the entire weekend in berlin. that really put a damper on things. we did a pub crawl which was very fun- i must admit. the zoo was pretty fantastic, as was the 'street art'.

parts of the berlin wall 

street art on our alternative tour 

elephants at the zoo :) 

i want to go back and see it again, see more. i still think prague is just so beautiful above all places i've seen so far.... today we all visited the castle.

todays view

i got another job... i'll teach 4 11ish yr olds on mondays, and i'll teach a preschool class on fridays. whew. now onto datenite...

cappuccinos out and cooking dinner at home. caprese salad, sauteed string beans, and baked bread with goatcheese :) mmmm....