films

we've been watching lots of movies lately... and popping popcorn in a pot on the stove. say that 10x fast. we don't have a microwave... but this way is better and healthier.

movies we've seen lately:

the kings speech (really good.)
animal kingdom (really disturbing. it made me uncomfortable so i didn't really enjoy it.)
black swan(twisted, unexpected... weird.)
blue valentine(ryan gosling is hot, and it was sooo sad.)
somewhere(slow but enjoyable. would have liked to see more of benecio del toro. )
true grit (westerns are not my kinda movies, but the characters of jeff bridges and matt damon were so different  than their usual roles that it caught my interest.)
the ghost writer. (nice lil mystery.)


upcoming films to see...

gasland

need to figure out more...

i'll trade

HIGH FIVE! trading languages

so you know those girls i mentioned that i found on expatz? well, to go back a bit... they posted an ad a week or two ago to trade czech lessons for english. i responded to it, and they responded back about meeting up, but then nothing else was said. the girl got back to me tonite apologizing cause she's been sick and i'm meeting them on monday at friends, one of my favorite coffeehouses. 

i'm kinda nervous, but really excited!

(i don't know how fair of a trade it is since i don't know czech. haha....)

andy warhol

time to visit an art gallery. 

andy warhol is on display here in prague at the dvorak sec contemporary gallery  till the 27th.

(i didn't realize his parents were born in slovakia.)

the exhibit has original black-and-white drawings as well as photographs and documents on his life and family... i am excited to go visit especially cause it's freeeee. 

prague & the language

we are right smack dab in the middle of europe. 

i'm trying, really. i finally got 1-10 down pat (ha ha) people ask me what it's like here... are the people as beautiful as i've heard they are? well, it is like any other city. there are incredibly beautiful people and... just the complete opposite.  there are really welcoming nice people and... really rude people.

j u s t  l i k e  a n y w h e r e.

bums bums everywhere. today i got on the tram and it wreaked of mildew. i looked around and people were all making faces and covering their noses. i noticed a homeless looking man sleeping in front of me. a czech woman tried speaking to me and i knew she was saying something about the smell and the man and i just kept saying "ano ano" (yes) .... and then she kept on talking and i was like, "ne cesky" (my way of saying i don't speak czech). she laughed and understood... i pointed to the next cart and she followed me at the next stop and we ran onto it so we could get away from the smell. it was really funny, to be honest.

a little czech i know (i am spelling them how they sound, not actually how they're spelt.):

yes- uh-no
no- neh
what- soh
sorry-promintay
good-dobry
cheers-nastravi
dobry vecher- good evening
hello- dobry den. (that's formal. if you know the person well, you can say ahoy or ciao.)
goodbye- naskladuno




please & you're welcome- proseem
thank you- daykooyoo or dee-kay or daykwee
do you speak english?- miluvitay anglitsky?
i don't understand- nay rozumeem
still water- voda neperliva

i hear something like "fuck!" all the time. it actually means "really?" in czech. endearing.

this shit is hard! i still don't know days of the week or real phrases. i had a contact on expatz to meet with two girls to exchange english for czech but they never got back to me. i'm going to continue my search to trade languages.

i'll be 25 in about a week..... gasp...
come visit :) we are trying to stay until june...

THIN MINTS

apparently it's girlscout cookie season. i'm sad that i'm not getting sugar highs for weeks on end right now. i really wish i could eat some peanut butter cookies and thin mints here in prague.

what were they thinking?

honestly, what were they thinking while making these? i wonder what's inside... i didn't wanna ask.

ohh.... and spicka translates to "tip of"

sleeping issues

lastnite i told myself to go to sleep by 11. i was in bed all evening, anyway, so i didn't think it'd be that hard of a task. the sleep i had the nite before was just a bunch of tossing and turning so i was eager to get 7 hours atleast. matt and i started watching the old grey gardens documentary(thanks to cheryl.) i had no idea how crazy these women were. it got weird. matt started falling asleep by 10:30 so i turned it off and still felt awake. i couldn't fall asleep. i'm not sure if i ever did. my mind won't shut off. i'm hot then i'm cold...constantly switching blankets. my nose is stuffy... i have to get up and get ready at 6:15am to teach the little ones with sara and iveta....

nope, not happening. i don't really know how much sleep i actually got. i decided to skip out on our class this morning (first time, but still guilty) cause i knew i'd be exhausted and of no help to them if i went. now i'm up at 10am, stuffy and sore throated, hawking up yellow stuff. i'm not feeling too awful, but still somewhat sleep deprived. what's wrong with me? ugh. i need to go renew my transit pass
today. i want sun. i miss you sun, vitamin d, tanktops, and sandals.

no complaints here. just kinda addicted to typing about my life lately. i'm sure the day will get brighter. it is the weekend after all!
maybe i'll catch up on those zzzzzzzzzz's. (nobody sounds like that when they snore........)

the most perfect days, sun and white trees

yesterday:

there was snow on the ground in prague for weeks. it finally warmed up in the 40's and it all melted away. it was kind of a relief. nobody likes icey ugly old snow. but then the weather brought us huge snow flakes and it's a wonderland again.

i took this while walking tedeash home from school.

cheese is meant to be shared

if you don't like mooshygooshy cheese then don't continue reading what's below this.

matt and i had our year anniversary on the 18th. this year went by so fast. but they all do, don't they? i started the day off opening the fridge to a note that says "i miss you already. i love you." underneath a  glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. mmm what a morning. i did the usual work thing until 5(actually that's not very usual. haha) and got home to some beautiful daises.  we watched julie and julia and then went to maitrea for dinner.

                                  

                   

                         we ordered oven-roasted red peppers with garlic, marinated in olive oil

                          and balsamic with arugula, parmesan and bread

matt ordered grilled goat cheese, spinach, eggplant, tomatoes, and chive spread, served burger-style in a freshly baked focaccia. the "chive spread" was just a NOT NORMAL dollop of sour cream that just overpowered everything else. he got a little queezy. 

i ordered thai eggplant with tofu, fresh coriander, coconut milk with rice. i originally ordered the sushi, but they were out of it. this was just... heavy.

for dessert: white chocolate mousse with strawberries, layered with home-made caramel-walnut wafers... i'd like to call this whip cream with chunks of white chocolate and GLASS caramel. or something. it tasted yummy.

                            "in 

                                your 

                                        eyes,

                                                babe"                 

always going to love this song

dance dance dance

chickpea burger

matt and i made the chickpea burgers lastnite that i found here. i changed it just a little, though. added some red peppers and made my own tahini sauce with lemon juice, plain yogurt, and chopped parsley. i did not get any good photos cause, well, i'm not a photographer.... it's open face. i put spicy sprouts on the bottom, then the burger, tahini sauce, tomato, and goat cheese. avocado on the side cause that's a lot for my mouth.

us, we, me, you

i had a one-on-one lesson this morning at 11am and during it i got a call that my lesson later on in the day was canceled cause the group of 4 kids were sicky. afterward, i got on the tram to head home and it just so happens matt was on the same one, but on the back cart. i was walking toward our apt. and heard my name, i look behind me, and there he is. i couldn't stop thinking about him all morning, so i immediately realized we got on the same tram at different stops without knowing... that's a rarity. had a nice "inspiring and romantic" hug and such on our block, next to the river...swoon.

when we got home we made fresh orange juice and pita pizzas and then headed out for a walk. i needed olive oil for the tabouli that i keep continuously making over and over. we walked across the bridge closest to our apt holding hot jasmine tea that i made in to go bottles. it was warming our hands quite nicely. we got our olive oil(organic... about 5 dollars... cheaper than in the states, but i use olive oil so much in salads and such that the more expensive/organic, the better everything tastes.) we continued to walk and got to a park we had never been to that was really beautiful. the clouds were super low today from the wind and everything was really foggy. we walked up some stairs a little realizing the path was going to lead us somewhere we've never been, but it was about 30 degrees and frigid. we'll go another time, for sure. then we walked into a "grow shop" that i've been curious about ever since we moved here over 5 months ago. nothing special--- just a bunch of equipment......... my curiosity disappeared.

walking walking walking... we walked past a produce shop that i always walk by after i pick up a girl named bara i babysit for afterschool on thursdays. the strawberries always look heavenly, and i never can find any good ones at the giant grocery stores... so today i felt the need for them. well, little did i know that they'd be 8 dollars... bara is always telling me they're expensive, and i never believe her. they weighed them out and i was like dammmmmmiittt.... oh well, they taste just as heavenly as they looked.

i seem to be spending my money only on food these days. i don't act frugal even with the shitty pay i receive... we go to cafes a lot to utilize internet (since our home wifi sucks)... the coffee, the tea, the juice, the smoked salmon bagels. YUM.... and of course, all the food i need to make dinners and such. money goes fast on food. it's okay. i always say the best thing to spend my money on is food. i like to eat well.... maybe one day i'll be a food critic. my ultimate favorite thing to do is to go out to eat...

tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary. :) i'm excited. we're headed to maitrea--- a nice vegetarian restaurant. neither one of us are vegetarians(i was a few years ago), but we've been to their sister restaurant clear head, which is awesome.

new ideas to spice it up.

I LOVE COOKING! when i have peace and i'm in the kitchen... i'm in a great mood.

website for recipes

i know we all get sick n tired of the same things we make for meals. i'm trying to change it up and this is one of my favorite websites as of recently.

i can't wait to make.... 

chickpea burger

rolled oats bread

speaking of sex...

this movie is ridiculous. the first half was horrible, but as soon as bill murrays' character showed up, it got better. i only watched it because bill murray was in it... among others... mom from home alone, crazy woman from will and grace, crazy from wayne's world, and wonda from big love. bill murray just makes every movie great... even if his acting was just as deliberately bad as the other actors.

this isn't a recommendation, just a mere review.

this ones for you, mom;

falafel, tabouli, babaganoush, dolmas oh my!

the other nite for a friend of our's birthday, we went to a lebanese/indian/middle eastern restaurant. it was really good so matt and i went there for lunch today. mmm how i love this type of food. my mom always made tabouli (salad of parsley, mint, bulgar wheat, lemon juice, olive oil) for us growing up, along with papadom( lentil cracker) it just brings me back when i eat this stuff. it is definitely one of my favorite cuisines. 

he was dreaming

i was giddy

they make the best iced mate

i miss my moms cooking. soooooo much. 

the kids are all right

the kids are all right

on sunday we were looking forward to seeing the kids are all right. when we got there, the movie wasn't being shown at the time it said on the internet nor was it in english. it was czech dubbed. effff that. when we got back home we looked on itunes and noticed that it was available to rent.... oh yeah, we get to see movies months later than america does! so we watched and it saved us about 10-15 dollars, which in the end is okay in my book with a teachers pay. :)

anyhow, i really enjoyed watching this. not only is mark ruffalo sexy as hell, but i love julianne moore. it doesn't get better than that... AND a mischa barton look alike. 

hovno(shit in czech)

the parents dress their kids up in full on ski gear.

 sara, iveta(czech translator), and i got our class back! we were told we may not have it anymore due to funding, but we found out otherwise. yesterday we took the kids outside, which we haven't done in a long time cause of the cold weather. the temperature was about 40' yesterday which is perfectly fine now compared to the teens... this coming from a florida girl. i DID live in baltimore for 4 years, so it wasn't a huge change for me.

this is where we take the kids, by a lake. it was mostly 

frozen and just beautiful.

 my favorite, adam. he is just precious.

 bennik.... if only you saw what he had on underneath this. something that looked like a cow skin cosby sweater. 

wrestling.

krystof... he was being told on by bennik about falling in shit and i gave krystof a high five unknowingly that he fell in shit... so he laughed and then i realized why bennik was telling on him. iveta made him lay in the snow to rub it out... funniest part of our day. poor kid. :P 

organic troubles

here in prague, the czechs say "bio" not "organic". and actually they pronounce it as "bee-oh"... cause their i is an e sound. it's pretty silly sounding to me. just like when they say wifi as "wee-fee"... anyhow, as most of you know, i try to eat as organic as possible. it's really difficult for me here in the czech republic, though. i'd say the main problem is the fact that i don't speak czech. that's not an excuse... it really is the biggest hurdle between me and getting my hands on organic food. there are bio stores alllllllll over the city. i've seen atleast 20 different stores passing by on the tram or by foot. i've been to about 7 maybe. some have produce, some don't. the one i go to most often is only a 5 minute tram ride away from our flat(LOOK, now i say flat AND holiday). it's decently sized and depending on the day, they're out of everything i go there for... eggs, tofu, chickpeas, yogurt, whatever. it's annoying, but i make up for it somehow... in chocolate, maybe, and overpriced olive oil. worth it.

i went into tesco the other day (equivalent to publix)which has a small selection of bio foods, and i couldn't find anything that day. so i went to the bio store because i really wanted some fresh organic produce for a salad. problem.... you have to weigh out what you want and use the scale thing to print out a price tag... it's extremely complicated. especially when it's a handwritten paper with like 40 items in czech. it's awful. well, i asked one of the employees if they could help weigh out some brocolli, tangerines, bananas, radishes, bok choy, some herbs, etc. for me. so frustrating. the woman was slightly helpful... the language barrier made the whole process uncomfortable. i probably will never do that again, sadly, and just continue buying my snackies and other things that are already priced properly. 

i need my dairy to be organic... butter, eggs, milk. cheese... well, i love it so much i'll take it all in any form. and the other huge thing is meat... i wish i could get it organic here more easily. it's just either an awful cut or so pricey that with my teacher's pay i just can't do it as much as i'd like.

that's my say. i just know that when i get back to america i'll be so joyful knowing that i can read labels and understand the employees better... 

p.s. oh, and all you who question WHY ORGANIC? you're a moron. chemicals are everywhere, in most of your food. and they're also up in the sky... spraying you. so wake the eff up and start changing your diet, slowly even. and if you don't agree, it's just the way i grew up. call me lucky. 

in more depth.

the duomo's(cathedrals ) were stunning in italy. i can't even begin to explain how it feels to stand next to one. i had really tasty pizza, simple pasta with red sauce, lasagna, sushi(yeah, i know), etc. one of my favorite dishes during our trip was capolavoro di linguine allo scoglio from francesovini's... a restaurant in florence that jodi levinson's husband owns. i've known jodi since i went to unity school. she also went to atlantic high and now lives in florence with her husband fabio. his family started the restaurant in 1977 and now he owns it. we all went there one day for pizzas and then matt and i went on a date for dinner. it was really nice. jodi is a sweetheart and i'm really glad drew recommended us to go there. 


our first and last nite we stayed in bergamo in a really cute bed and breakfast. the middle 3 nites we spent in a hostel in florence. it was in the best location.... and there were bunkbeds. matt and i tried to sleep together the first nite in one bunk, but i ended up climbing up to the top on the second nite cause our bodies were so achey from all the walking we'd been doing in the past couple weeks and there was no room to move.


we spent about 10 hours in milan. that was definitely interesting. not many cafes, but lots of shopping and high fashion. gorgeous duomos and parks. 


while we were in florence we visited the the uffizi musuem. the line was like 2 hrs and it was huge inside. so much a r  t. 


other highlites... new years eve. that was a lot of fun. matt, sara, drew, and i got dressed in the hostel and had a bottle of free champagne from them. we left around 10 to go have dinner. everything was pretty packed. we didn't make a reservation, so we walked around for about a half hour and finally found a great place. there was like a 6 euro cover for nye which pretty much included free prosecco, wine, and champagne. i had some chicken dish with a spicy tomato sauce. delish. the servers and managers were great. we stayed there till about 1am celebrating the new year. 


ah, italy. lucky us. right? it was beautiful--the food was fantastic(matt and i had gelato 3x. )---and most of all i got to spend it with an incredibly sweet man. (no not you, drew :P ) 


where to next? well, i'm close to no savings now due to our belgium&italy trips and not working during those 12 days. i hope i can make it to a few more countries before we move back to america. 


now- back to the work week... i don't have much scheduled, though. a slow week..a nice way to ease back into it. matt is sick.... poor thing is napping next to me right now. i made some soup to nurse him back to life.

happy new year. 
(time to exercise)

italy