updatum

so, i haven't really had the time to blog since the move back to floriduh. i also had to bring my mac into apple 3 days ago to get repaired. the magnetic strip for the charger is faulty. glad i am still on warranty. woo.

a bit of a rewind- having my mom in prague was amazing. we ate great. we got to get out of prague and see amazing nature. i really couldn't have asked for a better last week in prague. also, my mom got to tango in an amazing gazebo in a vineyard. i think i'm most thankful for that. she had a blast and we had so much fun drinking wine and watching her in her element. so thankful and so happy. so blessed. i'd add some photos, but they're on my computer. maybe another time. after packing up and cleaning our room(which happened fast!), we spent our last day drinking coffee at the globe, riding pedal boats with wine and cherries, and then going out for our last nite with our closest friends we made. lemme tell you, it's tough as hell to leave a country after only 10 months when you feel like you're just getting used to things, the hang of things, making friends, feeling truly comfortable. but that's how it goes.

airport stress sucks. tummy aches, head aches, teary eyes. well- we landed safely friday nite and ever since then have been on the go. we got to stay in a nice hotel for the weekend which was a nice way to ease us in. into what? i'm not too sure. so much uncertainty. but things are coming along. i'm having a really good day. i went to the seagate spa today and got my old job back. it was welcoming and reassuring. i'll be starting on thursday. matt starts work tomorrow. back into the flow of making money, starting over, getting back on our feet. we also have been apartment hunting. the first one we saw today was amazing and i feel like it is a winner already. i'm staying with my brother and christalyn(a bestfriend)right now and they live right by downtown atlantic avenue. i walked to work and it only took 10 minutes. the place we looked at today is by the blue anchor and would only take me 5 minutes to walk to work. ideal for me... since i don't have a car right now. we're keeping our hunt in this vicinity. i envision something great. hopefully we'll be done couchsurfing in about 2 to 4 weeks. :)

i am definitely sad about prague. i balled hard on the 10 hour flight back. just for 5 minutes, but it was emotional. i find it to be so surreal where we are now and what we're doing. it's hard to explain. it's weird to think 10 months went by and we're back already. it's also weird to spend time with family and friends and it kind of seems like it wasn't really that long ago.

so, i'm missing our friends back in prague, missing our lush bedroom and the gorgeous streets we'd walk on.... but now i guess i have to appreciate this ridiculous humidity, palm trees, beach, pools, and numerous restaurants... ohhh and of course friends and family who are really welcoming and sweet.

ah... eve abroad no longer makes sense. what to name it now...

i'm still alive

things have been great with my mom in prague. delicious meals, tons of sights, train rides listening to bob dylan on our way home from bohemian switzerland of the czech republic. she leaves tomorrow morning. we have one more day to spend in europe together then matt and i have to pack our asses off tomorrow and head out early friday morning to the airport.

i have a feeling i'll have no time for much blogging, but in the meantime... i have to think about changing the name of my blog. it's not going to make any sense once i'm back in floriduh. 

MOVING SUCKS.
LEAVING EUROPE SUCKS.

OH WELL---

new chapter ahead.

damn.

this is me.

so, i am sitting in friends cafe. i just got here from finishing up my LAST lesson in prague. it feels really weird. not believable yet. i think if it weren't for my mom's flight being TWENTY FOUR hours delayed, i'd be a bit more chipper right now. but no, i'm not. the skies are clear and it's nice and sunny. i should be with her RIGHT NOW. but no, she is in queens, at some [friend of a] friends apartment. i just got off the phone with her and she definitely seemed to have the same nite as me. as we were trying to fall asleep all we could think about was how soon she SHOULD be landing. ugh. i don't want her to lose one day in prague, so we're going to see if she can change her flight to a day later. i hope so!

now i guess i have more an excuse to clean a bit... it's not like anyone else is going to do it. i swept every room in the house this morning(minus the roommates) and it was filthy. i can't wait for that day again where it'll just be and my ocd rules of cleanliness. here's to hoping(once again)!

woo. trying to take a deep breath. really, 8 more days in prague? wow. i really can't believe this. florida, please be good to me while i'm there. i don't know if i could forgive you if you fail.

i love my shoes!

right on.

it's the finalllll countdownnnnn.

at mama coffee doing my normal contemplation. 

it's getting harder and harder to leave prague. i don't want to. can i change my ticket please? everyday i have to say goodbye to different students and i don't like it. i haven't cried yet--- just welled up a bit. and now i meet a great girl named lauren (she is going to be taking over my classes)and i might have to do long distance with her cause we hit it off so well... sucks. i don't like this at all! and emily, too. you in?  please make sure that when you move back to florida we will meet at busch gardens or something of the sort. just when i care enough to actually go out with girls for girl time... i have to leave. just my luck. i'm so picky about friends.  it takes a long time to settle into a new culture. really, and i wish i had more time here to just... be. without all the bullshit of a job and visa involved.

ugh. i am really sigh'ing here. i was so happy when we bought our tickets back in february to come home. now the time is here... only 9 days away and i'm not thrilled like i thought i'd be.

what i am thrilled about? 2 more classes to teach and then my mom arrives around noon on thursday! so so so excited. we are going to have so much fun!

dinner party

 lastnite was great. we had a nice potluck with a few friends. we made tabouli. paul made falafel. emily made mexican chocolate pudding. there was a spread of pita bread, olives, veggies, fruit, babagonoush, and i made some lemonade so we could have it with vodka. there were crazy wine sales and we got two bottles of wine for like $4.50.

haha, awkward family photo.

goodbye little ones

one of my fave students, adam.

i've been teaching this preschool class since october. it's been a delight. :) yesterday was my last day with them and it definitely was sad for me! we were teaching fantasy vocabulary like prince, princess, queen, and king, etc and when the children found out it was my last day they put all their crowns they made on my head and hugged me. they told the czech translator that they wished they could've brought me gifts. so sweet. sadly, one of my favorite students was ill... just my luck! i didn't get to say my goodbyes to him... he was one of the triplets in my class. super sensitive cry'ers.

verunka and fando :)

these next 2 weeks are probably going to fly by. i'm going to try and do as much as possible. i was so close to breaking down when i was on the tram yesterday going home from work listening to yann tiersen(he's on the soundtrack of amelie)... and staring at the river, and the castle, and the people...

eli and adey

a czech experience

on friday matt and i were invited to go with two of his students to watch the czech vs. sweden hockey game. matt was really interested, but i was a little hesitant-- not about going, just about actually watching a sport i know nothing about. i haven't watched it since i was a kid. maybe i went to a florida panthers game or two back then. we met lukas and eva at the train station and headed only a few stops away to a town outside of prague called Černošice. it's the "beverly hills" of prague lukas told us. there were  gorgeous weekend homes up on the hills. he lived just about a 4 minute walk from this bar we went to called klub kino. it was pretty cool. they had a decently sized screen to watch the game on. it was packed and all the locals were really into it, obviously, wearing red/white/ and blue. i enjoyed watching. it wasn't so bad for someone like me, actually. especially with a couple of beers. did i just say that?

we lost to sweden... but i didn't feel so bad since i'm swedish. our czech friends were definitely disappointed, especially since they invited us and wantd to show off their country's team. one of their friends showed up who works for the expats website who was super cool. we had great conversation, learning about some new restaurants that i can take my mom to while she's here next week.

i'm glad i got to have this experience. i had fun and am extremely sad we don't have more time here. i would've loved to have met these people earlier on and enjoyed some more time out with them-- learning czech, watching ice hockey, and being a part of their culture.

                    

                       the inside was cool--it looked like a theatre.

murray gif

click

a solid purchase

last year i bought some real cute brown maryjane flats from yesstyle.com. they ended up being a tad too small and really cheaply made. the soles kept coming apart and the "leather" was peeling. this all happened right away. it was such a disappointment because i loved them a lot. you know how we girls are... well, i know how i am. i choose cuteness over comfort. that's incredibly stupid, i know. i brought them with me to paris and immediately regretted it and didn't wear them for very long. i should probably stop wearing them altogether. anyway... RIP shoes...

 to make me feel better, i ordered these marais usa shoes. they are somewhat of a replacement you could say. these are patent, though. hopefully they will fit me and stay together! i just wish i could find the exact replica of the brown ones and try them on in person! i don't know if the new ones will be as cute. we'll see.

movie reviews

the last station- an interesting movie about tolstoy's later life. helen mirren and paul giamatii of course were good, as was the man who played tolstoy. recommended.

micmacs- same director and writer of amelie. a lot of the same actors were used. it was just as cute. or maybe less cute and more "violent"

love & other drugs- ooh. tear. gooood. tear. i liked this. you can easily grow a fondness for anne hathaway. and yum jake gyllenhaal. just a good looking man. i dunno really what else to say. it's romantic and sexy and sad. my kinda movie. i guess???

paris trip

we got back late lastnite from paris. i am so sad it is over! but in less than 9 days my mom will be here! i'm not sure if this post will end up being long. probably. i just uploaded 400 photos to my computer and i will try to be sparing on here. the overflow of course will be on facebook at some point soon.

SUMMARY- great weather, great food, amazing views, gorgeous buildings, tons of restaurants, the older metros make you feel like you're on a ride, huge city, feet are in pain, lots of liter, bums with cats, packed out metros, expensive, but well worth it.

-on friday our flight was delayed about an hour. czech airlines isn't so bad though. beats ryanair. sitting around airports gets boring. tried to sleep. peeled a lot of split ends which i haven't felt the need to do in a long while. time for a haircut i'd say. we got free sandwiches and wine on the flight. made up for the delay.
-we got into paris around 8pm and headed toward downtown to the place we were going to stay at. we met our couch host, eric. he greeted us at his big blue doors downtstairs and we proceeded to walk up to the 5th floor of winding narrow stairs(106 steps). so tiring. we talked with him for about an hour and then around 10:30 matt and i headed to a restaurant closeby called la marmite. eric recommended us the salads there. they were huge. we got a carafe of red wine and shared a big veggie salad filled with green beans, corn, tomatoes, and lettuce. on top of these french salads they put fried garlic potato slices. so filling and delicious. i am now craving it. but we just made a great looking salad that i am about to devour.
-anyhow, after dinner we headed up the hilly roads of montmartre to the sacre coeur. cute restaurants everywhere. lots of young people. it was packed out with people drinking. bottles everywhere. (guess that was something i couldn't stand about paris. people liter like crazy. very upsetting.) we sat there and enjoyed the nite views of paris. went back to the flat around 1am. sleep.

-on saturday we headed out... picked up some clementines, apples, and a chocolate croissant.
-first thing that we saw was the trinity church. so beautiful.
-stumbled upon the main galeries lafayette. there was some insane asian convention. the middle dome of this building/mall is just amazing.
-continued wandering. picked up ossau iraty cheese(YUM)fig confit, white wine,  and saucisson(like salami) from monop. then we found a baguette from paul and headed to the tuilerie gardens. such a beautiful day. we sat in chairs(grass was just not easy to find in paris... you can't sit on the grounds in most gardens/parks) and ate our picnic lunch down to the crumbs.
-after relaxing we went into a super fancy cheese shop called fauchon. i touched some cheese and a man was like "i'm here to help you so don't touch anything." haha burn on me.
-saw the opera garnier.
-we went to the notre dame and the inside was beautiful.
-after this i took my friend paola's advice and found a famous glace(icecream) place called berthillon. matt got salted caramel and i got raspberry. we walked down to the  riverside to enjoy it. was pretty amazing stuff.
-went to the lizard lounge bar for happy hour. i had a cocktail called lizard juice and matt had a cheap blonde. uh huh.
-for dinner we went to an indian restaurant called shenaz. it was quite a delicious feast. 
-bought a bottle of champagne and got to the eiffel tower around 11:30. the light show was amazing. we took a bunch of photos of us jumping. so much fun and so romantic. :)
-got home around 1am. feet are swollen and in so much pain. no, i'm not preggo.  i know it's cause i don't wear proper shoes. and by this point we walked for atleast 8 or 9 hours. sleep.

-on sunday we went to see the moulin rouge. it was only about a 5 minute walk from the flat.
-had some coffee and omelettes in front of it and people watched.
-pere lachaise cemetary  HUGE. so many gravestones. hunted for edith piaf and oscar wilde. found them. perfect weather and surrounded by gorgeous trees everywhere.
-went to the marais jewish quarters.... for falafel! i asked eric where the best place to go and he said l'as du falafel to be exact. i am forever going to be thinking about this falafel. this street where it was was insane. packed with people waiting in lines and you just knew it was going to be good. and man. i can't even begin to explain... it was heavenly. they packed it with everything you'd want! cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, hot sauce, other sauce, like 8 small falafel balls. mmmmmm. wish we would have had more time to go another day but alas... ahh.
-after this we went on a long long long hunt for a caramel shop i had found during my research online. when we finally got to it... it was changed into a restaurant. i should've found out a bit more before we went to look for it. oopssss. but no regrets, we were content.
-matt wanted to go see the sorbonne university. saw that and then the pantheon.
-the luxembourg gardens were gorgeous. sooo many people. at this point we were literally needing a break. our feet were throbbing. we just put in a lot of work. a lot. it's ridiculous how big paris is and how much we saw... and wish we could've seen.
-we went on a boat tour on the seine river. soo nice. we got to see close up views of the eiffel tower and tons of beautiful bridges, the city hall, the islands and the smallest house in paris,  etc.
-for dinner we went to the latin district and had mexican. a good amount of margaritas were had.

-on monday we realized that we didn't have enough crap to eat so we had 3 pastries. not each. to share. so whatever. they were so buttery and mmmm.
-sat at a little place for coffee waiting for the pompidou museum to open at 11. this museum was great. we walked around for about 2 hours and kinda rushed through the last bits of the permanent collection cause we were achey and we only had a little time left before we had to go to the airport.
-saw a great lebanese place and grabbed some tabouli to go.

-we went back to the 9th district where we were staying, bought some red wine, baguette, gruyere(SO STINKY)and jam/confit and decided we wanted to see the sacre coeur in the daylight. laid out a picnic. kinda sketchy people. there were "deaf" people that were possible gypsies trying to get money from us and then as we said no they tried to steal our baguette. that's real. tons of people. went inside the gorgeous basilica.
-airport. flight was delayed an hour again.

i promise there is salad under there somewhere.

RECAP- we are so happy. we had a great time. we saw a lot
 in 2 1/2 days. 

(click photos to see bigger)

the doors to eric's flat

sacre couer at nite

trinity church

inside the galeries lafayette. 

happy girl with baguette

at the tuileries

parisians basking

fauchon

bum cats :(

the louvre

notre dame

indian feast

we're silly. and actually off the ground here. i swear.

more cat bums.

pere lachaise cemetary

oscar wilde

edith piaf

most delicious ever

luxembourg gardens

boat tour

<3

pompidou

sacre coeur

tonite's dinner :) (a dressing i made with some mustard i bought in france.)