Week 20, 2013: Boob Grazes

Tags

Boob, Boob Grazes, Boobage, Europe, Look Don't Touch, Metro, No Touchy, Prague, Public Transportation

I have been noticing, with increasing frequency, that I am constantly “boob grazed” while riding the various modes of public transportation in Prague.
On the one hand, it could obviously be accidental – you’re in my way as I am trying to get out of the metro car thingy and you won’t move. I shove through and, as my boobs do protrude from my body, they touch your arm/shoulder/elbow (but thankfully no hands).
On the other hand….we are riding the metro and while there are a good amount of people in the car, there is plenty of “elbow” room – you do NOT need to keep on adjusting whatever it is you are adjusting and jabbing your elbow three feet back into my boob OR stretching for some odd reason in the general direction of my boobage.
FYI to all the men currently living in Prague, the Czech Republic, and Europe as a whole (better be thorough) – my boobage is off-limits. Go get your own (wife, girlfriend, or any facsimile) and grab hers! Seriously. Yikes.
Yes, my boobs are nice. Yes, these are all men. No, you may not touch. No touchy-touchy (Emperor’s New Groove)! Does the phrase “look don’t touch” not mean anything to you people?! You know what…nevermind, you can’t even look. Otherwise, you’ll be like those people in museums who stick their faces as close as physically possible to the paintings without touching them – if I can feel you breathing on me, you are too close.

Week 19, 2013: May Holidays

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Czech National Holiday, Duck, Ducks, Kazakhstan, Labor Day, Labour Day, Liberation Day, May Holidays, Prague, Prague 04, Prague 13, Week 19

May 01st and May 08th are Czech National Holidays. Everyone has the day off and every single one of my students/classes cancelled these days. The 01st of May is apparently equivalent to the American Labor Day while May 08th is “Liberation Day” – a celebration of the end of WWII in 1945. Many other European countries have similar Labor Days and some have the “Yay! WWII is over” day as well but the date varies with each country. In Kazakhstan, their similar holiday is on May 09th and is called “Great Patriotic War Against Fascism Victory Day”. Way to be descriptive, Kazakhstan. You’ve earned some legitimate cool points with that name.
We didn’t travel or anything cool like that. We just saw it as another weekend in the middle of the week….two weeks in a row. I have no idea how I’m going to manage going back to normal weeks again – I usually have six classes on Wednesdays and they go from 8am until 7:30pm.
But, whole frozen ducks were on sale at Tesco for like 100Kc ($5)…so we got a five pound duck and still have leftovers in the fridge. Duck. Is. Delicious.
While taking these photos I saw a little girl who was about five years old picking dandelions with her Dad. She was sitting in this little patch of yellow weeds digging at the stems with her hands, giggling in glee. She was so adorable. I want one.

Week 18, 2013: Eggs & Swiss Chocolate

Tags

Abroad in Prague, abroadinprague, Apartment, Baby Chick, Box of Chocolates, Chocolate, Chocolates, Czech, Czech Republic, Eggs, Flat, Instagram, Mother Hen, Swiss Chocolate, Wall, Week 18

When you buy eggs in the Czech Republic, they aren’t cleaned that well. There is normally still leftover feathers or dirt on it – creating the impression that these eggs were just swiped from the warm bosom of their mother hen, which can be a little disconcerting. Sometimes while cracking one of these eggs open for my scrambled eggs…I half expect to see a baby chick emerge from the shell and into the frying pan. None so far.
A week or two ago, one of my students cancelled our class at the last-minute because she’s a family/divorce lawyer and her client was being detained for too long. That was fine with me because I was tired and that meant an extra 30 minutes of sleep. In the next lesson, my student surprised me with a box of Swiss Chocolate. Apparently she felt bad or guilty or something. Um, okay. Seriously, feel bad/guilty a bit more often. Děkuju!
Yes, this is an instagram photo. Follow me @abroadinprague!

Week 17, 2013: Park Hostivar

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Baby Chick, Czech Republic, Eggs, Forest, Mother Hen, Nature, Park, Park Hostivar, Prague, The Forest, The Nature, The Woods, Week 17, Woods

This past weekend the school/company I work with had a “day in the park”…which was awkward as the email made it seem like it would be about bonding with the English teachers but…everyone was speaking Czech the entire time. Also, when we first entered the park…we were walking for what seemed like 2 miles…and all I could think about was “Murder in the Woods”. Let me reassure you – I’m still alive.

Week 16, 2013: Canker Sore

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Andel, Anne of Green Gables, Canker Sore, Czech Republic, Home Remedy, Home Remedy for Canker Sore, Prague, Week 16, WOWZA

I had a canker sore last week – one of the most painful things one can endure. Dreading the notion of trying to find canker sore medicine in Prague (finding what canker sore medicine is called in Czech, finding the right store to purchase this, and hoping that I bought the right thing)…I researched home remedies online. One website provided a water-based solution of salt and baking soda while another suggested adding hydrogen peroxide.
And then I found one that said something along the line of “if you are brave” put salt directly on the sore. That was when the hot-headed rash Anne of Green Gables emerged from within me. I puffed up my chest, marched to the kitchen where I grabbed the salt, continued to the bathroom, stuck out my bottom lip and shook some salt directly onto the canker sore. WOWZA. Did that hurt. But my lip went numb and it felt a LOT better. The next day I used pretzel salt. That called for an equally painful WOWZA but it worked even better. Now you know…too much…about canker sores.

I loved the juxtaposition of old and new buildings in the above photo.I love this graffiti wall. It’s my favorite in Prague. 

Week 15, 2013: Spring Has Sprung

Tags

Clouds, Cloudy Day, Prague, Spring, Spring Has Sprung, Winter

One of my students told me the other day that he has skied for 28 days this year alone. That’s how long winter has stuck around. But it rained on Monday and then the next morning it was Spring: green grass, flowers blooming, warmer weather, light showers. It was literally an overnight transformation. I already miss Winter.
So far, Spring has been pretty fickle. One minute it’s overcast and cloudy…the next it is blue skies with a bright burning sun. Occasionally it will even rain with not a cloud in the sky. The second photo was taken one hour after the first.

Week 14, 2013: IP Pavlova

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2013, Busy, Czech Republic, Europe, Excuses, IP Pavlova, Photography, Photos, Prague, Week 14

I know, I know. This is like the third or fourth post about IP Pavlova. With winter sticking around too long, it doesn’t make for ideal conditions for photography. Besides, I have been SO busy lately with lesson planning and gathering all of the money/paperwork for renewing my visa and researching a zillion other things. Thursday afternoons before/after my one class by IP Pavlova seems like the only time I have for photography lately. Excuses, excuses.

Week 12-13, 2013: Happy Easter!

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Czech Traditions, Easter, Easter Market, Happy Easter, Painted Eggs, Prague, Spring, Willow Sticks, Winter

The first day of Spring came and went with Winter still in control. It’s like there is this epic battle between the two and Spring keeps on saying, “That all you got?” and Winter says, “Nope” and then drops six inches of snow in four hours. Then, Spring laughs a bit and it melts three hours later but Winter gets ticked and sends a crazy cold wind for a week. And that’s where we are now – with a crazy strong cold wind that rips through your clothes so much that you wonder if you were wearing any to begin with.
I kicked myself on that six inch snow day for not having my camera but I snagged a couple photos with my iPad that I had brought with me (for listening parts of my lessons).
I went for a stroll a few days before Easter to browse through some of the Easter Market. Czechs have a tradition where boys/men run around hitting girls/women with willow sticks that have ribbons tied to the end (photo #3)…it’s a sign of fertility…or something. Although I’m not exactly sure why they would want to make little girls fertile. But this is getting a bit awkward.

Drawing: Grasshopper

Tags

April 2012, Art, Drawing, Grasshopper, Insect Whisperer, Pencil Drawing

So, I decided to try drawing again. Last April, my mother and I went for a walk and I became thensforth known as the Insect Whisperer. The reference/original photo is pictured below the drawing.

Week 11B, 2013: Bad Mood Saturday

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Bad Moods, Check Point, Czech Point, Czech Republic, Genius Husband, Graffiti, Grafitti, Ladvi, Metro, Peanut Butter, Point, Prague, Praha, Sparta, The Czech Republic, Tram, Week 11B

We bought peanut butter for the first time in a few months….Oh. My. Goodness. I never realized before how much I LOVE peanut butter (and bagels and applesauce and brown sugar – all of which don’t exist or come in VERY small/expensive quantities). Let me tell you, nutella or that hazelnut nonsense does NOT make up for peanut butter. For some reason, they have a LARGE selection of nutella-like spreads and even a cocoa spread but peanut butter is essentially non-existent. When I opened the lid to that jar of heavenly deliciousness, my day got exponentially better. And I was having a bad day…so that’s saying something. Speaking of bad day, Saturday was pretty horrible. I just felt horribly worthless in every way. There are two ways that will (usually) work in getting me out of a funk: exercising and taking photos. So, we went for a walk/ride. Also, we bought the peanut butter later that day (the third thing is food – unless it’s ice cream. Ice cream always makes it worse).
We hopped on the metro and made our way to Ládví – where the hubs works. Now he’s a genius. Seriously. Truly and Really. When I tell my students that he is a mathematician and physicist their eyes get wide, their mouths open slightly, and they shake their head. When I tell them that he works for the Physics Institute of Prague, they become cartoonish in their reactions. Yup – that’s my husband. He’s awesome. It’s attractive.
So, this is where he works….
They have a tennis court. I don’t know why. Who ever heard of scientists playing team sports? (Halo or COD doesn’t count).
Then the hubs started talking about who works in which office. “My office is across the hall from the office with one blind open and one blind closed in the window second from the left on the bottom row…and we had the lecture with the guy from Isreal – remember? He’s the one that was surprised that I wasn’t obese as ALL Americans are obese – we had that lecture in the third row five over with both blinds open…” This is what normally happens when he talks about math – I sorta follow and then when I get bored or my brain starts hurting, I kiss him. Then he stops talking. It works.
Then we explored the area a bit.
And then we took the metro to a tram stop and took the tram to SPARTA (seriously). And then we went to McDonald’s. It’s actually the first time I remember eating fast food in about five years (or more). Contrary to popular belief (in the Czech Republic), not all Americans are fat and not all Americans ONLY eat fast food. Regardless…It. Was. Good. I don’t care what they put in those chicken nuggets. It tastes good and there’s nothing wrong with having it once every five years. Found another Czech POINT.