Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Season Greetings
Merry Christmas! Wishing you and your family wherever you might be a lovely and blessed celebration of Christ's birth. I'm sitting in a quiet flat, listening to a Stevie Wonder Christmas, missing home! No, it isn't Stevie that has me home sick. If I had the rest of my belongings, I'd definitely have Bing Crosby playing. I got back a couple hours ago from Vienna. I spent Christmas with my dear friend Wendy, who was in Vienna doing research for her dissertation, and her old roommate and friend, Carol, who is a full-time missionary in Austria, working with refugees. I met Wendy in Vienna on Friday night. After a breakfast at our pension in the 8th district, we took the Badener Bahn to Baden bei Wien, a suburb or small town outside of Vienna. I was happy to see a light dusting of snow, and even a little glad to have -3 C temperatures. The cold can be envigorating! We had 4 restful days of coffee talk, good food, and wonderful company. We mixed Austrian and American traditions and even invited an Aussie to join us on Christmas day. Then tonight Smetana's "Ma Vlast" or "Die Moldau" played as my train pulled into Praha Holesovice, the second train station in Prague, and I knew I was home or at least back in Prague. The feeling of "home" - I hope that will come in time. Missing you.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Ja jsem rad, ze jsem tady znova v Praze.
BREAKING NEWS: I've become a really girly girl! No, not exactly... I just went a little wild with pink. If you don't like it - deal. Don't worry. I wont stay "pink" or "rose" forever.
Now for the real headliner -- if you haven't heard, I moved to Prague last Saturday and just finished my first week at work. So far, so good. Everything seems pretty much the same save for the U.S. dollar which fetched 21 or 22 Czech Koruna last time I was here. Today it hit a new low of 17.8! Hard to imagine that 5 or 6 years ago it got 30 or 31 and before that closer to 35/36 or even 40. Somehow I think I'll still survive. Granted it wont be like living in the 90s.
For the time being I'm staying in temporary housing. I will fairly quickly hit the pavement though looking for a flat of my own. I'm kind of hoping I might actually find something through connections. This Sunday I plan on visiting two colleagues' buildings to get an idea. I'm eager to find a place I can truly call home and will be a place of refuge and retreat. AND, most importantly, a place to host guests and dinner parties!
First things first though... tomorrow I'm off to Dresden for the Striezelmarkt (or oldest Christmas market in Germany) with a good friend Iza. I'm very much looking forward to sipping warm gluehwein (mulled/spiced wine) while browsing through nutcrackers and other traditional German wooden holiday crafts. Dresden is one of my favorite spots outside of Prague - only a two-hour train ride. History seems to radiate off the streets, and views along the river, what is called the "balcony of Europe," are exquisite.
All in all, things are going pretty well. As in any place, there are things you absolutely love and other things you could definitely do without. So far, I'm loving the public transport and simply walking around with all the Christmas markets, but disliking the fairly gray weather that is typical this time of year and wishing there were fewer gentleman's clubs in my part of town. I'm also missing my band of merry friends in DC as well as the ability to call family whenever, leaving my sister Stephanie crazy voicemails or listening to my brother-in-law's hilarious karaoke voicemails to me. It is annoying not having a broadband connection in my flat right now, but I have an uber cool new Nokia phone. There are always trade offs in life, right? It's kind of funny how I continue to walk around thinking that I need to pack in all the sights or schedule lot's of travel because I'll be leaving in 6 months or a year, but that isn't the case this time around. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea of being over here for a while. Anyhow, I'll close for now as I've got an early train ahead of me. I hope this finds you well! Sorry for the lapse in communication, but as you can see, I'm still kick'in it.
Peace out from Praha mes amis, Christine
Now for the real headliner -- if you haven't heard, I moved to Prague last Saturday and just finished my first week at work. So far, so good. Everything seems pretty much the same save for the U.S. dollar which fetched 21 or 22 Czech Koruna last time I was here. Today it hit a new low of 17.8! Hard to imagine that 5 or 6 years ago it got 30 or 31 and before that closer to 35/36 or even 40. Somehow I think I'll still survive. Granted it wont be like living in the 90s.
For the time being I'm staying in temporary housing. I will fairly quickly hit the pavement though looking for a flat of my own. I'm kind of hoping I might actually find something through connections. This Sunday I plan on visiting two colleagues' buildings to get an idea. I'm eager to find a place I can truly call home and will be a place of refuge and retreat. AND, most importantly, a place to host guests and dinner parties!
First things first though... tomorrow I'm off to Dresden for the Striezelmarkt (or oldest Christmas market in Germany) with a good friend Iza. I'm very much looking forward to sipping warm gluehwein (mulled/spiced wine) while browsing through nutcrackers and other traditional German wooden holiday crafts. Dresden is one of my favorite spots outside of Prague - only a two-hour train ride. History seems to radiate off the streets, and views along the river, what is called the "balcony of Europe," are exquisite.
All in all, things are going pretty well. As in any place, there are things you absolutely love and other things you could definitely do without. So far, I'm loving the public transport and simply walking around with all the Christmas markets, but disliking the fairly gray weather that is typical this time of year and wishing there were fewer gentleman's clubs in my part of town. I'm also missing my band of merry friends in DC as well as the ability to call family whenever, leaving my sister Stephanie crazy voicemails or listening to my brother-in-law's hilarious karaoke voicemails to me. It is annoying not having a broadband connection in my flat right now, but I have an uber cool new Nokia phone. There are always trade offs in life, right? It's kind of funny how I continue to walk around thinking that I need to pack in all the sights or schedule lot's of travel because I'll be leaving in 6 months or a year, but that isn't the case this time around. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea of being over here for a while. Anyhow, I'll close for now as I've got an early train ahead of me. I hope this finds you well! Sorry for the lapse in communication, but as you can see, I'm still kick'in it.
Peace out from Praha mes amis, Christine
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