Blog fail

Horrendously overdue for an update, I'll do my best:
First off, Scott and I are coming to the States soon--December 15th-20th--so give me a shout if you're a rouge viewer of this blog and want to get together while I'm in town. Otherwise...

Charlie's haunch-growth program is in full-swing, re: he's officially gigantic. He kills flies by first torturing them (tearing off their wings) and making them into "walks," eating most of them within a couple hours of the initial rampage. In this same vein, he's been telling me lately how excited he is for Halloween, and how he wants to be "the tinker-walks" (his version of Tinkerbell). Scott has vetoed this motion, but we shall see...

What else? This summer, we did some traveling around the Czech Republic, mostly to castles. Konopiste was cool, but Karlsteijn is definitely the coolest. We also went to an Ossuary, aka the "Bone Church," which was pretty intense. It's apparently the inspiration for the movie "Goonies"--it definitely trumps the movie. We'll probably head to Dresden before going home to check out the Christmas market there: Germany's really close, so it's a decent day trip, and a classic December destination.

More to come :)

Kitty's getting big...

Forgot: have been meaning to post a picture of Charlie. He's the amazing expanding cat. He eats a small mug-full of food a day, at least. Sometimes two. Out of house and home. Yep. Scott carries him around in various strange positions, as shown. Always entertainment to be had :)

It's park time!

Woooooo! We had our first afternoon lazing around at the park yesterday, and it was super-fabulous. Tons of people everywhere, an equal number of dogs to match the human population; sitting on blankets, rollerblading (and padded up to the nines--this is the Cesky Republiky, no cutting corners here). This is Letensky Sady every Friday-Sunday afternoon from now till October. I am in heaven. Yesterday was a girl's day, as the boys are in Amsterdam this weekend for Bill's bachelor party. I will be satisfied with a safe return on that front.
In other news, my life seems to be revolving around babies. I just got a new 'student' (he's 2 1/2), and his mom just found out she's pregnant with twins. My friend Phil's wife just had a baby girl about two weeks ago, my other friend Jeremy's wife is pregnant, and Scott's brother's wife is having a baby in about a month...Ježišmária.
The interesting thing about babies in the Czech Republic, however, is the sheer IMPORTANCE of the situation. Czech women have a very real obligation to have babies these days: it's basically the equivalent of our post-war baby boom in the 50s, only this is post-communistic, and a little longer after the fact. Anyway, anything differing from the exact, normal paradigm of the entire childbearing/birth process is considered a HUGE RED FLAG of some major problem. Even one miscarriage is grounds for a special gynocological once-over to find out what the 'problem' is. These poor women...
Hummm that's all I have for now. Happy spring!

Photo comments:

It's official: balls free is the way to be. I mean, neutered. Yes, Charlie has officially sacrificed his manhood for his owners' sanity. He was quite simply going crazy. Testosterone is one hell of a hormone. Fortunately, it seems to have helped so far. Unfortunately...he accidentally ate some tin foil a few days ago and had some serious tummy ache issues, so we've been going easy on him lately. He almost fell out the window today too. I'd say he's lived quite for 6 months old.

The second picture is Scott catching me off-guard in Billa (the grocery store). I thought it was funny, so I posted it.

Overall things are going good here. Winter is finally subsiding, and you can feel the city waking up, shaking off the grumpies. We just opened up the flat yesterday, which involves essentially having all the doors open so the air circulates better. Our house is essentially connected in a circle by 3 main doors, and in the winter, they stay closed to keep the warmth in. But soon, we'll be able to open the doors to the balcony and the windows on the other side and ohhh it's gonna be sooooo nice...

That's all for now. Next pictures will be outside woooo :)

Czech food is fantastic

So we went to Scott's favorite Czech restaurant (restaurace) today for lunch. The photo below is the best example I can provide right now of THE quintessential Czech cuisine, essentially sausage and potato pancakes. But oh would a Czech person be mad if they read that statement: don't you know there are upwards of 14 varieties of klobasa, depending on what part of the pig/ratios of ingredients/other factors I have no idea about? And don't you forget it (the art of the klobasa is not taken lightly). Regardless of all this, let me just say: this stuff is out of control delicious.

In other news, our cat Charlie has earned a nickname as of this morning: "Mr. PIB." What would P.I.B stand for, you may ask? Well, let's just say said kitty has a penchance for urinating in inappropriate places. Therefore, I think "pees in beds" is quite appropriate, no? It's too bad we don't have Mr. Pib soda here (is it Dr. Pib?...either way). I'd definitely like a photo of Mr. Pib with a 2 liter of his very own soda brand.

No Girls Allowed!

That's right. Charlie has a clubhouse and he's got some strict rules. (am fighting urge to fix grammar in the previous sentence) In other news, our flat is now labeled: wanna know the Czech word for wall? Look no further. That's all :)

Phone calls and new flats

So Lea just moved into her new flat and is very refreshed as to have a clean...everything. The posted photo is an example of cleanliness in the kitchen, wherein her flatmates actually wash their dishes. I know, epiphanies abound. This flat is way more her speed: airy, light, bez gross/hloupy (without gross/stupid) roommates. Bonus: no lettuce in the bathtub (for those made out of the loop by the last statement, let's just say that the plumbing in her old flat was...questionable). Anyway, I think I speak for everyone privy to Lea's flat saga when I say the new place is dobre (good).

In regards to the other photo I posted today, I thought I'd just give a visual of a. my room and b. the general phone-saga situation (re: sitting on the radiator, petting the cat). I think Scott found the entire marathon phonecall situation rather entertaining, so he took took my picture. As always, Charlie the cat is happy to get the extra attention lent by any extended event (i.e. international phone calls). Unfortunately for Charlie, we've significantly improved our phone call frequency, thanks to skype's cheap cell calls feature, so he only gets about 15-20 minutes of couch/radiator time with me while I talk with Mom n Dad :(

Speaking of Charlie, though he is certainly loved, he is also certaintly on the top of all of our bad lists, having had peed on all our beds at least once (mine the most, of course). Sooooo we're gonna start shopping this week for a vet who will neuter him, as our current vet says he needs to be at least 3-4 months older than he is now, which is just silly (he's around 5 1/2 months now). I'm pretty sure Aunt Leta would agree: 6 months old is old enough. Believe me: this is hormonal. Not pleased. Bad kitty.

So that's life in Praha right now. Still building my work schedule, getting busier and busier and very happy about it. Will update shortly:)
Love,
Kara

Generally speaking...

This last picture was taken at the famed "Hush" (a bar in Vinohrady): seems there's always something dramatic going on there. Regardless, it's a great picture. News: I have a new job (again) working at the school Josh has been working for. I say "again" because I'm generally in the market for a job at any and every school willing to give me classes, and am now working for three english schools total. Anyway, this particular school is different because its classes follow a really strict approach called the "Callan Method," and basically involves reading at high-speed from a script. It'll be a nice change of pace from the traditional teaching I do otherwise, so I'm glad I got the position.
In other news, I'm learning Czech. Those living in said Czech Republic would understand how that speaks for itself. For those not currently residing in central europe, however, let's just say...it's an undertaking.

It's sooooo cold...

These last two pictures were taken last weekend from the island in the center of the Vlatava river. By the time we made it back inside, I was having a hard time forming words due to a general lack of feeling in my face. It was worth it, though; we got pizza afterward.

1, 2, 3 go: update

Josie came to visit for about a week over New Year's. It was great to see her and show her around the city. Charlie also enjoyed Josie and pretty much proved his, ehem, shall we say...debonair...side (see latest photo). We've decided he's going to be a pretty big cat: we've only had him about three weeks now and can already see that he's grown considerably--not surprising considering how much he eats. It's terribly hard to find kitten chow in large bags: these cat food producers obviously have not met Charlie.
Besides cat news, I'm just getting back into the swing of things, post-holidays style. I'm currently between teaching jobs, having just switched schools, so I should be starting up with the new jobs pretty soon now. I may also eventually have a gig teaching dance through a student of Scott's, and I'm super excited about that: hoping to tap into the ballet for little girls market eventually. Also, I'm starting a Czech language course today. It will be really nice to be able to have at least a functional knowledge of Czech, and I'm glad for the excuse to have something to study :)
Lea's back in Prague now. She found a flat in Namesti Miru (a nice area, well connected, lots of good stuff around) and is currently in her second week of her TEFL certification course. I'm not sure how long she'll live in this flat, however, as she has some questionable roommate action going on--so the flat search saga continues...
So overall things here are great, minus the cold. I am VERY excited for springtime in Prague. It's obnoxiously cold right now: very hard to motivate to leave the flat. But we do. We're tough. That's all, check back for more updates soon.
Love,
Kara