Just another day in Ctiboř

And we're stuck with average iPod photos for another week folks - hopefully my camera should be in my hot little hands shortly (fingers and toes and everything in-between crossed!)

I had a wonderful day today, in Ctiboř - my host family has a nice "weekend home" there and it's a lovely, simple place to chill out. We went to a fish fair - cooked some toast the traditional way ;) and Miky drew cute hearts for me with burned wood. We also planted three trees - apple, pear and plum. It was a really fun day despite the chill and gray skies.

I've been a bit distant lately - thinking, reading and learning. I've started to make a solid effort with my Czech. I've been told countless times by people it's a "useless" language and a "waste of time" - but for me it's more about 'learning how to learn a language' rather than about Czech itself. Plus, if the visa process goes well (it's costing me a fortune!) I'll be here for another year, so I'd like to make an effort. I plan to stay in Počátky until early-to-mid year - skip away to the Middle East for a month or two and then, depending on how I'm feeling, maybe trying to move to Prague to teach English. We'll see :-)

I spent last weekend in Budapest, which was a lot of fun! I'd always wanted to visit and it was a pretty cool city. I spent most of my time there drunk or hungover (I blame the AWESOME "recycled" bars, they're SO good and CHEAP). So, I basically have no photos. We saw an amazing pianist named Gyeniysz Macujev and ate at the most amazing cafe ever (New York Cafe). I'll have to go back with my camera sometime soon. Pro Europe tip: Don't buy one way tickets by train, it will not be cheap - hahaha.

Things haven't really gone as I hoped with that guy. But here I am, living in a town I'd never heard of, with a family I'd never met before and I'm loving it. I hope everything is wonderful in your world, too! x