badgerjenvstheworld

A bit of a detour in this post...I promise I'll get back to the travel posts right away (I'm leaving on Saturday for another round of travel, so I better get done with Mom & Dad's visit and my trip with Dasa!!!) One of my colleagues at work, Charity (I hope you don't mind being named in the blog), has returned Stateside for the summer. But before she left, she and I were talking about what I was going to be doing all summer, etc. and she said, "I should send you some challenges or something from the States for you to get out and about in Ostrava!" and I replied, "Bring it!". *this may not have been the actual conversation* So it was a few weeks ago that a challenge arrived on my facebook wall:   I think you're ready for a challenge. Find a farmer's market to go to in ostrava. There's one alternate weeks at Futurum and Saturdays on Hlavni Trida. Find the most attractive vendor and ugliest vendor and buy at least one thing from ea...

We woke up on Friday with the idea of grabbing a quick breakfast in the center, taking a walk around to see some of the sights, and then heading out for the drive to Warsaw. According to all the travel apps we consulted, the drive should take about 4.5- 5 hours....um, yeah, more on THAT later! After we checked out of the hotel, we put our stuff in the car (nice one btw- Peugeot- oh la la!) and walked the Square again. And right to....... Starbucks!! Haha.. we are American. But really, you know you can get a good cup of joe and a roll or something for a quick bit of breakfast, so why not!? We took another walk around the Square, admiring all the facades again. Then headed towards the University.

Looky here.....another post. I'm on fire....or I just have a lot of time on my hands. Either way..you, my dear readers, score another exciting, informative, must-read post. Or...maybe you have a lot of time on your hands and can use this to pass the time. Back in May/ June, Mom and Dad came over to Europe for a month long road trip. They rented a car in Geneva and planned to just travel where the wind took them. Of course, they arrived and the weather gods had other ideas....namely, torrential rain and historic flooding! Ah yes, the typical Janis vacation!! Anyway, because their plan was quite flexible, I got to spend a lot of time with them. Two trips to be precise....I'm really lucky my parents love to travel (gee, wonder where I got the gene to live overseas??!!) and I get to see them on a fairly regular basis (yes, once a year is fairly regular!). I, also, love that we have discovered these new places together and I'm not always just "showing them around...

I really can't believe it's been almost 3 months since my last post...how horrible! I've been a serious blogging slacker. For the few of you out there who read my blog, apologies.  But in my defense....I've been BUSY, very, very busy. Doing what? Well..... First of all, I finished my Master's degree in Teaching English to Speaker's of Other Languages. Yes, it is OFFICIAL , my degree was conferred in May during Commencement at USC. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the ceremony- you know, 'cuz I'm thousands of miles away. BUT I did have a mini-celebration here....somewhere there is a video of a ragtag crew of teachers piecing together a mini-ceremony, including cap and gown for me at the pub. Best to leave that video lost to posterity.  Second on my busy list, end of the year at school. I had many things going on at the end of the year: IB students taking their exams, Maturita students taking their exams, and finishing up a big Hunger Games pr...