There and Back Again (without the Hobbits)

At the beginning of March I made the long trip home to Perth, Australia for a family wedding. After a while away without seeing family or friends back home, it was very emotional for me. I had been looking forward to the trip ever since booking it, back in November! It's amazing that when you get to hold someone after so long apart, you realise how much you have missed them.

Mum, Dad, Emma and the Cooper clan met me at the airport and it was with blessed relief that I breathed in the sweet clean Australian air. It was the first thing I noticed as I stepped out of the airport terminal - what a difference it makes! Not that Czech air is dirty, but living in a big city in a valley really does have its respiratory downfalls.

The Family wedding was down in Margaret River, for my cousin Russell and his, now wife, Sarah. It was a beautiful wedding and a great weekend spent with the family in a gorgeous location. Sun, sand, family and wine - the perfect combination!

Bunker Bay - Dunsborough, Western Australia

Australia in March is really unpredictable, but the weather was perfect; 38/39 degrees most days while I was home, with cloudless skies and cool seabreezes. Walking along the beach with my dog Romeo, having lunch with friends, dinner with family and shopping with Mum are all things I have missed dearly, so it was great to be able to do them again.

Warnbro Beach with Romeo

I was also able to be home for the engagement party of my friends, Emma and Jordan. They got engaged recently and organised the party for the week I was home! I am so happy that I was able to share the night with them, it was a very special evening for everyone.

I had been forewarned by some friends in Prague, that visits back home are never relaxing and to expect to be kept busy for the entire time; they weren't wrong! Even with running around everyday, I still didn't do everything I wanted to do or see everyone I wanted to see.

By the time I left Perth, I was feeling more exhausted than when I arrived. No rest for the wicked though, flew into Prague Sunday night and back to work 7:15am Monday morning! My students now all know the meaning of the word 'jet-lagged'.

It was just a quick visit home but definitely worth it and as the saying goes, you don't know what you've got until it's gone. When I was in Perth I missed Jon and Prague, and now I am home in Prague, I miss my family and friends in Perth.

Rockingham Foreshore

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

Sitting here, thinking about all that has happened this year, I find myself thinking, 'not much!' But that can't be right...We have both been busy with working and just living life. Over the last few months, we have made some really great friends here in Prague, which ultimately leads to less sightseeing and more pub visiting! Not a bad trade though in my opinion. Living in a foreign country is always made easier when you have a group of friends you can turn to.

Our Christmas and New Years guests all left on January 4th, to much displeasure from Jon and I. It would be an understatement to say that going back to work after the break was hard! But we got there in the end, and we had some more friends, Karen and Mase, visit in the middle of January which was really nice. We met Karen on our Europe TopDeck tour in 2010 and her and her boyfriend Mase are making their way back to New Zealand after a long 3 years abroad. Having people visit the place where you live is wonderful, you get to play the tour guide and take them to all the best sights and best restaurants and pubs too. It is also nice to reconnect with people after a long time apart - a connection to memories or experiences shared with those people who are visiting. Having Karen here felt like we were back on our Euro trip all over again! We had lots of laughs with them and made some new memories too.

It was a few weeks after this that we got hit with the big freeze - literally. The weather had been sitting around 0 degrees (give or take 5 degrees) for the majority of winter, which is considered quite warm for Prague. Then we had about 3 weeks of temperatures averaging -15/20 degrees! I have never felt anything like it and I don't want to live through it again. It kind of feels like your skin is being scraped from your face alongside the feeling you get when you shove too much icecream in your mouth at once. You could only be outside for short periods of time - there were health warnings on the radio reminding people to keep their outdoor business to a minimum. Although, as all good things come to an end, so does freezing weather, and as the temperatures crept back up to the 0 mark, we finally got our snow in Prague! If ever you are asked the question "what is the most magical city when covered in snow?" your answer should be Prague! It was simply breath taking and totally romantic. It was a pity that it only snowed for a few days in Prague this winter, but any more and we probably would have been sick of it! Here are a few pictures we took on an excursion to capture the city in white:

Prague Castle and a slightly frozen Vltava!

On our way up to Prague Castle

Sugar dusted Prague

And more snow!

We also got to have our play in the snow too; tobogganing, making snow angels, snowball fights and snowmen all crammed into one day of blissful childhood fun! We were definitely the least experienced of all the people in the park that day when it came to 'snow activities' but I think we were having the most fun :)

Snow Angels!

The river near our apartment, frozen solid!

Smallest snowman and snowsheep ever

We managed to squeeze in another ski trip in February too. We went back to Herlikovice with a group of friends, just for the one day of skiing. The bus ride to the mountains is only 1 hour and 40 minutes, and including hire of equipment, the whole day costs less that $50! We had a great time going up and down the slopes all day, with the more than occasional pit-stop at the many bars along the slopes. I'm not sure that we are getting any better at skiing, but we certainly enjoy it!

Herlikovice slope

So, although it doesn't feel like we have done much over the last few months, we have really been living the 'overseas experience'. Making friends, working to pay the bills, enjoying the change of seasons and generally living life is what we set out to do here, and we are enjoying every minute of it.