Sunshine in Prague

I just came back from a one-hour walk in the park nearest me. Delicious. Just soaking up the sunshine and all that Vitamin D, and it just feels amazing. I take it that there will be just a little over 90 days of mega-sunshine left, before the weather starts getting chilly again, and overcast, and the days start getting shorter.

Right now we are on the cusp of a great summer, and I just realized that Czechs (and other Europeans who live in a place where there are four seasons) view the spring and summer as I would being on the beach - walking around half-naked, brazenly rejoicing in the sunshine and kind weather. After all, here in Prague, half the year is spent under overcast skies, gray everywhere, and 10 degree (Celsius) weather. That's not kind, although I suppose anyone who's lived here all their lives are used to it, and it has its charms of course, like that mulled wine I keep talking about, among many other delicious Czech traditions.

But now I see these Czechs in their tank tops and shorts, rejoicing in the sunshine, soaking up the warm golden weather. I thought I would do the same today, and so I did.

Rejoicing in the sunshine and warm weather.

I like it so much that I think that's the end of this blog for now.

I'm heading for the showers, then I'm taking my books with me and doing my work and reviewing (for the classes I'm teaching in English, and the classes I'm studying for as a student of the Czech language) outdoors and going back to that park.

Nothing like this sunshine could make me feel better.

Sunshine is marvelous.

And maybe a taken a little too for granted in Metro Manila.

But in Prague, I marvel. I marvel at the sunshine.

Of food and other photographs

I think I would really like to devote one blog entry to photos alone, sort of like a photo essay of my favorite photos or photos of my favorite things in the last few months  ...

So here it goes ...

 Mrs. Polar Bear at the Praha Zoo in March

 My Czech language school - Charles University, Prague

 Fooood. Kachna (duck) with classic knedliky and red cabbage on the left, and potato wedges and chicken skewers on the right.

 Our favorite tomato soup in break pocket, with a glass of red wine, and my beloved Hruska (Pear) juice! Yummmm.

 How my cooking looks like at home, here a pasta dish.

 Another pasta dish I made! I use fresh tomatoes 90% of the time when I'm cooking pasta or any other tomato-based dish.

 Horsies at Old Town Square - very beautiful but touristy place

 More touristy sights at Old Town Square.

 Thease cakes were tempting me! They're so pretty, it's not even funny! A common sight in Prague.

 This sepia shot was taken in Stare Brno (Old Brno), about 170 kilometers away from Prague.

 Kraslice, or Easter eggs, specially hand made. You will be amazed. These are all real eggs, with only the shell intact, and totally hollow. How on earth they made little eyelet cut-outs of the white and pink one in the photo is beyond me. World class handicraft, if you ask me.

 A field of gorgeous flowers in Munich, taken during our visit during Easter weekend.

 Misters Horse and their human companions, taken at Marienplatz in Munich, if I remember the plaza's name right.

 Beautiful Mrs. Swan posing for my camera on the outer grounds of Nymphenburg Castle, Munich.

 My first-ever baking! That's a Strawberry Icebox Cake on the left, and Chocolate Chip Cookies on the right.

 Lunch! Yummy!

 More lunch out!

 This here above is my own cooking. Well, not the bread. I just mean the scrambled eggs. Hee hee.

 Fresh tomato bruschetta I prepared for myself ...

Lunch out again!

And just like that.

And just like that, it's suddenly the 23rd of May.

Just like that, and in two days time, I would have been in Prague an entire 90 days already.

It feels as if I had just auditioned and just gotten cast for Prague Playhouse's You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown!, looking ahead to the six short weeks of rehearsal we had before us.

But just like that, eight weeks have passed since, and already, we've concluded our six-and-something performances at Male Vinohradske Divadlo.

I just realized that I am not sure if my blog is viewable to the public, and I hope it is, because as I write as therapy for myself, there is something about having an audience I do not know who may find themselves either nodding to what I'm saying, or at least strongly disagreeing to it, so long as there is an audience out there sharing my thoughts and experiences with me.

The spring is already yielding itself to a warm and golden Prague summer, and for the first time this weekend, I found myself stepping out in my flip-flops, and oh what joy. I hadn't stepped into my rubber slippers since I'd left Manila in February!

The possibilities are endless, as I find work, and find myself holding down two part-time jobs while I try to pursue my dream career of announcing/acting/writing.

The possibilities are endless.

Why be held down with only one thing, just for the sake of stability, but forgetting your dream, or giving up that which God designed you for?

And just like that, just a mere snap of the fingers, a mere night's sleep, and suddenly, it's the 23rd of May, and only seven days to my 31st birthday.

There. I've said it, what my real age is. 

And I don't know if there are maybe only five people ever bothering to read what I'm writing here, or if I'm lucky, and there are 15 other people reading this, but at least maybe we don't know each other, and I can admit that I am about to go past the number 30.

But the possibilities are endless, and no, it's not a typo when you see me repeating that, because it's true, the possibilities really are endless, and I think you find that out when you take a gigantic leap of faith, find that out when you leave a nice career behind in a place you've known as home all 30 years of your life, pack up, and go try your luck somewhere else completely different, to greet the lure and the promise of the Unknown and Adventure, and to be with the person you are committed to spending the rest of your life with.

One can be an actress. Or an announcer. One could have been a one-time model, or a part-time writer. But one can also become a book-keeper, or an English teacher, and who knows what else is out there for you.

The possibilities are endless, and who is to know what will be truly right for you, the best fit, unless you go and try it?

I hope you don't think I'm just rambling on here. Perhaps I am steeling myself, as I face uncharted territory, and make a new life for myself in a place far from home, and make this a new home.

Let's post photos in our next blog entry and just stare at food.

Thankful

Well, just like that, the First of May has come and gone. It was my husband's birthday this Labor Day, while I went off to rehearse for Prague Playhouse's upcoming musical, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.  Why don't you come round and watch the show?

Here's the link -

http://pragueplayhouse.com/charliebrown/cast-crew/

Anyhoo, so here we are. Three minutes past midnight, 02 May 2011.

The early spring flowers have come and gone, replaced by the wild blossoming of purple flowers all over trees across Prague and Munich, the latter in which I spent my Easter weekend just a week ago.

Husband snoring in bed, desperately tired and fighting the flu on his big day.

My birthday coming up in 28 days.

And just like that, it's been more than 60 days since I arrived in this beautiful and old city.

Where do I begin?

Today I had a moment, while standing backstage at rehearsal, waiting for my cue, when I realized that life is not so bad after all.

Sometimes, I think I'm just too hard on myself, you know?

But to be transplanted and to find yourself in a completely different country on the other side of the world, and to find yourself working your life's passion still, 60 days upon arrival, is really not so bad.

Yes, so I'm not Julia Roberts, Box-Office-Queen.

But here I am, working with other dedicated actors, working to create something, and what we're chiseling away at is actually coming together, beginning to show some form.

Not only that, but my husband takes care of me.

I worry for no necessities in life - paying rent, a roof over my head, food on the table - nothing of the sort.

Sometimes I see people in wheelchairs getting on the Metro, and this also reminds me about how good I've got it.

All I worry about is how I'm going to get my hands on that leather jacket I "need," or what job to look for or take on because I "need" to "occupy my mind."

But how God takes care of me, how my faith is so deep and so strong that I won't have to worry for life's basic necessities, that they fall at my lap, and all I have to worry about is how best to occupy my time to be the best person I can be with the time God has given me.