Don't speak the language? Never mind!

It's the winter holiday now and I'm in Poland. It's ridiculously warm here. It feels like early spring. This is the first time ever that I'm staying in a hostel. It's weird. I usually couchsurf when I travel but my host never responded to my messages so I booked a hostel instead. The past couple days I've been in Josseline's hometown, Korenov, which is up in the Jizerka mountains right on the Czech-Polish border. Jossi's parents fed me until I thought I would burst but the food was so delicious. Jossi's father is Lebanese and so he made fatayer, nammourah, and kufta. Jossi's mom made lots of Christmas sweets, schnitzel, and potato salad. I showed them how to make chocolate chip cookies and apple pie. That night Jossi's family opened their Christmas presents Jossi and I hiked up to this watch tower called Štêpanka. The air pressure made my ears hurt so much but we got used to the wind after a while. After we got home, we sat in the kitchen with a hot cup of tea and Jossi's mom told me the older German version of the Popelka (Cinderella). The wind was howling so much that it shook the house really hard. Later in the evening Jossi's brother and his family came and they opened their presents. Jossi's nephew really reminds me of Anas. They're around the same age. They have the same personalities. It really felt as close to home as I could get while being so far away. They welcomed me back any time especially when there is more snow so we can all go skiing. For now I'm sitting in the hostel in Wroclaw chilling with these two:

I'll spend the next day here and then I'll head to Kraków. :)

You can never have too much stuffing.

I know it's been a while since I last updated but it's been an extremely hectic month. Among teaching my flatmate and I threw a Thanksgiving dinner party for some friends. It felt so amazing to have cooked all that food because I've never cooked a turkey before let alone an entire dinner for 10 or so people. Now it's finished and we have so many leftovers but at least we won't have to cook for a week. Now things are calming down a little (just a little) and it's time to enjoy the Christmas season in Europe. Even though I don't celebrate I love the festiveness of any holiday and I find Christmas to be especially beautiful. I love going to the Christmas markets and wandering around for hours looking at the little trinkets and toys and eating toasty, sweet pastries. I am quite the happy kitty. This past Sunday, Mariia, Josseline, and I met up with Mariia's friend, Olga at the Christmas market at the museum and spent a couple hours there. I'm headed to Poland next week for a little more shopping (but not too much since I don't have a need for anything nor do I need to buy presents for anyone). Then there is a Christmas dinner that one of the foreigners organizations is throwing so people can experience a traditional Czech Christmas dinner (carp and some fish soup) so that will be nice. Then there are some films and other foreigners meetings I want to go to and Mariia and I still must figure out where we're going for the winter vacation. My plans change so frequently. It's just that there are so many options! First I wanted to go to Sarajevo (which I still want to but maybe in the spring), then we decided to go to Poland and now we're thinking about Barcelona or Amsterdam! I have no objections to any of those places but we're trying to stay on the cheap side. I would really wouldn't mind going to Amsterdam because that would mean I wouldn't have a problem finding yummy Indonesian food. :) And I've heard it's such a nice city so it would be lovely to walk around there for a couple of days. We'll see. Nothing is final until we buy the tickets. :)

Also I'm starting to look at jobs in Japan and South Korea. I've heard the pay there is good and as much as I love being in Europe, I would really like to pay off my student loans so that I can start looking into doing my master's degree (looking at a cool program in Spain but I have to improve my Spanish and learn Catalan). Either country would be cool and I think it would be quite cheap to fly to other places in Asia, say, Indonesia? :) It's too early to tell but I have another problem. I don't know how to nicely tell my bosses I won't be staying for another year. And it's not just about money, it's about my personal life as well. I think it's time to start looking for a nice Muslim guy and society here is quite limited. Life is complicated and it always will be but at least for now I can enjoy the sunset from the cafe where I'm sitting in Ulrichovo Namesti and only think about that delicious stuffing I'm going to eat once I get home. :)