Happy New Year Czech Off the Beaten Path Hi Everyone, I hope you've all had a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! This is a little late, but things have been busy here! Even so, I wanted to put together a short update on what's going on here.  Quiet Holidays Jiri and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary in the first part of December! It's also the anniversary of my moving to the Czech Republic. It's now been 15 years since I stepped off the plane to my new life as an expat. It's hard to believe so many years have gone by!  We had a quiet Christmas and Ne ..read more

Me Wearing a Mask in 2020  Hi Everyone, My last update was almost a year ago! Time flies when you’re having “fun!” The good news is that Jiri and I are still OK. We survived another lockdown, which wasn’t easy. But we made it through! We've led a relatively quiet life through the last year. We've not traveled at all, though I really wanted to go back home to visit family this summer. It wasn't possible due to my vaccination status, etc. We've also not visited our Czech family for the same reason. Some family members, on both sides of the pond, have health issues that would make ..read more

Hi Everyone, Happy Halloween from Prague! Today's also the 6th anniversary of the start of this blog, Czech Off the Beaten Path!  I've not been able to blog much for the past year or so. Health issues kept me tied up; but I'm happy to say that after arthroscopic hip surgery, I'm back to walking around Prague with no cane. That's a wonderful feeling and one that I'm not taking for granted.  Many irons are in the fire for me right now. One of the irons is for writing ebooks. I've written my very first ebook--Asthma Tips & Advice--and am now waiting for it to be checked over by t ..read more

Hi Everyone, I've just released my first ebook about asthma! Asthma's been a big part of my life since I was a kid, though no one knew I had it back then. I was diagnosed as an adult. Before that my kids were diagnosed with asthma at a young age. The three of us have different types of asthma, with different triggers. I had to learn what worked to keep our asthma more or less under control. These experiences, plus living with asthma overseas, led me to write Asthma's Nothing to Wheeze At!, the first ebook in a series on asthma.  This is a short book, with about 54 pages, is packed ful ..read more

Hi Everyone, This post is an update on the situation here with the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, Jiri and I have managed OK. We survived about 3 months of lockdown in our small flat. This was no mean feat, as you can imagine!  Close quarters for that long can make things a bit challenging. But I’m happy to let you know we made it through relatively OK. I say “relatively,” because you know there are ups and downs with all things. There are disagreements, arguments, etc. That’s normal, especially considering the situation. How often is it that you live through a pandemic like this?  R ..read more

What’s it been like being an American abroad at this time? Interesting, to say the least. As someone who takes a huge interest in medical topics, I’ve watched the virus expand all the way from China to Europe, and into my own and other countries around the world. Getting Ready for Covid-19 When it first became apparent the virus had hit Italy, I knew then it would come here. I started to buy necessities about a month before everything hit the fan in this country. My parents always taught my brother and I to be ready. Be ready for an emergency. I know what you’re thinking—and no, my folks a ..read more

The beginning of this year seemed so happy and bright in most places in the world. We began a new decade on the back of a successful climb out of the Great Recession. Then, just as we all began to settle in for the last part of winter, the news of a mysterious illness in China exploded across the world. A Mysterious Illness Begins It was near the start of Chinese New Year when news began to filter out about a harsh illness that had symptoms similar to SARS. The illness was characterized with a mild start, which soon led to severe pneumonia and even death in some patients. Once the world le ..read more

Hi Everyone,It’s been quite a while since I last wrote; life’s been very busy since I became a ghost writer! That’s another story! Jiri and I are doing great and my expat life continues in the Czech Republic. Today, I wrote a post on my private Facebook page—some advice for families that have expats living overseas. Here’s my post: "Family on both sides of the ocean think Jirka and I should live in different places.  American family says it's time to come home, Czech family says it's time I become Czech (citizen) permanently. Ach jo.  I told Jirka we need to live in a completely neutral place ..read more