Czechmatediary

Small Bohemian Steps to World Domination….

 

Hope is in the Air?? ? / Nadeje ve vzduchu??
May 21, 2007

Filed under: Czech news — Tanja @ 4:08 pm
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Germany is currently working on a new type of “Concord” but they named it Spaceliner. Now, just to compare these two planes, I did some research in Wikipedia and found out the real Concorde was taken of the air in 2003 as a result of its only crash in 2000 (Concord was flying since 1969) as well as other economic problems rising from terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. What is also interesting that the Concorde’s engine was build by Rolls-Royce and could reach a speed up to 1,330 mph (2,140 km/h). The plane’s speed was grater than twice as much the speed of a conventional plane and that’s why the flight from London to New York took only about 3.5 hours (more on Concorde at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde). Spaceliner’s speed, on the other hand, is 6 times faster than the speed of sound, which makes a flight from Europe to Australia last about1.5 hours!!!!Wouldn’t that be nice - fly to Prague during my lunch hour!!! However, there is this one thing….the ticket will cost around $5,ooo…

(http://pikant.atlas.cz/trziste/118897-letadlem-ke-klokanum-za-hodinu-a-pul.aspx)

CZ: Nemecko nyni pracuje na novem “Concordu”, ktery se bude nazyvat Spaceliner. Opravdovy Concord byl stazen z provozu v roce 2003 a nebyl nicim nahrazen. Jen tak spesne jsem si tyto dva letouny chtela porovnat, tak jsem zabrousila na Wikipedii a dozvedela jsem se, ze duvodem proc byl Concord stazen z provozu byla nejen jeho jedina nehoda ve Francii v roce 2000 ( Concord lital jiz od roku 1969), ale take ekonomicke potize spojene s teroristickymi utoky z 11/9/2001.

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Winning kolache recipe / Recept na tradicni kolace
May 18, 2007

Filed under: Recipes — Tanja @ 9:10 pm
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kolace. google imageHi Everyone / Nazdar vsichni!

I found this “State Grand Champion Poppy Seed Kolaches” (by Claudia Matcek). I haven’t made it according to her instructions yet but it seems easy to understand. I have a real appreciation for such recipes because I have countlessly tried to bake Kolace (and various other Czech pastry) but with…..let’s just say, little luck. The problem was that I was reading the recipes out of the Czech cookbooks and ingredients such as “kostka masla” (cube of butter) or “prasek na peceni” or (one package of baking powder) does not have an equivalent here in the US unless you have stocked up supplies from the Czech Republic.
Anyway, good luck, here it is and let me know how they came out!

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Temelin trouble / Problemy s Temelinem
May 17, 2007

Filed under: Czech news — Tanja @ 3:58 pm
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1179331245_cr-rakousko-blokady-temelin1.jpg Angred Austrian citizens are threatening to block all of the 16 Austrian border check points into the Czech republic unless the Austrian government sues the Czechs for the currently running circumstances of Temelin powerplant. The Austrian government decided to start with the diplomatic talks before it gives in to the public and starts a full-on law suit.

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10 things in the Czech Republic that are better than in America (part II)
May 15, 2007

Filed under: Stories — Tanja @ 8:54 pm
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• NO all-you-can-eat buffets (Getting fat!!! Hallo!!)

• Quality of bread
• Daily exercise consists of more than just pressing your foot on a gas pedal
• architecture has much more personality
• Public transportation is not used just by homeless people and ex-cons
• Fruit and vegetables taste REAL (not like the weird, tasteless, waxy-looking stuff that is available in the US grocery stores)

• Not everyone is suing everyone for everything
• Burty ( type of kielbasa)
• Universtal public acceptance of beauty of Svickova and Vepro, Knedlo, Zelo
• Visiting another country doesn’t actally take 10 hours of flying

Do you have anything to add?? Leave a comment!

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10 things in America that are better than in the Czech Republic (part I)
May 14, 2007

Filed under: Stories — Tanja @ 5:58 am
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• All-you-can-eat buffets (I still can’t believe it!!)
• cheap clothing (love Target)
• People’s positive attitude
Bridal/baby showers
• Option of going to school until you are 100 years old
• Free water and bread in restaurants
• Food to go
• Free soda refills
• Widespread use of deodorants
• Teachers at school actually build you up rather than tear you down

What do you think??

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“Prague is worse than Africa!” / “V Praze je to horsi nez v Africe!”
May 11, 2007

Filed under: Czech news — Tanja @ 8:24 am
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Brad a Angelina zu??: ?eský bulvár? Hyeny! Screamed Angelina Jolie at the relentless press crowd. Although partially of a CZECH DESCEND (her father is half Czech and half German; more on her biography go to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001401/bio), this actress also said that she would never come back here even if she was payed billions of dollars. The poor soul got upset because one of the czech photographers got adventurous and climbed the fence of their rented property. One of the American press people commented that ” we dare to do a lot of things to the celebrities in the US but climbing their fences is little too much..” Yep, in the US that guy would get arrested or even shot at for what he did. But common’….Prague worse than Africa???? Then you, Angelina, must have been to different “Africa” than the one I know! Plus, how can you say that if some of that “disgraceful blood” is running in your veins too!!!!

Toto kricela vystresovana Angelina Jolie pote, co se jeden z ceskych fotografu rozhodl prelezt zed u jejich pronajate vily v Dejvicich. Tato cecho-americanka (jeji otec je puvodu ceskeho a nemeckeho) take konstatovala, ze se do Prahy uz nikdy nevrati, i kdyby ji za to nabidli bilion dolaru.Jeden z americkych novinaru se k tomu vyjadril: “my si v Americe dovolime dost k nasim celebritam, ale tohle uz je trosku moc”. No, v US by byl nefinitvne zatknuty, ne-li postreleny. Ale ze by Praha byla horsi nez Afrika??? To tedy, pani Jolieova, musite navstevovat jinou “Afriku”, nez kterou znam ja….A navic kricite na na svoji vlastni krev!!

for more info go to http://pikant.atlas.cz/celebrity/117345-brad-a-angelina-zuri-cesky-bulvar-hyeny.aspx

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Czech Republic is becoming rich….again / Cesko si stale vice polepsuje!!!
May 10, 2007

Filed under: Czech news — Tanja @ 8:53 pm
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Ferrari-360-Spider-wallpapers-5.jpg (85458 bytes) 28 Czechs are becoming proud owners of Ferrari this year ( http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/magazin/zajimavosti/index_view.php?id=251238) ! So far the czech roads are filled with over a hundred of them and the number of buyers has been increasing every year. The new Ferrari costs anywhere from 5 to 8 million crowns, which is about $ 250,000 to $400,000. NOT BAD!!! Czechs are becoming rich and the economy is improving again (unless the Mafia is taking over)….like it was during the First Republic - the good old T.G. Masaryk times. Back than everything was florishing and our little First Republic was just like a “little” America: the land of opportunities (don’t take me wrong I am not 100 years old, that is just what I heard from my grandparents and what we learned at school).

Jiz 28 Cechu se tento rok stane vlastnikem nejdrazsiho auta na svete - Ferrari. Zatim jich po ceskych silnicich krouzi pres stovku, ale obednavky se kazdym rokem zvysuji. Nove Ferrari stoji mezi 5ti az 8mi miliony korun, coz je kolem $250 000 - $400 000!! Ceska ekonomie tedy nadale rozkveta (nebo ze by Cesko melo vice mafianu???), jako to bylo za casu Prvni Republiky - za casu T. G. Masaryka. Tehdy nase jen kvetla a pripominala takovou “malou Ameriku” - zem nekonecnych moznosti (ne ze by mi bylo 100 let a toto jsou me memoary, ale tak mi to alespon bylo vysvetleno mymi prarodici a ucitely)…..

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Guess who is visiting Prague these days??? Kdo dnes brouzda Prahou???
May 8, 2007

Filed under: Czech news — Tanja @ 12:06 am
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You wouldn’t believe who has been visiting Prague since Sunday…It is the famous “Brangelina”(i.e. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pit) couple. She is shooting some kind of a comic story by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. And of course she brought her whole family pack….how sweet. Let’s hope they will come home saying that Prague IS the most beautiful city in Europe because it simply is.

Tak si predstavte, kdo navstevuje tento tyden Prahu! Je to znama “Brangelina” dvojka (Pitt + Jolie). Ona prijela kvuli jakemusi nataceni komiksoveho filmu a pri te prilezitosti privezla celou svoji rodinnou tlupu. Doufejme, ze prijedou z Prahy cely okouzleni, a ze take uznaji, ze toto mesto opravdu je perlou Evropy…

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/magazin/index_view.php?id=250946

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Not Every beach Has the Same Waves / Neni More Jako More
May 4, 2007

Filed under: Stories — Tanja @ 10:44 pm
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 When I came to the United States (only 18 years old), my major concern was how to find new friends. At that time I didn’t even consider it a “concern” because I assumed that the task should be accomplished pretty easily. I will just go down to the beach and meet someone that way. That’s the way it works in Mediterranean Italy, right? One always ends up chasing some Italians away who – after only five minutes of conversation - with their words “I lov ju bellissima” are promising you marriage. That’s why the next day after the arrival I let myself get dropped off at the local beach. After an hour of reading I started feeling a little restless. That is why I decided to put my book down and actually looked around ( I normally don’t like to do that since I am sending signals that I am bored and in need of a company, which I am usually not interested in). The beach was just swarming with young people – so that wasn’t the problem. So I put my sandals on and thought to myself (quite upset already) that if I start walking then I must meet someone that way (that was my plan C – my final plan). As I was walking I even forced myself to smile at the people and — NOTHING HAPPENED!!! “Now I know why this is happening”, I thought to myself “because it’s Wednesday! If it was the weekend than I would meet someone in a sec!”

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A Little bit of history…Czechs in America (Part I)
May 3, 2007

Filed under: Czech/Slovak-American history — Tanja @ 1:53 am
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  I found the greatest paper on the history of Czechs in America!! The article is 82 pages long so I will try to summarize it here a little and pull out the most interesting points:

The most important waves of imigration happened first after the Battle of White Mountain (1620), after the revolutionary year 1848, with the outbreak of WWII, 1948 (when communists seized power) and in 1968 (Soviet occupation). In 1990 the national census showed 1,300,000 Czechs living in the US!!! (52% in MW, 22% in the South, 16% in the West and 10% in NW) So I guess there is a lot of us!!!

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