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Prague was selected as one of the 3 European countries to be the hosting city of this year’s Tour de Ski. The day before the race the organizers started to import 2,000 cubic meters (about 71,000 cubic feet) of snow onto the surface of Hradcanske Square through the streets of Prague Castle and other streets of historical Prague 1. The next part of the Tour de Ski race is being held today at Nove Mesto (Moravia), one of the most famous winter sport resorts in the Czech Republic. The competition will be further continued in Germany (Oberstdorf) and Italy (Asiago and Val di Fiemme). (more…)

On Christmas Eve the most popular movie in the Czech Republic became Shrek! 1,8 million of Czechs (45% TV viewers) decided to betray the all-time Christmas classics such as Popelka or Mrazik (a super-popular Russian winter fairytale) and watched Shrek…I can’t believe it! I guess the times in the Czech Republic are really changing…

• 2nd place: “Would you like to dance” (Richard Gere movie)
• 3rd place: “Popelka” (more…)
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The other day we received one of the Czech Christmas cards which said “P.F. 2008“. I read it, smiled, and didn’t give another thought to it. My husband - American - asked me what did the “P.F.” stand for. “Oh, it means…. (30 seconds of silence)”. I didn’t have an answer! Out of pure embarrassment I immediately got on the internet and started a fearless search. I happened to find this great Czech website (ceske-tradice.com) which answered my question and put my soul to rest. And now - for those who are as ignorant as I was - I am going to put your souls to rest as well! Basically, “P.F.” stands for “Pour feliciter” or “For good luck” and it was invented by a Czech count Karel Chotek, who “ in 1827 got out of an uncomfortable situation of accepting visitors all day long by writing polite notes to them. Those notes usually consisted of words of apology followed by wishes of good luck. They also included a nice picture.” (more…)

My mother-in-law just told me the other day that one of her friends received a Christmas ornament made in the Czech Republic. That led me to do a little research and I found this great article. It - once again - confirms the famous saying: “All roads lead to Prague” (not Rome!!).

For example, did you know that we used to be the #1 bead-making country? During the World War II the major bead-making factory became a shelter for the Japanese prisoners who in the midst of their stay also learned how to make these beads. When the war was over and they went back home where they spread the secret bead recipe and priced the Czechs out of the market! But the relentless Czechs did not close the factory down; instead of beads they started making Christmas ornaments - today’s pride of the country. (more…)

I know this year is not over yet, but it is about time to plan for the next one!!

Ja vim, ze tento rok jeste neni u konce, ale je nacase, abychom zacali planovat na ten pristi!

1/ Cedar Rapids, IW

http://ncsml.org/about/events&programs/calendar.htm

• Jan. 17 - Learn at Lunch: Rebbecca Bartlett talks about “My Trip to Dobruska, Bohemia, CR”

2/ North Miami, FL ( American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club)

http://www.acscc.org/

• Jan. 6th, 13th,20th, 27th - Live Czech and Slovak Music

3/ Astoria, NY (Bohemian Hall) (more…)

Stastne a Vesele! If you are having a fried carp or stuffed turkey, vanilla crescents or an apple pie, either way, I hope you enjoy you Christmas dinner. And if you celebrate your Christmas in the US or anywhere else around the world don’t forget your Czech/Slovak roots! Make yourself a promise: “This Christmas season I am going to teach one non-Czech person how to say “Merry Christmas” in Czech (of course, if you are living in Slovakia, for example, that task is going to be much easier than for someone who lives in Finland…or Zimbabwe)

Stasnte a Vesele! Jestlize mate smazeneho kapra nebo nadivaneho krocana, vanilkove rohlicky nebo “apple pie” preji vam, at vam na stedry vecer (nebo stedry den?) chutna! A at Vanoce slavite v Americe nebo nekde jinde po svete, nezapomente vasi “cechost”! Slibte si, ze tyto Vanoce naucite nejakeho “ne-cecha” par slovicek v cestine…samozrejme, jestlize zijete na Slovensku :), bude to mnohem jednodussi uloha, nez pro nekoho kdo zije ve Finsku nebo v Zimbabve).

What 4 countries share a border with the Czech Republic?  Well, it is Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Austria. All of those states  and other  4 EU countries joined the border-free zone last Thursday. So what do you think was happening on Thursday night? Parties! For example, about 400 people on the Czech-Austrian border (town of Schengen) celebrated their new freedom with special treats such as the traditional Schengen goulash and Schengen punch. The Schegen border-free zone has a lot of history: during the 40 years of communism over 400 Czechs lost their lives trying to escape from Czechoslovakia over to the Austrian side. While the Moravian side of this particular border was celebrating like there was no tomorrow, a lot of Austrian citizens had the looks of apprehension on their faces. The governor of Austria never even made it to the celebration. (more…)

Are the Olympic games in 2016 going to be held in Prague? The estimated cost is about 135 milliard CZK (!!). Who would pay for it? The state or the city itself? Would the benefits of tourism outweigh the risk of becoming broke?? Read more on this topic at http://www.prague.net/blog/category/news/

A recent poll released by the Ceske Noviny newspaper released statistical numbers which suggest that the Czechs are one of the biggest pessimists in the European Union. Over 30,000 of participants were asked two questions:

1/ Do you think your lifestyle is going to improve in the next year?

• only 22% of Czechs said “yes”
• among the lowest five nations ranked also Hungary, Portugal and surprisingly also Austria and Germany

2/ Do you think that your lifestyle is going to get worse in the next year?

• Czechs took a second place in this one; 27% of Czechs actually believe their style of living will worsen. (more…)
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Vanocka has a long history. In the past the Czechs called it pletenice or zemle or ceplik. Before the 18th century it could only be bought at the baker store, people rarelly made it at home. Since preparing vanocka wasn’t and isn’t easy a variety of customs have developed over time to make sure that the baking process is successful :). One of those customs, for example, was for the woman to wear a white apron and kerchief while she was cooking so she couldn’t talk, AND she was supposed to jump up and down while the dough was rising (I personally still do that and my vanocka always comes out perfect; one time I wore an apron that was green and instead of vanocka I found a baked pig in my oven! So all that to say, please make sure that your apron is WHITE!). Another tradition was (and still is) to bake in a coin and whoever found it in their slice was to be wealthy the following year.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of all-purpose flour
• 9 Tsp of sugar
• 4 oz of unsalted butter
• 1 Tbs of yeast
• 1 cup of milk (more…)
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