The White House is decorated by Czech Christmas ornaments! / Bily dum je vyzdobeny ceskymi vanocnimi ornamenty

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.

Did you know that to become a proffessional glass-blower one has to complete 3 to 5 years of training? Glass-blowing is a pure science. Miroslav Sorma, the director of the Christmas decoration factory explains:” When you are blowing a Christmas decoration, it is important to breathe out at a constant rate. And you can’t leave one bit of the glass in front of the flame for too long either. Because if you do, then the glass will distort. It will either start to bulge out or cave in. So you have to turn the decoration constantly. And it’s the same with the breathing out. You have to do it constantly otherwise you won’t get a sphere”.

And just a brag a little more, guess who is decorating their tree with these Czech ornaments? President Bush!

http://www.radio.cz/en/article/98938

CZ: Svagrova se mi pred nedavnem sverila, ze jeji znama obdrzela vanocni ozdobu, ktera byla vyrobena v Ceske republice. Ze zajimavosti jsem si toto tema “vygooglovala” a nasla jsem velmi zajimavy clanek na Radiu Praha. Jeho precteni me opet ubezpecilo, ze Cechy jsou opravdu stredem vesmiru: vsechno tam konci a vsechno tam zacina – vcetne vanocnich ozdob. Vedeli jste treba, ze Cechy byvavaly nejvetsim vyrobcem koralku? V prubehu valky se jedna z hlavnich tovaren na tyto koralky stala ubytovnou pro Japonce, kteri se v prubehu jejich pobytu take naucili, jak je vyrobit. Po valce se vratili domu a samozrejme ze tento “tajny” recept zpenezili a prebrali nam vsechen byznys. Cesi to ale nevzdali, tovarnu nezavreli; zacali tam totiz vyrabet vanocni ozdoby, coz je dnes pycha republiky. Vite take, ze stat se profesionalnim sklarem ozdob, clovek musi podstopit 3-5 letum zaucovani? No, tak to me krajanske vytahovani uzavru posledni perlickou, kterou jsem se z tohoto clanku dozvedela: president Bush pouziva tyto ceske ozdoby na vyzdobeni celeho Bileho domu!

Vice se na toto temata doctete na http://www.radio.cz/en/article/98938