Czechmatediary

I LOVE THIS! Do you remember Ivan Mladek’s song called “Jozin z Bazin” (the Swampland Jozin) (see the words to the song by clicking here) ? Well, if you don’t, it is a 30-year old, folk song that became a huge hit at the time. The song is about this monster Jozin who lives in the swamps somewhere in Moravia and eats only people from Prague - the city snobs. Although he doesn’t eat the locals they are tired of him. That is why the town mayor makes an offer to give away his daughter and a half or the “JZD” (the communist word for the town farm) to anyone who destroys this monster. The Czechs still play it on the radio from time-to-time. Every time I hear this song it brings me back to my childhood: I am 7 years old, hanging out with my friends at my parent’s cottage during the summer and lazily munching on Nanuk (an awesome communist ice cream bar). Anyway - it’s crazy - but this song ( and the video) has just now become a HUGE hit in Poland! It’s been the number one song on most of the Polish Top Song list (in Polish it is Jozek z bagien). The teenagers have the disco version uploaded in their MP3’s and are dancing away, trying to copy the dancing style of Ivo Pesak. (more…)

The classroom environment in the Czech Republic has been changing. Not only the children hide Intendos (and other electronic games) under the school desk instead of a sling-shot, but also the physical punishment has vanished. Schooling was very important to the Czechs from the start. Until the beginning of the Thirty-year war (1618-1648) the quality of education was very high. Perhaps the biggest reformer of the Czech education system was Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670), a pastor, teacher and a writer. He came up with the idea of so-called Universal education which means that everyone has the right to get educated. He also disagreed with any form of physical punishment. Comenius’ loyalty to teaching - and not only in the Czech Republic alone - earned him the nickname of the “Teacher of the Nations“. After the Thirty-year war was over, the quality of education in Czech went down the drain. It became so bad that many children didn’t even know how to read and write! (more…)

The ultimate evil has finally descended onto the streets of beautiful Prague! What am I talking about? The first Starbucks will be opening there at the end of the month. This cookie-cutter,McDonald’s-like restaurant chain, where even the toilet bowl faces in exactly the same angle at every single Starbucks location in the world, will be located at the Gromlingovsky palace at the Malostranske square. Gromlingovsky palace has been a hang-out place of famous philosophers, writers and other various artists for centuries and this tradition is basically going to end right here. Why? Because the Starbucks sterile and monotone environment does not exactly wake up one’s creative muse. Don’t get me wrong, I love Starbucks. I love it so much that I used to work there for about 3 years ( that’s a story for some other time - or post). The coffee quality is great and consistent and it basically saved the US from drinking mud water until eternity. But does Europe need Starbucks? Does Prague need Starbucks?? NO! (more…)

When the W.W.I ended the Czech immigration became less attractive because the new Czechoslovak Republic had a stable and industrialized economy. Job offers become widely available and the standard of living improved drastically. However the agricultural field remained attractive. Lot of Czech farmers came to Canada to develop the Sugar Beet industry and that is how new Czech communities in southern Alberta were formed (especially in Lethbridge and Chatham).

The inner-war immigration changed the distribution of Czechs in Canada, where more of them settled in urban communities instead of the country. The biggest communities were created in Ontario and Quebec, where Montreal (3,700 Czechs in 1920′) and Toronto (2,500 in 1920′) became primary Czech centres. Other new Czech “homes” became cities like Hamilton, Kitchener, Ottawa and Calgary). In the year 1931 the census counted around 30,000 Czechoslovakians in Canada. (more…)

The legendary Czech singer, Karel Gott (68), got married on Monday in Las Vegas! His new wife is called Ivana Machackova and comes from the city of Opava. Ivana is 31 years old (37 years younger than Gott) and although young in age, she has had some exciting dating history. Among her past boyfriends is also listed the famous American actor, Michael Douglas, whom she dated for 2 years. The Gott family is now expecting another baby and everyone is hoping for a boy since Gott has 3 other daughters, 2 of them coming from his former relationships. (more…)

In her article “The secrets of the Czech complexion” Rosie Johnson expresses her perplexion over the beauty of Czech girls’ skin during the winter times and calls them the “Sun-kissed goddesses”. I don’t mean to brag or anything but being Czech myself, I have to say I have gotten some positive comments on my skin complexion as well. Needless to say, that I have just recently discovered that there is actually a specific kind of soap for your face! I is kind of embarrassing that up till recently I have just been using water (or a regular bar of soap) to wash my face down. But my friend decided to educate me one day and made me buy one of those fancy face soaps (for about $20,000 a bottle) and the result??? (more…)

A hot candidate for the presidential post, Jan Svejnar, is not wasting time these days. His website reveals some very busy times in the near future. Svejnar is planing to tour the Czech Republic including cities such as Zlin, Ceske Budejovice, Plzen, Brno and others. His main goal is to become more - or at least - equally popular as the current president of CR, Vaclav Klaus. Even though Svejnar was a long-time economy advisory of Vaclav Havel (a former president of CR) the Czechs don’t know him very much. Another drawback on Svejnar’s side as far as his popularity goes, is his dual citizenship. People want him to give up the American citizenship before he can become the president of the Czech Republic. How about his family? How “Czech” are they? (more…)

The 2000 United States census counted 1,262,527 people of Czech ethnicity (0.4% of the US population), 797,764 of Slovak ethnicity (0.3%), and 441,401 persons that listed themselves as Czechoslovakian (0.2% of US population). That’s over 2.5 million of our brothers and sisters living the US - not bad! The biggest US ethnic group are the Germans (15.2%), followed by the Irish (10.8%) and the English (8.7%).

CZ: Ve Spojenych Statech zije pres vice nez 2,5 milionu Cechu a Slovaku (2000), coz je 0.9% celkove Americke populace; tak to neni spatne! Nejvetsi etnickou skupinou jsou Nemci, pote Irove a Anglicane.

These are the largest Czech/Czechoslovak/Slovak communities in the US: (more…)

Prior to the first major immigration wave (1880) the majority of Czechs settled in the US. From there some of them moved to western Canada which was known for its vast and cheap land. ” The Canadian government, in conjunction with the Canadian Pacific Railway, sponsored a number of similar colonization schemes, promising that upon arrival the immigrant could begin ploughing on a selected piece of land. These colonization schemes usually involved partial payment for transport overseas and by rail across the continent, and offered attractive, but not obligatory, land-purchase plans. These did not always work out, and many immigrants had to work on others’ farms or in the railway and mining industries before they received their own land. As a result, many never became farmers but stayed in their first jobs. In many cases, these migrants adapted to their new life and decided to stay in Canada instead of returning home. Many then arranged for their wives and children to join them” .

Czech immigration to Canada can be devided into 4 phases:

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If you knew that something terrible were to happen to the Czech Republic and a radio broadcast was telling you that you had 24 hours to get out, what Czech “treasure” would you pack in your bag, knowing that you could never come back?? What things do you think would retain the Czech heritage for the future generations as well as keep you from becoming terribly homesick?

This is how my list would look like:

• Food

- Remember, we only have ONE luggage to pack, so we can’t fill it all with food (you can see I had to get rid of lot of my stuff…..)

3 tatranky (waffles dipped in chocolate)

2 fidorky (round waffles dipped in chocolate)

1 lentilky (similar to M&M’s)

2 polomacene susenky (shortbread cookies; one side dipped in chocolate)

2 burty (type of sausage)

• Books

Polacek: Bylo nas pet ( “It used to be five of us“)

Nemcova:Babicka (”Grandma“;Czech classic written in 19th century)

Vylety pana Broucka (”Trips of mr. Borucek“;another 19th century classics)

Capek: Valka s mloky (War with the Newts (European Classics)

Ctyrlistek - can’t leave Fifinka behind! (Czech cartoon magazine for kids) (more…)