Czechmatediary

Sue is my fellow blogging buddy from Atlanta (sueczech.wordpress.com) who happens to be married to a Czech guy. I asked her if she would be nice enough to jot down some thoughts about this Czech experience from her point of view and here is what she wrote: (great story! Thank you Sue!!)

CZ: Jake to je byt Americankou vdanou za Cecha? Sue - moje blogarska kamoska - je jednou z techto zen. Poprosila jsem ji, zda-li by nam o tomto celozivotnim zazitku mohla neco prozradit….

SUE’S STORY

I’ve known my husband for 10 years, and in that time I’ve seen him grow from very Czech, to very American, and now to a happy medium of the two.
The first Czech I saw in him is when we initially met. He was young, skinny, hyper, and barely knew English. He had this lust for life about him that included the American Dream. He dressed in expensive clothes, tried to impress me with name brand gifts, and always had to show me what he bought with all the money he was making. He didn’t talk much about home although I asked all the time. The only thing I knew about the Czech Republic was to not call it Czechoslovakia.
In the next few years of dating, I saw him go closer and closer to the American way and all but recant his Czech citizenship. He wanted so much to be an American, although I kept accenting on how it’s important for him to be Czech in America rather than be American with a Czech upbringing. He has to maintain his individuality and personality, and not follow the herd of Americans on what’s cool and what’s not. But he was young, he had a tight upbringing where they didn’t have much… and suddenly, he’s making great money in the United States. He lived it up.

The only other Czechs I knew were his friends. I understood the culture of drinking beer, eating chlebicky, and sitting around talking til 2am. Then I met his mother. Finally, I understood who he was. His mom, 100%. I think at that moment, I realized that his ways were not Czech ways, they were simply genetics.
I still still in the dark about who Czechs really were.
But then 2 years ago, we (including daughter) all went to Czech to visit his home town. Suddenly, the people, sights, sounds, culture absolutely exploded for me. The more I spoke to these people (especially by the second visit) the more I understood him.
My husband has funny Czech sayings, he loves to watch fairy tales, and he absolutely has to be outside at least 2 hours every day. He always wanted me to cook as fresh as possible and never understood how I can go to the grocery store only once a week. He loves to gossip with his buddies.. and they’re worse than the girls. He’s a work-a-holic and he’s dedicated to taking care of his family. He’s not below of bugging the crap out of his friends to find work if his current job is going slow.
I realized many Czechs are this way… and it was an epiphany for me. I came back to America a little less American. Suddenly, being American wasn’t such a proud thing to be. We’re so behind the times even in the middle of our technology boom. We lost touch with ourselves and our neighbors. Many of us can’t smell rain before it pours down. We don’t know how to garden or how to take care of our own home. We sit far from each other at parks or avoid each other’s gazes while walking past. Or hell, we may not walk at all!
Being married to a Czech man has increased my awareness of how different cultures are, how to stop identifying myself as an American and becoming more human.
And he also taught me how to make the greatest thing on Earth:
KRUPICE!!!!