Czechmatediary

I have a 10-month old baby. Her name is Hahna; that’s right – H-A-H-N-A - for people to pronounce it the European way (although many times she is still called Hannah). Picking a name that would work for both “worlds” was very important to me. I didn’t want to name her something very ethnic like “Drahomira” so that she wouldn’t be ridiculed at school and my husband could pronounce it. I also didn’t want to name her something like Cloe; although I like the sounding of that name, as far as Czech language is concerned, it is unfortunately completely useless and that’s because: (more…)

You may not know it but during communism the sport of the “rich and famous” was tennis. Now, almost 20 years later the situation has changed; tennis is still kind of popular but it got definitely overpowered by a new sport giant - GOLF. Over half of the golf courses in the formal Eastern European block are located in the Czech Republic! The Czechs can currently pick from over 80 golf courses spread out all over the country. If you are a golf fan and would like to read up more on this “issue”, click here.

CZ: Za komunismu to byl tenis. Jaky sport ovlada Ceskou Repubiku dnes? Budete se divit (tedy alespon ja nad tim kroutim hlavou), ale je to GOLF. V roce 1991 mel tento stat poze 5 golfovych hrist; dnes jich je tam pres vice nez 80. Vice o tomto tematu si muzete precist zde.

Do you like to visit Prague? And do you like to chew gum? Then you may be in trouble. Starting this July spitting out an old chewing gum or flicking off your cigarette butt may cost you 1,000 Czech crowns (which with today’s exchange rate means pretty much $1,000). And if you try to make it difficult for the police - like putting that gum back to your mouth claiming that it had accidentally just fallen out - then you may be charged up to 30,000 crowns!! What else is included (or rather excluded) under the new Clean Law? (more…)

One of the best goalies in the history of NHL ,Dominik Hasek, announced on Monday that we was retiring from hockey. He began to play for NHL (Chicago Blackhawks) in 1990 and over his 18-year long career Dominik managed to win the Stanley Cup (twice!), the NHL’s Hart Trophy (twice!), the Vezina prize for the best goalie (6 times!!) and other trophies. Of course, we cannot forget the fact that he led the Czech Republic to Olympic Gold at Nagano in 1998. I remember that year like it was yesterday. The streets of Prague were filled with thousands of drunk and ecstatic Czechs like never before - one would have thought that we had won the World War or something! (more…)

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. (more…)

While America is kind of over the whole shopping mall scene (it was big hit of the 80’s) the Czech Republic is just getting started. There are currently about 60 shopping mall centers spread all over the CR while 50 other ones are on the verge of being built. More about the shopping mall boom and why do they grow like mushrooms after the rain (is that an American expression as well or am I making a fool out of myself here?) click here.

CR: Zatimco hit obrovskych nakupnich stredisek se stal v Americe jiz jaksi pase (byla to obrovska hitovka 80-tych let), v Cechach ted rostou jako houby po desti. V soucasne dobe je jich tam pres 50 a 60 dalsich nakupnich stredisek jen ceka na vystavbu. Proc tak nahly vzestup? Odpovedi na toto tema se dozvite zde.

Source: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/104814

The legendary musician Bob Dylan is coming to perform to Ostrava in a couple of days (June 9th) and that will be his only concert in the Czech Republic this year (probably got sick of Prague..). His requests to create a comfortable, Dylan-like environment are not that bad. His dressing room has to have following items in it:

• carpet (hello!)
• sofa
• comfortable chair
• big mirror (??)
• 10 towels (why not go crazy and make it 11 towels?) (more…)
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

Rohliky are the signature pastry of the Czech republic. They are something like a French baguette but without the French attitude:-) You can spread butter and jam on top, or you can cut them in half and make a meat-n-cheese sandwich. But they taste the best just eating them alone or dipping them in a glass of milk. I have been looking for the recipe for ever and I finally found one AND was able to convert the yeast amount into the non-metric measure (yes!!). Bellow is an actual picture of my first rohliky and I have to say, it turned out pretty good considering that I don’ t do much baking at all.

Konecne! Recept na rohliky pro nas, ty kdo ziji v cizine! (more…)

Besides visiting the Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge can Prague tourists now visit yet another attraction: the “Under the Wing of Night” restaurant. It is a place where one eats in complete darkness to experience the art of food from yet another perspective (or sense).Find out more about it here.

CZ: Krome Prazskeho hradu a Karlova Mostu mohou Prazsti turiste zakusit take dalsi atrakci - restauraci zvanou “Pod Kridlem Noci”. Jmeno jemne naznacuje, ze navstevnici pozivaji jidlo v naproste tme. Vice o teto prazvlastni restauraci si prectete zde.

The Czech movie called “Kraska v nesnazich” (”Beauty in trouble”) is definitely NOT in trouble. Starting June 13th it will be shown in a number of movie theaters all over US, starting in New York (Angelika in Greenwich Village) and the Landmark Theatre in Washington. Depending on the success (or no success) the story will receive there it will travel to other places in the United States. The reason why is this movie already so close to the American viewers’ hearts is because of two reasons: 1/ the movie did great at the 2 prominent US Film Festivals - one in Denver (CO) and the other one in Santa Barbara (CA) and 2/ the American public is already in love with Ana Gaislerova from the former role in yet another great Czech movie Zelary. (more…)