Czechmatediary

Ahoj!

Many of you have been asking me if I am going to make a post on Vanocni Koledy (Czech Christmas carols) and here it is! Not only you can listen to them and download them for FREE, you can also read along or play along, since the text and the notes are provided as well! We can thank the most awesome Radio Praha for this - they did the recording themselves as a Christmas present to all humanity. Thank you Radio Praha!!

CZ: Mnoho z vas se me pta, jestli se chystam publikovat neco o ceskych Vanocnich koledach a taky ze jo. Tady to je! Muzeme podekovat Radiu Praha, protoze nejen ze si tyto pisnicky muzete stahnout ZDARMA, ale take je k tomu prilozen text a noty!!! Dekujeme Radio Praha!! (more…)

This is unfortunately the final part of my interview with Jana (for part 1 click here, part 2 click here and part 3 click here). What a journey it has been! So sit yourself comfortably in your chair and enjoy her last words…

CZ:Toto je bohuzel posledni cast meho rozhovoru s “nasi” Janou (cast 1. najdete zde, pro cast 2. kliknete zde a cast 3. je zde). Diky ni jsme si zavzpominali na stare casy, a to nejen na ubrouskove svaciny….”nikdy se nevraaaatiiiiiii pohaaadka mlaaaaadiiiiiiiiiiii…..”

5/  You voiced some disappointment about the recent outcome of the “Patriots in exile” conference (held in Prague this October) and their opinion on the new Eurogeneration. Can you explain your stand on this issue a little bit?
It is upsetting to me that people make general statements without doing some research. Maybe this speaker’s experiences with the youth in her country is accurate but it might not be in other countries. Some Czechs believe that just because émigrés left, they left their culture behind and did not pass it down to their children. That is not true 100% of the time. (more…)

Iva from Ohio is yet another Czech incognito blogger that I discovered on-line. Her blog called “From Ohio With Love” won her couple of awards so be sure to check it out! I asked her to write us a short story about her life, her beginnings as a Czech soul living in a completely strange coutry. And it looks like she turned out pretty good!!

CZ: Zase jsem nedavno odhalila dalsi ceskou blogarku!! Iva zije v Ohiu a ma super bloz vany “From Ohio with Love”. Vyhrala za nej  hodne oceneni, tak se na nej urcite mkrnete.

IVA’S STORY

I came to US in 1997. The transformation was brutal, but nothing that a 21-year old could not handle. The biggest challenge was the language. I studied English since grade school and even graduated high school with flying colors. But it was British English and pretty much just the basics. Add to it my (back then horrible) Eastern-European accent and how much different American English sounds (especially the slang – oh my!) and the result is that you have to start to learn all over. (more…)

Hi,

Just wanted to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This is the only holiday which celebrates solely the family togetherness, without an exchange of - many times - unnecessary presents. The cool thing is that it is strictly an American holiday, rooted in a time of peace and feasting between the Native American Indians and the early pilgrim settlers. Now it’s a time for people to have a yummy meal, give thanks and enjoy a traditional turkey dinner. I don’t know how about you but I find myself so much more content once I realize how many things in my life I am thankful for.

Ahoj! Stastne Dikuvzdani! Dnesek je jeden z mych nejoblibenejsich svatku; neni o darcich, nakupovani a novych vecech, je o rodine. Proste si spolu sednete kolem stolu, spapate si vybornou veceri, a premyslite o tom, za co jste v zivote vdecni. A hned se ten svet zda veselejsi!!

So it is finally here. After McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut and Starbucks, Prague has just recently given into yet another fast food restaurant - Burger King. Fortunately with this one the store is not located in the middle of the historical center like it is with McDonald’s or KFC - disgracing the neighboring 16th century Renaissance architecture (see the picture bellow). The first Burger King has found its home in the newly opened shopping center in Zlicin, far away from the downtown of Prague. It may be just a matter of time however, when another one of those “Kings” invades the Old Town square or some other Czech Mid Evil town and defiles its looks as well. Daniel Kaspar, the president of Burger king kind of supports my theory:”Our strategy is to be a dominant company in the region of central and eastern Europe”. The next plan for this company is to build Burger King chains in Slovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria. (more…)

As most of you already know I have lived in the US for over 10 years now so I call myself kind of a “hybrid” when it comes to languages. My Czech is not perfect enough to pass for a “true” Czech anymore and my English is not perfect enough to pass for a true American either. Now that I talk to our little Hahna in Czech the hybridization process has accelerated quite a bit. I keep switching from Czech to English (and vice versa) more often hence there are two possible outcomes that may happen in the future. Either my brain will explode or I become more proficient in both languages. Just to show you what I mean by the word “hybridization” in practice, here are some Czech words that I have accidentally made up by mixing up the 2 languages together. Some may call it “Czenglish”: (more…)

Hi Everyone,

here is the 3rd part of Jana’s wonderful essay called “Growing up Cesky” and it is as interesting as ever! (For part I click here and for part II click here). The last part is coming some time next week.

CZ: Tady je treti cast Janiny krasne eseje zvane “Growing up cesky” a pro zmenu se opravdu nudit nebudete. Posledni cast rozhovoru si budete moci precist pristi tyden.

4/What do you like about the Czech culture and what do you dislike? How about the American culture? What do you like/dislike about it?
What I do not like about the Czech culture is that they do not make the distinction between American citizens and our political figures or government. We are 300 million people and each of us are different, have experiences that shape our opinions. We are not from the same mold so do not categorize us and say we are just like our president because not everyone voted for him eight years ago.
The lack of spirituality or religion which I see in the Czech Republic is disheartening. Whether it be Roman Catholic, Prostestant, Bahai, Muslim there is the thought that religion is for the weak minded.  No moral compass exists. If I cannot have it I can steal it by any means possible which happened a lot after the Velvet Revolution. Make money, make even more money and make piles of money. The government has made it tough for émigrés to vote in elections and to receive their citizenship. Just Czech bureaucracy in general is the worst as best described by Kafka.  The judicial system and the government do not seem to have the ability to return property confiscated by Nazis or communists to their rightful owners. There is a lack of prosecution of the communist leadership who were responsible for killing, torturing, stealing, defaming and ruining people’s lives. There is no sense of justice for people on both sides of the ocean and people do not have closure. Czechs have to meet on the street the same people who persecuted them under communism. I just do not think that is right. (more…)

I now have the option of creating polls on my blog and I am VERY excited about that. I have always liked numbers and statistics so bare with me if I happen to publish a new poll about 3 times a week now (just kidding!). The first poll that I have made is however a very significant one. What do we, Czechs and Slovaks, miss about our homeland the most? I left out the “family” option because that’s obvious (or maybe not?). If your answer is not part of the selected options, please feel free to comment bellow.

CZ: Diky nedavne rekonstrukci meho blogu ted mohu vytvaret jakekoliv roztodivne ankety! Vzdycky se mi zamlouvala cisla a statistika, tak vite co to znamena:drzte si klobouky - zacina divoka jizda!! Historicky prvni hlasovani se zabyva klicovou otazkou: po cem se nam tady “za velkou louzi”  (nebo i za jinymi, mensimi louzemi) nejvice styska?? (more…)

Do you like history? Well, even if you don’t you will find this website not only entertaining but also kind of necessary to keep in the back of your mind for future readings and to show to your kids when they get older. What site am I talking about? It is called “Pateti naroda” (The memories of the nation) and it lists stories of more than 800 Czechoslovak war veterans, holocaust survivors, and political prisoners. Here is what Jiri, the co-creator of the websites says about it (more..):

CZ: Mate radi historii? I kdyz se vam historie moc nezamlouva, webovky zvane Pameti Naroda se vam libit budou. Nejen ze jsou velmi zajimave, ale je to zdroj informaci, na ktere by se jen tak nemelo zapomenout.  Tento digitalni pametnicky archiv shromazduje vzpominky a svedectvi pametniku nejen v podobe fotografii a textu, ale take pouzitim audio a video nahravek. Jiri, spolutvoritel tohoto projektu dale vysvetluje: (more…)

Today is the 19th anniversary of the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia. Nineteen years ago the communist police attacked an unarmed  student demonstration of about 15,000 people, which sparkled nationwide solidarity and started a series of mass protests which led to the return of democracy. What may surprise you however is the fact that according to the latest polls 34% of Czechs are dissatisfied with the current state of the country.  Most people today  believe that the the most important slogan of the Velvet revolution, “Love and Truth will conquer all hatred and lies“, is not being acted out by their country. Yet another poll taken by the Ceske Noviny is even more disheartening: 1/4 of the Czech citizens doesn’t mind having communists in their government! Only 20% of Czechs think that the Communist party should be forbidden and about 30% of young people don’t care either way. (more…)