Czechmatediary

Do you ever wonder where does Milos Forman live nowadays? He cleverly covered both extremes - a rural farm in Connecticut and an spacey apartment in Manhattan. You can read more about his adventurous living conditions right here (click here).

CZ: Premyslite nekdy o tom, kde vlastne Milos Forman dnes zije? Zajistil si chytre oba extremni typy ubytovani - farmu v Connecticutu a prostorny apartman v New Yorkskem Manhattanu. Vice si o Formanovych zivotnich podminkach muzete precist zde (klepnete zde).

The Vietnamese minority living in the Czech Republic elected today its own beauty queen - or Miss Vietnam CR. Five finalists will travel to Germany next month to compete for the title of Miss Vietnam European Union 2009. “This competition is a great addition for the Vietnamese community since it is showed to the general public in a different light, which in turn will help with the assimilation process…..Vietnamese girls are not only humble, respectful, beautiful and polite but their main goal in life is to get the highest education possible. This kind of attitude may enhance the Czech society.”, says Marcel Winter, the president of the Czech-Vietnamese association. (more…)

It is a Czech tradition to watch specific fairy tales on TV during Christmas and the New Year holidays. When I was a little girl, our country was rulled by communists so we were ‘prescribed’ to watch the Russian fairytale  “Mrazik” (see the YouTube video bellow). It was pretty much on all the time and all of the kids knew the movie monologues by heart. Do you keep this tradition even though you live abroad now?

CZ: Tak co, divate se o Vanocnich prazdninach na ceske pohadky nebo jste tuto tradici v zahranici uz vzdali? Doufam, ze ne! Volte a pak si pripomente pohadku Mrazika v nasledujicim YouTube videu:

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Earlier this weak died one of my favorite Czech actresses - Milena Dvorska. Her acting career began in 1954 when she was accidentally discovered by a famous Czech actor, Jan Werich. Her persona impressed Werich so much that he picked her to be a fellow actress in a famous Czech fairytale “Byl jednou jeden kral” (Once upon a time there was a king). The movie was an instant success and it did not take Milena long to say good-bye to her nursing career and devote herself to the life of acting. (more…)

I wish you the merriest Christmas of all this year! Thank you for all of your support and comments. It’s been a fun ride so far :0)

CZ: Preji vam vsem ty nejhezci Vanoce na svete a mockrat dekuji za vase vlidna slova, podporu a komentovani. Bez vas by Czechmate Diary byla nuda!

Christmas is just around the corner so let’s review some of the most popular Czech Christmas carols and their actual words. I don’t know how about you but it is really hard for me to figure out the words just from listening to them on a CD . The angelic voices are so high that I get to catch only a few in each songs.

CZ: Jezisek uz skoro tuka na dvere, tak je na case zopakovat si nejake ty ceske vanocni koledy. Ja nevim jak vy, ale pro mne je hrozne tezke rozpoznat jednotliva slova poslouchanim CDcka. Ty detske hlasky jsou tak vysoke, ze vetsinou pochytim jen par slov.

Rolničky, rolničky (Jingle Bells)

Rolničky, rolničky, kdopak Vám dal hlas?
Kašpárek maličký nebo děda Mráz?
Rolničky, rolničky, co to zvoní v nich?
Maminčiny písničky Vánoce a smích.

Sláva už je sníh, jedem na saních,
kluci křičí, zvonek zní, jenom táta ztich.
Kouká na syna, uši napíná,
co to slyší v rolničkách, na co vzpomíná? (more…)

“Save little Jesus!” , the signs declare. A bunch of demonstrators, dressed up as snowmen, were expressing their opinion toward the increasing intrusion of the big-bellied Santa and his reindeer - the all-American images of Christmas. Slogans such as “We survived Grandpa Frost (=Deda Mraz; the former USSR image of Christmas), we are going to survive Santa Claus!” or “The end of big-eyed reindeer in Czech!” made me think of couple of ironies however:

• Irony 1: The Czechs are fighting off Santa Claus as an American spirit of Christmas, meanwhile the image of Santa  in America is becoming politically incorrect. Both of them are connected with the word ‘Christmas’ which has become a forbidden and offensive ‘C’ word within the last few years. So while the Czech Republic is trying to save the their image of Christmas, the Americans are fighting to save Christmas itself. (more…)
  
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Dill is one of the major spices used in the Czech cuisine. It pretty much shares the throne with parsley, caraway seeds and thyme. We make dill soups, dill gravy, dill cookies….(just kidding with the cookies!). The fancy name for dill weed is Anethum graveolens, a member of the parsley family. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean region and western Asia. The word dill comes from the old Norse word dylla, meaning to soothe or lull. It dates back in writing to about 3000 B.C., where it was mentioned in Egyptian medical texts. Czech dill soup is one of my all-time favorite dishes. It is a perfect winter meal because it is rich, creamy and nutritious - no need to have a second course after this baby :0)

CZ: Kopr spolu s petrzelkou, tymianem a kminem vladne ceske kuchyni. Delame z neho polevky, omacky, buchty (no to snad jeste ne)…..kopr je proste milacek vsech Cechu (a myslim ze i Slovaku). Nedavno jsem narazila na vyborny recept na koprovku, trosku jsem ho upravila a tady je. Sdilim s vami mou nove nalezenou kuchynskou pohadku :0) (more…)

Daniela Lazarova from Radio Prague always digs out such interesting stuff. This time her article targeted the Museum of Records and Curiosities in Pelhrimov. We already know about fakir Petr who was planning on overcoming his past record at the museum by laying on hundreds of glass shards for 72 hours. This time the museum is exhibiting a 2  by 1,35 meters tapestry made by an amateur! This late-bloomer is a 46-year-old machine engineer from Slovakia who was unable to work for 4 years because of a work accident. Bored out of his mind, he kept watching ‘dumb’ TV channels until he came across a tapestry maker and decided to try it. He tried making Czech castles and various caricatures from the daily newspaper and then went on doing - now his life achievement - the Last Supper. This tapestry has over a million stitches and took him more than 9 years to finish. (more…)

Lenka, also known as Slovak Mama, recently came out with a brilliant service-oriented website called “Postaram sa” (I wrote about it here). The English version is now available which means that it is now accessible to everyone who desires a foreign caretaker. This is what her website says:

‘Foreign Language Sitter was created to assist people who provide services in child care, senior care, pet care, housekeeping, and tutoring and who speak a foreign language. This site is for families that want their care taker to speak the same language that is spoken in their home or want to teach their child a foreign language.’

So if you are looking for a Czech/Slovak babysitter or any other caretaker check it out here!