Marfusha, Carp and Potatoes….Merry Czech Christmas! / Marfusa, kapr a brambory….Vesele Vanoce!

Hi Guys!

I have a couple of good news. One is that our comments are finally working again! Hurray!

The second good news is that I did a presentation at my daughter’s second grade class on the topic of Czech Christmas and it went very well. Hopefully I taught the children early enough in their formative years that my country of origin is NOT Czechoslovakia but the Czech Republic. I also broadened their fish knowledge and introduced them to the mighty carp and that it makes a good pet when left in the tub for a prolonged period of time.

And of course, I talked about the Saint Nicholas and his two buddies, the devil and the angel. When I told the children about the naughty children getting a piece of coal and/or potatoes as a present, one boy got really confused. After the presentation was over he came up to me and said: “Maybe the potato was meant as a sign of vitality and health since you can put it in the ground and a new potato grows from it and then you eat it.” So I had to shatter his hopes and tell him that a raw potato is truly a sign of a bad kid.

And finally, I brought some Czech Christmas cookies with me and although most of them went for the biggest ones (gingerbreads) and not the best ones (vanilla crescents!!) they did get to appreciate the beauty of it.

The third good news is that my kids really began to like and appreciate the movie Mrazik, which is an old Russian movie, faithfully watched by the Czechs/Slovaks every year. What is even better is that they really don’t like it when I call them Marfusha (the mean, spoiled daughter in Mrazik) if they behave like brats  and it helps them to improve their behavior. Works like a charm!

Merry Christmas!!!!! Vesele Vanoce!!!!

CZ: Konecne se s vami po dlouhe dobe spojuji a mam pro vas 3 dobre zpravy. Prvni je, ze komenty na Czechmate Diary jiz funguji. Druha zprava je, ze jsem mela v Haniccine 2. tride presentaci o ceskych Vanocich! Snad jsem je naucila i to, ze nepochazim z Ceskoslovenska, ale z Ceske republiky :).  Samozrejme, ze jsem zavedla konverzaci na miminko Jeziska, certa, Mikulase a andela a kapra ve vane….no proste jsem jim v tech jejich hlavickach udelala peknej madlajz :)).

A treti dobra zprava je, ze moje holky jsou konecne dostatecne stare na Mrazika a moc se jim libi. Ale vubec se jim nelibi, kdyz zlobi a nazyvam je Marfusy. Ha!