Czechmatediary

Yesterday evening the Czechs finished their 6-month chairmanship to the European Union (the time sure flew by quickly!). The Czech government put on the last cultural event (in this case it was a party) out of the 700 other events that were held during their ‘reign’ over Europe. At first the party was supposed to be out-of-this world show at the main Brussels square but thanks to the world wide recession the Czechs decided to settle for something less grandiose and moved it over to the little more ordinary Carol Street. About 6000 visitors flooded this street and danced to the grooves of Czech bands such as Clou, Mig 21 and Krystof. Many of them were holding a Czech wine in one hand and a slice of traditional Czech cheese or salami in the other. And of course, the biggest line was registered at the Czech beer stand. (more…)

Remember Botasky, the boring communist shoes that everyone would wear? They are back and they are popular!!! But don’t worry, they did go through quite the make-over, created by 2 young Czech art students, Jan Kloss and Jakub Koros. ‘Our school task was to make  new sport shoes so we decided to make a new shoes from the old ones’.

The new style Botas shoes have a wider toe and come in 13 different designs from which one design is kept ’sentimentally’ white. Each pair costs 1,600 Czech crowns (about $80!!) and tend to get sold out pretty quickly :o) (more…)

Only about 7 years ago (2002) Prague underwent one of the most horrendous floods in the city’s history. Besides the historical downtown completely disappearing under water, the Prague’s zoo was flooded as well. The zoo staff managed to evacuate more than 1,000 animals, 800 birds, 150 reptiles and 100 mammals prior to the upcoming flood (making it the largest and the fastest evacuation of animals in the history of zoological gardens). Unfortunately, 14 mammals and 130 birds died during the floods, including the male seal Gastron, who swam more than 186 miles down the Vltava river to Germany, was resuced days later but died on the way back home thanks to exhaustion, stress and infection. Among the animals that had to be put down was 35-year-old Kadir (see image bellow), an elephant popular with zoo-goers, who became trapped by rising waters and could not be rescued. (more…)

What a ‘beauty’, right? Can you guess where was this picture taken? No, it wasn’t shot in some hot desert state like Arizona or Nevada; this spider lives in the Czech Republic! Him and 3 other spider species  are not only  very rare kinds in nature but they are also THE BIGGEST SPIDERS IN CENTRAL EUROPE (!!) and - let me repeat - they all live in the Czech Republic, namely in the county of Olomouc. All of these four guys are living happily together in one particular area without having the need  to compete over each other or eat each other up as it often happens in nature.

These spiders can grow up to 4 cm in diameter and their mandibles can be up to 1 cm wide. But don’t worry they are not poisonous and don’t like to bite humans -  they would rather snack on tasty Czech beetles and other bugs. (more…)

Do you find anything strange about this picture? I don’t, it looks like a regular, happy American family to me. And indeed, this picture is a Christmas card of one happy American  family which had sent it to their friends via e-mail just this past Christmas. But what is wrong with this following image??

CZ: Prijde vam tato fotka z nejakeho duvodu divna? Mne ne; prijde mi to jako normalni, stastna americka rodinka. Tento podtext mela fotka take zobrazit. Bylo to totiz vanocni pranicko, poslane tento rok pres internet a to pouze rodine a kamaradum. Co je ale zvlastniho na nasledujici fotce??
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A well-known beautiful Czech actress Katerina Brozova has a new ‘hobby’. She has recently received a candidacy from the CSSD party for the upcoming October elections. If she were to  get a seat in the House of Commons she would like to concentrate on the culture related issues, she says. The leader of the party, Jiri Paroubek, is hoping that involving such celebrities like Brozova herself will help them getting more votes from the public. His ’smart’ technique has its critics however. The current CSSD congresman, Vlastimil Aubrecht, voices his sceptical oppinion: “I cannot imagine how can someone sit 3 weeks in a congress, then study the laws and manage his acting career on top of everything else”. According to mr. Aubrecht the opposition party (ODS) is being much smarter about this particular issue, putting their celebrities on the actual pitching billboards (which I also find more logical). (more…)

Does your health care system suffer with the deficiency of a nursing staff? Learn from the Czechs! One private clinic in Prague decided to offer nurses a complimentary silicone-enhanced breasts if they sign up for a 3-year contract with them. About 10 nurses have agreed to this offer already and 7 other women are still considering it. This new technique seems to be working as the hospital recorded a 10% increase in job applicants ever since it started offering their bonus package.  Meanwhile, the women’s right activists are going bananas, complaining that the hospital activities are an insult the the nursing profession. Bottom line, the nurses are happy, the hospital is happy and I am sure the patients are happy too :0)

What do you think about this? (more…)

A 60-year-old Czech-American millionaire, Ivana Trump, is planning on buying some real estate in the Czech Republic. Since she is making 14 million dollars every minute (that sounds a bit high), a purchase of couple of 9th century buildings in the Old Town Square should not be a problem for her. “The financial crisis has affected the whole world, but I think the Czechs are still doing pretty good. That’s why I would like to buy something here; I still have to think it over,” said Ivana Trump. During her visit Ivana also took a trip to the local house for abused women and donated 500,000 Czech crowns to them.

Ivana Trump is a native of Zlin who began her life as a professional skier in Czech and ended up as a millionaire living in the United States. Although she has quite the entrepreneur’s spirit she is mostly known for her plastic surgeries and young lovers :o) (more…)

Ctyrlistek in Czech is not only a four-leaf clover but also an ultra-famous children comic magazine. Just the glance on this image above puts me right back into my childhood, when I would read each issue over and over until I had each line memorized. The magazine was named Ctyrlistek after its 4 main characters: the smart cat Myspulin, the pretty doggie Fifinka, the happy-go-lucky Bobik and the cheeky rabbit Pinda. They live in a house together, experiencing different kinds of adventures, fighting for righteousness and protecting the weak. It is also important to mention that they  love goulash and ‘buchty‘  (sweet bread)!

While comics have always been very common in the Western world, the socialists dismissed them as a “capitalist trash”. The only comics that survived the 1970s and 1980 were children comics as they had an educative character and were supposed to enhance childern’s interest in technology and sciences (to develop the nuke later in their life, I guess). When the borders opened in 1968 the Ctyrlistek’s creator, Marin Nemecek, went on vacation to the Western Europe. “Looking around the shops I noticed something that was completely absent on our market - colorful comic books. So I thought for a while  that we could somehow import them to our country. But then it occurred to me, why should I try to import something  when I can write and draw my own things.” (more…)

Remember those ugly-looking commie cars like Lada, Dacia, Trabant or Skoda? Well, Skoda has recovered quite a bit! The original Skoda automobile was originated back in the early 1890’s in Mlada Boleslav. Even despite the glim post WWII political conditions Skoda has always been known to be a reliable car. Its dated image had been a subject to many jokes (see the image above), but  Škoda remained a common car on the roads in the UK and Western Europe throughout the 1970s and 80s. After the Velvet Revolution it became subsidiary of the Volkswagen group - the greatest thing that has ever happened to the Skoda company. The car’s looks as well as performance has been improving ever since including the new sport model Skoda Yeti. (more…)