Hi Everyone,
it’s time for self-criticism ;0) What would you like to see more of on these pages? Which category should dominate? Or would you like to ad a new category to Czechmate Diary? I am open to your suggestions!
Vote in the poll bellow and if you don’t find your answer, comment.
CZ: Ahoj, vytvorila jsem anketu, ve ktere se od vas dovim, o cem byste na techto strankach radi cetli vice. Jestlize mate uplne novy napad, napiste o nem v komentech.
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It’s the beginning of a new year and it is time to crunch up some numbers: statistics, people, statistics!! What are we, the readers of Czechmate Diary, like? What do we hate? Find out more about yourself right here:
CZ: Je tu zacatek noveho roku, tak se pojdme podivat jak to vypada se statistikou. Jaci vubec ctenari Czechmate Diary jsou? Co mame radi? Co nesnasime? Naucte se o sobe neco noveho:
1.
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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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I am not sure what to make for Christmas Eve dinner. Carp is out of the question – I have never really appreciated the billions of miniature bones you get with this fish anyway. I was thinking making a schnitzel and a potato salad or maybe a roasted chicken. What are you guys making this year? Maybe I will get inspired by your ideas!
CZ: Tak vam ani nevim, co uvarim tento rok k nasi Stedrovecerni hostine. Kapr to 100% nebude – stejne se mi nikdy nezamlouvalo tech milionu kosticek co v nich clovek najde (nebo nekdy take vubec nenajde!). Premyslela jsem o rizku s bramborovou kasi nebo pecenym kuretem. A co budete delat vy? Necham se od vas inspirovat…
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My husband was recently telling me about his childhood arrow. When he was about 7 years old he found out that Santa did not exist and that just scared him tremendously. I tried to think of a time when I found out that Jesus does not bring us presents (for those who don’t know, it is Jesus who traditionally brings Christmas presents to the Czech and Slovak children). But I just can’t remember….I remember writing him letters and putting them behind the window so that he sees it when he is flying around and I remember bragging to the kids at school that I had seen Jesus’s feet as he was flying out of our window on Christmas Eve.
Here is a question for you:
CZ: Pred nedavnem mi manzel vypravoval, jak vlastne zjistil, ze Santa neexistuje. Bylo mu asi 7 let a hrozne ho to zranilo. To me privedlo na myslenky, jak jsem vlasnte zjistila ja, ze mi Jezisek ve skutecnosti neprinasi darky. Vubec si na tuhle epizodu meho zivota nemuzu vzpomenout; jenom si pamatuju, jak jsem mu psala dopisy a pak jsem je davala za okno, aby je pri jeho litacich pochuzkach videl…..taky si pamatuju, jak jsem se detem ve skole vytahovala, ze jsem na Stedry vecer zahledla jeho nohy zrovna kdyz vyletaval oknem z naseho obyvaku.
Mam tedy pro vas otazku:
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What words should you stay away from when you go to the Czech Republic? In other words, what words could get you there into a big trouble? According to the results of Readers Digest these sentences are a BIG no-no:
CZ: Pred jakymi slovy byste si meli davat pozor, kdyz budete travit nejaky ten cas v Cechach? Podle Readers Digest toto jsou ti nebezpecni ‘vyherci’:
Source: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/120846
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!{ 3 comments }
I don’t know how about you but every time I am offering someone a cookie in the Czech language I find myself in a very confusing and uncomfortable situation. To stay true to my Czech soul I want to say ‘susenka‘ but deep inside I know - and you know – that ‘cookie‘ is NOT a ‘susenka‘! Susenka is a waffle-like sweet cracker where as cookie si something…..different; something which does not have its equal in the Czech Republic. Simply put, there is no correct translation for the word ‘cookie‘ and that saddens me. So I guess I will just keep feeling guilty about calling it ‘susenka‘ and wait for that wonderful day when someone else will discover a different, better-fitting translation for it. However, the same acute problem is facing the word ‘muffin‘. Excuse me, but what the heck would you call that in Czech? ‘Buchta‘ – for the lack of a better term??
Life is so hard sometimes….
My mom sent my bunch of Fidorkas and Milas for my birthday the other day and when my daughter asked me what it was I could finally, without guilt, say: ‘susenka‘ – true susenka.
VOTE ON THIS HOT TOPIC IN THE POLL BELLOW: [click to continue…]
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!{ 25 comments }
I thought about other fun little customs that Czechs and Slovaks have and which are hard to get rid off even if one lives abroad for a long, long time.
PS: For poll no. 1 click here
CZ: Prisla jsem na dalsi drobne ceske a slovenske zvyklosti, ktere jsou nam pod kuzi zaryte tak hluboko, ze je tezke se jich zbavit, i kdyz clovek zije nekolik let v cizine.
PS: Anketa cislo 1 muze byt nalezena zde.
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This is a fun one. How do you show the number ’2′ on your fingers? Do you show it the Czech/Slovak way – using the thumb and the index finger or do you do it the American way – using the index finger and the middle finger? I am proud to say I am still a true Czech since I use my thumb. Don’t take me wrong, I have tried to do it the American way but it just seems too much work. My fingers are simply not trained that way; plus, why would I start counting off with the index finger if the thumb is the first finger on my hand? It just does not make sense to me. Vote bellow on what you do (and comment on what you think about this):
PS: bottom line, if you see someone in America doing this sign above, he/she is either Czech counting to two or he is telling you you are a looser. Let’s hope he is counting…. 
))
CZ: Tato otazka vas pobavi: uzkazujete cislo dve na vasi ruce po cesku (po slovensku) – tedy pomoci palce a ukazovacku, nebo jste se jiz poamerictili a pouzivate pouze ukazovacek a prostrednicek? Ja se vam pysne priznam, ze nadale pouzivam cesky zpusob. Navic, prominte, ale komu by se chtelo zacit pocitat pomocim uzazovacku, kdyz prvni prst v rade je palec??? Volte v nize uvedene ankete, co delate vy:
PS: Kdyz tedy v Americe uvidite nekoho jak si ‘pocita’ do dvou, nezapomente ze to take muze znamenat to, ze vam naznacuje vase ‘looserovstvi’. Doufejme tedy, ze pan pocita…. :0)) [click to continue…]
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Since house-cleaning is a huge business in the US I was wondering how many of you, Czech and Slovak ladies, hire (or would hire) a house cleaning lady? If you have not been brought up in Czech or Slovakia let me give you a little bit of a background on this situation. Back when I was a child everyone cleaned their house himself – there was no question about it. Having a cleaning lady coming to scrub your toilets meant that you were either really rich (which was unlikely) or there was something physically wrong with you (sickness, injury, old age). If you were to suggest those services to some woman during those years she would probably laugh at you and said something like: “What? Are you crazy? Why would I let some stranger in the house AND pay him money, if I can do that stuff myself?”.
I haven’t heard of such ‘magical’ services until I came to the US and I have to say I was kind of apprehensive of it at first. And I admit, I would still probably not hire any cleaning help just because I am a stay-home mom (and also a blogger!!) and I have more time to clean than someone who works full-time. But also, if someone were to clean my house, I would probably end up feeling bad for that lady the whole time she was there, wanting to help her! You know what is the worst about this whole business? Some of my American friends do use house-cleaning services and they actually clean before the cleaning crew comes so that they would not feel embarrassed about their ‘real’ mess!!! Now, what is the point of that?? Just clean the whole house when you are at it!! [click to continue…]
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!{ 24 comments }
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