Czechmatediary

A beautiful Sandy Ptak doesn’t just have a Czech herritage in her (hence her last name ‘Ptak’, meaning ‘bird’ in Czech) but she also won the Miss Czech Slovak US for the year 2008-2009. She has been enjoying her queen days very much but the time is running out for her as the new miss is going to be elected in about a month or so during the famous Wilber Czech Festival in Nebraska (August 1st and 2nd). I did manage to get in touch with her just in time to do a short interview about her experience of being a Czech/Slovak queen in the US (by the way, she speaks fluent Czech!):

CZ: Krasna Sandy Ptakova nema jen ceske prijmeni, ale stala se take Ceskou/Slovenskou Miss US za rok 2008-09. Poslednich 11 mesicu si uzivala ‘kralovskeho’ zivota, ale cas uz se ji krati - 1. srpna se totiz na znamem ceskem festivalu ve Wilber, NE bude volit nova CS kralovna, ktera slavnostne prevezme zezlo na pristi rok. Sandy ale bude nadale sedet na trune neco pres mesic, tak jsem s ni stacila v rychlosti udelat rozhovor, aby jsme se dozvedeli, jaky ten kralovsky zivot vlastne je (jo, a abych nezapomnela, Sandy mluvi plynne cesky!!):

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. I already know that you are a 1st generation Czech and that you speak fluent Czech - that’s great! How did your parents ended up in the US? Were you born here? How was your upbringing?

- I am a fist generation American, born and raised in Anchorage, AK. My parents escaped Communist Czechoslovakia in 1980 and got to Alaska six months later in 1981. We have lived in Alaska the entire time we have been in the U.S. and I am so happy that we did. We never lost touch of our Czech heritage and we hold traditions by speaking Czech at home, cooking Czech foods, polka dancing and traveling to Europe to visit family among other things. In just a few months, I will be graduating from Portland State University with a double major in International Marketing and Management. (more…)

Vlastimil, our devoted reader and a great commentator, gave me a wonderful  post idea. Remember our discussion about Americans and geography? Well, the following picture is a great addition - it is called the ‘ World Map according to the rednecks’. It is THE FUNNIEST THING EVER!!! - check it out:

CZ: Vlastimil je jednim z mych ‘vzornych’ ctenaru a komentatoru :0). Nedavno mne upozornil na vybornou mapu sveta - tedy jak ji vidi americti vesnicti balici (vyborne se hodi k nasi davne diskuzi o Americanech a zemepisu). OPRAVDU TO STOJI ZA TO:
(more…)

I found a great blog to share with you. It’s called Girl in Czechland and it is written by an English girl who fell in love with a Czech dude; she fell in love with him soooo deeply that she moved to Prague to be with him! Now, he better be a nice guy because she sure is very nice and a very good writer too. Go ahead and sample her blog by reading ‘Ten things you had always wanted to know about Czechland but were afraid to ask’ (I really like point no. 5 and 10).

WARNING: that is NOT her on the picture!

CZ: Nedavno jsem vypatrala na internete velmi pekny blog a chci se s vami o nej trosku podelit. Jmenuje se Girl in Czechland a byl vytoren jednou slecnou - Anglicankou - ktera se zamilovala do ceskeho jinocha. Tot ale neni vse; zamilovala se do nej tak hrozitansky, ze se za nim prestehovala az do Prahy! Doufejme, ze je to hodnej chlapik, protoze je to moc super holka. Okostujte jeji blog prectenim clanku zvaneho ‘Ten things you had always wanted to know about Czechland but were afraid to ask’ (nejvice se mi libi bod 5 a 10).
(more…)

Katie is my blogging buddy (you can check out her Makingthishome.com blog right here) and she is also an American married to a great Czech guy  named Martin. He was kind enough to write his little reflection on what it means to be Czech to him. I hope you will enjoy his writing as much as I did:

CZ: Katie je moje blogarska kamoska (jeji blog se jmenuje Makingthishome.com) a je take vdana za super ceskeho kluka Martina. Martin byl moc hodny a napsal nam kratkou esej o tom, co to pro nej znamena byt Cechem. Doufam, ze se vam to bude libit tak, jako se to libilo mne:

Being Czech has been a major element in defining the person I am becoming. When I met my wife, Katie (an American), I convinced her to spend part of a summer with me in the Czech Republic teaching local kids English. I believe that this experience taught both of us a lot about my character as a Czech. When we are young, we generally think that everyone is more or less like us. Our time with these children showed me just how unique Czechs are and how very much I live life with Czech values. I understood the Czech students and people around us–both in language and ideas about life. I felt comfortable interacting with the locals and enjoyed visiting small shops to pick up supplies for class. To my delight, the meals at camp were traditional Czech food. I would generally be found in line for seconds when the meals included any kind of knedliky, and when they didn’t, the cooks would save me leftovers from the meals before. (more…)

I have got an absolutely amazing Easter post for you!!! It is written by one of the CMD readers, Lenka, who grew up in a country so she experienced the REAL DEAL Czech Easter. Her story is very entertaining as well as educational - the perfect combination :0) Thank you so much, Lenka!

CZ: Mam pro vas naprosto uzasnou velikonocni povidku!! Napsala ji Lenka, verna cternarka CMD a opravdu moc se ji to povedlo. Lenka vyrostla na venkove, coz znamena, ze jejich Velikonoce nebyly ani o trosicku osizene. Nejen ze je jeji esej zabavna, ale hodne se toho take naucite. Tak mockrat dekujeme, Lenko!

Traditional Czech Easter – the way I remember

by Lenka

I have been living in the US for the last 12 years and I have learned to appreciate Easter here.  However, now as I have children I miss our Easter more each year.
I grew up in a city in Northern Bohemia, but I think of myself as a country girl.  We have spent every holiday, break and weekend with my grandparents in the country.  So I have mixed memories of Easter.  Easter was celebrated different in the country then in the city.  For me, the Easter in the country was more sincere, more about the tradition, even if it got crazy.  Our grandfather would gather young weeping willow branches in February or March each year to let them cure for weeks before he would weave it into pomlazka.  Why use young branches?  By whipping the girls on Easter day you would transfer the youth, the health and the flexibility from the young cured branches into the girls (of all ages of course ☺ ) We would later decorate the pomlazka with colorful ribbons of streamers. (more…)

The next interviewee (does that word even exist?) in the new series of Czech and Slovak organizations in the US (and abroad) is the Czech-Slovak American Club of Tucson. Remember the Czech and Slovak Association in Boston? Well, these folks are just as nice and have a 50-year-old history behind them! Once again, I have learned and I hope that you will too…

CZ: Dalsi cesky spolek, s kterym jsem nedavno udelala rozhovor je Cesko-Slovensko-Americky Klub v Tucsonu. Pamatujete si na CS organizaci v Bostonu? No, tak tito lide jsou take velmi prijemni a jeste navrch je jejich organizace 50 let stara! Zase jsem se toho dosti priucila, tak doufam, ze vas rozhovor take zaujme….

(more…)

What is your most favorite time as far as visiting the Czech Republic/ Slovakia goes? Is it the Summer? Or the Winter? Each season has its pros and cons. Vote and then tell us more about your reasonings in the comment box bellow!

CZ: Kdy jezdite nejradeji do Cech/na Slovensko? V lete? Nebo v zime? Kazde rocni obdobi ma sve pro a proti. Hlasujte v nize uveden ankete a pak nam vysvetlete sve oduvodneni v komentari!
(more…)

MICHAEL BOREK is like many of us. He is Czech to the bone and lives in the US. But he is also a photographer and a great one. I asked him if he would do an interview with me and he kindly agreed to it. I suggest you go on his web site and read this interview to get a better appreciation of his wonderful work :0)

CZ: MICHAL BOREK je jeden z nas: je totiz Cech do morku kosti a zije v USA. Je ovsem take fotograf a to nejen ledajaky fotograf - je velmi nadany! Zeptala jsem se ho, jestli by se mnou neudelal rozhovor a on s tim souhlasil. Doporucuji, abyste se mrkli na jeho stranky a precetli si nize uvedeny rozvhovor - budete tak moci ocenit jeho dilo do vetsi hloubky :0)

1/ Where you into photography even during your childhood? Were your parents supportive?

Yes, I did like to take pictures as a child, but I was not very systematic. When I wanted to actually develop these photos, the things got quite complicated: I had to take out the door out of our closet, put them on top of the bathtub, then put a bunch of bowls on top, each filled with a different chemical such as the developing bath, the interrupter and the fixer; I also had to put the red light bulb in  as well as the magnifier above the washer and that was all done in a a classic communist panelak bathroom, meaning that the space was VERY limited. (more…)

Do you keep coming across these Czech and Slovak organizations but have no clue what they do or what are they like? Well, I am officially creating a new series of interviews where we are going to meet their true faces. My first catch is the Czech and Slovak Association in Boston. The founders are these 3 very nice ladies - Estera Mlch, Renata Dutton, and Maria Grantham (see the picture above) -  who have always been so nice to me so they get to be historically the first ones to be interviewed:

1/ Hi Renata, can you introduce your organization a bit? How did it come around and whose idea was it?

This year we celebrated the 5th anniversary of our organization and we are so very proud of it. For me the whole idea probably started  when I was home with my one-year-old daughter and I needed some intellectual fulfillment in my life besides the regular mom stuff.  I also missed other Czechs and Slovaks and that’s why my Slovak girlfriends Marika and Ester and I put our brains together and realized the unfortunate fact: Boston lacked information on Czech and Slovak happenings in America. We do have the Masaryk Club but this organization concentrates on other things. That is why we created our website and registered our organization. At first we started advertising events made by other organizations and later held our own events. I have to say, we have gotten quite far - getting the recognition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Czech Embassy and other organizations. (more…)

Hi Everyone,

Couple of days ago I have received a very encouraging e-mail from one of you guys. Michelle (Misa) addresses the hot topic of how I teach my daughter Czech and since many of you share a similar story I thought this message would be encouraging to you as well:

CZ: Ahoj, pred nedavnem jsem od jednoho z vas obdrzela velmi povzbuzujici email a to ohledne zhave diskuze uceni me dcery cesky. Michelle (Misa) me nadsene vyzyvala k tomu, abych pokracovala s tim, co delam, a ze me na konci teto dlouhe a nekdy velmi klikate cesty ceka velka odmena:

Subject: regarding your experiment with bilingual upbringing

Please don’t stop! I would like to share my experiences as a child of Czech parents in the US. We emigrated when I was only three years old. At first my father insisted that we all use only English until we were all fluent. This was quite difficult for the adults (mother, father, and grandmother) but they managed it. Once everyone was sufficiently conversant in English however the only language the adults spoke at home was Czech. (more…)