Interviews

Czech and Slovak group in New York is completely immortal! (CS version)/Ceska a slovenska skupina v New Yorku je opravdu nesmrtelna! (CS verze)

I have done an interview with the following Meetup group a couple of years ago so it is time to re-visit them and see how are they doing. For those who don’t know what Meetup.com is,  it is a social network of local groups with shared interest and/or nationalities. Once a group has an organizer, those people actually physically meet and hang out. It is not uncommon, however, for groups to break up because there is a small fee one has to pay  or people get too busy or some other obstacle gets in a way.  But the New York Meetup is still – after so many years – alive and well! It is not surprising that one couple in the group actually got married and now lives happily ever after :) .

The following interview is in Czech because most of the members are Czech/Slovak and happened to answer the questions in their native language. But do not despair, the English version can be found here (click here).

CZ: Mozna, ze si jeste pamatujete, kdyz jsem s nasledujici Meetup skupinkou delala v roce 2008 rozhovor poprve. No, ale bylo tomu jiz nejaky patek, tudiz je na case je zkontrolovat. Ziji jeste? Nebo se skupinka rozpadla,jako mnoho dalsich Meetupu? Mam dobrou zpravu. Nejen, ze se nadale setkavaji, ale jejich pocet neustale roste. Cela skupinka tak kvete do krasy, ze se v ni jeden parecek dokonce i vzal a ted spolu budou zit stastne az do smrti. A zazvonil zvonec a pohadky je konec (tedy az po rozhovoru).

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Czech and Slovak group in New York is immortal! (english version) / Ceska a Slovenska skupinka v New Yorku je nesmrtelna! (anglicka verze)

I have done an interview with the following Meetup group a couple of years ago so it is time to re-visit them and see how are they doing. For those who don’t know what Meetup.com is,  it is a social network of local groups with shared interest and/or nationalities. Once a group has an organizer, those people actually physically meet and hang out. It is not uncommon, however, for groups to break up because there is a small fee one has to pay  or people get too busy or some other obstacle gets in a way.  But the New York Meetup is still – after so many years – alive and well! It is not surprising that one couple in the group actually got married and now lives happily ever after :) .

1. Why are you interested in being part of the Czech-Slovak group in USA? What do you like the most about this group?
Answer 1: I guess it is a natural desire to be among people who have something in common; in this case it is the language, culture and often even the typical political atmosphere in which we were growing up. Even though I think that Slovaks have a bigger need to meet with others than Czechs do. The Moravians are somewhere in the middle. Besides the CS Group in NJ we are also a part of the NYC Meetup CS Group because we live in Brooklyn. What I like the most about the NJ group is their home like atmosphere since they meet in people’s homes rather than in bars/pubs like we do in NYC. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czechs and Slovaks abroad, Czechs in New York, meetup.com, Slovaks in New York

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The current Miss Czech Slovak US speaks fluent Czech! / Nynejsi Miss Czech Slovak US mluvi plynne Cesky!

Sandy Ptak /facebook imageA 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. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech Americans, festivities, traditions

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Introducing Czech and Slovak organizations in the US: Czech-Slovak American Club of Tucson / Poznejte Ceske a Slovenske Organizace v USA: Cesko-Slovensky Americky klub v Tucsonu


Czech-Slovak American Club in Tuscon ArizonaThe 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….

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Tagged as: Czech and Slovak organizations in the US, history

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Michael Borek : “Photography is the ability to see things” / Michal Borek: “Fotografovani je umet se koukat”

Michael Borek photography 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. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: art, Czech Americans

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Introducing Czech and Slovak organizations in the US: The Czech and Slovak Association in Boston / Poznejte Ceske a Slovenske organizace v USA: Ceska a Slovenska spolecnost v Bostonu

The founders of the association: Estera Mlch, Renata Dutton, and Maria Grantham. 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. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech and Slovak moms abroad, Czech and Slovak organizations in the US, Czech/Slovak groups abroad, Czechs in Boston

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“Even experts don’t know how children learn languages”/ “Ani experti dodnes nevi, jak se deti vlastne uci jazyky”

toddler flick image After a very heated discussion in the comment section of the post on “ teaching my daughter Czech”, I decided to ask an expert about this particular topic and emailed Jamie. Jamie has a MA in Linguistics from Wayne State University.  He has taught linguistics there and at the University of Michigan – Dearborn.  He has  taught ESL to adults for 17 years, and he has also taught German and a little ESL to children.Here is his very educated answer which will put many of us to rest:

CZ: Jak vestina z vas videla, posledni clanek o uceni me dcerky cestiny vypoutal vasnivou diskusi. Nedalo mi to a zanedlouho pote jsem zkontaktovala experta na toto tema – Jamese. Jamie obdrzel  MA v Linguistice od Wayne State University, kde ji take posleze ucil. Tento predmet vyucoval take na Michigeneske universite v Dearbornu. ESL (English as a second language) pro dospele uci jiz 17 let, ma ale take zkusenost s ucenim nemciny a  ESL pro male deti. Toto je jeho odpoved, a myslim si, ze mnohe z vas nejen ze prekvapi, ale take potesi:
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Tagged as: children, Czech language, forum

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Growing up “Cesky” (Jana’s story: final chapter) / Vyrustani po “cesku” (Janin pribeh, kapitola posledni)

This is unfortunately the final part of my interview with Jana (for part 1 click here, part 2 click here and part 3 click here). What a journey it has been! So sit yourself comfortably in your chair and enjoy her last words…

CZ:Toto je bohuzel posledni cast meho rozhovoru s “nasi” Janou (cast 1. najdete zde, pro cast 2. kliknete zde a cast 3. je zde). Diky ni jsme si zavzpominali na stare casy, a to nejen na ubrouskove svaciny….”nikdy se nevraaaatiiiiiii pohaaadka mlaaaaadiiiiiiiiiiii…..”

5/  You voiced some disappointment about the recent outcome of the “Patriots in exile” conference (held in Prague this October) and their opinion on the new Eurogeneration. Can you explain your stand on this issue a little bit?
It is upsetting to me that people make general statements without doing some research. Maybe this speaker’s experiences with the youth in her country is accurate but it might not be in other countries. Some Czechs believe that just because émigrés left, they left their culture behind and did not pass it down to their children. That is not true 100% of the time. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children, culture

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Growing up “Cesky” (Jana’s story, part III) / Vyrustani po cesku (Janiny zazitky, cast 3.)

Hi Everyone,

here is the 3rd part of Jana’s wonderful essay called “Growing up Cesky” and it is as interesting as ever! (For part I click here and for part II click here). The last part is coming some time next week.

CZ: Tady je treti cast Janiny krasne eseje zvane “Growing up cesky” a pro zmenu se opravdu nudit nebudete. Posledni cast rozhovoru si budete moci precist pristi tyden.

4/What do you like about the Czech culture and what do you dislike? How about the American culture? What do you like/dislike about it?
What I do not like about the Czech culture is that they do not make the distinction between American citizens and our political figures or government. We are 300 million people and each of us are different, have experiences that shape our opinions. We are not from the same mold so do not categorize us and say we are just like our president because not everyone voted for him eight years ago.
The lack of spirituality or religion which I see in the Czech Republic is disheartening. Whether it be Roman Catholic, Prostestant, Bahai, Muslim there is the thought that religion is for the weak minded.  No moral compass exists. If I cannot have it I can steal it by any means possible which happened a lot after the Velvet Revolution. Make money, make even more money and make piles of money. The government has made it tough for émigrés to vote in elections and to receive their citizenship. Just Czech bureaucracy in general is the worst as best described by Kafka.  The judicial system and the government do not seem to have the ability to return property confiscated by Nazis or communists to their rightful owners. There is a lack of prosecution of the communist leadership who were responsible for killing, torturing, stealing, defaming and ruining people’s lives. There is no sense of justice for people on both sides of the ocean and people do not have closure. Czechs have to meet on the street the same people who persecuted them under communism. I just do not think that is right. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children, culture

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Growing up “Cesky” (Jana’s story, part II) / Vyrustani po cesku (Janiny zazitky, cast 2.)

Jana’s introduction to Growing up Cesky (part I) received A LOT of response from the CMD readers. I guess a lot of people can relate to her “hybrid” life (including me). Today is your lucky day because the part no. 2 is here! Enjoy the ride….

CZ: Janino vypraveni “Growing up Cesky” (1.cast) obdrzelo od CMD ctenaru dosti ohlasu; hodne lidi (vcetne me) se s jejim “krizeneckym” zivotem ztotoznuje. Dnes je vas stastny den, protoze druhy dil jejiho pribehu je tady! Tak si to uzijte…

2/You have shared with me that you speak and write Czech fluently – that is very admirable. Is it all because of your constant communication with your Czech parents? Or do you have to be proactive and do some “maintenance” activities such as actively searching out Czech company, taking classes or reading/listening to the Czech language?
“Mluv cesky ne anglicky” was phrase I grew up hearing a lot. I grew up speaking not Czech but a Moravian dialect. Now when I travel to northern Bohemia people think I am Ukrainian and they laugh at my accent but I do not care. As a child, I learned English from watching Sesame Street or just being around people. My mother did not speak English at the time and it took some time before she spoke it fluently and my dad was afraid I would pick up bad linguistic habits from him. I do not really know how but by the time I started kindergarten I spoke English and never had any trouble making A’s in English. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children, culture, humor

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