Stories of OTHERS

The incredible balloon escape / Neuveritelny unik v balonu

Wasn’t Alenka’s story just so thrilling? Not only did we get a great read out of her but she also pointed to a couple of articles which pinpoint a similar situation: an adventurous escape of a Czech family but this time IN A BALLOON!!!!

Here is the article in the People’s magazine (click here)
Here is a similar story that happened in Germany (click here)

CZ: Nebyl Alencin pribeh neuveritelne napinavy? Nejen ze nam popsala svuj dobrodruzny utek z CSSR, ale take mi poslala link na dva dalsi clanky, ktere popisuji utek jedne ceske rodiny jineho razu: tentokrat….V BALONU!!! (kliknete zde)

Zde je podobna story, tentokrat ale o vychodo-nemecke rodine (kliknete zde).

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Tagged as: communism, stories of escape

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Traditional Czech Easter – the way Lenka remembers it / Tradicni ceske Velikonoce, jak si je pamatuje Lenka

scan0026croped 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. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech Easter, holidays, traditions

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How Alenka escaped the claws of communism / Jak se Alence podarilo uniknout pazourum komunismu

I happened to meet yet another sweet person through this blog. Her name is Alenka and she and her parents immigrated to the US in 1985 – only 5 years before the Velvet Revolution. Her story is truly amazing. I woudn’t be surprised if they made a movie out of it one day! Here it is:

CZ: Tak se mi skrze Czechmate Diary postestilo poznat dalsi velmi prijemnou a zajimavou osobu. Jmenuje se Alenka a s rodici imigrovala do USA v roce 1985 – pouhych 5 let pred Sametovou revoluci. Jeji pribeh se jednou objevi na filmovem platnu- o tom jsem presvedcena. Presvecte se sami:

‘In 1985 I was just 5 years old and my father was planning the escape for over a year. They didn’t tell anyone. They obtained a visa to former Yugoslavia to go on a camping trip, My father welded a secret hiding spot for about $300 in the frame underneath the car. We were stopped at the border and my parents were interrogated, I was told to sleep and not to move, and I did pretend to sleep but felt how terrified my parents were. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: communism, stories of escape

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Seldom asked questions about the Czech Republic / Zridka tazane otazky o Ceske Republice

What a great name for a blog – “Czech seldom asked questions (or Czech SAQs)”! Sorry the name has been already taken by Mr. Roberts who teaches political science at Northwestern University. But where is his connection to the Czech Republic, you may ask? Well, it so happens that his dear wife is Czech (from Brno). They go back quite often and over the years Mr. Roberts has become quite the expert on anything Czech.

Czech out his blog, it is quite entertaining and it gets you thinking about things you have never thought of. For instance, he describes the Czech-style ‘baby shower’ as follows:

‘Some friends who recently had a baby invited me to what they called a welcoming ceremony for their baby. What is this?

Known as the vitání občanků (welcoming of the little citizens), this ceremony was introduced by the communists as a sort of secular alternative to christenings. The ceremony usually takes place at the town hall and is presided over by a government official who makes a speech welcoming the infants to the community and gives them small gifts (like a scrapbook). Despite the fall of communism, the mostly innocuous ceremony remains relatively popular.’ [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Brno, Czech-American marriage

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’2nd and 3rd generations are the most loyal to their Czech heritage’ / ’3. a 4. generace Cechu jsou temi nejvetsimi patrioty’

Hello to all,

To spice it up, I have a bit different post for you today. Posh Parker is a British reporter who lived in Czechland for some time and managed to write a very good book about it (it’s called Bus to Bohemia). Anyhow, this was one of the reader’s response to it…VERY INTERESTING! Looking forward to those comments, guys!

CZ: Zdravim! Abych vam to poctenicko trosku okorenila, tak pro vas vam dneska neco trosku jineho. Posh Parker je britsky reporter, ktery zil nejaky ten patek v Cechach a napsal o jeho zazitcich vybornou knihu zvanou “Bus to Bohemia”. Jeden z ctenaru teto knihy mu poslal velmi zajimavy email a ja jsem si ho s jeho dovolenim dovolila publikovat. Je to opravdu VELMI zajimavy dopis a uz se tesim na diskuzi!!!

‘Hi Mr Parker,

I recently finished reading your book, and I have to say it was very enjoyable, and it did bring out some different emotions. Let me give you some of my background – so this will help put into perspective my reaction to your book.

I was born in the Czech Republic in 1945, in 1948 my father being a staunch anti communist, was given about 12 hours warning that after the takeover he as going directly to Siberia, so we left in the middle of the night and spent 18 months in various prisons and DP camps in Germany, we arrived in the US in August of 1949, when I was 4 years old. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: books, communism

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“Do you have any wishes?” / “Co si prejete?”

dictionary google image My linguistic buddy Jamie had a great post idea. I am to ask people what kind of strange English phrases were they taught back in Czech/Slovakia?

Here is his experience for example:

‘When I arrived at the hotelovka (vocational school for waiters and hospitality services), they were training kids as servers to ask restaurant customers, “Do you have any wishes?” When I first arrived in the CR, nearly everyone was pronouncing “sweater” as “sweeter”, and when we would correct them, they would protest that “sweeter” was “British English”, but the British don’t say it. They also taught the kids to call the školník the “school servant”, which, as far as I know, is only used in Singapore.’

Isn’t it so funny? I myself don’t remember any stupid English phrases I was thought (I am sure there were many) I just know we were thought some STRANGE pronunciation ;0)) [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: humor, school

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Czech breakfast pancakes ala Martin / Jogurtove livance dle Martina

Martin’s yogurt breakfast pancakes – Czech style

Martin was born in Prague and since 1978 he has been living in the US. He married an American lady named Kathleen (who is also the co-creator of this magical recipe) and have 2 wonderful kids together. His blog called “O Americe” (“About America”) is written strictly in Czech. Why? Martin gets to express himself in his native language, and his non-English speaking Czech friends and family can learn more about the American ways. Through his blog he found a virtual way how to connect with his unforgettable motherland.

For those of you who would like a less fattening version of my recipe on livance (pancakes) here is Martin’s healthy version:
[click to continue…]

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Tagged as: meatless dish, sweet kitchen

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‘Communism is dead! Czech people, you don’t have to eat like a communist’ / Komunismus je po smrti! Cesi, uz nemusite jist jako za komousu’

Karen is one of my frequent commentators, a very pleasant American lady who currently lives in Prague. She has a blog called The Empty Nest Expat and writes bunch of interesting articles about her observations. One of her recent posts is contemplating about the Czech – still rather unhealthy – cuisine. Read her thoughts in a post called “Who will be the Czech Jamie Oliver?”.

CZ: Karen je jedna ze ctenarek Czechmate Diary, ktera se sama zabyva blogovanim, ale z opacne strany nez ja. Je totiz Americanka zijici v Praze a popisuje sve zazitky a postrehy v blogu zvanem Empty Nest Expat. Clanek, ktery me tentokrat zaujal se pozastavuje nad – bohuzel stale jeste – dosti nezdravou ceskou kuchyni. Kdo Cechy vykoupi ze zaklete zeme brambor, knedliku a veproveho? To se muzete docist v Karenine clanku zvanem “Who will be the Czech Jamie Oliver?”

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Tagged as: food, health

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Are Czechs smarter than Americans? /Jsou Cesi chytrejsi nez Americane?

Remember we had that heated discussion in one of my posts about Americans and their poor knowledge of geography? You guys ended up leaving 102 (!!) comments! Jamie was one of those involved commentators who kept pursuing the idea that there is NO difference between us and the Americans as far as general knowledge goes. He also promised to send me a research paper on exactly this issue and he kept his word! Here is most of the article, although I could not fit in all of the questions. But you get the idea..

CZ: Pamatujete si , jak jsem jednou psala clanek o Americanech a o jejich spatnych znalostech zemepisu? Vyvolal takovou diskuzi, ze jsme skoncili se 102 komenty!!! Jednim z komentatoru byl Jamie, ktery tvrdil, ze vseobecne znalosti Cechu a Americanu jsou na stejne urovni. Take nam slibil odborny clanek, ktery jeho hypotezu pry potvrzuje. Jamie dodrzel slovo a clanek poslal. Zde je ho vetsina, ale vsechny otazky se mi tam bohuzel vmestnat nepovedlo.

OK, WHO IS SMARTER, WE OR THEY?

Author: Vladimír Kajlík

Periodically, readers are showered with newspapers articles decrying progressive decline if not outright abysmal state of American public education. The conclusion, usually supported by various sorts of statistical “knowledge surveys”, provides presumably ample evidence for such a decline. There would be not much to report if we just assembled such articles from Europe and America to state the facts and to confirm assumed trends. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: school, science, statistics

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Is Facebook socially awkward? / Je Facebook spolecensky neohrabany?

For those of you who are hopelessly involved in the Facebook world here is a really funny (and also true!) article about this new ‘social awkwardness’ as the author calls it: