Czechmatediary

June gloom is here and with it not-so-gloomy Czech and Slovak celebrations. We have numerous Czech/Slovak festivals coming up AND the all-time-favorite Czech band Czechomor is touring the USA and Canada :0)

CZ: Cerven je tady a s nim take miliony Ceskych/Slovenskych festivalu a dalsiho lakaveho ‘zbozi’, jako je napriklad turne zname ceske skupiny Cechomor.

1. Clarkson, NE

What: Clarkson Czech Festival

When: June 19 - 21

2. Hastings, NE

What: Czech-Slovak Festival

When: June 6th

3. Washington, DC (Embassy of the Czech Republic)

A. What: Czechomor Concert

When: June 19 @ 7:30pm

More info: 202.274.9105 (more…)

The World Ice Hockey Championship 2009 is starting Saturday evening in Switzerland! The opening match is going to be between the Czechs (including Jaromir Jagr!!!) and the Dutch so it should be a great show. The world’s 16 best teams are going to face off in Bern and Zurich from April 24 to May 10 and you can watch the progression  of the games  right here (click here).

CZ: Tak uz je to tady! Mistrovstvi sveta v lednim hokeji 2009 zacina v Sobotu vecer ve Svycarsku! Cesky tym se tam utka s Danskem, mela by to tedy byt nezapomenutelna show. 16 nejlepsich hokejovych tymu z celeho sveta se  bude nebojacne prat o zlatou medajli az do 10. kvetna, tak se mame na co tesit. Vysledky vsech zapasu muzete sledovat zde (kliknete zde).

Primi prenos ceskych zapasu muzete take sledovat  on-line zde (klikntete zde).

Hi you guys, here is the summary essay on a current situation of the Czech-American community in the USA (if you would like to see Ivana’s more detailed report click here.)

CZ: Ahoj! tady je zbytek diplomove prace ceske studentky Ivany Stavarove, ktera popisuje nynejsi situaci Czecho-Americanu zijicich v USA (vice podrobnych udaju muzete najit zde).

The Czech-Americans of the 21st Century

by Ivana Stavarova

The 159 respondents, the Czechs, Czechoslovaks, and Czech-Americans, put together a vivid picture of the lives of Czech descendants across the sea in America. Their viewpoints differ in relation to their age, generation, the environment in which they were bought up and also their own nature as to how they approached the origin side of their identity individually. The Czech settlements in several parts of the United States are over one hundred years old, the evidence of Czech presence on the American land is hundreds of years old, yet the Czech life and Czech ways there are still very much vibrant, as we have learned from the current descendants’ answers. (more…)

If you still lived in the Czech Republic you would know that the political situation there is quite messy. The Czechs trust neither the political parties, nor the president; the president seems to be living in his own isolated bubble and the prime minister is physically obusive. What a picture, right? This unhappy atmosphere is usually a great breeding ground for the formation of new political parties and in this case the situation gave birth to not 1, but to 2 of them! The fist one is called “Strana Svobodnych Obtcanu (SSO)“, or the Party of Free Citizens, and the second party is named “Liberalove (LIB)“, or the Liberals.

The SSO party opposes the EU Lisbon treaty and their main focus right now is to succeed in June Euroelections.They also want to promote low taxes, reduction of bureaucracy and a improve the environment (hmm…I think I have heard this song somewhere already..).  Among the supporters  of this Eurosceptic party are the 2  sons of president Klaus (what a surprise!) as well as some celebrities  like the famous violinist Vaclav Hudecek and a popular illustrator Adolf Born. (more…)

Hi/Ahoj!

So this is the best of the best of the best of Czechmate Diary for 2008 as far as the number of visitors and number of comments go. The top winner became “Christmas at our house: Czech style” (filed under “My stories” category bellow), receiving the most response ever. There would be however no Top winner if I didn’t have you guys, the readers. So thank you so much for making this happen!

CZ: Tak nasledujici clanky jsou to nej, nej, nej, nejlepsi (jezkovy, vzdyt to zni, jako kdyz koktam! No vite, co se tady snazim docilit..) z roku 2008 a to z hlediska navstevnosti a poctu komentu. Naprosty kral vsech techto vyhercu se stala povidka “Christmas at our house: Czech style” (pod kategorii “My stories”), ktera obdrzela naprosto nejvice ohlasu. Je nutno si ale pripomenout, ze by zadni vyherci  nebyli,kdybych nemela vas, me oddane ctenare. Tak vam mockrat dekuji!

Czech News/Ceske zpravy:

• What does it mean to have a visa-free status for the Czechs?
• Are Czechs racists? (more…)
  
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

Can you believe that it’s already the year 2009??? I really feel like we live in some kind of sci-fi, U.F.O. age or something. Pretty soon we will be flying around, buying a second vacation home on the Moon, traveling back in time to visit our great-great-great-great parents….but I will still hate peanut butter!!!

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

HODNE STESTI,ZDRAVI A LASKY DO NOVEHO ROKU!!!

My dear readers,

May peace and joy be yours this Christmas season and throughout the New Year! Thank you so much for all of your support - it is much appreciated! Thanks to you kind words I am all fueled up for next year - ready to blog!!

CZ: Preji vam vsem Vesele Vanoce a mnoho stesti, zdravi a pohody do Noveho Roku!!! Dekuji za vasi podporu - dodava mi silu, abych s Czechmate diary nadale pokracovala!!

My Czech friend forwarded this e-mail to me the other day and I thought I would share it with you - it’s pretty cool (assuming that the data are somewhat correct):

If we were to reduce the entire world population into a small village of mere 100 inhabitants and kept all of the same nationality proportions, this village would have a following structure:

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 Americans (South- and North-)
• 8 Africans
• 52 of them would be women
• 48 of the would be men
• 70 non-Caucasians
• 30 Caucasians
• 70 non/anti Christians
• 30 Christians (more…)
  
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

Hi,

Just wanted to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This is the only holiday which celebrates solely the family togetherness, without an exchange of - many times - unnecessary presents. The cool thing is that it is strictly an American holiday, rooted in a time of peace and feasting between the Native American Indians and the early pilgrim settlers. Now it’s a time for people to have a yummy meal, give thanks and enjoy a traditional turkey dinner. I don’t know how about you but I find myself so much more content once I realize how many things in my life I am thankful for.

Ahoj! Stastne Dikuvzdani! Dnesek je jeden z mych nejoblibenejsich svatku; neni o darcich, nakupovani a novych vecech, je o rodine. Proste si spolu sednete kolem stolu, spapate si vybornou veceri, a premyslite o tom, za co jste v zivote vdecni. A hned se ten svet zda veselejsi!!

Hradec Kralove, a Czech town about 50 miles east of Prague, experienced an unusual car accident. A reckless semi-truck driver did not make a full stop at an intersection and hit the car in front of him. The thing is that the semi-truck was carrying  a about 20 pigs who managed to escape and scatter all over the town. The local firefighters had to become humble sheppards for couple of hours while they were chasing the pigs all over the town. (more…)