Czechmatediary

Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is going to be famous. The biggest known forgery painter Daniele Donde is planing to build a museum of False Art there. Similar museums are currently located only in Moscow ans Switzerland. Donde  himself is an interesting case: he never studied art, his falsification skills were learned from people that used used to sell his father fake art - without his father’s knowledge. Donde explains:”I gave those crooks a choice, either I was going to call the police on them or they will teach me how to paint like they do.” (more…)

The Museum of Curiosities in Pelhrimov is quite the happening place these days. The 29-year old fakir, Petr Fiedor is planning on overcoming his past record of laying on hundreds of glass shards for 72 hours (His record from the year of 2000). This time he is hoping to lay unharmed on his “comfy” bed for 10 days. For 8 out of those torturous days (literally) is Peter going to be kept alive and well only via the means of IV - no food or drinks allowed. And why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone (or 2 flies with 1 swap, as the Czechs say) and make it a scientific experiment as well? (more…)

I am nearing the end of the semester in my level 2 Czech language course and what have I learned? I’ve learned much about the structure of this language without a whole lot of confidence that I can dare speak it to anyone (unless they don’t know a word of Czech). We, the students, have been told (warned) that third level will be entirely in Czech – no cheating with English. Great worry on our part.

So, having presented my instructor with the traditional American symbol (an apple) of respect and thanks to a teacher for a job well done, where to go from here? Our end-of-semester final is in two weeks then my wife and I take the plunge, despite stiff economic difficulties, and will travel to the Czech Republic, she to visit the small villages of her forebears and me to likely stand mute when I have this wonderful opportunity to speak this language I have chosen to learn. No matter how my language skills work or do not work, this will likely be the most interesting trip I have ever made. (more…)

Maybe the Czechs (and all of Europe, actually) got it right: smoking is good for you after all! Don’t believe me? Watch this YouTube “medical report”:

Mozna, ze Cesi (a vubec cela zakourena Evropa) maji s tim kourenim pravdu: koureni podporuje zdravi! Neverite mi? Tak podivejte na toto “zdravotnicke” YouTube video: (more…)

I have just finished my PDF-formated masterpiece called the “Survival Manual for Czechs and Slovaks living abroad”. It has over 88 pages (probably the longest thing I have ever written) but every page is worth gold. The Survival Manual includes:

• 40 (!!) pages of Czech/Slovak organizations in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK
  
• 20 pages of Czech/Slovak restaurants in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK
  
• Top 5 Czech/Slovak recipes
• Czech-American history

And MUCH more…..
If you would like to receive one of these manuals, subscribe to this blog by E-MAIL and I will send you a free copy by the end of the day!

I stumbled upon this article the other day and I thought it was worth for me to share it with you. It is called “What Europeans think of each other“, written by an American who have lived there for 4 years. It is a very raw, blunt humor but that’s why it’s so funny. Just to give you a taste, this is what the Dailycandor writes about the Polish:

The Poles — Not much seems to register about Poland and the Poles except that they’re quiet. They are a relatively big country (40 million people) so the supposed scare of being overrun by Eastern Europeans when a bunch of Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2005 focused in on the Poles. The Germans really don’t like Poles, and among Germany’s 9 neighbors, are disliked the most. Poland is considered a country of car thieves by the Germans. Really, the relationship between Germany and Poland is similar to that of the United States and Mexico, and often for many of the same reasons (differences in income, history of war, different languages, etc.).Poles really shore up their hatred for their eastern & southern neighbors, primarily Russia and Ukraine, although they don’t like Czechs, Slovaks or Lithuanians either. Oddly, they don’t really mind the Germans, and probably still fear them a bit — you never, ever hear jokes about Germans in Poland. (more…)

No matter what way you slice it women all over the world go by the same equation: they like to shop, they like to talk and explode if handled without care. The e-mail I received the other day just confirms it - see for yourself:

CZ: Zeny na celem svete “funguji” podle stejnych pravidel: radi nakupuji, jsou ukecane, a kdyz se s nimi nejedna opatrne, muzou take vybouchnout. A e-mail, ktery jsem nedavno obdrzela to jen potvrzuje:

(more…)

Hi Everyone/Ahoj vsichni,

Happy New Year 2008! Vsechno nejlepsi do Noveho roku 2008! Thank you for all of your supportive comments that I have received since I started this blog. I have been really enjoying myself knowing that I am providing value to my Czech/Slovak audience as well as doing some patriotic work by promoting our culture abroad.

I summoned up the most popular posts of the last year and here they are:

• Recipe posts are number one, especially the one for Vanilkove rohlicky (vanilla crescents) and Koprova omacka (dill gravy) !

1. Top 10 things that are better in Czech than in the USA
2. Top 10 things that are better in the USA than in Czech
3. Article on a famous Czech-American, Milos Forman
4. History of Czechs in America (part II)
5. One of my Czechmate diary stories:Land of Milk and Honey
   

Stastne a Vesele! If you are having a fried carp or stuffed turkey, vanilla crescents or an apple pie, either way, I hope you enjoy you Christmas dinner. And if you celebrate your Christmas in the US or anywhere else around the world don’t forget your Czech/Slovak roots! Make yourself a promise: “This Christmas season I am going to teach one non-Czech person how to say “Merry Christmas” in Czech (of course, if you are living in Slovakia, for example, that task is going to be much easier than for someone who lives in Finland…or Zimbabwe)

Stasnte a Vesele! Jestlize mate smazeneho kapra nebo nadivaneho krocana, vanilkove rohlicky nebo “apple pie” preji vam, at vam na stedry vecer (nebo stedry den?) chutna! A at Vanoce slavite v Americe nebo nekde jinde po svete, nezapomente vasi “cechost”! Slibte si, ze tyto Vanoce naucite nejakeho “ne-cecha” par slovicek v cestine…samozrejme, jestlize zijete na Slovensku :), bude to mnohem jednodussi uloha, nez pro nekoho kdo zije ve Finsku nebo v Zimbabve).

Here are some really nice youtube commemorative images from Velvet Revolution in 1989. The picture show is accompanied by singing of a famous Czech singer, Karel Kryl.

Pripominame si Sametovou revouci… (more…)