Czechmatediary

It is time for Saturday laugh: My friend sent me this – the universal remote control for men )

CZ:Preposilam vam od me kamaradky neco na usmani:  ‘Universalni ovladac pro muze’ ))

This website is so much fun! You can download a picture of your face (or someone else’s face) into various fun Loonapic effects (click here) and you are going to end up with something like what I ended up with (see photo). You can pretend like you are a celebrity for as long as you want  and you don’t have to pay a dime! That’s what I am talking about….

CZ: Tyhle webovky jsou proste bomba! Stahnete si foto vaseho obliceje (nebo nekoho jineho) do jednoho z nasledujicich Loonapic efektu (kliknete zde) a dostanete neco jako co jsem zde vytvorila ja. Muzete si hrat na celebritu jak dlouho chcete a to zdarma!

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…)

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!!!

• Stories
  • Christmas at our house – Czech style
  • My first Barbie
  • Prague: the capital of Yugoslavia
  • My brush with death
  • Stories of others:
    • Life with a Czech husband (Sue’s story)
    • Growing up “cesky” (Jana’s story)

• Recipes
  • Vanilla crescents
  • Linz Tarts
  • Paprika chicken
  • Bublanina

• Czech/Slovak News
  • “Prague is worse than Africa!”
  • Czech Folk song “Jozin z Bazin” is no.1 in Poland!”
  • The biggest car crash in the Czech history
    
  • Are you sure you are Czech?
  • Europe is dying out
  • 1/3rd of Czech babies are born out of wedlock
    

Czech/Slovak Happenings around the America

• Czechmate diary interviews the Plastic People of the Universe!!
• Czechmate diary is in the news!!
• Czech-style Cinderella sings at the Oscars this year
• The perfect Czech and Slovak group from New York
• Miro Zbirka performs in NY
• The biggest fish caught by a Czech guy

Czech Traditions

• And the all-time favorite food is…
• Czech Easter: run for your life
• What are Czechs like, anyway?
• Crash-course on Czech lullabies
  
• Why do Czechs love dogs so much?

Czech/Slovak moms abroad

• Mommy diary: the beginnings
• How to have a bilingual child

Czech traveling

• Bone church: a scary masterpiece
• Trebon offers more than just enormous carps
• The best places to hang out in Czech

Czech-American history

• Thanks to Czech-Americans Czechoslovakia was born
• Why did Czechoslovakia really break up?
• History of Czechs in Canada (part I)
• Am I Czech or Bohemian? Or both?

• Famous Czech/Slovak-Americans
  • List of famous Czechs and Slovaks living abroad
  • Milos Forman: Amadeus in his own right
  • The bitter-sweet friendship of Voskovec and Werich
  • Ray Kroc – the hamburger king
  • Ivan Lendl: the greatest male tennis player ever

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!!