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. Also, Czechs complain a lot. They spend great amounts of energy complaining about anything and everything instead of using the energy to fix things. One example is complaining about how America is bad, having never seen it for themselves. You have the right to complain about America just as long as you have visited and experienced life here. Czechs also have a xenophobic attitude or focus towards foreigners, different cultures and foreign companies. For instance, I know Hyundai is a foreign company, Korean, but I have not heard of it in the American press described as, “The Korean based Hyundai motor company will be increasing their production at their plant in ….”. Not once but many times in a single article and consistently in the Czech press. Just state the company name and if not otherwise stated and does not sound Czech/Slovak then mention its foreign origin once.
In the Czech schools students are taught memorization which I do not think is learning. I have read about making changes in the instruction which I think is a good step. Some native Czechs I have met cannot work in groups with other people and when giving their opinions/debates they are not able to give reasons behind their opinion especially in written form. Thinking critically and independently. In school I could not just say things I had to defend my opinion with sources and sometimes I did not agree with the topic but I had to defend it.

The lack of women in leadership positions in companies and political office. I have seen all my aunts and female relatives take charge and set everything straight in their own families. I would never dare to mess with them. They are always thinking of ways to improve their families’ life and getting a smaller paycheck. You can not convince me that Czech women are not capable or not intelligent enough to do a job that is a “man’s” job. College age Czech girls would tell me stories of how their girlfriend who’d  be heading out the door to a job interview and on the way she would get a call on her mobile do not bother to show up because you are a woman, we want to hire a man. I do not think that is right but I think little by little society will (have to) change and role models will emerge. Czech women need to remember to hold their heads up high and be confident.  Your time will come. But do not do stupid things like unbuttoning your blouse and showing the world your red bra at a formal function when your husband/lover/partner is the prime minister. I am just saying it would not be something I would do.
Some positive things about the Czech culture is the rich culture. Czechs are gifted in music, art, architecture, science, medicine, film and inventing/developing products and services. The country has many literary talents such as Kafka, Kundera, Viewegh, Hasek, Hrabal, Paral, Vaculik, Skvorecky and many new ones. Artists in whatever medium: medal, canvas, cubism, abstract, folk art, glass and even the man who draws portraits for tourists on the Charles Bridge. It is amazing how much talent .
I love the beautiful countryside, nature, the forests, mountains and streams. When I first visited at eight years old, I would watch from the train window and just stare at the countryside. My favorite scenes are the wheat, poppy, mustard fields during the summer months in Moravia. The air is better, trees are greener, the flowers are more beautiful and mushroom picking. It may seem I have more criticisms than positives but I am not being hateful. When you care about someone or something and you do not like what you see, you tend to be more negative.
What is American culture and what do I like and dislike about it? I had to look up what is American culture because America takes bits and pieces from many cultures and makes it is own. We do have characteristics in our culture that make us unique and immigrants might not understand them. These come from a Intro about American culture for immigrants.

• Time focuses on the future rather than the past; 2) that we should be able to control nature; 3) that people can be counted on to do the right thing given the chance; 4) that an individual’s wishes, needs and aspirations should be counted as more important that the groups’ or families’; and 5) that what one does or accomplishes is more important than the way s/he conducts her/himself.

Life applications: Save for your child’s college education and your retirement, it is ok to move to another state for a job.
America is a country of opportunity. If you work hard and you can be successful. It will not be easy and money does not grow on trees. You can educate yourself and work. It may sound clichéd to some Europeans as the American Dream but I have seen it with people I personally know. Americans tend to be labeled as workaholics by Europeans. We sometimes need to relax but still work hard.
Some things I do not like is when people legislate their beliefs onto people. People are going to be different and will not agree with you all of the time but do not force them to believe what you believe.  Unfortunately there is discrimination and people in the US want you to assimilate. I have been told to my face when I tell them that both of my parents are immigrants and I was born here that I have done a good job being an American.  Little do they know what happens inside my Czech brain.

Hi Everyone!

The poll “What do you miss about the CR the most?” is now working so don’t forget to vote (click here)! Thanks!

CZ: Ahoj! Anketa “Po cem se vam styska nejvice?” konecne funguje, tak nezapomente hlasovat (kliknete zde)! Diky!

I now have the option of creating polls on my blog and I am VERY excited about that. I have always liked numbers and statistics so bare with me if I happen to publish a new poll about 3 times a week now (just kidding!). The first poll that I have made is however a very significant one. What do we, Czechs and Slovaks, miss about our homeland the most? I left out the “family” option because that’s obvious (or maybe not?). If your answer is not part of the selected options, please feel free to comment bellow.

CZ: Diky nedavne rekonstrukci meho blogu ted mohu vytvaret jakekoliv roztodivne ankety! Vzdycky se mi zamlouvala cisla a statistika, tak vite co to znamena:drzte si klobouky - zacina divoka jizda!! Historicky prvni hlasovani se zabyva klicovou otazkou: po cem se nam tady “za velkou louzi”  (nebo i za jinymi, mensimi louzemi) nejvice styska??

Do you like history? Well, even if you don’t you will find this website not only entertaining but also kind of necessary to keep in the back of your mind for future readings and to show to your kids when they get older. What site am I talking about? It is called “Pateti naroda” (The memories of the nation) and it lists stories of more than 800 Czechoslovak war veterans, holocaust survivors, and political prisoners. Here is what Jiri, the co-creator of the websites says about it (more..):

CZ: Mate radi historii? I kdyz se vam historie moc nezamlouva, webovky zvane Pameti Naroda se vam libit budou. Nejen ze jsou velmi zajimave, ale je to zdroj informaci, na ktere by se jen tak nemelo zapomenout.  Tento digitalni pametnicky archiv shromazduje vzpominky a svedectvi pametniku nejen v podobe fotografii a textu, ale take pouzitim audio a video nahravek. Jiri, spolutvoritel tohoto projektu dale vysvetluje:

“Post Bellum, o.s., a Czech non-profit, non-governmental civic association from Prague, has been for last 8 years recording voices of Czechoslovaks who resisted and/or became victims of fascism and communism, two totalitarian regimes that shaped the last century. You’ll be able to hear their vocies right from your computer to learn authentic stories of courage, suffering, personal sacrifice, and hope. This probably most comprehensive oral history project in the European Union has been sponsored by the Czech government and launched in partnership with the Czech Radio and other organizations. Listen, learn, and get involved! More information is available at pamatuj.ning.com.”

In other words, this website should belong to your computers Bookmarks Menu as the Pope belongs to the Catholic church

Today is the 19th anniversary of the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia. Nineteen years ago the communist police attacked an unarmed  student demonstration of about 15,000 people, which sparkled nationwide solidarity and started a series of mass protests which led to the return of democracy. What may surprise you however is the fact that according to the latest polls 34% of Czechs are dissatisfied with the current state of the country.  Most people today  believe that the the most important slogan of the Velvet revolution, “Love and Truth will conquer all hatred and lies“, is not being acted out by their country. Yet another poll taken by the Ceske Noviny is even more disheartening: 1/4 of the Czech citizens doesn’t mind having communists in their government! Only 20% of Czechs think that the Communist party should be forbidden and about 30% of young people don’t care either way.

Now having all this depressing statistics written on a piece of paper, imagine you could go back in time and found yourself in the middle of the actual Velvet Revolution. You would get on that Wenceslas Square stage, pulled this crumpled piece of paper out of your pocket and slowly started to read these statistical numbers into a microphone. How would these 15,000 fired-up students react? They would probably think: “What? So we are going through all this so that 19 years later no one even cares anymore??” And then you would be probably booted of the stage because no one would end up believing you.

I wonder what do all the pioneers of the Czech democracy think of this? I know that the Plastic People of the Universe are very disappointed by it - they told me so in my interview with them. And I am sure Vaclav Havel probably feels the same.

CR: Dnes slavila Ceska republika (a Slovensko) 19. vyroci Sametove revoluce, ktera nejen ze svrhla komunisticky rezim, ale posleze take znovuzrodila statni demokracii.  Co je velmi zvlastni je, ze 34%  Cechu je nynejsim vyvojem CR nespokojeno. Vetsina si take mysli, ze zname revolucni heslo “Laska a pravda zvitezi nad lzi a nenavisti”, proste nikdo z Cechu nedodrzuje. Co je ale podle meho nazoru dokonce i smutnejsi statisticky udaj je, ze cela ctvrtina Cechu by tolerovala komunisty ve vlade! Pouze 20% lidi si mysli, ze by komunisticka strana mela byt zakazana. A co si o tom mysli nase ceska omladina? Podle pruzkumu Ceskych novin je to 30% mladych lidi uplne jedno.

Ted si predstavte, ze byste mohl/a cestovat casem a najednou stojite 17. listopadu, roku Pane 1989, na Vaclavskem namesti pred 15,000 lidmi a do mikrofonu jim pomalu ctete vyse zminene statisticke udaje. Jak by na to reagovali? Asi by vas vybuceli z jeviste - proste by vam neverili. A co si o tom mysli prukopnici ceske demokracie jako Plastikove nebo Vaclav Havel? Plastikum se to tedy vubec nelibi (zeptala jsem se jich osobne pri nasem rozhovoru) a myslim, ze Havel ma na to asi stejny nazor…

Source: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/domov/index_view.php?id=344757

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. I was very shy and knew that my family was different from an early age. We did not have as much money as other people but that did not matter until junior high/middle school. As a result of starting school I lost or began losing the ability to speak Czech and my family was constantly telling me “Mluv cesky ne anglicky” They could not do anything until November 1989 so May of 1990 I was on a plane with my grandmother, spent the month of June attending school with my cousins answering questions about cernosi (African Americans) and life in America and going on school trips. July was spent with my mother’s family and going to summer camp with my other cousins. Needless to say when I got back, the whole trip from the DFW airport to our home was  1 ½ to 2 hour drive where I spoke Czech nonstop 100 miles an hour and my family was in disbelief.
As I got older, some Czech people would point out that I did have an accent and sometimes I would forget a word and it would take me awhile to remember. I cannot hear the long accents á, é; have trouble with my I and y endings. I read blogs, newspapers online in Czech and do translations. I have started a Meetup.com group to have Czech conversation maybe once a week in my area. I have to continually work on my language.

I do not agree with the way the Czech language is taught to non native speakers. Native speakers think they need to teach foreigners a different way than from the way native Czechs are taught. By writing textbooks differently for foreigners, it makes it harder and they do not do a good job explaining the logic behind the Czech language. Every language has its own logic and by teaching the Czech language in this way you do not get that sense of logic. We are intelligent enough to learn just as Czech school children learn.
It also does not help that the Czech language is hard and complicated with many exceptions/rules which have not been updated/streamlined since the time of Palacky. The differences between spisovna (proper)  and hovorova (spoken) Czech also make it difficult and I had trouble learning Czech grammar because I first learned hovorova. But it is not all hopeless, Czech can be learned by non native speakers but it is tough.
In the United States we have English as a Second Language and it is assumed that non native speakers of English attend these classes to learn English. We describe them as immigrants not foreigners so when I took Czech language classes in college my textbook was called “Czech for Foreigners”. I was disturbed by the title which was very cold. Even my family in the Czech Republic does not understand how Czech grammar is taught to foreigners. If and when I go and teach English or Czech I will have “English and Czech as a Second language”, I will not have the foreigner label anywhere.

3/ You said once that you sometimes felt like you were too Czech for the American culture and not Czech enough for the Czech culture; can you elaborate on that a little?
It took me until I was in my 20’s to see how unique I was to live in two cultures. I wanted to belong, be like others and wanted parents who were like other kids. I grew up in a small town and the only immigrant kid. Maybe if I lived in a larger city such as Dallas/Ft Worth, Austin or Houston I might have had a different experience. Now I am jealous of children who go to school with so many different ethnic backgrounds. Since I was the first born my parents experienced everything new about the American school system with me and I grew frustrated with them for not knowing anything. I did not meet other émigré kids until I went to college and after meeting and sharing our experiences I no longer felt different. I started a group blog group called How do you wear your šortky? on MySpace myspace.com/janamvaculik just so that individuals like me who may not know how to get in touch with their inner Czech/Czechness would get some ideas and share their experiences in a constructive manner.
All the things which I mentioned in question 1 made me different from other kids but now I feel I was very fortunate. I have my Czech habits which I really do not think about. Some of them have been mentioned by Tanja when exchanging emails.
When I would go to the Czech Republic, I would feel that people do not often see women who are outspoken and able to defend their beliefs. I was taught in schools to not be intimidated and to go for it. Since we do not have family around to help us, our family is independent. I have heard of Czech college students visiting home every weekend. I visited once a month, did my own laundry, cooked my own food, and was coddled to that extent. It is hard for my parents to let go but I think it is harder for Czech mothers as they like to hover about their children.

If there was an apple for every season how do you think the Christmas apple would look like? How about having an imprint of a real Bethlehem comet on its skin? Because that is what Josef Thor’s apples look like. Josef is a well-known apple grower who won the title of the “Apple of the Year” many times in his apple-growing career. How does he achieve such Christmas magic? The “magic” is actually a very simple science: just before the apple becomes ripe, Josef puts the comet sticker on its skin and then he waits. As the apple ripens, the star’s surrounding area becomes red while the area under the sticker stays yellow. But that is all Josef wants to reveal - the rest of the experiment is a top secret. Guess what is he planning for February? The Valentine’s apples!

CZ: Kdyby jste si mohi koupit jablko pro kazde rocni obdobi, jak is myslite, ze by vypadalo jablko vanocni? Co takhle jablicko s obrazkem betlemske komety? Tak totiz vypadaji jablka ovocnare Josefa Thore, ktery za sve pestitelske uspechy ziskal cenu Jablka roku jiz nekolikrat. Jak toto vanocni ovoce vlastne vykouzli? Pred dozranim pan Pepicek nalepi na jablko samolepku Betlemske hvezdy a pak ceka; zatimco okoli samolepky pri dozravani zcervena, pod ni zustane jablicko zlute. To je ale vse, co nam kouzelnik Pepicek ze svych tanjnych receptu prozradi. A vite co pripravuje na mesic Unor? No preci Valentynska jablicka!

Source: http://zpravy.idnes.cz/sadar-vypestoval-jablka-s-kometou-dro-/zajimavosti.asp?c=A081104_185200_zajimavosti_lpo

Do you know what is special about this great group? That it was started by an American guy, Mike. Mike’s dear wife has some Czech heritage in her, which led him to not only start a Czech/Slovak Meetup group in Raleigh but also to enroll in a Czech course at the local university. His “obsession” with the Czech language (as he likes to say) led him to guest post on Czechmate diary more than once and I am so grateful for it because he is a such a great and witty writer. His humor is so dry at times I think that he must be Czech…at least like 1/30th of him, anyway. That’s enough of my babbling, let’s hear it from Mike:

CZ: Vite, co je nejzajimavejsi na teto skupine? Ze byla zalozena Americanem! Mikova manzelka ma v sobe nejakou tu ceskou krev, coz Mika podnitilo, aby nejen ze zalozil cesky a slovensky Meetup,ale take se na mistni universite pilne zapsal do kurzu ceskeho jazyka. Jeho - jak to Mike sam tvrdi - “posedlost” s ceskym jazykem ho take navedla na Czechmate diary, kde nas poctil mnoha velmi zajimavymi (ale take hrozne vtipnymi) clanky o svych zkusenostech s ceskym jazykem a ceskou kulturou. Mikuv humor je nekdy tak suchy, ze ho podezrivam z toho, ze je take z casti Cech/Slovak… mozna alespon z 1/30tiny??

1.    How did your group begin?

I made a conscious decision to learn Czech in Sept. ‘06.  I knew no one who spoke Czech and my only connection to the language was that of my wife whose mother was Czech though neither my wife nor her mother knew the language.  My desire to learn Czech quickly grew into an interest (my wife would say ‘obsession’) to know of all things Czech; culture, history, music, cuisine etc.  However, I still knew no one who spoke Czech.  I learned about meetup.com through a Swedish neighbor (whose wife and he have since joined our group because they like the European feel).  Dekuji Anders.  I learned that several people in the Raleigh area were just waiting for someone to organize a Czech group through meetup.

After waiting a month, I decided to organize the group myself even though I was not Czech.  Why not?  I stated that “until I hear this language, I will never speak it”.  So, in June of ‘07, we held our first meeting, all four of us; my wife and I, a person of Austrian, Polish, Ukrainian and Lithuanian heritage and one actual Czech speaker who subsequently became my assistant organizer (dekuji Nikolka).  My wife made a cherry noodle casserole (Moravian we think) and that was our modest beginning.  Since then, we have grown by word of mouth in very quick fashion and decided to include a Slovak interest as well.  We now number 68 members on our site with about 40-45 active members.  I believe that this is the highest per capita membership of any Czech group through meetup.  We consistently have 20-30 members attend each of our events which is a very high percentage of total members compared with other such groups.

2.    How often do you guys meet?

We meet about every 4-6 weeks.  We have met at member’s homes, a sports bar, a coffee shop and a German-Polish restaurant (no Czech or Slovak restaurant at that time).  This, after all, is Raleigh, North Carolina and not known previously as a hotbed of Czech culture.  (It is now!).  However, we just met at a new Czech restaurant (Klara’s) which we will likely make our ‘home’

3.    What do you usually do?

Besides my rather pitiful attempts to speak and hear Czech, this group has expanded far beyond just language as a focus.  We have had grilled sausages (parky), listened to Czech music (three members play the guitar - dekuji Franta, Mike and Zdenek), made kolace (dekuji Margie and Rich), danced and learned the polka and had a blind Czech/Slovak beer tasting (I even slipped in an American Budweiser which placed a dismal last place).  We have toasted (na zdravi!) with that most wonderful concoction, Bechorovka.  And, of course, certain members force me to sit with them and speak Czech (dekuji Hana, Adela, Simona and Marcela).

4.    What language do you speak at these meetings? Czech/Slovak or English?

We are a mix of languages and heritage; fluent Czechs and fluent Slovaks (either naturally or learned), mixed heritage who may or may not know Czech/Slovak but who wish to keep ‘alive’ their heritage and a few, like myself, who have no heritage from the region but have the desire to know.  So, you might picture this group in action.  When ‘speakers’ sit together, you hear Czech or Slovak (or the close mix) and when speakers sit with non-speakers, you hear the default English.  Occasionally, you may hear Swedish as well (when the Czechs who lived in Sweden sit with the Swedes).  It can boggle the mind.

5.    Do you understand the Czech nature better now?

I’m sure I do but I’m hard-pressed to answer this.  Mostly I find good people who have found a cultural home by virtue of being with others who have a varied but ultimately, a common bond.  From my travels in Czech, I already knew that the stereotypic unsmiling Czech of the guidebooks was not easily found.  All the other ‘typical’ statements were not true either.  The same is true for this group.  I love the dry sense of humor I find here and that trait, I think, is the most outstanding.

Not knowing what I began when I started the group, I’d have to say that this is a group that is all about connections and bringing people together.  Whether it is two members finding that they are from neighboring towns in Czech or two others finding parallel stories of leaving Czech in 1968 or just helping the owner of this new Czech restaurant find a way to import Czech/Slovak wines, it is all networking and finding matches.  It has been an absolute delight for me to help bring this about.

PS: wondering how is the Czech/Slovak group doing in New York? Click here!

Christmas is just around the corner and I figured I would post some Christmas recipes a little earlier (click here for more Christmas recipes) so that everyone has enough time to practice. This time I am going to show you how to make the most delicious Christmas cookies called Linecka kolecka (or some call them Linecke kolacky).They taste heavenly (I am serious) and are quite easy to make once you get the hang of it. Couple of things you need to be aware of, however: 1/ they are VERY fattening 2/the dough is made mostly of butter (hence the warning no.1) so if it becomes too soft it is almost impossible to work with (the solution to the problem is listed bellow). So roll up your sleeves and let’s go!

LINECKA KOLECKA (LINZ TARTS)

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) of soft, unsalted butter
• 2/3 (5 oz) cup of sugar
• 1 Tsp of grated lemon rind
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 and 3/4 cup (14 oz) of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (6 oz) or raspberry, strawberry or red currant jelly
• 1/4 (2 oz) of powdered sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven for 350 F
2. In a big bowl, mix in the butter, sugar, lemon grind, vanilla extract and egg yolks.
3. Slowly mix in the 1 and 3/4 cups of  flour
4. Work the mixture into a dough and place it in the fridge for about 2 hours (or overnight)
5. Pull the dough out of the fridge and let it stand in the room temperature for a while until it is workable (about 1 hour)
6. The hardest part: Roll out the dough onto a floured surface until it is about 1/4 inch thick (coat the pin with flour as well; as you are rolling out the dough, keep sprinkling it with a little bit of flour at the time to prevent sticking)
7. Use cookie cutters (circle-shaped ones are the most authentic) to cut out the cookies and in half of them cut out a smaller circle in the center.
8. Transfer the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet (use spatula for the transfer if necessary) and bake them for 10 to 15 minutes (see step 1 bellow)
9. Once the cookies have cooled down spread half o them with jelly (see Step 2 bellow)
10. Sprinkle the cookies “holed” cookies (i.e. cookies with holes) with with powdered sugar
11. Put those powdered cookies on top of the jellied cookies (see Step 3 bellow)
12. And you are done! Now taste the heaven….

My finished batch of Linecke kolacky

Some Important Tips:

- once the dough is rested enough to work with, move QUICKLY! The dough is made mostly out of butter so it basically starts to “melt away” if it gets too warm (i.e. it is impossible to cut out those cookie shapes).

- once in the oven, keep checking on the cookies - they burn quickly (I found out from a personal experience - you can see the burnt ones on the picture above)

- if you don’t have the smaller circle-shaped cookie cutter to make those little holes in the middle of a cookie, don’t worry about it; they taste great hole-less as well! I did not have them either so I tried to use a lid from a vitamin bottle but that didn’t turn out so good…

- if you find out that your dough has gotten too soft and it is hard for you to cut out those cookies, work the dough sheet into a ball again, put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes and start over

- rolling out the dough is the hardest part because it keeps sticking to things. I found that sprinkling a little bit of flour here and there and working it into the  dough helps the consistency of it.

Step one: naked Linecke kolacky

Step 2: Jellied Linecke Kolacky

Step 3: Finished Linecke Kolacky

I met Jana through the Czechmate diary couple of months ago. She has been very diligent with leaving comments on my site (thank you Jana!) as well as sending me a lot of useful info as far as Czech-American stuff goes. One day we struck up a conversation and I found out that she has a VERY interesting story. Just like Karin Gandalicova from my previous post, Jana was born abroad but both of her parents are Czech. “I bet she has so many interesting stories to tell!”, I thought to myself and then I acted upon that thought and a THRILLING interview with Jana was born (it’s kind of long so I had to brake it up into parts):

CZ: Janu jsem potkala pres Czechmate diary pred par mesici; je jedna z mych nejvzornejsich cternaru - zanechava koment skoro pod kazdym clankem (dekuji Jano!) - tak jsem si jednoho dne rekla, ze si ji trosku “proklepnu”. Zjistila jsem, ze tato mlada slecna byla narozena v cizine (US), ale jako je to s Krarin Gandalicovou z meho nedavneho clanku, oba jeji rodice jsou Cesi. “Ta musi mit tolik zajimavych zivotnich prihod!” pomyslela jsem si, a taky ze jo! Presvedcte se sami:

1/Tell us something about yourself. Where were you born? How did your childhood look like when having 2 Czech parents and growing up in the US? Do you have any funny childhood story (I am sure you got plenty) to share as far as being brought up in the midst of the 2 cultures (Czech and American)?
I was born in West, Texas USA in a multigenerational home, parents, grandchildren, grandparents. My mom teaches special needs children in the public school and my dad is editor, publisher, and owner of an over 200 year old Czech language newspaper, Hospodar, founded in Nebraska. It is one of two papers still being published in Texas entirely in the Czech language. As far as I know it was the one of the few western newspapers allowed into Czechoslovakia under communism.He did a blog cast a year or two ago about his paper.
As far as I know, I am not related to the author Ludvik Vaculik. Wouldn’t it be nice though? I love his fejetons and our family’s sense of humor is similar to his.  My father’s parents, great grandmother, great aunt emigrated while my mother’s parents and the rest of the family stayed in Czechoslovakia. My grandfather was born in Slovakia and emigrated in 1948 because of the communist coup. He managed to get across the border into an Austrian camp and then to Canada before communist agents were able to take him back. As a result of helping my grandfather escape, my great uncle Daniel spent five years in the silver/uranium mines in Jachymov.
Other members of my father’s family also spent time in prison. My grandmother emigrated in 1964 with permission of the government so she could travel later back to Czechoslovakia under communism. My great-grandmother, grandmother’s mother ended coming in 1972 and is buried in Texas. My father, born in Slovakia but grew up in Moravia, did not see his father until he emigrated in 1968, a month after Prague Spring. He was supposed to come back after six months but he “forgot”. My mother came in 1980 when on a pharmacy conference in Yugoslavia she also “forgot” to get back on the bus. While in Czechoslovakia there were only two seats left on the bus and she prayed that if God wants her to go to America she would get a seat. She got one and when it was time to leave she did not get on in Yugoslavia. Both my parents received two year prison terms if they ever came back.  I guess that was typical.

As I mentioned before I knew from an early age that I as well as my family was different. I felt exactly like the girl in “My Big Fat Greek wedding” when she brings some weird lunch food to school. I was the only girl whose mother gave her soup in my Popples lunch box thermos . I also had to be careful when eating a sandwich, which was never on plain white bread but homemade Czech rye bread, because my mom would wrap it in a napkin. If I was not careful I would get a mouthful of napkin instead of sandwich. My grandmother would bake homemade bread since the white bread was too “americke” so I never had a normal sandwich until I was older. My mother made homemade noodles to put on our soup at dinnertime which we ate whether it was in 30’s or 104 degrees F in Texas. Soup was grunt/basic necessity and we needed to make our stomachs warm for the main meal. When we traveled on trips or vacations we would take all our food with us and all I wanted was a Happy Meal. My parents are passionate about blood donation and have donated close to 30 gallons of blood each. I have no idea why other than my dad thinks it cleanses the body and is a universal donor, O and thinks he can help somebody in an ER.

My parents lack the ability to color coordinate outfits, was extremely embarrassing as a child and sometimes my dad would end up looking like one of the The Festrunk Brothers (Wild and Crazy Guys) on SNL but with no chains. They would also try to force their lack of fashion sense on to me and I would end up wear hot orange and white striped pants with a blue top to school, in tears all day in the 1990’s when acid wash jeans were cool. Luck would have it I got an award that day and had to take a picture with my awful outfit on. My mom especially has considerably improved her fashion sense and I have even complimented her on occasion but my dad is a lost cause. I have to look them over and do not like what I see sometimes. Oh well!
Being cheap sorry thrifty. My grandmother does not want to throw anything away with is a product of tough economic times, Nazi occupation, communism and coming to America with nothing. My parents are not as bad but it is hard for them to throw things away. My parents and grandmother NEVER throw anything away. I cannot get them to spring clean or have a garage sale. If we do have a garage sale I know then that my mom has been abducted by aliens and replaced.  They cannot let go of anything.  To avoid the previous fashion situation my mom has been slowly going undercover and getting rid of my dad’s clothes.
Some things are very practical such as having our old bathtub collect rainwater to water our plants until the mosquitoes hatch.  We had always had a vegetable garden with potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers, kopr, onions, carrots and salad. Sometimes there would be a harvest but more often than not it was more trouble than it was worth.
Basically everything in the movie “My Big Fat Greek wedding” but making it Czech applies to my life. Instead of Windex being the miracle cure for anything that ails you it is garlic, becherovka, slivovice. Then instead of a Greek flag painted on the garage door we would have pictures of Masaryk, Benes and Jan Amos Komensky more often than Jesus inside hanging on our walls or various painted plates in folk style. My grandmother has the Charles bridge and Vysehrad area hand embroidered on a wall in the living room. Putting anything outside of our home would cause unwanted attention so we have to be humble about ourselves. As I write this sitting at my desk, President Masaryk is watching me by the door and on the other side of the room Jan Amos Komensky is watching my back.
The father in the movie says how every word in the English language has a basis or began with a Greek word. The thing at home was that if it was not for Czechoslovakia English would not have the words robot, pistol, dollar, or sugar cubes in their coffee, superior military equipment such as tanks and rifles, and even more superior shoes made by Bata would not exist.  My dad even told me when I was little if I brought home a boyfriend who was not Czech he would throw him out now he knows better than to make threats. I am deathly afraid of bring anyone home who is not Czech into our house because my parents do embarrass me. Especially my dad does not understand that jokes in Czech are not as funny in English. Friends would be polite and laugh anyways.
Our town has a Czech festival every year Labor Day weekend and the state fair of Texas until a couple of years ago had Czech Day so at the age of two I made my debut in my kroj at both events and have been wearing it ever since. I spent only one year participating in Sokol because I was decidedly unathletic but I would work in the funnel cake booth which was a fundraiser during our festival.
I would spend the night my grandmother would tell me Czech fairy tales using different voices for the characters when so when the wolf would eat the grandmother I would hide my head under the perina since it was scary. My favorite fairy tale was about the Kocika and the Zlate hodinky and I vaguely remember the plot.

Be sure to check out Jana’s new Czech-American Myspace group at http://groups.myspace.com/ceskesortky !!