If your child is about to enter kindergarten I have a very important information for you. When you are filling out the application make sure you do NOT put that the child’s first language is the Czech language because then he gets labeled in the bureaucratic world as the so-called “English learner” and he/she will end up in the ELD classes with all the other Hispanic kiddos (in our case here) who don’t speak much English. My daughter’s principal herself said it is really hard to get out of that program and even if you do, they still supervise you for 2 more years. You also get to miss out on all of the electives in high school because they keep you busy with extra English classes.
Now if both parents are Czech and the child does not speak much English, that’s another story. Then the ELD classes would probably be a good idea. But the majority of our children have gone to American pre-schools and they know English so they do not need to be held back.

If you are not careful with this particular issue you may be going through a potentially disastrous experience like my friend did. She is Persian but her husband is American and their son speaks English only. He does go to Persian school once a week and knows a few words but that is about it. When she was filling out the application she made a mistake and put “Farsi” as his first language and it has been a bureaucratic battle for her ever since. Even though she filled out the application again with a correct info (child’s first language is English) the school clerk said that the old application has to be stapled together with the new one. The child still had to take the ESL tests before entering kindergarten and although he passed with flying colors she finds out – a year later – by accident – that he is still labeled as the English learner! [continue reading…]

A big part of Czech bakery cuisine are these awesome bread rolls called Dalamanky. I could not find the origin of them other than that the word is closely related to the Turkish district/city of Dalaman. Not sure why. Does anyone know?

Either way, they are delicious, hardy and as it turns out, easy to make. This recipe comes from an original Czech recipe found here (click here). I changed the metric units into the American units and I also messed with the flour prescriptions. Of course, I kept the rye flour but I substituted any other flour with a regular pastry flour and that’s because I did not have any other on hand. Also, I thought it would be better for this recipe since it has more gluten and the dough will be more stretchy that way. [continue reading…]

I am always excited when I learn new things. Like tonight I learned about the Mutual Inspirations Festival (MIF). Don’t try to decipher the name because you will never find out what it is about….let me help you!

‘The MIF is an annual initiative spearheaded by the Embassy of the Czech Republic, focusing on the mutual inspirations between Czech and American cultures and featuring each year an extraordinary Czech personality who has greatly influenced and inspired others through his or her work (MIF 2010-Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, MIF 2011-Antonín Dvořák, MIF 2012-Miloš Forman, MIF 2013-Václav Havel). This year, the festival celebrates the life and legacy of the dissident, playwright, and former Czech president Václav Havel, with over 30 events taking place from September 5-October 31, 2013, throughout prestigious venues in the nation’s capital.
[continue reading…]

A friend posted the following article on Facebook. Good for pondering but at the end of the day I would disagree with most of the points. How about you?

CZ: Zajimavy clanek na rozjimani, ale ja osobne s vetsinou bodu nesouhlasim. Co vy?

10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America (read the article here)

We finally have Czech school in Atlanta!!! 1st Day of School is scheduled for Saturday, September 14.

The idea for a Czech school in Atlanta was brought up by Iva Valkusova back in February of this year. Iva spent six months putting all the ducks in a row, researching if Atlanta had enough interested parents and figuring out how this project could be realized. She did a tremendous job starting the process and finding many other enthusiasts before she returned to the Czech Republic in July.

The Czech School of Atlanta works with the Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic in Atlanta

Mr. Novak, the Czech North American Chamber of Commerce and Culture, which is based in Atlanta and Canada, and Mr. Karel Velan. Mr. Velan (95) is a Czech immigrant living in Canada with his family. He is still very active in all his activities especially in promoting Czech culture and helping all those in need.

The Czech School of Atlanta is based on the principles of Czech School without Borders with whom we work very closely. Our school is for all children who are interested in learning to speak, sing, write, read and think in Czech language, but also get to know the culture and history of the Czech Republic. Children learn through play and with the help of music, arts and printed materials. [continue reading…]

Did you know that Seattle is a new home to a 15-foot long statue of Vladimir Lenin – the most prominent symbol of communism? Now before we start rolling our eyeballs and nagging our heads let’s get some background info.

The statue was sculptured by a talented Slovak artist Emil Venkov who portrayed Lenin as a rigorous revolutionist, surrounded by guns and flames. This is very contrary to the Lenin’s other traditional portrayals as a philosopher and an educator.

The statue was installed in a Slovak town Poprad in 1988 and after the revolution (only a year later) it was quietly moved from Lenin’s Square to the junkyard. One day  along walked a young American teacher named Lewis E. Carpenter who saw the sorry thing there and immediately fell in love (i.e. recognized it as one of the art pieces of Emil Venkov whose works he knew and admired). He couldn’t let it just rot there so he offered to buy it from the city for $13,000 (!!). The statue was professionally cut into 3 pieces and shipped to the USA at the total cost of $41,000 (!!!!!). How could Carpenter afford that? He mortgaged his own house, that is how serious he was about this thing. [continue reading…]

The whole world is now obsessed with vampires. We have the True Blood, Twilight,and of course the Vampire Diaries. I was completely unaffected by those movies (not my style) until a few days ago. Through the Czechmate Diary I was contacted by the assistant producer of Vampire Diaries to help them with some Czech pronunciation!!! At first I thought it was a scam but then I did some background info and found out it’s the real deal.

Initially I was supposed to coach Paul Wesley on the phone to pronounce his Czech lines correctly. But the movie crew was running out of time so Pippa (assistant producer) sent me the lines by email. The Czech translation of the English script was very nonsensical at times so I assumed they must have done the automatic google translation not some professional Czech translation services. So before I could help with the pronunciation I had to re-write the Czech script. I can’t tell you the exact lines since I signed the confidentiality agreement but you will be able to find out soon. [continue reading…]

The year 1968 was not just pivotal year for the former Czechoslovakia. It was a year of political change across the globe. The US was dealing with the Civil Rights movement, then there was the Vietnam war….not an easy year.

To remind you of the events in Prague, watch the following video. This time it looks at the whole thing from the point of the Russian soldiers:

CZ: Podivejte se na video ruske invaze Prahy v roce 1968 – tentokrat je to vzate z pohledu ruskych vojaku:

For our 10 year wedding anniversary my husband and I chose to visit the California Redwoods. At first we wanted to do a cruise to Alaska but that turned out to be quite expensive so we decided to do a road trip. Through the windiest roads of rural California we got to the elevation of 7,000 feet  and the countryside changed dramatically. The magnificent pines began to mix with lush deciduous trees which gave it the Czech forest look. I couldn’t believe it but on one of our walks I even found wild cherry tree, wild raspberry, gooseberry, and red currant bushes! Can you believe it? Well, I am like  %92,6 positive of my findings and that is why I did not taste any of them….. just in case I was wrong. But I did take pictures to find out what do you guys think.

I also found ‘bez‘ (which the dictionary calles “lilac”) and a four leaf clover – plants seemingly unsignificant yet if you grow up amongs them and then you rediscover them after so many years it is a like you found a pound of gold. We used to make syrup out of ‘bez’, mixed it with water to make a delicious healthy juice out of it. [continue reading…]