Czechmatediary

I am so excited because I have re-learned how to make traditional Czech Easter eggs this year! It took forever and looks like it was made by a 5-year-old but that does not matter, I am still excited.

The black-and-white picture is an image of my dad during Easter when he was little. And guess what he is holding in his hand? You guessed right – pomlazka ;).

Enjoy this wonderful holiday!

CZ: Vesele Velikonoce! Tento rok jsem si zopakovala, jak se vyrabi tradicni kraslice, tak se citim momentalne velmi produktivne. Sice mi tvorba jednoho vajicka trvala tak 2 hodiny a vypada, jako by ho vyrobylo 5-ti lete dite, ale prece jen je na svete….a nedam na nej dopustit! Ta cerno-bila fotka je obrazek meho taty v dobe Velikonoc, kdyz byl maly. A hadejte co drzi v ruce?? ;).

The Girl in Czechland wrote  a nice post called ‘Five less obvious day trips from Prague’ and I thought since it’s spring time and people travel more, this would be a good information to have in mind. I have yet to visit a couple of those places she mentioned that I have never been to so shame on me!

Here is the list (click here)

CZ: Blogerka zvana Girl in Czechland sepsala moc hezky list vyletu z Prahy, ktere nejsou daleko a jsou verejnosti (hlavne cizincum) mene zname. I ja jsem na nekterych mistech jeste vubec nebyla!

Zde je zmineny seznam vyletu (kliknete zde).

The birth rate in the Czech Republic keeps decreasing – whose fault is that? 85% of Czechs think this is a serious problem and claim that the Czech government and its laws are not family friendly enough and should be able to take better care of the family unit. After all, 95% of Czechs think  that a family plays a very important role in a healthy functioning society. Here are more detailed results of the poll:

• 29% of Czechs think the reason why people are having less kids is because of a financial difficulties
• 24% of Czechs blame it on a poor social welfare
  
• 16% of Czechs blame it on people’s careers. Their priority is a career and then having a family [continue reading…]

Martina Navratilova proved that she can move on the tennis court as well as on the ballroom floor. She happens to be one of the competitors of the famous show  called Dancing with the Stars this year and in her recent interview with the LA Times she explains why she decided to be part of such world. Ever since she was a young girl she was intimidated by dancing and since she has learned to face her fears straight on she joined the biggest dancing competition that’s out there to conquer her fear.
[continue reading…]

I found this interesting article about some very unfortunate (some may call it ‘modern’) architectural styles which took hold of some buildings built in the post-communist era. The person interviewed in the article is architect Jan Kruml who has been documenting the transformation or Czech villages for many years. He wants to make people realize how important it is to preserve the cultural heritage of our ancestors and not destroy it with a bunch of sore thumbs.

So let’s review this – what was created when:

CZ: Nasla jsem velmi zajimavy rozhovor na radio.cz , a to o nynejsich prapodivnych (nekdo by je nazyval ‘modernich’) stavebnich stylech. Tazanym v interview byl architekt a fotograf Jan Kruml, ktery jiz mnoho let jezdi po vsech zakoutich Ceske republiky, jen aby nasel ‘bonbonky’ novych, post-komunistickych architektonickych stylu. Dela to proto, aby si lide uvedomily dulezitost zachovani tradicni ceske architektury, kterou je potrebi chranit a ne ji nicit nejakymi neohrabanymi kycemi.

Tak si to pojdme zrekapitulovat:

Before communism: The traditional style

[continue reading…]

If the Czech traditional kitchen had muffins in its repertoire, what would they look like? Well, it has to have raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, vanilla and apples….that’s kind of like the all-famous Apple Strudel! Nothing really new under the sun but if you put it in a muffin form it adds a bit of novelty to it. I also spiced it up by using molasses instead of sugar to create a bit richer taste.

So what do you think? Is it going to make it among other Czech ‘buchtas‘?

CZ: Kdyby ceska kuchyne mela ve svem repertoaru muffiny (nebo spis mafiiiiny), jake by asi bylo jeho slozeni? Mno, tak by tam musely byt samozrejme rozinky, vlaske orechy, vanilka, troska skorice a take jablicka…tedy takovy jablkovy zavin v mufinove podobe. Tedy je to neco trosku jineho, jeste kdyz ho navic posypete drobenkou. Ja jsem k tomu jeste pouzila molasses (melasa syrup??) misto cukru, aby to melo trosku netradicni a trosku obsahlejsi chut.

Tak co myslite, prezil by cesky mafiiiin mezi ostatnimi ceskymi buchtami??>

[continue reading…]

Do you have a problem finding a good American friend? A lot of my Czech girlfriends do. Although they have tried, they continue being unsuccessful in their quest. They say that American women they meet are too shallow, hence it is difficult to get them to talk about something real and deeper in nature..

I myself have had a good luck of finding good girlfriends that are American. It took a while (especially the beginnings were rough when one girl thought I was a lesbian because I was ‘too friendly’) but the stagnant period was well worth it. I hate superficial talk and so do they. Of course, we don’t get deep and philosophical every time we get together but if there is a need we can become a couple of Platos ;). [continue reading…]

 “Our” West Coast of USA has finally been blessed with a Czech school! We are all so excited about it, probably even more than those kiddos of ours. The main goal of our non-profit institution is to  ”raise a Czech-speaking young generation living abroad, which will be able to not only read and write in Czech but they will also be able to respect and cherish their Czech heritage and feel a sense of belonging with the Czech Republic and its nation. They will be studying the Czech language into a great depth which will motivate them to keep relations with the country of their origin.” Isn’t that beautiful?

Czech School West Coast is divided into 3 age categories:

a/ Children from 0 – 3 years (accompanied by their parents)

b/ Children from 3 – 6 years (preschool)

c/ Children from 6 – 13 years (elementary and middle school)

The problem is that nothing is free, we have to pay for the classroom rentals, for professional Czech teachers, as well as teaching tools such as textbooks, pens, notebooks, educational toys….and it’s not cheap. Therefore if you would like to support our patriotic cause we would be forever grateful if you could donate any kind of financial sum to our school account. You can send checks to the following address:

 Czech School San Diego, P.O. BOX 7233, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067

(Mgr. Nikola Kaminsky, M.A.

Czech School San Diego

www.czechschoolsandiego.com

(619) 985-0435)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! [continue reading…]

Some good souls took the time to select 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world AND a Slovak bookstore happens to be one of them! What a privilege! Click here to view the slideshow.

CZ: Nejake zlate dusicky si nasly cas na to, aby vypatraly 20 nejkrasnejsich knihkupectvi na svete. A predstavte si ze jedno z vyhercu se nachazi na Slovensku! Takova cest… na zobrazeni vsech vyhercu klikntete zde.