Czechmatediary

Hi to all,

Just a quick note: I managed to spill coffee on my laptop and a couple of the keys stopped working so I had to take it to the repair shop and it will be ready after the New Year!! That means a lot of days without blogging :(. I will try to borrow a computer from my dear MIL but I can’t promise anything. If I won’t be able to get it from her let’s called it ‘Forced blogging vacation’.

CZ: Ahoj vsichni! Podarilo se mi  rozlit kafe na muj laptop, takze bude v oprave az do Noveho Roku :(. Pokusim se pujcit pocitac od me drahe tchyne, ale jestlize to nevyjde, budu si muset dat nucene blogove prazdniny.

The icon of Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution died yesterday peacefully in his sleep at the age of 75. The whole Czech nation is in mourning, however condolences are being sent from all over the world.

Havel was a politician, a writer, a poet, and a world-known pacifist. He was a political prisoner for 5 years, who later become the last president of the former Czechoslovakia (1st term) and the first president of the Czech Republic (2nd term). He loved music and became a big buddy with the Rolling Stones, who played at the Prague Castle during his going-away party in 2003.

I did not know Mr. Havel personally but I have a feeling that he would agree with this great quote: ‘The purpose of life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave with a well-preserved body, but rather to slide in sideways, completely used up, yelling and screaming, what a ride!’

CZ: Vaclav Havel zemrel vcera ve spanku v jeho chalupe na Hradecku ve veku 75-ti let. Je to rana (ac ocekavana) jak pro Cechy, tak pro cely svet.

Vlada se ma dnes rozhodnout, jestli pri prilezitosti patecniho pohrbu vyhlasi take statni smutek.

I found an information on 2 very different museums that just opened in the Czech Republic.

THE FIRST ONE is the open-air folk museum in Straznice. Straznice is a small town in South Moravia, also called Slovacko because it is so close to Slovakia. The museum features local village architecture and shows the life in the past centuries. The local land has been altered to look like the typical countryside in the early 17th century, where the main building comes from 1612.

The houses in this museum are built from timber and the holes between the beams are plugged with moss and mud. Yet since they are covered with white plaster, they look like brick houses. The chimneys are also very unusual since they end blow the roof. [continue reading…]

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner…AGAIN! I was listing through my old Christmas posts to see which one is worthy of re-posting. Although I was searching through them for a long time I found myself unable to decide which one is the winner. Therefore I am posting the whole link to anything about Czech/Slovak Christmas on this blog. Click on it and see what catches your eye: is it the recipes? My personal experiences with Christmas? Czech Christmas music (YouTube/free links)? Take your pick:

http://czechmatediary.com/tag/christmas/

CZ: Vanoce jsou OPET za rohem, tak jsem si rikala, ze by bylo dobre re-postovat nejaky vanocni clanek z minula, ktery mel hodne ohlasu. Takovych clanku jsem ale nasla par, a jelikoz jsem se nemohla rozhodnout, ktery z nich re-postovat, tak vam tu nechavam cely link na cokoliv vanocniho, o cem jsem kdy v minulosti  psala. Rychle temi clanky proletnete a uvidite, ze vam neco padne do oka. Bud nejaky ten receptik, nebo YouTube video ceskych koled, nebo me osobni pribehy z Vanoc (a pribehy jinych)….

http://czechmatediary.com/tag/christmas/

Remember those wooden toys we used to play with in the Czech Republic? The were awesome! My friend is now selling them in the US at Toysunplugged.com, so if you want your little one to have such a toy under the Christmas tree order one right here (click here). They are very reasonably priced, even for someone like myself who is quite the frugal type;). I was thinking getting my daughter that famous stork that you hang on a tree and when the wind blows or when the kids pull on the string it moves its wings. That  is truly my all-time favorite wooden toy. [continue reading…]

This is an email from the Czech consulate regarding the Czech school in Southern California.

CZ: Toto je email, ktery prisel zajemcum o ceskou skolu v okoli LA/Orange County/San Diego area. Pokud jste takovy email nedostali, zde je jeho kopie.

“Vážení rodiče,

děkujeme Vám za projevený zájem o účast Vašich dětí v připravovaném projektu „Škola bez hranic”. Pan generální konzul ČR v Los Angeles Michal Sedláček by Vás rád pozval na informativní schůzku, která se bude konat dne 11. prosince 2011 od 14 hodin na půdě Generálního konzulátu. [continue reading…]

Take a pick for the most wonderful Christmas gift ever :).

CZ:Vyberte si ten jekrasnejsi vanocni darek ze vsech :).

1. Czech Christmas Carols – volume 1/ Ceske Vanocni koledy – volume 1 (28 songs)

1. Já bych rád k Betlému, k Ježíšku malému

2. Jak jsi krásné, neviňátko

3. Štěstí, zdraví, pokoj svatý

4. Narodil se Kristus pán

5. Půjdem spolu do Betléma [continue reading…]

A typical Czech school lunch

Sarka is a Czech patriot who contributed t0 a blog called What’s For Lunch? by sending in a couple of photos of a typical Czech school lunch. The creator of this blog had the greatest idea of comparing pictures of school lunches from all over the world and Sarka filled in the spot for the Czech Republic.

You can see that the cute boy is about to munch on a vegetable soup, pork meat with potatoes and vegetables, and kobliha (doughnut) as a dessert. Not bad.

[continue reading…]

Hi to all of you, I was just curious if those of you, who were born and raised in Czech/Slovakia and moved to the USA later in life, celebrated Thanksgiving and stuffed yourself with a big ol’ turkey this year? Or do you ignore this holiday since it is foreign to the Czech/Slovak culture?

CZ: Ahoj vsem! Zajimalo by me, jestli jste vy, Cesi a Slovaci, kteri jste vyrostli v Cechach/na Slovensku, ale nyni zijete v Americe, slavili Dikuvzdani (omlouvam se, nejak se mi to tu hemzi carkami, takze gramaticky dobre ta veta asi sestavena nebue)? Pecete krocanka nebo tyto svatky ignorujete?

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