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The New York Times travel blogger Alexander Lobrano happened to research the beauties of Slovakia, namely the magnificent Tatras. By  vividly describing his visit to Kosice, Presov and Strbske Pleso, Lobrano got me excited about visiting – at one time – the eastern part of my homeland. [continue reading…]

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Hello to all,

To spice it up, I have a  bit different post for you today. Posh Parker is a British reporter who lived in Czechland for some time and managed to write a very good book about it (it’s called Bus to Bohemia). Anyhow, this was one of the reader’s response to it…VERY INTERESTING! Looking forward to those comments, guys!

CZ: Zdravim! Abych vam to poctenicko trosku okorenila, tak pro vas vam dneska neco trosku jineho. Posh Parker je britsky reporter, ktery zil nejaky ten patek v Cechach a napsal o jeho zazitcich vybornou knihu zvanou “Bus to Bohemia”. Jeden z ctenaru teto knihy mu poslal velmi zajimavy email a ja jsem si ho s jeho dovolenim dovolila publikovat. Je to opravdu VELMI zajimavy dopis a uz se tesim na diskuzi!!!

‘Hi Mr Parker,

I recently finished reading your book, and I have to say it was very enjoyable, and it did bring out some different emotions. Let me give you some of my background – so this will help put into perspective my reaction to your book.

I was born in the Czech Republic in 1945, in 1948 my father being a staunch anti communist, was given about 12 hours warning that after the takeover he as going directly to Siberia, so we left in the middle of the night and spent 18 months in various prisons and DP camps in Germany, we arrived in the US in August of 1949, when I was 4 years old. [continue reading…]

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Now it’s official – I have been living in this country for way too long. Why? The other day my Czech friend sent me a short e-mail reply which contained the Czech words “my take”. In Czech it means “us too” but my brain read it in English rather than in Czech and it made everything look very confusing: “My take? What does she mean? Like ‘Yeah, that’s my take on the situation too’???”

Fortunately, my brain rebooted and clicked into the right gear…I got scared there for a bit!

CZ: Nedavno mi kamaradka poslala jakousi kratouckou odpoved pres e-mail, ve kterem bylo napsano: “My take”. Muj mozek se ale jaksi zasekl v anglictine a cetl to anglicky…..nejen ze jeji zprava nedavala vubec zadny smysl, ale pozdeji jsem si take uvedomila, ze tu uz ziju asi opravdu moc dlouho….:)

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Here is a useful website for those of you who are Slovaks or have some Slovak ancestors…or have a Slovak girlfriend and would like to impress her by making her a true Slovak meal.

By the way for those of you who are not familiar with Slovak cuisine it is VERY similar to the Czech cuisine. Lots of potatoes and meat and cabbage and paprika and garlic and dumplings and grease. So czech out (or should I say ‘slovak out’) those Slovak recipes!

CZ: Jestlize inklinujete spise ke slovenske kuchyni nez k te ceske (i kdyz mezi nimi je opravdu jen malinkaty rozdil), mam pro vas vyborny link na slovenske recepty (klikntete zde).

Dobrou Chut!

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Today I am bringing you something on the lighter note. The following video makes fun of the state of the Czech health care. It is in Czech so I apologize to those who do not understand the language. In short, the Czech health care is going through some troubling times and a comedian, Zdenek Izer, is making fun of it. The patient in the video comes to the doctor’s office but ends up basically treating herself. [continue reading…]

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Ode to Czechs / Oda na Cechy

I don’t want to sound like I am bragging but I came to the conclusion that the Czechs (and of course the Slovaks too) tend to have many talents. I don’t mean just in the field of music (hence the saying “Co Cech, to muzikant”, meaning “Every Czech is a musician”) or handy-work (hence the saying “Cesi maji zlate rucicky”, meaning “Czechs have golden hands”), I mean overall, like we are some kind of a resurrected Renaissance nation ;0)
[continue reading…]

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Here is a fun activity. See how well do you know the geography (locations of particular cities) of the Czech Republic. I am not even going to tell you my final score because it would be quite embarrassing.

Take the quiz right here (click here).

CZ: Vite presne kde lezi Hradec Kralove? Nebo Decin? A co treba Bruntal? Otestujte si sve zemepisne znalosti a uvidite, jak na tom jste. Ja jsem dopadla docela krusne….ani vam neprozradim kolik bodu jsem sklidila, ponevadz to neni nic moc.

Test muzete najit zde (kliknete zde) – take muzete cele webove stranky prepnout do cestiny, jestli chcete.

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Do only crooks get to drive the limos in the Czech Republic or can  honest and hardworking people become rich as well? The 2/3rds of Czechs lean toward the more pessimistic outlook, claiming that the rich became rich because they were using dishonesty and shady contacts instead of their competence.

Almost 90% of Czechs think  the differences between social classes have increased considerably in the last decade, yet the smart, honest and diligent members of the society are not part of the upper class. According to them it is actually the crooks who took that spot.

What’s interesting is that when the same question was asked 13 years ago, 80% of participants thought that smart and honest Czechs could become successful in their home country (what happened?).

The 2/3rds of the poll participants would handle this unfair situation by taxing the heck out of the rich people. They  (1/2 of them) would also  increase wages all across the country. [continue reading…]

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Enjoy some vintage pictures of Praha! The following link shows some incredible pictures of old Prague, starting with a shot of Charles Bridge in the year 1900. Most images are from 1937 and 1947 but one goes all the way to 1890!

After viewing all of these wonderful images I see that the center of Prague has really not changed much at all. And that is a very good thing!

CZ: Prohlednete si krasne fotky stare Prahy! Vetsina fotek pochazi z roku 1937 a 1947, ale jedna je jiz z roku 1890!! Neuveritelne…

Je uklidnujici, ze centrum Prahy se od te doby nastesti moc nezmenilo.


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This is truly  so funny the funniest thing ever! Chuck Norris is an American movie star known to the Czechs mostly from the 80’s shows like ‘The Delta Force‘ or ‘The Firewalker‘. His career in the US may have slowed down a bit but that does not mean that he is retiring. He is starting a new career in the Czech Republic! The Czech T-mobile executives tried to hire celebrities like John Travolta or Danny DeVito but since they turned down the offer the firm had to ‘settle’ for Mr. Norris. Not bad!!

I found one of those famous commercials on YouTube, which has been getting millions of hits from viewers all over the world.

Read the article attached and watch those videos – it will make your day! [continue reading…]

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