Czechmatediary

Summer and Fall in Czech and Slovakia are big on fireworks. We bake ‘burty’ above the fire during both seasons, however, fall becomes much more interesting. Way back when, during the time of potato harvest, the Czech and the Slovak peasants began to put leftover potatoes and apples into the burning ashes of fall campfires which they built to keep them warm at night. Both potatoes and apples were submerged into the smoking ashes completely unpeeled – and were also eaten unpeeled (that’s some fiber for ya’!). They also came up with some superstitious songs and rhymes that were supposed to keep the fire burn longer and more efficiently. Here is an example for you (it comes out really funny when translated into English):
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Christmas will be here soon and Czechmate Diary is now selling authentic and affordable Czech crystal jewelery! I make it myself as it is one of my (many) favorite hobbies in life. I put a special Czech touch into all of my hand crafted jewelry items and I hope you enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoy designing and making them.

Did you know that the Bohemian crystal  has been around ever since the 13th century? Its history starts with the abundant natural resources found in the rural Czech countryside. The local glass workers discovered potash combined with chalk created a clear colorless glass that was more stable than glass from Italy. It was at that time when the term Bohemian crystal emerged for the first time in history to distinguish its qualities from the glass coming from other places. As opposed to usual perception this glass was non-lead which meant that it could be cut with a wheel. Bohemian crystal became famous for its excellent cut and engraving and it is adored and worked with all over the world including my home.

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It’s been over 20 years ever since the Berlin Wall went down and one could really see a difference in almost every aspect of a Czech life. One of them is how the Czechs furnish their apartments today. Gone are those incredibly dull communist sofas, tables and chairs – IKEA is the future of the Czech Republic! Their homes have definitely more style and are more colorful but the question is, did they move away from that totalitarian cookie-cutter style of furnishing or is it just a different type of cookie-cutting? The sad truth is that every other Czech family ends up with a same bedroom set ;0)

Of course, IKEA is not just the future of the Czech Republic – it seems that it overtook the whole world, including the US and our home. Now the Chinese family in Beijing, for example, may have the same table set as what we have. Crazy. [continue reading…]

Here is an exciting calendar of Czech and Slovak activities for October. We are blessed this month to be visited by Czech bands like MIG-21, Druha Trava AND Marta KUBISOVA!!!! Not very many Czech Halloween parties though….actually to be exact, there are none.
CZ: Tento mesic nas prijede navstivit slavna ceska kapela MIG-21, take Druha Trava a nekecam, take Marta KUBISOVA!!! To je pocta. Zatim jsem neobjevila zadnou ryze CS halloweenovskou party…..a Dusickove party se moc neporadaji ;0)
1. New York, NY

What: Czech Street Festival
When: 10/2/2010

What: “Growing up in NYC (Helen was born in Prague and raised in Manhattan…)
When: 10/7/2010

What: Concert of MIG 21 (popular Czech pop-rock band)
When: 10/26

What: Czech and Slovak Fairytales (Puppet theatre)
When: 10/30/2010 [continue reading…]

I have always thought that decorating your backyard with light-up skeletons and graves is kind of strange (not to mention the electric bill!). Then you throw that candy-begging business in it and you get a holiday called Halloween. The Czechs and Slovaks have also kind of a scary holiday called the St. Nicholas Day, but at least the figure of the devil (who tends to scare kids where ever he goes) is ballanced out by the beautiful, holy and secret angel as well as by the Saint Nicholas! Halloween is like: “The more witches, ghosts, blood and dead people, the better!…and gimme some more eye-ball candy with that!!!”

I don’t ignore the holiday I am just little more mellow about it. I decorate my house with a bunch of pumpkins, dig out my strawman and pig out on candy. No skeletons for me – thank you! How about you, what do you think of this ‘holy-day’? VOTE!
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I put my daughter Hahna into swimming lessons this year and boy, does the smell of the pool bring memories! It may be embarrassing to admit but I learned how to swim when I was 9 (!!) years old. We did have mandatory swimming classes ever since I was in kindergarten but they did not seem to help. Years and years of training and no results. You can imagine the communist government was not pleased with me. In fact, I am surprised they have not sent me to gulags or somewhere even worse where they deal with the ‘slower’ individuals!

I do have a good excuse, however. Those years of swimming were pure hell. You want a proof? How about if I told you that every Thursday morning my mom would wake me up – it was still dark out – to inform me to get up because it was time for my swimming class. The next thing I would do is threw up. I threw up EVERY Thursday because I was so scared of those darn classes! [continue reading…]

Are you a Czech or Slovak living in the USA or Canada and looking for a cool job? This may just be your day. Two business-minded Czechs from Prague are coming to the USA next week to look for new travel agents. They have been owning a traveling agency called Incoczech Travel Prague since 1993 and are looking for more clients via spreading their business in the USA and Canada. However, they need you to help them. If you are interested in something like this, both owners will be visiting America next week (9/26/2010 – to 10/10/2010) and they would love to get in touch with you. Here is their contact:

Ivo Kostelac
Phone #: +420 296 799 604
Email: kostelac@incoczech.com

POZOR – HLASENI! Hledame Cechy a Slovaky zijici v USA nebo Kanade a pracujici v odjezdovém cestovnim ruchu (outbound travel industry )!! Dva velmi podnikavi Cesi z Prahy, kteri vlastni incomingovou cestovni kancelar Incoczech Travel Prague, hledaji krajany pracujici v cestovnim ruchu (nejlepe v Bostonu, Minneapolis, Dallasu, Houstonu a Torontu, nebo blizkem okoli ) . Ivos a Honza zavitaji k nam do Ameriky 26. 9., zustanou az do 10.10. a chystaji se rozsirit rady svych zakazniku touroperatory a cestovnimi kancelaremi v USA a Kanade. Pokud mate chut se s nimi sejit a vyslechnout si jejich nabidku sluzeb tykajici se Prahy, Cech, Slovenska a cele Stredni Evropy a casem s nimi treba zacit spolupracovat, nevahejte je kontaktovat:
Ivo Kostelac
Phone #: +420 296 799 604
Email: kostelac@incoczech.com

Simona Krainova is probably not as famous as Eva Herzigova or Tereza Maxova but as far as Czech supermodels go, she is still in the front line. Her 37th birthday was quite the adventure: not only did she get pregnant with her first child during this year (and yes, it is a boy) but she recently also had a secret wedding ceremony! Simona married Karel Vagner jr. who is a bit younger than her (35 years old) but almost as successful.

The wedding was also very private, not even the couple’s family members were invited, including the husband’s father – Karel Vagner senior who is a well know Czech musician. [continue reading…]

I came across these cool photos of Vaclav Havel – the former Czech president. It kind of gives an overview of his fruitful life, ever since he was just a ‘nobody’ until his post-president era when he had a chance to meet with Mr. Obama (or rather, Obama had a chance to meet with Havel??) Take a look (click here)!
CZ: Ani nevim, co jsem na internete hledala, ale skoncila jsem na strankach Oldricha Skaly – znameho fotografa, zachycujiciho zivot Vaclava Havla. Fotky nam priblizuji Vaska jiz od utleho mladi, kdyz byl jeste ‘obycejny’ chlapek, az po dobu, kdy si ho pozval na obed samotny Obama (nebo Obama pozval na obed samotneho Havla??).
Fotky muzete shlednout zde (klinete zde).