Czechmatediary

The House Trip blog published this year’s Christmas trees from all over the world and I have to say, ours (the Czech tree) looks like one of the best ones! What do you think? Vote for your favorite tree!

CZ: Blog zvany The House Trip zverejnil krasne obrazky vanocnich stromecku z celeho sveta. Nas vypada asi nejlepe, co myslite?? 😉

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 WHAT AM I GOING TO BUY THIS CHRISTMAS? That is THE question for the majority of us every year. You want it to be cute, practical, unique and inexpensive. And it today’s culture, you also wanted to be eco,hand-made, and multi-purpouseful.

And I got just that kind of present for you. They are Czech Pilsner beer bottle cap earrings!!!

• cute
• unique

• inexpensive (cost only $12.99)
• eco (recycled)
• hand-made (by me)
• multi-purpouseful (if you lose your bottle cap, you got a spare one!)

If you would like to purchase one, please, contact me here. The earrings are $12.99 plus $2.00 for shipping and handling (US shipping).

Although some Czech teenagers would have a hard time remembering why today is the big day for Czechs (and Slovaks), the majority still celebrates the 17th of November as one of the biggest days in their history. Thousands of Czechs gathered in downtown Prague on Monday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Velvet Revolution that destroyed communism.

I remember that day myself – I was there…sitting on my dad’s shoulders….10 years old. Although I am unable to be there today, my friend from Prague posted some cool pictures from the commemoration event on Facebook. One of them looked like the picture below (diky Katko!).

What?

A RED card ?

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My mom came for a 2 week visit and it was bitter sweet. The first week you get used to each other and the second week, during which you are finally back to normal, it is time for her to pack again!

It really is hard. The two sides don’t see one another like forever, then you get this intense one-on-one interaction which has to work itself out first. Not even the closest members of family spend 14+ days together straight up. Even if they live next to each other and even if they visit each other once a day for an hour or so, they go back to their home. Therefore, no matter how close you are with your family, with such a fierce visit you are bound to have a squabble at some time.

Moreover, it is not only about me and my hubby anymore (like it used to be) but about the offspring as well! How did they behave during the visit? Hahna, the older one, was a bit quiet and reserved at first, but then she ‘warmed up’ and showed Babi Kuk her true upbeat personality. A 4-year-old Ava, the younger one, is less reserved with her feelings, so she told Babi that she loved her like the 3rd day (babi was very happy) but she also told her – jokingly – that she is excited for her to go home (babi was very sad). This, of course, was not taken as a joke but it was hurtful to my mom, which is understandable. Overall, my mom loved playing with them but you could also tell she is not used to the level of activity and volume the two little animals can create….especially during driving!!! [continue reading…]

If you have some up-coming nuptials with the love of your life, you’ll be looking to have one last weekend without a ball and chain with your friends to celebrate. Prague is renowned for its culture, tourism and best of all, nightlife making it the perfect place to enjoy a European city break. The Czech capital has been the epicentre of Central Europe for over a thousand years, becoming steeped in both political and economic history.
Prague is home to some of the best bars within the Czech Republic, with one of the more popular being the Absintherie. The venue is a specialist in the strong alcoholic spirit absinthe (my husband’s favorite), offer visitors a wide variety of drinks ranging from different countries around Europe. Served in a glass with dry ice, absinthe has a very high percentage rating, so it is best enjoyed responsibly if drinking it straight. However, the bartenders are more than welcoming, offering patrons a range of absinthe based cocktails to whet their appetite. [continue reading…]

I came across the article called “The most terrifying places on Earth”. Completely confident that I would see a picture of ‘The Bone Church’ from Kutna Hora, I clicked on it and guess what?? There was no Kostnice listed!! I am about to write a snippy letter to the editor and CORRECT him on his HUGE mistake.

CZ: Predstavte si, ze Halloweenovsky clanek v novinach o nejstrasidelnejsich mistech na svete nejmenoval nasi KOSTNICI v Kunte Hore??? Jsem z toho naprosto znechucena a uz saham po peru a papiru, abych vynadala tomu editorovi….

If you are like me and like to listen to children Czech songs with your kids while driving AND if you are like me and are tired of the same old traditional stuff like “Prsi, prsi, jen se leje“, “Skakal pes pres oves” and so forth, THEN I have a good news for you. There are some GREAT new, hip Czech songs out there and my family loves them! Here is the list:

CZ: Jestli jste jako ja a uz nemuzete poslouchat one odrhovacky jako “Prsi, prsi” nebo “Skakal pes pres oves”, mam pro vas dobrou zpravu. Existuji totiz i aktualni zpevaci a skladatele detskych pisnicek, kteri jsou vyborni! Tady jsou:

• Piskomil se vraci

• Paskarek v rohliku I and II

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This is a great news for those who got vaccinated against Tuberculosis!

In order to volunteer at my daughter’s school I was ordered a TB test and was not very happy about it since I thought the test would be positive (my last TB vaccine was in 1987). This would mean going to get a chest X-Ray like EVERY YEAR since they want us to do the TB testing once a year.

But lo and behold, I tested negative! Not sure why or how, perhaps the TB antibodies are too old to fight back?? Or they are just not there anymore? Either way, I wanted to share this exciting news with you since many of the Czechmate Diary readers are Czech moms dealing with the same things as I am dealing with…in this case it was volunteering at school.

CZ: Uz neni potreba se bat TB testu! Podle ockovaciho prukazu jsem byla naposledy ockovana v roce 1987, ale pozitivne se jiz netestuji!!

For the San Diego crowd this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Czech violin genius Mr. Svěcený to perform his best pieces. And the greatest part? The admission is FREE!!!!

Here is some further info:

Czech School San Diego and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles 

present

Jaroslav Sveceny and Julie Svecena

in a concert where two generations of violinists meet on one stage to play famous as well as rarely-heard works for two violins from the 18th to the 21st century by Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, Boieldieu, Arriagada, Svěcený, Leclair and Bériot. They will also perform the American premiere of Svěcený’s new piece of sacral music “Church Phantasy for a Solo Violin”.

October 27th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Village Church (Sanctuary)
6225 Paseo Delicias, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067

Free admission
Seats are limited, please reserve your tickets at nhkaminsky@yahoo.com or register at www.czechschoolsandiego.com