Czechmatediary

One of my Facebook friends posted this while I was aimlessly browsing FB. Since I am a Prague girl I found these little facts quite interesting ;0)

CZ: Jestlize pochazite z Prahy (nebo jste pouhym milovnikem Prahy) a ztravili jste v Prazskem metru nekolik hodin denne, tyto fakta vas bodou zajimat.

PRAGUE METRO – SURVIVAL CHAMBER FOR 325,000 PEOPLE!!
The Prague Metro serves about 1,5 million passengers a day, which makes it the seventh busiest metro system in Europe.
But it is a piece of history as well. When communism collapsed in 1989 revolution 14 stations with names reflecting Communist ideology were changed to be politically neutral. “Lenin station” was renamed „Dejvická“ after a surrounding neighbourhood. „Anděl“ station was known as „Moscow Station“ – until now you can find there several pieces of propaganda art promoting Soviet-Czechoslovak „friendship“ (Czechoslovakia was occupied by Soviet army in 1968..)

INTERESTING FACTS
The line A of the Prague metro is a giant “survival chamber” built for thousands of people in the case of a nuclear attack. You can see the giant metal doors at every entrance. [continue reading…]

I have not watched the last Bachelor show but I could not help myself noticing the tabloids on the front pages of every magazine: “Jake Pavelka picked the bad girl!“, ” Jake Pavelka cheats on his fiancee“, “Jake Pavelka will be dancing with the Stars!“. I did some quick research on the origin of his last name and my suspicion was confirmed. The name is definitely of a Czech origin ( I could not find any specific details on what side of his parents is actually Czech though). [continue reading…]

Winning 6 medals – it could not get any better for the Czechs! Let’s do a recap:

• Martina Sablikova (speed skater) won 2 (!!) gold medals, and one bronze medal
• Lukas Bauer (cross country skier) won 1 bronze medal
• Sarka Zahrobska (downwill skier) won 1 bronze medal

Sablikova, now the most successful Czech winter Olympic game competitor ever, is not sure what to do with her medals. Should she put them in a safe or should she hang them  on her wall so that she can be reminded of her victories every morning when she wakes up? One thing she is sure of though, that tomorrow she is going to start training again….to win more medals. [continue reading…]

I am happy to announce that we are expecting yet Czech-American baby. The thing is that since I am in my early stages of pregnancy I don’t feel so good – in fact I feel like I want to throw up all the time – which greatly effects my writing abilities. I am sorry to say that I will not be able to write as often during my puking days so please be patient.

Off to the bathroom….

PS: S radosti oznamuji, ze nase rodina ocekava dalsi cesko-americkou ratolest! Co neni tak radostna zprava je to, ze je mi ted dosti spatne – tedy velmi dosti, dosti, dosti spatne, coz znamena, ze nemam absolutne zadnou energii na psani. Budu nyni psat mene casteji, tak  prosim mejte trpelivost.

..smer koupelna…

Karen is one of my frequent commentators, a very pleasant American lady who currently lives in Prague. She has a blog called The Empty Nest Expat and writes bunch of interesting articles about her observations. One of her recent posts is contemplating about the Czech – still rather unhealthy – cuisine. Read her thoughts in a post called “Who will be the Czech Jamie Oliver?”.

CZ: Karen je jedna ze ctenarek Czechmate Diary, ktera se sama zabyva blogovanim, ale z opacne strany nez ja. Je totiz Americanka zijici v Praze a popisuje sve  zazitky a postrehy v blogu zvanem Empty Nest Expat. Clanek, ktery me tentokrat zaujal se pozastavuje nad – bohuzel stale jeste – dosti nezdravou ceskou kuchyni. Kdo Cechy vykoupi ze zaklete zeme brambor, knedliku a veproveho? To se muzete docist v Karenine clanku zvanem  “Who will be the Czech Jamie Oliver?”

Today left Prague an important travel expedition called the Bargans Bajkal 2010. It consists of 2 extra brave men – Vaclav Sura and Petr Blazek, who are to cross the Siberian Baikal lake on foot, by so-called unsupported style. All of their belongings (food included) will be pulled by those two man on sledges. The trail leads from the south peak of the lake to the north peak and it si ‘mere’ 650 km long, which should take them 4 to 5 weeks to conquer. The slight problem is that the temperatures during this time go as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. Only one such expedition has been done in the past, so if the Czech one is succesfull it will be a great victory.
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The Czech Republic’s tourist spot is Prague;  Slovakia has the magnificent Tatras; China has the Great Wall; Japan has the Mount Fuji and…what else? How about these images of a truly astonishing Rice-paddy art that my friend sent me? ‘The Japanese artists create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed Kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed Tsugaru, a Roman variety,to create the coloured patterns in the time between planting and harvesting in September.’

Isn’t this crazy?!

CZ: Cesi se mohou vytahovat Prahou, Slovaci Tatrami, Cinane Cinskou zdi a Japonci horou Fuji…nebo jsem neco vynechala? A co takhle japonske umeni zasevani ryze (tzv. Rice-paddy art)? Tyto fotky mi poslala jedna z mych kamaradek a nemohla jsem si pomoci, nez vam je ukazat. Neni to nadhera?
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Not long after the Olympic games began the Czechs have already won their first gold medal.  The 22-year-old speed skater, Martina Sablikova, conquered a  3,000-meter long race like it was a piece of cake. But the real piece of cake was waiting for her at the Czech House in Vancouver, fashionably shaped as an ice-skating ring with an image of a speed-skater in the middle.  The cake of just the sweet ‘snack’ ,however. Sablikova also received a price of 1,5 million Czech crowns and a one-year-long free supply of Pilsener Urquell!

Congrats, Martina! [continue reading…]

I went to get a facial and a massage which my dear hubby bought for my 30th birthday. The massage always turns out to be great; even the facial is always relaxing, but I tell you, the beginnings are rough – at least for me. As soon as I assume your position on the ‘facial table’ (don’t know the exact name for it) I get bombarded with quite the personal questions about what products am I using on my skin; what soap, what cleansing water, what night cream, what day cream, what eye cream, what wrinkle cream……I guess I would not be so annoyed by it if I did not feel so self-conscious. I just use one face cream (at least I think it’s a face cream and not a foot cream) and that’s it. And half of the time I don’t even know what brand it is! I find it in the grocery store in the cosmetics isle and it is on sale. What else can one want? When I was bombarded by those unpleasant questions this time, of course I had a brain fart and I forgot the name of the frickin’ cream again! So I said “huh….Neutrogena” – for some reason that name sticks to my brain. And I have also had a few products of that brand in the past…I think. [continue reading…]