Czechmatediary

‘Czech’ this out! If you:

• Have Czech or Slovak heritage
• live in Canada
• Are a pretty female

This YouTube video is for you! The Miss Czech & Slovak Canada regional contests registrations for 2010 have opened on June the 1st, 2009! Watch what is in stake for you right here:
For more information about the registration process, visit http://www.missczechslovakcanada.com. [continue reading…]

Pope Benedict XVI. is getting ready to visit the Czech Republic. The trip is scheduled for Sept. 26 – 28th and it is to include the visit of Prague, as well as Brno and Stara Boleslav, where he will participate in celebrations commemorating the national patron, St. Wenceslaus. Although the Czech Republic is only 27% Catholic there will be other nationalities present, such as the Polish, Hungarians and the Slovaks, to help fill in the potentially embarrassingly small crowd.

You can read more about his visit right here (click here).

CZ: Papez Benedikt XVI. se chysta do Cech. Navsteva je planovana na posledni tyden v zari a papez ma behem te doby navstivit Prahu, Brno a Mladou Boleslav. Chce tak s ceskymi katoliky (pouze 27% cele ceske populace) oslavit den Svateho Vaclava. Vetsinu casu ale ztravi na Morave, kde je – jak je dobre znamo –  vice vericich nez v Cechach. Fandicim ceskym katolikum prijdou na pomoc take polsti, slovensti  a Madarsti katolici, takze v Cechach bude pekne rusno 🙂

Vice is o papezove navsteve muzete precist  zde (kliknete zde).

I thought about other fun little customs that  Czechs and Slovaks have and which are hard to get rid off even if one lives abroad for a long, long time.

PS: For poll no. 1 click here

CZ: Prisla jsem na dalsi drobne ceske a slovenske zvyklosti, ktere jsou nam pod kuzi zaryte tak hluboko, ze je tezke se jich zbavit, i kdyz clovek zije nekolik let v cizine.

PS: Anketa cislo 1 muze byt nalezena zde.

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It is time for Saturday laugh: My friend sent me this – the universal remote control for men :))

CZ:Preposilam vam od me kamaradky neco na usmani:  ‘Universalni ovladac pro muze’ :)))

I know I have already wrote about this awesome website ( called Cesta Slunce) but that was a long time ago. Since then my daughter and I have been listening to their GREAT (contemporary and traditional) Czech songs almost every day. I urge you to download these hits – for free – and sing your heart out! Click here and start downloading…

PS: You can also donate a financial gift to promote their great cause.

CZ: Uz jsem sice o webovkach zvanych Cesta Slunce jednou psala, ale od te doby jsme si s Hanickou tak oblibily jejich pisnicky, ze to nadsene musim vsem maminkam doporucit znovu. Stahnete si desitek modernich i tradicnich detskych pisnicek  a to zdarma! Pokud mate zajem tak udelat, kliknete zde.

PS: Muzete  na jejich stankach take pomoci  jejich slechetne kauze a to jakoukoliv financni castkou.

Have any of you -frugal people – tried to return recyclables at the recycling center? You should, it’s an experience of a lifetime! First of, it is not this orderly deal like when we used to return glass bottles during communism (to get the feel about what was it like, watch Return Bottles by Zdenek Sverak). Your mom sent you out with a bag of empty Mattonis and usually very unhappy lady in a grocery store exchanged them for couple of crowns and then you went home. Let me fill you in a bit on why did I decide to be this frugal while living in America. Our landlord (let’s call him Mike) has been digging through our trash for quite some time, claiming that one can make a ‘pretty good money’. Mike digs through our trash on a regular basis, especially after he hears us emptying our recycling containers into the main recycling bin. Mike is also not ashamed of this – he does it in the middle of the day or in the middle of the night. He also does some other strange things but that’s another story.

As I have been watching him day after day, digging through our trash, I decided I would give it a try myself. “Heck, who does not need some extra cash in these days?”, I thought to myself. [continue reading…]

Imagine getting up at 4 am somewhere in a quaint Czech village in order to get in couple of peaceful hours of fishing. And who knows, maybe you are going to be lucky enough to catch a carp or something! That’s what one of the Czech fishermen was thinking when he went fishing in a local river called  Drevnica. Boy, was he surprised when his first catch was a feisty South American piranha!! This kind of exotic fish did not get into the river by natural means; its owner must have let it lose because it probably became a nuisance in his aquarium. “Once in a while one of us (fishermen) catches a turtle that someone let lose but up to this point no one has had the pleasure catch piranha”, says the spokesman for the Otrokovice town hall.

The poor fish did not end up well, however. [continue reading…]

I am jealous! Sydney (Australia) is opening up a new Czech and Slovak school for children 18 months old and up. There will be 3 Czech classes and 3 Slovak ones. The major focus will be teaching  kids how to speak fluently via the so-called total immersion method where the language will be taught only in Czech/Slovak language itself. Another focus of these classes is going to be teaching students the Czech and Slovak traditions including songs, riddles, fairy tales, holiday customs and much more. I am telling you, if you read the whole article you will be jealous too (sorry, the article is available only in Czech): click here

CZ: Sydney se tak ma! V rijnu tam totiz zacina nova ceska skolicka a to jiz pro deti, kterym je 18 mesicu! Otevrou se 3 ceske tridy a 3 slovenske tridy, kde hlavnim cilem bude rozvoj mluveneho projevu a slovni zasoby deti. Studenti se take budou ucit ceskym/slovenskym zvykum…no, proste je to pohadka! Az si prectete ten clanek (kliknete zde) uvidite o cem tady basnim :0)

I ADDED COUPLE MORE EVENTS INTO THE CALENDAR (HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE) :))

Wow! What a busy month! We have about billion Czech/Slovak Festivals coming up as well as the US/Canadian tour of Karel Gott and a Czech band Druha Trava!

CZ: Jezkovy oci! To je ruchu, to je ruchu! Tento mesic se muzeme tesit na miliony roztodivnych ceskych/slovenskych festivalu, ale take na turne Karla Gotta a Druhe Travy!

USA

1. Bohemian National Hall, NY (Czech Center)

A. What: Solo System Band concert (Jiri Stivin)

When: 9/8/2009

B. What: Czech movie showing: Ene Bene

When: 9/3/2009

C. Czech benefashion show

When: 9/12/2009

2. Chicago, IL

What: Karel Gott concert [continue reading…]