Czechmatediary

Most of us who grew up in the Czech environment know great comics like Vlasta Burian or Voskovec and Werich. Today I want to concentrate on the contemporary Czech comedians whom I used to watch back in Czech when I still lived there. They are the phenomenal duos of Kaiser and Labus, Jirina Bohdalova and Vladimir Dvorak, Janzurova and others. Bellow are some of their greatest performances so get ready to laugh hard (sorry they are all in Czech):

CZ: Je na case si ale zavzpominat na neprekonatelne ceske komiky naseho mladi, jako je Keiser a Labus (jejich ‘Rodinka’ byl muj nejoblibenejsi radiovy program mimochodem) , Bohdalova a Dvorak, Janzurova, Jiri Wimmer a dalsi. Nize jsou uvedene jedny z jejich nejlepsich scenek – pripravte si nocnik, kdyby se vam nahodou pri tom zachvatu smichu chtelo curat (zejmena kdyz se Wimmer snazi ucit Cernocha na housle):

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Jana, one of the avid readers of this blog, recommended to me a great Czech article about one’s psychological changes that come along with emigration. What a great topic since many of us are dealing with exactly that! This geographical transition can be the most difficult time in one’s life. In order to cope with a new environment one has to be ready to take risks, face many loses and be ready to possibly change some of his life attitudes and values. The author describes also the technical terms of the process where the first phase is called the getting-to-know-your-new-environment phase through which people usually sale with no problems. Most new things we come across during this time are exciting and interesting. This phase may also change into a so-called ‘honeymoon phase’, an euphoric feeling when one feels like he has arrived to some kind of a heavenly Promised Land. [continue reading…]

“Why should I spend money for a funeral if my dead relative can’t give me anything in return?” That is the current Czech attitude toward their deceased relatives, says David Stejskal, a local grave digger. He also says that the moral in the Czech Republic is decreasing every year which goes hand in hand with a loss of respect for the dead. Many relatives just pay the necessary fees for the person to be buried but no ceremony is being held. Some people even refuse to bury them at all and in that case the state has to take care of the body and pay for the funeral itself. Last year the government had to pay over 2 million crowns just for these unclaimed burial fees.

“About 4 years ago I dealt with a mother who was not interested in burying her 12-year-old disabled daughter’, says Stejskal. [continue reading…]

This website is so much fun! You can download a picture of your face (or someone else’s face) into various fun Loonapic effects (click here) and you are going to end up with something like what I ended up with (see photo). You can pretend like you are a celebrity for as long as you want  and you don’t have to pay a dime! That’s what I am talking about….

CZ: Tyhle webovky jsou proste bomba! Stahnete si foto vaseho obliceje (nebo nekoho jineho) do jednoho z nasledujicich Loonapic efektu (kliknete zde) a dostanete neco jako co jsem zde vytvorila ja. Muzete si hrat na celebritu jak dlouho chcete a to zdarma!

I am definitely not an expert on Slovak cuisine so I called on for some help. Lubos has a blog called ‘Slovak cooking’ and one of his tasty recipes introduce us to the magic of traditional Slovak Sour bean soup (click here). It kind of reminds me the Sauerkraut soup which I have introduced to you in the past. It definitely looks delicious and healthy and it is scheduled for one of my next week’s dinner courses :0)

CZ: Jelikoz nejsem expert na slovenskou kuchyni, zavolala jsem si na pomoc Lubose. Lubos ma blog zvany ‘Slovak cooking’, kde se to hemzi dobrouckymi recepty, jako je napriklad tato zakysana fazolova polevka (kliknete zde) – prava, slovenska! Pripomina mi trosku nasi zelnacku: je zdava a brni vas po ni pusa. Tak dobrou chut, ja ji mam naplanovanou na pristi tyden!

Whenever Jamie writes me an e-mail, the content is so good that I just have to post it (of course, with Jamie’s consent)! What a fun topic!

CZ: Pokazde, kdyz mi Jamie posle e-mail, stoji to za to. Jeho obsah je vzdycky tak zajimavy, ze  se s vami o nej proste musim podelit (samozrejme ze se souhlasem Jamieho).

Hey, Tanja!

If you want some fun, go to the TV Prima website, look at the “Zahranicni serialy” (Foreign TV shows) and try to figure out why some titles are translated, and why some aren’t. And why some of them are translated the way they are. I did this last night, and here is what I wrote to a friend about it: [continue reading…]

The Czech elections for the Chamber of Deputies are coming up (Oct. 9) so make sure you vote if you are still pugged into the Czech political scene (and don’t mind traveling to Chicago). Remember, although we live half a globe away our vote still counts! Here is the necessary info:

CZ: Za necele 2 mesice (9. rijna) jsou volby do poslanecke snemovny parlamentu Ceske Republiky  a cesti obcane v USA mohou volit na Generalnim konzulatu CR. Zde jsou blizsi informace: [continue reading…]

Hi Everyone (especially the little ones),
Here is a second part of my Czech-fairy tale video series that you can watch on-line (for the first part click here).

CZ: Ahoj, zejmena maminky a deti, nasla jsem vam dalsi pohadky, na ktere se muzete divat pres internet (pro cast 1. kliknete zde)

1. Prasatko Pepina – fairly new kid cartoon (and a little silly if you ask me) but children like it…and it’s in Czech!

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My Czech friend Pavla recently prompted me to write about the times when we had a yearly gas mask training at school. It was mandatory, so that we would know what to do in case some capitalist ‘pig’ decides to use the mushroom cloud on us. I don’t remember about it much since I was still kind of young (and my memory is terrible). I do have a vision in my head of putting those weird things on and then walking in the school hallways, feeling like a fool (especially if some cute boy walked right by). Since my story is not that interesting I called on to my Czech friends to help me write these memoirs . This is what they remember about those weird days:

CZ: Moje kamaradka Pavla mi nedavno poradila, abych napsala memoar o tom, jak jsme ve skole cvicili s plynovymi maskami (nebo-li tzv. branne cviceni). Nebyly to proste blaznive casy, kdyz si na to ted vzpomenete? Ja si toho z te doby moc nepamatuju (jenom to, ze jsme ten den tise chodily s dlouhymi choboty po chodbach nasi skoly), ale par mych kamaradek si toho vybavuje vic. Posudte sami – je to fakt zabava:

1. ‘Well, I don’t remember too much just that we had a gas-mask exercise once a year. The teachers handed us our masks which we had to wash with alcohol as a type of disinfection before we put them on. Of course, everyone had to have his own personal mask, which was fitted specifically for his skull. Before the correct mask was chosen for us, our face was measured with a specific measuring tool which kind of looked like pliers. [continue reading…]