Prague’s main train station Hlavni Nadrazi is finally getting beautified! It used to be such an embarrassment to the whole downtown that nobody wanted to even walk by it unless you really had to. It would stink like urine and puke and it was a favorite hang out spot of all of the homeless people. But now it looks totally different and beautiful! Can’t wait to ride in the train next time I go back to Czech. You can see more pictures and read more about the whole metamorphosis at My Czech Republic blog (click here).
CZ: Hlavni nadrazi se konecne zkrasluje!!! Diky novemu italskemu sponzoru ted prochazi obrovskou rekonstrukci. Pamatujete, jak to tam vzycky smrdelo jako moc a zvratky? A jaky to bylo oblibene odpocivadlo pro vsechny bezdomovce pomalu z cele Evropy? Tak ted je tomu utrum! Vice si precte a prohlidnete na My Czech Republic blog (kliknete zde).
Do you know, what the first official Slovak organization in the US was? It was Jednota (or The First Catholic Slovak Union of America), founded in Cleveland as early as 1890. Early after that The National Slovak Society (Narodni slovensky spolok) was founded in Pittsburgh. This time the organization was nondenominational and it still exists today. Its founder, Peter Rovnianek, had such a patriotic spirit that he also established a new Slovak community in Arkansas (about 300 people) and gave it a clever name – the Slovaktown (it looks like the town doesn’t exist anymore, however, since I tried to google it and I got only the ‘historical’ map of the place). [continue reading…]
I have put together a list of YouTube videos of my favorite (and now also my daughter’s favorite) Czech fairy tales – well, most of them are Czech – and I hope it will put a smile on you face when you reminisce about the old times (notice that this is only the first part, two more posts like this are coming soon!). And you know what are other bonus? It will teach your kids Czech and it will also keep them quiet for a few minutes ;0)
PS: For those who do not understand Czech I apologize – all of these are in Czech only. But don’t worry, the next posts will have some silent videos too! CZ: Dala jsem dohromady list svych nejoblibenejsich vecernicku/pohadek meho detsvti, tak doufam, ze vas potesi. Nejen ze si muzete zavzpominat, ale take je to velmi poucne pro vase ditka z hlediska ceskeho jazyka (a zaroven je to taky na par minut utisi ;0). Je to pouze prvni seznam, dva dalsi takove seznamy zverejnim v blizke budoucnosti, tak si drzte klobouky – bude to rychla jizda!!!
I know I have posted a bread recipe in the past but – thanks to my awesome high school friend Eva – I have an easier version for you. You don’t have to wait days and days until your dough ferments anymore, you just simply ad a package of yeast. Remember, bread-making is an artistry so don’t worry if your first one does not look like a magazine-cover snap shot!
PS: Also, if you have a baking stone, use that, but if you don’t just use a baking tray. CZ: Sice jsem jiz v minulosti recept na cesky chleba publikovala, ale ted mam pro vas verzi mnohem jednodussi; nemusite kvasit svoje vlastni testo, proste tam hodite pytlicek s drozdim! Recept pochazi od me stredoskolske kamaradky Evy, ktera si ho velmi pochvaluje (a ja samozrejme take). A nevzdavejte to, kdyz se vam ten bochnik parkrat nepovede – to vite, peceni chleba, to je veda!!
PS: Jestli mate kameny pekac tak pecte chleba na nem, jestli ne, tak pouzijte tormalni pekac.
The Canadian broadcast CBC NEWS published the results from a recent poll where Czechs were rated as the 4th biggest complainers in the world when they spoke up about the quality of public services. The poll included questionnaire answers from 23,000 corespondents from 23 various countries. When it comes to our country, every 2nd Czech was unsatisfied with various public services in the Czech Republic, which made them out to be complainers no. 1 in the whole Europe! Even the Hungarians, the Polish and the Russians (!!) are complaining less! So what is the deal? Do Czechs have the right to feel unsatisfied or do they just like to complain?
Well, as far as beer services go, there is some validity there. You see, every forth Czech restaurant is serving a lesser quantity of beer than what they are supposed to (where restaurants in Ostrava and Brno are supposedly the biggest cheaters of all). The refunds are also quite bad since almost half of the respondents claim that most of them seem shady, plus one usually has to get into a fight with the clerk in order to get somewhere (or not). [continue reading…]
It is the time again when I do the bi-annual update on my daughter’s bilingual skills. Hahna just recently turned 2 and she is so much fun (well, OK the potty training is not that much fun, I admit…)! If you recall I called the last post “The bitter-sweet results so far” because at 18 months-of-age she was speaking mostly English. I am ecstatic to say that has changed. She is totally bilingual now! It started at about 20 months-of-age when she began repeating almost everything I said, including tremendously loooong words like ‘vodopad‘ (waterfall), ‘skluzavka‘ (slide) or ‘ananas‘ (pineapple). She did the same thing in English with her English-speaking daddy and babi (grandma). She now speaks to me solely in Czech and switches to English with no problem when when she talks to daddy. And when we are all together, she talks also mostly in English, with a few Czech words here and there.
Where it gets a bit tricky and (unfortunately) confusing for Hanicka is when we meet with my American girlfriends and their kids. [continue reading…]
This is a historical moment. I am finally done with designing my first line of Czech crystal jewelry and it is looking pretty good! If you are searching for a traditional Czech gift or just want to make yourself (or your loved one) look especially pretty, this is a present just for you. And guess what? If you are registered for this blog via e-mail, you get a 10% discount!
You can view my jewelry line right here (click here) or just click on the ‘STORE’ button on the upper right-hand corner.
CZ: Tak jsem konecne dokoncila prvni radu sperku z ceskeho skla a jsem z toho docela nadsena! Jestli hledate tradicni cesky darek nebo si chcete koupit neco hezkeho pro sebe, toto je vase perfektni prilezitost. Ti z vas co jsou zaregistrovani na Czechmate Diary skrze email dostanou 10% slevu !
Discrimination and political incorrectness used to be huge in the Czech Republic. I have not lived there for a while so I don’t know the situation from the first hand but from what I have heard from my Czech friends (and family) who still live there the situation has gotten much better; not great, but better. This means that it is still fairly normal if a construction worker whistles at you as you are passing by. The Czech Daily Word points out yet another way of discriminating, this time in the city of Brno (read the whole article here).
CZ: Discriminace a ‘political correctness’ (ted si nemuzu vzpomenout na ten spravny cesky vyraz) byla v Cechach velmi bezna. Jelikoz tam jiz delsi dobu neziji, nevim presne, jak tam tyto dva neduhy ruku v ruce valci, ale co jsem slysela od kamaradu/rodniny, kteri v Cechach ziji, situace se mnohem zlepsila…neni to tak ‘ruzove’ jako napriklad ve Spojenych statech, ale je to lepsi. To znamena, ze je stale celkem v norme, kdyz jdete po chodniku a jeden z delniku na vas zapiska. Czech Daily Word se pozamysli nad dalsim zpusobem diskriminace, tentokrat v Brne (kliknete zde).
I got motivated from our previous fairytale discussion and dug out yet another Czech (and also Slovak?) fairytale classics, this time it is called ‘Cook, Mug, Cook!’ (‘Hrnecku,var!’). I was so happy to find a YouTube movie that goes along with it! It is a silent movie so anyone can watch it 🙂
CZ: Z nasi posledni pohadkove diskuze jsem se rozhodla ozivit dalsi klasickou ceskou pohadku, tentokrat “Hrnecku, var!” Diky Marice a jeji zlate dcerce Michelle, mam take ten anglicky preklad, tak je to kompletni. Dokonce jsem i nasla YouTube video!!
I apologize for posting the August calendar so late but my mom is in town so I have been kind of busy. Fortunately we have not missed too much since it is summer and everyone is gone, vacationing somewhere…
CZ: Omlouvam se, ze se ukazuji s kalendarem tak pozde, ale je u nas na navsteve moje mamka, tak mam pekny fofr. Nastesti se toho ale v srpnu moc nedeje, tak jste nic nezmeskali…
1. Washington, DC (The Embassy)
What: Exhibition called “Prague through the Lens of the Secret Police”
Prague’s main train station Hlavni Nadrazi is finally getting beautified! It used to be such an embarrassment to the whole downtown that nobody wanted to even walk by it unless you really had to. It would stink like urine and puke and it was a favorite hang out spot of all of the homeless people. But now it looks totally different and beautiful! Can’t wait to ride in the train next time I go back to Czech. You can see more pictures and read more about the whole metamorphosis at My Czech Republic blog (click here).
I have put together a list of YouTube videos of my favorite (and now also my daughter’s favorite) Czech fairy tales – well, most of them are Czech – and I hope it will put a smile on you face when you reminisce about the old times (notice that this is only the first part, two more posts like this are coming soon!). And you know what are other bonus? It will teach your kids Czech and it will also keep them quiet for a few minutes ;0)
I know
The Canadian broadcast CBC NEWS published the results from a recent poll where Czechs were rated as the 4th biggest complainers in the world when they spoke up about the quality of public services. The poll included questionnaire answers from 23,000 corespondents from 23 various countries. When it comes to our country, every 2nd Czech was unsatisfied with various public services in the Czech Republic, which made them out to be complainers no. 1 in the whole Europe! Even the Hungarians, the Polish and the Russians (!!) are complaining less! So what is the deal? Do Czechs have the right to feel unsatisfied or do they just like to complain?
It is the time again when I do the bi-annual update on my daughter’s bilingual skills. Hahna just recently turned 2 and she is so much fun (well, OK the potty training is not that much fun, I admit…)! If you recall I called the last post 
This is a historical moment. I am finally done with designing 
Discrimination and political incorrectness used to be huge in the Czech Republic. I have not lived there for a while so I don’t know the situation from the first hand but from what I have heard from my Czech friends (and family) who still live there the situation has gotten much better; not great, but better. This means that it is still fairly normal if a construction worker whistles at you as you are passing by. The Czech Daily Word points out yet another way of discriminating, this time in the city of Brno 
I got motivated 
I apologize for posting the August calendar so late but my mom is in town so I have been kind of busy. Fortunately we have not missed too much since it is summer and everyone is gone, vacationing somewhere…
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