When I was growing up in the former Czechoslovakia people did not drink real coffee. They either drank the instant kind or they drank it Turkish-style. For those who are not familiar with Turkish coffee, you basically put ground up coffee grounds on the bottom of the cup and pour hot water over it. Then you wait until the majority of it settles down (notice, I say “majority” because about 1/4th of the grounds ends up in your teeth – creates a lovely look). Anyway, my parents drank it, I drank it throughout my high school years and did not think much of it, just hoped it would keep me awake during my study nights. But THEN I came to the US and was introduced to Starbucks….and from then on it went downhill with me. I just loved their coffee! My unhealthy relationship with Starbucks went so far that I ended up working there for a couple of years and yes, I did have to get up at 3:15 am for my morning shifts and yes, I did become the feared Tripple-tall-half-decaf-extra-hot-one-pump-sugar-free-vanilla-soy-no-foam-late beast. [continue reading…]
The total of 147 Czechs were infected with the HIV virus within the last year, which is the biggest increase ever since the the 1980’s. The highest numbers of infected individuals are registered in Prague (466) and Ustecko (NW of Prague). The lowest numbers of HIV-infected Czechs can be found in the Pardubice area (9) and Vysocina (11). According to the European center for infectious diseases, about 1/4th to 1/5th of of HIV-infected individuals actually do not know that they have the virus, which makes it approximately 300 extra individuals affected with this horrible virus.
Since 1986 the total of 265 Czechs have gotten sick with AIDS ( i.e. HIV turned into AIDS) and 142 of them have already passed away. Those numbers are of course extremely low compared to other European countries such as Portugal with about 30,000 HIV-positive individuals, which is about 25-times higher than in [continue reading…]
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!A few apt remarks about language:
As I’ve noted before, all the sights and tastes of Czech cannot equal the thrills I felt speaking the little Czech I know to the people there. While I believe the people are friendly to all, they seemed especially so when they heard us speak a little of their language. What enormous respect it is to the people of any country one visits to learn at least the rudimentary polite phrases in their language. It is the key to unlock the delight found in most people that someone else respects them enough to learn a little about them, their culture or their language. A few examples:
Telling the woman walking her dog that the dog was nice in Czech. She beamed. And, when I said I was a veterinarian as well, she beamed even more.
Talking (haltingly) with the police officers either after being stopped going the wrong way or asking for directions in the middle of traffic in Josefov. Perhaps they would have been forgiving or helpful if I could not speak Czech (remember, my wife is better looking than me) but I like to think they were a little more forgiving or helpful because I spoke to them in Czech. [continue reading…]
A lot of Czech/Slovak stuff is going on in New York this month!! If you are a fan of classical music, then this is your month because the Czech Symphony Orchestra is touring the US. If you are more into the movie scene you can meet the dean of the the Czech University of Film (FAMU) and discuss any Czech movie either with him or with the Czech film students that he brought along. For those who are interested in architecture, this month also introduces the exhibition of Czech cubism.
CZ: Ahoj! Hodne se toho tento mesic kona v New Yorku! Take pro priznivce klasicke hudby je toho dosti na vyber; Cesky filharmonicky orchestr totiz koncertuje po USA. Jestlize se radsi divate na televizi a bydlite ve Washingtonu, jdete se seznamit s reditelem ceske FAMU (mate take prilezitost vynadat mu za jakykoliv cesky film, ktery se vam v zivote nelibil). Pro fanousky architektury zacina tento mesic vystava ceskeho kubismu.
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!
My linguistic buddy Jamie forwarded me this awesome YouTube video the other day (thank you Jamie!) which you just have to watch; it is a REAL documentary about what Czechs and Slovaks in 1957 expected in the “cosmic” year of 2000 to look like. When I watched it for the first time, I could not believe it was real! But it is real!!!
PS: the movie has English subtitles :0)
CZ: Muj linguisticky kamos Jamie mi nedavno doporucil YouTube video, na ktere se proste musite podivat. Je to vynatek ze zpravodajstvi ceske televize (CT1) z roku 1957, ktere divakum predstavuje, jak by mel “kosmicky” rok 2000 vubec vypadat. Je to fakt sranda – tedy to, ze to ti zpravodajove mysli vazne :0) [continue reading…]
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!
The Oscar-winning couple, Glen Hansard (Ireland) and Marketa Irglova (CZ), are no longer dating. They are still touring together but the romance has evaporated. You can read more about this celebrity couple right here (click here).
CZ: Oskarovy parecek Glena Hansarda a Markety Irglove se nedavno rozpadl. Nadale spolu zpivaji na vyprodanych konzertech, ale romance z jejich vztahu jaksi vyprsela. Vice se o teto dvojce dovite zde (kliknete zde).
Michael informed us the other day that Czech drivers are not as crazy as the whole world seems to think so. He also crushed some other stereotypes about the Czechs…read up:
CZ: Michal nas pred par dny stroze informoval, ze Cesi vlastne vubec zadni blaznivi ridici nejsou, prave naopak. V nasledujicich zapiscich se mu podarilo nabourat take dalsi stereotypy o Cesich, ktere jiz par (desitek?) let koluji zemekouli…
Myths to debunk or otherwise exterminate
Myth 1. Czechs don’t smile.
Fact. Czechs smile all the time (well, perhaps not the few we met walking in the woods near Marianske Lazne. Maybe they had bunions or were Germans – who could know). But everyone else did. I haven’t met anyone yet who does not enjoy a compliment. So try that. The lady walking her dog (“nice dog – hezky pes”), the shopowner with pretty goods, the man living in the house of my wife’s great grandfather who wondered why some woman was photographing his house – all smiled hugely with a simple compliment (and simple it had to be with my Czech language skills). [continue reading…]
It’s time to talk about the embarrassing stuff. How many of you, the non-native English speakers, have NOT had an embarrassing experience while you were in the process of learning English? I bet every one of you has a story. I personally can remember (and it would be impossible to forget) at least 2 moments when I faced the eternal embarrassment of all times : the first time I was talking to my boss, explaining to her that I had had a terrible stomach flu, where I had eaten too much popcorn and it had blown up in my testicles (instead of the word “intestines“) and that is why I had been throwing up the whole weekend. The other time, not long after this particular speech accident I was at a party where the host decided to introduce me to this magical thing called a Theracane (great stuff by the way!). It’s basically a simple plastic massaging stick but the way it is bent one can massage his own back with no problems. Anyway, as I was testing this instrument in front of her, I whispered with a satisfying tone in my voice: “It really gets my nuts” instead of “It really gets my knots“. Oblivious to what I just said, I did not catch the weird looks everyone had on their faces. Fortunately my good husband saved me and gently corrected my pronunciation. And then we all had a good laugh; and I also felt embarrassed for about 6 months after that. Actually I still get red when I think about it – like right now. [continue reading…]
Let’s talk about Entropa. For those who are not familiar with that term, it is an art exhibition, which was unveiled in Brussels at the beginning of the Czech EU presidency. Basically, it is a stylised map which depicts all of the 27 EU countries in their “characteristic” way, but to many also in a very shocking way. The artifact managed to create a diplomatic conflict with Bulgaria which is represented on the map as a squatting toilet seat(see the picture). The creator of Entropa, a well-known Czech artist David Cerny, defends himfelf by saying that he wanted to test whether Europe was able of self-mockery. The Czech president Vaclav Klaus did appoligize to the offended countries. The PM Mirek Topolanek, who has been lately doing a wonderful job by the way, said to this: ” We should definitelly not appologize, the artist has done so”. He also added to it: “We Czechs often make fun of ourselves, and then we do not fully understand when others do not like it if we make fun of them”. [continue reading…]
Do you ever watch the immortal CIA agent Jack Bauer from “24”? While the show is currently on its 7th season, Jack is still entertaining millions of viewers (including those in the Czech Republic). Most people don’t know, however, that the Czechs have their OWN Jack Bauer. His name is Emil Kucera and he is a stout entomologist. Why does he resemble the qualities of Mr. Bauer? Let me give you the highlights:
About a year ago, Emil and his colleague stole couple of hundreds of bugs from the Indian National Park near Singalia. I am sure they crossed the bug law for the better cause but the Indians did not see it that way. Since Emil did not have the permission to do that he got charged with 3 (!!!) years of prison while his partner was let go. Emil did not waist time after the verdict and managed to escape from the Indian prison. Now we are finding out that it was the Czech CIA who helped him escape! [continue reading…]
If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!
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