Czechmatediary

To add to the diversity of this blog I decided I am going to introduce you to the world of Czech and Slovak fairy tales (and if you know all about them it may just be a good review for you). Since we are currently in the middle of – for some of us – quite the hash winter, there is no better suited children’s tale than the one about the Twelve Months (O Dvanacti Mesickach). I found it translated into English  in the “Hudba in the Czech Republic” blog and that person did a marvelous job (Czech translation can be found here):

CZ: Ahoj! Tak jsem si rikala, ze bych mohla k pestrosti tohoto blogu take pridat treba pohadky. Vestina lidi ted dosti mrzne, tak jsem si rikala, ze je velmi vhodne venovat se pohadce O dvanacti mesickach, co rikate? Anglicky preklad jsem nasla na blogu zvanem “Hudba in the Czech Republic” a cesky preklad muzete najit zde (kliknete zde).

ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a mother who had two daughters. One was her own child, the other her stepdaughter. She was very fond of her own daughter, but she would not so much as look at her step-daughter. The only reason was that Maruša, the stepdaughter, was prettier than her own daughter, Holena. The gentle-hearted Maruša did not know how beautiful she was, and so she could never make out why her mother was so cross with her whenever she looked at her. She had to do all the housework, tidying up the cottage, cooking, washing, and sewing, and then she had to take the hay to the cow and look after her. She did all this work alone, while Holena spent the time adorning herself and lazing about. But Maruša liked work, for she was a patient girl, and when her mother scolded and rated her, she bore it like a lamb. [continue reading…]

Telc, also called the “Moravian Venice” is a true pearl of Moravia, the south-east region of the Czech Republic. Reflected in the surface of peaceful ponds, the royal city was founded at the beginning of 12th century, located on the crossroads of busy merchant routes. Its very beginnings are connected with the victory of the fearless Moravian Duke Otto II who, in order to commemorate his victory, built a chapel and later also a local church with its surrounding buildings, which is the Old Town of today. Later it was bought out by the most famous Czech king, Charles IV  who later exchanged it with Jindrich of Hradec for another (probably more exciting?) castle. The Hradec family is the one who made the city as beautiful as it is today. They build the Telc castle, the water fortifications and the beautiful Gothic houses around the large marketplace. Unfortunately half of it was burnt to the ground in 1368 and later burnt some more by the Hussites who conquered the whole town except for the castle. [continue reading…]

Remember the intriguing story of the Bouncing Czech guy? Well, I have got a good news for you because he came out with another one! For those who have not had a chance to read his first story, Karel lived in the communist Czechoslovakia until the age of 17 and then, shortly after the pivotal year of 1968, he decided to split…forever. [continue reading…]

If you still lived in the Czech Republic you would know that the political situation there is quite messy. The Czechs trust neither the political parties, nor the president; the president seems to be living in his own isolated bubble and the prime minister is physically obusive. What a picture, right? This unhappy atmosphere is usually a great breeding ground for the formation of new political parties and in this case the situation gave birth to not 1, but to 2 of them! The fist one is called “Strana Svobodnych Obtcanu (SSO)“, or the Party of Free Citizens, and the second party is named “Liberalove (LIB)“, or the Liberals.

The SSO party opposes the EU Lisbon treaty and their main focus right now is to succeed in June Euroelections.They also want to promote low taxes, reduction of bureaucracy and a improve the environment (hmm…I think I have heard this song somewhere already..).  Among the supporters  of this Eurosceptic party are the 2  sons of president Klaus (what a surprise!) as well as some celebrities  like the famous violinist Vaclav Hudecek and a popular illustrator Adolf Born. [continue reading…]

After a very heated discussion in the comment section of the post on “ teaching my daughter Czech”, I decided to ask an expert about this particular topic and emailed Jamie. Jamie has a MA in Linguistics from Wayne State University.  He has taught linguistics there and at the University of Michigan – Dearborn.  He has  taught ESL to adults for 17 years, and he has also taught German and a little ESL to children.Here is his very educated answer which will put many of us to rest:

CZ: Jak vestina z vas videla, posledni clanek o uceni me dcerky cestiny vypoutal vasnivou diskusi. Nedalo mi to a zanedlouho pote jsem zkontaktovala experta na toto tema – Jamese. Jamie obdrzel  MA v Linguistice od Wayne State University, kde ji take posleze ucil. Tento predmet vyucoval take na Michigeneske universite v Dearbornu. ESL (English as a second language) pro dospele uci jiz 17 let, ma ale take zkusenost s ucenim nemciny a  ESL pro male deti. Toto je jeho odpoved, a myslim si, ze mnohe z vas nejen ze prekvapi, ale take potesi:
[continue reading…]

Hello/Ahoj,

I am sorry about the half-baked  Czechmate Diary Forum but now it is working, I promise!! Just click on the “Forum” button in the upper-right hand corner of this page, then click “register” and the job is done! The computer will automatically send you an awkward password into your email inbox but you will be able to change it to whatever you want in your Forum profile…the usual forum stuff.
Thanks for your patience!!!

Tanja

PS: don’t be shy to be the Forum pioneer!!

Whether the other European countries like it or not the current King of Europe – the  Czech Republic –  is about to smother them with the Czech culture in the upcoming months. Don’t believe me? As of now the Czech government has planned about 700 events (art exhibitions, movies, theatrical plays, concerts..) which will be held in Czech as well as other 90 countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was given about $60 million Czech crowns to make all this happen so the world should be expecting some big things! The Czech vice-premier, Alexandr Vondra, “humbly” noted to the Lidove Noviny reporter the other day: ” The Czech Republic has a reputation of a cultural superpower.  The EU presidency gives us an excellent opportunity to expand upon this common knowledge”. [continue reading…]

Would you like to win bunch of money, a trip to Czech or Slovakia and meet the Czech president? Now it’s your chance! Nebraska is looking for the next 2009 Miss Czech Slovak US again so read up on the details:

CZ: Chteli byste vyhrat hromadu penez, vylet do Cech nebo na Slovensko a poznat se se presidentem Ceske Republiky? Zkratka stat se celebritou? Ted mate sanci! Nebraska totiz hleda dalsi Miss Czech Slovak US pro rok 2009. Vice info najdete v nize prilozenem dopise:

Who will be the 2009 Miss Czech Slovak US?

The Miss Czech Slovak US Pageant is looking for the next Miss Czech Slovak US. For 23 years the Miss Czech Slovak US has been produce heritage ambassadors for all Czechs and Slovaks across the United States. Now, we are looking for more. [continue reading…]

Hi everyone/ Ahojte vsichni,

here is the second part of Jamie’s experiences when he came back to the US. As I said in the first part of this post, Jamie is an American who spend many years working in the Czech Republic. When he came back to the US he experienced so-called “Reverse culture shock”. Here are the last tasty pieces of his insightful observations:

CZ: Tady je druha cast Jamesovych zazitku po navratu do Spojenych Statu. Jak jsem jiz vysvetlila v prvni casti teto story, James pracoval nekolik let v Cechach jako ucitel a kdyz se vratil do Ameriky, zakusil tzv. “kulturni sok vzuru nohama”. Tak si vychutnejte jeho posledni postrehy:

— I would fret over a $1.00 purchase, even if I needed the item and
it was a good deal. My sense of proportion between price versus
income was distorted by the lower prices and salaries in the CR, so I
thought of all the things I could buy (but in reality couldn’t) with
the dollar I was spending on a package of pens. I thought in terms of
a dollar (35 crowns at the time) buying me a haircut and a few
groceries, when all I was getting in the US was a few Bic pens. When
I paid $3.50 for a burger and fries at a fast food chain, I felt like
I should be getting an elegant meal for the price. It was a gut
feeling that didn’t take into account the difference between my $2,000
Czech salary and my $40,000 American one. [continue reading…]