Czechmatediary

Hello to you all,

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that “Jesus” brought  you exactly what you asked for 🙂

How would you like to win a brand new awesome Czech cookbook that will change your life in the kitchen forever?!? You only have to win the following competition: for those who live abroad and celebrate Christmas Czech-style, write a short narrative on how  your Christmas Eve went and how  you adapted to  the “hostile” conditions of non Czech-living. For example, what did you use instead of a carp? Or did you find a carp in some random grocery store (or from some black market carp dealer for ridiculous amounts of money)? What customs did you do? Did you bake Vanocka with a coin inside of the dough? Did you see the Golden pig? [continue reading…]

My dear readers,

May peace and joy be yours this Christmas season and throughout the New Year! Thank you so much for all of your support – it is much appreciated! Thanks to you kind words I am all fueled up for next year – ready to blog!!

CZ: Preji vam vsem Vesele Vanoce a mnoho stesti, zdravi a pohody do Noveho Roku!!! Dekuji za vasi podporu – dodava mi silu, abych s Czechmate diary nadale pokracovala!!

Feel like reminiscing about the “real” Czech Christmas? The times when we were little and our parents Jesus had to get our  presents in Tuzex or Eso? The times when a can of Coca-Cola was the best Christmas present ever? Now it’s your chance. My friend Jana sent me  this awesome link to view the best 100 images that were selected to represent the Retro Christmas (communist-style Christmas) in the Czech republic.  Notice the Charlie-Brown Christmas trees on almost all of those pictures! It’s so funny!…Click here to view the pictures.
PS: once you are taken to the Czech website, click on the big picture and then click on the word “dalsi” which means “next”. [continue reading…]

The first tangible sign of Christmas was our (the kids) letter to Jesus. Yes, that’s right, in the Czech Republic Jesus brings the presents while Santa is on vacation ( I also remember bragging to my fellow classmates at school when I was about 7 years old that I saw Jesus’ feet just as he was flying out of our apartment window). When my brother and I were really little and didn’t know how to write yet, we would draw out the list of things we wanted for Christmas and put it behind the window so that Jesus could get a better look at it. My list always looked something like this:
1)  dog
2)  cat
3) Barbie

…..And I would usually end up getting a bunch of clothes that were 2 to 3 sizes bigger so that I could wear it for the next 8 years.

Second, getting the Christmas tree. I don’t remember much about that. The only thing I remember is how frustrated my parents would get trying to fit the stem into the tree stand. They kept trimming the stem down but somehow it never seemed to fit! But that is probably just a universal law….

Third, getting the carp. That event I remember quite vividly. Since I am a big animal lover, going out and buying a carp was a stressful day for me. I remember feeling so sorry for those fish at the seller’s stand, how stuffed they all were in this one tiny bucket with about 6 ounces of water in it and no room to breathe. [continue reading…]

I don’t know how about you but I like to read (the proper English word for it would be a “bookworm”). I make myself read Czech books as well so that the Czech reading part of my brain (called the “czechothalamus“) doesn’t completely shut off. That is also why I am always on a lookout for a good Czech book. The Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny recently announced “The Best Book of the Year” called the “Lexicon of the Czech Literature“. It consists of 4 parts and contains a mixture of authors that were published exclusively by the Academia publishing company. [continue reading…]

Cisa is part of a Hungarian minority group that lives in Slovakia. Her mother tongue is Hungarian but she is also learning Czech, Slovak, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. Easy, right? If her other language skills are as good as her English then she should be getting the Smartest-Lady-In-The-World Award!! I read through Cisa’s “My Language Learning blog” where she journals about this insane learning experience and it really is something. Her journey of learning Czech and Slovak is especially interesting. Read the article right here (click here). [continue reading…]

Christmas Eve (24th of December) is very special for the Czechs and the Slovaks. Not only you get to eat a festive dinner, listen to the Czech Christmas carols and open up your presents after Jesus drops them off under the tree but many people also like to go to the Czech Christmas Mass (also called “Hey Master”). From my own experience I can tell you that the mass is magical. Even if one does not believe in God the comfort and the peace of the music penetrates any human being (my cat actually seems to like it too). It also makes you feel like there is something else, something better to this life than what the world is experiencing now. The masterpiece was written in 1796 by a young teacher and a musician Jakub Jan Ryba who unfortunately later in his life committed suicide. The story talks about the birth of Jesus Christ and the shepherds coming to visit him in his manger. [continue reading…]

Cesky Slavik is a Czech version of the MTV Music Awards. It is a huge party where Czech celebrities get to show off their new outfits and their new husbands and wives. What is different about it, however, that every year the same boring person wins the prize. Karel Gott has won Cesky Slavik for the 34th time (!!) this year and it’s getting kind of old. Yes, he is a good singer, but please, can we celebrate someone else for once? It just makes me feel like I am re-living the year of 1988 or something… Here are the top winners:

CZ: Tento tyden byl vyhlasen vitez Ceskeho Slavika 2008. A hadejte KDO vyhral?? Karel Gott! To je prekvapko, co? Toto je Gottova “pouha” 34. soska (kde je chudak asi schladuje? Mozna, ze jsou vsechny na Ebayi). Samozrejmne souhlasim s tim, ze Gott je dobry zpevak, ale ze by mel vyhrat 34 let v kuse?? To uz je trosku otrava…Mile me ale prekvapila 15-ti leta Ewa Farna, ktera vyhrala 3. misto za Zpevacku roku. Mrknete se dole na YouTube videa, ktere jsem s ni nasla – pripada mi moc mila a take nadana! [continue reading…]

Someone once asked me: “Do you think it’s a good idea to vacation in the Czech Republic during the winter?” Without any hesitation, I said “yes! There is so much to do all year long especially during the winter!” I talked to that person  for a little while longer and then we parted ways. I never actually found out if she even went to Czech that winter or if she just got cold feet and gave up on that whole “crazy” idea. If I were to meet her again I would give her a week-long schedule of things to-do, whether she liked it or not. This is what would the “Nazi” list look like:

CZ: Jednou se me nekdo zeptal, jestli pry je dobry napad stravit v Cechach zimmni prazdniny. Bez rozmysleni jsem vyhrkla “No samozrejmne! V Cechach se da delat tolik veci po cely rok, natoz v zime!” Jeste jsme si spolu chvilku povidaly, a pak ta osoba nekam zmizela, aniz bych se kdy dozvedela, jestli vubec do te krasne ceske zimni krajiny zavitala. Kdybych mela sanci vratit cas a ta dotycna osoba by se me zeptala tu samou otazku znovu, beze slov bych ji podala striktni rozvrh aktivit na cely mesic. Vypadalo by to asi takto: [continue reading…]