Czechmatediary

The My Czech Republic blog recently released some wonderful images of a Czech countryside during the harvest season. Those pictures immediately  brought me back in time and space and I could smell the rich aromas of our deep woods and endless fields…..I miss it so much!!! I wish they had one of those bathroom refresheners in the “Czech countryside” scent...Here are the pictures (click here):

CZ: Blog zvany “My Czech Republic” pred nedavnem publikoval par fotografii zabirajicich ceskou krajinu v dobe Dozinek a skoro jsem z nich  az citila letni vune nasich hlubokych lesu a nekonecnych poli….to je to nejvetsi, co mi chybi – ceska priroda! Skoda ze tu neprodavaji zachodove vune ve stylu “Czech coutryside”! Hned bych se zasobovala na par let….Tady jsou ty fotky (klikenete zde)

In 2007 114,000 newborns in the Czech Republic (34.5%) were born to single women, which puts the Czechs in the 14th place out of 33 EU countries. While this number (114,000)  is only 1% higher than from the last year it confirms a steady trend. Just look at the “extramarital babies” historical time line (in CR):

• 1920s – 1930s: 12% of children were born outside of marriage
• 1938 – 1990: 4% to 10% …………………………………………………
• 1990s and up: every year the numbers continue to rise [continue reading…]

If you dare to pronounce that “C” word (or rather the “CH” word as “CH” is an actual letter in the Czech alphabet)  in front of a Czech/Slovak person you will probably witness an immediate “Pavlov-dogs” reaction, meaning that after just a few seconds their mouth will begin to water profusely, they may also start to drool really bad. Why? Because what a good cheeseburger means to an American, chlebicky are to  a Czech. Chlebicky are Czech-style, open-faced sandwiches, but more exciting than the traditional American sandwich. What do you find in a sandwich? Ham, cheese, slice of tomato, and a peace of lettuce – very exciting, indeed (not!)! But chlebicky can be topped with pretty much anything under the sun…no strict rules there! There is however the traditional variation on this recipe which I will be presenting today: [continue reading…]

I don’t know about you but I love to watch Czech movies. Up until recently I thought it was impossible to watch them here in the US; I thought they had to be converted from the European system to the US system first. Well, now I don’t think that anymore and I want to share this exciting news with you! We found a DVD player that actually plays Czech (European) movies as well as the American ones! [continue reading…]

Have you ever thought of what would Prague sound like if it were  expressed through music? You will be soon able to buy a CD of those sounds. A British artist Peter Cusack – the master of “soundscapes” from all over the world – is taking on Prague as his new project. How does it work? First, questionnaires are randomly spread through people to get some kind of an information about their background noises. Then the artists go on so-called “sound-walks”, listening to different sounds – looking at Prague from the “sonic point of view”. [continue reading…]

Czech beer is so popular  these days that the EU is most likely going to allow the Czechs Republic to use the “Ceske Pivo/Czech Beer” trademark. The beer is very unique because it is “brewed using  specific technologies in a specific latitude”. I don’t know if you knew this (I certainly did not), but the “Czech” beers like Staropramen or Pilsener Urquell are also made in Poland, Russia and Slovakia (i.e. different brewing technologies and different latitudes), hence the taste may not be exactly the same. [continue reading…]

Yesterday afternoon at the age of 93 years Tomas Bata junior peacefully died in Canada. This world-known Czechoslovak entrepreneur and an owner of the world-known Bata shoe company was the son of Tomas Bata senior – the acutal founder of Bata Shoes. Tomas senior’s nickname used to be the “Henry Ford of Eastern Europe” because he “saw technology as  means of progress, and wanted to make the shoes as cheaply as possible so that the greatest number of people could access them”. The Bata company itself was founded back in 1894 in a Czech town Zlin. After Tomas senior died in a tragic plane accident, his brother Jan took over the business. Under Jan’s leadership the company quickly expanded abroad to Europe, North America, Asia, and North Africa. Along with the continual expansion, the company policy was to set up new villages around the newly build factories so that the workers have places to live. Here are just some examples od those towns (the names are pretty cute): [continue reading…]

So we are back in business! September is a busy month as far as Czech stuff goes. Just to give you a little glimpse let me mention couple of names such as Plastic People of the Universe, Anna K. or Jaromir Nohavica…not bad, right??

CZ: Tak jsme zase v provozu! Ceske akcicky kam se jenom mrknete! Jen tak ze zacatku bych rada zminila par “bezvyznamnych” jmen jako jsou Plastic People of the Universe, Anna K, nebo Jaromir Nohavica.…neni to spatne, co??

1. North Miami, FL
What – Plastic People of the Universe (Vaclav Havel’s favorite Czech rock band)
When – September 27th
Where – American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club [continue reading…]

The Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, had a hip surgery in June. Well, one Czech lawyer (out of all the professions) tried to sell president’s hip bone on Aukro (Czech-style eBay); and guess what? He got caught! But you wouldn’t guess what the Czech president’s response to this hideous act was….read about it right here (click here).

CR: Vaclav Klaus podstoupil v cervnu tohoto roku operaci kycle. Jeden Cech (pravnik!!), ale nelenil cas, a kost z Klausova boku zacal drazit na Aukru (podobne eBayi). Nejen ze si Klausovu kost nikdo nekoupil, ale take mileho pravnika chytli pri cinu. A vite, jak Klaus na cely tento humbuk odpovedel?….Odpoved se dozvite zde (kliknete zde).