Czechmatediary

Diky neustale hrozbe “spam engines” (ktere vyhledavaji volne lezici e-mailove adresy a pak vam posilaji otravne emaily) jsem se rozhodla pro dobro vsech, ze “Seznam kontaktu Cechu a Slovaku zijich v US/Canada/UK/Australia” (kategorie “Czech contacts in the USA” a “Czech contacts in the UK/Canada/Australia“) bude k mani koumkoliv, kdo se zaregistruje na tento blog skrze E-MAIL. Jestlize se tedy chcete do tohoto seznamu zaradit (nebo seznam chcete), kliknete na “SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY E-MAIL” (link je situovany hned pod mou fotkou). Ja vas pote zkontaktuji a list vam poslu spolu se “Survival Manual for Czechs living abroad” (bonus!!).

Diky za pochopeni!

Thanks to the constant threat of spamming search engines I decided that the list of “Czech contacts in the USA/Canada/UK/Australia” will be only reachable if you REGISTER FOR THIS BLOG BY E-MAIL. So if you are interested in being part of this contact sheet (or want that list) click on the link that says “Subscribe to this blog by e-mail” (located right under my picture). After you register I will personally contact you and send you (enter you into )the list. together with the “Survival Manual for Czechs and Slovaks living abroad”. I apologize for the inconvenience but I am just trying to protect your privacy.

About 1/3 of citizens of EU (27 states) is currently dying out, meaning that more people are dying than the number of babies being born. This dreadful situation is many times saved by the influx of immigrants. Czechs don’t have to be scared though as the Czech Republic is currently going through the “baby boom” phase: for each 10,000 citizens a new baby is born every year (+1). The biggest birth rate was registered last year, when there were more babies born (Czech and foreign) than in the last 15 years. We were playing a dangerous game though, because up till 2005 our nation was pretty much dying out. Why? [continue reading…]

The first Czech that stepped on the Australian soil in the 18th century was a botanist Tadeas Haenke. His research group was financed by the Austrian emperor Josef II. to find new plant types which no one in Europe had heard of yet. The first Czech that actually settled down in Australia was – now it’s not very flattering, so get ready – a convict Marek Blucher. Mr. Blucher was born in Prague in 1801, later left his homeland to find a better work in England. There he was arrested for stealing and shipped on the “island of convicts” – Australia. The Commonwealth census in 1921 counted 264 citizens of a Czech descend. The World War II brought in about 5,000 Czechoslovakians; most of them, however, had to sign a document that said that for the first 2 years they were to accept ANY kind of work offered to them. Even after their “slavery” time was up most of these people, especially the ones with university degrees, could not find other work. [continue reading…]

He everyone / Ahoj vsichni,

my website is undergoing construction so please be patient as some things may not be working correctly for couple of days. Also, I am not able to insert any pictures into my posts so we will have to do without them for a while 🙁

CZ: Czechmate diary prochazi docasnou rekonstrukci a proto vas prosim o trpelivost, jelikoz nejake ty “knofliky” nebudou poradne fungovat. Diky teto rekonstrukci take nejsem schopna vsadit do clanku obrazky, tak to budeme muset vydrzet na chvilku bez nich.

Thanks! / Dekuji!
have a good day/preji pekny den,

Tanja

Every year a small number of the Columbia university students sign up for the Czech language classes. Why? The reasons vary; some of these people have a Czech heritage, some have Czech girlfriends, some are just plain crazy ;)….but most of them get weaned in by the option of studying for a semester in a beautiful Prague. Read about these students right here (click here).

CZ: Kazdy rok se nekolik studentu na Columbijske universite zapise na kurz cestiny. Proc? Duvody jsou ruzne; bud maji v sobe ceske koreny, nebo maji ceske pritelkyne anebo jsou to proste blazni ;)……nejvice zaku je ale na tento predmet prilakano skrze moznost studovani jednoho semestru v krasne Praze. Prectete si o techto studentech vice zde (kliknete zde).

OK, I think it’s about time to put some light on the words “Bohemia” and “Bohemian“. The dictionary describes the word “Bohemian” as follows:

• a native of Bohemia (duh!)
• a person (an artist or writer), who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices
• a Gypsy
• the Czech language, esp. as spoken in Bohemia
• living a wandering or vagabond life, as a Gypsy

That didn’t help much!! What I want to know is when we call ourselves “Bohemians”, is it a correct description? [continue reading…]

As I wrote about a month ago, in June of this year the Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids (Iowa) was completely flooded. This building festively opened in 1995 by Vaclav Havel himself and it is considered one of the most important institutions of the Czech and Slovak cultural heritage. It is therefore very important for the building to recover as soon as possible. If you would like to help this cause and make a donation, click here (thank you!!).

CZ: Jak jsem jiz pred nedavnem psala, Ceske & Slovenske museum v Cedar Rapids (Iowa) bylo v cervnu zaplavene rozvodenou rekou Mississippi. Museum v Cedar Rapids je povazovane za jedno z nejvyznamnejsich instituci ceskeho/slovenskeho kulturniho dedictvi ve Spojenych statech a je tedy velmi dulezite, aby se jeho cinnost co nejdrive obnovila. Jestlize tomuto procesu chcete pomoci, kliknete prosim zde.

I love anything with potatoes (makes sense since it is genetically wired into my Czech genes): potato pancakes (Bramboraky), potato soup (Bramboracka), mashed potatoes (alone!), and most of all the Potato Salad! There are so many variations on this dish, and as my friend educated me the other day there is the “poor” version (potatoes, canned root of celery and mayo) and the “salad-for-the-rich” version, meaning that it includes “fancy” ingredients such as meat and eggs 🙂 I chose to do the rich version just because it tends to be more interesting and also a little more tasty: [continue reading…]

Have you ever heard of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre? I didn’t either up until today when I found an article about it on the Radio Praha website. The theatre itself is located in a small studio in Brooklyn and its performances have been praised by well-known newspaper such as the New York Times. How did it come about? Who is the owner? Where did the puppets come from? Read about it right here.

CZ: Slyseli jste nekdy o Ceskoslovensko-Americkem loutkovem divadle? Ja take ne, az kdyz jsem o nem dnes cetla clanek na webovkach Radia Prahy. Jejich studio je situovane v Brooklynu (NY) a hraji vsechno od ceskych pohadek po Hamleta a Golema. Mnoha vystoupeni byla vychvalovana prominentnimi novinami jako jsou New York Times. Vice si prectete zde.