Czechmatediary

I came across these cool photos of Vaclav Havel – the former Czech president. It kind of gives an overview of his fruitful life, ever since he was just a ‘nobody’ until his post-president era when he had a chance to meet with Mr. Obama (or rather, Obama had a chance to meet with Havel??) Take a look (click here)!
CZ: Ani nevim, co jsem na internete hledala, ale skoncila jsem na strankach Oldricha Skaly – znameho fotografa, zachycujiciho zivot Vaclava Havla. Fotky nam priblizuji Vaska jiz od utleho mladi, kdyz byl jeste ‘obycejny’ chlapek, az po dobu, kdy si ho pozval na obed samotny Obama (nebo Obama pozval na obed samotneho Havla??).
Fotky muzete shlednout zde (klinete zde).

Remember when we were voting on 7 wonders of the Czech Republic? Well, the votes have been counted and the results are in. Here they are:

1. Czech Beer

• it has its trademark in EU now
• the Czechs drink annually about 160 liters per person, which makes them the world winners
• the historical records of Czech beer reach all the way to 1088 (during the reign of king Vratislav II.)
• year 1842 welcomes the birth of Pilsener Urquell, the most popular Czech beer ever

2. Czech glass

• known for its high quality (on the home front and worldwide)
• it has been around since the 13th century
• Czech crystal chandeliers decorate the opera house in Rome, Milan’s La Scala or Versailles
• 19th century Czech artist Bedrich Egermann pushed ahead the ‘crazy’ thought of glass becoming a new form or sculpturing material

3. Charles the Fourth (1316 – 1378)

• The most well-known Czech king ever, known as the Father of the Land
• He took over the Czech lands when they were in a terrible shape and made them out to be the most powerful state (Roman Empire) in Europe
• A founder of the first university in Central Europe (Charles University in Prague), Prague’s Charles Bridge and other magnificent structures (more…)

I have been lately into listening to Karel Kryl’s songs. This guy was such an interesting person! He died quite young at the age of 49  but his songs are going to be cherished by the Czechs and Slovaks forever. By the way, his music skills are just one slice of the Kryl-pie. He was a great poet and a painter as well.

CZ: Posledni dobou se mi nejak zalibily Krylovy pisnicky a dosti casto je ted posloucham. Nic moc jsem o Krylovi pred tim nevedela, pouze ty zaklady, tudiz jsem se rozhodla udelat jakysi Krylo-vyzkum, co se tyce jeho zivota a dila. Pro zmenu to byla opravdu velmi zajimava a dobrodruzna osubka. Nejen ze byl nadany na poezii a hudbu, byl take vybornym malirem. Zbytek textu je v anglictine, protoze na cesky preklad uz jsem nemela cas ani silu. Sorac.

Karel Kryl was born and raised in a Moravian town called Kromeriz, where his grandfather established a printing business, one of the best ones in pre-communist Czechoslovakia. Thanks to this book-friendly surrounding Karel was in love with literature ever since he was a little boy. When he was just 5 years old the communist party won the elections and few months later he was forced to watch, while the communist army destroyed all of his family’s printing machines. That was the end of prosperous times at the Kryl family. His father had to start working at the local factory and Karel later followed his footsteps. (more…)

Imagine you get invited by your acquaintance for a cup of tea and when you come to his house, there are strange paper bags hanging all over the walls. First, you realize you don’t know this person enough and you wonder if you should start slowly backing out of this very strange place and call the police. Then you decide to be brave and take a closer look at those walls and you realize they are covered with  barf bags!

We are talking here about Milos Kubista, a Czech dude from Plzen who owns  a collection of more than 1,500 air sickness bags (some framed) from all over the world. It took him close to 40 years  to collect all those ‘valuable’ items and the numbers are still growing. (more…)

After an unnerving match this afternoon the Czechs beat the Russians 2-1. It truly is amazing since many of the key members of the Czech team live abroad and play professionally with other teams (i.e. Jaromir Jagr currently plays for Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League) and have a very little time to practice together as a team.

As my dad said it would be  pure luck if they beat the all-powerful Russian team and it looks like they got very lucky!!! But I am sure the team’s amazing talent played a role as well ;0)

So to summon it up, the Czechs are the kings, Russians took a 2nd place, Sweden is 3rd and Germany 4th. (more…)

A 53-year-old Czech-born tennis celebrity Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since the disease was diagnosed early the prognosis to a completer recovery is excellent. “I cried when I found out about this. It knocked me on my ass, really. I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands.”

The nine-time Wimbledon champion was fortunately diagnosed with a non-invasive form of cancer, called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which was confined to the milk ducts. Navratilova had a lumpectomy and will start 6 weeks of radiation therapy in May. “It was the best-case scenario you could imagine for detecting breast cancer,” says Dr Mindy Nagle, Martina’s ob gyn as well as her best friend. (more…)

I have not watched the last Bachelor show but I could not help myself noticing the tabloids on the front pages of every magazine: “Jake Pavelka picked the bad girl!“, ” Jake Pavelka cheats on his fiancee“, “Jake Pavelka will be dancing with the Stars!“. I did some quick research on the origin of his last name and my suspicion was confirmed. The name is definitely of a Czech origin ( I could not find any specific details on what side of his parents is actually Czech though). (more…)

Winning 6 medals – it could not get any better for the Czechs! Let’s do a recap:

• Martina Sablikova (speed skater) won 2 (!!) gold medals, and one bronze medal
• Lukas Bauer (cross country skier) won 1 bronze medal
• Sarka Zahrobska (downwill skier) won 1 bronze medal

Sablikova, now the most successful Czech winter Olympic game competitor ever, is not sure what to do with her medals. Should she put them in a safe or should she hang them  on her wall so that she can be reminded of her victories every morning when she wakes up? One thing she is sure of though, that tomorrow she is going to start training again….to win more medals. (more…)

Today left Prague an important travel expedition called the Bargans Bajkal 2010. It consists of 2 extra brave men – Vaclav Sura and Petr Blazek, who are to cross the Siberian Baikal lake on foot, by so-called unsupported style. All of their belongings (food included) will be pulled by those two man on sledges. The trail leads from the south peak of the lake to the north peak and it si ‘mere’ 650 km long, which should take them 4 to 5 weeks to conquer. The slight problem is that the temperatures during this time go as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. Only one such expedition has been done in the past, so if the Czech one is succesfull it will be a great victory.
(more…)

Not long after the Olympic games began the Czechs have already won their first gold medal.  The 22-year-old speed skater, Martina Sablikova, conquered a  3,000-meter long race like it was a piece of cake. But the real piece of cake was waiting for her at the Czech House in Vancouver, fashionably shaped as an ice-skating ring with an image of a speed-skater in the middle.  The cake of just the sweet ‘snack’ ,however. Sablikova also received a price of 1,5 million Czech crowns and a one-year-long free supply of Pilsener Urquell!

Congrats, Martina! (more…)