Czech nature

Prague voted 4th best city for young expat life… but not the friendliest / Praha zvolena 4. nejlepsim novym domovem pro mlade expatrioty, ale…

Everyone loves Prague. I mean, have you ever met anyone who didn’t? Even the prominent British newspaper Daily Telegraph chose it to be the 4th (!!) best city for young expat life. Listen to this: ‘Beautiful and only a short flight away from Britain, Prague offers all the stability of Europe with not requiring a new language, and it has the best beer in the world.”

Radio Prague also gives us some statistics to how many expats live there and what their nationality is:

  • 15,000 Germans
  • 6,0oo Americans
  • 5,000 Britons
  • 3,000 Frenchmen

Most of them are business people, teachers and students.

There is a little glitch in this Prague bliss however, and that are the Prague locals. Listen to Carol, one of the young expats:

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Tagged as: Czech nature, Prague

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10 things in America that are better than in the Czech Republic (part I)

• All-you-can-eat buffets (I still can’t believe it!!)
• cheap clothing (love Target)
• People’s positive attitude
• Bridal/baby showers
• Option of going to school until you are 100 years old
• Free water and bread and butter in restaurants
• Food to go (dogie bags)
• Free soda refills
• Widespread use of deodorants
• Teachers at school actually build you up rather than tear you down

What would you add? How would your top 10 list look like?

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Tagged as: communism, Czech nature, humor

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The trouble with compliments / Trampoty s komplimenty

If you still have trouble figuring out if you are Czech or part-Czech this is a test question number 179:

DO YOU HAVE PROBLEMS ACCEPTING COMPLIMENTS?

Let me give you an example. If someone says, let’s say:”You look nice today!” Do you simply answer “Thank you” or do you start babbling about how that is not really true because you really need a haircut and your dress does not really match the shoes or  do you dis-validate the compliment by saying “Oh, that’s just the make up I am wearing – you do not want to see me without it!”

I have lived in this positive, compliment-abounding country for 12 years and I STILL have problem with this! I don’t know how about you but that one is hard to change…Why is that?

Let’s have a vote on that! (vote below)

CZ: Nemyslite, ze Cesi spatne prijimaji komplimenty? Ja osobne s tim neustale bojuji (i po dvanacti letech zijici v pozitivni, komplimentami zasypavajici Americe) a jak jsem se tak zeptala kolem, tak me ceske kamaradky s tim take mnohdy zapasi. A co vy? A proc vlastne??

Do you have problem accepting compliments? / Prijimate spatne komplimenty?

View Results

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Tagged as: Czech nature

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‘Czechs are hillbillies who specialize in the making of sunflower oil’/ ‘Cesi jsou vesnicani, kteri vyrabeji hlavne slunecnicovy olej’

Remember my post called Ode to Czechs? Well, enough of us bragging, here is the other side of the coin (and you are not going to like this side). According to a recent poll made by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Czech image in other countries is not good. The participating foreigners see Czechs as rednecks who make sunflower oil and tower clock. Zdenka Kuchynova from Radio Praha further explains: “We are not a nation abounding with prodigy hockey players and gorgeous girls, we are a primitive country inhabited by vulgar and overworked hillbillies. We are cheap laborers and excel in the  production of sunflower oil and tower clock..oh, and we tend to get melancholic.” [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech nature, humor, polls

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How do the Czechs see themselves? / Jak Cesi hodnoti sami sebe?

How do Czechs evaluate themselves this year? According to a recent poll about 1,000 Czech voters see themselves as:
- witty
- ambitious
- smart
- outgoing
- fun to be around
- pleasant

What is interesting is that five years ago the Czechs evaluated themselves more as hard-workers and rational thinkers (I guess we have lightened up a bit since then :0).

How do the Czechs see other nationalities?
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Tagged as: Czech nature, polls

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S.O.S. !! I found a hedgehog! / S.O.S.!! Nasel jsem jezka!

No matter where you live nature inevitably collides with civilization. In California, where I live, we get to deal with stranded coyotes, abandoned hummingbirds, injured seagulls and dolphins. In Czech the mixture is a bit different. In the fall the natural habitat rescue places get packed with different kind of animals. People mostly bring in hedgehogs because they assume there is something wrong with them. “they try to rescue them, but if they left them where they found them, the hedgehogs usually find some place to hide and survive the cold winter months”, says the founder of a local Czech rescue station. What an average Czech Joe does not know is that the hedgehog’s weight is the deciding factor as far as his health goes. If the mole weighs about 300 to 400 grams then they should survive winter no problem. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: animals, Czech nature

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Original drawings of Prague and Czech country side…by me /Me kresby Prahy a ceske krajiny

Czechmate Diary image of Prague and sunsetHi folks!

In case you are STILL looking for Christmas presents here is an option :0):

CZ: Ahoj lidicky, jestlize STALE hleadate ten pravy darek pro nekoho k vanocum, tady je napad :0):
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Tagged as: Czech nature, my art, Prague

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The Czechs are rated one of the biggest complainers in the world /Cesi si stezuji ze vsech narodu na svete nejvice

cartoons-complain-google imageThe Canadian broadcast CBC NEWS published the results from a recent poll where Czechs were rated as the  4th biggest complainers in the world when they spoke up about the quality of public services. The poll included questionnaire answers from 23,000 corespondents from 23 various countries. When it comes to our country, every 2nd Czech was unsatisfied with various public services in the Czech Republic, which made them out to be complainers no. 1  in the whole Europe! Even the Hungarians, the Polish and the Russians (!!) are complaining less! So what is the deal? Do Czechs have the right to feel unsatisfied or do they just like to complain?

Well, as far as beer services go, there is some validity there. You see, every forth Czech restaurant is serving a lesser quantity of beer than what they are supposed to (where restaurants in Ostrava and Brno are supposedly the biggest cheaters of all). The refunds are also quite bad since almost half of the respondents claim that most of them seem shady, plus one usually has to get into a fight with the  clerk in order to get somewhere (or not). [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech nature, EU, statistics

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Some words of wisdom…/ Par slovicek moudrosti…

fat and happy google imageI received this email from one of my American friends and although it directly does not have anything to dowith the Czech Republic or Slovakia, it so resembles our nature: eat, drink and be merry; forget about exercise – it is bad for you ;0)

CZ: Nasledujici email jsem obdrzela od jedne z mych americkych kamaradek. I kdyz se jeho obsah nevztahuje primo k Cechum nebo Slovakum, po jeho precteni uvidite, ze vlastne popisuje nasi naturu: 1/ jezme, pijme a veselme se; 2/cviceni skodi zdravi ;o)

Q: I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech nature, food, humor, sports

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“Czechs are unique” / “Cesi jsou jedinecni”

Martin with his grandma /www.makingthishome.comKatie is my blogging buddy (you can check out her Makingthishome.com blog right here) and she is also an American married to a great Czech guy  named Martin. He was kind enough to write his little reflection on what it means to be Czech to him. I hope you will enjoy his writing as much as I did:

CZ: Katie je moje blogarska kamoska (jeji blog se jmenuje Makingthishome.com) a je take vdana za super ceskeho kluka Martina. Martin byl moc hodny a napsal nam kratkou esej o tom, co to pro nej znamena byt Cechem. Doufam, ze se vam to bude libit tak, jako se to libilo mne:

Being Czech has been a major element in defining the person I am becoming. When I met my wife, Katie (an American), I convinced her to spend part of a summer with me in the Czech Republic teaching local kids English. I believe that this experience taught both of us a lot about my character as a Czech. When we are young, we generally think that everyone is more or less like us. Our time with these children showed me just how unique Czechs are and how very much I live life with Czech values. I understood the Czech students and people around us–both in language and ideas about life. I felt comfortable interacting with the locals and enjoyed visiting small shops to pick up supplies for class. To my delight, the meals at camp were traditional Czech food. I would generally be found in line for seconds when the meals included any kind of knedliky, and when they didn’t, the cooks would save me leftovers from the meals before. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech nature, Czech-American marriage

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