Czechmatediary

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! (more…)

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. (more…)

I know how everyone of us poor Czech/Slovak souls living abroad, suffer without real Czech bread and that is why I went on a recipe hunt. And I found one. When I first read it though, I thought I was going to either faint or have an anxiety attack. It looked so complicated!!! “Well, I will at least give it a try, just for the heck of it”, I told myself. And I have to tell you, it was actually a lot of fun! Sure it takes couple of days to prepare the sourdough, but it really takes up like 1 minute per day - very easy and very worth it! When my first loaf came out of that oven I just couldn’t believe the fact that it looked like a real loaf of bread! And when I tasted it I became even more amazed as it not only looked but also tasted like a REAL Czech bread! (more…)

A new vaccine for a potential avian flu pandemic has been recently developed in a Czech town Bohumile. The US-owned production company is called Baxter International and their new “mirracle child” vaccine, Celvapan, has been more promising than any other such vaccines. Why? Because the researchers decided to use monkey cells instead of the traditional use of hen’s eggs. (more…)

Maybe Prague is your home or you may just have visited this city once. No matter how familiar with Prague one is, you cannot miss the remains of this “progressive” communist creation which is also the biggest thorn of the downtown - the city freeway. The 4-lane road is located “conveniently” right bellow the National Museum, on the top of the Wenceslas square. What does that mean for the pedestrians? It means that every time you want to walk from Prague 2 to Prague 1 (which is quite often) you have two choices: (more…)

According to the Eurostat’s new statistical data the Czech Republic rates as one of the safest countries of the European Union. Surprisingly, the most dangerous EU states are:

• Sweden
• Belgium
• Great Britain

Only every 30th Czech is predicted to commit a crime, whereas every 7th Swedish person has a high probability of joining the “dark side”. (more…)

I love good coffee. I love it so much that I worked (slaved) at Starbucks for 3 years. I love it so much that every time I go back to Prague I am willing to travel miles to taste a good cup. I am now going to tell you about the best coffee shop in Prague (or at least the outskirts) that I have found so far. The atmosphere is great, the service is very friendly and most of all, the cappuccino is out of this world. The place is called the Kavarna u Zlateho koralku (”Coffeehouse by the golden pearl“) and it is located in Jilove u Prahy. True, it is not in the center of the city, it takes about 30 - 45 minutes to get there via public transportation, but it is well worth the travel. The coffee shop itself stands in a former 16th century cellar and before that the same space belonged to a monastery. Now back to the coffee business: if you order a cappuccino the espresso shots are never burnt, they taste creamy and sweet, never overly acidic. The milk is steamed to perfection and the beverage is topped with a wonderfully thick foam. (more…)

I LOVE THIS! Do you remember Ivan Mladek’s song called “Jozin z Bazin” (the Swampland Jozin) (see the words to the song by clicking here) ? Well, if you don’t, it is a 30-year old, folk song that became a huge hit at the time. The song is about this monster Jozin who lives in the swamps somewhere in Moravia and eats only people from Prague - the city snobs. Although he doesn’t eat the locals they are tired of him. That is why the town mayor makes an offer to give away his daughter and a half or the “JZD” (the communist word for the town farm) to anyone who destroys this monster. The Czechs still play it on the radio from time-to-time. Every time I hear this song it brings me back to my childhood: I am 7 years old, hanging out with my friends at my parent’s cottage during the summer and lazily munching on Nanuk (an awesome communist ice cream bar). Anyway - it’s crazy - but this song ( and the video) has just now become a HUGE hit in Poland! It’s been the number one song on most of the Polish Top Song list (in Polish it is Jozek z bagien). The teenagers have the disco version uploaded in their MP3’s and are dancing away, trying to copy the dancing style of Ivo Pesak. (more…)

What 4 countries share a border with the Czech Republic?  Well, it is Slovakia, Poland, Germany and Austria. All of those states  and other  4 EU countries joined the border-free zone last Thursday. So what do you think was happening on Thursday night? Parties! For example, about 400 people on the Czech-Austrian border (town of Schengen) celebrated their new freedom with special treats such as the traditional Schengen goulash and Schengen punch. The Schegen border-free zone has a lot of history: during the 40 years of communism over 400 Czechs lost their lives trying to escape from Czechoslovakia over to the Austrian side. While the Moravian side of this particular border was celebrating like there was no tomorrow, a lot of Austrian citizens had the looks of apprehension on their faces. The governor of Austria never even made it to the celebration. (more…)

Good news! As it is stated in www.krajane.net, ” Czechs who acquired a new citizenship via marrying a foreigner, still have the right to keep their Czech citizenship”. This decision was released by the Supreme Court (NSS) in 2003. The NSS judge, Lenka Kaniova, explains their decision accordingly: “Novelties such as the European citizenship, globalization and today’s integrated trends lead the world toward a new outlook on the issue of dual citizenship”. Despite this decision, the Czech courts are still overflowing with cases futuring dual citizenship issues. Those people, however, received the additional citizenship before the new law was implemented.

CZ: Dobra zprava! Jak nas informuje www.krajane.net, “Cesi, kteri se v dobe manzelstvi s cizincem stali obcany jine zeme maji i pote narok na ceske obcanstvi”. Toto rozhodnuti bylo vydano Nejvyssim spravnim soudem (NSS) v roce 2003. Soudkyne NSS lenka Kaniova ospravedlnuje jejich rozhodnuti tim, ze dnesni “fenomeny jako evropske obcanstvi a globalizacni a integracni trendy obecne vedou ke zmene pohledu na dvoji obcanstvi”. Ceske soudni sine jsou ale bohuzel stale preplnene radou sporu o statni obcanstvi, ktera vznikla v doble platnosti stareho zakona.

Source: http://krajane.radio.cz/cs/article_detail/1160