traditions

garden yahoo imageI found an article about the evolution of Czech gardens, a process that started to unwind in the Czech Republic along with its new democracy in 1989. I was extremely surprised at those new looks! It’s not just a big, long lawn with couple of prune trees in the corner and a tool shed in the other one. No, we are talking about swimming pools, little bridges over man-made creeks, rose gardens….you name it! Czechs are also starting to hire someone else to do the work for them. To find out more about this topic click right here.

CZ: Ceske zahrady se dosti zmnenily od te doby, co v Cechach zavladla demokracie. Uz to neni jenom posekany travnik se svestkou v jedom rohu a kulnou na naradi v druhem rohu. Prave naopak! Bazeny, roztomile mustky pres umele ricky, tisice roztodivnych kvetin…..opravdove pohadkove zahradky. Vice o tomto tematu si prectete zde.

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yahoo puppy imageAlmost 40% of Czechs own a dog, which is more people than in Germany, France or Great Britain. Moreover, 20% of those “outsiders” without a dog are actually thinking about getting one in the future! What “secret” is hidden behind these high statistical figures? Why do Czechs love dogs so much? Besides the the obvious universal reasons such as their unconditional love and devotion, Vladimira Ticha, the spokesman for the Czech dog breeder’s union adds some more specific facts: [click to continue…]

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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!

PS: FOR A QUICK VERSION CLICK HERE [click to continue…]

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Krasohled (kid’s kolidoscope-like toy); www.iDnes.cz image The internet pages of the iDnes magazine re-created the communist shopping mall and it is AWESOME! Talking about reminiscing, this will definitely bring back some weird memories (I mean who didn’t have Krasohled!!!! – see picture above)…… [click to continue…]

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lullaby yahoo imageHello everyone/ Nazdar vsichni!

I thought some of us moms – myself included – would like to brush up on Czech lullabies (Ukolebavky) so I went ahead and found some of them. Up till now I personally would usually just remember the first verse/sentece of a particular ukolebavka and then was left with brainless humming or substituting words than not only didn’t rhyme with the rest of the song but they also didn’t make sense (my poor child). Well, today is a new day, new beginning! I did not translate the content into English for one simple reason: I want to keep my sanity (I hope you understand).

CZ: Tak jsem si rikala, ze je na case, abych si oprasila znalosti ceskych ukolebavek. Pamet mi moc neslouzi, coz znamena, ze si vetsinou pamatuji prvni vetu z kazde ukolebavky a pak jsem odsouzena k prostemu broukani, nebo do pisne vlozim vymyslena slova, ktera nejen ze se nerymuji, ale take nedavaji vubec zadny smysl. Jestlize mate ten samy problem, tyto nize uvedena slova vam pomohou problem vyresit: [click to continue…]

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snowy forest/ flickr image

PS: English translation can be found here.

CZ: Byla jedna matka a ta měla dvě dcery. Jedna byla vlastní – Holena, druhá nevlastní – Maruška. Matka měla radši vlastní dceru, a tak těžce nesla, že Maruška roste do krásy, zatímco její vlastní dcera Holena krásy moc nepobrala.

A jak to tak bývá, byla právě Maruščina krása důvodem k tomu, aby jí její nevlastní sestra i matka ubližovaly.
Musela doma všechno dělat – starat se o domácnost, o domek i o domácí zvířata. Macecha s nevlastní sestrou nedělaly nic, jen stále Marušce ubližovaly. Ta ale i přesto stále rostla do krásy. Byla krásnější a krásnější a macecha a Holena stále víc zuřily.
Jednoho lednového dne povídá Holena: “Chci si za pas dát kytičku fialek, jdi a natrhej mi je.” “Ale sestřičko, kde teď v zimě, když je všude hromada sněhu, mám hledat fialky?” “Mně odmlouvat nebudeš,” obořila se na ubohou Marušku Holena, “přines mi fialky, nebo tě zabiju.”

A tak Maruška s pláčem vyrazila na cestu. Šla sněhem, tělo ji záblo, měla hlad a nikde žádné fialky neviděla. Najednou došla na louku, kde hořela vatra. Kolem vatry bylo dvanáct kamenů a na nich sedělo dvanáct mužů. Každý muž představoval jeden měsíc v roce. Na nejvyšším kameni v čele seděl Leden, který zrovna vládl.

“Dobrý den, dobří muži,” oslovila je Maruška, “nemohla bych se u vás na chvilinku ohřát?” “Klidně se ohřej,” souhlasil Leden, “jen nám pověz, co tu tak sama a v takové zimě děláš?” “Ale hledám fialky,” odvětila Maruška. “Teď v zimě?” podivil se Leden. “Já vím, ale já je musím přinést, nebo mě setra Holena zabije.” [click to continue…]

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confused / google imageHave you ever found yourself translating Czech idioms into the English language? I have; and once you do there is no way out. No matter how serious the topic is, once you throw in the “…you can kill two flies with one swap that way….” (an equivalent of “kill two birds with one stone”) or “...that’s totally a Spanish village for me….” (meaning “I have no clue on this one”) you are bound to get confused looks from your English-speaking listeners and the serious conversation is over because everyone starts to laugh. Anyhow, here is some more of these play-on-words thingies that I found or thought of. Feel free to add some!

CZ: Taky vzdycky udelate tu samou chybu a prelozite jeden z nasich ceskych idiomu do anglictiny? A taky dostanete zmatene pohledy? Ja jsem v tomto ohledu “nevylecitelna”. Jestlize vam repertoar jiz dochazi, tak tady si jich par muzete pripomenout…

  • Take your legs on your shoulders = vezmi nohy na ramena (take to your heels)
  • Like soaked hen = vypadas jako zmokla slepice (you look glum)
  • Throw it behind your head = hod to za hlavu (forget about it)
  • To have a milk on your chin = tece mu mliko po brade (to be still very young and naive) [click to continue…]

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Czech food yahoo imageThe “My Czech Republic” website did a poll on people’s favorite Czech meal and here are the results:

1. Beef goulash with dumplings (Hovezí guláš s knedlíkem) – 18% [27 people ]
2. Beef sirloin with dumplings and vegetable cream sauce (Svícková na smetane, knedlík) – 21% [ 32]
3. The winner: Roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut (“vepro-knedlo-zelo”) – 28% [42 ] [click to continue…]

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Olina Cunatova / www.blesk.cz imageThis year’s National speed beer-drinking contest ended with a little surprise. If you were to look around the room and scan all of the nervous contestants, one of them would stick out for sure. Olina Cunatova, a 19-year old attractive young lady certainly did not blend with the typical crowd of beer-belly dudes. She received a lot of smirks and teases but not for long because once it was her turn to compete everyone’s chin dropped: [click to continue…]

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pomlazka image/google imageWould you like to know what are the cool traditions of Czech Easter (for the not-so-cool Easter traditions click here)? Or maybe you are Czech but would like to “brush up” on those customs? For example, could you explain your fellow neighbor what are:

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