Got (Czech) talent? / Mate (cesky) talent?

Happy Easter! Finally I get some time off from studying and get to write a post. And do I have a story for you!

My older daughter Hahna, who is in a second grade, decided to audition for the first time for a talent show and sing her favorite Czech song. If you knew Hahna, you would know that she is quite shy, so going through such thing is a big accomplishment for her. What made the process a bit easier and more comfortable was that her dad was accompanying her on the guitar. Not only that but he would practice with her numerous time before the auditions. At first she would act goofy with him but the repetitions calmed her down and she could get centered.

Now, what happened at the actual auditions I know only from my husband because my daughter doesn’t really say much when I ask her how something went (usually the word ‘good’ summarizes it all for her;).

At first, I was really surprised that supposedly almost the whole school was auditioning. Yet, if you think about it, it makes sense. Elementary school kids are still very innocent and clueless when it comes to being self-conscious. They just think, “Hey, I want to be on that stage!”. To give me an idea, Keith described me a couple of performances, like the countless number of girls singing Elsa’s  “Let it go” along with the original song playing from the CD player, or some girl was just doing summersaults back and forth for 2 minutes…… or some 4th grader singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. How cute/funny/weird is that??! It must have been fun to watch.

Then it was Hahna’s turn. She had a couple of introductory sentences ready which – when the anxiety hit her – shrunk into a one sentence sounding like “I am going to sing a Czech song”. She sang “Mikulasi, Mikulasi“, which is a song about the Saint Nicholas Day in the Czech Republic. It has a very nice, catchy melody to which even the American ear could not resist. As I was told, all of the sudden the whole room got quiet and EVERYONE listened to it till the end. She also got some pats on the back when she was done and some admiring looks from her classmates who had no idea she can do such things.

And this is just the beginning of the fruits that come from teaching your child some remote but beautiful language like the Czech language!

CZ: Nase stydliva Hanicka se prihlasila do talentove souteze! Presne vedela, co tam chce zpivat – jeji oblibenou ceskou pisnicku “Mikulasi, Mikulasi”. Sice uz jsou Vanoce a Svaty Mikulas davno za nami, ale nam to bylo fuk. Tata ji doprovazel na kytare a diky tomu, ze take hodne cvicila, se ji to moc povedlo. Podle meho manzela, ktery videl vse, se vetsina deti s nejakym nacvicovanim moc nezabyvala, jenom proste chtely byt na jevisti (to se od prvniho stupne da cekat). Hodne holcicek zpivalo – za doprovodu one originalni pisnicky – “Let it go”, jedna holcicka pry delala cele dve minuty ze strany na stranu hvezdy (proc ne?), hodne kluku se snazilo repovat…..ale ceskou zpevacku tam meli jen jednu! Snad bude za originalitu odplacena a postoupi do dalsiho kola. Dam vedet!