Showing posts with label Czech customs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Czech customs. Show all posts

Monday, January 12, 2009

An Example of Why People go Nuts Over Prague

Recently, our church organist, Walter, invited several of us to hear him solo at a Christmas concert. He was singing several Russian selections, including four songs by Rachmaninoff. He was performing with a group called the Prague/Frankfurt Chamber Orchestra (I hope I have that right) which included musicians and choir members from both cities. The group was performing in a spectacular church in Vinohrady. Vinohrady is a very cool residential neighborhood which my friends often compare to Georgetown in Washington, D.C. I was particularly taken with the muralist who has done several gorgeous murals in churches around Prague. My pictures just don't do justice to how captivating they are.

The musicians were all professional level yet I think they all have day jobs. The entire wonderful evening in an intimate setting with live singers and live music cost a mere $7.50 to attend. That's less than a movie ticket! And nights like this happen all over Prague all the time.

I frequently meet expats who have moved here specifically for the music. "High culture" music is everywhere in Prague and delightfully affordable. A terrific seat to the opera costs $20 in Prague.





I could have looked at this painting all night.

The conductor and my friend Walter, who soloed.
Walter gave his Rachmaninoff "strange Russian soul"
even though he's actually Dutch.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Come and Join us for Coffee

The invitation read..."we meet weekly at a different historic Prague cafe. This week we're meeting at the Cafe Imperial. I think you'll enjoy it's over-the-top decor..."

If there is something I love about Prague it is this wonderful coffeehouse culture leftover from the days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It turned out the Cafe Imperial was in my new neighborhood. This was my first chance to see something where I'd be living when I moved into my new flat.

I can not pretend that
I am not stunned by beauty;
the Cafe Imperial is jaw-droppingly beautiful
the exquisite ceiling mosaics

A larger view of the setting
and ceramic tile

I ordered Algerian coffee,
something new to me.

It promised eggnog on the bottom.
"This won't be eggnog as you know it, but eggnog liquor.
It's even better."

"Better than eggnog, is that possible?"
"It is. You'll see."
It is.

Filip and Tomas made the whole experience fantastic.
They could give customer service lessons all over Prague.

The cafe Imperial is not just a coffeehouse,
but a restaurant.
I may have to go back just to try
the roasted pigeon.

The art deco mosaics go back to 1914.
The entire restaurant is newly restored.

Inspiring elegance in the bathrooms

The restaurant was decked out for Christmas
with these wonderful citrus and straw decorations.

Did you know that an orange slice
could be so elegant?

Through these gorgeous doors
is the Hotel Imperial -
just as exquisite.

You might also enjoy:

Art Deco Elegance in Old Town Prague

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Yea! We're Done with Our TEFL Course!

St. Wenceslas Square was packed with
revelers - the energy downtown
was fantastic as we celebrated the
end of our studies

Three devils: Dannielle, Anna, and Adam

Having fun with Anna

Heaters help people enjoy
a sidewalk cafe
in the middle of December
in Old Town Square

Christmas Markets are scattered all around town
The most common offerings are kielbasa,
grilled corn-on-the-cob, hot wine, grog, and mead.

These beautiful children were definitely angels, not demons,
singing in exquisite harmony a song
by the famous Czech composer Smetana.

No photo can do this gorgeous tree justice.
It had shooting stars.

Adam, the photographer, knows how to make everyone laugh.

Anna and Justin

Yea! We're done!

Two reasons to celebrate on St. Mikalus Day

On the last day of my TEFL class, work was gladly interrupted for a visit from our own in-house St. Mikalus. I knew nothing of the Czech custom but a Czech friend told me this would be the first of many St. Mikaluses I would see that day. Czech children have been raised on stories of St. Mikalus and look forward to seeing him and performing a song or a poem for him before receiving their treat for being a good boy or girl that year.

Naughty children don't get candy. They receive potatoes or a lump of coal. And if they have been really, really naughty they are placed into the devil's sack and will be sent straight to hell.

It makes me laugh thinking about this because I really and truly remember worrying when I was a kid about whether or not I would get coal for Christmas. How about you?

Teenagers seem to have the most fun with this holiday. You can tell that many of them labored on their costumes for hours, carefully applying tin foil to their Mikalus staffs and cotton balls to their beards. Demons seemed to far outnumber angels. On the metro, they were all giggles in their costumes which of course made everyone else giggle too.

Here are a few of the angels and demons we saw along the way on St. Mikalus Day. In my next post, I'll share pics of our group in Old Town Square enjoying the spectacle of it all.












Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Czechs Need One More Freedom

I went to see the new Bond movie with Gulnara and Nhan, two new friends in Prague. When we went to the movie theater we were surprised to learn that we had been assigned specific seats to watch the movie!

The seats were close to the screen too. Much closer than we would have sat on our own. I didn't need to sit in the car with Bond to enjoy the opening scene. People of the Czech Republic unite! You deserve one more freedom. The freedom to sit wherever the heck you want in the movie theater.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

I Don't Even Have to Explain this, do I?

I don't even have to explain this because you intuitively understand it, don't you? Would people from all over the world know which floor was the basement level in this elevator?

If this elevator existed in America, would someone using it need to speak English so they know that:
B stands for Basement,
LL stands for Lower Level,
L stands for Lobby,
and M stands for Mezzanine?

Have you ever seen a young person struggle to understand the concept of negative numbers? Wouldn't they have an easier time of it if this was their first interaction with -1?

Doesn't it make more sense that the ground floor is zero and then you add one each time you go up?

America, let's adopt this system. It's better.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Why don't Americans Eat More Cabbage?

Every plate of food I'm presented with in Prague has cabbage on it somewhere.
Sometimes the cabbage is only the garnish, but the Czechs serve cabbage in dozens of delicious ways: as shredded warm red cabbage, in tangy side salads, or fried in pancakes.

In America, I can only think of three ways I ever eat cabbage: in cole slaw, on a Reuben sandwhich, or on a brat when I visit the University of Wisconsin. It probably doesn't amount to more than 1/8th of a cabbage head per year.

I don't know why we don't eat more of it. It's cheap and healthy. I have a theory why we're cabbage-challenged, but I'd like to hear yours.

Monday, November 24, 2008

A Czech Expat in America

Expats don't go only one way you know. There's a very proud Czech expatriate living in America who has a wonderful blog called Czechmate Diary: Small Bohemian Steps to World Domination. Tanja is tireless in finding Czech happenings, websites, andpeople from around the world and sharing them. I find stuff on her site that I haven't seen elsewhere. For example, the pungent story of the Bouncing Czech. I would only have read it because of Tanja!

I understand Czech culture better because she is always filtering American culture through her Czech lens and Czech culture through her new American lens. She has Czech recipes to try, a wonderful series of posts about what is better in America vs. the Czech Republic and vice versa and also guest posts from Czech-Americans with interesting stories. There's one called "Growing Up Cesky" by guest poster Jana that ran recently that was incredibly thought-provoking. I'm adding Czechmate Diary to my Czech Expat blogroll today. Link to her site through the title or through my links on the right. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

One week in Prague

Two weeks ago on this site I shared a very funny Youtube video detailing all of the unpleasant things I would experience in Prague as an expatriate.

I've been here one week!

I can report I have seen no spiders.

I have not been overpowered by anyone with B.O.
Indeed, if there are smelly Praguers out there, I haven't met them yet.

Nor have I stepped in any dog poop.

All of the smelly people with spiders and dogs in their houses must live somewhere else.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Expat Life: The Truth About Unpleasant Things

Before every grand adventure, somebody has got to make you doubt your decision. I don't actually doubt my decision to move to Prague, but this woman did made me laugh. Click on the title to hear her experiences.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

10 Words of Survival Czech

Type "Czech" into YouTube and all sorts of useful things come up. Click on the title to become polite to 10 million new people.

Monday, May 5, 2008

My History with Czechs (final post)

It is such fun to befriend someone from another country and see your country through their eyes. Kate and I would spend hours discussing the difference between our two cultures. One experience we had together shocked me.

During Christmas, I invited Kate to a meeting of my PEO chapter. PEO International is a U.S.-based philanthropic educational organization for women. It supports the only college in the world owned by women, run by women, exclusively for women. PEO also supports the largest scholarship endowment exclusively for female graduate students from anywhere on the globe.

That evening my house was decorated for Christmas -- and if I do say so myself -- it was so beautiful! The ladies were pretty in their Christmas finery. The sense of community among us was so strong. Our program for the evening was to exchange Christmas ornaments and one holiday tradition that was important to our own families. It was a warm, magical evening as we shared traditions that were beloved to us.

Afterwards Kate said she had never experienced anything like it. The idea of women getting together with such a sense of purpose to enjoy each other's company would never be respected back home. It would be labeled a "hen party" by both sexes. Because men would deride such an endeavor, women wouldn't do it.

I could hardly believe this. Surely women are the same the world over? We love to get together and learn from each other. Indeed, the International Women's Association of Prague looks wonderfully stimulating and enriching.

What if Czech culture is really sexist when I get there? They do burn women after all, albeit witches, in effigy every Spring!
 
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