Budapest days, June 18-25

I am back

Ok, I promised in some older post that I am going to contribute to this blog on regular basis....well, I don't think it is just my fault that anytime I start blogging, I meet some great person who means a lot to me and I want to spend most of my time with him :). Anyway, since he also has a blog and writes almost every week, I will not neglect my "baby" either. That's a promise!

Watch your American passports in Prague

My super sexy smart butt recently appeared in the press. Check it out here plus spend some time reading a story (especially if you hold an American passport)

Why I got kicked out of the university library

Nathaniel Hawthorne is to blame :-). While passionately discussing his view of death with my classsmate in order to write a short seminar work for our American Literature I classes, I got kicked out....God knows why :-), maybe I shouldn't have laughed so loud.

Go to the Grave, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

1 Go to the grave where friends are laid,

2 And learn how quickly mortals fade,

3 Learn how the fairest flower must droop,

4 Learn how the strongest form must stoop,

5 Learn that we are but dust and clay,

6 The short-liv’d creatures of a day,

7 Yet do not sigh- there is a clime,

8 Where they will dwell through endless time,

9 Who here on earth their Maker serve,

10 And never from his precepts swerve.

11 The grave to them is but a road,

12 That leads them to that blest abode.

Movies I can't wait to see

Che Guevara

Into The Wild

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Something highly recommended to watch

This list is going to be updated every week I hope! :-), it is the best I can come up with right now, going to be back soon.

Želary

The Motorcycle Diaries

Movie corner

Just thought I would share previews of some movies I especially enjoy watching:

The English Patient

21 grams

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Volver

The Hours

Casablanca

Wonder Boys

Capote

Note: This list is going to be updated regularly.

Corsica Noir, September 2006

Some of my stories written for The Prague Post

Retailers begin to stock Fair Trade

Hitting the sound barrier

Unbearable Lightness lifts Czechs

National Library design draws ire

Paving the way towards success

The beguiling mysteries at the "House of Health"

Never can't get sick of London...

November Paris, 2006

Vivid magazine

Columns called Postcard from Prague and Identity recently appeared in Vivid magazine published in Bucharest, Romania. If you folks go there sometime soon, don't forget to pick up your copy. If not and still interested in taking a look, go to www.vivid.ro and learn how Romanians and expats together see Romania. Good blog about a life in Bucharest can be also found at www.productive.ro.

Let me introduce you one of my best friends

And I would like to thank it for all the patience and litres of green tea it contained while I was working on my thesis. I love you :-)

Welcome, part II :-)

Hi there, here I am again, almost a year after I created this blog. So what happened during this time? I am proud to report that my name was extended a bit, now I can add this strange looking MA when I want to feel important. That took me most of the year since I was working full-time too.

My book-shelves are heavier again, DVD holder almost occupied, so need to plan my IKEA trip soon. I became a proud owner of my first digital camera and coffee machine and was shocked to realize I have only twice traveled abroad this year (that’s why I immediately called up my friend in Budapest that I am coming next weekJ) I kicked out one cheating beast out of my live, collected his things in my place to a big box and brought it to cellar. Then employed some working methods of self-spoiling, and now ready to be in touch with you guys more often. Enjoy! And happy (and very very long) barbecue season!

Postcard from springy Prague

This has been a very weird spring time in Prague in years so far. There is definitely something wrong with the weather. Two years ago we were still frozen to bones at the end of April and completely bored with skiing and skating which we could practice for long five months. A year ago all office stand fans had been sold out since we enjoyed temperatures around 27 degrees centigrates this time of the year and spending eight or more working hours in the office without any air-conditioning meant to bring an extra T-shirt and change in the middle of the day.
Prague spring 2008 came smoothly at the end of February. We are neither bundled up to our ears in scarves nor we are wearing flip-flops. Weather is gradually getting warmer, we enjoy several rain showers a week and after two years of waiting we attack shops to get truly spring cloths. Over the weekends roller blades rentals open up for those who prefer to get in line to on line in their spare time. Some cafés were closed recently for one day in order to have peace for installing their beer gardens.
Just one thing seems to be unusual this year, Prague is getting greener. It doesn't mean that City Hall has launched some environmentally friendly conception and more trees are being planted. The invasion of the green color started with installing first shop signs with two-tailed Siren downtown in mid-January. Shortly after this act first people were seen rushing to hide in their offices with the paper cup with the same logo. Yes, Starbucks arrived to Prague.
Czechs really seem to pick up on this coffee-to-go thing which first appeared here some 10 years ago and are really enjoying this new passion of theirs. They even go so far that they keep their cells in the bags and don't text or call all the time just to have a hand free for the daily dose of caffeine. But to pay some 70-100 CZK for a cup of Starbucks coffee is still a science fiction concept for most of them and that's why particularly these coffee shops scrawl with tourists and some local expats most of the time.
I belong to minority at my working place, majority is held by Americans and British. I can report that the number of happy and satisfied expats increased significantly recently since each of them got at least once caffeinated in Starbucks and finally honored the Czech Republic with the status of properly advanced country.
Starbucks just don't want to be referred to as another evil coffee chain selling ridiculously expensive hot drinks of an average quality. Being aware of the fact that they entered a state where such writes as Franz Kafka or Milan Kundera were born, they have an ambition to contribute to this literature-friendly atmosphere in their own way.
First of all, they based their first shop on Malostranske namesti in a building where very easily Franz Kafka could sip his coffee. At the turn of a century, there used to be one of the most famous coffee houses in the whole city and it was that kind of place where politicians, philosophers or writers met up for Sunday intellectual debate. So we have the spirit and atmosphere of the past taken care of and Starbucks ambition is to organize occasinal public readings or debates with the authors. I honestly find it as a task from Misson Impossible to persuade all those noisy foreign teenagers hanging there around all the time to keep their mouths shut for a while as Mr. Invited Writer wants to read an excerpt from his latest text but Starbucks barristas are probably strong and patient enough to do so. Must be because first literary evening was held on April 11 and managers didn't go for some second-league writer but for Brazilian megastar Paul Coelho who was presented through a TV screen as his recently published novel Brida was officially launched in the Czech Republic. Just out of curiosity I peeked into all four Prague Starbucks and saw the novel displayed in each. Couple issues next to all those stockpiled city mugs and different types of tumblers. Tourists busy with counting Czech crowns and ordering their coffee and having no interest in purchasing Coelho's Brida. But Starbucks managers can tick task number one on their how-to-make-Starbucks-look-more-Prague list.

Identity

Honestly, it has been a hell to come from a relatively small state in the middle of Europe. Things get even worse when this relatively small state dares to change its name in the middle of a run. It takes some time for the foreign media to get it right, for the new maps to be printed and given out to public to study them and only a few people actually do so.
I consider myself as a well-traveled person and have met many foreigners since my jobs have always involved meeting and dealing with them on daily basis. Check out what an ordinary Czech girl has experienced in connection with fighting for her correct identity:

In abroad:
"I can recognize an accent. Where are you from?"
"The Czech Republic."
"Right, so you are Russian, Chechnya."
"Well, actually, you are almost there. Czech Republic is in Central Europe, next to Germany."
"Really, are you sure,"(btw, I love this sentence most) …..I thought Czechoslovakia is there."
"Yes, good job, that's it. You know that Czechoslovakia split up in 1993 into two independent states…..blablabla", I guess this is the point where everybody stops listening.

In Prague, helping out some elderly foreign couple in the street to find their way through this gorgeous city:
"Thanks for your help, we really appreciate it. You know we enjoy ourselves very much in Prague, everything is so beautiful here, we are very happy we decided to visit Czechoslovakia."

Right, it doesn't happen to tourists every day to actually tour through the past and to be back in the country which stopped existing on December 31st, 1992 at midnight.
We are all proud that so many people find Prague worth visiting and we do everything we can to promote it. Doesn't matter where we live at the moment or how many great places we have seen. Prague is going to be number one forever, together with our home country. Just one of my friends has dropped out so far. She is married to a foreigner and every time she visits his country, which is almost every month, she goes through the abroad type of interview described above. According to her finding, everybody knows and loves Prague, but just a few chosen have some idea about the correct name of a state where it is located. My friend got tired and annoyed. Being that boring blue-eyed, blonde-haired type of a person which makes it difficult to say where she comes from, this betrayer deliberately started to promote Iceland. She claimed once for fun she was from Iceland and the reactions completely overwhelmed her. Supposedly everybody knows where this teeny tiny island is located.

I am not that type of person who gives up easily so I take those foreign couples as hostages and refuse to return their brand new map of Prague until I am finished with the lecture on the latest development in the name of this country which took place 15 years ago. Until they both use at least once "Czech Republic", I hold the map.

I was relatively happy with the recent development in this Czech Republic matter. Prague souvenir sellers came up with kitschy Prague cups and T-shirts and didn't forget to include also the correct name of the state. More creative ones misspelled it slightly and started to offer "Czech me out" theme staff. Great job, guys. I live next to a cheap hotel hugely used by foreign teenagers coming to Prague for a school trip. As weather gets warmer, they like to sit on benches in front of the hotel and drink. Several times a night I am waken up with screams like "Czech beer rocks!", "We love Czech Republic!" I know they don't mean it but the fact that they are all trashed and still use the correct name is worth being up.
A week ago I received a letter. It wasn't for me, but addressed to my former American colleague and I was supposed to give it to her. It was from some bank based in Colorado. The address said Prague, Czechoslovakia. Oh well, my mission still continues. Colleague still busy to come and pick up the letter and I am seriously considering sending it back saying the given country does not exist. Be so kind and study the current worlds map (focus especially on Europe) and send it back corrected. I am just slightly worried that it will land in Chechnya.