"I Served the King of England"

This month I've been reading book after book in English written by Czechs. Among the pile of titles a friend lent me was a book called "I Served the King of England" by Bohumil Hrabal. I'd never heard of the author and the book looked like a light read.

Don't you love that feeling when you're in the midst of discovering a new artist, author, or visual show that is totally fantastic and you can't get enough of it? That's how this author was for me as I read this book. The details of ordinary life! The storytelling! The romantic nature of his mind! The entire story is utterly and completely charming.

Milan Kundera is the author probably best known outside of the Czech Republic. A Czech friend told me today that Hrabal is probably best known inside the country. And because so much of what he's written has been made into a movie, even the Czech non-readers know Hrabel's stuff through films. Bohumil Hrabal is considered a Czech national treasure.

I have to read everything he's written now and see all the movies. He deserves to be discovered and read more outside the Czech Republic. I loved this book called "I Served the King of England."

Beautiful Slavic Faces

I had read so much about the beauty of the buildings in Prague, I was unprepared for and delighted by the beauty of the faces. It was hard to notice mere buildings with so many beautiful women around. People look different here. Slav faces have really strong jawlines and broad cheekbones.

In talking to other expatriates, I realize that everyone goes through the same shock at how pretty the women are when you first get here. Then you get used to it. Finally, you take it for granted.

I asked my friends, and even people on the street, if I could show their pictures so that you could get a feel for Slavic faces. I asked one guy if I could take his picture but his reaction was so grouchy I didn't ask any others. So here are some ladies.

A Bipolar Society

Last month I happened to be having dinner with a Czech politico who's political abilities were as apparent as Arnold Schwarzenegger's ability to do a bicep curl. "How come you're not serving in elected office?" I asked.

"This is a bipolar society right now. I have perfectly capable friends who have run for office and lost. It's better to be in an appointed position until the country sorts out which direction it's taking."

I was fascinated by this observation and have since seen he's right. This is an exciting time politically in the Czech Republic because the country is assuming presidency of the European Union for the next six months. The presidency rotates among member nations.

Czechs are proud to be only the second post-totalitarian country to have this honor. I see pride among people as they imagine how their politicians should solve EU problems (the Russian gas crisis, the European position on Isreal and Gaza) while their country is in charge. It makes me wonder if more stuff will get done because every country faces an arbitrary six-month deadline with which to make it's mark.

Yet the president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, is the one who creates either enthusiastic yeas or equally enthusiastic denunciations of embaressment among Czechs.

I've heard people appreciate him for saying what he believes regardless of result. One friend mentioned how much he appreciated how hard-working Vaclav Klaus was. "Vaclav Havel just let all the prisoners go when communism was over. Some of those people were real criminals, not just political prisoners. Vaclav Klaus reads every single file to see if the person locked up is a political prisoner who deserves a pardon and release or a real criminal. That's hard-working."

Yet other Czechs are deeply embarrassed that Vaclav Klaus wouldn't show up for a artistic performance celebrating the Czech takeover of the European Union, that he considers global warming a fraud, that he makes such a point of letting everyone know he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. According to the New York Times, even communist secret agents were struck by Klaus's arrogance when they infiltrated his classes:

“His behavior and attitudes reveal that he feels like a rejected genius,” the agent noted in his report, which has since been made public. “He shows that whoever does not agree with his views is stupid and incompetent.”

It will be interesting to watch how these six months unfold for the Czechs. It's a wonderful feeling to be detached from their politics and not have strong feelings. As an American, I'm just getting used to the idea that I can relax a bit about my own country's politics. Someone I approve of is in charge. That is such a great feeling.

Link to the title to read the entire New York Times article about President Klaus.

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.

There really is "milk and honey"

There really is a drink of milk and honey.
You're looking at it.
It tasted as fantastic as it looks.

My First Week of Teaching English

I have just completed my first week of teaching English and it's been really fun. My class load is twenty hours a week, which is just right for me. It makes me full-time in my company. Usually teachers teach between 23-30 hours, but since I'm new to lesson planning, I would like to stay at this level for awhile until I speed up. In our TEFL course, we averaged about six hours of planning for every hour taught. Obviously, that's not sustainable in the real world!

My friends who have visited Prague or the Czech Republic during communism or shortly afterwards always use the word 'bleak' to describe the place. The beauty of arriving here twenty years after the end of totalitarianism is there have been twenty intervening years for the place to be fixed up. I must say, my classes are in beautiful, stunning locations.

One class is in an ancient building with castle type doors overlooking formal gardens. Several others are in a brand new corporate headquarters with wonderful light. Yet another is in the Czech Republic's tallest building on the highest floors.

Everyone is nice. They are surprised when I display any knowledge of Czech culture (like knowing who Svejk or Smetana are). The beauty is, with such a homogeneous culture, that everyone sitting around the table knows the name of their classic book character or who their classic composer is. Not everyone around an American business table would have the same cultural knowledge and background.

A couple of my students need to talk and be understood by native speakers in Britain or America but most need to speak to other people in countries like Spain or India who are speaking English as a second language. The first time I confronted this, I was so stunned and impressed that one of my students needed to speak English as a second language (her first language being Czech) to someone else in another country who was speaking it as a second language (their first language being Finnish) that I couldn't help but admire the level of commitment it would take to not only know the second language but the linguistic quirks of the other first language spoken (an example is Czechs always forget to use definite and indefinite articles in English because they don't have them in their language).

I told that to other teachers and both said, "oh no, it's much harder for someone speaking English as a second language to talk to a native speaker than to someone else speaking English as a second language. When they both have it as a second language, they use ESL English in conversation which is slower and less complex than a native speaker's language." Still, when you see people 40-60 years old valiantly working on their 15th year of learning English, often learned in bits and pieces along the way, you can't help but be impressed by their commitment. They are lucky that their companies are paying for them to learn English (it is the official language of all sorts of companies) but that also makes it harder to learn because they can't completely leave work behind in the classroom and relax. They are liable to be pulled out or called away in the middle of a lesson.

I'm really excited to learn from my students all about their culture and their interests. Czechs are the most well-travelled people I have ever met. One student told me that their parents constantly goad them to travel because the parents couldn't do so under communism. I routinely meet people who have been to exotic places like Cuba, Nepal, Tibet, Bolivia (pretty darn far away for a Czech!), and even the Kamchatka Penninsula (you mean, that's a place you're actually allowed to go visit??? I thought it was a Russian military zone!).

Their version of Mexico (an inexpensive place to visit for a week of sun) is Egypt. Visiting Egypt for a week of sun sounds incredibly exotic to me. Going there would be a major undertaking for an American leaving from America but apparently there are all sorts of cheap and routine flights from Prague. It's all in where you're starting out from.

One downside when beginning teaching is directions are often incomplete. The first thing I did was assign all of my students homework creating a written description of how to get to their office because anyone substituting for me is not going to go through what I did trying to find these places! This week has also been freezing cold so I'm running around Prague in heels, lost, with frozen fingertips and a runny nose while carrying a laptop. Next week calls for some adjustment!

I will also forever be nicer to foreign people because of my experience here. I will pop into an office asking for directions and the lady or man there will sit me down while they print me out a map of exactly where I'm going. Day after day, ordinary Czechs show me lovely kindnesses without a second thought. Czechs make this experience fun.

Have Some Mucha with Your Mocha

One of the can't miss places to see in Prague is the Mucha Museum. My friend Sher and I recently spent a Saturday morning exploring the beautiful, wistful art of Czech patriot Alphonse Mucha.

The museum showcased many of his art posters produced in Paris for various products such as champagne. Many of the posters are not for a commercial product but represent concepts like the four seasons, parts of day, or arts.

Mucha's posters for Sara Bernhardt created such a sensation when they hit the streets of Paris she signed him to do the posters all of her future plays. We know her name to this day because of her business saavy in immortalizing herself.

Besides the gorgeous art, the museum visit was uplifting because of Alphonse Mucha's character and attitude. I made a note of one thing he said because I loved how he viewed his individual impact as a person:

"I was looking round for a means to spread light that would reach even into the remotest corners. I did not have to look long. La Pater[a book]. Why not give it's words pictorial expression."

Alphonse Mucha did all of the bank notes, emblems, logos, seals and signs of the Czech First Republic. The Czech Republic has had a few iterations since then so all of those designs have been replaced. Along with that service to his nation, Mucha also painted the "Slav Epic," a giant tour-de-force artisitic representation of the history of the Slavic people. A weekend trip to see that in the country is on my must-do list.

Our entire visit took 1.5 hours. So when out for a coffee of hot chocolate in Prague this winter, have some Mucha with your mocha.