33 Things I’ve Learnt From Prague
In my time here, I’ve seen a lot, done a lot, learned a lot. It’s
not often that I put these things into words, exactly, but I’m going to
try. So, here are things I’ve learned from Prague, about Prague and the
Czech Republic in general. Hopefully they will give you a window into
Czech culture, too.
My first visit to the Czech Republic was in 2002. The purpose was to learn Czech, drink beer and explore Prague. I have been back four more times, and my plan is to return every year for at least part of the year. When I retire in June of 2019 my plan is to teach one more time at ISLS, go to Oktoberfest in Munich and study Czech in Prague from September 2019 until June 2020. I want to spend a winter in Prague. Better said, I NEED to spend a winter in Prague.
1) Beer is good.
Czech beer is the best.
2) There are many, many different kinds of beer. I used to believe that beer was limited just to “piss” but I’ve since learned that it comes in many varieties – not just light, dark, wheat, semidark, strawberry, honey etc but in many subtly different flavours.
I knew this before I visited the Czech republic. :-) There are many microbreweries in the Czech Republic producing a variety of quality beverages. I had a blueberry beer in Holešovice last July...amazing...
3) When someone asks “How are you?”, the polite response is not “I’m fine thank you”, but “Ah, I feel like sh*t” or whatever is actually on your mind. Being super happy can be seen as bragging or being false.
4) Seems that the Communist/Capitalist thing is far, far from black and white. In local elections, the Communist Party just won quite a lot of votes. I’ve heard some Czech people lamenting the days where housing and jobs were secure and for life.
From my experiences this is not true of anyone who was born after 1989.
5) Gay Pride is big here, and a lot of fun, but adults (aka my students) will still giggle like school children at “gay” jokes and seem shocked to learn that somebody is gay.
Most Czechs don't seem to have hangups or worry about sex or sexual preferences. They have more important things to worry about...like the price of pivo!
6) A large percentage of Prague residents will escape to a “cottage” (theirs or a friend’s) in the countryside every weekend (to “the nature”).
The freeways are crowded on Friday nights going out of Prague and Sunday afternoons going back into Prague. This is especially true on holiday weekends. I went to the beer garden at Riegrovy Sady on July 5th and it was virtually empty. My plan this summer is to travel from Plzeň to Prague every weekend, going against the flow.
7) Czech people seem to be into camping, hiking, walking, mountain climbing and skiing a lot more than any other nation I’ve encountered.
The national parks here are amazing!
8) If you look hard enough and carry a dictionary/translator, you can find soy milk, gluten-free bread, vegan restaurants, organic vegetables and all that. Typical Czech food, on the other hand, is all meat, cheese and stodgy dumplings – good luck finding vegetables other than cabbage or green beans (and, of course, potatoes).
In 2002, I would have totally agreed with thsi about "typical Czech food"...now...hmmm...not so much. I agree that potatoes dominate the "side dishes" on a menu, but I can usually find an alternate.
9) If you’re around any typical restaurant on a weekday (11am-3pm) you can get soup and a main meal for the equivalent of £3 or so.
One of my favorite things about the country is the "denni menu". One can have a decent lunch and a beer for $5-$6. Really.
10) When you enter a restaurant, you sit yourself down. Try asking a waiter for a table and they’ll look at you as if you’re a weirdo (unless it’s a very busy or touristy place).
First come, first served! Watch out for the "Reserve" signs, as these tables are taken. :-) This is interesting, because a few times I have spent hours in a restaurant where no one has sat at a table with a sign. I think restaurants might do this to give you an impression that it is popular or really good.
11) It’s perfectly acceptable to drink beer at 11am.
Noon in Montana is my rule! :-D
12) The meanest looking teenagers will give up their seats on the tram/bus/metro for nice old people, and those old people will usually insist that they’re fine standing. This often results in a short exchange of “No, please, I insist” “No, it’s fine, you sit down,” etc. You also offer your seat to children.
True dat.
13) Mullets are still OK here – on children, on old guys, even on people running for elections.
I guess they are reliving the first freedom years of the 90's...
14) Dogs are allowed everywhere – on the metro, in restaurants, in your office while you work. Czech people love dogs (and babies, also everywhere).
The "dog in the restaurant" thang was hard to get used to, but most of the time you don't even know they are there.
15) Almost every day, somewhere in Prague, there’s a random festival going on with small food and drink stalls, or a nice farmer’s market where you can buy fresh produce.
Prague is a continuous festival in itself. :-)
16) Big groups of tourists are really annoying (think I knew this one already!).
Agreed! I am NOT a tourist!I am a future ex-pat! There is a difference! I will explain this over the course of time...
17) At Christmas, you keep a live carp in the bath until you’re ready to cook it, and eat it with potato salad on Christmas Eve.
18) Also, at Christmas, Baby Jesus brings the presents. Earlier in December, “St Mikulaš” comes over with his buddies, the angel and devil. If a child has been naughty, the devil takes them to hell in his sack (unless the child sings a song).
19) At Easter, men hit women with sticks, and women give the men an egg. A revealing “fertility ritual”.
20) If you ride the tram out of the centre for 10 minutes, most people will struggle to understand English. It’s kind of nice…
It is nice. It keeps the tourists away as well!
21) “A beer a day keeps the doctor away”, eating massive chunks of meat make you a stronger drinker, and a shot of Becherovka calms the stomach. Allegedly.
It is true.
22) Food and drink everywhere outside the Czech Republic is now too expensive. Beer is cheaper than water.
Maybe not everywhere, but definitely in 'Merikuh.
23) Czech people still cling to gender roles much more strongly than we do in the U.K. Women get three years of maternity leave for every baby they pop out, though, so it makes more sense for them to stay at home while the man’s out chopping wood and slaughtering bears, or whatever it is they do.
24) Czech T.V. is hilarious – whether it’s old English films dubbed over in Czech, badly acted dramas or “Czech & Slovakia’s Got Talent” (I don’t think it does, from what I saw…)! Czech film trailers look like this…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6mh1QiMPDE&feature=player_embedded
25) You can walk across Charles Bridge on any evening and find something lovely happening – a choir, a quartet, a man making music by rubbing glass rims…
I prefer Karlův most the early morning hours when you can actually see the bridge and not just a mass of bodies.
26) No matter how many times I look up at the castle at night, I continue to be amazed that I live here.
And people ask me why I want to live in Prague...
27) Czech people enjoy their reputation as being stingy (taking bootloads of bread, cheese and ham on holiday to other countries for example) and yet none of my students had swiped a towel from a hotel room when I asked them.
28) Don’t bring up Roma (“gypsies”) unless you want to hear a barrage of thinly disguised ugly, racist sentiments (in 80% of cases). *This comment seems to be causing the most debate, so let me make it clear that this statement does NOT say “All Czech people are racist” – it says that the COMMENTS can be racist (not always) on this particular topic. The reason I say it is because I’ve ended up having to listen to all the terrible things that these ‘gypsies’ do from students (who might not have never met one) a few times. Some of the comments left below will illustrate what I mean.
29) A man whose body is 100% tattooed can get enough votes to run for President.
30) Politically incorrect jokes are very much OK here… don’t repeat them at home!
I disagree. If you ask them about it, they will talk about it. Maybe it is their secret.
32) Halloween isn’t celebrated here, although on April 30th they burn effigies of witches to celebrate the spring.
33) Public transportation was never as good as it is in Prague.
It is good and cheap. My 30 day unlimited transferable Prague transit pass costs 670 Crowns. About $33. I contrast this to the nearly $400 a month I pay in automobile insurance, and $400-$600 a month in fuel. Not to mention maintenance, washing, parking, etc. My dream is to live in Prague AND NOT own an automobile. My savings in transportation costs would pay for my rent!
My first visit to the Czech Republic was in 2002. The purpose was to learn Czech, drink beer and explore Prague. I have been back four more times, and my plan is to return every year for at least part of the year. When I retire in June of 2019 my plan is to teach one more time at ISLS, go to Oktoberfest in Munich and study Czech in Prague from September 2019 until June 2020. I want to spend a winter in Prague. Better said, I NEED to spend a winter in Prague.
1) Beer is good.
Czech beer is the best.
2) There are many, many different kinds of beer. I used to believe that beer was limited just to “piss” but I’ve since learned that it comes in many varieties – not just light, dark, wheat, semidark, strawberry, honey etc but in many subtly different flavours.
I knew this before I visited the Czech republic. :-) There are many microbreweries in the Czech Republic producing a variety of quality beverages. I had a blueberry beer in Holešovice last July...amazing...
3) When someone asks “How are you?”, the polite response is not “I’m fine thank you”, but “Ah, I feel like sh*t” or whatever is actually on your mind. Being super happy can be seen as bragging or being false.
4) Seems that the Communist/Capitalist thing is far, far from black and white. In local elections, the Communist Party just won quite a lot of votes. I’ve heard some Czech people lamenting the days where housing and jobs were secure and for life.
From my experiences this is not true of anyone who was born after 1989.
5) Gay Pride is big here, and a lot of fun, but adults (aka my students) will still giggle like school children at “gay” jokes and seem shocked to learn that somebody is gay.
Most Czechs don't seem to have hangups or worry about sex or sexual preferences. They have more important things to worry about...like the price of pivo!
6) A large percentage of Prague residents will escape to a “cottage” (theirs or a friend’s) in the countryside every weekend (to “the nature”).
The freeways are crowded on Friday nights going out of Prague and Sunday afternoons going back into Prague. This is especially true on holiday weekends. I went to the beer garden at Riegrovy Sady on July 5th and it was virtually empty. My plan this summer is to travel from Plzeň to Prague every weekend, going against the flow.
7) Czech people seem to be into camping, hiking, walking, mountain climbing and skiing a lot more than any other nation I’ve encountered.
The national parks here are amazing!
8) If you look hard enough and carry a dictionary/translator, you can find soy milk, gluten-free bread, vegan restaurants, organic vegetables and all that. Typical Czech food, on the other hand, is all meat, cheese and stodgy dumplings – good luck finding vegetables other than cabbage or green beans (and, of course, potatoes).
In 2002, I would have totally agreed with thsi about "typical Czech food"...now...hmmm...not so much. I agree that potatoes dominate the "side dishes" on a menu, but I can usually find an alternate.
9) If you’re around any typical restaurant on a weekday (11am-3pm) you can get soup and a main meal for the equivalent of £3 or so.
One of my favorite things about the country is the "denni menu". One can have a decent lunch and a beer for $5-$6. Really.
10) When you enter a restaurant, you sit yourself down. Try asking a waiter for a table and they’ll look at you as if you’re a weirdo (unless it’s a very busy or touristy place).
First come, first served! Watch out for the "Reserve" signs, as these tables are taken. :-) This is interesting, because a few times I have spent hours in a restaurant where no one has sat at a table with a sign. I think restaurants might do this to give you an impression that it is popular or really good.
11) It’s perfectly acceptable to drink beer at 11am.
Noon in Montana is my rule! :-D
12) The meanest looking teenagers will give up their seats on the tram/bus/metro for nice old people, and those old people will usually insist that they’re fine standing. This often results in a short exchange of “No, please, I insist” “No, it’s fine, you sit down,” etc. You also offer your seat to children.
True dat.
13) Mullets are still OK here – on children, on old guys, even on people running for elections.
I guess they are reliving the first freedom years of the 90's...
14) Dogs are allowed everywhere – on the metro, in restaurants, in your office while you work. Czech people love dogs (and babies, also everywhere).
The "dog in the restaurant" thang was hard to get used to, but most of the time you don't even know they are there.
15) Almost every day, somewhere in Prague, there’s a random festival going on with small food and drink stalls, or a nice farmer’s market where you can buy fresh produce.
Prague is a continuous festival in itself. :-)
16) Big groups of tourists are really annoying (think I knew this one already!).
Agreed! I am NOT a tourist!I am a future ex-pat! There is a difference! I will explain this over the course of time...
17) At Christmas, you keep a live carp in the bath until you’re ready to cook it, and eat it with potato salad on Christmas Eve.
18) Also, at Christmas, Baby Jesus brings the presents. Earlier in December, “St Mikulaš” comes over with his buddies, the angel and devil. If a child has been naughty, the devil takes them to hell in his sack (unless the child sings a song).
19) At Easter, men hit women with sticks, and women give the men an egg. A revealing “fertility ritual”.
20) If you ride the tram out of the centre for 10 minutes, most people will struggle to understand English. It’s kind of nice…
It is nice. It keeps the tourists away as well!
21) “A beer a day keeps the doctor away”, eating massive chunks of meat make you a stronger drinker, and a shot of Becherovka calms the stomach. Allegedly.
It is true.
22) Food and drink everywhere outside the Czech Republic is now too expensive. Beer is cheaper than water.
Maybe not everywhere, but definitely in 'Merikuh.
23) Czech people still cling to gender roles much more strongly than we do in the U.K. Women get three years of maternity leave for every baby they pop out, though, so it makes more sense for them to stay at home while the man’s out chopping wood and slaughtering bears, or whatever it is they do.
24) Czech T.V. is hilarious – whether it’s old English films dubbed over in Czech, badly acted dramas or “Czech & Slovakia’s Got Talent” (I don’t think it does, from what I saw…)! Czech film trailers look like this…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6mh1QiMPDE&feature=player_embedded
25) You can walk across Charles Bridge on any evening and find something lovely happening – a choir, a quartet, a man making music by rubbing glass rims…
I prefer Karlův most the early morning hours when you can actually see the bridge and not just a mass of bodies.
26) No matter how many times I look up at the castle at night, I continue to be amazed that I live here.
And people ask me why I want to live in Prague...
27) Czech people enjoy their reputation as being stingy (taking bootloads of bread, cheese and ham on holiday to other countries for example) and yet none of my students had swiped a towel from a hotel room when I asked them.
28) Don’t bring up Roma (“gypsies”) unless you want to hear a barrage of thinly disguised ugly, racist sentiments (in 80% of cases). *This comment seems to be causing the most debate, so let me make it clear that this statement does NOT say “All Czech people are racist” – it says that the COMMENTS can be racist (not always) on this particular topic. The reason I say it is because I’ve ended up having to listen to all the terrible things that these ‘gypsies’ do from students (who might not have never met one) a few times. Some of the comments left below will illustrate what I mean.
29) A man whose body is 100% tattooed can get enough votes to run for President.
30) Politically incorrect jokes are very much OK here… don’t repeat them at home!
I disagree. If you ask them about it, they will talk about it. Maybe it is their secret.
32) Halloween isn’t celebrated here, although on April 30th they burn effigies of witches to celebrate the spring.
33) Public transportation was never as good as it is in Prague.
It is good and cheap. My 30 day unlimited transferable Prague transit pass costs 670 Crowns. About $33. I contrast this to the nearly $400 a month I pay in automobile insurance, and $400-$600 a month in fuel. Not to mention maintenance, washing, parking, etc. My dream is to live in Prague AND NOT own an automobile. My savings in transportation costs would pay for my rent!
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