Czech culture learning materials

As a teacher, I'm constantly compiling materials for lessons, so I thought, why not gather some materials that I've used for learning about the culture here in the Czech Republic?

Anyone can jump on Amazon and search for books on Czech customs and culture. The list I've got here is comprised of things that have helped me understand the dark humor, the lean toward egalitarianism, the penchant for house-slippers, in a more holistic manner.

Of course, the best thing you can possibly do to better grasp Czech norms is spend time with actual natives (and you should make every effort to!); these items are only meant to be supplemental.

Things that have helped me understand Czech culture*
*And please do recommend more

1. Films. Ask your Czech friends for some suggestions. I've been directed toward, which are all comical yet disconcerting at the same time:

From "Closely Observed Trains"

• Pupendo - about the difficulty of family life under Communism in the 1980s

• Closely Observed Trains - a coming-of-age story set during WWII in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, based on a novel

• Firemen's Ball - satire about Eastern European Communism, centered around a village's bumbling fire department

2. Literature, of course! (Sorry, Kafka, for not listing you.)

From the "Unbearable Lightness of Being" film adaptation, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Juliette Binoche. 

The book is better.

• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Placed in 1968 during the Prague Spring, this philosophical book about the tangled existence of four broken people is one of the most transformative things I've ever read, and I'm not exactly sure why. 

• The Little Town Where Time Stood Still by Bohumil Hrabal (also the author of "Closely Observed Trains). The story of a zany and delightful young brewer's wife in rural Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, and how political change impacts her village.

• No Saints or Angels by Ivan Klima. Set in modern Prague, a divorced dentist must confront her family's Stalinist past whilst managing her difficult teen daughter, ex-husband and new love. It provides a frank picture of current drug culture in the city city, too.

• Now that we're becoming parents, I've enjoyed perusing bookshops for Czech children's books, which I'm beginning to be able to read: Here's a list.

3. Theatre. I still can't understand theatre in Czech, but here are some good foreigner-friendly bets:

I couldn't find a theatre gif, so here is Tom Hulce as a young Mozart in Czech director Milos Forman's award-winning film "Amadeus"

• English performances of Jara Cimrman plays at the Žižkovské divadlo in Prague 3. Cimrman is a fictional playwright who "wrote" many of this country's most famous comedies, most of which are set in the early 1900s. They are side-splitting hilarious!

• Drama and opera with the Czech National Theatre. A number of performances have English subtitles, and you will be blown away by the quality of theatre here for the price. I can't recommend Czech theatre highly enough.

4. Hiking. I've written about it many times on this blog - from a visiting parent hike to a hike where we found odd things. 

I love it because it gets us out of Prague and into various villages and landscapes; this country and culture is so much more than its capitol city. It forces us to use our Czech language more, too.

Are you an expat who has other tricks for learning about the local culture? Or are you a Czech who has suggestions for doing so? I'm always looking to learn more, so - again - please do share materials and ideas!

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Took me on a date

Oh, how to celebrate Valentine's Day when your sweetheart is not around, when Aphrodite isn't on your side?

Well, I went straight for this:

Yep, I took myself out on a date to one of Prague's sugary Ovocný Světozor (i.e. Fruit Delicatessen) spots near my flat. This chain has an insanely delectable assortment of cakes and ice cream treats. It looks a touch like a Super Mario Brothers game on the inside, but no matter.

I savored a piece of amaretto cake and chased it with a latte. 

The shops are difficult to miss, with their vivid red and green exteriors... and steady streams of customers.

That wasn't my only V-day treat, though; the night before, Art Teacher and I attended a Blood, Love and Rhetoric performance of "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen, at Studo Alt@. Nothing like a play about misogyny and a failed marriage to ring in Feb. 14! Nonetheless, the lead actress was a talented former student and the whole performance was fetching. 

Blood, Love and Rhetoric is one of the few outlets for English theater in Prague, and they're often doing edgy, atypical takes on old favorites or highlighting lesser-known playwrights (though their take on Ibsen was quite traditional). Studio Alt@ is a gem of a small theater, in what first appears to be a sketchy industrial park in fuzzy lighting...

...but once you pose for a few photographs by the incessant graffiti...

...you enter a cavernous, cozy space filled with theater lovers and ping pong. We also saw a woman getting a haircut there after the play.

Via bonza.cz

So Valentine's Day was not a tragedy, thanks to a play, a pal and a pile of baked goods :)

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Big Brother is Watching You - at Semafor

Forgive me for theater geekery, but I've got to crow...

Semafor Theater, "one of the oldest continuous traditions of modern Czech entertainment", according to radio.cz, was the venue for my school's most recent Drama production, "1984". The beloved theater is in Prague's Dejvice neighborhood - near where I live - and has contributed to the beginnings of many famous Czech musicians and actors.

It was an honor to direct a play there - and even to simply have our play listed in its window:

I am fiercely proud of my students and my school, and I am grateful the theater gave us the opportunity to perform in its space. Semafor doesn't usually rent to outside entities like high schools, but as the article linked above mentioned, it needed the income. 

Our kids did an outstanding job with this dark and psychologically straining Dystopian play; they extended themselves and brought integrity to the themes of Winston's story, which are still so relevant today.

Some dress rehearsal photos, taken by my principal and posted on social media:

Semafor's staff and technicians were supportive, encouraging and knowledgeable; it would be a pleasure to work with them again. A very powerful experience all around, and such a special place to hold a performance.

War is peace

Freedom is slavery

Ignorance is strength

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Only 4 more years to the next Prague Quadrennial

Good morrow to you, sir! Art thee a theater-goer? Then thee must cometh to Prague! Thither art 1) many inexpensive theatrical opportunities and 2) some of the world's most meritorious scenography. Tis a silver bow. 

(Credits to Shmoop's online Shakespeare translator, which is good fun.)

Being lovers of all things thespian, colleague Scottswoman and I dove into the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, the largest scenography (stage/costume/lighting design) event in the world! As the name states, it's held in Prague every four years, and it includes performances, workshops and exhibits all over the city, put on by groups and schools from 78 countries. 

I attended 8 years ago and, boy, the whole thing has swelled into a massive cesspool of creativity and innovation. (Mamet in a digitally-produced rainstorm, anyone?) This year's event was June 18-28 and the theme was SharedSpace: Music Weather Politics.

We started with lunch on top of DAMU: The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. A woman spilled leek soup all over me when she tripped down the steps, but, hey - a person could be covered in worse things!

I enjoyed the costume exhibits, which were often accompanied by photos of their use in plays.

A soundscape made by freezing microphones in blocks of ice and recording the subsequent melting/dripping.

A mobile stage, built in a courtyard of the Naprstek Museum. 

A number of exhibits we saw had stage dioramas, some of them just conceptual and some with proof of performance. 

A courtyard break with olives, outside of one of the city's many palaces-turned-exhibition venues.

If I remember correctly, this macabre design was Brazilian. 

One of our favorite exhibits was a Canadian collection of outhouses decorated on the insides with various genres and periods.

Drama and scenography books for sale! I had to sit on my hands to avoid emptying my wallet. 

A Prague Castle view from the book room.

My junky phone photos don't do this spectacular event justice. Come in another four years and see it for yourself. Fare thee well! 

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Five-sense Saturday

This post was almost named "Nutty November" because BW and I got about half the sleep we should have during this very busy month. Part of me is exhausted for it, but most of me is grateful for the new opportunities we've had. As the old adage "stop and smell the roses" goes, I'm thinking about all the things my sense have enjoyed during these last vestiges of Fall.

TOUCHED...

...a lot of fake mustaches. I directed and produced our school's play, the Russian satire "The Government Inspector" by Nikolai Gogol, at Theater Na Pradle. It was a riotous success, a ton of fun and incredibly well-acted; the kids were professionals. So thankful for the talented pair of friends who built/painted the set, the mom who made many of the costumes and a whole host of other people who chipped in to help! (photos by our school director)

TASTED...

...Thanksgiving sushi! We worked Thanksgiving Day and couldn't manage to do a proper dinner, so we threw propriety to the wind and took ourselves out for an uni-tamago-tobiko-hamachi treat.

...a "gingerbread" muffin from Costa Coffee that actually tasted like maple, save for a spot of ginger jam in the middle. Nonetheless, I happily scarfed it down. I rarely get káva s sebou (coffee to go) and this was a nice treat to start a full 11-hour Saturday of schoolwork.  

... the homemade Czech foods svíčková (beef with cream sauce and dumplings) and ovocné knedlíky (fruit dumplings). It was for a competition BW did with the kids where they had to film themselves shopping at a local market and then making traditional regional food. Fingers crossed that they win!

HEARD...

...only Czech on a backstage tour of the Estates Theater, where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in 1787. (It's a bit more hi-tech now.) Scotswoman and I theater-hopped for Prague's Noc Divadel (Theater Night), where the city open loads of its stages for free. We even scored passes to the Prague Quadrennial theater scenography festival in June.

SAW...

...a good friend try on wedding dresses for her July nuptials. I learned that in the Czech Republic, you can rent wedding dresses; what a novel idea! This needs to catch on in the U.S. If you don't care about keeping your dress, it's loads more cost effective.

SMELLED...

...the crisp Fall air, laced with woodfire and svařák (hot wine) and trdelník (cylindrical sweet pastry). And Christmas markets are starting to open... my heart is shaking its pom-poms!

via Pinterest

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