Crazy Tipping

Tipping is much different here in Euroland from how it works in the USA.  The biggest difference is that service works in Euroland don't live off of their tips.  European employees provide an actual salary, with health benefits, to their staff which is required by law.  Customers here don't need to subsidise the employees so that they don't have to provide a living wage.  As someone who used to live off of tips, I have strong opinions about tipping but after almost 15 years of living in Europe I see how flawed the American system is.

While we were on holiday I saw just how out of control tipping has become in the United States.  It seemed that wherever we went, there was a request to tip.  I ordered a bubble tea at a food stall in Atlanta and tried to pay by card.  The system prompted me to enter a tip amount in order to complete the payment.  Why the hell am I being asked to tip for a bubble tea?  And the system required me to swipe to a second page to confirm that I did not want to tip.  We bought hot dogs at the Braves game and the again, I had to enter a tip amount in order to pay for our food at the game.  

During Covid time, I think a lot of people were more generous with tipping in order to help out service workers during all of the lock downs.  Yet, it seems that once the lock downs ended the expectation for higher tips didn't.

I had explained the whole tipping thing to Kája.  He didn't understand why the customer is responsible to pay an extra +20% because employers don't pay better.  Why don't people just get better jobs?  Not easy to explain.  Here's an interesting video I found on YouTube about tipping having gotten out of control.

©CNBC

The Tatra Mountains

Tomorrow we're headed to Tatranská Lomnica, in the High Tatras, in northern Slovakia.  Visiting the Tatras has been on my list for a while so I'm looking forward to doing a bit of hiking.  We're going to meet his dad and sister who are already there.  I'm still not 100% over the jet lag from our USA trip but I'll manage.

The Tatras are the highest mountains in the Carpathians and form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland.  Many of the Rocky Mountains exceed 2000 metres (+6,500 feet) tall.  There are three main parts: the High Tatras, Belianské Tatras, and the Western Tatras.  

The Tatras take up 785 sq km (303 sq miles) with about 78% in Slovakia and about 22% in Poland.  The Tatras are basically the "Slovakian Alps" and a favourite place for hiking and skiing.  

The mountains were a problem for hikers back in the day because it was illegal to cross the border without going through an official border checkpoint and there weren't any checkpoints on the border ridge.  At least until 2007, when both Slovakia and Poland joined Schengen and internal border checks became a thing of the past.

There's a Tatra National Park in Slovakia and a Tatra National Park in Poland.  And both are part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

I hope that we survive.  Slovaks love to joke about Czechs getting lost, or needing to be rescued, in the Tatras.  Usually because Czechs took the wrong equipment, wrong clothes or wrong shoes.  One joke is that the world's biggest Czech cemetery, outside of Czechland, is called the High Tatras.

78th International Folklore Festival

We spent the weekend in Strážnice with Kája's family.  Every year, Strážnice hosts the International Folklore Festival, the largest and oldest folklore festival in Europe.  

Czech TV even broadcasts it across the country.  This year was the 78th edition. 

The festival is organised by the National Institute of Folk Culture which is part of the Ministry of Culture. 

The festival includes dancing, music, and various competitions for both children and adults.  This year there were over 31.000 visitors who came to see 3.150 performers from across the country.

There were another 230 performers that came from Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the USA.

The first festival was in 1946 and it was only for ensembles from across Czechoslovakia.  In 1957, the first foreign folklore ensembles participated.  The festival is for both amateur and professional groups.

On Saturday, there was a parade that proceeded to the open-air museum and stadium.

It was pretty interesting.  It's interesting to see how each region and village's traditional costumes vary.

Vašek's Birthday Party

On Saturday Vašek had a little birthday celebration at a friend's chata in Jundrov which is a Brno suburb about 15-20 minutes away by bus.

A chata is basically a weekend cottage used by the city folks to get away from the city and to spend some time in the countryside enjoying nature.  Not all cottages are the same.  Some are kind rustic without any electricity or running water while others can be very extravagant.  

The popularity of these weekend cottages dates back to the First Czechoslovak Republic when people first felt the need to get away from the city.  Then during communism it was almost impossible for people to travel outside of the country, except to other communist countries and even then I hear it wasn't exactly easy.  During this time, cottages were the easiest way how to spend your holidays someplace other than at home.

I believe that Czechs rank second in the world, just behind Sweden, for the number of cottages per capita.

I wrote before about the "golden Czech hands."  If I didn't believe it it before then I definitely do now.  Prior to the party starting some of the guys took a cardboard fruit box and screwed it to the ceiling so that it would hold a projector in order for us to have a screen for some karaoke.  I can't believe that it actually worked.

Vašek and Aleš were the only guys I knew.  Vašek warned me that my Czech would get a workout and it did.  I also got to speak German, some English, and even use my now rusty Spanglish.  

There were probably around 30+ people at the party.  People grilled out and there was plenty of liquid courage to enable all of the karaoke.  As this was my first time here I'll spare everyone the painful videos.

Everyone was so nice and I've already been invited back for future events.  I can't wait!

Fingers Crossed

My exams are coming up so "fingers crossed" that I pass.  In English, you put the middle finger across the index finger to "hope for the best", "wish luck" or to just show support.  You usually do it with both hands but one hand will work too.

Of course, when you only use one hand then it could be that you are telling a lie.  But let's focus on wishing luck.

In Czechland and Slovakia you don't cross your fingers.  Držet palce is the equivalent of "fingers crossed" but here it means "to hold your thumbs."  

Držím palce - I'm holding my thumbs

Budu ti držet palce - I will hold my thumbs for you

When I send an SMS (text message) I still have to use the "fingers crossed" emoji because there isn't a "holding thumbs" version.

German speakers also hold their thumbs.  You'll hear drücken die Daumen in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

In Sweden it's hålla tummarna, in Poland it's trzymając kciuki and there are thumb holding equivalents in Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Russia.  Even the Afrikaans speakers in South Africa "hold thumbs tightly" with duim vashou. 

It doesn't matter to me if it's "fingers crossed" or "held thumbs".  At this point I'll take all of the luck that I can get. 

100 Year Old Flag

The Czech flag just celebrated its centenary.  It was unveiled on 30 March 1920 as the flag of Czechoslovakia.  After the Velvet Divorce the Czechs kept their flag while Slovakia adopted a new one.

Over here you see Czech, and EU, flags at all government buildings.  It's not uncommon for people to display Czech flags on certain public holidays.  However, it won't be on every building and it won't be displayed the rest of the year.  It's pretty much the same in other European countries as well.

By contrast in the USA, it's not uncommon for people for people to fly the flag often.  Sure it's more prominent on the 4th of July, President's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Veteran's Day.  But you'll see people flying the flag almost year round.

I don't think it's a matter of Europeans not being as proud of their flags as Americans are of our flag.  I think that we Americans tend to go overboard.  If it's not a proper flag, you still see the image of the American flag everywhere in the USA.  Hats, clothing, drink coozies, the list goes on and on.  

Sure you can buy a Czech flag baseball cap in Prague at a tourist shop.  But only a tourist would wear it.  You'll never find a someone in Czechland wearing a Czech flag bikini whereas in the USA it wouldn't surprise you.  It would be tacky but that's a different story.

Air Kiss

In Europe it is common to greet people with a kiss on the cheek - the air kiss.  At times it can be a bit confusing.  Especially if you are from the USA where it is not such an everyday thing.  What can really make things complicated is that the standard air kiss is different depending on where you go. 

First a few general rules... 
1.  Don't kiss people you don't know.  Unless you are introduced to them in a social environment.
2.  Shake hands prior to the kiss.  It is also common to put your left arm on the other person's arm or shoulder as you go in for the kiss.
3.  Move your head to the left so that you kiss the right cheek first, then the left cheek.  Most of the time, sometimes it is the left cheek first.
4.  You don't actually kiss.  Your cheeks may touch but your lips should never actually touch the other person's cheek.  Hence the term "air kiss."  Otherwise you could mess up a lady's makeup or her lipstick could leave evidence of a kiss on your cheek. 
5.  Play it safe and always follow the other person's lead!

It is very common for women to kiss women and for men to kiss women.  Depending on the country, and the context, you may see two men kiss but it is less common.  When two men do kiss it isn't a gay thing.

The number of kisses by region in France

Normally it is two kisses.  Sometimes three.  Sometimes more.  I go for the traditional two kisses.  Once, on my birthday, a colleague from Romania said that three kisses are traditional for birthday wishes.    

In France it is called la bise.  You can tell what part of France someone is from by how many kisses you receive and it is very common for men to kiss each other. 

In Czechland and most of Europe two kisses are the standard.  In Serbia, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland you generally exchange three kisses.

The air kiss is a standard greeting between friends and acquaintances.  The only time I still get a bit uneasy about it is when it is at the office.  Then it seems a bit odd.  But I just go with rule #5 and follow the other person's lead.

Here's a video I found out on YouTube.  It is a Good Morning America segment trying to explain things to Americans.

 

©ABC

Golden Hands

There's an expression over here in Czechland about zlaté české ruce which means "golden Czech hands."  I've heard two different explanations for this phrase and, honestly, I can see the truth in both of them.

An ad proclaiming they have golden hands

The first one is because Czechs are such great craftsmen, tradesmen, and engineers.  You can definitely see this in the old architecture here.  The old buildings are absolutely beautiful.  The paneláky, prefabricated apartment blocks; not so much.

The second explanation is that due to the shortages of supplies, under communism, that Czechs learned how to make do with what they had.  Czechs became masters of "do-it-yourself" using whatever materials you could get your hands on.  This sometimes led to very inventive solutions.

This afternoon I wanted to make a dessert that requires apple sauce.  It suddenly dawned on me that I don't know if I've ever seen apple sauce here Czechland.  I know they have it in Germany but not so sure here.  And I wasn't up for a mad scavenger hunt at Albert, Billa, Inter-Spar and Tesco.  Instead, I used the Google and found an easy recipe and made some apple sauce from scratch.

I guess this constitutes my attempt at having golden hands.  Which has me wondering...maybe I can find an easy recipe for blue cheese dressing because they for sure don't have it here. 

Jára Cimrman

Jára Cimrman is one of the most famous Czechs.  His list of accomplishments is simply staggering.

He gave the world yogurt, the CD (Cimrman's disc), dynamite and roller skates.  He invented the electric light bulb but Edison beat him to the patent office.  He helped Baron von Zeppelin design the airship.  He came up with the idea of the Panama Canal and proposed it to the U.S. government.  He narrowly missed discovering the North Pole by only seven meters (23 feet).  He even invented the Internet.  He is regarded as one of the greatest Czech playwrights, composers, inventors, and poets of the 19th and 20th centuries.  The list goes on and on...   

Don't feel bad if you haven't heard of him.  He's the fictional character created by Jiří Šebánek, Ladislav Smoljak and Zdeněk Svěrák. 

His debut was in 1966 on the radio program Nealkoholická vinárna U Pavouka (The Spider Non-Alcoholic Wine Bar).   

In 2005, there was a television contest to name the greatest Czech of all time.  Cimrman was leading the race until the sponsor disqualified him since he was never a real person. 

Lemonade Joe

Lemonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera (Lemonade Joe, or the Horse Opera) is a cult classic movie here in Czechland.

The film was released in 1964.  It's a musical parody of early Westerns and was based on a novel and stage play by Jiří Brdečka.  The film was directed by Oldřich Lipský.

The film takes place in Stetson City, Arizona where our hero, Lemonade Joe, who only drinks Kola Loka (crazy cola), takes on the bad guys and convinces the town to abstain from alcohol.

One of the film's characters notes that "What's good for Kola Loka is good for the law."  By the end of the film, Lemonade Joe has cleaned up the town and has eliminated whiskey as a competitor of his favorite beverage.

Did Joe clean up the town because it was the right thing to do?  Or did he only do it because he wanted to eliminate the competition?  I guess in 1960s Czechoslovakia, Kola Loka was code for Coca-Cola and how corporations seek to take over the world.

Here's a clip I found out on YouTube of Lemonade Joe singing Můj bóže, můj bóže (My God, my God).

Ty and Vy

In Czech, there are two ways of saying "you".  There is the informal ty which is used among family members and close friends.  Vy is the more polite, formal "you" used between strangers.  Vy is also used as the plural "you" both formally and informally.

French does the same thing with tu and vous. 

German has Du and Ihr as the singular informal and plural informal "you" while Sie is the formal version of "you" for both the singular and plural.

Spanish has tú and usted for the singular informal and formal "you".  European Spanish uses vosotros as a plural, informal "you", while outside of Spain, ustedes is the plural "you" both formally and informally.

English used to do this a long time ago.  We used you as the formal form and for the informal form we used thy, thee, thou, thine, etc.  Fortunately we got rid of all of this and the only time students come across this now is when they read Shakespeare.

When you enter a shop in Czechland you are greeted with Dobrý den (the formal 'good morning').  You will never be greeted with ahoj because this is the informal "hi" which is only used among close friends and family.

Using the ty form with a stranger is very rude, especially when speaking to someone older.  Using the vy form comes across as very formal, reserved and polite.  When in doubt, I find it better to use vy.  I would rather be thought of as overly formal than as too familiar.

"Shall we use ty?"

When do you make the switch from vy to ty?  It's better for the other person to suggest it.  An older person will suggest it to a younger person.  A boss will suggest it to employees.  A woman will suggest it to a man.  In Czech, it's like a rite of passage when someone suggests switching from vykání to tykání. 

I use vy when I speak to any of the people in my building.  My landlady told me that since she knows in the USA we don't have formal forms of address, we should use the informal ty with each other.  At work, I use ty with all of my colleagues, those above and below me, but I switch to vy when asking for a coffee in the canteen.

Turkey Drama

Czech (NO) customer service is about to send me over the edge.  Seeing as I will pay money, why can't they just deliver what the hell I actually order?

Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  Therefore, it's time for turkey drama.  I don't understand why it has to be so bloody difficult to get a turkey.

Claudia has a new favorite butcher shop that is only a few blocks from my flat.  So she placed an online order for a 10 kg (22 lbs).  The shop replied that they would order the turkey and that it would be 13 - 15 kilos (29 - 33 lbs).  Ummm...not what the hell we requested.  The largest turkey we've had so far was 14 kg and it just barely fit in to my oven.  I was not about to try my luck and end up with a 15 kg bird.   

Kamila, for some reason, convinced me to give the halal shop another try.  Katka placed the order and all was fine.  Fortunately, we called, just to double check.  Yes, they will order the turkey.  Yes, they know what size I want.  Yes, I can pick it up on Friday.  They will call back to let me know if they will receive it.  By the way, it will be between 8 kg and 13 kg, if they get it. Thanks but no thanks.  I'm not taking a chance on not getting what I want.

After multiple telephone calls, I ended up confirming the order with the same turkey farm in Židlochovice that we normally use.  I'll get an 8 kg (17.6 lb) bird on Friday.  Not quite the 10 kg that I wanted but close enough.

Now to try to find the sweet potatoes...

Me & my 8 kg bird

EDIT:  I managed to get the sweet potatoes on Thursday and picked up the turkey on Friday at noon.  

Royal Bath Adventure

Tbilisi is known for its hot sulfur baths and after yesterday's hike, Heidi and I decided to partake of the experience.  There are several baths to choose from in Abanotubani which is the bath district.  The ground level domes are easy to spot and all of the baths were built between the 17th and 19th centuries.

The Orbeliani Baths, with its distinctive blue mosaic exterior is the most famous.  Unfortunately, it is closed for renovations and won't reopen anytime soon.

So we ended up at the Royal Baths instead.  No one spoke English and my Russian didn't help as much as I had hoped.  Perhaps because Heidi and I came in together or simply because my Russian has gone to rubbish, we found ourselves in a private room rather than with the general public.  We were given towels which in reality were bed sheets and left to get undressed.

Now in Scandinavia, as in most of Europe, public nudity is no big deal.  It's certainly no big deal in Czechland.  And while I've gotten more used to it, I'm still an American with all of my delightful hang-ups about modesty.  So with no swimsuit in sight, I had to get completely naked.  Yikes.  Heidi could see that I was a bit apprehensive and kindly looked the other way.

First you have to strip down and soak in the hot tub.  The water was around 40 °C (104 °F) and it took a moment to sink in to.  After a good long soak, my masseur came in and told me to lie down on this slippery tiled massage bad.

The massage is more of a scrubbing as he used two coarse mitts to scrape away all of the dead skin.  He then used a big thing of soapsuds and buckets of water to wash me down.  Laying on a table, naked as the day I was born, getting lathered up by this big burly Georgian guy while a Finish girl relaxed next to me in a hot tub was quite the experience.  After my massage I got back in the water.  Then Heidi's masseuse came in for for her scrub while I soaked in the hot water.

It's been over 20 years since I was naked with a girl in a hot tub.  I'm sure that my friends will have fun with this story.

This was a bit different from my Turkish bath experience in Istanbul.  But the end result is the same.  You are completely knackered and sleep like a baby afterwards.

No Beer for Lent

For those that don't know, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and lasts for 40 days until Easter.  For Catholics, it is a time when we give up something for 40 days.

Last year I gave up tea which was really tough, but I did it.  This year I've decided to try something very difficult.  I've given up beer which is unheard of in the Czech Republic - a place where beer costs less than water, cola or juice.  Let's hope that I make it.

2011 Census Results

Last year, the ČSÚ - Český Statistický Úřad (Czech Statistical Office) conducted the 2011 Population and Housing Census. It takes a while to compile all of the data and the final numbers will be published in Q3/2012. However, here are some of the more interesting preliminary results.

The population has increased. Yes, there is an increasing birth rate but it's mostly because there are more foreigners living in the ČR. In the last decade the number of foreigners has increased more than 260%. There are almost half a million of us here now.

The largest number of foreigners come from Ukraine, followed by Slovakia, Vietnam, Russia, Germany and Poland. The majority of foreigners live in Prague.

What Americans call "nationality", the Czechs refer to as "citizenship" and what Americans call "ethnicity", is referred to here as "nationality". So in the USA my nationality is American and my ethnicity is Mexican. But here my citizenship is American and my nationality is Mexican. Good grief this gets confusing sometimes!!

A greater number of people opted out of declaring their nationality. The largest number of people who did declare it are Czech (Bohemian) - 6.7 million. The second largest group is Moravian (522,474 people) and Slovaks came in third with 149,140. Almost twice as people claimed to be Moravian then they did 10 years ago. The vast majority live in South Moravia.

There is a big increase (46.6%) in the number of people with a university degree. Prague has the highest number of university degrees. Every fifth person in the capital has a university degree. While the number of high school dropouts has decreased there are 24.6% more people in the country who have not attended school at all.

Society is getting older. There are more people over 65 and the number of children (up to age 14) is decreasing.

Divorce is on the rise and fewer people are getting married. I've been told that under communism, it was quite often for people to get married at 18 and start having kids because this helped you get an apartment from the government. It looks like now people, who do get married, are waiting until they are older.

For the first time, same sex couples were able to state registered partnerships on the census. Since it's new there is no way to compare the data but it was declared by 2,055 people.

Fewer people answered the optional question about religion. Ten years ago, less than 1 million people skipped the question while this year 5 million chose not to answer.

The largest religious groups were the Roman Catholic Church (over 1 million), the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (+50,000) and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church (+39,000). Over 700,000 people said that they were believers but not belong to any registered churches.

I don't know if it was a massive joke or not but over 15,000 people said that Jedi (from Star Wars) was their religion. About 4,000 of them in Prague. I would think that this is a joke but there was also an increase in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, etc. So who knows??

The Vietnamese

Believe it or not, there are a lot of Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. At over 61,000 people, the Vietnamese are the 3rd largest immigrant community, after Ukrainians and Slovaks. To Americans, 61,000 may not seem like a lot but there are only about 10.1 million people in the entire country.

The Vietnamese began coming over here during communism when the Czechoslovak government invited them here as guest workers. Vietnam encouraged this because they hoped that people would return with new skills and training. After the iron curtain fell, many Vietnamese decided to remain here rather than go back to communist Vietnam.

Unable to speak Czech, the first generation here has traditionally made livings as street market vendors. Since Asian culture emphasizes the group dynamic, plus the whole Czech language issue, many Czechs view the Vietnamese as a closed off society of people who live here but are not really a part of Czech society. However, the second generation has a reputation for high levels of educational attainment and over the last few years, a significant number have opened up their own businesses.

Czech Airlines even flies from Prague to Hanoi, 2 - 3 times per week.

I've heard that there is a really good Vietnamese farmer's market here in Brno where you can get fresh coriander (what they call "cilantro" over here) and hot peppers. I really need to check it out sometime.

Republic of Bulgaria

The Republic of Bulgaria is in South Central Europe, in the Balkans. The country is a little larger than Tennessee and has 7.3 million inhabitants. The capital is Sofia.

Bulgaria has lots of archeological sites because this was home to ancient Thrace. The Bulgars came to Europe in the second century AD from what is today northern Afghanistan and eventually mixed with the Slavs.

In 1396 Bulgaria became part of the Ottoman Empire for over 500 years. The country gained independence in 1908. However, they made a couple of very bad decisions because Bulgaria was on the losing side in both WWI and WWII.

Since Bulgaria was allied with Nazi Germany, in 1941, Jews were striped of their property, livelihood, and civil rights. In 1943, Bulgaria agreed to transfer its Jews to concentration camps in Poland. However, Bulgarian Jews and Roma were not deported. Instead Bulgaria resettled Sofia's 25,000 Jews to rural areas and the Orthodox Church helped 50,000 Jews to survive the war. Bulgaria permitted Jews to freely emigrate to Israel after the war.

From 1944 - 1989 the communists ruled the People's Republic of Bulgaria. It was allied with the Soviet Union as a member of the Warsaw Pact. Eventually free elections were allowed and the country became a parliamentary democracy.

Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and joined the EU in 2007. The country had hoped to join the Schengen zone in 2011 but it looks like that won't happen until at least 2012.

Bulgarians do the craziest thing. They nod their heads up and down to mean "no" while they shake their heads side to side to mean "yes". This is completely backward (at least it's backward to me). Sometimes Bulgarians will switch this when they speak to foreigners but that just makes it even more confusing.

Update 2025:  Here are a few short, interesting videos that I found on YouTube about Bulgaria.

©History Matters

©History Matters

©History Matters

Citizenship vs. Ethnicity

There is a difference between ethnicity and citizenship/nationality. Back in the USA, if someone asked me what I was then I would say I'm Mexican. But that doesn't mean I have Mexican citizenship. It just means that my family background is Mexican (and a little German). If someone in Europe asks me what I am then I have to say American. If I say Mexican then they assume that I have a Mexican passport. And over here, saying Mexican-American just really confuses folks.

In Europe, everyone goes by citizenship. If your parents were Hungarian but you have a German passport then here you are German.

I guess it's just another one of those cultural differences between the USA and Europe. In the USA, you could have someone say that he is French. Even though he can't speak French, has never been to France, and the last person in his family to come from France was his great, great, great grandfather. But that's OK, he's still French. Or rather, his family background is French.

A big issue I've seen here is the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.  Are they Slovaks?  Are they Hungarians?  You don't always get a clear answer.

Even though my family background is Mexican, I'm an American. I served in the U.S. military. I was born a U.S. citizen, as were my parents, and I have a U.S. passport. It doesn't say anywhere on my passport that that I'm ethnically Mexican. All my passport shows is that my place of birth was California, USA.

Maybe it's because the USA was built on immigration. Or maybe because there are so many countries in Europe that it is just easier to stick to citizenship.

I did find out one little interesting thing that happened when Czechoslovakia split up during the Velvet Divorce. All Czechoslovakian citizens had to choose if they would now be Czech or Slovak.  I'm sure that geography played a big part in helping people choose.

But what happened if you were originally from Bratislava but had moved to Prague? Would you switch from Slovak to Czech so that you could be a citizen of where you now lived? And what about mixed marriages? If your mom is Czech and your dad is Slovak, did the two countries allow the kids to have dual citizenship? Hopefully someone can share some insight on how it all worked.

Shut the Front Door!

Czechs seem to be very security conscious. Which is not a bad thing. It's the implementation that seems to be a bit odd. At least to me that is. Like most apartment buildings, the front door to my building has a lock and a dead bolt lock. If you put the key in and turn the lock, the door opens. If you put your key in the lock and turn it twice then you lock/unlock the dead bolt. To enter my building you must have a key to open the front door. Or, press the intercom and I can buzz the door which lets you in. But that only works from between 7 AM to 7 PM. The sign on the front door has been there since before I moved in to my building in August 2009. It says...

Dear tenants, For the security of us all, we ask you to check whether you have really closed the front door behind you. Recently, several times, it happened that the door remains wide open (even at night). During night hours (19-7 pm), lock your front door! Committee Authority

The building rules say that the dead bolt must be used from 7 PM until 7 AM. So if you come visit me at 7:15 PM I can't just buzz you in. I have to go down 5 floors to physically let you in. If you leave before 7 AM then I have to go down to let you out. There is no way to leave the building after 7 PM if you don't have a key to the front door. Can you say fire hazard? If the building catches fire and you forget the key as you flee the building then you had better hope that one of the neighbors brings a key. And that they don't lock the front door behind them. I understand the whole wanting to feel secure thing. I just don't get why you need a key to leave. My Czech teacher shows up at 6:30 PM so I just buzz her in. But the lesson ends at 8 PM so I always have to walk her out. It was a pain when the elevator was being replaced. Going down 5 floors was fine...but going back up 5 floors sucked. It seems that the mail ladies, (I have never seen a mailman), have keys to all of the buildings so that they can deliver letters. But what happens when you need to call the police? I don't know if the police have keys to all of the buildings as well. Does someone have to let the police in? Do they break the front door down?

Sabine's Birthday

Yesterday was Sabine's birthday so a few of us went out to dinner to celebrate. With it being Christmas week a lot of people were already out of town but we had a nice time.

We started off in a wine bar for a drink and then went next door for a great dinner at Koishi, by far the best sushi place in Brno.

One thing that I don't understand over here is going out for someone's birthday. In the ČR, (Slovakia and Germany too), the tradition is that when you invite people out for your birthday, you (the birthday boy/girl) pays for everyone.

This is the exact opposite of how we do it in the USA. I'm used to all of the guests paying a little extra so that the birthday person does not have to pay for anything. After all, it's that person's birthday. Why the hell should you have to pay for everyone on your own birthday? Natalie said that they do it the US way in New Zealand too.

Sabine tried to pay since she invited us out for dinner. But we weren't having any of that. Fortunately, Natalie, Mariya and I were able to convince her into letting us buy dinner.