Dům U Tří Knížat

Dům U Tří Knížat, "The House of the Three Princes", is a historic building in Brno's city centre. 

The gothic cellars date back to the 14th century.  The house above was rebuilt and expanded over the yeas with the current building from the 19th century.

There was an older building, U Tří knížat, that was located nearby.  The older building was demolished in 1874 but locals kept using the name and it became associated with the new building.

The building is both a commercial and residential building.  Yesterday we stopped by for a burčák.  

The building is also home to the honorary Polish consulate.

Birth Certificate Bureaucracy

I was eligible to apply for Czech Citizenship two years ago after I passed my B1 Czech language exam.   However, I can't apply until I first sort out my birth certificate.

Here's the situation...

I need to provide a birth certificate with an apostille.  An apostille is basically an internationally recognised "super notarisation".  In the USA,  an apostille can only be issued in the state where the document was issued.  Since I was born in California, my birth certificate can only be given an apostille by the Secretary of State of California.

The fee to request an apostille in California is $20.  I have an old certified copy of my birth certificate with me in Brno.  I would need to mail my birth certificate to California, along with payment for the apostille, and the return postage for it to be mailed back to me in Czechland.  

I wasn't really thrilled about mailing the only copy of my birth certificate.  The next option was to request a new certified birth certificate from Riverside County, in Southern California.  I would need to submit a request by mail, with payment, for the new birth certificate.  It would get mailed to me in Brno.  Then I would need to mail the new one back to California for the apostille, and then have this mailed back to me in Brno.  Crazy.

I found lots of companies that I could pay to sort out a new certified birth certificate or to sort out the apostille.  Finding companies that would handle both the birth certificate and the apostille was damn near impossible.  The few companies that I did find that would handle both parts, and seemed somewhat reputable, cost around $1000.  

So while we were in California I took the opportunity to finally get my documents sorted.  I shipped my birth certificate to Sacramento for the Secretary of State to issue the apostille.  My mom needed to write a Czech for the $20 processing fee.  I included a pre-paid DHL envelope for it to be shipped back to me in Brno.

While in California, I also requested a new certified birth certificate just so that I will have a spare copy.  The new birth certificate will be sent to my parent's home in Arizona.

Cooperation With Taiwan

Last week, a memorandum of cooperation was signed in Taipei between Czechland and Taiwan.  This will increase the level of cooperation between the two countries in education, science, and culture.

Czechia wants to see direct flights between Prague airport and Taipei.  Recently, Czechland opened a development centre for research into semiconductors.

The national museum in Prague and the national museum in Taipei will now become sister institutions.

Cooperation between the two countries has been steadily growing.  Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, runs a subsidiary company called Foxconn CZ, runs its largest European operations centre and EU hub, in Pardubice.  It is one of the most profitable companies in Czechia.  

In March 2020, the countries signed an official partnership to fight Covid-19.  During the Covid crisis, Taiwan provided Czechland with medical equipment.  

In 2021, Czechland supported Taiwan's bid to participate in the World Health Assembly.  

After the June 2021 tornado in South Moravia, Taiwan donated 6,5 million Kč (~$304K) to affected villages.

In August 2021, Czechland gave Taiwan 30.000 Moderna vaccines.

Obviously China isn't thrilled with this because it still considers Taiwan as part of China and views the Czech government as supporting Taiwanese independence.  Objections from Beijing aren't something new.

Back in January 2020, Prague mayor Zdeněk Hřib signed a sister city agreement with Taipei, just two months after cancelling the sister city agreement with Beijing.  It probably didn't hurt that Hřib is a doctor and did his medical internship training in Taiwan.

Unrelated to Taiwan, but another reason that I really like MUDr. Hřib is that in February 2020 he re-named the square in front of the Russian embassy to Náměstí Borise Němcova (Boris Nemcov Square) after the outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin who was assassinated in 2015.

In August 2020, RNDr. Miloš Vystrčil, the President of the Czech Senate, made headlines for  making an official trip to Taiwan.  This was a big deal because China's foreign minister Wang Yi, said that he would pay a "heavy price" for visiting Taiwan.  Not only did he not back down to China, he channeled U.S. President John F. Kennedy's 1963 speech and told Taiwanese lawmakers, in Mandarin Chinese, "I am Taiwanese."

©民視英語新聞 Formosa TV English News

I love that the Czech politicians stand up against authoritarian regimes.  Here's a short video I found on YouTube where Czech MEP Markéta Gregorová shares her thoughts on why the ties between the two countries are getting stronger.

©RTI English

Here's a video from May 2021, former Taiwanese Ambassador at Large Maysing Yang met with both Hřib and Vystrčil in Prague.

  

©民視英語新聞 Formosa TV English News

It's clear that Czechland and Taiwan maintain strong unofficial relations.  China won't have diplomatic relations with any country that officially recognises Taiwan as an independent country.  So there aren't any official embassies.  Instead, the Czech Republic is represented in Taipei by the Czech Economic and Cultural Office, 捷克經濟文化辦事處.  In Prague, Taiwan has the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.

In October, the Prague Philharmonic will travel to Taiwan.

©民視英語新聞 Formosa TV English News

New Things in Brno

I've been in Czechland for just over 13 years now.  Sometimes people are surprised that I've lived in the country this long.  The typical understanding is the foreigners (expats) come and eventually foreigners leave.   

The other thing that often surprises people is that the whole time I've only lived in Brno.  My entire Czechland adventure has taken place here in Moravia.  I love this city.  There's always something going on here or something new to discover.

Yesterday, I took the day off and Kája and I spent the day together.  Here's three "new" things I found in the city.

1.  The BRNO sign by the town hall.  It isn't exactly new but I hadn't seen it yet.  

2.  Štetl Fest is coming in September.  It's a multi-genre festival of Jewish culture and history.  It's the largest festival of Jewish culture in the country.  I assume that it's in participation with the coming MEHRIN Moravian Jewish Museum but that's just my assumption.

Štetl comes from the Yiddish word for a "small town."  Usually it refers to a small town with a large strong Jewish presence.  

3.  Brno has an Embassy of Independent Belarusian Culture.  Back in 2020, I know that Brno supported the protestors in Belarus.  But with everything going on at the time with Covid, I missed that the embassy opened on 17 November 2020.

It's not a traditional embassy.  It was set up by the Centre for Experimental Theatre and it focuses on informing the public about what's going on in Belarus and supporting cultural activities.

It's probably even more important to understand what's going on there now given that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko allowed the country to be a staging ground and launching point for Russian's invasion of Ukraine.

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Bosnia, Serbia, Russia, and Z

So while in Banja Luka, I wasn't really thrilled about the Russian Z's I saw throughout the city.  They weren't everywhere but they were visible.

First of all, what's the Z?  The letter Z doesn't even exit in the Cyrillic alphabet. 

©BBC

I had to do a double-take when I saw people standing in a queue to use the ATM at a Sberbank.  That's because Sberbank, which is Russia's largest state-owned bank, is shut down in Czechland due to EU sanctions.  

My housekeeper mentioned that she had an account with Sberbank but she received a letter that her account would be closed because Sberbank is no longer allowed to operate in the EU and that she would could transfer all of her money to a new bank.  

So why hasn't Bosnia and Herzegovina sanctioned Russia like most every other country over its invasion of Ukraine?  Well, that's because of Republika Srpska and Serbia.  

Serbia and Russia are allies.  For example, because Serbia claims Kosovo as part of Serbia, Russia keeps blocking recognition of Kosovo in the United Nations.    

©DW News

Serbia hasn't closed its airspace to Russia.  Russian flights still can't get to Serbia because the planes would have to cross EU airspace to get to Serbia.  But, AirSerbia is still flying to Russia which means that many Russians are flying to Serbia and then flying onward from there.  Serbia was bombed by NATO in the 1990s and there's distrust for NATO which is good for Putin.  It's funny that Serbia isn't following EU sanctions when it is trying to join the EU.

Bosnia isn't able to pass sanctions on Russia because Republika Srpska vetos the resolutions in support of Serbia.  

©EuroNews

I still don't see how anything gets done in Bosia when everything needs to be done by consensus between three parties that were all fighting each other for years only a short time ago.  I wonder how long before this breaks up Bosnia and Herzegovina.

©BBC

Germany looks like it will ban the Z.  It seems that under German law this falls under forbidding public approval of illegal acts, or something along those lines.

In Prague, the local officials are changing the name of the street in front of the Russian Embassy.  Its new name will be "Ukrainian Heroes" street.  I bet the Russian embassy loves that one.  

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Czech Consulate Damaged

Czechia has very good relations with Ukraine.  There's a large Ukrainian population here and they make up 30% of all foreigners in Czechland.  There are more Ukrainians here than Slovaks. 

Ukrainian Consulte in Brno

There's even a Ukrainian consulate here in Brno that's about a five minute walk from my flat. 

An embassy is a permanent diplomatic mission, usually in the capital city and an ambassador is in charge.

A consulate is like a junior embassy, located outside of the capital and the consul-general is in charge.

In Ukraine, the Czech government has their embassy in Kyiv.  It has consulates located in Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Uzhhorod.

On 1 March, the Czech consulate in Kharkiv was damaged during heavy rocket shelling by Russian troops.  Due to high pressure caused by rocket attacks the consulate's windows shattered.  Fortunately no one in the consulate was injured.  The Czech government continues to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While I'm stuck at home with Covid I keep watching what all is going on in Ukraine.  In 2020, I was supposed to go to Lviv but the trip was cancelled because that's when everything first shut down.  Now I'm watching rockets destroy the city.  I think it will be quite some time before I actually get to visit Lviv.

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Я за Україну

Я за Україну is Ukrainian for "I stand with Ukraine."  Two days ago Russia invaded Ukraine almost eight years after it occupied Crimea.

Vladimir Putin is calling this a "special military operation" but he can call it whatever he likes but he's really declared war on Ukraine.  He invaded Ukraine in 2014 by annexing Crimea and his actions in the Donbas, and now with this full on invasion there is no doubt that he has invaded a sovereign country, the second-largest country in Europe.

In response, Czechland was the first EU country to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, with the exception of humanitarian cases.  The Czech government has ordered that Russia must close its consulates in Brno and Karlovy Vary.  The Czechs are also suspending their consulates in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.  Along with other countries, Czech airspace is closed to Russian aircraft.  In response, Russia had closed its airspace to Czech flights.

Czech Railways is permitting free travel throughout the country to anyone with a Ukrainian passport.  They are also running humanitarian trains to the Ukrainian-Polish and Ukrainian-Slovak borders where they drop off supplies and bring refugees back here.  Many Czech cities, including Brno, are providing free public transport to Ukrainians.  Vodafone and T-mobile are providing free calls to Ukraine.

Czech President Zeman, who has always been very pro-Russia, has changed his stance and condemned Putin for invading Ukraine.  

Russia's annexation of Crimea hits a never for most Czechs because it is similar to when Hitler annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.

After WW2, there was an agreement that both American and Soviet troops would leave the country.  So Czechoslovakia was the only eastern block country where Soviet troops didn't remain after the war.  Then in 1968, the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact allies, invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring.  When they invaded in 1968, the Soviets said they were only staying temporarily.  That turned out to be 23 years.  

After the Velvet Revolution, one of the goals of the new government was to get the Soviet army out of Czechoslovakia.  The Soviets had over 73.000 soldiers, 18.500 officers and their families, plus over 44.000 civilians, stationed here and they were in no hurry to leave.  Logistically the Soviets didn't have enough facilities to take back all of their troops from all of its satellite countries at the same time.  The last troops didn't leave Czechoslovakia until 1991.

It was pretty much the same in other countries.  Soviet troops left Hungary in 1991 and they left Poland in 1993, 54 years after they invaded in 1939.  Soviet troops had been stationed in East Germany.  Germany reunified in 1990 but they didn't leave Germany until 1994.

I've got Covid and I'm home on quarantine.  It seems that all I can do is watch the news which is 24/7 coverage of what's going on in Ukraine.  Here's a 32 minute video on YouTube that really shows why Putin invaded Ukraine.  #standwithukraine 

©RealLifeLore

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

Czechs Beat ROC and U.S. Embassy Reaction

On Saturday, 12 February, the Czech Olympic Hockey team beat the Russian Olympic Committee team in overtime.  The final score was 6-5.  The Czechs love hockey and it's even better every time they beat the Russians. 

Due to widespread doping, the World Anti-Doping Agency has suspended Russia.  The 212 Russian athletes competing in China at the Beijing Olympics right now have to compete as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).  The Russian flag is replaced by the flag of the ROC and the Russian anthem isn't played during medal ceremonies.

The U.S. Embassy in Prague decided to have a little fun when they congratulated the Czechs on their victory over the ROC.

The text of their Facebook post says "Even a small country can do great things! But what is the ROC?  We couldn't find their flag..."

My FWAB Arrived

My Federal Absentee Write-In Ballot, that I had to drop off at the Prague Embassy almost three weeks, arrived in Atlanta.  It took about 2,5 weeks via diplomatic mail to the USA and then normal post to Georgia.  The good news is that I have confirmation that they received my ballot.

I was able to cast a vote for President and for the Senate.      

At least I was able to submit the write-in ballot.  Given the postal delays due to COVID-19 it's anyone's guess when my real absentee ballot will actually show up.

I Voted

Due to the postal delays I still haven't received my absentee ballot.  Fortunately there's the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 which allows for overseas American citizens who have applied on time for a ballot but still haven't received it to use a write-in ballot.

Today I dropped off my Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) off at the American Embassy in Prague.  Today was the last day to drop off ballots at the embassy.  The ballots will now go via diplomatic mail to Washington, DC, and from there by regular mail to the appropriate polling stations in each state.

So my ballot will now get to Atlanta in time for the 3 November election.

It was a whirlwind day.  Normally I would go to the Bratislava embassy because it's closer to Brno but the border is closed with Slovakia.  

So I spent 3 hours on a train to Prague, then caught a tram across town to the embassy, dropped off my ballot, went back to the train station and caught the next train back to Brno.  Quite a bit of travel and I was only at the embassy for five minutes.

It was kind of ironic that while on a train to cast my vote for president that I used the time to study for my Czech citizenship test on 5 December.  

At least I'm still hoping that my exam will be on 5 December.  I have a sinking feeling that it will get postposed again in the next round of COVID-19 restrictions.

Update:  My FWAB arrived in Georgia on 20 October.

Update:  My real absentee ballot didn't arrive until 4 November.

Support for Belarus

On Sunday there were rallies in Prague and Brno to support the protests going on in Belarus.  The protests going on in Minsk are against Alexander Lukashenko who has led the country for 26 years.  

He became president in 1994 when Belarus gained independence from the Soviet Union so he is the only leader that the country has ever had.  Lukashenko is known as the last dictator in Europe.

The Jošt statue in Brno now displays the Pahonia on its shield.  

The Pahonia was the official emblem of Belarus in 1918 and from 1991 to 1995.

Update:  8 October 2020, the Belarus government has pretty much shut down the embassies of Poland and Lithuania in Minsk.  The government has accused them of meddling in its internal affairs.  In solidarity, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, and Latvia will now recall their ambassadors to Belarus.  The EU has blacklisted 40 Belarusian officials over the police crackdown on demonstrators against rigged elections.

Prague Embassy COVID-19 Warning

I'm still registered in the Smart Traveler Enrolment Program (STEP) with the U.S. State Department so they know that I've living in Brno.  Yesterday the U.S. State Department sent me a travel warning for the Czech Republic.  Basically that due to COVID-19 the government thinks that I should reconsider travel to Czechland.    

The rub is that I think the COVID-19 situation is better here than it is in the USA right now.  In addition I don't need the government to book me on a repatriation flight and have my passport cancelled until the bill is sorted.  

What annoyed me was that the the webpage of the U.S. Embassy in Prague hasn't been updated since 7 April 2020.    

I shared on Instagram that the webpage was out of date.

Obdržel jsem cestovní varování COVID-19 pro Česko. Velvyslanectví Prahy webovou stránku neaktualizovalo od 7.4. Yesterday I received a #covid19 @statedept travel warning for #czechrepublic but the @usembassyprague hasn't updated it's webpage since 7 April. 😷🇺🇸🇨🇿🇪🇺

The Embassy did respond to me with the following: "Yes, this is a page from April 7.  You can see all updates of this page here: https://cz.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/security-and-travel-information/ "

While this link is updated, I don't understand what's the point of still having out of date information online?  I asked them this and showed that this link is still valid. https://cz.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

Let's see what the reply will be.

Update: December 2020, the Embassy never responded back.  One page on the embassy website is up to date.  But the outdated 7 April page is still up and online.