Bačkory

Czechs do not wear shoes inside of their homes. The first thing you do is take off your shoes and put on your bačkory...slippers (pronounced batch-kory). When you go to someone's flat there are normally guest bačkory for you to wear. Or you just wear your socks.

If someone comes to your flat, don't even bother trying to tell people that they can leave their shoes on. It just isn't done. When I first moved here, I went with a realtor to look at 12 flats in one day. We had to take off our shoes each time.

It's normal to even see people leave their shoes outside of their doors. Several of my neighbors have small stools in front of their doors so they can sit down to change shoes.

Czechs do this so that they don't track dirt in to their homes. I can certainly appreciate this now with all of the snow and slush outside. And you don't want scratch up the softwood floors because of a rock stuck in the sole of your shoe. Plus, it is way more comfortable.

I've been told that the bačkory thing extends to school too. Apparently, kids take off their shoes when they get to school and wear their slippers all day.