Czechs Annex Královec

I had a trip planned to visit Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania, as part of my "20 countries in 2020" but the trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 shutting down the world.

It used to be called Königsberg.  The city was founded in 1255 and it was named in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia.  Königsberg was a part of Germany but after WWII it was taken by the Soviet Union, renamed Kaliningrad, and today is home to Russia's Baltic fleet. 

Here's a short 4-minute video of how Kaliningrad an exclave of Russia.

©History Matters

On 30 September, Russia declared that following a referendum that it annexed four Ukrainian oblasts - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.  Aside from North Korea and Syria, no other country in the world recognises the illegal annexation of about 15% of Ukraine.  This is now the largest of land in Europe since WWII.

Well aside from the 4 billion Kč ($186.5 million) of military arms and equipment that the Czech government has given Ukraine, the Czechs have unleashed one of its more powerful weapons - the Czech sense of humour.

There's now a whole satirical campaign on social media that Czechland has now annexed Kaliningrad and renamed it Královec.  There are all kinds of memes out now about "Královec is Czechia" and "Make Královec Czech Again".

There's a satrical tourist website for visiting Královec and there's a twitter account. 

A few days ago some 200 people staged a mock referendum in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague.  This is even better now that thanks to Prague's mayor, Zdeněk Hřib, the square in front of the embassy is now Boris Nemcov Square which commemorates the outspoken Putin critic that was assassinated in 2015.

You've just got to love the Czech sense of humour.  One of my favourite memes shows the critical infrastructure work going on as Czechland supplies beer to Královec via "Beer Stream 1".

#Kralovec #KralovecIsCzechia #MakeKaliningradKralovecAgain

If only Czechland would take over Královec.  Then at least the country would no longer be landlocked.  Sitting on the Baltic Sea, there would now be water and beaches and the Czech military could now even have a navy.   

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

How Czechs Describe European Countries

Just for a little light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek fun.  Especially given everything going on in Ukraine right not.  Here's a map of Europe with basically a tag line of for each country from the Czech perspective. 

Starting with Central Europe

Czechland = Home

Slovakia = Little bro ❤️

Germany = Big Sister

Austria = Annoying, rich neighbour 

Poland = Bro with big ego who is compensating for something

Hungary = Honorary Slavic bro

Slovenia = Our cute little cousins

Switzerland = Money

Baltics

Estonia = Prague lite

Latvia = Pretend they can play ice hockey

Lithuania = Polish Slovakia

Scandinavia

Denmark = Source of the bi-annual Danepocalypse

Norway = Natural wonderland

Sweden = Ikea

Finland = Nokia

Iceland = Here be volcanoes

Balkans

Croatia = Primary holiday resort

Bulgaria = Secondary holiday resort

Montenegro = Tertiary holiday resort

Romania = Land of gypsies and abandoned babies

Serbia = We're sorry

Macedonia = LOL

Bosnia & Herzegovina and Albania = Friendly muslims

Greece = missing a comment

BeNeLux

Belgium = The good dictator

Netherlands = Friend in weed is a friend indeed

Luxembourg = We learn about them in history class

The United Kingdom

England = Secret crush

Wales = Cool flag

Scotland = Men in kilts

Northern Ireland = Stockholm syndrome

Western Europe

Ireland = Here be whiskey

France = Arrogant traitors

Italy = Land of romance and culture

Spain = Big land of wine and sunshine

Portugal = Small land of wine and sunshine

Spain's Balearic Islands = Too many Germans

Former Soviet republics

Russia = Our ex-wife

Belarus = Nostalgialand

Ukraine = Good migrants

Moldova = Romanian Slovakia

The Caucasus = Far-away Europe

The Middle East

Israel = BFF

Cyprus = Too many Russians

Turkey = It's complicated

The rest of the Middle East = Stop Right There

Czech Language Memes

Since my citizenship test and language exam were cancelled and postponed until December I've continued to focus on studying.  Lots of Skype lessons have at least given me something to do during the lockdown.  I've come across several memes about the Czech language that I thought I'd share.  Trust and believe that they are all true.

There's the Ř sound that doesn't exist in any other language.  I can do it now but it was hit or miss for a few years.

There's ty and vy - the informal vs formal versions of "you".  Not that difficult but then because of the 7 cases there are actually 8 words that all mean "you".

The grammar is difficult.  I understand a lot more than I used to but it is difficult for native English speakers.

There's the verbal aspect which means that you have to basically learn two different verbs for every verb in English.

Even Czech months have to be difficult to learn because unlike other languages they aren't based on Latin.

I speak Spanglish and German so I can confirm that this one is pretty dang accurate.

I didn't make any of these memes.  I just found them online.  Well enough bitching about Czech as it's time for me to get back to studying.