Dinner with the Boss

Last night, Kája and I were invited for dinner with David, Zuzka, and the kids.   

I had told Kája that we were going to my boss's house for dinner.  He must have had something from the 1950s in his mind because he was thinking that we needed to wear suits.

Of course it was nothing that formal.  We had a great time!  

Petrov Birthday Wine Cellar Party

Yesterday we went to Petrov, about 4 km (2,5 miles) southeast of Strážnice, to celebrate his friend Verča's birthday. 

The area has about 80 wine cellars that date back to the 15th century.  

The wine cellars form a street with two squares and is frequently visited by wine tourists.  In the past, local farmers weren't able to build wine cellars under their houses due to the high groundwater level.  So instead, they set up cellars on a slope a short distance behind the village where it wasn't suitable for cultivation.

During WWII the cellars served as shelters for people who were illegally escaping from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to the Slovak puppet state.  

The wine cellar area was declared a monument reserve by a decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czechoslovak Republic on 15 September 1983.  I understand that it took more than 10 years of effort before the government listed it as a monument.

The party was a lot of fun and obviously there was plenty of wine for the celebration.

Lucie's Birthday 2023

On Saturday, we were at the chata to celebrate Lucie's birthday.  

It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since we celebrated her last birthday.

Due to covid restrictions, she still hasn't been able to take her long awaited trip to South Korea.  So we continued our Asian theme again this year with more karaoke and soju.  Hopefully she'll finally be able to take her holiday this year.

Happy 2023

Happy New Year!!  Šťastný nový rok!!

In Czechland, it is also Czech Independence Day!

Last night was another Silvestr karaoke party at the cottage.  Lots of fun but we stayed out way too late. 

The Czech presidency of the Council of the European Union ended as well.  As of today, Sweden now holds the presidency.

Update 2023:  Here's a short YouTube video about the change of the EU presidency.

©The EU Made Simple

14th Annual Czechsgiving

Saturday was the 14th annual Czechsgiving fiesta.  It's hard to believe that this was #14.  It's going to be even harder to wrap my head around next year when it's #15. 

This year's turkey was 10,5 kg (23 lbs).  I usually get up around 4am to prep the bird and put it in the oven.  

This time, I prepped the turkey on Friday night so that Saturday morning I just had to put it in the oven.  I have to admit that the extra hour of sleep was nice.  I'll, for sure, do it again next year too.

Tünde was a great little sous-chef.  She made a few of the casseroles on her own.  With just a wee bit of supervision.

I swear that that sooner, rather than later, the kids are going to outnumber the adults.

Meeting the Lads

Kája and I are still at the stage of introducing each other to our friends.  Last night was a night out with the lads and so I brought Kája to meet Martin, Martin, and Vilém.  The lads had been asking when they were going to meet him so I figured it was needed to happen sooner or later.  This way they don't all meet for the first time at Thanksgiving.  All went well so that's good. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm already gathering supplies for the fiesta.  The Candy Store made a delivery last week and an Amazon order I had delivered to Claudia in Berlin was dropped off yesterday.

I don't know why but there are many sellers on Amazon that will not deliver to Czech Republic.  I think some people still have a perception that Czechland is further east than it really is.  While some shops won't deliver to Brno they will deliver to Berlin.  So sometimes I have things delivered to Claudia's place.  Then I either pick them up there or she brings them when she comes to visit.  Fortunately, Ale visited her last week so she brought me my last order.

I don't know what's going on right now but I can't find Bisquick anywhere.  I've checked Amazon Germany, Amazon UK, and Amazon U.S.  It's no where to be found.  Hopefully I can find it soon or I'm going to have to wing it somehow.

Ale's 40th Birthday

Yesterday was Ale's 40th birthday party.  She had people over to her flat in Řečkovice.  She had several friends over for Mexican food and festivities.

It was a party with other expats.  I only knew a few people but everyone was really nice.  

It also gave me an opportunity to use my Spanish which seems to be getter more and more rusty.      

Scary Movie Night

Vašek and Honza organised an outdoor movie night yesterday at the cottage.  Everyone showed up early to grill out on the roof and wait for it to get dark enough to watch the movie.  

This was the first friend event for Kája and I to show up to as a couple.  Everyone made him feel welcome and we had a great time.

Then there was the film.  The boys wanted a scary movie so we ended up watching The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.  It's a 2021 horror movie from the USA.  The catch is that we watched it Czech.  In Czech the film is V zajetí démonů 3: Na Ďáblův příkaz.  

While we watched the Czech language version, here's the movie trailer that I found out on YouTube in English with Czech subtitles.

Finally a Meet Up

It was so good catching up with this group last night.  "BC", before Covid, we used to meet up at the pub for lad's night, sometimes with Štěpánka, every four to six weeks.  I can't even remember the last time we actually all made it for a beer.  During Covid we did have a few virtual pub nights but that's just not the same. Meeting up in person just felt like being back to normal.  

Aleš' 4Oth Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Aleš' 40th birthday out at the chata.  It's hard to believe that this chap is 40.  It was a lot of fun hanging out and talking with everyone.  

And of course, there was karaoke.  I swear that I haven't done this much karaoke since I was last in Japan back in 1999.  I guess at some point I'll have to post some videos of the chata karaoke.  Eventually...not yet.  I usually sing in either English or German but maybe with some practice I'll post video singing in Czech.  Something to look forward to I guess. 

A Night Out

Aleš has a karaoke party planned next week at the chata but we kind of had an early celebration last night.  A few of us got together last night at Tomáš and Betty's place for a few drinks and hors d'oeuvres before we all headed out to Lemon, which is the one gay nightclub here in Brno.

Jose brought a couple of friends from medical school to join in on the festivities.  It was fun to hang out with everyone and to do some dancing.  

I can't remember the last time that I went out dancing.  Unless you count me and Tünde jumping around like fools listening to German pop songs.  After Lemon, we tried to hit the local karaoke bar but it was packed so ended up calling it a night.

Post-Quarantine Fun

Yesterday we had some post-quarantine fun.  We went over to Lucie's for some Nintendo and a little karaoke.  

Nothing wild but it was nice to get together.  Everyone who was ill before is now felling better and out of quarantine.   

Fortunately, I never felt ill and I tested negative.  I'm still up for some more Korean BBQ.

Lucie's Birthday

Yesterday was Lucie's birthday so it was a great excuse for another karaoke party out at Honza and Aníčka's cottage.  

Lucie has been patiently waiting to rebook her holiday to Korea which was cancelled due to Covid travel restrictions.  That and her love of K-pop meant that we had an Asian inspired birthday party complete with  K-pop karaoke and Soju.   

Honza & Aníčka

It was a lot of fun!!  

I seem to have made the list because after Vašek's birthday, I was invited to both the Christmas party and New Year's parties.  Now Lucie's birthday and it looks like Aleš will have his birthday at the cottage in February.  

I did my best to sing a bit of K-pop but I only know a few songs.  Not that my singing in English, German, or Czech is anyway better.  Next week several of us are going out for Korean BBQ in Brno.  I can't wait for that!

Happy 2022

Happy New Year!!  Šťastný nový rok!!  Today is Czech Independence Day which is not to be confused with Czech Statehood Day.  Czech Independence Day celebrates the establishment of an independent Czech Republic (and Slovakia) as a result of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Divorce.

Last night was a karaoke Silvestr party at the cottage.  Lots of fun!!  

Pre-Christmas Party 2021

On Saturday night there was a pre-Christmas party at the cottage where we celebrated Vašek's birthday party in October. 

There were probably around 30-40 people there throughout the course of  the evening.  It's really a nice group of people.  

My bad karaoke sining must have been good enough because not only was I invited to this party but I've been invited back for New Year's Eve too.

Here's a small sample of a few folks singing "Demons" by Imagine Dragons.

Of course, here's what it's supposed to sound like.

©Imagine Dragons

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!

Double Booked

Yesterday I was double booked.  After work, I met up with Vašek, Aleš and Michał at the park at Kraví hora.  We made plans to go hiking on Sunday.  

After a couple of hours of hanging out I headed over to Jan's place for the traditional beer night with the lads, plus Štěpánka.

It was nice catching up with everyone. Especially after the never ending Covid restrictions.  After a while Vilém broke out the guitar for some traditional Czech songs.  I headed home around midnight even though the party was still going strong.  I heard this afternoon that one of the neighbours ended up complaining about the noise.  I just don't know if the "noise" was the general volume or Vilém's guitar playing. LOL!

Thanks to Simona had a birthday surprise for me from the Candy Store. 

Now I need to get some vanilla ice cream so that I can make a root beer float.  Except for at the Candy Store, root beer doesn't exist here in Czechland so all I can say is that it's the American equivalent of Kofola; kind of like Dr. Pepper but not at all.

A root beer float is pretty simple.  Take a cold mug and add two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Then add root beer.  Some people top it with whipped cream but I don't.  When the root beer hits the ice cream it causes carbon dioxide bubbles to release.  You eat it with a spoon and a straw.  Some people who don't like root beer will swap out Coca-cola and make a coke float instead.  These were always such a treat when I was a kid.