Czech Republic: Tour D'Horizon

kdo hledá, najde.

By Christina Nguyen

December 1^st, 2017

Month 2

When I was in the 8th grade I was assigned the Czech Republic for a geography project. I had to do research about the history, geography, culture, and present it back to my classmates. I vaguely recall there being a lot of complicated battles for the Bohemian Crown, that eventually led to the formation of Czechoslovakia. My history books focused mostly on the German occupation, and the Czech resistance to the Nazis. At the time of presenting this topic Czech Republic was a fairly new separate state. After spending so much time learning about the country through the textbooks I was determined to visit one day, and experience it for myself. Never would I have imagined getting to live there (or here?). Here's the run down on month two...

Sunrise in Moravia. Photo by Vince Tornambe

Experiences

THE FUN STUFF

Living in a modern 3 bedroom apartment with Griffin, a sweet southern gal who puts a smile on my face everyday (¡animo!)
Having access to two beautiful offices. K10, the former Danish Embassy, and Opero, an open concept office centrally located in Old Town.
Working from all the quaint cafes with amazing aromas of coffee and pastries.
Enrolling in weekly Spanish classes taught by our fellow RYer, Ashlyn.
Celebrating St. Martin's Day in the Moravian region of CZ.
Taking a Czech cooking class.
Catching an opera at the Estates Theater which is the last standing opera house where Mozart played.
Seeing Slovenian DJ Gramatik at the Roxy in Prague.
Visiting a 170 -year old family-owned Bohemian Glass Factory.
Hiking to Europe's largest natural stone formation along the Czech-Germany border.
Spending Thanksgiving & a full week with my brother, sister-in-law, and two adorable nephews Czeching out all the city sights
Discovering jumping fitness (aka extreme trampoline) at my local gym.

THE NOT AS FUN STUFF

My first transition weekend threw me for a loop, and elongated the process for settling in.
The bitter cold (except I was really happy to not be shoveling snow this winter!).
Constantly having to resist work week temptations, because there's ALWAYS something going on in a big city.

Working? Thinking? Napping? Maybe all three. Photo by Tunde Ogunfemi.

Hidden gems nestled in a cave on a hill.

Playing American Football on Thanksgiving.

Goofing around with my brother at the Museum of Senses.

Stories

When I arrived in Prague I was surprised to learn that Vietnamese are the largest immigrant community in the Czech Republic, and also the third largest ethnic minority (after the Slovaks and Ukrainians). For one of our local experience events we got to spend a day in Little Hanoi with a Vietnamese-Czech guide named Marcela. Marcela, and I instantly made a connection when she confirmed I was Vietnamese after hearing me speak a few Vietnamese phrases to local vendors. Her family came from the north, and mine were from the south. While our parent's immigration stories were very different we drew a lot of similar comparisons around our upbringing as first generation children. We shared many core values that were instilled in us by our parents.

Czech Republic and Vietnam

Vietnamese immigrants began settling in Czech Republic during the communist regime when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovakian government. This bilateral agreement was based on an economic partnership. Migration was encouraged by the Vietnamese authorities with the intent that they would return with skills, and training. Many were employed in machine-building, and lighting industries. By the 1980's the Vietnamese workforce began growing strong, and then the Velvet Revolution of 1989 occurred which meant that former agreements became invalid, and many Vietnamese people had to return to their homeland.

Immigration under communism was promoted for reasons of national development, and political solidarity. Following the revolution immigration started anew, and the Vietnamese were beginning to come to the Czech Republic for more varied reasons. During the post-revolutionary period the community, and sense of identity started to take shape. The Vietnamese population started becoming more visible they were no longer seen as just a group of poor workers coming from a poor nation. They began to share language, customs, cuisine, and even religious faith. With the shift in attitude and perception the Czech Republic became a desirable place for immigrants to settle.

Situated in Little Hanoi is a Czech Vietnamese friendship society that was started by a group of students in the early 2000's. The group is ran mostly by volunteers offering legal advice with Czech bureaucracy for Vietnamese immigrants. Improving Czech-Vietnam relations continues to be a priority as the community continues growing.

I am usually a minority while in most of the countries that I have been traveling to, but here I felt very welcomed. In Little Hanoi local vendors were speaking to me in Vietnamese, and were excited to hear about my story, and my travels. There was also a strong sense of pride as many were eager to tell me about their stories. The experience was topped with some Vietnamese comfort food with my friends. This was a pleasantly surprising history lesson for my books.

The sweetest lady selling Vietnamese Coffee on a cold day in Little Hanoi.

Connections

While I was in Croatia I learned that an old friend from undergrad was going to be in Prague. I met Mike Wise during my sophomore year at the University of Texas, and over the last ten years we lost touch. He randomly saw on social media that I was moving to Croatia, and we reconnected. Mike was invited to Prague to speak at Cannafest, an international trade show of cannabis, and medical herbs. He had been an activist in the United States, and now expanded his work abroad to help build the cannabis law reform movement. Mike spoke at the conference on Cannabis Business Ethics and Activism. His film, "Illegally Alive" was also screened at the expo. The documentary follows a painful journey of several families whose children suffer from serious diseases. These families gave up everything to move to Colorado, where cannabis is the only medicine that works, and successfully relieves the symptoms. While I was unable to attend the conference it was really great to see a familiar face, and hear about his passion, and work. It's very inspiring to see an intelligent leader who's willing to devote so much energy to keeping people informed while pointing people in the right direction to stand up, and take action for what they believe.

In terms of the Czech people I was able to connect with a few. At first they seem rather reserved and introductions are formal. In many of my interactions sense of humor was perceived as ironic or sarcastic, and sometimes with a strong dose of absurdity. Once the barriers were broken they were very polite, and accommodating. Overall, in my experience I found the Czech to be realistic and very practical people.

Cooking Prague Ham on St. Martin's Day in Moravia.

Making Bohemian Glass at Ruckl Glass Factory.

Catching the Opera with my roommate Griffin.

Czech cooking class with Ana and our city experience manager Collin.

Owning the Unknown

Immediately upon arriving in Prague I felt like I traveled back in time. It's an incredible city with eastern European charm, and is one of the few cities that wasn't destroyed during the invasions of the Germans during WWII. However, it is very apparent that communism left its mark, and it was essential to take a deeper look at history to understand the environment. The landscape, and architecture elicited emotions that told incredible stories without words. While living in Prague the country observed The Velvet Revolution Day on November 17th which was a non-violent transition of power. It was moving to be present during such an important national holiday that means so much to this land.

You may, or may not have noticed that Czech Republic is now labeled as Czechia on GoogleMaps. It's similar to how France is synonymous to The French Republic. Officials somewhere thought it would roll off the tongue easier if Czechia was synonymous to Czech Republic. Honestly, nobody here calls it Czechia, and it still shows up as a misspelled word with a red squiggly under it when you type. The Czechs are never to be underestimated, and have shown how a small nation can influence history, art, and business in so many incredible ways. They earned the name Czech Republic so let's keep it that way.