James and Markéta

Merry Christmas!

Here’s a summary of our 2018, in case you missed all our (not very) exciting news.

At the beginning of 2019 we did a lot of skiing, especially in the Sumava mountains and across the border in Germany. The children survived a week-long ski camp without us, where temperatures were -20C! We have also started doing some family cross country skiing, but not everyone is a fan of this!

This winter was not especially cold, and there wasn’t much snow around Slany, but it did get cold enough for some skating on the pond.

During the year, James’ business slowly improved, and in March opened a new office in Brno (the second biggest city in CZ). Unfortunately, even though the business is now consistently profitable, the amount of profit is still small, so we are still not really making much money from the business. However, as time passes things are slowly improving and are looking forward to a better 2019.

One of the highlights of the year was Madla’s change of school. In CZ it is possible for the ‘clever kids’ to go to special secondary schools (called Gymnasiums) from the age of 11. But it’s very hard to get in – and especially into the best schools. Entry is based on the results of a special exam (something like the 11+ exam in the UK).

Madla gave up many Saturdays and put lots of effort into studying for the exam. As a result, she got into a great school. It’s about 30 mins away by train, so she is doing a lot of independent travel. She loves it there.

I am not sure putting an 11-year-old through so much stress and hard work is really a good idea, but in Madla’s case it was well worth it as she is now so much happier and more challenged.

Over summer we did some camping, cycling and also decided to try ‘something different’ and so we went to the beach . . in Poland. This is not an obvious choice as Poland is not well known as a tropical seaside paradise, but in fact it was great. Long wide beaches with white sand, not too many people. Lovely weather and fantastic seafood. We did a lot of sightseeing on the road trip on the way there and on the way back, including a week in Slovacko, a hilly area near Slovakia with lovely meadows full of herbs, fresh air, good wine, and old ladies still wearing embroidered head scarfs.

We spent a lot of time at the mill over summer– it was very hot and dry. After all the hard work of reconstrucion, the mill is a great place to be in summer as its more than one-meter-thick walls keep the place cool for a long time. We borrowed a paddleboard from a friend and spent a lot of time on it on the pond. The children spent a lot of the summer away at camps including this year one where they both went away together for two weeks. A delightful time was had by everyone including Mummy and Daddy.

Matt and Sue came to visit us in August – a great chance for Daniel to get to know his godparents. We and the children had a great time and it was lovely to see them.
Marketa s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary which we all celebrated by going on a trip to the mountains. The weather was beautifully autumnal, we found mountains of mushroom and went for long walks.

And now we have picked all the apples, nuts, fermented 40 kg of cabbage, hidden all the plants indoors, raked almost all the lawns around the mill …we are looking forward to Christmas at the mill.

Daniel; is doing well at school except that he is quite naughty and talks too much. He plays the piano beautifully, does hip-hop dancing twice a week and athletics, but his main area of interest is anything with a screen. He has lots of energy and is getting taller, but not yet much wider!

Madla; is loving her new school. She reads a lot and is especially interested in history. She plays the cello and loves baking and dancing. She is getting quite tall too, having now overtaken Aunty Jenna.

Marketa; is working most days in Prague and enjoys making things with her hands and reading. She is thinking about starting something more creative in 2019.

James; is working hard on his business, plus work he is doing for other clients. He works very long days and sometimes gets home very late, but he is hoping for a quieter and more relaxing 2019.

One of the things I like about living here is experiencing the people, their culture and their way of life.

A lot is similar to what I am used to from New Zealand, but at the same time, a lot is different. One example is names.

In New Zealand, people name their children whatever they feel like. If you want to call your son or daughter, Peaches, Apple, Moon Unit or whatever, then that’s fine. There are some rules, but they are reactive rather than proactive. For example the papers here reported the case of a couple in New Zealand who wanted to call their child “4Real”, on the basis that when they saw the ultrasound, they realised that he was ‘for real’. The authorities refused to allow them to register this name, so they decided to go for their second choice “Superman” which was apparently OK! I feel a bit sorry for Superman Smith. He’s probably going to be a weedy looking kid, and will undoubtedly have a tough time at school

In this country it’s a bit different. Here, you basically have the choice of any name so long as it on the list of names which have name days. (I say basically, because there are some exceptions for foreigners etc. However, few Czech parents would deviate from the list, even if they could, because this would mean that their child wouldn’t have a name day on which to celebrate their “second birthday”).

In practice this means that parents have about 350 names from which to choose. In reality the choice is even smaller, as from the 350, you immediately eliminate half the names (wrong sex), plus another 75 or so (archaic, old fashioned, or just plain weird – Adolf for example is not such a popular choice).

That leaves you with a real choice of about 100 names. If you are interested, you can find the complete list of names here

For many Czechs the choice is even easier, as they simply use their parent’s name. This leads to many problems. For example one friend here is called Jana (Jane), but her older sister, her mother, her grandmother, her father’s sister and her other grandmother are all called Eva (Eve). It makes for confusing family gatherings. They are referred to as Old Eva, Young Eva (she’s 50), Little Eva, and Big Eva (nice for her self esteem). I can’t remember what the other Eva is called – Thin Eva?

Another complicating factor is that Czechs don’t normally have middle names (and if they do, they don’t use them). This makes the telephone directory almost completely useless. Say for example you are looking for Jan Novak in the telephone (the Czech equivalent of John Smith – except much more common), you just get an endless list of “Novak, J.”. Unless you know his address, you are out of luck, and even then a lot of patience is required!

But the best thing is the medieval feel that Czech surnames have. Many, (but not all) surnames actually mean something – and some of the things they mean are very cute!

If you are telling a story about your friends, it might begin with “One day Old Jane Hedgehog was walking to town with her daughter, Young Jane Hedgehog, As they walked they talked about their friend Big Jane Rooster and The problems she had been having with her boyfriend Old John Alarm Clock. At the market they saw Mrs Jane Black Beard (the thin one), who was with her daughter Little Jane Pussycat. They met with Fat John Raspberry and His son Small John Raspberry.

You get the idea.

Anyway. It’s all good fun, especially as we go through the exercise of choosing a name for the newest member of our family

When people sell houses in the Czech Republic, they sell them without light fittings.

I can’t really understand this practice (it’s the opposite in New Zealand). Sure, if you have some chandelier you are especially fond of, then by all means you should take it with you when you move. But everything?!

In our house, (I’ve just walked around and counted) we have 43 light fittings, and that’s not including the two flats.

Actually, it’s not really correct to say that we have 43 light fittings. Now, after six months or so we have quite a few nice light fittings, but still a lot of bare wires sticking out of ceilings and walls.

We’re working on it. . .

We had a long weekend here last weekend, thanks partly to St Cyril and St Methodius, who came to Moravia to propagate the Christian faith in 863, and who, as a result, gave us the day off on Thursday.

Special thanks also to Jan Hus, who thoughtfully arranged to be burnt at the stake the following day in 1415 giving us the Friday off.

Despite a not too promising weather forecast, we decided to take advantage of the weekend to go camping in the very west of the Czech Republic, to the area around Frantiskovy Lasne, where I hadn’t previously been. We had a really nice weekend. Nothing too special or amazing to report really, but it was great to sit by the side of the beautiful lake where we camped, and to walk though the forest and across summer meadows, stumbling on the occasional castle.

We found one castle that I particularly like. I have decided that if the Czech Monarchy is ever restored, and I am made an Earl or a Duke or whatever, then this is the one I’d like. Seeburg Castle http://www.seeberg.cz/cz_hrad_seeberg.htm. It’s very old, beautifully restored, and not too big, so there would be plenty of room for visitors, but not too much wasted space.

We visited on 07/07/07, which – as has been widely reported – was a very popular day for weddings. So popular in fact that there seemed to be one happening every 30 minutes (and we arrived at nine in the morning!). While it would easy to remember one’s wedding anniversary, paying twice the going rate for flowers, and finding it impossible to book a reception venue seems like more trouble than it’s worth.

Interestingly, a lot of the castles in the region are no longer in ruins. Perhaps because the area is so close to the German border a lot of them seem to be being bought by foreigners who are restoring them. In fact everything in this area, including isolated villages in the middle of nowhere, seems to be tidier, better preserved and maintained than most of the Czech Republic

So all in all a nice weekend.