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I'm a quarter Czech and damn proud of my heritage...there are many towns in Texas with Slavic roots and a town called West, Texas that has a few Czech restaurants...because many of the residents of descendants of Czech settlers...
MJay,
It's nice that you're proud of your home country and wish more people would take more interest, but it struck me as pretty immature to dismiss someone, simply because they don't know the exact border location of your country.
Most foreigners know a lot more about the United States than most other countries, because the US is always a "hot news topic". It is a widely popular tourist destination and is featured on TV and movies the world over. Most Americans don't know very much about the Czech Republic. Face it, for US and world issues it's a fairly insignificant country.
Let me ask you what you know about Uruguay? Do you know its exact location? Do you know what a beautiful city Montevideo is? So get off your high horse and don't take offense so easily.
When I was in the US Army in the 1970s stationed in Germany, I spent many weeks several times a year in the Bavarian Forest area right along the border with CZ. Later in the 1990s while on a visit to Dresden, Germany I took a train trip to Prague for several days. I know quite a bit about CZ and also Slovakia because several of my co-workers are from there and they have told me much about both of those countries.
MJay, are you aware that there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people in the USA of CZ or Slovakian heritage? One summer when I was a university student, I worked on a crew that drove large harvest combines in the great plains states of the US. We went to many towns in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, many of whose residents are decendents of CZ, in an area much larger than CZ itself! You can see signs on stores or restaurants in Czech language, and many people still speak the language.
MJay,
It's nice that you're proud of your home country and wish more people would take more interest, but it struck me as pretty immature to dismiss someone, simply because they don't know the exact border location of your country.
Most foreigners know a lot more about the United States than most other countries, because the US is always a "hot news topic". It is a widely popular tourist destination and is featured on TV and movies the world over. Most Americans don't know very much about the Czech Republic. Face it, for US and world issues it's a fairly insignificant country.
Let me ask you what you know about Uruguay? Do you know its exact location? Do you know what a beautiful city Montevideo is? So get off your high horse and don't take offense so easily.
Yeh! that's what I think...if someone don't know about your hometown, country or whatever, in spite of geting angry and not talking to them anymore (that's a kind of a haughty actitud to me)... what you should do is show it to them in a nicely way...
What happened to you MJay is exactly what happened to me a couple of months ago when I went to the states to spend a few weeks traveling around..
Last edited by Cornerguy1; 03-24-2008 at 11:46 AM..
Reason: link no longer valid
Wow, I'm really surprised by your knowledge. Its strange that I mostly met those who doesnt knows much... However, the few Americans I met are very friendly and funny people... When I met the most inteligent person, she was from The States, however, she gratuated MIT... I'm sorry that I talked like: stupid americans, bla bla bla.... You are very strong people... I remember that day I arrived home and saw mum crying asking her what happened... She said the twins are down.... I was only ten that time, but now when I'm watching vids on Youtube its just.... crazy.... how can somebody do something like that?? Thats just my opinion....
Your mum cried more about the towers than *I* did. I don't care about NYC at all.
Rofl. Why would we care about locations in Europe? They change so often.
Take a 1900 map and compare it to now. You'd be like "where the f* did you go?" to half the countries.
Well, I'm not American, and I "sort of" know roughly where in Europe the C.R is. Which is pretty ignorant considering my father was from Belarus. (I do know that their beer is fabulous though. )
But, an English co-worker once asked me if Iraq and Iran were the same country.
Now, THAT is bad, imho.
I know where the Czech Rep. is, and also where Prague is located within it. But then that is where my grandparents were from.
Now, let me help you understand a bit why it is Americans cannot locate European countries. It is not that we are undereducated, or that we have no interest in Europe. Rather, it is the lack of practice. Americans would love to travel around Europe, much like you probably do, but it is just not economically feasable for most of us. So, while most of us learned the geography of Europe in school, without the practice of actually travelling around Europe we simply forget.
As for not knowing more then English and possibly Spanish? The same thing. Without practice it would be hard to maintain French, Czeck or Latvian etc....
Now, my grandparents and their parents immigrated from Praha. My great grandfather had the rule that if he caught his children speaking Czech, they would get a beating. As a result the language was largely lost. Except for curse words and all the words for 'poop'
Perhaps one day I'll enjoy a beer and kolache in Prague!
I talked with one American via chat and asked him where is he from. He said: Tennessee. I said: Memphis/Nashville/Knoxville or somewhere else? He said: Oh, how do you know a lot about Tennessee? I said: Do you know where Czech republic is? He said: Oh, somewhere in the Russian borders? I turned off that chat and never wanted to talk with him. Please Americans, remember that Czech republic is in eastern borders of Germany (hope that you know where Germany is). It just drive me crazy when you dont know it. What are you doing in the schools? Just learning about might of the US? And now tell me the truth, did you knew that Czech republic is in the eastern borders of Germany or not? Did you heard about Prague? Btw: Everyone who visits Prague says that its the most beautiful city he ever visited - nicer even than Paris - many people still dont believe it...
MJay,
I am from Tennessee originally; the Knoxville area. I know where the Czech Republic is because I lived in Prague for a year, teaching English. And, you're right, Prague is probably one of my most favorite places in the world! (You just need to take all of those ugly satellite dishes off of all of your beautiful architecture in the city! That's a horrible, ugly mistake to allow them.)
The memorial to Jan Palach and Jan ZajÃc in front of the National Museum made a lasting impression on me. I spent a lot of time at that memorial. Wenceslas Square is very special to me and is especially beautiful. Wow, floods of memories are coming back. $1 was equal to 34-36Kč! Today $1 is only 16Kč.
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