So who are these Czechs anyway..??..

After living here for 4 months I am hardly an expert on Czech culture or the spirit behind Czech people; but I have spent my time here listening, asking questions, observing, and soaking up any information people have to offer.  From the university professor I met in a jazz club once, to my Czech friends, 

to missionaries who have been living here since communism, to random conversations with Prague natives, to my official Czech culture class, and finally from all the Czech books I have read this semester, I have accumulated knowledge about his strange and enchanting city that has fully captivated my heart. So I decided to write it all down and make one final assessment and interpretation of what is really means to be Czech.

The first thing you have to understand is that Czechs are naturally reserved people. They have been used and abused and told what to think since the Holy Roman Empire in the middle ages.  Under the Hapsburgs they were servants and peasants in their own land while the Austrians reigned as nobles. But I already gave you a history lesson earlier in this blog, so all I will say is that Czechs are justifiably cautious of ‘the other’ or ‘the foreigner’.  The newer generation is not as overtly racists (unless you are talking about Russia, then the hate streams out of just about anybody), but it is primarily the older generation who just wants to be left alone. They want to be Czech; they want to discover what that means, and in a way tourism is a new form of invasion. Tourism is a new concept for the Czech lands and many people don’t know how to deal with it. So when you think you are being ignored when you walk down the street or purposefully ostracized unless introduced by a connection or mutual friend, then you are right. Why should you be trusted unless you prove yourself to be a friend first?  BUT once you are a friend then Czech’s are sweet, thoughtful people who would love to get a beer with you and talk about America and what it was like under communism. However, when you do find yourself in this honored position, something to remember is that Czechs don’t understand American pride.

They love their country and want to be left alone to enjoy it, but they don’t gush over it like we do.  The old buildings don’t mesmerize them as they do with us. They are cautious of the old and want to simply think about the Czech Republic in the future as new, modern, and progressive, which creates an ironic paradox considering Prague is considered by foreigners as a gem of the past, and outside powers (from HRE Charles IV to Hitler to modern day tourists) have desperately tried to preserve the city for themselves as a place to step back in time and experience history starring at them in the face. The problem with this is that Czech’s don’t want history starring at them in the face. They did history, they tried it, and it failed them.  Ask any Czech person and they hate the old looking, thick brick walls with red roofs. They want glass houses with modern architecture and a feeling of light and freedom.

This love/hate relationship with tourism gets complicated however because tourism fuels their economy (as one might assume) and foreigners are a necessary element in that process. But once communism fell in 1989 and the ecstasy of freedom and seduction of the west wore off and they realized that the democracy was just as screwed up as communism…just in a different way. Don’t get me wrong, the Czechs HATED communism (probably as much as the Hungarians) but there is this paradoxical nostalgia for those times, the simplicity of life, and most importantly the fight. The velvet revolution provided the poets, the musicians, the intellectuals, and the young and passionate students with a purpose and a noble cause to fight for. Prague spring and the velvet revolution (both anti-communist movements) cultivated more pride and more artistic culture than ever before in these lands and people miss having a common goal to unite under.  Their last heroes, their last celebrities were the Plastic People of the Universe, a dissident rock band form the 80s.  Since then there has been a lull, a lack of inspiration, and nothing to fight for. The corruption of the new democratic government is disheartening and a much more complicated giant to tackle. You can’t blame corruptions like you can blame a dictator.  For this people look back on those times and say, ‘maybe they weren’t so bad’ at least passion filled the streets back then.

So current day Czechs walk around, going about their lackluster lives of work and home, work and home suffering from an inability to fill the vacuum of what once was.  Vaclav Havel (the Czechs most famous dissident turned president) once explained that “They must pay for the attempt to seize nature, to leave not a remnant of it in human hands, to ridicule its mystery; they must pay for the attempt to abolish God and to play at being God.” In this way Prague is uncanny. There is a left over sprit that was once there, and will be again, but is currently blind and searching for its way back through the darkness.  You can almost feel the remains of an artistic fervor and political oomph leftover from its glory days and every once in a while you can catch a spark in the eye of a neighbor.  But suddenly a gust of wind sweeps through and the sent is gone.  Prague is uncanny because it is not dead but it is also not alive.  It is not ostentatious but it is also not silent. The streets are not completely strange but they are not familiar either. There is a missing piece that haunts the city.  Paraphrased from Havel, Prague is missing a horizon that will place the smoke in the distance and will ground them into the now. It will reignite the excitement of mystery and spark a need for sincere collective thoughtfulness. There is a future for Prague and it is slowly making its way back home; but in the meantime Prague must remain long suffering and wait for its redemption.

In plain words there is a lack of passion and lack of caring.  Beer consumption has increased ten fold over the last couple decades and it now ranks number one over Ireland for beer consumption per capita.  This is what they live for now, beer and finding a significant other… and PDA.

And while that all may seem a little harsh truly none of the words are my own. I have simply paraphrased what I have heard over and over and over again throughout the last couple months.  The Czechs are their own biggest critics.  They see what is wrong but no one knows how to change it. In all my conversations never once has anyone offered me a solution or movements to change public opinion. They simply state problems as fact and move on. 

But don’t get me wrong. I love this place.  I love how introspective Czech people are and how they regard their artists, musicians, and intellectuals as the highest and most respected.  I love how even their puppet shows are operas or political commentaries. I love how they still pride themselves in their communists ‘kola’ and how restaurant/ pubs fill every street corner. I love their language. I love that they eat fried cheese for dinner.  I love that the cardinal sin is to eat meat without ordering a beer alongside it.  I love that everyone reads on the tram. I love the cobble stone streets. I love the miraculously obedient Czech canine species.  And while I don’t love t that you have to pay for water I do love that you can sit in a pub for hours and never be bothered unless you ask for the check on your own time.  I am going to miss this place. I am going to miss meeting new people every day and sitting back and soaking up a new environment, a new culture, a new way of life. 

I will do a farewell post next week but for now I just want to say that I love these people and I love Prague and this semester will always hold a very special place in my heart.