Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Happy New Year

Written by cd on January 1, 2008 – 12:00 pm -

[Source]


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New Date for Czech’ Shengen Agreement

Written by cd on November 16, 2007 – 11:17 pm -

Screw that New Year plan you had about crossing Czech border for a new tourist stamp. The effect date for Czech’ joining the Schengen passport-free area will not be January 1st of 2008. As a gift to this country, current Schengen members moved the date up to December 21st or 2007.

Nice gestures to Czechs and legal Schengen stamp carriers, but can’t say the same thing for you!


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Schengen and Illegal Expats

Written by cd on September 17, 2007 – 9:58 pm -

Why should you care about Schengen Treaty? If you are a foreigner living and working “illegal” in the Czech Republic, you should be.

When the new year arrives and Czech becomes a member of Schengen, together with seven other young EU countries, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, your waltzing in and out of the Czech Republic to the borders for the covet stamp which allows you to stay and work “underground” here for three more months is soon to be numbered.

Instead or paying for a cheap rideshare or bus ticket to Germany, Austria, Poland or Slovakia, you will have to dig deeper in your pocket and lose more time as the closest non-Schengen countries are Croatia and UK. Croatia has risen to be a popular destination for Europeans as well as Czechs, so you can find easily travel deals to this region. Since Croatia is getting more and more expensive, you should welcome the possibility of traveling to Croatia’s less well-off but splendid nonetheless neighbors: Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania.

During my first two months here, I met a guy who lived illegally and taught English for three years before starting his adventure business. Every three months, he left the Czech Republic to get a new stamp. This little piece of information was, probably, one of the best travel advice I’d received from any one. Then a month later, I hopped on the bus to Liberec and made my way into Zittau, a small hidden city in South Eastern Germany. Was this trip mandatory? Perhaps not because my employer had already applied for my working Visa. But I really wanted to brag to my friends at home that “I also did it,” that is doing something “illegally.”

See map for current and future Schengen countries.
Green: current members
Pink: immediate future members
Blue: Czech Republic

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Czech Defense Minister Sings Radar Song

Written by cd on June 10, 2007 – 6:22 pm -

To “celebrate” the “high-anticipating” radar project proposed by the US government, Lady Czech Defense Minister dueted with Czech’s famous folk singer Jan Vycital in this jovial “Dobry den prapore hvezd a pruhu/Good day the flag of stars and stripes” song.

This song was a new version of the old Communist song, “Good day Sergeant Gagarin,” congratulating Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

The song demonstrates the typical sarcastic humor of Czechs who usually make fun of many ill-fated events and circumstances engulfing their small, powerless country.

Lyrics

Cel� svet listoval denn�m tiskem,
cel� svet zanechal hovoru,
j� jsem V�s uv�tal ruky stiskem
a zvedl pohled svuj nahoru.

Dobr� den, prapore hvezd a pruhu,
tak u� ses rozvinul nad n�ma,
dobr� den, prapore na�ich druhu,
co jsme je v�tali s d��pama.

[: Dobr� den, radare, proste welcome,
tak jsme se konecne dockali,
dobr� den, radare, j� ti tlesk�m,
k�mo�i us�rnou m�vali.:]

Vyrid tam pros�m do vesm�ru,
vyrid tam mezi hvezdama,
�e chcem ��t nad�l s ka�d�m v m�ru,
rad�i v�ak �ijeme U Sama.

Vyrid tam pros�m, �e my v�me,
o n�m kdy prines svobodu,
kde Masaryk s prezidentem Wilsonem
pomoh na�emu n�rodu.

 The entire world was listening to the news,
the entire world stops talking,
I will welcome you by shaking of hands,
And will proudly lift my face up.
Good day, the flag of stars and stripes
you are finally above us,
good day, the flag of our allies,
who we welcomed in the past. (reminiscence to WW2 liberation of Czech)
[: Good day, radar, frankly welcome
so you finally arrived,
good day, radar, I am applauding you,
all friends are waiving to you too. :]
Please say in space,
please say there among the stars,
that we want to still live with anybody in peace
but we prefer to be friends with Uncle Sam.
Say there please, that we know,
who brought us our liberty,
where Mr. Masaryk with Mr. Wilson,
helped to our nation.

To really know what Czechs feel about the radar project, watch Pink’s video which was broadcasted on Czech TV. One more thing, the video was subtitled in Czech, which was very rare, to make sure every Czech understand the song’s lyrics.

I love this song and this flighty attitude of Czechs until I read people’s criticism of the singing- lover Parkova for this �unprofessional� outburst, that she showed too much pro-American.

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