Getting To Know Swedish

I tried to learn Swedish by myself. Its grammar, pronunciation and other things seemed complicated. Now, after one week of a course it seems much easier. A lot of things make sense. And after one week, I am able to ask basic questions, say how I am doing, etc. Here’s a little “my ordinary day assignment” I was able to put together. This is for my Swedish readers

Jag varknar klockan sex. Jag har muessli eller bröd med tunfisk till frukost. Jar går till jobbet. Mitt jobb år på Gorkeho gatan. Jag jobbar som översättare. Klockan tvart över två år jag hemma. Därefter går jag till Hotel International. Jag gillar bassängen där; eller går jar fotograferar. I kväll ringer jag min flickvån.

Scandinavian languages are really interesting, I must say…

Newborn’s Life Is Worth 800 Thousand, A Court Said

A Czech married couple sued a hospital over the death of their newborn baby. A court ruled Thursday that the hospital should pay them CZK 400,000 each, i.e. CZK 800,000 in total. For your information, it is $53,000.

You gotta be fucking kidding me.

The court ruled that the baby died when it suffered burns after it had been placed on a faulty heater mat that is used to keep babies warm.

How do you put a price tag on a dead baby???

If you are a judge, how do you tell a parent “No, you don’t deserve THAT MUCH MONEY, I am awarding you only THIS MUCH. To explain this, the parents sued for three million, which is $200,000. What kind of a jerk says, Nope, too much. Such cases should be simple. You took our baby, the court of appeals found you guilty, tell us what you want and we will give it to you. I know it doesn’t really fit within the crime-and-punishment scheme, but hey: they killed your baby.

According to the judge, one of the reasons why the couple did not get the money they wanted was that the newborn baby was not their only child.

WTF???

Brno Architecture: Old Things Go, New Things Come. And Some Return

There is an old viaduct near the Brno Main Station. I think this very bridge has been used since 1880’s. It is almost for sure that it will have to go once the new huge development project has been underway – the new main train station and some neighboring streets, residential and office areas, parks…basically a new borough. Almost.

There aren’t many tall buildings in Brno, and you can hardly call them skyscrapers. This building will probably be the tallest office building in Brno. And I can tell already that I am going to like it.

Good news: people of Brno are coffee nation. There are MANY, MANY stylish coffee places to go in Brno. There used to be one in 1930’s called The Savoy that could host 1,000 people at the same time. It was closed down and practically destroyed over the years of communism, when the rooms were used as a cloth and fabric wholesale place [to explain it easily].

The Savoy will reopen this Saturday and the interior is said to be 1930’s-esque. Possibly with some hints of functionalism. Photos to be posted if I get in.

I Decided To Learn Swedish

One of my employer’s departments is a language school. This summer they offer a one-week three-hours-a-day Swedish courses. So I said to myself: why not…

So I decided to enjoy a sort of intellectual impulse and to learn some basic Swedish. So far it makes sense, grammar is easy. Which can not be said about pronunciation of vowels, which is tricky. But compared with German, it is waaaay easier. I do understand some written texts that I haven’t seen before, probably thanks to the fact that I speak German.

Feels good to learn new stuff at the age of 32.

Stealing A Counterfeit Piece Of Clothing: Is It A Crime?

It is a well-known fact that some Vietnamese who live in the Czech Republic sell counterfeit clothing. Especially Puma, Adidas, Reebok, etc.

Poor people buy these clothing items because they can not afford the real ones. The Czech Customs do regular busts during which they confiscate clothing worth millions of crowns.

A few days ago I noticed a discussion going on on a certain teenage chat server: some young men dare one another to pick a street salesman, pick a certain piece of clothing that is obviously fake [Reebok, Adidas, ...] and run away.

They say: no way it is stealing. And no way the vendor will chase us because once we would get caught, let’s say by a cop, he would have to admit “this belongs to me”. Which is something Vietnamese salesmen whose booths are being searched for counterfeit items NEVER do.

I am the most law-respecting person I know and yet I have to admit that this is a good point. Selling counterfeit junk is a crime and if people stood up against it, the Vietnamese could, technically, have a problem. Because they would be unable to calculate “damage” they would suffer…

Some Czech Roma Decided To Misuse The Canadian Social System. Again

About 500 Czech Roma went to Canada to seek asylum, the Pravo daily writes, quoting a memorandum of Interior Minister Ivan Langer. It is expected that this number will increase.

Approximately a decade ago we had the same situation, as a result of which Canada introduced visa for Czechs, in order to stop the influx. Czech Roma sought asylum claiming they had been discriminated. And while waiting for their applications to be processed, they were entitled to Canadian social benefits and many of them still kept their welfare benefits “back home”.

The Roma are making a huge mistake and I am afraid the majority society will develop even stronger negative attitude towards them: Czechs who decide to change their lives and live abroad NORMALLY find a job there and THEN they move. Or they just go there and offer their knowledge and experience, or just anything they have to offer.

Nope, many Czech Roma just go to Canada BECAUSE THEY KNOW how much the welfare benefits are. Ten years ago Canada introduced visa, by which its government said Roma had in fact been abusing the system. And now it’s back…

The discussion forum underneath the article has been cancelled. No surprise there…

The One When Medvedev And Putin Flipped Out

Former KGB Official Vladimir Putin and his successor in the seat of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev proved that what some might have thought was a new Russia is in fact the same ol’ Russia. A country with a government that suffers from the Big Bear Complex.

Russia invaded Georgia. For the first time in decades Russian soldiers entered the soil of an independent country. There have been analogies presented, saying that it is a lot like in 1968, i.e. forty years ago, when Soviet army invaded then-Czechoslovakia to stop the reforms that some “enlightened communists” were attempting to enforce.

Putin et al. claim, among other things, that the reason was to protect Russian citizens in the region [in Georgia].

Really? Considering the fact that Putin hates Shaakashvili and the fact that Putin did not do very well when handling Chechnya, it is hard to believe. Especially since Russian leaders are well-known for lying to their soldiers about the real nature of their missions, so why should Putin start telling the truth now?

If Putin thought that injustice is being done to the Russian minority in Georgia, there are diplomatic instruments on the international level that can be used. He hasn’t used them so far.

Georgia is a prospective NATO member country. NATO is not in principle against Russia any longer, but still, Putin can’t accept Georgia’s membership. Of course, what would one expect from a former KGB official stationed in East Germany.

So one of the possible explanations for Putin and Medvedev flipping out is that they smell a chance to get even with disobedient Shaakashvili and to tell NATO to back off a little at the same time.

As for the separatist provinces of the Caucasus region it is obvious that normal democratic instruments will never work there. Like a referendum… the fact that Putin and Medvedev get mad at the European Union when it attempts to suggest Western-style democratic instruments proves that Putin is NOT a democrat. His idea of strength of a coutry is the military-style.

Which of course means that the Russian leaders are, once again, doing their domestic policy abroad. Ordinary Russian would buy the idea of a strong president/prime minister re-establishing of what was once theirs.

BTW: some former Bosnian or Serbian military officials had been charged with war crimes for killing people based on their ethnicity. Putin and Medvedev ordered bombing of some places in Georgia… any similarity with the definition of war criminals? Just wondering…

iPhone Czech Republic, Day One

Czech cell phone providers started to sell the new iPhone 3G today at midnight. However, it was not as hot as it sounds, for example Telefónica 02 only opened two stores, one in Prague and one in Brno. The one in Brno is a two-minute walk from my apartment.

One second to go and there are around 50 people waiting. The Telefónica girls are handing out bracelets with numbers so that people do not have to wait in line and instead they will just wait for their number to be called. However, some less smart clients do not get it, they just come and stare and it doesn’t strike them that there is a reason why there is no organized line.

The truth about the Czech iPhone 3G: I said before and I will say it again. This will mostly be an expensive toy for rich spoiled kids whose parents will buy them this gadget to compensate their lousy parenting, or a complete lack thereof.

OBSERVATION NUMBER ONE: sure enough: out of the fifty potential clients present, it is easy to count and observe that at least 40 (!!!) did not make the money they are about to use to buy iPhone.

OBSERVATION NUMBER TWO: an expensive and brand new gadget must be, of course, for the “beautiful people”. Again, easy to see and easy to count: Ken-and-Barbie-esque couples. Guys who dye their hair. Guys with Converse sneakers with one shoe lace blue and one shoe lace white. Crocs shoes. Brand clothing. Previous versions of the iPhone.

Telefónica girls hand out baguettes and water.

Miss Czech Republic Lucie Hadasova

Miss Czech Republic Lucie Hadasova unveils the window. And a few minutes later she serves customers inside. It is odd really, given that all customers are either guys with girlfriends, gays, or teen techie geeks.

I know, I know, it is symbolic to buy something like this on the first night. Like a Harry Potter book. But again, this piece of technology costs almost CZK 12,000 if purchased separately. Freaking USD 800 or more. Surely this could wait. Especially if it is daddy’s money.

I have spent over an hour with the crowd, together with two other journalists and one TV news crew. And I don’t think I saw a hard-working person, let’s say a teacher, who would save money for a few months and come on the first night to reward himself…

UPDATE: Dexter blogs from Poland!!! There were some fake clients in Warsaw, in fact PR people, who were purposefully making the lines of people waiting LONGER. Obviously we did not need that around here. Many Czech teens are snobs and they behave according to a saying I just invented: if you are out just while your cell recharges, you are out forever.

Unique Visitor To Brno: Former El Al 747

A cargo 747 visited Brno Turany Airport. When it comes to four-engine planes, mostly Russian planes can be seen (IL- and An-). PHOTO (c) Petr Bokuvka

I am pretty sure there has never been a passenger 747 at Brno Airport. Cargo planes visit rarely. About ten spotters waited for it to take off yesterday. It took off maybe two minutes before sunset so the photos pretty much suck. But there were six movements during fifteen minutes, which is pretty good for this airport. Fellow spotters will find a link to a photo gallery in a few hours…

By the way, as you can see it is quite a unique plane. It now belongs to the Tesis Cago company but it still has the old livery of the Israeli airline named El-Al. A quick look at the Airliners.net website says that this plane has been to many interesting places, like Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Manchester, Budapest, Moscow, etc. Tail registration VP-BXC, just in case anyone is keeping score…

Memories of the Russian Invaders

I was not alive when Russian and other Warsaw Pact armies invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. But I’ve heard many stories from those who were.

This unique photo is (c) Josef Koudelka / Magnum Photos
Via PragueOut.cz // Linked for illustration purposes only

When I started to notice them they had been already “settled”. They even had huge headquarters in my home town of Olomouc, the premises now belong to the Czech Army. And not far away there was a no-man’s-land where Russian military tank divisions were headquartered.

Of course they had their buildings in downtown Olomouc in front of which two young and usually very skinny Asian-looking soldiers would stand and guard, and I remember having been to a bizarre Russian department store they would call “Univermag“.

A while ago I found out that some old Russian vehicles are still parked in old and unused Czech Army compounds [see one of the bookmarks above]. And I remember sometimes back in the 1980’s a long rows of trucks and AV’s would go across town, in which case they would send their own, also Asian-looking, military police traffic cops to stop “our” traffic so that “their” traffic could pass. When I recall their regular journey, there were only TWO traffic light intersections, now there are fourteen. There would always be one traffic cop who must have been from Kazakhstan and sometimes us kids would wave at him.

In 1980’s they did not shoot people and they did not drive tanks into buses and shop windows, like they did in 1968 when they arrived. But we knew.

I have never met any Russian kid. They had their own schools. Come to think of it, there was just one in Olomouc which was quite sufficient. Most young soldiers were single and most commanding officers were old and had left their almost-adult children back in Russia.

Some of the buildings the Russians had occupied until 1990 were reconstructed only last year.

And the tanks are still there, parked among rubble and tall grass.