Pár zajímavých citátů o přátelství, které se mi líbí a teď navíc hodí.
A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself.
~Frances Ward Weller
A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should.
~author unknown
'Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.
~Benjamin Franklin
Today I have met many people, who couldn't believe me my stories about Czech and Slovak Easter customs, especially when I said we beat girls. But let's start from the beginning, there are more surviving pagan customs in our brother countries. The most popular one is definitely the colouring and decorating of eggs.
Professionals in the art of egg-decorating can turn eggs into
genuine works of art, decorating them with straw, wax or bobbin lace. They
usually use egg shells from which the raw yolk is blown through two opposite
holes poked in the top and bottom. Normal people, especially families with
children, prefer to decorate hard-boiled eggs, which are less fragile. The most
common method of decorating is dying the eggs with onion skins, which makes
their colour deep brown. During the communist days, it was also common to use
fabric dye. Nowadays, children have a vast variety of colours and stickers to
choose from.
[* cagan.jpg < ]Another popular pagan tradition surviving to these days is
the whipping of women and girls. The whip or „pomlázka“ is
braided from three or more willow rods. Actually, in every region of our two
states it's called in a different way – „švihačka“, „mrskačka“,
„čagan“, „karabina“, „korbáč“, „tatar“, „žíla“… Pagan
Slavs believed that whipping brought good luck, wealth and a rich harvest for
the whole year. Its original purpose and symbolic meaning is to chase
away illness and bad spirits and to bring health and youth for the rest of the
year to everyone who is whipped with the young pussywillow twigs. B.oys
would whip girls lightly on the legs and possibly douse them with
water.
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Měl jsem připravit prezentaci o České republice pro třídu finských IT studentů. Tak jsem připravil. Jak to dopadlo? Dovolím si odcitovat část e-mailu od kantorky (Elina Bergroth), která předmět vede:
Hello Jan, I would once more like to thank you for the excellent presentation you gave today! As I already told you, you really seem to be a talented performer. You presentation was very interesting and informative and you gave a vivid picture of your country. I was just praising you to my colleagues! The other students in the group share my view and they really loved your presentation. Unfortunately, we Finns are quite shy and very timid to ask any questions, and this is ‚normal‘ behaviour here. Though, many foreigners – quite understandably – interpret it as a sign of ignorance but that it is not.
Congratulations, you are accepted to participate in exchange studies at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oulu UAS), School of Engineering. We at the International Office of the School of Engineering will do our best to make your stay pleasant and rewarding both academically and personally.
For helping you to prepare your stay and travel, our ECTS Guide provides you with a lot of practical information. You may find the ECTS Guide at: http://www.oamk.fi/english/ects.
Furthermore, in order to make sure that everything will go well with your travel preparations and arrival, please read the following very carefully and respond to us latest by Monday 1 December 2008 that you have received this message.
…
:)
Kulturní vložka. No – ano, máte pravdu. Je to jasné. Nemám o čem
psát! Sahám na dno! Ano, uchyluji se k tomu, že vykrádám svá školní
díla a prokládám je básničkami, aby na blogu byl alespoň nějaký
provoz. Nejdříve seminárka o Clavellovi…
Hrozné, že? ;)
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