Small Insight on the Effects of Jan Hus

June 8, 2019 – Architecturally Speaking

In Old Town Square this building faces the large Jan Hus statue that stands tall in the square. Jan Hus was one of the most important men in history for not only the Christian religion but for the general morality of humans. This building is next to one of the most influential men in history and yet at first glance the square’s statue just looks like another bronze random man that is throughout history.

In the 14th Century the church was completely corrupt. There were also three people claiming to be the pope when there is never that many. Since the church was greedy they would let the richest of society pay the church for “indulgences”. Indulgences were basically an ethical pass to do whatever they wanted as long as the price was right. After or before they did their bad deed they would tell the priest and he would pardon them after their donation was made.

Jan Hus did not agree with this and believed that money could not grant you the power to do terrible things. Since only the priest would tell the public what the bible said, the people did not truly know what they were believing so Jan Hus translated it to Czech for them. He is the lesser known Martin Luther or Calvin of his age. Jan Hus is known to be the key predecessor of protestants. His opposition to the Catholic Church put a target on his back and he was burned at the stake, but his influence did not end with his death.

After he died there were the Hussite Wars that were done by his followers. The Hussites did end up losing and had to convert to Catholicism. He also edited the language of Czech to be more functional. Now on July 6 it is a national holiday to commemorate Hus and is celebrated most primarily in the Czech Republic. America also has two separate ways to commemorate him, since he is considered to be a saint.

The Current Boom of Asian Global Tourists

June 6, 2019– Not From These Parts

Since the CET study abroad program started in May there is about a week and a half before the true tourist season starts. Once that season starts the pavement fades out of your view, the restaurants become unavailable and the pick pocketing is an epidemic. That is due to the current social changes that are leading over 57 million people from Asia just in the short summer season.

This is a new trend that is getting all of these visitors because they have relaxed the visas and so that it is much easier. In some countries they have completely gotten rid of the need for any visa. The UK is currently piloting a program that minimizes the amount of applications that Asian countries must do to travel to the UK.

The budget airlines have expanded to go to more Asian countries because they know whenever these people come to other countries they spend a lot. Since their population is so how the amount of people that want to come do travel is a guaranteed win for any travel agency.

Out of all of the Asian tourists the number of South Korea are off the charts. To try and help this phenomena the airlines have made more and more direct flights to Prague.

China is a close second for the most travelers in Prague. To help these numbers rise, they filmed a romance movie in Chinese in Prague. The financial incentives help more and more people come to the beauty of Prague since their culture sometimes sees frugality as the best way of life and denounces excessive spending. Although there is the rich of course, some parts of the culture are very against the high spending types of cultures.

This photo shows an Asian man turning back to look for his family as they hustle and bustle to try to make it to the Prague Castle. As May has come and gone and mid June approaches the streets are already beginning to further show how Prague is one of the top destinations for tourists. The season has begun and this man is just one in 57 million.

Pinkas Synagogue Pays Homage to Thousands of Jews

June 5, 2019 – Architecturally Speaking

Communism was one of the greatest faults that humanity has ever had in the recent modern world. The killing of thousands and thousands and thousands over the difference in beliefs and heritage. Czech had the misfortune of being amongst East Europe and East of the Iron Curtain during these savage times, meaning Jews were to say the least, in a bad situation.

Although geography would argue that the Czech Republic is quite central in Europe the cultural boundaries and Curtain made it East and pushed the Western countries away due to the stiff control of the Communist side. The people here were shipped out daily to camps and the body count seemed never ending.

As a person that grows up in North Texas in a small rural town there were never opportunities to experience true Jewish Culture. The history books attempt to explain the catastrophe of this time and a picture is worth a thousand words, but not even a thousand pictures can truly tell this story. Walking into an old synagogue on the Jewish Museum tour was the most humbling and telling experience that scratched the surface of the immense casualty that the Jewish community faced.

On the walls of this synagogue are simply three things written. A name. A date of birth. A date of capture. Notice that it is not a death date, but of capture because no one knows when specifically they were killed, if they survived or died for the most part. The walls of each room are filled from the tip of the ceiling to the boards on the floor. As visitors walk in the room it is just a feeling of morose and sorrow. This picture captures how light and bright the synagogue was, its white walls had motifs of angelic feelings and the red names in turn were more powerful and represented the death that struck the Jews.

The names are so small visitors must squint and there are so many names in there it would take hours to read each name. The worst part, the names on these walls are only from the Bohemian Region and Shoah and over a dozen 20 ft high ceilings and 8pt font can not name all the victims of the Holocaust.

The word Holocaust actually comes from the Hebrew word Olah which translates to “burnt offering to God” so quite literally the Jews and other millions of people were seen as an offering to God. The word Holocaust is much debated and there are many other ways to refer to it based on the culture.

Through all of this heartache there has been faith at the center. The Jews might have lost over a third of their population and the Nazi’s might have been defeated but nothing can be reversed. At the end of the day all that can be done is to hope for a better future and learn from the terrible mistakes of the past. Just as this old man is looking up at the names of the of victims society must also keep their head up and look to the future for in hope for better days.

Large Protest Against the High Government Officials Fill Streets

June 4, 2019- A Thousand Words

The government of the Czech Republic is not in good standings with its people. In the past few weeks there has been over 5 large scale protests with over 60,000 people from all over Europe and Czech coming to fight back. This particular protest was over 120,000 people which is the largest since the 80’s.

Here there are Prime Ministers and Presidents yet the Prime Minister has more power. Their current Prime Minister, , owns his own personal business which has been gaining money due to the clout he is receiving as Prime Minister. The people of Czech are quiet, but their voices are heard now.

To try and combat the people’s initial attempt to put charges on him he did not try to make amends, rather he went around the people to replace the judge that could do damage to him and his reputation and put his close friend in that position as insurance to his wrongdoings.

Czech people are very unhappy with the way their democracy is going and the streets were full of calm and collected people trying to make a positive change and show the officials how many people are truly upset. As a part of the tradition in protesting in Prague the streets were filled with keys dangling when the crowd cheered due to the original protest. When the original one happened there was no time to get noise makers and the protesters all just pulled out whatever they had in order to make the biggest impact.

In this picture you can see young adults holding a giant sign saying something to the extent of “YOU CALLED THIS DEMONSTRATION SMALL” referring to the comments made by the media trying to belittle the public’s overwhelmingly unified opinion on the corruption of their government. Thousands of young people, old people and children were present at the event to fight for democracy. The abundance of the small children made the previous media comments ironic since the children are quite literally small but mighty.

Tourism Literally Drives Prague in Peak Months

June 3, 2019 – Not From These Parts

One of the best ways to catch someones eye is to wear red or something shiny, so naturally this tourist trap is both red and shiny. These old cars are always around the streets of Prague giving tours to families, couples or any other group trying to get that “authentic tour of the city” that is private and flashy. It screams “look at me, I don’t care how much I spent on this because its cool”. Harsh but you know I am not wrong. Everyone looks at them, takes a blurry pic of the car that they will never look at again and forgets it ever happens, But why do we always feel the need to take that blurry pic.

Thats why I chose to put this into the blog. I saw the car and said “cool!” and put it in my camera because I have the unlimited cloud and so it doesn’t matter how much unsubstantial pictures we take because one, we never have to see our pics and two, they it didn’t take us any effort to take the pic, develop the pic or store the pic,

Now obviously tourism is big in the Czech Republic, but according to recent studies 2018 was the biggest yet. They had over 21 million people visiting and over 8 million in Prague alone. That is 8 million people that potentially drive in these cars. If only 5% of those tourists did these tours than these vintage car tours would be making approximately 80 million dollars a year. I am no expert, but that seems like a whole lot of money that just Prague vintage cars are making so it is no wonder you can barely get a toe onto Charle’s Bridge during the day.

Consumers and Tourists Looking Down Upon Street Performers

June 2, 2019 – A Thousand Words

The streets of Prague are filled with what you would expect any major city to have. The tourists, the locals, the street food, beggars and then there are the street performers. The only difference in Prague is the abundance and choices of performances of these people.

Yesterday was the honor of having two 8 foot boa constrictors around a 19 year old study abroad student’s neck for the small price of 200 kc which swiftly turned into 100 kc after some hardball by a poor college kid. The animal which is known to have some of the most powerful muscles is being put around the necks of tourists just trying to up their instagram game. For these people though, it is not an instagram picture, it is their income.

The performers that go out on the street corner or Old Town Square every day for multiple hours each day painting their face, hair, body and clothes just to stand still and hope a sucker comes by to take a picture and drop a couple of euros or krowns. For the art dealers and painters they are competing against each other to catch the eye of that one extra tourist. For the people in the panda, polar bear and lion mascot costumes they waddle around hoping that a kid will coerce their parents into taking a 40 kc picture.

These people have come to the last thing they can do. Working the streets. Although they are blessed to be here in such a wonderful city and have become remotely successful with these jobs, these are not jobs and the face of rejection and failure jeers at them every, single, day.

In this photo you can see how this artist is surrounded by shopping bags, people ignoring them racing off to somewhere they have deemed more important and other onlookers. They are teased by the bags, showing off that the consumers are not on the streets but in the stores. He has lowered himself and these consumers have a position of power and quite literally look down upon him with the advantage point.

How the Czech’s Have Made Everyday Life Beautiful

June 1, 2019 – Noticed

Granted, the Metro isn’t a place anyone would say “ugh that place is the most beautiful place” normally, but here they have made it to be a place that people can enjoy. As a temporary student from a foreign country, there was no oppurtunity to bring a car. That meant it was time to learn the public transit like the back of your hand. In fact, to avoid being late and showing up on the wrong side of the street, you should learn it even better than the back of your hand.

This part of the metro has a giant glass dome that breaks the concrete slabs and cobble stone sidewalks to create an appealing and beautiful entrance into the subway. The material on the wall of the entrance creates a set of reflecting colors that make it mesmerizing to watch as people come and go.

The Czechs are not very warm and cozy people, but they have these great pieces of architecture that show that deep down they care about at least the meaning their art work conveys. Although this photo strikes a modern vibe, the city is full of art nouveau. From train stations to concert halls to restaurants, they have made the city full of swirly floral patterns and tried their hardest to break up all the straight lines that a city naturally creates.

This photo represents the subtle way that Czechs really do care about the arts, the population of the fine art connoisseurs seems to be much slimmer than the pilsner enthusiasts, or at least thats what they want you to think now.

Romas’ Culture Is Dying and Czech Isn’t Helping

May 31, 2019 – Noticed

Annually a parade is held for the people identifying and celebrating the culture of the Romas. This year things went a little differently than the Romas expected and instead of the usual crowds the streets were flooded with those that hardly knew or cared about the rich heritage that was being celebrated. Instead the streets were flooded with garbage trucks and disgruntled people.

The Czech people have been treating the Romas people so poorly they  will go as far as to attempt to avoid living near and next to the Romas. The main problems between the two cultures of Czech and Romas are the issues of crime and poverty.

The Czechs view the Romas with as much respect as people of colored recieved in the 1950’s in America. This is because the Czech people during the Communist era failed to change the Romas’ way of continuously moving about. They eventually tried to force these people into poverty stricken areas and ever since there has been a long lasting battle between the two.

This little girl in red is a metaphor of how the Czech view the culture of the Romas , small and a great responsibility that has to be dealt with. She is sticking out from the crowd and further solidifying the trope of her culture being stand out and therefore brings lots and lots of different views and metaphors into the eyes of the beholder.

The Sweet Treat That Remains Untouched by Globalization’s Gaze

May 30, 2019 – Around Here

As all the McDonalds, KFC and Burger Kings lights flash in seemingly all corners of european cities, there are corners left untouched. A quick snapshot of the history of Czech culture quite literally revolves around these sweet pastries that are in storefronts and hanging in street stands.

Since the Czech people were east of the Iron Curtain they became aligned with countries like Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. As a united front their cultures collided resulting in pastries called Trdelnik that are made as cones for ice cream, whip cream or other sweet cravings that came from the Szekely Hungarians. These treats are famous in Prague and Hungary but the average American remains in the dark sticking to whatever McDonald’s McFlurry they have decided to try this time.

The question that this sweet treat brings to the table is should these Trdelnik become the newest globalized good? The debatable part of it all is whether to take the secrets of the Hungarians and Czechs back to the states and spread the wealth but risk taking away the originality and uniqueness of the culture.

Globalization has caused the average American to attach value to races and cultures almost unconsciously. If the average college student wants cheap breakfast they go to the Taco Stand run by the same people coast to coast. Without writing who you most likely have the picture of who’s face is behind the counter. Same for lunch and dinner as portrayed in Hollywood. The lawyers, med students and cramming college kids are all posed with chopsticks and a to-go box. The culture is gone and all that remains is a stereotype.

As for Trdelnik they are real, they are valued and they are preserved in their natural state, free from the claws of globalization standing on the fried frontier.

Who Exists Outside of the Silent City Center

May 29, 2019 – Small Wonder

In Prague they follow a strict, and silent, hegemony and there aren’t many suburbs and it is mainly a city center full of people that keep to themselves. To try and see what is beyond this and go as far as the metro would take you on the green line.

Czech is known to not have suburbia and instead the outskirts are riddled with small parks, wide sidewalks and apartments. Similar to the city center the people were still quiet and for the most part kept to themselves. But curiosity led deeper and deeper into the apparent suburban carbon copy of downtown Prague.

After hours of mute exchanges and blank faces came across the little boy that couldn’t care less or did not know more than to be quiet. He had stand out qualities that started with the first glance. The bright yellow cap as seen above was cute and completely representative of his true colors inside as well.

This little boy was skipping, jumping, yelling and running up and down the sidewalk of this area. Just as Americans are noticed at first sight or first sound, he was not hard to find. Once he finally had come closer he had reached the end of the line when it comes to his mother’s patience and was then being tugged home.

Regardless of any unspoken rules, this boy dared to be heard, dared to be seen and unknowingly dared to be photographed for going beyond the hegemony.