Forces driving me to write this blog ...

What's the matter?

Not much, I'm coming home - meaning to the home country - after 20 years living here or there depending on the jobs my husband or I got.

Having gone through the chemotherapy in a non-home-country increased my homesickness - quite common among the expatiates, particularly ladies, I've learned - to the unbearable state and for few years my main thought was I WANT TO GO HOME. That feeling was loosing the importance as my recovery progressed, but there was nowhere to return.

I put the increased homesickness down to the fact that just after the chemo my physical and mental state corresponded to one of a 80 years old in spite of being middle aged and thrilled from the job I had and generally satisfied with the life I had. However the treatment and the recovery  - not in the home country - took few years and while I needed to slow down to be able to re-start again all my connections - family and friends - needed to go on in their lives ... and I felt lonely.

Since then I seem to be drawn to the expatriation, repatriation, language education, bi-and more-lingual ... matters ... reconciling with the need to reshape my own life for the retirement slightly more than my piers that only deal with the retirement process and do not need to repatriate at the same time.

... and some philosophical essays will follow :)

... a léta běží, vážení ...

... a v Čechách máme před předčasnými volbami do parlamentu ...

... a já se rozhodla podporovat stranu TOP09, která je nejbližší mému vnímání světa.

Zde nabízím několik odkazů na jejich webové stránky, kde si můžete přečíst:

• fakta a argumenty
• pojednání o reformách  podporovaných stranou TOP09
• pojednání o politice strany

Zápasíte-li s časem, věnujte pozornost článku  5krát PROČ pro volby, nenapsala bych to lépe.

Žila jsem 20 let v cizině a měla možnost vnímat zvenčí změny, ke kterým v Čechách docházelo. Šlo nejen o natírání fasád, ale i o změny na úřadech, v dopravě, v podnikatelské sféře ... povětšinou pozitivní, pokud srovnávám se stavem před rokem 1992, kdy jsme z Čech za prací odcházeli.

Věřím, že s TOP09 udržíme vývoj v České republice na cestě k funkční demokracii.

Dva roky ubehly ...

a manžel stále pracuje v Saudské Arábii. Inu, ale, což ...

Práce je tam jistě zajímavá, o tom není pochyb - pracovat v mezinárodním společenství je vždy zajímavé a vzrušující. Sama jsem měla příležitost pracovar pár let v Evropském institutu bioinformatiky v Hinxtonu, UK, takže vím, o čem mluvím ... ale role oddané manželky uprostřed pouště se zbytkem rodiny na míle daleko by byla jednodušší, kdybych se narodila v Asii a ne ve střední Evropě ;) ... nebo byla aspoň o 20 let mladší a neměla rodinu a přátele jinde.

Ačkoliv se může zdát že si stěžuji, není tomu tak. Poznala jsem relativitu života v různých zemích (jen si zkuste jet na pravé straně silnice při pobytu v Anglii ;)), ale vracet se domů po 20ti letech v cizině, když jsme původně odjížděli na rok a půl je něco jiného, zvlášť když je naší domovinou Česká republika, která se po sametové revoluci v roce 1989 postupně mění v demokratický stát ... občas i tady si připadám jako cizinec :)  A někdy se může hodit pohlédnout na Prahu (a zbytek republiky) očima cizince.


Praha v letech po sametové revoluci vzkvétala, domy a pamětihodnosti se opravují, došlo k výraznému zlepšení hromadné dopravy, čím dál více informací je dostupných i v jiných jazycích než česky ... a knihkupectví jsou plná nově vydávaných knih včetně těch v dobách socialismu zakázaných - což znamená, že až se po návratu usadím, budu mít co dohánět. Uvidíme ...

Two years on ...

... and my husband still works in Saudi Arabia. Well, well, well ...

No doubt about the fascination of the job there - working in an international environment is always interesting and enhancing, I've had the privilege to be working for a while in the European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, UK so I know what I'm talking about - but playing the role of a devoted wife in the desert having the rest of the family miles away would be easier if I were born somewhere in Asia and not in the central Europe ;) ... or were at least 20 years younger and didn't have any relatives and friends elsewhere.

Although it may seem I'm complaining, I'm not. I've learned the relativity of living in the different countries (just try to drive on the right-hand side of the road in England ;)), but coming home after 20 years when we originally planned to be away for one and half taking into account the Czech land's changeover into a democratic country since 1989 is a different matter ... sometimes I feel like a stranger here too :)

Having said that it may not be all that bad to view Prague (and the rest of the republic) using the eyes of a tourist.

Prague flourished during those years after Velvet revolution, houses and monuments are being renovated, public transport improved considerably, more and more information is offered in other languages than Czech and more and more books are published including those banned before 1989 meaning that I'll have a lot to catch up once I settle back. Let's see ...

Tninking of immortality of the maybeetle ...

... or else ...
thinking about nothing and everything when I don't have anything "useful" to do or from whichever reasons nothing "useful" is at hand.

Throughout the years I came to the conclusion that having regularly time for such thinking can help your brain to sort out its content and reassess the priorities for the next couple of month/years and the lack of it can be harmful.

Growing up in the communist Czechoslovakia I was lead to believe that one only needs to work, be obedient and polite to be praised. Every deviation from the "normal" set by the communist leaders was officially frown upon.
A short relaxed atmosphere of the sixties ended by the Soviet occupation in August 1968 and was followed by another 20 years of "sleeping". We didn't live in fear or material need, but traveling to the West was very much restricted by the need to gain currency permit so we could not easily go and see for ourselves whether the capitalism is really so bad as described in our newspapers.

You are right. If you take the life as a musical,
it is much more bearable.

Fortunately few of Czech cartoonists, humorists and folk singers helped me see the life in brighter colors - Vladimír Renčín is one of them.

Coming back - now to the democratic Czech republic - after 20 years living abroad (about 4 years in Germany, then 16 years in England) I became nostalgic for a few things I've known here in the past (maybe because I'm those 20 years older ;)).
Specifically it concerns the shops.
Some call it progress or rising living standards when you have shops open 24 hours a day so you can shop for anything even during the night (providing you have someone willing to do it). There is not only bread all day long, but the selection of 5-?.  Shops back in the communist Czechoslovakia were not so full, when you wanted bread half an hour before closure time there was usually none and citrus fruits came only at Christmas.
No, I'm not longing for that time to return - the freedom to make my own choice is still high on my list of values - just think that some "progress" is questionable.
 
I think people are sometimes unreasonable and try to use "everything" what the world has to offer exaggerating their own limits (I was - trying to live in my forties like in my late twenties when we got the chance to travel freely) and it would be good to have a "closure day" when you can't do nothing but read or think of immortality of the maybeetle and relax.

Occasional essay

After some time I decided to add some news about the progress:

while still living in the UK, I registered the international library (as a part of civic association Library Kebharec o.s) that would contain mainly books in English (acquired mainly from British charities, associations and citizens), though - over the months/years I hope to be able to get books in other languages ...

... and part of the building is being renovated to allow me to stay there for a while and familiarize myself with the local countryside and the community. I trust the time will be full of new and exciting challenges.

For more information follow this blog or visit www.kebharec.cz which I plan to change occasionally.

Let me introduce to you ...

... my longterm project - it should keep me busy for quite a while, preferably till I die :)



So this is it, the big building in the left centre of the picture. It is the former cow house, built sometime in the fifties, after 1989 used for a while to produce bedding for the pets and when the building and an adjacent piece of land (10.5 ha) was put on the market I fell in love with it and bought it. Since then I'm thinking about a business plan (which is what I need to be able to ask for a grant) and trying to focus on where to start as the potential of the place is huge. It is directly calling for activities like:

• orienteering (there is a number of mapped areas within 20 km radius)
• cross country skiing
• cycling
• table tennis and other sports, that could promote collectivity rather than individuality on holidays
• desktop games contests
• musical get-together (the quality of which will depend on the participants :))
• agrotourism
• discussions, communication, presentations - I believe that everyone can have something interesting to say if they want
• languages - reading, talking and especially meeting native speakers
• computer literacy courses
• sewing, knitting ...
• painting, modelling, paper making, mosaics ...
• ...

Interested how the project will evolve?
You can follow this blog or send an email to the coordinator.