Vitamin WF

... and, no, the "T" is not missing ...

A couple of weeks ago we had lunch with Czech friends of ours who now live in Oneonta. Jirka and Lucka emigrated to the States in 1992, but they return to Prague each year at the holidays.

At one point, Jirka leaned in toward me and said, in a low voice, "I want your impressions, Kate. Let me hear some stories -- aren't the people rude? It's okay, you can tell me."

Jirka's not the only Czech we've met who's gone abroad and come back with this impression. Pavlina, another friend, lived in Canada for a year with her husband, Ewan, a Canadian. She finds Czechs cold, was amazed at North Americans' friendliness and openness, how people there said "thank you" to a bus driver when exiting a city bus.

I don't know that I find Czechs to be rude. Many whom I know personally certainly aren't. But then again, I wasn't expecting a lot of warmth from the man, or woman, on the street. I guess I was prepped well.

Karl lived in Plzeň from 1991-2, and prior to that he spent time in Russia as a student. His Russian "father," Sasha, once introduced him to friends at a sauna, saying, "On nash chelovt'ek." "He's our person." Karl's interpretation was that Sasha was saying "he's one of us," that is, like Russians, given to philosophizing with a dark outlook, not expecting things to be mostly sunshine, projecting a wry, what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it demeanor.
Karl tends to have an attitude that's simpatico with Czechs as well. He does not walk down the street with a big grin and a ready "Hi, howya doin'?" He's not particularly effusive (understatement? feel free to comment). I don't know how Czech this is, but he tends to let things roll off of his back. He does not get caught up in others' drama. (Which is maddening when I'm striving to swoop him up in mine.) If I were annoyed with him and giving him the cold shoulder, he would likely require a heads-up. Because it would be a long time before he would pick up on that himself.

Attn: Karl
From: Kate
Re: Mood-o-meter calibration
When I slam doors, make huffy sounds from my corner of the couch, and don't speak to you during the course of an evening, I am upset. Please apply hugs and chocolate.

I'll have to test that out some time. But I digress.

Whether it's due to Slavs' nature or political history or the weather, Prague is not a warm fuzzy town. Which is not a surprise. But just because I haven't expected a lot of warm fuzzies in Prague doesn't mean I haven't missed them. And five and a half months into our time here, in the middle of winter at latitude 50° 05'N, I'm starting to see that this city suffers from a warm fuzzy deficiency. And I'm starting to, too.