Is it not customary to invite friends to your home for czechs as it is here in the US? Are czechs in general afraid of being friendly?
I believe it's common to invite friends to home, but not always acquaintances or co-workers. In Czech republic, friend isn't automatically everyone you know.
And remember, a lot of Czechs live in fairly small, modest flats - I have one friend who is always apologising for not being able to invite me home because she has three children and their flat is so small. I don't think being friendly depends on whether or not you invite someone to your home.
thank you for your response have a friend i have had over to our home numerous times but tells me she isn't like that. you clarrified it for me
I'm not Czech but I never invite people over to my home because I'm an unbelievable slob and I'm embarrassed by this. hee hee I feel guilty though because my friends here have invited me to their homes on numerous occasions. whenever my flat has a narrow window of tidiness I invite them, but they're never available.
I have been always invited at home by czech even I met just for few time, I was even guest in trebic for 5 months in a friend house. when I first met my girlfriend, in italy on summer, she invited me (not knowing me well) at her place (that is a old and small flat in slatina...not the best area of brno...). all the czech I know are one of the most ospitality people i have ever met in my life (and I'm from southern italy...). if u are guest in a czech home...they'd offer you whatever they have available to drink and eat, I really appreciate this attitude, dunno why on the streets they are so unpolite and rude while if u know well them they are lovely people
I think it's probably different here in Prague because although everywhere is a lot easier to get to than in London, for example, friends don't necessarily live in the next street and also there are just so many more places to meet for a drink or a meal in Prague.
No, I'm from Brno, so that other post actually speaks good of my part of the country, but this topic appears in just about every discussion about the CR that is intended for foreigners, although it's based on little more than nothing. Then the people from Bohemia and Moravia start a long, utterly pointless thread about who ought to learn to drive and who can't tell wine from horse piss. Big deal. (Granted, it's probably not going to happen here - maybe I've just seen one too many of those "discussions" recently.)
Very interesting. I didn't realise that there was such rivalry. I know that Moravians think they speak better Czech, but I didn't know it extended to things like driving skills and wine!
My husband's family is Bohemian and so are several of our friends. We also have several Moravian friends. I must say that in learning the language it seems to me that Moravians speak better Czech. My husband's family says ses instead of jses and stuff like that so it makes it difficult for me to understand. Also, our Moravian friends are much quicker to open their homes to others than the Bohemians. :twisted: Don't mean to begin one of those debates you were trying to avoid, but I have to say, as an outsider, it's what I've experienced. :twisted:
Back to Czechs inviting their acquaintances to their homes: From my experience in Prague, people meet mostly outside of their homes. I have noticed lots of ladies meeting after work to talk in kavarna (coffee house) and it is same with guys geting together for beer. I know for sure that it is very different from customs in Canada where we meet in each other in our homes and not just a friends, but friends of the friends and neighbours. The reason for Czechs to meet outside of their homes is lack of space and privacy. Many, even married people share place with their parents, children, siblings (and spouses of course) and their dwellings are much smaller than in USA or Canada, where higher percentage lives in homes with much more space with separate rooms for different functions i.e.few bedrooms, dining room, living room, private bathroom and powder room for guests, computer room, den to entertain in...etc. At first I found very peculiar that while we were "visitors" in Prague, Czech friends always suggested to meet in coffee house and so we offered they come to our place for dinner. Only after few times we had guests in our little studio apartment here we realized that things are not as easy as we are used to from Canada. We had to go grocery shopping and carry it home on Metro, our fridge is just a little one so we cannot have anything prepared ahead of the time, we had to fold up our sofa bed and hide bedding so our guests have something to sit on, put our personal stuff away and move furniture around so all three or four of us can fit into room ...... Now we understand why it is much easier and practical to meet elsewhere. When your Czech friends are not inviting you into their home, it is nothing personal, but quite likely lack of space and privacy.
I first recognized the Moravian/Bohemian "rivalry" watching old Czech films with my wife. I don't know the name of the movie but it's a comedy about a Czech kid going to medical school who has as roommates an African, a bohemian, and a moravian...my wife, from Ostrava, pretended she'd never even heard of Bohemia... Anyhow, yes, small apartments aside, I've never been treated better than when in Czech in regards to hospitality. EVERY place I go people are shoving food and drink in front of me. In Ostrava we go to the house of my wife's ex to leave my stepson Luk with his paternal grandparents. His grandmother and aunt treat me as if I were a king...they always make a hot meal for me, fresh coffee, water...you'd think I was thier son instead of Luk's dad. The small apartment thingy does make a lot of sense.
