alice

I arrived back in Waco after my extended weekend and had to write down the impressions I have from the two latest lectures I gave. The first one took place on Friday at the Czech Center Museum in Houston. I absolutely fell in love with the beautifully decorated room where I was presenting my thesis. The stylish wooden furniture, the nice carpet, the festive chandeliers — I would never have thought that all these “details” could help calm you down before a presentation. Nevertheless, the thing I appreciated the most was the technical setup: everyone could see and hear well thanks to the big projection screen and the portable microphone. Plus, as you can see in the picture below, I was equipped with a great twenty-first-century gadget — a wireless red laser pointer, which made my work much easier while speaking. Thus, the overall atmosphere was hopefully pleasant not only for the audience, but for me as well.

As always, I shared my story with people and they patiently listened to me. Every presentation is different. I never know how people will react, and so promptness and readiness are my best friends when I speak. The audience always surprises me, because every group finds different things hilarious. When one group laughs a lot at some point, another does not. As I say, you had better be ready for everything when presenting in front of Texans. 🙂

Anyway, the audience in Houston was very friendly and attentive, and at the end they had intriguing questions. One of them was whether I could hear any difference between the Czech spoken by the descendants here in Texas and the Czech I speak. The answer is definitely yes. For instance, people here, when saying goodbye, often use “S pánem Bohem”, which is considered rather old-school nowadays in the Czech Republic.

My favorite question this time, though, was whether the ending “-ová” in my last name, Luňáková, is something trendy or popular now in the Czech language. Even though I replied that not really, and that the language system has always worked like that, I wasn’t completely right. I have learned that in the past there were some areas in the Czech lands where people used “-ová” for married women and “-ova” for single ones. Since the nineteenth century, however, the ending “-ová” has been used for all women, no matter what their marital status is. Isn’t that interesting? How funny — or rather ridiculous — it would be to use this system nowadays.

I am always very happy when people have questions, comments, or when they want to share their personal stories with me. I know how important their cultural heritage is to them, and I feel very honored when they travel, sometimes from quite far away, to see me. All this truly shows their enthusiasm and pride in being of Czech ancestry, and I am glad to be a part of this incredible Czech-Texas phenomenon.

Mami, to koukáš, co se tu najde, co? Musíme v Rokytnici zase na výlet a koupit Krakonoše 😉

Thanks to everyone for coming and supporting me. It means a lot to me. Nothing would have been possible without you all!

Alice