Alot About Names

Another Sunday has come in gone in Prague. We once again visited the friendly and young international church here. After church we were kindly invited to Laurie and Jim’s house for lunch. She prepared a puffed chicken and cheese enchilada, green beans, and a crisp salad. The Enchilada was mildly spiced and yet very tasty. I hope she sends us the recipe.

Laurie spent the next few hours telling us their story. It was a powerful story that really reflects how God works in our lives if we let him. Miracles do happen, yes, even in our modern today. For the last 11 years, they have toiled at creating a Christian Library in Prague that has both English and Czech translations. There are videos, dvds, access to Logos which is a Christian database that many pastors use, and two multi-purpose rooms the size of a typical master bedroom in a modest home. The rooms are used by people who want to learn English with a Christian slant, children's bible studies, and a multitude of other uses. According to Laurie, the Czech Republic has the highest number or non-Christians than any European country. Naturally, they never have enough funding or enough books to realize the libraries true potential. They are going to be creating a book request wish list, to facilitate donations.

She also told us an enormous batch of funny stories that outline the differences between our cultures. For example when asking a typical Czech official a request that isn’t standard practice the common answer is “not possible”. This same thing happened to us when we went into a bank to see if we could get a 2,000 crown bill broken down. “Not Possible” to make change. You are a bank, correct?

We found out that babies born in the Czech republic have to be named one of the names in the Czech Baby Book of names. Pavel for boys must be on the first 3 pages with Jan on the next three. Think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” when the father pointed out all the Nicks and Nickies. The duplication of first names is so common that people often say, “we are going to Old Jan's house after church but first I need to stop and get a book from Little Jan and don’t let me forget to give Pastor Jan…” After you account for the sexes there are about 100 approved names so if you wanted your son or daughter’s name to start with the letter “G” you can choose from the boy names of “Gabriel and Gustav” for girls you can choose from “Gabriela, Gita, and Gizela”.

If you want to use a different name like “James” you need to make a petition to the government, which in reality is one lady who researches the names and approves or disapproves. I wonder how many “Not Possible’s” are recorded. Also middle names are not allowed unless you petition The Lady. Few Czechs deviate from the list for one important reason, only the approved names have name dates which you celebrate as a second birthday. I suppose if you're of minimal means, you simply pick the name attached to the date. June 24 is a big day for Jan and friends and five days later all the Pavel’s invite all the Jan’s for another celebration.

In addition, all female last names have “ova” added to the name. For example when Laura Bush visited they called her, “Laura Bushova”. For local people I can envision, “Connie Kinyonova, Nan Burrisova, Julie Comeyova, or Pavla Easyova”. Pavla is one of the cooks at the Oak Table.

She also talked about the problems Czech people have with the concept of free. Basically they are distrustful of anything that is free. I suppose during the communist times, free could come with awfully long strings. Even for their library they charge people a small fee to be a member. This encourages their commitment to the process, a feeling of ownership, and sidesteps the distrust. Laura also said, “You can’t out give a Czech!” If you give them a small gift they will give you 5 back. They are very giving people.

One other final story revolves around the Czech gardeners. For some reason this industry seem rooted in the communist era. She said each spring, four men and 3 women come to a lot near their house to cut the lawn which by now is knee length. A portion of the lawn is rather circular. So the only practical way to approach this is to start mowing in circles from the center out. The last three rows cause grass to shootout onto the sidewalk. The woman’s job is to sweep the sidewalk. Unfortunately each of the latter rounds sends the women scurrying about as the mower blows more clippings on the sidewalk. One more circle and the sidewalk is increasingly full as clippings pile on top of clippings.

Jim told us they haven’t discovered the weed wacker, so late spring, it looks like each building is sprouting a continuous sheaf of wheat around its foundation. Thus the buildings have a sort of modern neo-hamlet look.

One final note, remember our hearty Czech lunch from yesterday. Well it turned out that the Goulash was bad. Apparently one traditional way to make goulash is to make a batch and just keep adding meat and veggies to the endless pot. The remains each day become a starter for the next day. I’ve included a picture of Linda’s dish that I ran through a photoshop food filter which reveals all the bad morsels highlighted in green. Linda kindly shared some of her dish with me. Thus Linda and I made many a trip to the WC. Today though we're definitely on the mend.