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Recently, you had an opportunity to learn about scouting and its history in the Czech Republic. If you think of scouts, you may think of tents, summer activities and games, bonfires, and lots of fun. It is possible that you or your children may experience all that and more in summer camps. How great would it be if you can actually find a camp abroad that is dedicated to Czech or Slovak children and their friends? The one that we will introduce to you today is called Hostýn and it is the last remaining piece of property in the province of Quebec that is owned by the Czech and Slovak community. The camp was established by the Czech Jesuit P. Bohuslav Janíček and on May 9th it celebrated its 55th anniversary. The camp, however, had some dark times when it did not serve its original purpose, but the hard work and strong belief in supporting Czech and Slovak heritage brought the camp back to its former glory as it once was.

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About a month ago we had an opportunity to meet Stefanie Vocasek. She is a young woman of Czech origin, who was born in the United States and knows a lot about her Czech heritage. Stefanie is 22 years old and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is not only a student, but also has two jobs to support her independent and fascinating life. On top of that she just started making appearances at local elementary schools and events speaking about her Czech heritage. She has recently become the Czech-Slovak Queen of Lincoln and we were thrilled to find out more about her and how the Queen selection process works. We also wanted to find out how she was able to learn about Czech heritage so remote from the country her ancestors came from.

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Czech and Slovak Scouts had a tough past during communism and the Nazi regime. Their activities that taught young children democracy were prohibited. This youth organization is on the rise again and on the 24^th of April it celebrates a holiday for two main reasons. This day is dedicated to Svaty Jiri (St. George) in the calendar of Czech name days or Svaty Juraj in the Slovak calendar. The British funder of the scouts, Robert Baden-Powell, chose St. George as the scout’s patron saint for his good scouting qualities: faith, truthfulness, and dedication to help others. This day is also dedicated in remembrance of 18 Czech scouts that were executed at a Jewish cemetery in Poland. This holiday is, therefore, very significant for all young people with strong values and respect for others that fought for democracy in the past.

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Helena Houdova is not only known as a Czech model but also as a philanthropist with a passion to help disadvantaged children around the world. Her charity named Sunflower Children is known around the world for helping many children thanks to the generous donations of people that attend her events and galas in many foreign countries: poker events, golf outings, film festivals and more. Just yesterday, Houdova started a new campaign right on the New York Times Square named Save a Baby from HIV, where people can text the word SUN to 90999 to donate $5 to her charity. The billboard depicts a woman holding a disadvantaged child with a very simple message to people willing to help. The woman on the image is the Czech model herself.

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Today we came across an article in the Prague Daily Monitor (PDM) named “Half of Czechs say there are too many foreigners in ČR. ” The title immediately caught our attention. Today, there are almost 2 million Czechs living abroad. The largest numbers of Czechs live in the USA, the country of people from around of world that has for hundreds of years accepted people from many countries. On the other hand, the Czech Republic is still mostly composed of Czechs (about 94%), followed by Slovaks, Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, etc. The influx of immigrants for 2009 is estimated to be about 1 per 1000 people = 10,200 foreigners. During communism, there was a very minor foreign immigration to the Czech Republic. Did the recently growing numbers of immigrants create a resistance to other cultures?

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Today you can read a great story by Jan Drocár, published today in Pozitivni Noviny. The editors-in-chief kindly asked us to provide English translation of this story to give more people the opportunity to read about the history of the Czech Republic and its significant “players” throughout the history of the country. The article was created in honor of the new U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the Czech Republic.

In the article below, you will learn about famous royal ancestors of today’s eminent and important members of our society. Did you know that the first American President, George Washington, and the British Queen Elizabeth II were descendants of the Přemyslid Dynasty? Surprisingly, even Tom Cruise is related to Czech royal families. Find out more in the article below or read its Czech version HERE.

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Visiting the Czech Republic can bring many experiences. Some of them may be good ones, while others can bring negative impressions or embarrassment. Our new series on Czech etiquette should help you to overcome the culture shocks that visitors to the Czech Republic may experience. You may also follow these rules when visiting Slovakia, since the Czech and Slovak cultures are very similar to each other.

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Czech documentaries are gaining popularity more than ever before. This year was the first time Czech documentaries were added to the Czech Lion competition and were introduced in two categories. The first category was used to award the three best Czech documentaries from the period of 1993 through 2007. The second category was the best documentary of 2008. The criteria for selection were very simple. They had to be at least 50 minutes in length and had to be introduced to the public in public theatres. If you live in the Czech Republic, you have a chance to watch some of the Czech Lion Award documentaries for free. Everybody should, however, visit the portal we introduce below since it offers a great selection of documentaries for a negligible fee.

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You would never think that politicians and scandals would be found in the same sentence as charity but actually that very thing occurred in the following event. It all started three years ago when Miroslav Macek slapped David Rath’s head from behind at a Dentists’ Chamber conference. The fact that the whole act was caught on cameras makes it quite embarrassing; especially, since it happened just two weeks before parliamentary elections. The whole incident was resolved in court and a penalty for the act raised a large amount of money that actually aided several children from a local foster home.

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Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Czech Republic is well known for his disapproval of the Czech Republic joining the European Union. He is also known for his disbelief of global warming. Recently, he visited the United States to speak about global warming and climate change. He was supposed to meet with Al Gore, the chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, but while Gore spoke at The Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics Conference in Santa Barbara, California, Klaus was on the plane to the USA. Was it on purpose to avoid them clashing with each other?

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Where does the Internet start and where does it end? The Internet is as mysterious to some as the Universe. As a single user, you can’t tell how many people are using it, where they live, or what they are using it for. You just know they are out there. If you work for an Internet service provider company, chances are you already know much more about how the Internet works than most. Moreover, you could take control over the Internet and maybe prevent others from accessing it. This actually happened in one small Czech company and a tiny mistake blocked interned access to one fifth of its users around the whole world.

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Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Once in a while, we provide you with news from the Czech Republic; however, it usually reflects happenings from the area of politics and entertainment or is somehow related to Czechs and Slovaks abroad. Nevertheless, we know how important it is to know what is happening in our home country. Today, you will have a great opportunity to learn about a site that provides excellet news and if you subscribe for free, with the promotion code below, you will receive bonus news only available to premium subscribes.

Are you wondering what site we are talking about? It is Prague Daily Monitor and it is accessible to everyone online but with limited access to the archives. The site offers free email subscriptions that allow you to receive some daily headlines. Monitor Plus is a paid program but today you can sign up for a 14-day free trial, no strings attached! This subscription allows you to access extra articles from the Monitor staff and full news translations from top Czech periodicals. We don’t have to remind you that the translations may help many readers to improve their Czech language, because they can find original articles online.You will also receive Breakfast Brief, which is a one page press (pdf) of the main business and political headlines and is aimed at the business sector and Diplomatic missions/embassies.

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