One of the delights of travel is meeting the local people. Language is often an important bridge in order to connect with locals. But in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, it doesn’t seem to be a condition. We have been treated with tremendous hospitality everywhere, so far, both by people who speak no English and by fluent English speakers. Complete strangers in the high Tatras volunteered help us in fluent in English. My youtube subscriber Martin and his friends came to Poprad from Kosice to visit with us. We returned the favour the following day and visited Kosice. There Martin toured us through the old city and then invited us in to visit with his mom and grandmother. We were treated to cookies, slivovice and sour cabbage soup and lots of warmth and good will, as I tried to communicate with them in Czech while they replied in Slovak.
Then my wife and son and I visited Rožnov in the Czech Republic, where Hanka and David guided us through Valasske Muzeum or outdoor folk museum and treated us to a peasant lunch, which also included kyselice or sour cabbage soup.. The warm friendliness of their hospitality was really appreciated by Eric, Carmen and me.
I will be trying to upload pictures from my iPhone directly to my Facebook page if I can handle the technology. I must admit I am completely confused by Facebook. I don’t know where my comments and photos and up half the time. But if you click on the link you will find the pictures. I might add that I am also confused by WordPress. Whenever I try to upload a photograph from my iPhone, I am told that the file is too large. Anyway I think I will get there one day if I stay with all of this new social media and related technology. Or I will just stay with language learning which I enjoy much more.
Last night we arrived in the magic city of Olomouc. More friendly people as usual. Today we will visit Olomouc and Prostejov the town where my parents grew up. Check my Facebook page for pictures as we continue our travels.
3 comments on “The wonderful hospitality of Slovaks and Czechs”
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What a lovely afternoon with the Kaufmanns! Thank you once again for the short stop on your way. 🙂
Hanka
Hello Mr Kaufman,
firstly, let me say that I admire you. It is unbelievable how you can handle to speak 10 languages. It is excelent. Now I am learning to speak English. It is great because I have found out new system of studying TPRS “listen first”. I have studied for 4 years (standard methods – grammar studies) and my results were not good, terrible speaking. At the moment I am learning for ca 10 months (10 years I had a big pause, almost no English) and I feel that my improvement is big. I listen at least 1 hour every day. I think that interesting understandable input with ears is the best way how to learn English. I think that you will agree with me. I enjoy English and I do not care about my mistakes. I want communicate because I know that English language is the best way how to connect with other people from all the world. I need it in my work as well.
Thank you so much for very nice comment about our country. I am very glad you like it here. Of course Czech Republic is my home.
PS
Viděl jsem Vás na videu na YouTube, byla to v podstatě náhoda. Mluvil jste o “Švejkovi”, lepší knihu jste opravdu vybrat nemohl 🙂
Obdivuji každého, kdo se do “našeho” jazyka s chutí pustí, není to snadné…
Zbyněk
The welcome folks gave you is nothing short of heartwarming. I envy you and your family for experiencing what you experienced on your journey.