【明報專訊】“About myself
My name is Vojtěch Petrus but most people call me Vojta. Back home in Prague (布拉格), the capital city of the Czech Republic, I studied at an international school. I'm in Hong Kong for a year as an exchange student.”
Prague is a charming city at the heart of the Czech Republic. In Prague you can see skyscrapers (高樓大廈), beautiful girls walking down the streets, monumental (重要的) buildings like the Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral dominating the skyline, bars lining the narrow streets and parks that would help you escape the throngs (大群) of tourists. All these combine and make Prague the unique city that it is.
That said, it is the people and its history that give our country the extra allure (魅力) and charm. If you look at our history in the last 150 years, you will understand what I'm talking about. Over the centuries our people went through a lot of hardships. However, as the saying goes, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". These hardships have given us strength, courage and a strong sense of individuality. We can be very proud and eager to fight for what we believe in.
The Czechs are not as warm as you would hope, but if you spend more time with us and get to know us better, you will have a lot of fun as we know how to enjoy life. We love eating, drinking and being merry. We also love sport, which is a huge part of our national identity. Football, ice hockey, athletics, skiing and basketball are all very popular there, and our athletes have brought home many medals from different international games. We have always been a small country that is up for big stuff.
Food is also a very important part of our country. We have all sorts of bread, salads, potatoes, pasta, knedlíky (Czech dumplings which are different from that in Hong Kong), meat and sweet food. Beer has to be one of the most popular beverages, closely followed by wine. We usually have such "snacks" as utopenec or tlacenka with our beer. Most of the typical Czech food is quite heavy but we certainly don't eat it every day. At home we tend to cook healthier food that is more European than Czech.
Most holidays and festivals are not so traditional anymore in Prague. This might be due to the atheistic (無神論的) nature of the Czech Republic. Still we do a few festivals. The most traditional two are Christmas and Easter. At Christmas the whole family would gather for a good four-course meal and exchange presents (children would be told their presents are brought by the baby Christ). At Easter boys go from house to house with a willow rod fetching chocolate or candies from girls in the neighbourhood.
