Czech Us Out!

We spent this past weekend just outside of Prague with old friend Tomas, his wife Helena and their two boys Matej (6) and Adam (4).



The last time we'd seen Tomas and Helena was at their wedding 10 years ago this September. They looked exactly the same. Leave it to Czech beer to have the secret to everlasting youth... ; )

Great to catch up while staying at a hotel in the town of Jicin, about 90 minutes northeast of Prague, close to Cesky Raj, an area known as the "Czech Paradise" for its picturesque naturally shaped sandstone rocks.

The kids demonstrated how play is the universal language of fun. With little overlap between Czech and English or Dutch, Matej and Ben kicked the soccer ball back and forth like it was going out of style.

On the second night of our stay, Tomas and I relived old times in co-founding an English teaching program shortly after the Velvet Revolution. With more than a little help from fellow co-founders and friends, the program resulted in 60 Stanford students teaching several hundred Czech university students in a summer-long, experiential "study tours" format: 2 weeks river rafting, 2 weeks in the mountains, 2 weeks in Prague, etc.

Fun to recall how we'd first met on my initial trip to Prague in the dark yet heady winter of 1990, just 2 months after the revolution and while the Berlin Wall was still coming down. Tomas reflected that while many foreigners had passed through the offices of Vaclav Havel's Civic Forum back then and offered help, my visit was only one of a few that eventually led to something of tangible value.

I reminded him that, thanks to him, me and several of my best friends from Stanford had a truly unforgettable time. To feel a part of a historic transition behind what had been the Iron Curtain, hosted by some of the most hospitable, friendly and inspiring people on earth - now that was something of tangible value.

To this day, Tomas still speaks with a very slight stutter, the direct result of a police baton to the head during pro-democracy protests in the run-up to the communist regime's eventual capitulation.

I can still picture Tomas sitting behind a desk, selling posters that commemorated the revolution - a harbinger of his emerging entrepreneurial prowess. He later went on to establish one of the very first major t-shirt distribution companies in the Czech Republic, and then formed a successful nationwide chain of jewelry stores. One of his most successful t-shirt designs featured the headline "Czech Me Out!"

In Jicin, after several beers and shots of the licorice-hinted Czech liqueur Becherovka, the years seemed to melt away and transport us back to the festive din of the u.Flecku pub in Prague.

Prosim, jedno pivo (one beer, please). Dva piva (two beers). And then ordering in increments of 1 or 2, or 2 plus 2, because pronouncing 3 or 4 in broken Czech ends up sounding more like a sneeze than a number.

To maximize time in Jicin w/ Tomas and family over the long weekend, we had flown from Amsterdam to Prague. But while it was great to catch up a bit, doing so was bittersweet because I began to realize just how much more catching up could be done.

Hopefully, Tomas and I will find a way to make that next visit happen soon. If we could conjure up the start of an English teaching program out of the blue that winter's day 18 years ago, maybe we can apply a little magic to connect again in the near future.