Yurtdışında Yaşam

For my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a weekend out of town. I had originally thought of Karlovy Vary, but was told that "Ah, there’s nothing but rich Russians there!". Mariánské Lázně (which may be better known to some as "Marienbad"), on the other hand, was described as still being more Czech. Well, I’m in no position to compare, but there was certainly no shortage of rich Russians at Mariánské Lázně!

I stayed at the Nové Lázně, which is arguably the grandest of the spa hotels:

I had a very comfortable room overlooking the park:


That’s the Church of the Assumption in the upper right; here’s a closer view of this octagonal church:

And the archway over the door:

The assurances of the travel agency through which I arranged my stay notwithstanding, English was in short supply: there was German and Russian in abundance, but very little English. I spent most of my weekend communicating with the staff in mime, my highly limited Czech, and guessing at German!

When I showed up at the dining room for dinner, there was a brief flurry as the hostess, who spoke very little English, summoned a waiter to figure out where to seat me. The hostess and the waiter had a brief discussion, in which the only Czech word that I recognized was "Angličanka" (Englishwoman), after which I was led to a table which I shared with a very nice woman from Britain. She was coming up on the end of a two-week stay at Mariánské Lázně, and professed herself to be delighted to be able to have someone with whom she could speak English.

They take the whole "health resort" thing very seriously, and indeed, they don’t seem all that keen on catering to weekend dilettantes. I had to have an interview with a nurse before I could schedule any treatments, and supplemental services were either fully booked already or were simply unavailable over a weekend. Fortunately, my package included two treatments a day, and those were provided: I had two each of the partial medical massage, dry CO² bath and mineral bath.

The dry CO² bath was the most unusual experience. Here is the brochure description:

This is another signature treatment of the spa resort of Marienbad where the gas – Marie’s gas – that bubbles naturally out of the ground is used for the treatment. This gas is of volcanic origin and contains 99.7% CO². In our other resorts normal commercial CO² gas (the same as in the food industry) is used. During the treatment you lie fully clothed, comfortably on a bed enclosed in a large plastic bag that is sealed just under the arms. The gas is then pumped into the bag, which slowly inflates, where it is absorbed through the clothes and skin into the body where it slows down heart activity and reduces blood pressure. The gas also improves blood circulation and kidney activity and has an anti-inflammatory effect. The gas is also known to stimulate the production of the sexual hormones, testosterone and estradiol, which is why it is successful for the improvement of sexual functions and to relieve menopausal symptoms in women. Time: 30 minutes, Doctor’s prescription required: No, Benefits: Therapeutic, Well Being.

The mineral bath is pretty well self-explanatory, but here’s the brochure description for that one:

This is a signature treatment, exclusively provided in the spa resort of Marienbad using the natural local mineral waters and natural CO² gas that naturally seeps out from the ground. The water is heated to a temperature of between 28-34° C in an individual bathtub, into which is pumped the natural CO² gas that fizzes onto the skin, producing a relaxing, tickling sensation. The carbon dioxide is absorbed through the skin into the body, where slows down the heart activity and reduces the blood pressure. Several treatments will result in improved blood circulation, heart and kidney activity as well as reduced stress and anxiety. The benefits and procedures are similar to the carbon dioxide bath treatment, however the advantage here is that all the properties used are both local and natural. Time: 20 minutes + dry wrap (15 minutes), Doctors prescription required: no, Benefits: Therapeutic, Well Being

The thing that surprised me most about the mineral bath was that the water was no more than tepid! One of the ubiquitous rich Russians I chatted with one evening told me that, to get a hot mineral bath, I should go to a Hungarian spa!

In keeping with the whole "health resort" routine, life in Mariánské Lázně is very tranquil, and there’s not a lot to do. The main tourist attraction (aside from the waters and spa treatments) is the Singing Fountain:


Every other hour during the season, the fountain "performs" to a soundtrack of such pieces as Petr Hapka’s Music for the Fountain or Chorus of Hebrew Slaves from Verdi’s Nabucco or Dvořák’s Carnival, Op. 92. As my dinner companion pointed out, it would be more accurate to describe it as the "Dancing Fountain", rather than the "Singing Fountain". According to some of the flyers and brochures I saw around town, it looks as though the singing season is supposed to end on October 30. I guess they knew I was coming, though, because the Gala Closing actually took place on my birthday!

The fountain is in the Colonnade park:

The park also has a statue of Abbot Reitenberger of Tepla Monastery:

The abbot is credited with having established the spa town.

And perhaps it’s to cater to those rich Russians that this Church of St. Vladimir was built:

For one of my classes, I brought in a Business Week article, Poland Tries to Reverse Brain Drain, thinking that the Czech Republic might have seen a similar effect after joining the EU. But no, while my students found the article interesting, they were also rather smug about insisting that, while it made perfect sense for Poles to leave their country, Czechs would never abandon their homeland to seek their fortunes overseas. Upon prodding a little bit, they did concede that, while they would never consider leaving the Czech Republic for good, they would maybe consider going abroad for a year or two, "just for the experience."

Another student, in a different class, pointed out to me that it’s very hard for Czechs to travel. After all, while there are some beautiful cities out there, there are so few that compare favorably with Prague!

Most Prague districts are supplied with hot water from power stations and heating plants using centralized heat distribution. Unfortunately, maintenance is performed annually, which means residents must do without hot water for several days (typically 5 to 12) every year. Each district has its own schedule, so there isn’t a city-wide shortage of hot water, and most natives make do by heading for their gyms, instead.

This regularly scheduled maintenance, however, is apparently not the cause for the present absence of hot water in my flat, where we have been without hot water for very nearly a week now. I don’t know what the problem is: all I’ve heard from the landlord on the subject is "Damn technicians!".

I knew of course that things would be different outside the US; that was, in fact, part of the point of my leaving. But gosharoonie: I wasn’t expecting things to be this primitive!

I usually ask my students if they speak other languages (besides Czech and English). Almost all of them speak German, and there’s a smattering of other Slavic languages such as Slovenian or Croatian or Polish, and an occasional other language. Absolutely no one volunteers a knowledge of Russian: I always have to ask, "Didn’t you study Russian in school?", and the reluctant "yes" comes back.

While doing my TEFL course, we had a movie night one night and we saw Kolya. Before the movie, our Czech instructor directed us to notice not just the portrayal of life in the Czech Republic in the waning days of the Communist era, but also the thinly veiled hostility of Czechs towards Russians. Apparently, even 18 years past the Velvet Revolution, that hostility is still present.

None of my students has claimed much knowledge of French, and they are frequently impressed that I speak the language. French, they assure me, is a hard language: the pronunciation is so difficult.

While the Czech Republic is part of the European Union, they haven’t (yet) switched to the euro. A planned changeover was supposed to begin in 2010, but now 2012 is believed to be the earliest date that they’ll start to adopt the euro.

In the meantime, of course, they’re still using their own money, the Czech crown. I like this series of postings (you have to scroll down a little bit to get past a post about an exhibition of Chinese money), describing who’s who on Czech money. While the 5000 CZK note features Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of independent Czechoslovakia, most other bills do not portray the usual politicians and government figures. The 2000 CZK bill has an opera singer, Emma Destinova; Frantisek Palacky, on the 1000 CZK bill, is better known as a historian than as a politician; a Czech authoress, Bozena Nemcova, is featured on the 500 CZK bill; the Czech "Father of Modern Education" Jan Amos Komensky is on the 200 CZK bill; on the 100 CZK banknote is Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia who is regarded by Czechs as the "Father of the Country"; while St. Anezka Ceska (Agnes of Bohemia) gets the 50 CZK bill. (With regard to Agnes of Bohemia, did anyone notice the irony of putting someone who had vowed herself to poverty on money? Or is that why they chose the smallest denomination?)

It’s a little surprising that Wenceslaus doesn’t get any money. On the other hand, he does get a public holiday (September 28, this coming Friday, as it turns out), so maybe the Czechs figured that evens it out?