Born to Bloom: Interactions with Czech People

The interactions I have had with the people of the Czech have been different than what I anticipated. I am not sure what exactly I expected when imagining Czech people, but I know that I have been surprised. I thought that the Czech people might be very modern and I also thought they would be more like Nebraska people. From traveling before, I know that there are so many different cultures and the people’s attitudes and way of living vary greatly from culture to culture. For some reason, maybe because the Czech is kind of in the middle like Nebraska, I expected the people to be similar to Nebraskans.

However, the Czech people have surprised me. When I first arrived in the Czech and even now, I can tell the people here are not as openly friendly or smile as much as we do in Nebraska. I attribute a lot of this to their past and the way the generations have been raised under Nazi and Soviet rule. Our language teacher told us the other day that even though they have a democracy now, her generation and the ones surrounding, grew up in a democratic society but their parents still raised them in “survival mode,” because it is the only way they knew how to raise their children. I am used to walking around a small town and everyone takes the time to stop and talk and is extremely friendly, therefore, I was scared to approach people here because they did not give off that vibe to me at first. However, once I started to reach out and get to know some of the people here, they are very nice and friendly. I find them to be very helpful and understanding.

Now, like any other place that you can travel, there are always going to be people that are rude and do not represent their people in a very positive way and I have experienced some people like that here. For the most part, though, I have not had too many problems. One thing I have noticed, however, is that a lot of people in the Czech are very annoyed with us “Americans,” whether it be because we do not speak Czech very well or any other reason they can find. I have had several interactions where Czech had been blatantly rude before I have even had the chance to open my mouth or attempt to have a conversation. This happens especially at places that involve a service industry such as cashiers or waiters/waitresses.

I have noticed that many conversations I have here with Czech people are interested in our lifestyle and curious about things in our country such as politics. Politics seems to be a very hot topic when striking up a conversation with Czech people, and many people here are not very happy with their recently elected President. I really enjoy the interactions and conversations with Czech people that provide me with an opportunity to know more about their culture and lives. It is hard to go into a culture and learn how to interact with the people without offending them or doing something that could cause issues. Even things as simple as riding the tram provide a setting to interact with the people here and I have gradually understood what they find as acceptable and how to try to converse with them.

Overall my interactions with the Czech people have been positive and it has been a learning experience. I didn’t realize how much I would learn about culture and theirs from even the smallest interactions but I am glad I have the opportunity from. I living here has also taught me that to have the most positive interactions with people, it is important to know some background on their culture and how it influences their life.