LIVING ABROAD | CZECH CULTURE
Cultural Faux Pas in the Elevator
The cagiest a Czech grandmother ever gets
Yesterday, my partner and I got home from a walk and ran into one of our elderly neighbors waiting for the elevator. She was carrying a basket full of the largest mushrooms I have ever seen.
Wow! Those are beautiful! Where did you get them?
Cue awkward silence.
Living as a foreigner in a foreign country means adapting to the idiosyncrasies of the local personality.
In the Czech Republic, where I’ve lived for the past ten years, there are three unique aspects of the Czech personality that I haven’t been able to fully wrap my mind around.
DIY everything
Czechs are, in a word, independent.
No matter what goes wrong, they will never, ever call a handyman to fix it until they’ve exhausted every possibility to fix it themselves.
Loose door handle? Out comes the toolbox and the YouTube video tutorials.
Running toilet? The water has been disconnected and someone is elbow-deep in the tank.
