motyl

Hello,I´d like to hear from any expats living in The Czech Republic.

Cihadlo

Yes, I am.

Chris

motyl

Hi Chris,

Nice to hear from you.Where do you live in The Czech Republic ?Are you an expat or Czech ? I would like to hear from you.

Cihadlo

I'm a British ex-pat and I live near the city of Teplice to the north-west of Prague.

Chris

motyl

I live in a village called Horní Lipka, 4 kms from a little town called Králíky on the Polish border. Our "shire" town is Pardubice .I´ve actually lived here for 19 years ! ! However we have our house up for sale as we want to move to the outskirts of Brno.

motyl

Sorry I didn´t write my name,it´s Gail.

Cihadlo

Gail

Wow, that does look remote! When I first moved here we lived in a little village called Horni Krupka and I thought that was a bit too remote but it was nothing like your location. Winter must be pretty tough there too. The place we live now is still fully rural but we can be at work in the city in 10 minutes.

I guess you've discovered Expats.cz and its forum but it seems to be filled only with Prague residents.

So, after 19 years, how is your Czech? I've studied for 3 and a bit years and I'm stuggling still.

Chris

motyl

Chris,

It sounds really nice where you live now,having the best of "both worlds", living in the country but within easy reach of the city.We would like to have the same sort of location when we move to Brno.You "hit the nail on the head" when you mentioned our Winters.This Winter is the first mild one we´ve had since we came here . We haven´t had snow since before Christmas, normally we have a metre to a metre and a half and last Winter the temperatures were as low as -28°c to -35°c more than a few times.! ! !

I must say when I first went on Expats.cz I actually never found anyone to contact in ČR but a few expats in various countries wrote to me and suggested I put my own message in the forum.

As to my Czech.I get by but of course make mistakes.I used to get quite sad about it but I decided I would try and talk as much as possible when I got the opportunity.Of course a big minus of living here is that I´m not among that many people and I´m sure I´ll be learning the language all my life and still won´t get it right but at least people seem to understand me !! ! (most of the time ! ! ) Are you learning Czech yourself or do you go to classes ?

Gail

Cihadlo

Gail

Here too the winter has been very mild, certainly the easiest since I've been in the Czech Republic. The worst one for us was 2010/2011. It began snowing in the second week of November and I had to dig the car out nearly every single day until Christmas. After New Year there wasn't much new snow but we had fairly extended periods of around -20 and so the snow on the ground didn't go. I've never seen it quite as cold in this part of CR as you've experienced; I think -26 is our record. I know winters are worse in eastern CR - I visited Adrspach and there were some very spectacular pictures in the hotel of buried houses!

I have a teacher come to the office twice a week during my lunch hour - he's very good but I struggle. Actually, he's unable to give me a lesson for a month and so he's arranged for another teacher to deputise. She claims not to speak any English at all but I think she may have been told to do this by teacher one! So, we just talk in Czech for an hour with no work on grammar. I don't think I'm at the "getting by" level yet, although I did manage to survive two days and nights in a hospital recently, where only the surgeon spoke any English. I surprised myself by being able to answer a couple of questions in Czech immediately after coming round from a general anaeasthetic.

What brought you to the CR?

Chris

motyl

Chris,

I must say that your second teacher maybe has a good idea with just talking and not worrying about grammer.I suppose it´s important ,to an extent,to know a bit of grammer but I´ve just adopted the view that I want to understand and be understood.If I´m not sure how to end a word I "throw in" (verbally) a few endings and usually the person I´m speaking to will then correct me and it´s all done quite light heartedly.Like you,I´ve also been a patient and I was also pleased I could communicate fairly o.k.You certainly did well answering questions after coming round from an anaesthetic.

Basically we came to the ČR for economic reasons.I like England but there really are too many people on a little island ! ! We also wanted to live in the country but as you know the properties are just so expensive so we decided to move here.We bought our place in 1995,we then went back to work (as we were on a property hunting holiday)We then saved as we knew wewould need not only a new roof but a total reconstruction.We then came to live here for good in 1996 and we´ve been here ever since ! ! ! !

How long have you lived in the ČR ?

Gail.

mcm1

We have a property being finished just over the border in Poland. Our nearest town is Wodzislaw Slaski. Have been visiting the area for nearly 20 years and last year took the plunge and purchased our retirement house. We are having some work done internally right now, why do the Polish like garish colour schemes!
We are in the countryside but a short drive away from civilisation, we wanted peace and quiet, no immediate neighbours.
Hopefully we will realise our dream and retire a bit earlier from the rat race here in Surrey.can't wait.
Mick.

Cihadlo

Gail

I've been in CR for 4 years full-time and another couple before that 50-50. I have a Czech partner and we were living near Lichfield in Staffordshire but she became concerned about the health of her parents and so we decided to relocate to the CR. Jobs were a bit easier for us than for most people as we worked for an international employer and we could do exactly the same jobs as we did in the UK but sit at a computer in the CR.

Both of my partner's parents have now died but I've certainly no intention or inclination to move back to the UK. I would be happier if my Czech was better but I'll just have to work on that.

I'm surprised that more Britains don't consider the CR as a place for relocation. It's cheap but still has better facilities that a lot of other places in the old eastern bloc that seem more popular. It's nearer the UK that Spain or the south of France too. I see there are supposed to be about 6000 Britains resident in the CR but I bet 5000 of those are in Prague. I only know two at all local to me.

I guess you had the skills to renovate your property yourself if you took on something as remote as that? I'm pretty useless at these types of activity!

Chris

motyl

Hello Mick,

I noticed that Wodizlaw Slaski is just above the Czech border.?

motyl

I´m back again,had to answer the phone.You said that you have been visiting Poland for almost 20 years,have you mastered the language o.k ?You did make me laugh when you said how the Polish like garish colour schemes.We live in Czech Rep but on the Polish border and on our visits to Poland over the years we still marvel at the colours the Poles choose,If I remember,blue is quite popular particularly for roof tiles.! ! !

The location of your house sounds good as you said you are in the country but near civilisation.I expect you get snow in the Winter? I´m sure you will have a much more relaxed way of life when you move to Poland.

When do you hope to leave Surrey and move for good to Poland?

Gail

motyl

Chris,

It´s great that you and your partner can do the same work either in ČR or England. I must say that there advantages to living here ,generally properties are cheaper here but I think that there are maybe Brits who would consider living here but if they don´t speak the language they could be a bit worried if they could get by with just speaking English.I know many Czechs speak English but I must say that I if I imagine living here and my partner was also English ,life could be quite difficult and expensive if we had to pay for a translater from time to time .My husband is from Morava so life is a bit easier with at least one fluently speaking Czech.! ! !

I was suprised how many Brits live here as you said most of them will be in Praha.

I must say that hubby did lots of work on our house and I was his assistent,I´ve done a bit of smooth plastering and got quite good at mixing concrete in the concrete mixer ! ! plus of course painting etc,.I must say we also did a lot of work ourselves to keep costs down ,when you start paying firms to renovate the money can soon go. You never know if you try a bit of renovating you might like it ? ?

Gail