"Work to Live"

Now that we have learned some of Prague’s history, we move to present day. On Monday we visited the public television station CT 24, the graphic design company Studio Najbrt, the American Center of the United States Embassy to learn about Czech companies, and the Romani non-profit organization Romea. Tuesday we went to Google to learn about how international businesses function in the CR.

One of the big things that stuck out for me across all of the companies was the balance between work and lifestyle. In the United States, I often feel that we have a culture that supports the idea of “living to work.” Professions that are highly regarded, including doctors and lawyers, often involve huge lifestyle sacrifices (e.g. time spent with family and friends). Even beyond these professions, we are taught in the United States from a very young age that you avoid taking sick or personal days. As a society, we stress productivity and profitability over other values. Our maternity leave is short, our vacations are few, our resistance to move away from family for work is low, and our children are often raised by au pairs, babysitters, or themselves (latchkey kids). These sacrifices are seen as very normal in our society, but the Czechs (and most Europeans) seem to have more of a laid back “work to live” mentality. I think the best solution is balance. I know that I want to be able to have a family while also doing the work that I love.

Through these tours, I also learned that the Czechs seem to be less materialistic. At Studio Najbrt, we asked if they had any intentions of expanding or becoming part of a larger conglomerate, but they said that their work and their integrity was more important to them than money. I feel like this sentiment is largely lost in America. Many people choose a career that will let them make the most money. Just look at the Wall Street Crisis of the early 2000s: people in the financial industry were so greedy that they stopped looking at the integrity of their loans. I know for me, that I want a job where I’m helping people and I’m passionate about what I’m doing.

While none of the companies we visited do the work I'm ultimately interested in (except Google, but I'm more interested in the design side of it), I still was able to take away some insights about myself. For example, I know that I want to work in an environment that is collaborative, but also empowering. I thought the best example of this was Studio Najbrt. They explained that they have a few people work together on one project, but within the group, the coworkers are able to take on individual tasks. I liked the openness of their office (and Google's) and how they maintained a more playful, comfortable environment, while not sacrificing productivity.


Another issue I am currently considering is if I want to work in a big company or a smaller start-up. What I like about bigger companies is that you have more of an opportunity to travel internationally or domestically, which is something I'm really interested in. On the other hand, bigger companies tend to have a more corporate culture. I do not want to be just another number in the scheme of a large corporation. At a smaller start-up, I could have more of an opportunity to bounce around departments and work on all kinds of projects. Google is unique in the sense that it seems to achieve both by having smaller teams spread throughout a large entity. At the Czech Google, they emphasized how they work in conjunction with the other arms of Google throughout Europe.

Overall, I am glad that I had the opportunity to visit these different businesses and learn more about the Czech work culture and about what I want to ultimately pursue.

"Here in Terezín, life is hell and when I'll go home again, I can't yet tell"

Today we visited Lidice and Terezín. Lidice is a town outside of Prague that was destroyed over the course of two days in summer 1942 by the Nazis. Terezín is a military fortress and town that was used by the Nazis as a Jewish ghetto and concentration camp. After visiting these two sites and learning about these tragedies through museums and tours, we were asked to reflect on the degree of our emotional understanding - did the day's activities help us step into the Czech perspective?

I have not had the opportunity to see Lidice (the movie) yet, but from previous experiences, I have always found that I better understand a situation when it is put into the context of a few people's struggles. When you see large numbers, it's really hard to make a human connection to the tragedy. For example, I remember hearing a lot about the Holocaust in school and from some of my Jewish peers, but one of the first times it hit home for me was when I read and watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." All of the sudden, it wasn't millions of people who died, it was the character I had come to know and love.

Today, I felt most connected to the tragedies when I saw the individual stories. I loved the statues of the children at Lidice because it helped me picture this group of children who all had unique personalities and relationships, dreams and aspirations. For the same reason, I loved the first floor of the museum in Terezín where they had exhibits of the children's artwork. I looked at the drawings that reminded me so much of the ones I had done at that age and felt connected to the children who had their lives taken away from them at such a young age. One of the things I will remember from the exhibit was the poem written by one of the boys. He talked about life in Terezín, concluding, "Here in Terezín, life is hell and when I'll go home again, I can't yet tell."

This hit me hard because I have a strong connection to my family and I have experienced bouts of homesickness throughout my life where all I wanted to go was home to be with my family. I can't even imagine what it would be like to not be able to see them or to not be able to return to my home.

Overall, I think museums and tours succeed when they are able to show you human experiences. I think both sites did a good job of giving us the details that make the story more personal. Many times it's all too easy to walk away from a fact or figure, but when you see the human there, you have an obligation to try to understand.

I believe that it is important to go see these places and to try your best to put yourself in the people's position. After all, that's how these tragedies occur: when we are able to convince ourselves that the people we are hurting aren't people. Once we see each other as humans, it becomes much harder to hurt each other or to ignore the past.

From our experiences today, I think I understand more about what happened and while I can't say it doesn't make me uncomfortable to think about these tragedies, I think it's a necessary discomfort. By understanding the past, we can prevent the similar tragedies from happening in the future.

The Czech Lion Has Taken Back the Castle

Hello from Prague! I am so happy to be here - especially because this is my first time abroad! Today was our first full day in the city. After leaving the hotel around 11 a.m., we started walking toward the Prague Palace, then on to Letná Park, next stop: Museum of Communism (by way of the Jewish quarter), and finally, food at Meduzzy.

As we walked through Prague, learning about Czech history, I was reminded of the differences between our two nations. Today Professor Elavsky used the saying, "The Czech lion has taken back the castle" to describe how the Czechs finally won their freedom from communism. This struck me as interesting because America has never been taken over by another country. We have always had our freedom since we fought for it in the Revolutionary War. Because of this, our history is largely a point of pride. We are proud to be Americans because, to us, America stands for excellence, freedom, and leadership.

The Czechs, however, have a very different perspective about history. They have almost always been controlled by another empire. As we discussed in class, this makes it very difficult to tease out the Czechs' attitude. For the most part, as long as they were comfortable, they were fine with living under an empire. Depending on how you look at it, this attitude can be seen as complaisance or resilience.

One story that showcases this tendency is the building of the Stalin Monument, which was unveiled in 1955. It was the world's largest representation of Stalin and it was placed in Letná Park (atop a hill) for all to see. However, shortly after it was revealed, de-Stalinization spread throughout Europe as people began to reveal his crimes. Embarrassed, the Czechs decided they needed to get rid of the statue, so slowly, they began to take it down until it had disappeared. As it came down, no one dared speak a word. To this day, Czechs will avoid talking about it even though they know it exists.

It seems strange to us, but under Communism, Czechs had to adopt this attitude to survive. Any given day during this time period, they could be forced to change their minds or gloss over a part of history because the Party dictated it. This reminds me of the doublethink concept from George Orwell's 1984. In the book, doublethink requires people to accept certain notions even though they may contradict each other. When it became inconvenient to remember the Stalin Monument, the Czechs decided they didn't. It was better to rewrite the past than suffer the embarrassment that it brought with it.

I think it would be unfair to say that Americans do not change history - there are definitely parts we sugar coat - but overall, these myths only solidify the achievements of our nation. One example of this is our tendency to gloss over the fact that many of our founding fathers owned slaves, which is very hypocritical when you consider that they were fighting for their freedom from Britain. But, I would argue, that we do not try to hide this history. We acknowledge it because we are secure in our identity as a free nation. I would argue that in some ways, the Czechs are still a bit insecure about their identity (and in some cases divided, as there is still a large population that supports Communism). I am so excited to learn more this week!

Thanks for reading my first post! Let me know if you have any thoughts. I also included an excerpt from 1984 below that I think sums up doublethink well.

"To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary."