When you’re strange
You get used to the passive - aggressive social behavior; anything you ask is not rejected, not exactly accepted. It’s all a cloud of “yes yes” and “no no”; you feel mellow and secured, but hey, all you get finally is what the person wanted to give. It can be literally called “Soldier Svejk Syndrome”
Especially from the beginning, a foreigner gets an attitude. I came here as a regular student at the Art Academy downtown. Among Czechs, nobody protests against you being there, all polite smiles, “dobry den”s, but you’re not actually accepted. It’s neither a personal issue, nor the professors against foreigner art, they just prefer Czech people surrounding them and Czech art hung on the walls. Despite this attitude being common, fortunately it is not a rule, there still is a chance to survive as a foreign student, and find a piece of wall to exhibit your work.
But all is perfectly understandable if you take a look at the history of this nation. After hundreds of years of Austrian empire, a breeze of national government, then hop, comes Germans, and immediately after, Russians. Well yes, Czechs developed this peaceful diplomatic attitude to get along with invaders, and they have rights to not like foreigners from the first look. All you need, is to stay calm, they’ll get used to you and show their real friendly face.
Arts in the closet
By taking a look at the street, the life of everyone, I must admit I have never seen people so much involved with traditional arts. A common looking elderly lady, after some talk, shows you the almost professional illustrations she drew just to entertain her sons. A man lives alone in the mountains all his life, who is supposed to be a tramp to my understanding, designs his own letters and hand prints books with the story he wrote, which are exhibited now in selected museums. Another, wearing white socks in sandals (a Czech cliché), is carving beautiful wooden sculptures, but working as a driver. In short, every second person is a craftsmen, but modestly hidden.
Clients from heaven
It’s so common that designers complain about the bad taste of clients. As a freelance graphic designer, I must say, in some ways, this is the promised land. I have met a wide number of people through work, with great understanding of visual esthetics. No matter what their profession is; psychologist, hotel manager, cleaning lady, people are able to appreciate good design; even without demands like more shiny colors, bigger logo, etc. –Well, I am not putting this as a rule, sure I did meet numerous people with “make my logo bigger” argument, but still, the rest is enough to keep me happy.
Here I am in Prague; surrounded with arts and nature, creepy winters, bad food and worse service, lady tram drivers, easy to convince control-men, great chain of anti-popcorn cinema, cheap drinking and the knowledge that beer actually cures the hangover.
