Frankly, not much. Teaching hasn't started yet, right now we’re slowly getting ready for the winter semester at Pardubice University. Then I'll be waiting for news from Prague about whether I'll be teaching again, but it's still too early to tell. I suppose poor Jirka J., responsible for the Hungarian studies, has just too much on his plate...
Still, I have a dream.. It would be great if there was a chance to find a publisher for a translation. It is extremely witty, readable, and exciting volume on Václav Havel. Martin C. Putna's monography is not simply a portrait of a distinguished intellectual, writer, and politician. The work also provides insight into the entire 20th-century Czech intellectual life and a glimpse into the bustling world of the Prague elite. I have already translated some chapters (first drafts, of course) and been peddling it for a year. Or, perhaps, for two years. The volume is here beside me, and maybe I'll get back to it this week. Who knows, maybe one of the publishers I've approached will suddenly decide they have the money and need the manuscript immediately...
In fact, Czech grammar keeps me busy. After years of pressure from my family, I have just decided to apply for the Czech citizenship, and language exam is a must. So far, I have resisted, shielding myself with three reasons: 1. The EU has provided me with a comfortable framework so far, and I haven't suffered from many disadvantages – I have been to Hungary for parliamentary elections, and I have voted there several times for local government representatives in the Czech Rep.; 2. This is going to be my third citizenship (Romanian citizenship remembered, though long gone numb); 3. Should I keep applying for yet another citizenship in case we move to another EU country? So why now? "Well, I see, the situation in Hungary..." a colleague reacted to the news, smiling with sympathy. Yes, I smiled back. We understand each other. However, one of the reasons was that the Czech authorities requested an A1 form, which they had not requested before. All against the hope for a better future, I'm afraid that here (too) the legislative is becoming stricter on migrants, to put it in European terms. Damn it. And I mean, all that.
What's more, I am constantly monitoring my cell phone, keeping an eye on the news, analyses of news, the comments and counter-comments. Well, I am trying to save my nerves, always trying to deal with situations without hatred, but rather keen on understanding the other, I swear I do, and, if the situation is truly hopeless, with a pinch of irony mixed with wisdom.
Is it possible to work in a world like this? Well, as once upon a time a wise bear said, you can never tell... But summer is over, and teaching is about to begin. Perhaps even in the Hungarian department in Prague. And I will go ahead with the translation. I love doing all that. And if not for anything else, but for that reason alone.