A “double life” in the Czech Republic¨

Text: Michaela Šnajdrová, Ostrava
Photographs: Lubomír Kotek, Praha

In the research of migration within one state, the question whether the migrant really moves between two different cultural settings or only commutes back and forth within one world, between the place he lives and the place he works, is often posed and is of great importance. Is it still migration in a true sense of the word? The migrant meets people who speak the same language, who grew up in a very close cultural environment but nevertheless live in a different place. Filip and Iveta do not think that in Prague and in Kacanovy – the places they work and live respectively – they are doing different things or that their acquaintances in the countryside and in town differ in anything. In spite of that they are not willing to make a decision to settle in one of these places exclusively. They believe they need them both.

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Already during their studies in Prague, Iveta and Filip cut themselves off from their previous homes in small Czech towns. They did not feel their hometowns could offer them anything anymore. After they finished university they never returned home. Iveta worked for two years as a dentist on a mission in Romania and when she came back to the Czech Republic, she started a career as a pharmaceutical company manager. Filip worked as a web designer and travelled. After they met in Prague they began working on humanitarian missions in the Near East together. During one of these missions, they got married. After years spent abroad, they realised that their partnership lacked a stabilising point – they wanted to find a common home like other people.

They wanted to settle down somewhere in Bohemia and started looking during a holiday in Český Ráj, the region where Iveta spent her youth. Here they discovered the advantages of living in the countryside: quality housing, travel and free time cost much less than in a city. They started to enjoy village life, meeting with locals in the pub and, over beer, planning various projects they could organise in the village, from shooters’ day to the revival of an amateur theatre group. So they did not see a reason to look for a home elsewhere. They were not even trying hard to find a house when a happy coincidence solved it for them. A house that their friends pointed out to them was already nearly sold, but since Filip and Ivana were known in the area and perceived as people who were actually going to settle down there, the owner gave them preference over the other interested buyers. They bought the reconstructed house, moved a couple pieces of furniture and some personal items in and started living in Kacanovy practically overnight.

From the very beginning they did not plan to look for jobs in the region. They did not believe they would find here the kind of jobs that would interest them and would meet their financial expectations. Also, they did not want to lose touch with Prague. Iveta found a job as a manager in a non-profit organisation and Filip became a software company consultant. This way, they started making money for their “double life” in the Czech Republic.
Filip and Ivana need about an hour and a half to travel the 100 km distance between Prague and their house in Kacanovy. However, the trip through Prague to reach Filip’s company headquarters in Jažlovice takes almost the same time. Therefore, they do not come home to Kacanovy every day but stay in Prague in a sublet apartment on most weekdays. They spend one night a week and the weekends in Český Ráj.

In Prague they live in a two-bedroom apartment that belongs to a friend who is away for a long time. They had already stayed at several friends’ apartments, but unlike those the current one has a nice atmosphere that reminds them of their house in Kacanovy. They realised that they could spend more time here and maybe even invite friends over for parties rather than just sleep here as they used to do. While in Prague, they usually concentrate on work, which for them is not only a means to make money but also a means for professional self-realisation. They both now work in fields that interest them and that they want to pursue further. Iveta, after having worked in healthcare and management, finds her work on a project supporting a modern family model interesting and puts a lot of energy into it. Filip never worked in software engineering after his studies on a long-term basis so consulting is his first steady job. He has a firm position, has already had his first professional successes and his career is likely to continue well. Filip’s workday is usually long and he also needs some time to get back to the sublet apartment, so he meets Iveta only very late at night. In spite of that, they lead a busy social life in Prague, going to movies and concerts and meeting with friends who do not visit them in the countryside.

Many of their friends do like to visit them in Český Ráj so Iveta and Filip welcome guests in their “little house” almost every weekend, sharing the idyllic village life with all the conveniences of contemporary times. Everything in the house works with electricity, even the garden watering system, so the owners have enough time to take walks in the area, practice with the amateur theatre group, organise slide shows of photos from their trips, Easter carnivals and village festivals. Whenever they meet locals in the Na Pohoří pub, they come up with some new projects. Even in Český Ráj, their social life is more than full and they have already become almost indispensable members of the community. They try to spend as much time as possible here, also because life here is really much cheaper for them than in Prague. They get eggs and vegetables from family and friends, do their shopping at discount supermarkets and always spend less in the local pub compared to Prague.

Filip and Iveta have been commuting between Prague and Český Ráj only for several months and they already know that certain things need to be improved. It would be great if they could work from Český Ráj at least one day a week and did not have to spend all workdays in Prague, but they are still new at their jobs and enjoy being in contact with colleagues or clients. In a couple of months, however, they would love to use the possibility to work from home and spend the equal time in both places. They have also changed their minds regarding housing in Prague. In Český Ráj, they got used to the high standard and comfort of a large house with its interior according to their wishes. Now they would like to have the same standard in their second base in Prague. They are not so keen anymore on sleeping in someone’s apartment where they do not feel at home.

They will need to leave their sublet apartment soon so they are looking for an apartment to rent in which they would feel as good as in the countryside.
The rhythm of the commuting gives their lives a pattern of regularity and they do not find the continuous change of place disturbing. Their relationship to both settings is deeper than if they spent their time only in one of them. At the same time, it is more superficial. They spend more than half their week in Prague and want to create a similar base there to what they have in Český Ráj. They have friends they go out with and the urban settings are familiar. They regard Kacanovy as their home because they have already created that base.

They take part in the life of the community and have become important members of it. By leaving for Prague, they can keep their distance form the internal conflicts of the community, like the everyday problems and quarrels between neighbours. They are able to recover from work-related stress more easily and enjoy the freedom of changing their setting whenever they feel like it. They have not chosen a real “home” yet, nor do they want to. The current situation suits them well, since they can absorb only positive impulses from both places. They can carelessly float on, keeping up their lifestyle thanks to a good financial income. But overall, their situation is not as secure as it seems. If one of them changes jobs or becomes unemployed, if they have a baby or decide to travel, the whole system easily falls to pieces. Filip and Iveta are aware that they might not want to sit on a bench outside their village house or commute to Prague on a weekly basis forever. They count on the fact that there will be changes some day and they seem prepared to face them.

Episode:

“Detritus”

Inhabitants of Prague often love their city, but at the same time, they flee from it. Outside the city they seek something different – fewer cars, more trees, a traditional sort of lifestyle.
The grandparents of the new generation were cottage owners and would leave the city on weekends to paint their fences and water their small vegetable gardens. The new generation is not interested in gardens, but rather in experiences. And these are what the new countryside can offer them. The locals have a somewhat unflattering nickname for the vacationers of today, “driftwood” or “detritus”. They fill up the empty houses in remote areas and take up the regulars’ places in the pubs on weekends. They feel like having the kind of time that they wouldn’t dare have in the big city, or wouldn’t be able to. The locals simply take up a passive attitude to the work opportunities which present themselves. Admit it, to get a local to get up from his comfortable chair and interrupt his cable TV-watching due to the organisation of a Saturday social event is more than unlikely. But the ‘detritus’ care about having fun and so they organise it as they see fit. Ultimately, this is also why they come to the village. They organise social events here, feasts, fairs, etc., but is this really traditional merrymaking? Those who recall old times definitely say “no”, adding that the way things used to be has nothing to do with these fairytale-television ideas. Are, then, attempts to revive traditional holidays in the Czech countryside merely artificial kitsch for regular tourists from the city? But ultimately, isn’t it usually detritus that brings the most fertile soil to land which is already exhausted?