Living, houses
Housing
My own house
The place I like most in my house is my room. Sometimes it‘s clean and tidy, warm, it‘s decorated in white and brown, the walls are very smooth, but there are some corners for example near skylight and it looks like very well, I like that view. I have 3 windows in my room so it’s very light. It is situated to the south so in the afternoon the sun in shining through whole room. I have a bed, 2 bookcases, and 2 wardrobes with a radio. Under the skylight there is my table with a lamp, computer and printer. But the table is quite big so I still have a lot of space there. Next to the bet there is bedside table with a small lamp. I have no curtains there.
The place where the whole family live is the living room. We watch TV there, eat, sometimes sleep. It’s very uncomfortable to be there sometimes. I sit in the armchair and watch TV for example and whole family go through here every minute, they talk
loudly, open and close doors…
Flat x House
Flat: adv. – smaller – less vacuuming, better for keeping tidy, they heat for you, warm the water, no garden, no paling (plot)
disadv. – lack of place, a lot of people, no privacy, shared rooms, sometimes you have to pay for it, nothing to do
House: adv. – a lot of place, everybody has own room, no paying, garden,
disadv. – a lot of cleaning, vacuuming, household duties, you have to heat yourself, look after the pavement, garden, you do everything yourself
Living in a town or village
Town: adv. – more comfortable, a lot of shops, services, better transport from part to part, close to school, work, more attractions, sport organisations
disadv. – smog, pollution, noise, cars, a lot of people, no nature, just concrete (beton)
Village: adv. – own house, you no everybody, nice nature, fresh air, no noise, cars
diadv. – commuting to work, no services, sometimes boring, bad transport
Housing in Britain
When I was in GB I lived in a very small terrace house. On the ground floor there was an entrance hall, a kitchen with dining room, pantry (spižírna) and a small lumber-room (komora). In the first floor there were 2 bedrooms, bathroom with toilet and small living room with TV, video, sofa and armchair. There were some wardrobes and flowers there. Behind the house they had very small garden. You could go there from the kitchen. But the garden have maybe only 20 or 30 sq. m. There was only one small bush, a little reed (rákosí) and a few flowers. They didn’t have garage so they parked in front of the house. I haven’t seen typical English green unfortunately.
Problems
It’s very tough to get a flat recently. There are little flats here, because everyone especially young families want to have own flat. They have to book the flat and wait sometimes a few years. They can save money meanwhile. They can also borrow money from a bank or just from parents or friends. People can hire a flat, share a flat with someone else, get flat from the employer, rebuilt a house or built a new house. For young people it’s better to stay with parents. They share duties, don’t pay much money for water, electricity, gas, grandparents can look after children, but sometimes they have quarrels, they want to do things other way, grandparents spoil children…
Ideal house
My ideal house is a house somewhere at the end of a town, near the wood, with nice environment, somewhere where is a hot weather. It has ground and first floor. Bid garage for my two big cars and everything is controlled by computer oven, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, TV, video, stereo, satellite, my computer is connected to internet. I don’t have keys, the computer scans my hand or eye. I control the computer with my voice. I have big garden with big trees, and a swimming pool in the middle. I‘ll maybe have a tennis or squash court.
Family life
First I would like to tell you something about a typical Czech family. I think that a typical Czech family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. So today it is difficult to say how does an average Czech household seem.
For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. I think that it must be very difficult for the child, who lives in one-parent family because every child should be brought up by the both parents. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents. I think that people can prevent from their divorce if they try to live together without marriage for some time. Then they will know if they are able to live together and have a family.
The other reason, which causes changes in family life, is economic situation. Many young people have big economic problems. They have not lasting habitation or work, so they can not afford to have a child. On the other hand a lot of people prefer their own career, so they found their own families much later. They had children but the children have already left their parents, so they stay alone.
Another change has been caused by the fact that people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people’s lives, there are many households which consists of only one person or one adult and children.You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.
If somebody has a wide family and lives together with grandparents it can be good but it can also bring a lot of problems for the family. In these families there are three generations. They can help themselves mutually but the differences in their opinions on lot of things can be so big, so it can be reason for many clashes. I do not live in family such like these but I have a lot of friends who live with their grandparents together and most of them have a quite good relationship with them.
Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organised group. Nowadays a lot of teenagers of age of majority live apart from his parents on their own. Either they have their own flat or if they are studying at university they live in a hostel. It is very comfortable for the young people if they still live with their parents but living on their own forces them to take care of themselves, so it could be very useful for them.