Czech Republic

Informative Narrative (Modified for easier reading)

Czech Republic

"Hey," you say to get my attention. I go over to you. You are holding a map of Europe and pointing to two words. "What's that place? I've never heard of it." I see that you are pointing to the words Czech Republic. 

"Oh, that place," I say. "You've really never heard of it?" You shake your head. "Well, let me tell you all about it."  You await my words eagerly as I think about the best way to educate you on this subject. "The Czech Republic is a wonderful place. It has beautiful geography, wonderful culture, an extensive history, and a very interesting economy. I suppose you've heard of the Saint Vitus Cathedral, yes?"  You shake your head no. "What about their imports? You must have learned this in school, right?"  You once again shake your head. I sigh in exasperation.  "Do you know anything about their holidays? Their independence?" Again, you shake your head. "Well then, you're in for quite a treat.

"Let's start with the geography, yes? We know that it's located in central Europe." I gesture vaguely to where your finger was pointing earlier. "The country is surrounded by others such as France, Germany, Italy, Romania, and Poland." I point to where these countries are located. "There is an abundance of places you can visit to see there wonderous outdoors, such as the Sumava forest and the Jizera mountains. 

"Here's a little fun fact for you. The most common type of trees are oak, beech, and spruce." You nod your head, gesturing me to go on, for you are interested in this far away land.  "The climate is the Czech Republic is a little tricky. I will tell you what I know for certain. In Cheb, that's a city in the Czech Republic, the temperature is usually around 45° F to 48° F. Which is around 7.2° C to 8.8° C in the rest of the world. The temperature is Cheb can be as low as 0° F, which is around -17.7° C."

"What about the economy? What's that like over there?" You ask. 

"Oh! Love their trading system," I exclaim. "The Czech Republic trades machinery and transport equipment." 

Sensing my excitement, you say "Fascinating." I nod my head vigorously and continue. 

"I know! They usually trade with the countries around them. According to Britannica, 43.5% of their imports and exports come from unnamed/unidentified sources and most of the imports come from Germany, 26.4% to be exact. The website does name the other places. It says that 12.4% of imports come from China, 8.3% from Poland, 5.1% come from Slovakia and 4.3% from Italy."

"My, oh my. You're just a buddle of facts, aren't you? Just like Aziraphale with his books," You say with a giggle. "What about their culture? What's it like over there?" 

I think for a moment before speaking. "I can't give you an accurate description because I've never nor am I of that nationality. Before, I asked about what you knew of their holidays, correct?" You nod your head. "Let's talk about that then. They have some of the same holidays as us, some different. Such as Day of Slavonic Apostles Cyril and Methodius. That holiday is on July 5th, and it celebrates two brothers named Cyril and Methodius. 

"Cyril and Methodius were 'byzantine Christian theologians and evangelists' and they invented the Glagolitic alphabet, the first translator for Old Church Slavonic. There are a lot of holidays that we celebrate that they do too. Such as New Years, Christmas, independence day. Although, their independence day is on a different day then ours.

"In the 7th century, the Samo Empire ruled the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In the next century, the Czech Republic lost rule over Slovakia and formed Bohemia, which in 1198 turned into an official kingdom. The Czech and Slovaks were allies throughout history. In the 14th century, Slovaks visited the Prague, the capital of Czech Republic, to attend Charles University.  

"In the 19th century, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  In 1914, the Czech were forced to enter World War 1 because Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a group called the Black Hand. Everyone was reluctant to fight in this war. In 1916 when they were nearing the end of WW1, Tomas Masaryk, MR Stefanik, and Edvard Benes created a group that worked as a force in the anti-Australian opposition. In 1918, the idea of being a free state was spreading all throughout the Czech Republic. That same year two weeks before WW1 ended, on October 28th Tomas Masaryk declared independence for his state."

You make a wow face. "Let's recap what I've told you. I've told you about how the climate is. I've told you about what percent of trades come from. And I've told you about some of their holidays plus how it became its own place. I do hope you enjoyed my facts!" 

You smile and say "Yes, it was very interesting!"

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My thoughts with this writing

First time writing it: Wow, this is a great idea! I just hope I can actually use this and not get a bad grade for writing it like it's a narrative. Holy crap, I love this! It's really good!

Halfway through writing it: Okay, yeah. This sucks. Big time. Seriously, wow. Who the fuck let me write this crap. Seriously.

After finishing the draft: What. The. Fuck. Is. This. Shit. *sigh* You know what, I don't even care. All I need to do now is to edit it. *mega sigh*

After editing and right before I turn it in: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH this is... I don't know. I dON'T KNOW.  I D O N' T K N O W. Just gonna look over this one more time and hope for the best. AAAAAAAAAaaaah- I'm screwed aren't I? Probably.

Before I publish it for people to read: That.... was okay, I guess. It could have been better but I can't change it now.