Fast Confession - Vendula Pizinger: I thought I was old and lazy, but I am sick!
Vendula Pizingerová is a rewarding respondent. When you actually manage to make an appointment with her, because her schedule is uncompromising and it's pretty much impossible to find an opening in it. However, when you finally meet the president and founder of the Kapka naděje foundation, you can be sure that you'll leave with a stomach ache from laughter and many topics to think about. This woman overcame the worst pitfalls of life. And yet you get the feeling like she's the happiest creature under the sun. In an interview for LP-life.cz, we talked not only about the upcoming benefit concert, but also about her marriage and her son's puberty.
What will be the theme of this year's Drop of Hope concert?
We have five children's stories with a happy ending. The concept has changed because the show is longer, it's not 90 minutes, but 120 minutes. The theme didn't change, it's still Christmas. After all, what else would you want to see at Christmas time than carols and happy smiles... I wonder if it‘s going to be a succeess, next year we'll be celebrating a twenty-year anniversary, that calls for more exuberant celebrations.
Is it also because a lot of artists want to perform there?
Definitely. And the longer the show, the longer we can be collecting money through DMS. DMS makes sense in conjunction with a TV screen, which means that once it disappears from the screen, people stop sending money. Most importantly, there is also a larger presentation of people who contribute with their stories. We've had a concert in Slovakia recently, and the show there is even longer, over 120 minutes. The Slovaks are very emotional, emotions are very high there, positive, people laugh and cry a lot. We Czechs are somewhat more modest in this respect.
But we still contribute to charity a lot…
That we do. And Drop of Hope is one of the strongest foundations, even when it comes to raising money through the aforementioned DMS.
Can you share one of those stories?
We have, for example, a story of two little brothers Vilík and Vašík. The younger one was less than four years old when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He needed a bone marrow transplant. And despite the originally small hopes that someone in the family could be a donor, his older brother Vašík was a 100 % match. Thanks to his donation, Vilík eventually returned to normal life, he goes to school now.
What would you like to buy for the money you'll have raised this time?
I think we will definitely need to buy equipment for hospitals throughout the Czech Republic. Today, the program already covers all regions of the Czech Republic and more than 45 hospitals are participating.
Is it still stressful for you after so many years?
Yes, I'm still nervous, one can't get used to it. I'm able to forget even my name. (laughs)
What will you be wearing?
An Osman Laffita dress. Green of course.
Are you on a diet to fit in it?
I'm doing intermittent fasting. I intermit it every weekend. (laughs)
And does it have results?
I don't know. Today I had a dress rehearsal at Osmani's, last time they almost couldn't zip it up, so I promised them that it would be better in ten days. And they zipped it up fine today, so I guess it does.
I work out, of course. In the summer, I was diagnosed with borreliosis, which I'd had in my body for several years, so the levels in my blood were very high. The doctor couldn't grasp how I was still functional. It did limit me, I felt very tired. When were in Kazakhstan and I wasn't feeling well, I was torturing myself with thoughts of how old and lazy I was. And look, I'm not lazy, I'm sick! (laughs)
How is it possible that you've had it in your body for several years? People can die of it, or become retarded…
Well, I'm not ruling that one out. (laughs) My friend, who had borreliosis, got blind. Not irreversibly, but a lot of people have problems. Of course, it affects the central nervous system, I guess it didn't get that far in my case. Some people have it in their joints. My levels were really high. They're supposed to be on zero, and I had several thousand.
And are you healthy now?
I hope so. First, you take antibiotics long-term, and then you have to wait six weeks for results. It's not immediate, it'll only show up in your blood once a certain period of time has passed. I was also using drops from a healer called Jonáš. People on the Internet were saying that when antibiotics weren't working, the drops helped them. But I went for both options. I really felt terrible, I was tired already at seven in the evening, brooding, upset and fighting depression. Later, I read that it comes with the disease sometimes.
But many people have it without having borreliosis.
Of course, but I'm a very energetic person, I'm almost never tired. People always said that Vendula and the devil never sleep. And look at me now.
Every year, you close a bet with your husband that you would include a strange word in your speech.
I wonder what it will be this year.
So you don't know in advance which word it will be? The last time it was crawlies, wasn't it?
That was the year before last. Last year it was some kind of crazy word I can't even recall anymore. He always tells me shortly before the event.
But you have to prepare the speech…
This time I host the entire evening together with Libor Bouček, so I can put it wherever.
That's easier, if you have two hours to do it.
Of course. Besides, it always has to be me who wins. Once my husband told me that if he thought I wouldn't be able to fit it in, he wouldn't give it to me. He's convinced I can handle it.
At that time, I had no idea what crawlies meant.
Luckily I did, which was actually coincidence. I had been at Fort Boyard that year, where insect would fall on me, which is essentially crawlies. My husband didn't know that, I mean he knew I had been there, but he didn't know that I would connect it in my head like this.
I am curious about it and people also frequently ask about it, it works. I've just been to Slovakia and I put a photo on Instagram where only half of my head was backcombed when I was called for the dress rehearsal. We made a video of it and people started commenting, if it's some kind of bet with my husband, the hair. People already know about it, it's our fifth bet, I think – you know, each time we have a concert.
You and your husband were on holiday in Kazakhstan, that's not exactly a traditional tourist area…
We weren't in the capital, which is Nur-Sultan (Astana, ed.), we were in Almati. It is a beautiful city, kind of like Prague, in both size and the way it functions. I came across a Czech pub there, called Kolkovna, and they had Pilsner beer. We spent two days in a yurt and in various national parks. Because we had friends there, we managed to get even to places that tourists usually cannot visit.
When I went there, I was thinking it would be nice to go to a yurt. I was looking at it from the point of view of a tourist, that I'd go there, sleep in a yurt, it would be a pleasant experience. And then I went there and there was a family in the yurt, eight people, maybe more. Naturally, they slaughtered a ram, which was difficult for me since I don't really eat it, but eat it I did, because there was no other chance. They had small children who were toddling around, it was very strange.
In the evening everyone sits down. They have carpets everywhere, which they pull out around then. They live and sleep on them. It's really nice, very colorful. They open bottles of vodka in the evening, which was no joke, because when they opened the fourth one, I said "please keep it for tomorrow" and they said they had more for tomorrow. Then they lie down and sleep, they simply drop dead when they drink. I haven't seen that before.
Was it your idea to go to Kazakhstan?
Josef wanted to go to Kazakhstan and I have a long time friend who trades with Kazakhstan. He kept calling, telling me to come visit, but it had never really occured to me that I could go there. Josef said he would like to go, and it was our only tip for a holiday.
It was there that I found out something wasn't quite right with me, when, one day, I had to sit down and stay behind during the trek. Josef continued to the glacier to some kind of lake, and when he returned, having walked 25 kilometers on the rocks, I was glad I hadn't gone with him. But yeah, we were in the mountains for six days.
Not every woman would be willing to go through that. Is it because he is younger?
He actually only started going for hiking trips and trekking on the longer trails with me. Our first trip was to New Zealand and Lombok, an island near Bali, it was beautiful. We didn't know each other much back then, so it was nice that he managed to stay in my company for so long. He wouldn't be able to stand me nowaadays. (laughs) It's definitely less comfortable for a woman than for a man, this way of traveling.
But you enjoy it, don't you?
I do. Of course, it involves constantly dragging twenty kilos on your back, I always swear and feel like giving up, and then I do it all over again. There's something tempting about it. I know nobody would have guessed that I of all people would be into this, but I really enjoy it. And I enjoy it all the more with him, I like being with him. And what's most important, he's different out there. He feels more free, he's the kind of person who can perceive these things and he likes it. The only problem is we don't get to talk much, because I all see is his backpack from behind.
Like the last time when we were coming back from the mountains. I kept thinking I could see the horizon, and there was another hill. He was already up there, looking around, and then he told me he'd been waiting for 45 minutes.
You are a self-sufficient woman in Prague, but you must be more vulnerable out there...
Yeah, but I also showed him that I could handle a lot. But he does have to do the most difficult hikes with his friends, that's too much for me. And it's not just about age, I'm a person who has never been into sports. If you start doing something at forty, I'd have to be a genius to be able to run a marathon or something.
Kuba didn't go with you to Kazakhstan?
He didn't, he was with his friends. But he joins us when he go to the mountains and he enjoys it. But of course he also dreams of a hotel. When we were in Zealand, he kept saying "finally a hotel". But as I said, it is less demanding for men, for example my husband doesn't mind cold water. He jumped into a lake on vacation, which I would never. For a woman it's terrible, you climb down the mountain and you can smell yourself even on a photo.
How about Kuba? Puberty, I understand, is challenging.
I wonder how long it will last, somehow I don't even remember how it was like for me.
It's a bit different for girls, though…
I guess it's a bit better for girls. But again, it depends on the person.
Do you take it personally when he talks back to you?
I'm trying not to be a pain in his ass, you shouldn‘t do that with guys, it doesn't bear fruit.
Is he already profiling himself?
He's very good at drawing and enjoys it too, his depth perception is very good. When he makes a drawing for school, it looks like printed out on a printer. But I don't want him to become a graphic designer, because if he isn't the best of the best, he'll be sitting at the computer for twelve hours a day. We'll see, we'll try a grammar school or another kind of high school where he'll mature.
How about you and Christmas baking?
I don't bake because I'm not really good at it. I can cook very well, but I think baking is about patience, and it doesn't work very well with ADHD. (laughs)
Don't your guys demand it from you?
They hardly ever eat it. We've found this amazing lady, a blogger who makes wonderful Christmas cookies, so I get some from her every year. Of course, when Kuba was little, we baked rolls together. I remember, it was one of the first Christmases when Josef was here, that we were baking together. Each of us made some figures and we burned it all.
What do you wish for next year, be it for yourself, your son, your husband or Drop of Hope?
I wish for everything to remain unchanged. For Drop of Hope and my family to function as well as they do now. It's not that I've turned all my dreams into reality, but I'm glad when the dreams carry on and remain valid.
We all know that having a functional family is the most important thing. And when I know that I like what I'm doing, then I haven't actually worked a minute, right?. I think that's very important.
