The jaw line, the jaw line

This is me. My friend Staffan is also in the photo, but this blog post is about me. Me and my family.

Notice my delicate jawline? My mustache and dark eyes? They all come from somewhere and I am about to find out where from. More specifically, you are witnessing the very beginning of Modlitba 2.0 - the 2007 /2008 Slavic genome tour. I am about to find my Slavic ancestors.

I am taking it step by step. All I know is that my father's Austrian family originates in Brno in the Czech Republic. I have searched for the name Modlitba (Czech for "prayer") online and have a feeling that the name is actually not that common.

I searched for Modlitba on Skype the other day and found three people, excluding myself and my father, who all live in the Brno area. I sent messages to all three and have now talked to a woman in Brno who is married to a Modlitba, as well as her daughter who lives in France with her French boyfriend. According to her, the Brno Modlitba family consists of three brothers. One of them now lives in Germany; two still live in the area.

In addition, I found an English girl called Nina on Facebook. Nina's immediate family originates from Croatia, but she is pretty sure that her paternal grandfather (Modlitba) was born in the Czech Republic.

I think I am on to something here. I have a feeling that somewhere, sometime, there was a big daddy Modlitba - our respected ancestor - with a humongous jaw and even larger calves.

Oh, I can't wait to meet him.