Laugh if you understand "russki"

So I'm trying to learn Czech. Considering that my native tongue is Russian and I speak better English, I expected that between the Slavic and Latin similarities I'd more or less be able to communicate and understand in no time. Alas, the road is longer than I expected.

Czechs use the Latin alphabet and it's a phonetically spelt language (whoohoo!), so after familiarizing myself with all the nuances of pronunciation (accents modify default letters), I can more or less read off the page. But as far as glimpsing the meanings behind these words...

Here are some examples of how Russian compares to Czech vocabulary. I've added English phonetic pronuncation and translation for each pair. (Czech on the left, Russian on the right).

jazyk [jazyk] = tongue, language - -язык [jazyk] = tongue, language
večer [vecher] = evening - - - - - - вечер [vecher] = evening
hluboký [hluboki] = deep - - - - - - глубокий [gluboki] = deep

Ok, so far so good. Here's where it gets a little tricker.

neděle [nedjele] = Sunday - - - - - -неделя [njedjelya] = week
stúl [stool] = table - - - - - - - - - - -стул [stool] = chair
život [zhivot] = life - - - - - - - - - - -живот [zhivot] = stomach
nebo [nebo] = or - - - - - - - - - - - -небо [nebo] = sky
opakovat [opakovat] = to repeat - -упаковать [upakovat'] = to wrap
sval [sval] = muscle - - - - - - - - - -свалка [svalka] = garbage dump

So... we've got words that range from being in the same family of meaning to something completely random. But my favourites, to completely confuse me, are below.

pozor [pozor] = attention - - - - - - позор [pozor] = scandalous shame
zákaz [zakaz] = prohibition,ban - - заказ [zakaz] = order
čerstvý [cherstvi] = fresh - - - - - -чёрствый [chyorstvyi] = stale
úžasný [uzhasni] = fabulous - - - - ужасный [uzhasnyi] = terrible

Hahaha.... Wish me luck!