Tidbits From Poland
This
page will be about life, interesting, and amusing things I have learned found
out and/or discovered while in Poland. The most recent will be added to the top
with the date.
3 May every year
Poland has the second oldest constitution in the world. It was signed in
1791 and this date is a national holiday to celebrate that.
1 May every year
Today is Labour Day in Poland, as well as most of the rest of the world.
In the USA, Labour Day is a day to have picnics, go to the beach, etc and
celebrate people who labour for having a job. In Europe, it is a day of
protest. There are rallies and protests in most major European cities, often
with damage done to shops.
An interesting note..during the communist time, workers in Poland were
required to attend Labour Day activities, and they had to wave big paper
flowers and pretend that they were happy. If they didn’t attend the rallies,
they could have been fined by the police.
24 April 2002
The
current age for getting a driving license in Poland is 17, however that is
being raised to 18 on 1 June 2002. At this time, people can start taking
driving lessons 3 months before their 17th birthday, and get their
license shortly after their birthday, even if it is after 1 June, as long as
they’ve completed the course before 1 June. So, many of my 17-year-olds are
scrambling to do that before the age rises.
11 April 2002
One of
my students, Dawid, came to school today, even though today was not one of the
days of his class. I asked him why he was at the school, and he said that he
came with his mom to pick up his sister (who is also my student). He said that
the had practiced his driving on the way. I thought that he meant that he drove
with his mom, a licensed driver, to work on his skills in preparation for his
test. However he told me that in Poland, you have to go an area that is
specially prepared for driving practice. You can’t drive on the road legally unless
you’re with an official driving instructor. I told him that in the USA, people
learning to drive can drive with any licensed driver.
3 April
2002
In Poland, many people in blocks of flats
have balconies that are about ¾ of a metre wide and two metres long. When we
have balconies in the USA, we usually have a few chairs them and sit out when
the weather permits. In Poland, they string clothesline across them and use
them to hang their laundry on to dry.
26 March
2002
Today in my G group (Intermediate level),
the lesson had vocabulary associated with home repairs, and one of the students
said, “Golden hands.” I had no idea what he was talking about, so I inquired.
He told me that someone who can repair many different kinds of things is said
to have “Golden Hands” in Polish.
23 March
2002
Today, while I
was buying bread at a local market, I noticed that there was something called
“chleb kolodziej.” Chleb is the Polish word for bread, which I knew, and one of
my students has the last name of Kolodziej (which I learned to pronounce in
January). I found that to be an interesting coincidence, so when I got home, I
looked it up in my Polish dictionary and found out that kolodziej means
“round.”
**********Update
25 March 2002*********
I spoke to my student who has that last
name today and he confirmed that his surname can be used to talk about round
bread. He added that it can also be used to talk about people who make tires.
Cheating in school is rampant in Poland. It’s normal for students to cheat on tests and exams if they can get away with it. I’ve made it abundantly clear to my students that if they cheat on my tests/exams/quizzes, I take their paper, give them a zero on it and they talk to the director after class. They even try to cheat by speaking Polish sometimes, which I can understand and I’ve caught them (and then they lie about what they were saying – so I repeat it back to them in English) and have given them the same treatment. I usually catch a few cheating each September and make examples of them, which usually solves the problem in my classes for the rest of the year.
19 March
2002
In Poland, many people consider themselves
to be a year older on 1 January of each year, even if their birthday isn’t
until September of that year. I’ve told my students that that in the USA, we
don’t consider ourselves to be a year older until the actual date of the
anniversary of our birthday.
Paying
For Television and Radio
16 March
2002
In Poland, people pay a monthly tax to use
their television and radio. It is about 2 or 3 zl and is paid per television
and/or radio unit for the basic channels/stations. This doesn’t include cable
or satellite service fees if they have that type of service.
Elephants
15 March
2002
Today
in my F group, we were talking about shopping (as part of the lesson). One of
the students, Kasia, told us that the last time she went shopping, she bought
her best friend a small statue of an elephant. I thought that was an odd
present, so I inquired as to why. She told me that a small statue of an
elephant is good luck if it’s trunk is raised. Then her sister, Aga (they’re in
the same class) told me that it needed to be pointing towards a window or door.
I thought they were kidding, but the rest of the class confirmed that that was
true. I also asked my friend Magdalena when I saw her this evening and she
confirmed that it was true.
That solves a mystery for me, as in June
2000, one of my beginner students gave me a small statue of an elephant with
its trunk raised on the last day of class. I thought it was a strange present,
but gladly accepted it. Now I know why he gave it to me. It’s now pointing
towards a window.
**********Update 22 March 2002*********
While we were having pizza this evening, I
mentioned what I had been told about elephants being good luck to my friends.
They confirmed that it was true, and Ewa told me that it originated many years
ago from a song that mentioned it and, interestingly enough, specifically
mentioned that pink elephants were good luck. Nowadays it applies to all
elephants that have their trunks raised.
Military
Service
14 March
2002
Military service is mandatory in Poland for
18-year-old males who have just graduated from high school if they don’t go to
university or some type of continuing education. If they go to university, they
still have to go into the military for a year after graduation, but go in as an
officer. Many of my 18 year old boys are having their “meeting with the army”
now in which they have a physical, “career pathing” and get assigned a grade as
to whether they’re able to go into the military or not (perhaps due to a
disability).
Teacher?
Professor?
9 March
2002
Recently, one of my classes told me that
they are required to call all of their teachers “professor” at their public
school, even though none of them are really professors. I explained the
difference between a teacher and a professor in English and asked them if they
had different words in Polish. They informed me that they did. I asked them why
they had to do that, and the told me that they didn’t know, but were required
to.
20
February 2002
In the USA, women’s wedding
rings usually have a diamond in them and cost a lot of money. I believe that
the catch phrase is that the diamond ring should cost two months of salary. In
Poland, women’s wedding rings are a simple gold or silver band.
18th
Birthday Parties
16
January 2002
The 18th birthday is very
important for young adults in Poland. Sometimes two or three kids get together
and plan big parties together if their birthdays are close in date.
4 January
2002
Two of my students have just taken their
driver’s license test and failed the driving part. Many people fail on the
first try, so I asked one of my classes of 18 year olds why it takes so many
people a few tries to pass the test, thinking that perhaps their course didn’t
properly prepare them for the test. They told me that if they have to take it a
second time, they have to pay 75 zl again, which makes more money for the
government. They also told me that it is common to bribe the person giving them
the driving part of the exam so that they will pass.
20
December 2001
While I was doing Christmas lessons with
Group G today, the word “stocking” came up. I asked the class if they knew what
stockings were and they looked puzzled. Then Lukasz said, “Big socks.” I told
him that he was correct and then went on to explain to the class that we put
small items in them in the USA. I asked Lukasz how he knew about stockings, and
he said that his relatives in Connecticut had sent his family some.
6 November 2001
There are a lot of great names in Polish and this will be a list of my
favourites (in no particular order). If it a nickname, I will put (nn) after it
as sometimes I like the nickname better than the full name. If I like both,
I’ll write the full name and then put the nickname in brackets.
Male Female
Grzesiek
(nn) Agnieszka
Zbyszek (nn) Malgorzata
(Gosia)
Arkadiusz
(Arek) Dominika
Mikolaj Ewa
Mateusz Malwina
Jacek Aska
(nn)
Karol Kasia
(nn)
Szymon
(Szymek)
Izabela (Iza)
Lukasz
Sebastian
1 June
2001
Shaking hands is very important for males
in Poland. It doesn’t really matter what ages they are, they usually shake
hands with people they know, meet or are in class with upon entering the room.
**********Update
22 March 2002*********
Today,
I learned that you are not supposed to shake hands under a doorway.
**********Update
31 May 2002*********
Today,
I learned that you are not supposed to cross over other people’s hands while
shaking hands.
Say "No" to School and "Yes" to Church
12 March, 2001
There are no classes in public schools
today, tomorrow and Wednesday (we still have classes at my school as it’s a
private school). As it was explained to me, This is a time when everyone goes
to church for a few hours each of those days to “cleanse their souls” and be
“forgiven for their sins” (confession) before Lent begins.
Pull Over!
5 March, 2001
One of my students (Peter T, Matura level)
told us he was pulled over by the police when he was driving his father’s van
on Saturday. He said that in Poland, the police can pull people over at random
for a routine safety inspection, to check things such as the lights working and
that there is a fire extinguisher in the vehicle. He said that the van passed
the inspection.
Dzien Dobry
14 January, 2001
“Dzien dobry” means “Good day” in Polish.
It’s a formal way of saying “Hello.” The minute a Polish person walks into any
place (home, shop, business, etc), they say, “Dzien dobry.” It doesn’t matter
if anyone is looking at them or not, they still say it. It’s second nature to
them.
High School Classes
2 January, 2001
High school classes are set up in an
interesting way..The students aren’t allowed to choose what classes they will
take, only what course of study they want to follow (computers, languages,
etc). All of the students following a certain course of study are in ALL of the
same classes (with all the same classmates) for the entire four years of high
school. Where I went to high school, we were able to pick our own classes, etc.
The Polish system works well, however, it
does present a few problems..for example, I have many students who are in the
same class. When it comes to their English lessons in public school, in one
class are students from my Maturity, FCE, Intermediate and Pre Intermediate
classes! In my opinion, that should not be as the students at higher levels end
up doing nothing in the class as they are already proficient in it.
What To Wear?
19 December, 2000
In my M class we were discussing
comfortable, casual and formal clothing and when you would wear each type. They
told me that in Poland, they would dress formally for the first and last day of
(public) school and funerals. They said that in Poland, for weddings and church
they would dress casually. That really surprised me, as in the USA, you dress
formally for weddings, church and funerals, but NEVER for school.
Happy Independence Day!
11 November every year
Today, 11 November, is Independence Day in
Poland. It commemorates 11 November 1918, when Poland was put back on the map
again after 122 years (the actual country of Poland dates back as far as 966).
The History of Polish Independence
(abridged version)
In 1795, Poland was partitioned between the
Russian Empire, which received half of the Polish territory, Prussia (now
Germany) and Austria, which both received a quarter. Poland had disappeared
from the map of Europe.
(I'm skipping a bit here)
After the downfall of the Russian Empire in
March 1917, the provisional government of Russia recognized Poland's right to
self-govern and a provisional Polish government was formed. In September 1917,
the Germans, then in complete control of the country, created a council that
served as the governmental authority of the newly formed Polish kingdom. With
the collapse of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman
Empire (now Turkey), and Bulgaria) in the fall of 1918, the Poles quickly began
the process for declaring independence. On 18 November, Poland proclaimed
itself to be an independent republic and Józef Pilsudski became the temporary
head of state. On 21 November of the same year, he was permanently sworn into
that position.
Cell Phone Etiquette
2 October, 2000
Just about everyone in Poland has a
cellular phone. They are relatively inexpensive here and work a lot better than
the regular landlines.
I find the Polish people to have great
cellular phone etiquette. If they are in a public place, such as a restaurant
or bar, usually they will walk out to the sidewalk to talk in order not to
disturb others.
Wet Monday
24 April, 2000
The day after Easter is also a holiday in
Poland. Technically it is called Easter Monday, but everyone calls it Wet Monday.
Basically, it is a countrywide water fight, where kids throw water on anybody
and everybody they can.
Some of my students asked me if I would be
around that day and I told them that that is the day I would be coming back
from Kraków. One of them, Chris, told me that if he sees me, he would throw
water on me. I told him to go ahead and try.
I returned from Krakow and took a taxi to
my flat, as I had been traveling all night and was too tired to walk. As the
taxi was taking me home, we passed Chris, who was on his bike and well armed
with a couple litres of water! Thank goodness for taxis.
No, I really don’t speak German
29 March, 2000
German appears to be the unofficial second
language of Poland. Most people my age and older speak it and/or Russian well,
as they were required to learn it in school. Nowadays, students are required to
study English and German in school and most hate German. However, in this part
of Europe, it is very useful. Half of my ancestry is German (but have been in
the USA since the 1800's). It would have been nice if they had chosen to pass
down the language, but they didn't.
Here’s an example of why I feel that German
is the unofficial second language of this country:
If there is something I don’t know how to
ask for or say in Polish (and there are many), I will ask the person if they
speak English. Most will reply, “nine, Detusche,” which means, that they don’t
speak English, they speak German. I then tell them that I don’t speak German,
and they proceed to speak German to me anyway. This happens all the time and
has happened in many different parts of Poland.
TP
26 March, 2000
I've been using the internet at the
Telekomunikacja Polska (our national phone company) office instead of the
internet cafe. It's cheaper and has lightning fast service. That's probably
because they have a high speed ISDN line. Also, they are the major internet
provider in this country. Their logo is a round blue sign with a white
intertwined lower case "tp." I explained to some people that in the
English speaking world, the abbreviation "tp" stands for toilet
paper. They laughed hard over that fact.
**********Update
23 April 2000*********
As of today, they have lowered the price
per hour on the internet (at their office) from 6.60zl to 4.50zl. This is the
first time I have ever seen a price go down in Poland.
First Day of Spring
21 March, 2000
Today is the first day of Spring. In my
region of Poland, it is a tradition for people to make dolls that are meant to
resemble winter, and then take them out into one of the lakes (in boats) and
burn them on this day, as if to say good-bye to winter. It is also a tradition
for students to skip school. Some of my students that did attend class dressed
in funny costumes (like Halloween).
Computer Games
4 March, 2000
Computer games are very popular in Poland.
Most of my students play them. I’m not talking about Playstation and that kind,
but actual games played on PC’s. There is a stereotype that they are also very
popular in the USA. I haven’t played any and haven’t heard anyone talk about
them in the USA, so I told my students that that is not an accurate stereotype
(if I am just oblivious to that, Americans, please correct me). I explained to
my students that the main reason they may not be popular in the USA is the fact
that everyone is on the internet, due to how inexpensive it is. I told them
that we play games online, against people from all over the world.
Are there many cars in Poland?
15 January, 2000
This question was recently asked of me. The
answer is yes, there are many. Too many ! Poland has been in an "auto
boom" for the last eight years. I found an article in the Warszawa Voice
about it. Here is a list of the top selling models of NEW cars and the number
sold in 1999 in Poland:
Fiat Seicento
75,400
Daewoo Matiz 56,511
Daewoo Lanos 45,470
Skoda Felicia 32,168
Opel Astra Classic 27,191
Fiat
126
27,048
Daewoo Tico 25,529
Fiat Palio/Siena 21,824
Fiat
Uno
17,349
Daewoo Polonez 17,265
You'll notice that Fiat, an Italian
automaker, and Daewoo, a Korean automaker, have dominated the market. That is
because that they both produce cars domestically (Fiat has since 1960) and are
not subject to import tariffs. The only two imports on the list are the Skoda
(a Czech car that is part of the VW Group), and the Opel (a German car that is
part of GM Europe).
I would say that overall, the Fiat 126 (aka
Fiat Polski) is the most popular car in Poland. EVERYONE has one. If there is a
parking lot with 100 cars in it, at least 50% will be that model. As one of my
adult students told me, "It’s everyone’s first car". It’s kind of
like the love affair that the USA had with the VW Bug 30 years ago. I took
pictures of a nice one that I saw and will scan and post them for all to see
when possible.
ek
15 January, 2000
In Poland, you can add the letter group
"ek" to almost any male first name to give him a nickname (and, in most
cases, make it easier for the teacher to pronounce). This is very common and
most males use this kind of a nickname in every day life. For example, Piotr
becomes Piotrek; Jaroslaw becomes Jarek; Zbigniew becomes Zbyszek (believe it
or not, that really is easier to pronounce than the full name); Bronislaw
becomes Bronek; Arkadiusz becomes Arek. It’s kind of like changing Rob to Robby
and Bob to Bobby, however, in Poland, even adults use these nicknames.
Birds or Doorbell?
5 January, 2000
For most of my life, a doorbell has sounded
like a regular electronic bell, with two tones that alternate only once during
the time the bell is pressed. However, at my present flat, the doorbell sounds
like birds chirping. It is high pitched and the has two tones that alternate
very rapidly (at the sound of a trill). I do admit that a few times I have
gotten up to answer the door only to find no one there. The sound was really
coming from birds outside my window. Now, I don’t even bother going to answer
the door when I hear that sound. I tell everyone that may come by to make sure
they knock.
Christmas in Poland
25 December 1999
Christmas in Poland is a good time. Here’s
what happens….
24 December, shortly after noon, everything
starts to shut down. By 16h, everything in every city (even Warsaw) is shut
down, including local busses and trams. Intercity busses and trains run on a
very limited schedule. In the evening of 24 December, families gather for a
Christmas dinner without meat (they do not include fish in the meat category).
It is a Polish tradition to set an extra place "in case someone stops
by". After dinner, presents are opened. Then, you spend the evening with
your family. At midnight, you go to midnight mass at the local church as 90% of
Poland is Catholic (the bell on the church that is across from my flat started
ringing at 23:30 (and rang constantly for 5 minutes) to let everyone know that
mass is in ½ an hour).
25 December, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE is
closed. Even Intercity busses. It is a day to spend with family.
26 December is the Second Day of Christmas,
another national holiday. However, it is less strict than the 25th.
Some shops are open until early afternoon, then, once again, everything closes.
Intercity public transportation runs a limited schedule.
As far as presents go, not a lot are given.
Everyone gets one or two presents. It is more a time of celebrating the true
meaning of Christmas than the materialism. I like that.
Here is what was served at the Christmas
dinner I went to on 24 December, 1999: Cherry soup with pasta in it, mintaj (a
breaded fish….the name of the fish does not translate into English), a corn
rice tuna casserole, kluski z makiem (pasta with poppy seeds, nuts, raisins,
honey, and plum), and a cabbage and mushroom dish. Poles don’t consider fish
meat, and it is traditional to have it for Christmas Eve dinner.
Crossing the road in Poland
23 December 1999
I’ve come to a conclusion. There are two
kinds of pedestrians in Poland: quick pedestrians and dead
pedestrians. A majority of the drivers do not stop for people crossing the
road, even if they’re in crosswalks. I was talking to someone about this and
explained that in the USA, pedestrians have the right of way. I was told that
that is the law here also ! I would have never guessed ! I did notice that in
places that have traffic lights (such as Olsztyn - there aren’t any in my
town), people strictly obey the "don’t walk/walk" signs. That’s
probably out of fear for their lives.
**********Update
14 March 2000*********
My students (in my E class) informed me
that we do actually have a traffic light in town. It is located at the complete
opposite end of town from where I live, quite a ways past the town center. I
have never seen it, as I never have a reason to go that far out, but I believe
them.
**********Update
30 April 2000*********
I
saw the traffic light when I was on a bus going to a town called Ryn today.
How to board a bus in Poland
18 December 1999
After you find out what stanowisko (gate)
bus is leaving from, you join a mob of people to wait for it. About 1 minute
before it is scheduled to leave, the bus pulls up to the gate. When the door
open, everyone pushes and shoves their way onto the bus. It is always best to
buy a ticket before boarding, as then you can just push and shove your way past
others who are waiting to get tickets from the driver.
