UK, Ireland / Sad life of a Polish migrant in the UK. Ch. 4 - Language [66]

The English that they teach us at school is not the same English as is spoken. This situation resembles Japanese Heian era - everyone had to speak Chinese, only Chinese people would not have understood this version of Chinese.

One realises that very distinctly when one lands in Nottingham and tries to get a bus. The locals will gurgle something unintelligible which leaves one with the question what language d they in fact speak, for the Mercy of God?

With time the accent will grow more familiar. If one reads the magazines and , it will come much quicker with the greater vocabulary.

The language remains a barrier for a lot of Polans in the UK - generally people who are not fluent will not try to get a better job, even if they have good qualifications.

But as the familiarity increases, one begins to enjoy the better parts of English - as written by Dot Wordsworth in the Spectator, for example.

It would be all a thing of beauty, of not the notorious Daily Mail and their likes, who had managed to convince the locals that speaking one's woen langguage somehow offends them...

This happened to me today - my man and I have lunched in the town, and when we were paying for parking this old geezer with watery eyes of an alcoholic just came to us, and starter staring very intently - like when they want one to move but without saying 'excuse me'. We ingnored him, so he just came straight to us and interrupted us 'I DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT LANGUAGE, I DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT LANGUAGE!!!'.

We said:
'No?'
'Oh!'
'Yes?'
And to that he said: 'nie romumiem!'
We said:
'Ha ha ha!'

Points to ponder:
1. Why would I speak so that everybody can eavesdrop?
2. If Brits come to Poland do they speak Polish?
3. Was that polite to interrupt us, even though we were 'just Poles', or 'just immigrants'?

UK, Ireland / Sad life of a Polish migrant in UK. Ch. 3 - Food [93]

Life is never easy. Thus said Ksysia the Prophet.

Coming to a foreign country, I had to learn everything anew. Which bread is edible, which is good. Where do eggs stand, where do they put flour bags. To go shopping before 5PM, otherwise everything apart from Tesco's will be closed.

After 3 years I'm more-less safe.

Artisan bread comes from Sainsbury's, and they also sell buns for baking at home (Cuisine de France, I think). Breads in foil are to be avoided.

Butter is good - choose any butter.

Milk is very bad, it tastes like water with some powder milk. Sainsbury's SoOrganic is bearable. There's one good brand, Dairy Crest, available from the Kurdo-hungarian shop.

Pork is bad. Avoid it at all costs. Read about how farms are feeding pigs in a closed system, and never buy it.

Lamb and beef are very good, but only the expensive counter meat selection.

There's only one kind of chicken that resembles chicken, the yellow skinned outdoor reared chicken.

Canned drinks are sweeter than in Poland.

Vegetables are good if they come from the cheapest, lowest shelves - not organic or any fancy packagings.

flour is very good, it's drier and finer ground than ours.

Wine is dirt cheap and there are even some wined that are possible to drink - Lussac St. Emillion for example. Champagne is cheaper than in Poland even in absolute values.

Lager is rather tasteless, but there's a wide selection of real ales, like Director's Ale. They taste very richly, like kwas chlebowy.

And soup pasta is imported from Italy - DeCecco. V. good.

It's not possible to buy Jacob's coffee, apart fro the aforementioned shop. Thank God for Kurdo-Hungarian shopkeepers!

UK, Ireland / Sad life of a Polish immigrant in the UK. Ch. 2 - Stress [63]

Everyone takes it easy in Britain, you have local newspapers, local radio, football teams and pubs, and that's about it. You don't fret over the politics as much as we do, you're not bombarded with Gazeta Wyborcza and TVN living in a state of permanent catastrophe.

This is what draws people over here, that lack of stress.
This is what makes people not care what job they are in - even if it's 200 pounds per week, at least the petrol is dirt cheap.

It's not stress free for all of us. Especially with the nasty comments: not in the papers, not in the internet, but at work. But definitely your life is easier (and the roads go without saying)