Life / HAND-KISSING WANING IN POPULARITY? [29]

Oh, I don't know, when I was in Poland some fellows kissed my hand on several occasions--one time when I was thanking some dinner guests-turned-musicians at a farewell dinner (I taught English, we had a fun night eating and drinking and dancing on our last night, NOT with the students), the other was when I was with some friends in Warsaw and we met some students who showed us around. When we said goodnight all the ladies got a little peck on the hand. And these were students. And I wasn't even in Poland all that long.

In general, I found the men much better behaved and more "chivalrous" then men in the States. Even the high school students we were teaching would open doors for us, stand aside and let us go through doorways first, etc. Sure, I consider myself a liberated American woman, but there's nothing wrong with some courtesy every once in a while.

I loved it. I wish men here were like that. :(

Life / ANYONE OWN A POLISH DOG? [22]

I have a friend with a dog FROM Poland. I don't know what breed she is, but she was adopted from Poland. Came complete with a Polish passport.

I am NOT kidding.

Life / Any Polish B-boys or breakdancers in Poland? [7]


YES! I've seen those guys. I swear they live in the square, they were there just about every time I was. They were fun to watch.

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]

This is a great topic, I'm so excited to have found it! (YAY!) I was actually just thinking about this same question last night. Yes, this is fun for me.

I came up with several reasons, some of which have already been discussed here. Sorry, I had to skip a few pages of posts.

1. Communism hasn't really worked anywhere, so... I guess that's one answer.

2. It was imposed by the Soviets/Russians. Sure, there were Communists in Poland before Poland was incorporated under Soviet influence, but they weren't the ones in control. I wonder if things would have been different had the Soviets backed off, and let Communism take root in Poland on its own. (Obviously, that wasn't the plan.) And we all know how the Polish feel about taking orders from everybody else:)

3. The Church. Obviously Church leaders were against Communism (well, some played both sides, but we all know about that), and in Poland that means a lot.

4. Poland's level of industrialization was not up to the standards of say... Czechoslovakia, which did better under Communism. Really, if you look at the former Communist countries, the ones that did the best (comparatively) were the most industrialized. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the Baltic Republics of the Soviet Union (which weren't all that industrialized, but compared to other Republics, they were). The countries that did the worst were the more agrarian ones: Poland, Romania, Albania, etc.

Also, these more industrialized countries that did "better" under Communism seem to have adapted to capitalism much faster than their less industrial counterparts. Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, for example... have done very well for themselves over the past several years, joined the EU, had high GDP growth, rapid modernization, etc. The former Yugoslavia is a mess because of their ethnic issues (with the exception of Slovenia, which is already on the euro, I believe, and Croatia, which is doing ok), but the other countries that are struggling somewhat are Poland, Romania, Ukraine, etc. The more rural ones. Communism was a very urban-centered ideology.

Does this all make sense?

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]

Krakowiak, would you care to enlighten me with some of YOUR opinions? Where, in your view, am I wrong?

Or, you know what, never mind. You seem to be trolling.

Life / Is it safe for a teenaged girl to walk around Warszawa? [15]

Well, at night, surely it would be best to be with someone, a group of friends or something. But I wandered around Warsaw by myself for several hours this summer and was fine. Granted, I'm a little bit older, but still rather small and younger looking. (Much to my dismay!)