It did not seem to be the case. There was no smile. They were making fun of me. I described this to the person at the reception of the Best west hotle. She said they were nasty.
I was in Bialystok for a business trip and had very bad experience there. It was in April 2008 and I was walking near the Palace. Two Polish guys(At least speaking Polish) were walking towards me, and one of them came directly to me, said something and made some sound with fingers close to my face and the other was laughing. I said nothing and took a photo from the back when they walked by. Those were really nasty Polish.