The strangest things in Poland

at the kebab shop i stagger to on my way home from a night out in sopot it is definately spelt with a p... kebap...

... i can assure you of this because at 6 in the morning after one too many it causes endless amusement... :)

yup definately kebap....mabye in the UK we've got it wrong....

lets blame the turkish... :)

The strangest thing about Poland is that the Poland is one among the extremely few countries in the world, whose environment has been "specially" conditioned so that every human could reach the highest development of character or intelligence, yet sadly most of Poles have not only not reached that state but they also complain a lot and very LOUDLY.

An observation from a foreigner.

Interesting. Would you care to explain what do you mean to me?

yes, I am interested in that explanation too, since i have never heard of it.

Wow, this grabbed my attention. Where did it come from? Explain, please

gotta admit that every shop i saw in Torun had it spelt Kebap,

in Krakow is Kebab

I have never seen so many in my entire life and everyone seem to be munching away on them, I tried one and took a bite and threw it...not really a kabab lover of any kind.

Me niether - although chicken ones are tolerable

Fast food of any kind is a no no in my book, too much salt and fat and I hate grease

I agree, I got a $10.00 gift card to McDonald's last August. I still have $1.88 left! That's how big I am on fast food restaurants :)

There is nothing better than my own cooking. :)

That is what I FEEL after a long time study in Polish history and culture. Such a subjective statement like what I have said could hardly be scientifically explained. However, I believe non-Poles who have a long-lasting interest in Poland like me usually end up in the same feeling.

I apologize for disappointing you!:)
Best regards.

I've been to Poland 4 times. Here is what surprised me:

1. The roads. Trucks driving on the center line coming right at you while horse carts and old ladies on bicycles are on the shoulder.

2. The food. The meat and vegetables are really tasty. I didn't know how good a cucumber or tomato could taste until I went to Poland.

3. The anarchy of the line. Any type of queue, from the luggage carosel to the ticket booth turns into anarchy. People push and cut and generally act like idiots.

4. The weather. I knew it would be cold in the winter, but I had no idea how nice the summers would be. It reminds me of southern California, warm and dry with cool nights. Perfect.

5. The bathing facilities. No showers, just a tub and the hose thingy. No shower curtain. I still don't know how Poles bathe without spraying water all over the bathroom.

6. How much they like Americans. I have never traveled anywhere where people went out of their way to tell me they liked Americans.

7. Sleeping in the living room. I understand it if space is tight, but it seems that even when there is plenty of room in a house, Poles will sleep in the living room.

Oh yeah:

8. Cars that run on natural gas. Filling up your car's tank by the cubic meters.

9. You go for a short visit to your friend or a cousin. All you want is a cup of coffee and a chat, but within a few minutes the table if full of pastry, cold cuts of meat and cheese or a plate of hot soup, a bottle of wine or vodka...

About point 3: When I was in Warsaw airport claiming my baggage this summer, Polish people push, they stand next to the carousel and will not let anyone stand next to them. They will stick their arms on their hips to take up more room. They complain it's moving too slow, it's moving too fast, the luggage is falling off, where is their's, they criticize other people, that they should be doing this instead of that, they are very nervous and griping about everything.

I've been to many airports around the world and Polish people are the rudest. They won't smile or nothing.
Just like they push in the tramwaj, in the bus, the same is when they drive. They have to cut in front of you, very anxious and nervous, always in a hurry.

Of course not all are like that. Just my observations from what I saw.

Krysia,

I sometimes think that it is still in people minds like it was in 80-90 empty shops...

They had to fight for everything, looking for people jumping in front of the queue.....

There was this German dude commenting on polish national television, comparing queues in Poland and Germany. He said polish line anywhere inside would form many curves, turns etc while the one in Germany would be always strait forcing people out of the building what in case of rain - he said - was disadvetegous.

I had myself recently an argument with an older lady pushing onto me her shoping cart while in line to the register. When I did complain to her she would tell my that I was "young and nervous" (which was true, but I had my reasons for the socond disposision). Anyway I still hate being touched by ppl who stand beside me in line and it seems only same age opposite sex tends to keep the right distance.

I'm reading a story on the net about polish bison (zubr) named Podziw (admiration) who was transfered from Wolin National Park to the forest near Miroslawiec, where it was to live free among other herd members. Somhow though Podziw decided to leave his new company and turned back apparently toward its old home, where he came from. After making some 150 km the animal was unfortunately killed by car on local road Nr 10, where its body was eventually found. The strange aspect is that its human caretakers decided to keep the "stuff" animal's head and keep it back in Miroslawiec forestry office...

miroslawiec.pl/aktualnosci/pokaz/218.dhtml

And made kiełbasa from the rest. Hahahahaha

I was told that too by my fiance but then he added that when we meet in person he would be a gentleman for the first 24 hours he didn't keep his word, lol

It is strange as it is the correct form of calling this kind of food. In Turkish kebap is kebap and I have no idea how it became kebab in Polish. In Turkish p becomes b before a vowel so, perhaps somebody heard a Turk using the word with a suffix e.g. Bu kebabi istiyorum (I want this kebap) and thought that it should be kebab. Still it makes no difference in pronunciation as in Polish word final consonants are always devoiced so kebap, whatever it is spelt is always read correctly :)

Too bad it never tastes like a kebap should...

andala... thank you for your enlightenment... :)

where abouts in poland are you...?

My niece who was born in US to the Polish parents wrote on her myspace page "You know when you're Polish when..." Here are few that I liked:

1. You've experienced the phenomena of 150 people fitting into Babcia's basement during a family party.
2.You were surprised to discover the FDA recommends you eat three meals a day that consist of something besides pierogi and golombki.
3. You thought eating sour cream sandwiches with sugar sprinkled on top of it was absolutely normal. (I ate it when I was a kid and thought it was normal....)

4. You thought every meal had to be eaten with a a piece of rye bread in your left hand.
5. You drank beer or vodka before you were a teenager.
6. You grew up in a house with a yard that didn't have one patch of dirt that didn't have a flower or a vegetable growing out of it

7.You thought that having a party every weekend with all your aunts and uncles getting drunk and singing and dancing until the wee hours of the morning was normal.

8.Every condition, ailment, misfortune, memory loss and accident was attributed to the fact that you didn't eat something.
9.You were told that if you didn't wear a coat and hat when it was cold outside, you'd catch a bad and die from it.

10. Mleko i miod would cure any cold.
11. You heard stories of how someone in the family tried moving furniture in a Maluch
12 Theres enough alcohol in the house to throw a party everyday for a week without running out.
13 Everything you buy has to imported.

lol Then i don't qualify! :O

lol - nice one mitffoch... :)

polish people it self. most of them are very weird. most of them are like to be pretender. they are nice to be friend but not for business. my husband is Polish but since he was 28 he moved to australia and travel alot. and since 9 years ago, he came back, not permanenly, just some months in Poland to check business here. he also feel strange in Poland. very different than australia. not many Polish have responsible. i'm sory to say this, but it is like this. i met many of them. polish still thinking that a nice car or a nice house is the most important for them, EVEN THEY HAVE TO HARD TO PAY THAT EVERY MONTH. but they are still like to show up. but there are also some HONEST polish i met. first i was shock with their behaviour, but now not something unusual anymore.

I don't see a point what you say.

polish still thinking that a nice car or a nice house is the most important for them, EVEN THEY HAVE TO HARD TO PAY THAT EVERY MONTH

is it very polish ???????

not many Polish have responsible.

????

he also feel strange in Poland. very different than australia

I suppose as each country is different.

3. You thought eating sour cream sandwiches with sugar sprinkled on top of it was absolutely normal. (I ate it when I was a kid and thought it was normal....)

I ate them as a child. But it was proper cream made of (my grandmum's) fesh milk cow milk.:)

Yes, I ate the sour cream sandwiches too. They were actually pretty good then.
How about another "special": a lard with onion and bacon spread. Also, mmm, mmm good. Sometimes, just a plain lard with sugar sprinkled on it... The latter reminds me of Oreo cookies and people in US still love them. :)

In Krakow in my area we had quite local dish called "babiorki" it was lard with onion and little chunks of cooked chicken liver and yes ...bacon spread....I think ( skwarki?)

very nice.