How would you describe Poland to a 2nd grader?

My daughter is doing a report on her ancestors from Poland. I am her mother and I have never been to Poland. She needs a description of Poland. I haven't found anything good except that Poland is a large country with a large forest, sandy beaches, mountains and a lot of big cities. What's the weather like through the year warm summer? cold winters? Thanks for any help.

I'll start:

Poland is a wonderful country with many fascinating features. Her history is rich and varied and any visitor is sure to find something new.

It has more than one forest ;)

Just kidding, it has cold winters and warm/hot summers.

I'm sure everybody in Poland know what or who the hell is a '2nd grader'.

poland is an eastern european county. they used to be communist and they were conqeured by the germans in ww2, then they were conqeuered by the russians

Speak of the devil.

As far as history goes everything was going fine until things started to go a bit wrong in the 16th century, got worse in the 17th and went massively pear-shaped in the 18th.


Wanna bet your beer on that?

central

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. In some definitions its borders are defined more by culture than by clear and precise geography. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons. Although the term Eastern Europe was largely defined during the Cold War, it still remains much in use The term is commonly used in the media and in "eastern" and other regions of Europe.

UN

The United Nations Statistics Division considers Eastern Europe to consist of the following ten countries: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine. The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations. Rather than being geographically correct, United Nations' definition encompasses all the states which were once under the Soviet Union's realm of influence and were part of the Warsaw Pact.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland

Well, the fall of communism and the consequent change of ideals and Balcerowicz's economic initiatives altered the status IMHO. Status can be changed.

What makes Poland Eastern European, noimmi?

language, culture, history etc. eastern europeans are nothing like us westerners

Language - I noticed that the Balkan AND Baltic states were not mentioned. How is it that I can understand some Serbian and I have never studied it? It's a Slavic language and I know parts from Polish. Serbian and Croatian are not so different from Polish at times.

Culture - What separates an Eastern European culture from a Western one? Couldn't it just be that they are different without a clear reason why?

History - You have a point here, noimmi. However, the collapse of communism was a monumental event, a milestone if you will. Look at the historical transformation of countries to the present. How is Poland different from the West now?

Much of Polands history is reflected in its architecture. Wroclaw for example is German built and efforts are made to maintain the original concept. New buildings in certain areas must fit in with the existing style.

The Western influence for sure. I walked round Wrocław and saw the Germanic influence clearly. Architecture is very much a part of the national fabric.

Well if west ends on Germany ... and Poland is western country because of some "German" buildings in Wrocław. Poland isn't western country.

In my opinion Poland is being labled "eastern" europan only when somebody uses racial sens of this term, created by Hitler ...

For sure Poland is continental europe.

I agree again, Prince. Which begs the question, why should Eastern European be a racist and pejorative term? Your answer is key to developing understanding.

As long as it is the reason to avoid Poland by Nord Stream.

Yes - it causes poroblems.

Why are you adding the Nord Stream here, Prince?

If I called you an Eastern European, you'd likely be offended. Why?

Please keep in mind that this thread is for the benefit of a school child

Poland has trees, cars and lots of interesting animals. You can see red things, blue things and even green things ;)