Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


The guy is married to a Russian.
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January mornings never make you feel optimistic, I looked critically at yesterday's shopping, nothing seemed to be right, you need to eat a normal breakfast. In a Russian hotel it is an additional expense - unlike in our country - if you want to eat in the morning, you have to pay extra. The room was small, a few tables and one waiter. There was no buffet, so I paid for a set with sweet pancakes and started looking for a free place. Breakfast is a meal that I like to eat alone, especially when traveling, it's time to collect my thoughts, plan the next day, but to no avail. All the tables were occupied, we had to sit somewhere.

There were a lot of uniforms with stars on their epaulets, which means that the officers, probably younger in rank, ate hurriedly and were probably in a hurry for some briefings. I didn't want to eat with them. War is an abstraction, I only know it from movies and books, and here are young men sitting who may be taking part in it. One of them may have killed a man or miraculously escaped death himself, maybe he had to send his soldiers to certain death because he was ordered to do so, or maybe he had never smelled real gunpowder before. I didn't want to know. I know it's a kind of cowardice, a denial of reality, but I wasn't ready for a real war yet.

The choice fell on a table at which two older ladies were sitting, wearing white blouses, sweaters and long skirts, officials on business trips or teachers.

Teachers. They came for training, they both taught history in their schools, it was a real treat for me. This field of knowledge has always fascinated me, it reminds me of a huge number of colorful puzzles. The difference is that in classic puzzles you can arrange only one image, and historical puzzles allow you to arrange many images, it all depends on which one you take in your hand. The topic of the training was very interesting, US policy towards Ukraine. I felt it was better not to argue with them, it would be a waste of time, the role of a humble listener seemed the most appropriate.

- And what do they say there, because it's hard for us to make sense of it all? - It was like pressing the starter button, for half an hour images composed of Russian puzzles flew before my eyes like in a kaleidoscope.

"""America wants to rule the entire world, in 2014 it spent 5 billion dollars to create a Ukrainian Maidan and overthrow the legal president, Europe is no longer enough for them, they want to make Ukrainians their slaves, who will toil for pennies in agricultural latifundia. Ukraine in American hands is a tool to weaken Russia, they will fight us to the last Ukrainian soldier, and then they will buy everything to make money there, and after all they are our younger brothers, we cannot allow that. They have lost their way, it is true, they have been deceived by those horrible nationalists from Lviv, but they will not manage without us."""

- But war is war, lots of innocent people die.

- And people didn't die in Donbas? They were shooting for eight years. And in Odessa they didn't kill people when they wanted to join Russia? Do you know anything about that?

I didn't know and the coffee had gone cold. It was a bit too much for a simple hotel breakfast. I said goodbye politely as I left, I could feel the eyes of the young guys in uniforms on me, they must have heard our conversation. I gave up the field without firing a shot, 1-0 to them.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]

With a full belly, I go to the bank to exchange zlotys for rubles, it is very important to do it here. Our money is dwindling before our eyes as we march east. In Königsberg it is healthy and strong, for one zloty we will get about 22-23 rubles, but in Moscow it will be about 8, it is worth remembering this when we go further to Russia. The exchange of money itself is very formal, there are no currency exchange offices like we know in Poland, everything is done in banks. You have to show your passport, they write down our details, including what is written in the visa, they ask where we live here and only then the exchange takes place. It's similar in hotels - they are obliged to make photocopies of your passport, visa and migration card.

Whenever I come here alone, I sleep in the Złota Zatoka hotel, it has two advantages, it is not very expensive and it is located near the station, it also has one disadvantage, it is owned by the Ministry of Defense. The receptionist's heavy look says it all, spy or not spy?

A quick overview of the internet, what works and what doesn't. Netflix, HBO, Facebook, you can forget about it, just like TVN services and Polish television websites, everything is turned off. YouTube and most news portals work, but there is something strange about banks. Obviously you can't make transfers to and from Russia, the Swift system is cut off, but why can't I use my online banking while I'm here. It turns out that the bank sees the connection through Russian servers and blocks access to the website, you need to remember this and settle all bills in advance.

Food / Polish mustards [134]


But when they catch on, short turns into a long run.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


No, they didn`t. It is an urban legend.

News / Ups and downs of the democratic government 2023-2027 in Poland [363]


While you must go to Moscow where you mentally belong.:):):)


Like you.. You reside in the sewers independently of all.

Food / Polish mustards [134]


I like wings and all bony pieces with scraps of meat which I need to meticulously scratch out.

PS.
I am slowly running out of mustard types available in Poland. I just googled graphics for mustard and encountered a type I have never seen or heard of. Jerusalem mustard - with garlic and onion!!
Poloniusz, where can I buy it??? Amasing!!!!

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Genealogy / Polish looks? [1410]

PS. The riddle in 1463 is still unsolved. It is a serious one, with deep motives.

Another handsome rightist politician.

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Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


It is strictly forbidden to use force, let alone violence. Even touching a minor student is forbidden. Each case of violent behaviour by a teacher, if reported by the media, causes a huge scandal.


An old tradition still remaining in the law but no longer applied in practice.

News / France and Germany plan to flood Poland with illegal migrants. [199]


Quite rightly coz you are lying like rightist media.


No, rightist reporters do it to diminish the current rulers. Don`t fall for that. Only halfwits do.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


Strange you have chosen those issues. I would say: if we don`t see any progress in getting rid of PiS apparatchiks from the courts, state companies, media and all other public institutions and we don`t see any progress in relieving the fate of women here. then rightists will be back in power faster than you can say I love Russia!!! hahahaha

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]

I get off the bus and, as usual, I'm hungry, I head to the station building, there's a nice table there. What is "stolowaja", it is the granddaughter of old factory canteens. The factories are gone, but the canteens remain and have multiplied. They are practically on every other street. They all look similar, a long buffet, starting with appetizers with the obligatory herring under the buffet, then pancakes in various varieties, soups, hot dishes, and at the checkout, compote and walrus, a sweet red drink dating back to the times of the USSR. At the very end there is bread, black, sold by the slice. Practically everyone takes it, it doesn't matter whether you eat soup or just one, you have to eat everything with bread.

It is the same in Ukraine, Belarus, and even in the past it was the same in Lithuania. Without bread there is no real meal.

Prices are affordable and sometimes even ridiculously low. A portion of groats with milk and butter, a typical breakfast dish in Russia, costs PLN 3. In some of the cafeterias you can drink beer and there are refrigerators with branded drinks. I always smile when I see Coca-Cola in them, the company withdrew from Russia, closed its factories, but did not prohibit sales from other plants. The drink has become very international, with cans coming from Switzerland and liter bottles from Turkey. Master of business, we join the sanctions, we do not produce, but we sell as before.

Of course, you can eat something exquisite, just go down to the waterfront and go to the fishing village, there are plenty of fashionable restaurants where you will pay a lot of money for three mussels served on a huge plate with unspecified greens.

Expensive pubs are the same everywhere, you don't pay for the food, you pay for the prestige of being here and being able to afford it, I've been through this many times while working for an American company. I grew out of it, now I prefer home-cooked food with simple food, without any frills.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


It doesn`t matter. Decent Poles and Polesses trust him and that was enough to remove rightists from power. Homo sovieticuses and nationalists don`t because they are indecent.


Stop spreading bs about Poles, go back to your sewers where you belong mentally and physically. However, I will be nice and allow you to peep out of the nearest manhole and observe how Brit gov changes after the elections. hahahaha

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


You drifted away from the topic. The story about the Polish man married to a Russian woman didn`t involve cops but border guards.


The man looked around the city and noticed:
The aesthetics of old German cities with solid architecture and a lack of finesse, but with its own charm. Here it appears in a rudimentary state, but the Russians try to refer to it. Standard khrushchev houses, standing on one of the main avenues, have facades that look strikingly like old tenement houses, a result of the World Cup matches that were played here.

On the banks of the Pregoła River there are new apartment buildings in a similar style to ours in Gdańsk on the Motława River. They refer to the centuries-old tradition of Hanseatic merchant towns.

Everything else doesn't look very nice. Typical housing estates from various eras of the Soviet Union with characteristic built-in balconies, summer warehouses and drying rooms for laundry and fish, this has always been the case here. There are pipes running along the blocks, through which heat is supplied to the radiators, a Soviet invention. They could be buried in the ground, but in the event of a failure you would have to dig again, and this is easier. This makes sense in Siberian cities, where the ground turns into hard rock in winter, but here they probably did it out of haste. The city is marshy, apart from the Pregoła river, many smaller and larger streams and rivers flow through it, it may still be winter, but the weather is typical of early spring. Undeveloped and lower-lying areas turn into floodplains.

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Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]


We never travelled to the seaside on Sunday. You are asking to find out why the garage was open?? Yes, it couldn`t be Sunday.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


Because you were so active here recently, let`s reward it with another tourist story - to Russia, more exactly to Konigsberg. The guy is married to a Russian woman.

My first trip to Russia in 2024 and the first time I had a problem on the Russian border. The old visa expired in the fall, so a new one appeared in the passport. The officer looked at my passport for long minutes, I thought maybe she liked my photo that much. Unfortunately, at one point she reached for the phone - on the Polish-Russian border it always means trouble, no matter whether the phone is Polish or Russian. She glared at me.

- There's a mistake in the visa, they changed your name and surname.

- And what now ?

- I don't know, the chief will decide, move aside so that others can pass - what was to be done, I stood aside modestly and analyzed the situation. For me it wasn't a terrible mistake, but who knows how they will approach it. I began to regret that Galina was not with me, she is reliable in such situations, but I did not lose hope, after all, I learned a lot from her. The gray-haired boss came, listened to the officer and took my passport in his hand.

- The visa is formally invalid, you can't enter - it's as if I had been hit in the head with a blow. Tomorrow Galina is flying to Konigsberg from Sakhalin, we haven't seen each other for a long time, and here's a gong. I knew that no amount of arguments, complaints or shouting would help, I had to act like a Russian . I learned it from her, to talk in "human approach"

- Chief - I started humbly - my wife is arriving tomorrow, we haven't seen each other for a month and a half, I'm already shedding tears of longing. She's like a Japanese typhoon, she'll say it's my fault for not checking properly at the consulate, she'll talk to me about it for half a year. It's coming all the way from Sakhalin.

- You say wife? And where does he live? - the border guard became alert.

"Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 7 Bumażna Street, 18 Quartira," I recited without hesitation.

- Well... come on, I'll let you go, but fix your visa when you come back, because you won't pass again .

The Russian official is not nice and smiling, he is often the master and master of our fate, it has always been like that here, but on the other hand he can break the rules when he deems it necessary. It's worth learning to speak "human approach" here.

Life / Is/was Polish society patriarchal or matriarchal? [37]

It was patriarchal and still is in some aspects but things are changing irrevocably and women are getting more rights.

Here is an account by a woman who lived in the patriarchal society exactly 50 years ago. Fortunately, a lot of sad things she talks about are gone today.

onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/pozycie-malzenskie-w-polsce-xx-wieku-budzil-we-mnie-wstret-noce-byly-meczarnia/tszhfhr,79cfc278

I lost my mother when I was five, and my father two years later. There were two older brothers and me left. My aunt, who already had four sons of her own, took care of me. When I finished six grades of primary school, my aunt said: "Enough of this education, the boys have to complete seven grades, she doesn't need it" - although they stayed in one grade for two years, I didn't protest. There was a lot of work at home, so I never had a free moment to think about it, I had no childhood, no games, and I was very capable of dancing, singing and declamation. At school I took part in almost every celebration, although at home I was teased and sometimes beaten because of rehearsals, I had to come home from school a little later. But it all ended when I stopped going to school. All that was left was reading books furtively and working from dawn to dusk.

When I turned seventeen, my aunt was already thinking about marrying me off. Apparently I grew up to be a very pretty girl, I liked singing and dancing very much, but going to a party was very rare. [...] When I showed up somewhere, apparently I was successful with the most handsome boys, but my aunt didn't like them. It would be unthinkable to oppose my aunt, she was so strict and such a religious fanatic; she saw something bad in all contacts between a boy and a girl, which I didn't understand at all, I didn't even know what virginity was. Yes, I kissed a boy sometimes; dance, sing - I loved it. I remember when, at the suggestion of my friends, I went to a party, which my aunt did not allow me to go to, and then they took me home - I was called the worst names and beaten until I bled because I was ashamed to show it to people. I thought I had committed a big crime. This was the rigor, there had to be obedience in every matter, important or unimportant.

tbc

MORE: www-onet-pl.translate.goog/informacje/onetwiadomosci/pozycie-malzenskie-w-polsce-xx-wieku-budzil-we-mnie-wstret-noce-byly-meczarnia/tszhfhr,79cfc278?_x_tr_sl=pl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true

Food / Polish cookbook - down to earth hearty Polish cuisine [33]


Here are some typical Polish foods:in new, oriental serving style:

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History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

We owe to German tourists who visit Poland and leave their euros here

A report from Międzyzdroje city close to the border:

For those who love herring the most among all sweets, we have good news - at the smoked fish stand, a fresh graham cracker with vegetables and a Baltic classic costs PLN 15, the prices of smoked fish start from PLN 8-9/100 g. I ask the seller about the clientele. . The answer is that at this time Międzyzdroje is visited mainly by Germans - for them it is still cheap, close and they feel at home here - he says with a smile.

Indeed, a German tourist can feel comfortable in Międzyzdroje. In every restaurant you will get a menu in your language, and the staff will smoothly change the language to German if necessary. Prices are given in Polish zloty, and sometimes in euro. In some stores, you can pay with both currencies interchangeably. This bilingualism is noticeable everywhere, even on banners advertising the sale of apartments in apartment buildings being built around - next to numbers with the familiar prefix +48, ​​there are also those allowing calls to a German-speaking consultant, starting with +49.

Today, the development plan provides for buildings up to 11 floors high, which developers are eagerly taking advantage of by developing additional seaside plots. Over 1,000 apartments have been built here in recent years. A large part of them was bought by neighbors from across the western border.

In the hotel where I stayed, I hear German more often than Polish. In the elevator, the morning "Guten morgen" is intertwined with "Good morning" pronounced with a distinct accent and a smile. During my stay, I shook my head at least a few times when asked: "Sprichst du Deutsch?" asked somewhere in the city, while walking on the beach or in a hotel restaurant. A waitress in a bar, dividing her attention between Polish-speaking guests and at the same time answering German tourists asking about craft beer, tells me that she prefers working in Poland than abroad. - I worked in Germany in two places, for a total of over 4 years, but what's at home is at home - she concludes.

- I'm Wanda, who married a German - laughs an old lady we meet on the beach, who asks to take a photo of her with her husband against the background of the winter Baltic Sea. - We have a fondness for this place and we like it best at this time of year - there are few people and you can relax in peace, we come for a few days in December - this is our tradition, children and grandchildren like to be here in the summer - he adds. - Misdroy ist gut - says her husband, giving me a thumbs up and waving me goodbye.

Life / Poles are (family friendly / religious / traditional / conservative): True or False? Why? [8]


No, they are conservative due to the RC religion all Poles and Polesses have had a contact with all their lives.

Czechs are far less religious than Poles and Polesses and in result less con.

Check this example:

An unusual situation at the swimming pool in Prudnik

A rather unusual appeal to foreign guests of the facility recently appeared in one of the swimming pools in Poland. Important information written in Czech was placed at the ticket office of the "Sójka" indoor swimming pool in Prudnik. It included a polite message about changing clothes behind the designated curtain at the pool, and not in the shared locker room. It turns out that our neighbors do not go to designated cabins for this purpose, but do it in front of everyone, including children.

- Guests from the Czech Republic changed in the locker rooms, next to the lockers, and not behind curtains - explains Małgorzata Halek-Malinowska, director of the Sports and Promotion Agency of the Prudnik Commune, in an interview with NTO. - We do not have a separate area for adults or a zone for people using the sauna. The same locker rooms are also used by children with their parents or those coming to swimming school, hence our appeal to adapt to the applicable rules.

NTO journalists managed to talk to the Czechs about such behavior at the swimming pool. For them it is completely normal and they are surprised at what it looks like in Poland. At swimming pools in the Czech Republic, there are no specially designated changing areas in men's locker rooms.

- In our country, no one is offended by dressing up in front of children. At the swimming pool in Prudnik, I didn't notice anyone getting naked in the shared shower. People are ashamed. But for health and hygiene reasons, it's better to wash thoroughly after swimming, said the Czech woman.

Poles and Polesses have also noticed a more liberal approach from our neighbors.

- I often use the swimming pool in Czech Village near Jesenik - says a resident of Głuchołazy. - It even happened that a father brought his several-year-old daughter to the shower together because he had no one to leave her with. And he didn't care that there were naked men bathing nearby. For others, it's an embarrassing situation.

History / Neon style in Cold War Poland [23]

Wow! I have just come across a video which shows neon lights in Polish films. As a bonus, the video features Polish rock music well suited to the scenes (but you need to know Polish).

News / THE ARMY OF POLAND - THE REALITY [493]


You certainly won`t help me or anybody else by peddling sponsored interviews which praise German weapons and disparage Polish ones so blatantly.
Learn and remember one basic thing - nothing in life is only black or white. And the interview adopted such an approach which proves it was manipulative.

I finish the topic of the howitzer with this video in Engish:

Life / My experience in Poland 15 years ago as an American trying to live and work there. [167]


The interviewer also asked about negative or unnerving aspects of living in Poland. The teacher mentioned pollution in cities as No 1. Next was Polish style of complaining about everything even if things are going well. The final one was paid public toilets.

Travel / Castles and Palaces in Poland (with pictures) [155]


It sports pretty gardens and the whole place brings to mind the Versailles. :

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Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


The mid-year and final classification assessment of behavior is determined according to the following scale:

Exemplary (wz)
Very good (very good)
Good (db)
Correct (pop)
Inappropriate (np)
Reprehensible (ng).

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Yes, a very idealistic approach again - sometimes it if difficult to be such in class units consisting of over 30 students because local council tries to cut down on costs.

But I forgot to tell you about sth - students also get a yearly assessment grade for behaviour which is written on the certificate. A lot of what you proposed is included in the requirements:

I. The behavior assessment expresses the school's opinion about:

1) the student's fulfillment of school duties,

2) his personal culture,

3) the student's compliance with the norms of social coexistence,

4) acting in accordance with the good of the school community,

5) care for the school's honor and traditions,

6) involvement in class and school life,

7) care for your own and other people's safety and health,

8) decent, polite behavior at and outside school,

9) showing respect to other people,

10) compliance with school regulations and procedures.

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1410]

This guy would make a career in horror movies. E.g, about doctor Frankenstein. Pity he became a rightist politician.

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Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Nice suggestion but too idealistic coz I already see problems with measuring the merits as you can`t set distinct criteria in such an initiative. Arguments who did what and of what value are unavoidable.

While the case of a stripe for exemplary grades is simple - having 4.75 entitles you to a distinction.

News / France and Germany plan to flood Poland with illegal migrants. [199]


Wow, so you are able to admit that Polish-documented migrants should be sent back to Poland. Coz a few days ago you were barking against such a procedure.


Goodbye Iron. Time you went to Moscow at last, your dream destination and destiny. Me and other decent Poles and Polesses are staying here in the EU. Ha!!


Those murderous inclinations of nationalists! Sigh!

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Małopolska education superintendent Gabriela Olszowska wrote in a post on social media: "Enough of stripes. Shoo to stripes. No for stripes on the certificate." The post sparked a lively discussion, and the superintendent eventually edited it.

Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]

It happened 17 years ago but still feels like yesterday. This time!