Genealogy / Second gen Polish-American with little exposure [45]

Like the USA, Polish culture varies somewhat via region and more especially urban and rural. As you know which region your grandad came from, you could start by reading a bit about that place. Otherwise you might find this site helpful, it's written in English by Poles, based in Poland and it's 'modern', tells you about Poland and how life is lived there nowadays. Here's an example below

culture.pl/en/article/clean-eating-healthy-polish-cuisine

Also read up a bit about life in PRL Poland as that's what your grandad experienced.

Work / Is starting a language school doable in Poland [9]


How old are your children? In what way do you think they'll benefit? I can understand that it's nice for them to see grandparents but cousins??? That's a bit of a stretch. I never saw my cousins when I was a kid as they lived in another country and I can't say it made any difference to my life :D Children make their friends within their peer group rather than having their friendships set up for them by parents. Your kids might well want to be bosom buddies with their cousins but perhaps not.

If you think ahead, your children will lose out on many advantages that they currently enjoy in the UK as you will be moving to a small town where you will have limited earning potential, in a country that despite the improvements, still faces many social and economic challenges. Your childrens' opportunities will be significantly limited by that.

With respect, it sounds like the thing that frequently happens with Polish women abroad.Once they have children they want to raise them in Poland with the support of grandparents and extended family, even if it means returning to a small town or village. You don't speak Polish and will have to learn. It's not an easy language in which to gain fluency and until you do, you will be in the position of a child yourself when it comes to dealing with anything other than the most basic shopping and everyday communication. You will have to learn to navigate your way around bureaucracy such as you have never encountered in the UK and will no longer be an independent man. You will have the pressure of finding work and trying to build some meaningful career for yourself. It won't be easy to do in a small town. Is it really the best thing for your children? I'm not so sure.

Study / School Uniforms in Poland - not required? [15]


Depends on what you mean by good - if by good, you mean 'wouldn't say boo to a goose' yes, no and three bags full compliant with all rules, then I wasn't good and I'm sure you weren't either. I have to say that despite all the bad press that nuns and priests get these days, we were actually encouraged to have opinions and minds of our own. We had 40 mins of discrete religion time each day and we had a lot of great discussions. As long as you weren't rude and cheeky and expressed your views appropriately, you could say what you liked. But our favourite was Sister Ann, 'the singing nun' who carried her guitar everywhere and could be sidetracked into singing at the drop of a hat as long as the song had vaguely religious/spiritual undertones. "Sister, could we sing Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, there's a priest in it" :D

Study / School Uniforms in Poland - not required? [15]


Yes, that's the 'blazer' :)) We only wore them in the summer term. That was the one bit of the school uniform that everbody liked. The school crest was bought separately and sewn on to the breast pocket. They were made from 100% wool, a sort of 'gabardine' fabric like the school overcoat and they lasted years. When I left school I passed mine on to a younger girl down the road who was starting secondary school and no doubt she got another five years out of it!

Food / Which foods are generally disliked/unpopular in Poland? Which non-Polish foods are slowly gaining popularity? [180]

As I live in Warsaw I can say that I see a huge difference particularly over the last 10 years or so in the availabilty of non-Polish foods and ingredients even in places well outside the city centre. I would also strongly disagree that Poles don't like to experiment or try foreign foods. Quite the opposite in fact and it's not just millennials. Lots of older people too and they don't just confine it to eating out, they try recipes at home. I think food choices are determined more by what people can afford than conservative tastes. If it's foreign and they can afford it, they'll try it.

Study / School Uniforms in Poland - not required? [15]


That's interesting Paw. Were they designed by the individual schools or was it the same uniform for all? In Ireland each school has a different uniform.


I've taught kids in uniform for most of my teaching career and never felt that way. Their individual characters are very apparent despite their similar appearance :) In secondary school we used to try individualize our uniforms with non-regulation scarves, gloves, socks etc in really lurid colours. The lay teachers didn't take any notice but if you were spotted by one of the nuns, wearing purple socks instead of black or grey you could get a detention. They usually only slapped a detention on students who were otherwise troublesome. The 'good girls' like myself just got the lecture.

It was also an offence punishable by expulsion if you were seen smoking cigarettes in your school uniform in a public place. In fact any kind of inappropriate 'rowdy' behaviour in you school uniform was a big no-no and was frequently reported to the convent by local people. The 'head nun' as the principal was known, would then investigate and depending on how bored she was that day, she would either visit each class individually and interrogate everybody or just call the whole school together for a very long lecture. Either way, it was a nice break from lessons, wasted plenty of time and we all enjoyed it thoroughly :D

Study / School Uniforms in Poland - not required? [15]


Totally agree and not only that, they bolster the sense of community and belonging. They also aid with discipline especially in secondary schools where there can be a lot of 'attitude' from students. There is far less of it when you can't express it through your clothes. Having grown up with a school uniform, I can say that primary/elementary school kids generally cant' wait for the day when they start school and get to wear the uniform :) it makes you feel really special, very grown up. At secondary level, we all hated our uniforms but at the same time whenever we had to go somewhere en masse outside the school, we took a strange pride in the fact that we were an immediately identifiable 'tribe'.

News / First Coronavirus case in Poland? [30]


That makes sense indeed.


Yes, that's a fair point.

News / First Coronavirus case in Poland? [30]

UK now has two confirmed cases, nice start to post-Brexit Britain.....

Funnily enough, a few months ago I was reading an article about the possibility of a global epidemic of some kind being fairly imminent. It's a hundred years since the Spanish influenza which killed about 50 million people worldwide and apparently another major one was inevitable at some point. But at the same time, the chances of dying from Coronavirus if you contract it are about 2.5% so we shouldn't get hysterical. It's people with compromised immune systems who are most at risk of death.

Oh and also, most flu viruses originate in birds and occur in China where the large bird population lives densely packed with humans. The Spanish flu is, similarly, thought to have originated in the trenches at the end of World War One where the men kept chickens.

Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]


Well now you see Torq, you weren't occupied by a foreign power for 800 years :)) the fact that the Irish language survived at all is a miracle. Actually most people outside Dublin and the surrounding counties, were bilingual and Irish was still widely spoken at the beginning of the 19th century. Bear in mind that at that stage, Ireland had been under English occupation for over 600 years. The Famine was the last straw really. Poland also didn't experience anything on that level during partition.

The other thing, is that the Gaelic music is a hugely important part of our history, our heritage, our cuture and it survived which is incredibly touching, considering the poverty and deprivation of the people who preserved it. The music is where you find the soul of the Irish people and it has not only never been lost but it has thrived. And then of course there's hurling!! Thousands of years old. But yes, for us, it's the music, the songs, the dances and we still not only have those but we share them all around the world which is great :)

Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]


Not quite,. I think you didn't read enough of those books when you were in Dublin


Exactly - and then you realize how difficult it really is and the sheer vastness of the English language. It's a bit overwhelming isn't it?


Shouldn't that be vernaculars, plural? Regional dialects are part of the richness of English. When I was a little girl I remember my granny talking about 'shallakybookies'. This word is peculiar to Co Waterford in Ireland. A shallakybooky is a snail. Also in Waterford you'll hear 'blaa face' used to describe a person with a broad, flat face. It originates from a type of local bread dating back to the Hugenots' arrival. Now consider the 32 counties of Ireland and the local vernacular of each. Then cross over to England and look at each region there and so on.............wonderful stuff.

Real Estate / Carpetying style? - question to Brits living in Poland [26]


Yes but where? What part of Ireland and tell me more about the spuds. That's an important detail.

Real Estate / Carpetying style? - question to Brits living in Poland [26]


Where and when? Take this to off-topic if you like but beware, you'll be plucked and roasted and anything left of you afterwards will go under the grill ;)

Btw if it's nothing special, why did you keep going back?

Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]



Now Torq if that's the case, then what were you doing haunting the bookshops of Dublin all those years ago?? I would add that no intelligent person can fail to love the English language once they've mastered it. Who could not love Shakespeare:

"My master is of churlish disposition and little recks to find the way to heaven by doing deeds of hospitality"

That would apply nicely to Rich Mazur I'm sure ;)

Real Estate / Carpetying style? - question to Brits living in Poland [26]


Ever seen a shamrock? A real one? Evidently not.
But if you don't like green how about a nice purple bathroom carpet, once again from Minnesota. They do seem to like their carpeted bathrooms there. This house came on the market in 2013. The carpet was laid in 1962. Note how nicely fitted it is around the base of the toilet.

• 
  mirroredbathroom.jp.jpg
  

Real Estate / Carpetying style? - question to Brits living in Poland [26]

• 
  House in Minnesota, built in 1980, was on the market in 2014 with this lovely carpeted bathroom :)
  

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]

According to National Geographic average sea levels have risen 23cm since 1880. Anyway, apparently it means that as well as flooding
you get storms pushing further inland. I can definitely say that in Ireland, being a small island with an Atlantic coastline, we have seen changes in our weather, much more flooding and more extreme storms over the last five years.

News / Polexit? Almost half of the Poles believe that Poland would be better off outside of the EU [548]


Actually she does use it, but through the civil service and her government :))

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]


I completely agree. But the point, as you agree yourself is that in Poland you don't get the casual humour from strangers that you do in Ireland. Also Torq, people in Poland are much quicker to get annoyed/angry over trivial things than the Irish who will either shrug it off or make a joke of it.


But that's the whole difference. In Ireland people exchange banter with complete strangers - it's part of our culture. Humour permeates everyday life and encounters on a level that you don't find in Poland.

UK, Ireland / What do Polish people miss about Ireland when they come back to Poland? [26]

Was it on the north or south side?

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]


I was more interested in the things you love, that are different to Ireland. I can't imagine you love that Polish people are not as easy going and humorous as the Irish ;)

UK, Ireland / What do Polish people miss about Ireland when they come back to Poland? [26]


Leo Burdocks :)) the original Burdocks is up near Christchurch, the fish and chips there are even better! But it's just a takeaway, you can't sit in so you get your fish and chips and then stroll round to the gardens in St Patrick's Cathedral and eat them there :D


I think you mean Veritas on Abbey Street.

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]


What do you find different about it?

Language / "Ego" as an ending in Polish Names? [19]


That makes me smile. That's exactly how my husband explains grammar to me, with the question form and answer. He says that was the form in which grammar was taught in school - it's very effective I think.

Off-Topic / Random movies (not Polish) proposed by forum users [95]


No, that's Al Pacino - "oooh aah"!

Life / How to really meet Polish people in Poland and actually socialize with people in their Late 20s/Early 30s? [34]

If you live in Poland you'll meet Polish people everyday at work or college. You'll make friends in the same way you would in your home country. Whatever your spare time interests/hobbies are, google search po polsku for events/clubs etc and go along. If you're musical, join a choir, if you dance go to classes, if you draw or paint, are in to sports, whatever, get involved with something and your social circle will grow.You could also try volunteering. There's a growing interest in that.

Off-Topic / Random movies (not Polish) proposed by forum users [95]


Got through the first half hour - a giant yawn. Not to mention the weirdness of him playing his character's younger self about forty years previously! Sorry but even De Niro can't pull that off. If you want to see a true story film about an Irish American gansgter watch "Kill The Irishman".

Another film I would recommend is The Iceman with Michael Shannon, nice Polish connection there :)

And for another gangster option the French movies about Jacques Mesrine, the titles/parts thing can be a bit confusng, especially with the English titles being different to the French so here's the good old Wiki link for the details.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesrine_(2008_film)

Real Estate / Carpetying style? - question to Brits living in Poland [26]


Written by a foreign student who thinks Brits don't have slippers - hilarious!


It seems that was the case for Americans with their fake 'historic' homes and carpeted bathrooms.

"When I was a young girl living in Lafayette, Louisiana, one of my favorite things to do was go with my mother to the Parade of Homes. Those early '90s show houses were wonderful in my eyes: soaring foyers, big Palladian windows, and giant, luxurious bathrooms-covered in carpet. "

apartmenttherapy.com/why-did-anyone-think-carpet-in-the-bathroom-was-a-good-idea-257122

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]


Except there are no real pubs :(

Language / Origin of / reason for spelling /tɕi/ as <ci> in the Polish language [11]

What always puzzles me is how Nicholas became Mikołaj. Why did they change the 'n' to 'm'? I started a thread about it once but there was no definite answer. Since then I did a bit more research and it seems that could be a kind of hybrid of Michael and Nicholas. The peculiarity also occurs in other Slavic languages.

Ukrainian: Микола, Миколай (Mykola, Mykolaj)
Belarussian: Мікалай (Mikalaj)
Czech and Slovak: Mikuláš
Upper Sorbian: Mikławš
Lower Sorbian: Miklawš
Slovenian: Miklavž.