Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles

Long weekend in Poland is always a desaster on A4 motorway in Germany between Dresden and Görlitz on the first evenig and last day of the (long) weekend. Best to drive around the traffic jam.

President Duda is an active skier.
His political opponents say it is the best activity he can do in life. Pure malice on their part.

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@pawian
Very funny this president Duduś

Polish passport is very strong - the 4th in the world ranking. Allows to enter 176 countries without a visa. It is better than American and British passports.

Amasing!
wydarzenia.interia.pl/ciekawostki/news-sila-polskiego-paszportu-moze-zaskoczyc-mocniejszy-od-ameryk,nId,7254658

The seaside border between Poland and Russia - crossing strictly prohibited.

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1 hour time change takes place in Europe twice a year. It was implemented last Sunday. In result, today I woke up at 5 am instead of at 6 as usual. Also, our cats were stupefied.
That is why most Europeans, also in Poland, demand the time change is banned as useless and harmful. But our red tape takes a long time..........

I love the time change, but only the autumn one, just as I loved my trips to England but not my returns.

In the spring one, I once went to work 2 hours early and couldn't figure out why nobody else was there.

I did that at Uni once. And I don't even think it was a time change, I just look at the watch the wrong way or something

While I once went to my high school as a student on 1 Nov.

This year before the first day of class I had internalized the idea that my schedule was the same as last year. Then I doubled checked in the morning and either I had misread the first schedule or my first class had been moved forward and was about to begin in a few minutes.... I raced out the door calling the office on the way to let them know I was delayed but was on my way fortunately the streetcar showed up just as I was reaching the stop and everything else went smoothly... missed just about 20 minutes of that class....

Was that a streetcar named desire? :)) So weird to hear you call it a streetcar and not a tram!

Of course in Warsaw, there is actually a tram with "Ochota" written on the destination board.

Of course!!

I am the opposite. When it gets dark so early makes me feel like the walls are closing in. I really don't like the lack of light, it's depressing. Give me long summer evenings every time.

Oh, I love the dark evenings and the dark mornings even more! Actually, the mornings are too bright in Poland in winter for me. I miss the Irish mornings. I remember when I was teaching and I would arrive into school at 8 o'clock because I always liked to start an hour before the bell went. I remember the total darkness when I'd go into my classroom - lovely! Especially nice at Christmas time. Used to turn off the classroom lights and just have the tree lights on and a lamp on my desk. Wonderful, cosy atmosphere.

I'm guessing that you're more of a winter person Atch. I find the darkness very gloomy almost makes me feel claustrophobic. I could happily go to bed in October and wake up in April. Like a dormouse :)

I actually feel better after December 21st because I know the days are getting longer.


Now I do like lights at Christmas time. I'm sure your classroom looked lovely.

I agree with that. My first winter in Poland (after living in a place where winter was pretty mild and days weren't that much shorter or longer during the year) was pretty rough. I got used to the cold pretty quickly but I wasn't prepared for the dark. It took a few winters before I adapted to that. For a time a local greenhouse garden open to the public was very helpful in december through february...

Maybe Ms. Atch would like to post a picture of her classroom with Christmas lights for us all to see.

You're right :)

I was lucky, for my last five years teaching in Ireland I had a lovely classroom, very big (usually I seemed to end up in the smallest classroom in the school!), windows down both sides with a view over the school garden and the old convent cloisters; it even had a piano, painted cream, no less. And the door to the school yard was right outside my room and only a quick hop across the corridor to the staffroom, very handy at breaktimes! You'd be amazed how much of a short break is taken up by escorting junior classes safely to the yard and getting to inconveniently located staffrooms, not to mention the queue for the staff toilets which are usually nowhere near the actual staffroom!

I'm not surprised coming from somewhere hot. I've never really adapted to either. I feel like I was born in the wrong country. The clocks only went back last weekend but it feels forever ago. Still getting used to cooking the evening meal with it being dark outside :(

Give me Florida!!!


I have visions of it being extremely tidy with everything in its place with lots of little personal items on your desk. Chocolate in your desk drawer and nice stationery :)
Did you ever play the piano?

I can't deny your humor, that was golden.

Did you know that the first wild animal ever put under official protection in Poland was the beaver?? The law was introduced by the first King of Poland Boleslaw the Brave in 11th century. Amasing!!!

Polo, grab your chance for commentary! :):):)

Certainly! :)

Did you know that:

"The first actual mention of Jews in Polish chronicles occurs in the 11th century, where it appears that Jews then lived in Gniezno, at that time the capital of the Polish kingdom of the Piast dynasty.

As elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, the principal activity of Jews in medieval Poland was commerce and trade, including the export and import of goods such as cloth, linen, furs, hides, wax, metal objects, and slaves."

[Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland]

Amazing! What a coincidence! :)

It was :) the children kept it that way themselves. If you have a designated place for everything, you just train them to return it there after use.

My desk was a mess! But I had a big basket on it for the children to put their 'offerings' :) every day they'd give me drawings, little messages, 'teacher this is for you, I love you' :))

How did you know! and bags of jellies and Haribo sweeties to share with the children on Fridays.

Yes, I played the piano when I was a kid. I was never very good because although my mother was a qualified piano teacher, she refused to teach me as I was uncooperative in the extreme! Therefore I was taught by an ancient and very disagreeable nun, rejoicing in the name of Sister Baptist. The main feature of her lessons was a long wooden ruler with which she rapped you over the knuckles when you made a mistake. I gave up quite quickly and just tootled around on the keys at home. I taught the children in my class how to play basic scales and little arpeggios. It was an inner city school with a lot of disadvantaged kids from tiny little council flats so it was probably the only chance any of them would have to try a musical instrument.

Amasing!!!!


Exactly!!! Do you suggest it was Jews who contributed to the creation and development of Poland under Piast dynasty????

Where did they come from?

Probably from Warsaw. :):):)

A, it was they who built Warsaw. 🤔