Maybe it is the cold weather here in Warsaw and the fact I was walking from a modern warm coffee shop in Centrum to the area of the US Embassy to view yet another statue of former US President Ronald Reagan unveiled on November 22nd (I was at unveiling of another in Budapest in June). [...]
Polish is, as everyone knows, a foreign language. Despite my efforts to speak louder, use simple words and sometimes point the fact remains that some people don’t speak English. It’s all well and good to tut about how poor everyone’s English seems to have gotten lately but, as more or less permanent residents of Poland, we foreign interlopers must eventually bow to the crushing pressure and learn Polish–and more than just the curse words! It’s a matter of respect you see.
I was asked by my future mother in law if I would like coffee. So far so good, an easy question I know the answer to. “Yes,” I replied and in an instant (the only instant thing about this coffee as I would shortly discover) the drink was duly produced. Obviously she had assumed I would answer in the affirmative, which was a bit presumptuous I thought but in the interests of Scottish/Polish relations I decided to let it slip
MikeM returns for a close looks at the names of Krakow’s bars and pubs. I simply can’t imagine how he came to know so many. Arriving in Krakow last August the fist thing to grab me, other than a crazy street drunk on the Market Square, were the names of pubs, bars and clubs. Capote, [...]
Brad is American and has a big beard but, confusingly, is entirely unconnected with ZZ Top… except in your mind now. As a guest writer at Polandian I will start with the questions that are almost always asked of me when I meet a Polish person. “What do you think of Poland,” “why did you [...]
Polandian reader MikeM hasn’t lived in Poland long but is learning fast that “service” here means something slightly different than it does in his native Ireland. Admittedly I am inclined to be critical of Polish customer service at moments when I should relax, take it in my stride, learn to be less demanding and so [...]
Polandian reader Decoy has sent us his thoughts about Polish dogs. We already know all Polish dogs are called Hodge Two but it seems there is more to learn. Decoy describes himself as “An Irish guy in Kraków with his Polish wife and dog, infiltrating an outsourcing operation while pretending not to understand any Polish. [...]
Richard Harradine has just been in England and is inclined to believe that the Poles are right to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. After spending a wet and windy break back in the UK, I thought I would put down one or two thoughts on the current state of Britain [...]
Joann is a new guest on Polandian. She’s an American with Polish roots who recently made the very sensible decision to visit Krakow, amongst other places. God love ‘em, my parents did try to make their American children at least passably Polish. They had us painting pisanki at Easter and breaking oplatek at Christmas. As [...]
Richard Harradine has been a guest writer on Polandian before. Undeterred by the terrible reviews and the way his old friends just stopped talking to him, he’s back with more! As someone who has spent most of his adult life in the theatre business from acting to voice over, directing to producing, my company here [...]