Scouting in Poland

Poland is one of the first country where the scouting was started - it was in 1910. It is very early, because Robert Baden-Powell, the creator of the scouting (in Polish harcerstwo), established his first patrol (zastęp) in 1908.

In my opinion, Poland is one of the last country where the scouting is still at the same level as at the beginning. In Polish scouting camps you spend three weeks in a forest, without electricity nor running water... For me it's what it should be looking. Meanwhile, in the Western Europe they very often sleep in buldings (instead of military tents) and they have access to every modern utilities. It is nothing more than a normal camp, it's only the name which is different.

I know it because I participated in a big scouting meeting, called "Jamboree". It is organised every four years. Fortunately, in 2011 it was in Sweden, so very close to Poland :) (In this year 2015 it was organised in Japan, so I didn't take part - too far and too expensive).

A big event was meeting with the president of Poland... However, in 2011 Poland has a presidency in Belgium, so Mr Komorowski was too busy. Instead of him, there was his wife. I think it was better, because she's not as funny as her husband :D She is very serious, but also she is a warm person and she is always smiled. I'm really happy I had a chance to meet her. 

In Jamboree I met a lot of interesting people from every continent. It was a good opportunity for me to learn more about mentality of people from other countries. 

Me, pretty Japanese girl called Yuko and my friend Ewa

I haven't regretted at all I participated in Jamboree.

Unusual poems

All of us know poems. It is connoted with something serious and maybe glamorous. 

What about unusual poems, different from others?

For example, a poem against Russian government.

During WWII in Poland you have mustn't write anything criticising the government, because Poland oficially didn't exist. Every art work should have been accepted.  When something was 'dangerous', ex. it was controversial, the thing was forbidden. That's why artists tried to avoid it. 

In 1939 in Lwów Adam Sreżoga wrote a poem and gained the Stalin Award. 

As you can see, the poem is a praise for the Red Army.

But try to read it horizontal (simultaneously verses 1 with 3, and 2 with 4)... :)

However, a lot of people think that Miłosz wrote this poem. It was corrected in one newspaper, which you can read here.

Also Julian Tuwim wrote an interesting poem. It can be read in the same way as another his poem, written in French. Some letters are read in a bit different way, but mostly it is the same.

The meaning of these two poems is defferent, but still it's incredible.

Julian Tuwim wrote more original poems, but a lot of them are not suitable for quoting^^'

Off-topic: my childhood photo :'D

International Poznań

One of my favourite radio station is MC Radio. It is a small local radio station which belongs to the group Radio Merkury. You can listen to it in a Poznań agglomeration in 102,7 MHz, but also in the web. Although the target is people 20-45, there are music for people in every age, because genres of the music are mixed. That's why all my family are listening to it (in spite of having different musical preferences).

I want to focus on the broadcast called "International Poznań". You can listen to it every Saturday, at 14:00 o'clock.
This broadcast is very interesting, because it is very rare to hear a performing in English. Maciej Kautz, the leader, invites guests from abroad and then talks with them. Most often they're artists who currently are in Poznań. The topics are their new songs, movies etc., but also they are talking about their look at the city; sometimes they compare Poland with their own country. Very often they're suprised when they had gotten to know there's a radio show where they can talk in English ;)

The language of the broadcast is quite easy to understand. But when they use a difficult word or phrase, it is immediately explained into Polish, so you don't have to take a look at a dictionnary.

In my opinion International Poznań is very interesting, especially for people who learn English.
If you have some time, you can listen to it.


The official website: http://internationalpoznan.pl/

Granda Festival

Welcome in the second part of my blog!
I'm going to continue posting about Polish events, culture etc.

Now I want to tell you about Granda, festival of the crime novels.
It isn't a new event, because there were editions before - in Wrocław and Piła. Then organisers decided that it's a good idea to organise it also in Poznań. Thanks to that during the weekend October 9-11 there was Granda Festival in this city :)

The main events take place in the old bulding of PKP station. It started in Friday, 10/09/2015. I was at the beginning and it was really fascinating! I participated in a lecture untitled "Poznań jako bohater powieści" (Poznań as a literary hero). There were four writers - Ryszard Ćwirlej, Joanna Opiat-Bojarska, Piotr Bojarski i Bohdan Głębocki. They said where in Poznań they placed action of their books.

Next I went to an exhibition of the forensic medicine focused on identifying a man after his death. The policemen told us that it's very difficult task, but not infeasible. That's why it is impossible to commit a perfect crime. The photos were very drastic and because of that the exhibition was forbidden to children.

But still I find it very educating. I'm rather interested in languages than in science, so it was a great opportunity for me to learn a lot of new things.

Next year there are going to be a second edition of Festival. I highly recommend it to you, because there are events for everyone, also for children (such as mysteries in cartoons). Granda is for people in every age, so you won't be disappointed.

Some photos:

The local dialect of Poznań

In Poland there are a few local dialects. It is caused by 123-years occupation by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria. Because of that Polish in different part of the country is not the same.

In Poznań a lot of words in a local dialect came from German language.

In the small restaurant, "Knajpka na fyrtlu" there is a wall with the most popular words characteristic to Poznań:

In Półwiejska Street there is the one in Poland statue of the local dialect. It is Stary Marych, a fictional hero of a radio station. 

My great-grandmother taught me that local  dialect... or rather she uses it all the time, so I've learnt some words ;)

For example, her favourite sentence is: "Ino nie kładź tytki na ziemi, bo bejmy uciekają" ("Don't put your bag in a floor because the money run away") :D This sentence doesn't have any logic - it is only a superstition. In spite of it, you can see in this sentence three words: "ino" - using in the beginning of the sentence, "tytka" - means "bag" (and also "sachet") and "bejmy" - "money". Not to mention about the most popular sentence in Poznań - "Wuchta wiary tej!", which means "a lot of people" ;)

 Also some people change popular names or titles into Poznań's dialect, for example:

or: "Pińdziesiunt sznupów Szaroka"

Anyway, using a local dialect is fantastic... Particulary when you aren't in your city and no one understands you :D

Historical Polish memes

Webside memes are very common nowadays. Internet users comment in a funny way current situations, but not only. They also change great paintings, for example by adding a funny text...

A lot of people say it is bad and we shoul not joking about something serious. But in my opinion it is a good opportunity to familiarize with paintings and painters. When you're talking with your friend about what you saw on the Internet, you're mentioning about painting and the name of arthist. So it is good for the knowledge of the art ;)

You can see some examples:
(click to enlarge)

Not only the Poles, but also people from the USA are laughting about their history, especially about George Washington.
There are some examples:

On the Internet you can find more examples ;)

Feast of St. John the Baptist/Kupała's Night

Feast of St. John the Baptist, also named as Kupała's Night, is a very old festival. It was celebrated before Christianity. After 966 it was declared that this festival is forbidden, because it is a Paganism festival. But still people celebrated it. Then they changed their way of thinking and declared that it is an official catholic festival and it name's "St. John's Eve" ("Noc świętojańska").

In this day you should light a bonfire and jump across it - because of that you will be rid of bad ghost and it covers you from bad luck. Girls were doing wreaths of flowers and let it on a river. 

Nowadays it is still celebrating. For example, in Poznań people sent in a sky Chinese lantern (now fire departament said that it is too dangerous). 

In my opinion it is a nice festival and we should remember of old Slavs believes ;)

Religion in Poland

Poland is one of the most religious country in the Europe. The main religion in the country is, of course, Christianity. The Baptism of Poland was in 966. A lot of people still declare that thay are Catholics. But unfortunately, I think that many people take religion too serious... When somebody tells about religion but in a different (than normal) way, this person is criticised.

Why am I writing that?
 A few years ago some people were thinking - how to encourage teenagers to read the Bible? Personally, I tried to read The Old Testament when I was in middle school... Yeah, I tried it twice and two times I fell asleep...^^' To solve this problem of young people, a group of friends wrote a book "Dobra Czytanka wg św. ziom'a Janka".

It is the Gospel of John, but... its sophisticated language was changed into teenage slang. The effect is very interesting :D Because of that it is easy to understand.
I think the better way is to show you an excerpt from this book:

"4. (Pan) musiał przechodzić przez Samarię. 5. Więc wbił się do samarytańskiego blokowiska (Sychar) blisko pola, które Jakub odpalił swojemu synowi Józkowi. 6. I tam była studnia Jakuba. Więc zmordowany podróżą Jezus, glebnął se przy studni; to było koło szóstej. 7. A tu wbija się samarytańska laska, żeby nabrać wody. Jezus powiedział do niej: „Daj mi pić!” 8. Bo jego uczniowie poszli do miasta, żeby kupić żarło. 9. Wtedy ta panna powiedziała mu: Pogięło cię? Jesteś Żydem i prosisz mnie, Samarytankę, o wodę? (bo Żydzi nie zadają się z Samarytanami). 10. Jezus na to: Gdybyś znała Boży dar i gościa, który mówi do ciebie: Daj mi pić, sama byś go prosiła, a on by ci dał żywej wody. 11. Mówi mu: Stary, nie masz nawet czerpaka, a ta studnia jest zawaliście głęboka; skąd wytrzasnąłeś żywą wodę? 12. Może jesteś większy od naszego ojca Jakuba, który nam odpalił tę studnię i sam z niej pił, i jego synowie, i jego stada? 13.Jezus odpowiedział: Każdego, kto pije tę wodę znowu będzie suszyć. 14. Ale kto napije się wody, którą ja mu zapodam, tego już nie będzie nigdy suszyło, ale woda, którą mu dam, będzie w nim, źródłem tryskającym aż do życia wiecznego. 15. Panna do niego: Master, zapodaj mi te wodę, żeby mnie nie suszyło i żebym nie poginała tutaj po wodę! 16. On na to: Dobra, to spadówa po męża i wracajcie tutaj! 17.Panna przyczaiła: Koleś, ale ja nie mam męża. Jezus do niej: Proste, że nie masz. 18. Miałaś pięciu a ten gość, którego teraz masz, to nie twój maż. Prawdę zapodałaś. 19. Panna: Ej stary, normalnie jesteś prorokiem!"

As you can see, this book is very controversial. Old people critise it, but teenagers love it. They say in this way the book is easy to understand. When you read it, at first you laugh, but lately you think "Oh yeah, that makes sense"...

What is more, in the book there are drawings, for example the Samaritan woman was presented as a teen with T-shirt and jeans. And these are the apostoles:

In spite of this, I still recommend that book. The teacher from my school told me about it and now I am telling to you - to educate and to have some fun ;)

Poetry in Poznań

Recently I wrote about graffiti. Now I want to write about something connected - poetry on walls. It is a way of art unique for Jeżyce and Wilda, the quarters of Poznań. This initiative is quite new, because it was started in January 2015. The city spent in all 10,000 złoty on painting.

There are four poems mainly by Zbigniew Herbert and Tadeusz Różewicz. You can read them in Kościelna Street ("Nigdy o tobie"), in Sikorskiego/Robocza Street ("Domy przedmieścia"), in Słowackiego/Wawrzyniaka Street ("Jul Słowacki") and in Fabryczna Street ("Wiersz oddolny").

At first one poem was planned on a wall near to Łazarski Market, but experts said that the wall had been too much neglected. Because of that there isn't any poem in Łazarz quarter.

The poem "Wiersz oddolny" is very interesting, because two inhabitants of Poznań, Tomasz Genow and Joanna Pańczak, asked people: "Why are you here?", "What do you desire?", "Is there something that you afraid of?". They gathered answers and made this poem.

Everyday I pass by the poem by Herbert and I read it. I like this idea very much and I hope in Poznań will be more poems like that.

"Nigdy o tobie"

"Domy przedmieścia"

"Wiersz oddolny"

"Jul Słowacki"

(It isn't visible in a photo, so I rewrote it):

Wiersz oddolny

Mieszkam tu:

Bóg tak chciał lub to czysty przypadek

co wcale nie znaczy, że Bóg był przypadkiem

Gdy jestem dzieckiem

chciałbym być poszukiwaczem przygód,

Ale za nic nie chciałbym wojny

bo również jako dziecko ją przeżyłem

Chciałbym mieć dziewczynę,

boję się samotności

No chyba że jestem dziewczyną,

wtedy życzę sobie więcej uśmiechu

Niech ci co ustalają rozkłady jazdy robią to lepiej,

ja zaś zajmę się tym, by być szczęśliwym całe życie.

Graffiti

When somebody says "graffiti", all the people only think about vandalism and ugly pictures on the walls which ruin the image of old and sometimes historical buldings... But what about legal graffiti?

It is a phenomenon more and more popular in Poland. I was very happy when I heard that the authority in Poznań pointed some places in the city where you can freely paint what you want. They said that Poznań promotes art, not vandalism ("Poznań promuje sztukę, nie wandalizm"). The walls are the most often under flyovers or in the abandoned buldings.

For me the most beautiful graffiti is a crow in Lutycka/Dąbrowskiego Street. You can see it when you are going to Poznań from, for example, Tarnowo Podgórne (in direction to centre of Poznań).

But also there are some more graffitis:

The most popular city in Poland, known by their graffiti is Łódź. There are also one of the biggest mural in the Europe - a painting with 600m²:

Some others:

Some Polish female writers

Books of Polish male writers are very popular. I think everyone has heard about Jacek Dukaj, Andrzej Sapkowski, Andrzej Ziemiański, Jakub Ćwiek or Tomasz Kołodziejczak - they are very famous nowadays.
But what about Polish female writers? I want to present you the writers I like very much:

Dorota Terakowska
She is my favourite author. She wrote about serious problems, such as intolerate or disability, but she wrote about it in a light way. That makes her books interesting and because of that you can also read it very fast. Some her books are in set books in Poland, e.g. Tam, gdzie spadają anioły ("Where the angels fall down").

Angieszka Błotnicka
She write mainly for the teenagers. Her books are in genre crime novel. The most important thing is you can guess who is the culprit and it isn't as hard as in the books of Doyle. I used to read her books in primary school, but still I like them.

Beata Pawlikowska
She is a famous traveller and she writes the books from her journeys. I also like travelling and I find her books quite valuable. I like point of view of Pawlikowska - she doesn't describe monuments nor important places, but the mentality of people. She writes about things you can't read in a guide, e.g. daily rhytm of life people all over the world.

I very like and highly recommend these authors. In my opinion writers from Poland write much better than novelist from the West Europe or the USA and we should be proud of them.

Getting a driving license in Poland

I'm sorry that I didn't post from a long time - that's because I was focused on my driving exam. Passing a driving exam is not a simply thing in Poland, especially since 2012 (it's a year of new regulations). For example, a friend of my father wanted to have a driving license. He tried several times, but he can't pass it. Then he got angry and went to Belgium (where he lives from time to time) and passed his exam immediately :D

In my opinion, a theoretical exam is very difficult. You have to know a lot of information, such as maximum width of a car (2,55m), a minimum width of a pavement, where you can park (1,5m) or what is the distance between a traffic sign and what it signs (150-300m in a road, where you can drive more than 60km/h... if less, then <100m... But! it doesn't include a sign "give way" - the distance is 50m in a road where you can drive fast, or 25m in a normal road)... It's only a few facts you must to know if you want to pass ;)

Okay, you want to pass it anyway - what do you have to do? Firstly, you must to fill a computer exam and gain at lasts 68 to 74 points (there are 32 questions), and then you must to drive properly in a curve route. If you do it, you'll go to the city roads with your examiner. And then you pass your exam :)

How does Poland look like? ;)

Some artists imagine countries as people, animals etc. It is called "anthropomorphism". I've found a few examples how people imagine Poland.

Himaruya Hidekazu is an author of manga (a Japanese comic) - "Hetalia Axis Powers". Characters are personifications of countries; the story tells about cultural stereotypes and historical events.

In this comic Poland is a young blonde man named Feliks Łukasiewicz. His name references to the history - Poland is like phoenix, who will never give up, no matter how many wars and partitions it'll experience. Even if the country disappeared, it would rebirth from ash again.
I think it's a beautiful comparison...

Feliks Łukasiewicz. He is also in right side of my blog ;)

There is also a comicweb "Countryballs". It is a group of short, funny stories mainly about nowadays events, sometimes historical. As the name suggests, the characters are "country, who are balls" :P They have colors like their flags. But no one knows, why the colors of Poland are upside down...^^'

For example, one of these comic (about Poland and Ukraine) - CLICK! ;)

*

The most known Polish painter, Jan Matejko, painted a work "Polonia - Rok 1863" during the January Uprising. The canvas shows Russian soldiers who are cramming in handcuffs a woman with black hairs - she represents Poland, and blonde woman next to her represents Lithuania.

Jacek Kaczmarski, a famous Polish bard and poet, created an amazing song. He is singing about a young girl, but it's a metaphor of Poland. The title can be translated as "Maiden" or "Lady". 

I love this song - it's sad, but also it is filled with lots of hope. 

If there exists something

That feeds the nightmares with uplift -

Then, in spite of, though and therefore

Such hope can be found in you.