Cultural Musings

Five and a half years in Poland and I’m already an old Polish woman. One of my favorite summer activities is canning. Produce is super seasonal here so in the winter there’s no way you’re gonna find things like berries or good tomatoes. The only way to eat that stuff all year is to can it for the winter. When I lived in the States I was always a little wary of it. Whenever you read about it online, it seems so dangerous and scary like you can really easily poison yourself and your whole family. In reality, it’s not that hard.

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 So I’m gonna get a little ranty and tell you my complaints about Poland. Let me preface this by saying please don’t read this post first and think I’m a total asshole. I’ve written many heart-warming, sentimental posts about my love for Poland so, please, no offense, ok?

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Which would you prefer? 1. Paying for public health care, being fully covered, but waiting in long queues when you need to use it? 2. Choosing your own private health care plan, getting good service, and paying only once, albeit at a higher rate but possibly not being fully covered? Hard to say, really. Let’s take a closer look.  Continue Reading

You may have heard that Polish people complain a lot. And it’s true. It’s like a national pastime. The important thing to remember is that people complain as a way to bond, greet each other, feel comfortable around each other. It makes them feel like they can relate to one other because they have the same problems. Having a history of hard times after hard times, it makes sense. And anyway, everyone complains, right? But Poles have their own special complaints, tailored to the issues we often face here. Let’s take a look.

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Do you ever find yourself trying to find a creative solution to a problem? Maybe you try to get around a rule or law in order to benefit yourself? Or possibly you try to get out of doing something you don’t want to do like go to work or school. Perhaps you try to look for the best deal when you’d like to buy something? If you said yes to any of these, you may find the word “kombinować” useful in your everyday life.

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Although my blog is not political in nature, it is connected with culture and life in Poland. I may not be a Polish woman but as a woman living in Poland, I feel that the current fight for women’s health affects not only me but also every woman living here today.

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Cross-cultural relationships are always complicated, but I’ve found my relationships with Polish men to be much simpler than with their American counterparts. Is it possible that men in Poland and men in America are strikingly different in terms of dating and relationships? Men are men everywhere, aren’t they? What differences does it make if they live here, in Australia, or in Argentina? Let’s get straight down to business: Polish guys just don’t play games like Americans guys do.
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