Polish Americans I have talked to following visits to Poland usually say they miss the things they do not have at home in the good ol' USA. Some examples:
HOSPITALITY: Many say Polish hospitality is legendary. If you tell an Anglo you've already had lunch or are on a diet or some such, he will probably drop it right then and there. But the Pole will say: well, try just a little, and surely you'll want to sample Ciocia Jadzia's sernik, and one nip won't hurt you. Conversely, the Poles have a saying about Anglo-American hospitality: ‘Nalał po kieliszku wódki, resztę schował do lodówki!’
POLITENESS: Coming as they do from Bratland USA, visitng Pol-Ams can't get over how polite and well-behaved the kids are. They know how to greet visitors, bow or curtsey and are mostly seen but not heard. (I wonder if 10 years from now they will say the same after Poland’s young people have been brain-washed with an additional decade of MTV-style selfish-slob culture indoctrination?!) Polish grown-ups too are more polite, Before and after a dance they kiss their female partner's hands, always say 'Smacznego' if they walk in on someone eating, and always greet females first. Some pushy American macho type may thrust out his hand when meeting a group of Polish relatives who ignore him until after they've greeted all the females in the party first.
PIETY: The sight of full churches is a pleasant change from the American norm, especially the sight of teenagers, young married with babies in prams and other younger folk attending Sunday Mass, queuing up outside confessionals, receiving Holy Communion and going on pilgrimages.
FOOD: Many say in Poland they have relived many of the aromas and flavours of their long-gone childhood in the old Polish neighbourhoods of Cleveland, Chicago, Pitssburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, New York, etc. The bite-down (zagrycha) style of Polish home entertainment also appeals to many. ‘In America we just go to a bar and drink and it’s cheaper to get snookered on an empty stomach,’ is a common remark.
ARCHITETURAL TREAURES: Coming as they do from a country, where the few old historic buildings (town halls, schools, even churches) are regularly torn down to make way for car parks, shopping malls and other such pedestrian purposes, the sight of painstakingly preserved castles, cathedrals and other architectural relics is something many miss.
SCENERY: The mountains of south Poland, together with the folk culture they embody, are a favourite of many Pol-Ams flatlanders who stock up on local folkcrafts and pictures of the craggy, snow-topped Tatras. Inlanders love the Baltic beaches and cliffs and most everybody enjoys such wilderness areas as the Puszcza Białowiejska and the Bieszczady.
UNIQUE CASES: There are always plenty of unique-case scenarios which fit in none of the above and reflect the interests and yearnings of individual Polonian visitors.
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