The strangest things in Poland

In a fast-food restaurant (like Mc Donalds or KFC) you need to order like for two people not to leave hungry. The food portions/sizes are like 40% smaller than in the US. Good thing for people who care to be slim .

Excellent tracking on all seasons tires. Nobody changes tires for winter in USA.
Get lots and lots of snow. Best snowmobile trails around.

Kujon is called a "teacher's pet"

Yes, the clapping. Still goes on. I Was on Jugoslavian airlines and they do that too.

Oh. I know a good one. Traffic lights. In Poland first the light is green, then yellow then red. Same as in the US. But in Poland when it turns green again, the yellow light appears just before the green. In US, there is no yellow after the red and before the green.

good point, there also much smaller than the ones in oz, the chips/fries in poland are not nice...too soggy

One thing I don't like about polish society is the way people have to address other people by pani/ pan, mgr engineer etc...in oz that finished years ago...everyone is called by there first name...no barriers...I once address a person by his first name and received a bucket load of abuse..(the usual spin- have you no respect etc)
Be prepared...this will change in poland one day

Yeah, the pan/pani thing.

1.In schools you share a desk with another student, In US you have your own desk.
2.In Poland you carry a worek with tennis shoes for gym class.
3.They have warm milk for lunch breaks. YUK!!!
4.They start kindergarten at age 6, in the US they start at 5
(I have more later)

On a positive note, whenever I go to Poland it seems people are like "one family" (weather there are good or bad connotations with that . You can start chatting with people in a store or in a bus and it feels you've known them for a long time - everybody has similar problems, watched similar Tv programs etc. It can be boring to see "smiley" faces all the time in the US - being in Poland you have more chances to think about your own life from different perspectives and then you realize your problems are trivial compared to some other people.

I know.
One time I was lost in a wieś somewhere, because there weren't any signs anywhere and didn't know where the heck I was, so I asked for directions and these people were so nice, they would explain over and over in detail how to get to the main road and make sure we would get there. It was a nice feeling.
And the directions were correct also....

Another strange thing - people in Poland go grocery shopping like every day or twice a day. They would go to buy milk and bread in the morning, the next morning or evening they would by some cheese, jam, or sausage. There are many small stores in the areas where they live (even though bigger shopping centers spring up).

In the US people go shopping usually once a week. :)

Yeah. In Poland you have to take the tramwaj or autobus to go to the store and you can't hold on to 10 bags of groceries because you might fall down and spill all the contents and someone might eat your food.
I have to go to sleep now. Good night

Or you can take your car and put your 10 bags of groceries in its trunk. That way you are avoiding the danger of your goods being eaten by a hungry stranger.

There's also another way of dealing with this problem. Buy/rent a flat/house near groceries.

I even eat my cereals with worm milk.



Not true. Parents are obligated to send their children to kindergarten at the age of 6(it's called "zerówka"), but if you want to and you have the money, there's no problem with sending your little ones earlier. My brother did that. He was sending his daughter to the kindergarten from the age of three. If you let your kid at the kindergarten for 5 hours, you only pay 30zł a month, and the rest is financed by the local authorities. If you want your kid to stay longer, you'll have to pay the whole price form your pocket.

What was it?



In most primary schools. Such problem doesn't occur in high schools.

Exactly. If someone doesn't have a carpet, nor warm slippers for the guests, and still expects them to take off their shoes, than he is just being rude.



It's illegal to chop off the trees without any permission. There are really big fines for that.

It's true not only for Poland.

Probably a slavic thing. I love pyry!!

In Russia we call them "nuliowka"

Null in German means "zero". Is there some kind of relevance between German "null" and Russian "nuliowka"??

I agree.
I take shoes off because I feel more comfortable. For guests usually always propose slippers, although many prefers not to use them.

yes, it is the same
null == zero
nuliowka == zerowka

If you live in city, it's not need to buy ten bags of food at once, just something nearby your home (something good).

ps: Shame on me, I use car, too. Although I'm not living in the city.

Have you noticed when you queue up for something in poland, you may be at the front of the line but as times goes on you slowly progress to the rear..

Nope. And how is that happening lef?

Thats the golden question, how does it happen!

Didn't you know that it's not polite to answer a question with a question, lef?

sorry sir, I was making the point that you would line up in a queue and after a while you seem to be getting further and further from the front...that has been my observation.

It's because you don't have an experience to stay in such kind of "queue".

I forgive you this time, but don't let it happen again.

Never happened to me before. Start being more assertive, and you won't have such problem any more.

Some of the things you describe can relate to anyone who lives in a small flat or house. When you do not have the space for a pantry or cellar to store supplies in you have to shop more often. When you do not have a car and have to carry your stuff on a bus or train you shop more often.
What surprised me was how small the refrigerators where in England - same thing, no room for larger ones so they only kept what would fit. My daughter said the same thing about Poland, no refrigeration and no ice. She hated drinking warm coke in Warsaw... and potatoes and pork everyday, and warm almost hot lettuce/salad.

Depends on how you are brought up, my father was in the military so we had to say Sir and Mamm when we spoke to people, it is only being polite. I am in a Polish Lithuanian renactment group and we use Pan/Pani and whne I tried to write to a young man in Poland and called him Pan he became upset and said that was too formal and no one uses that. I taught my daughter to be polite and she knows when to use it. It is only being respectful and us old folks like it! lol

Warm beer. ugh

I am sorry folks but I like my beer really COLD. After a week in England I got use to asking for a glass of ice with my beer. I would get some strange looks but they would realize I was American and understand. It was funny though.