The summer solstice has passed which means a couple of things. One, the days will once again begin to shorten bit by bit and two, I must be packing my bags. The life of a nomadic English teacher; find a new place, teach eight months, pack and clean, travel for a few months and start again in the fall. I celebrated my unofficial going away party yesterday with a music festival featuring Morcheeba and The Manic Street Preachers which finally gave me a chance to explore the Malta area a little and in the end I wound up having a good time.
The signs were ominous. Repeated text messages warning of intense security and lack of beer. Plus the normal confusion of figuring anything out in Poland, if you haven't done it or been there, the only way to figure anything out is to follow the crowd. Upon finding the entrance things don't look good as it seems to be true, there are more security personnel than fans. However, there does seem to be a Lech tent, there must be beer, stupid British friends. Entry also proved less stressful than a flight check in as we weren't carrying any food or beverages. Even the task of finding my friends visiting from Krakow was easy, but then things take a turn for the worse. It's about 5pm and they are entering their third hour without beer. The beer tent turns out to be exclusively for VIP's (most of whom seemed to be no different than you or me, save for the expensive camera around their necks alongside the plastic ID card, passes into Nirvana). Making matters worse, the clearing in the woods where the site of the festival took place, quite beautiful in it's pristine state I'm sure, was dotted with the churches of the capitalist faith. Red Bull tents, coffee stands, Coke, telepizza and of all things a Malboro booth! Caffeine and nicotine, but no alcohol.
It's a slippery slope this country seems to be taking. I understand the need to create a safe atmosphere, one where families can enjoy a music festival alongside fans of all backgrounds. However, by creating this mecca of corporate culture, the organizers also help in moving society in the wrong direction, ie. towards America and away from Europe. My British friends were in shock. An outdoor summer music festival, beerless. Fear of a few drunks is no reason to not have a beer garden at a festival. Thanks to the no re-entry policy at the gate, by the time the Street Preachers finished it was getting on 11pm and my friends were in hour 9 without beer, not to mention I was entering my 6th.
The show was a blast even without beer I must admit. Sofa featured one die hard fan up front thrashing around and Anna Dabrowska had a few catchy tunes plus what appeared to be a unique ability to dance while her shirt stayed still. I might piss a few bleeding hearts off by what I have to say about what happened next but...c'mon. Before the next act, a man came out, said a few things of which I only caught a few words. Then he said "...Allegro!" and for the first time, after two hours of music, most of the crowd rose to their feet and cheered. He had the people crying Hallelujah to their corporate god, it was truly revolting. Turns out that he was a pretty famous guy, Jerzy Owsiak who started some charity for kids. Between him and another announcer, Allegro was chanted more than 10 times in a few minutes, with the twin spires to this deity rising on both sides of the stage.
Morcheeba was just that, Morcheeba. They played their classics and got me grooving before the closing act, the ones my British friends had come to see. The Manic Street Preachers have been around for a good decade and over that time have amassed quite a festival following. So when they struck the first chord, much of the crowd roared their approval and began to bounce around. Their set was good fun with a few highlights such as If You Tolerate This (one of the songs I knew before the show). Here's a little you tube from yesterday to get you in the mood:
Thanks to a miscalculation on my part, we didn't wind up breaking the beer drought until about midnight. 10 hours without beer, filled with Red Bull and Coke. Thanks for the concert Allegro, but really, a security fence could be built to contain the frenzied fans, even with beer in their system.
See you next year Poznań! Anyone interested in writing articles for this site, be they your experience as a Pole here or abroad or a foreigner trying to make their way here, please get in touch with me either via the message board to the right or at nahummer@gmail.com
PS. A plea for help! If anyone hears or knows of a flat/apartment that will be available October 1st, please let me know, once again by message board or email. Relatively close to the centre, around 50m and 1000zł. Thanks in advance!
Poland is famous for a couple different bisons. One of the rites of passage for most visitors to Poland is the drinking kind, the second are the living kind, and now there seems to be a third one to add to the list, the city-dwelling, plastic kind.
For myself, I remember my introduction to the drinking variety quite early on in my Polish experience. Żubrowka is a brand of vodka with a distinctive flavour, colour and aroma. Every bottle has a blade of bison grass, thus it's name plus it's yellowish colour. On it's own, the vodka doesn't seem to be anything special, but the simple addition of apple juice (sok jabłkowy) turns the spirit into something more, a magical taste that for some reason has a cinnamon taste to it. The creation goes by a couple of different names to my knowledge, with the most common appellation being tatanka, but I've also heard jabłecznik or szarlotka, the latter also having the double meaning of apple pie or a homosexual!
Of course the name Żubrówka comes from the Polish word for bison, żubr, and these magnificent beasts can be found in Białowieża Primaeval Forest. The European buffalo, or wisent, actually went extinct in the wild in the first part of the 20th century, but thanks to a few being left in zoos they were successfully reintroduced into the wild from an original breeding stock of only 12 individuals. I haven't been to the park yet myself, but it's something I definitely need to do someday, to see the bisons and maybe throw something into Belarus as it's right next door!
Now the third variety of bison has been spotted in Poznań, and I'm not talking about the other drinking kind, the beer Żubr, I'm talking about the big plastic kind. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere, big plastic bison have been scattered around the city. I've spotted them in the fountain park near Most Teatralny and in Plac Ratajskiego. If you spot any more please help others by commenting below or on the bulletin board to the right. While not dangerous on their own, when combined with alcohol, the situation creates an uncontrollable urge to try to jump on the beasts and ride them. Injuries have resulted, so please approach with due caution!
The Brits living here don't have much problem finding football to watch on TV. However, it's a different story if you're a Canadian sports fan. While most people here do know what hockey is, and some even know who Mariusz Czerkawski and the Edmonton Oilers are, it's not an easy task to find a good game to watch. So imagine my joy when I turned on the TV the other day (something I rarely do, most of the channels seem to be in Polish, imagine that) and flipped around the channels and found myself watching Canadian jerseys skating up and down the rink! Yes, it's the World Hockey Championships, being broadcast live in Poland on Polsat Sport until May 18th.
Without getting into too much detail, here's what the tournament is all about. While it's not as prestigious as the Olympics, internationally it's the next biggest thing. Sixteen countries are represented at the tournament, split into four groups. The top two teams from each group move to the quarter final round, of course followed by the semi-final and finally the championship game will be played on the 18th. The strange thing though is that this is happening at the same time as the NHL (National Hockey League) playoffs are going on in North America. So, many of the best players in the world, from all countries, are busy playing for their team and therefore can't play for their countries. Not to worry, many teams didn't make the playoffs, or have already been eliminated from the playoffs and so those players are available making the talent pool more than big enough.
Sweden, Switzerland, Belarus and France are in one group; Canada, USA, Latvia, Slovenia in another; Finland, Slovakia, Germany, Norway in the third; Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark, Italy in the last. So, if you need a break from football and want to watch a fast paced, physical game, turn on the tube, Polsat Sport, in the next couple of weeks and maybe in a few years we'll get to watch Poland take part!
So, once again after all the build up and what not, the pub quiz has come and gone again. As expected we had a few less teams than the first time out, but the competition was even more fierce than last time. Nine teams battled it out for supremacy; who knew more useless information than the others. Would it be Isfahan with their superior Middle Eastern Arabic knowledge, or the Wise Guys, with their superior instinct in the end. I'd appreciate any kind of feedback, just click on the message board link to the right and tell us what you think of anything that went down at Proletaryat, any ideas or suggestions you might have would be great. After 10 rounds the world got their champion, the questions and answers went something like this:
Entertainment
In less than two years four major music stars died of strange circumstances, and all were the same age. Brian Jones, drummer of the Beach Boys drowned in a pool. Jimi Hendrix died after an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Then Janis Joplin overdosed on heroine and finally Jim Morrison of the Doors died of heart failure in Paris. Growing up, Kurt Cobain told his sister he wanted to be a part of this club of stars who all died at the same age, which he did in 1994. How old were they all when they died? The 27 club isn’t all that select a club. It’s a little bizarre to see how many there are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club
The F-word was first used for the first time in a movie in 1968. In Brian De Palma’s 1984 movie, “Scarface”, it is Tony Montana’s favourite word. Within a range of 6, how many times is it said in the whole movie? The word is uttered an amazing 206 times, that’s about once every 29 seconds. Fuck that’s a lot.
In 1959 this actress became the first Hollywood star to receive $1 million for starring in a single picture. Who is she? NO, it’s not Marilyn Monroe. It’s amazing how many people answered that in the testing for this question don’t worry. And in case you’re wondering, yes, Audrey Hepburn was everyone’s second guess for Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It was ET silly. And no, not the alien, it was Elizabeth Taylor silly, for the movie Cleopatra, and yes it’s still the most expensive movie ever made, dollars adjusted for inflation. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937/
In 1962, kids and adults across the USA were doing the Mashed Potato, the Loco-Motion, the Frug, the Monkey and the Funky Chicken. What were they doing? They’re just dancing, pa! Don’t worry, you can’t get pregnant that way. Here's some guy doing the Mashed Potato.
Which member of the Beatles was the first to have a solo number one hit after the group broke up? Not McCartney, nor Lennon, nor Ringo. That only leaves George. As in George Harrison baby, singing “My Sweet Lord”.
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was trying to get back to Kansas. Helping her on her journey along the yellow brick road were the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tin Man. What were each of them looking for? Ever try to push play at the same time on The Wizard of Oz as you start Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd… it’s a little creepy. Check it out at: http://www.everwonder.com/david/wizardofoz/ The Tin Man was looking for a heart, scarecrow, a brain and of course the cowardly lion was looking for some courage.
Nature
What animal, not counting humans ourselves, is responsible for the most human deaths world-wide? (Causing more than 2 million per year) Mosquitoes!
We know that the blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, but what colour is lobster blood? It's blue folks.
The ending ‘ology’ means study of something for example biology. The shortest ology is the word oology. What is it the study of? It's the study of eggs apparently.
The Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap and Emperor are all types of what feathery animal? Penguins! Those cute little bastards can all be seen at: http://www.dembsky.net/penguins/types.html
The Richter scale is used to measure the strength of an earthquake. (Richtera) How many times stronger is an earthquake that measures 8 on this scale than one measuring 4? a) double as strong b) 4 times as strong c) 100 times stronger d) 10000 times stronger e) 10000000 times stronger Crazy logorithmic scales, it's 10000 times stronger.
For years people have argued over the eternal question: What really came first? The chicken or the egg? Well, a little bit of a trick question, but, when you think about it, reptiles which lay eggs, have been on the planet far longer than chickens!
United Kingdom
Which of these three is not a British soap opera: A Country Practice, Emmerdale, Crossroads or Brookside? Geoff told me the answer a few times, but for some reason my brain refuses to remember anything about British TV. Let's say it's A Country Practice.
Name three ingredients of the British dish “Toad in the hole”. Sausages, Yorkshire Pudding (batter), carrots, potato and gravy
David, Patrick, George and Edward are the four saints of the United Kingdom. Match them to their correct country. Wales – David, Scotland – Edward, England – George, N.Ireland – Patrick
Arrange the countries of the UK in order of population from lowest to highest. N. Ireland – 1.8 million, Wales – 3 million, Scotland – 5.2 million, England – 50 million
How many countries in the world use English as one of their official languages? 53
What does BST stand for? You learn only the most important information here guys. British Summer Time.
World Facts
1. What is the oldest continuously lived in city in the world? There’s a lot of old cities, but the answer here is Damascus, in good ol’ Syria. Yeah, the one the Israeli’s just bombed with American assistance. (Sorry Isfahan, maybe it is Jericho)
2.Every year Time magazine features a Man of the Year. Past winners include John PaulII won in 1994, George W. Bush in 2004 and last year it was Vladimir Putin. Can you tell me who was Time’s Man of the year in 1938? It was Adolph Hitler my friends. In 2006, it was all of us. For a complete list: http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa050400a.htm
3.Worldwide, what animal provides people with more meat and milk than any other animal? It’s the goat. Not a cow or sheep. And definitely not a pig or chicken~!
4.Within 500, how many spoken languages exist in the world today? (You can give the clue that 2000 languages are spoken by less than 1000 speakers)
6500!
5.Since 1990, 28 new nations have come into being, many following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The world’s newest nation is Kosovo which declared independence from Serbia in February of this year. Including Kosovo and Taiwan how many countries are there in the world today?
6. Children often try to dig a whole all the way through the Earth to China. In fact, you would have to be in one of 2 countries to be able to dig a whole to the other side of the world and be in China. Name one of these countries.
Argentina and Chile. Here’s a picture. (Note: they’ve flipped the image to help you)
1. On June 26th, 1945, more than 50 countries joined together for the object of peace, creating the United Nations. Today the UN has it’s headquarters in New York City, but originally, the paperwork was signed in what US city? a) Chicago
b) San Francisco
c) Seattle
d) Washington, DC
For a bonus point, what were the five languages that it was written in?
It was San Fran Sisky! And the languages were Spanish, English, French, Chinese and Russian. Now there are 6 “official” UN languages, above plus Arabic.
2. Who was the loser of the first two elections for president of the US? Hint: He also became the 2nd president. (Think, someone can be president twice in a row…)
3. The White House in Washington, DC. was not always white. In fact it was painted that colour after being burned by Canadian troops in the War of 1812. What was the original colour?
It was grey. Ok, Ok, Canada wasn’t an independent nation at the time. But it was the Dominion of Canada, and it was the Canadian troops who fought their way all the way to Washington, DC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington
4. One of the most famous monuments in America is Mt.Rushmore. The heads of which four presidents are carved into the mountain?
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
5. The land of the free has brought us many firsts. The first man to walk on the moon, the first telephone call and first TV broadcasts. In 1963 it brought us another first, the first live televised murder. Over a million people watched in shock. Who was murdered?
Yes, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in ’63, but it was just a little visit to Dallas. The national media, and thus their cameras weren’t around until his assassin was being transferred to court, when “waaaaah”, Jack Ruby pops out and shoots him down, closing the book on the case and opening it up to conspiracy theories until the end of time. Here’s the first google search that came up on the killing:
6. The law established in 1920 with a constitutional amendment was known by many at the time as “the noble experiment” because they hoped it would improve people’s health and reduce crime. It was in effect for 13 years until another constitutional amendment repealed the law in 1933. What was this law?
Prohibition.
Random Trivia
What does BST stand for? British Summer Time
According to most surverys, what is the most common phobia? Arachnophobia
What does a tuck shop sell? Food
Painter use a mix of the three subtractive primary colours: red, yellow and blue, what are the three secondary colours? green, orange and purple
Certain schools in England are referred to as C of E. What does C of E stand for? Church of England
The year 1752 was very fast in America and England. That year there were only 354 days. What happened to the other 11 days? Switch to the “new” Gregorian calendar.
In the 14th century, the Arabs started to cultivate coffee plants. The first commercially grown and harvested coffee originated on the Arabian Peninsula near the port of Mocha and thus the word mocha. In what modern day nation is Mocha? Yemen
Brain Teasers
1. What word can be written forward, backward or upside down and still be read from left to right? (Hint: lunch time) The answer here is NOON
2. What’s the difference between a dollar and a half and thirty five-cents? You have to read the question carefully to see that it is thirty coins worth 5 cents each, we call them nickels, and thirty nickels is a dollar fifty. So the answer is nothing.
3. Alice is walking through the forest of forgetfulness. She wants to know what day of the week it is so she stops and asks a lion and a unicorn. The lion lies all of the time on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The unicorn always lies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Alice asks the lion what day it is and it says, “Well, yesterday was one of my lying days.” Alice needs to ask the unicorn to figure it out so she asks and it says, “Yesterday was also one of my lying days.” What day is it? Thursday of course.
Here's an explanation:
0 - Lying days 1 - Truth days On what days can the lion say that the previous day was his lying day? -He can say it on Thursday when he is telling the truth about Wednesday being his lying day; or he can say it on Monday, then he lies about Sunday. On what days can the unicorn say that the previous day was his lying day? -He can say it on Thursday when he lies about Wednesday; or he can say it on Sunday when he tell the truth about Saturday.
Therefore the day of the week when both the lion and the unicorn can say that the previous day was their lying day is Thursday!
4. People celebrating birthday’s today (April 28th) are Penelope Cruz, Jessica Alba, Jay Leno and it also would have been Saddam Hussein’s birthday. How old are they today (and would have been for the dead dictator)? The ages are: 58, 34, 27, 71 Jessica Alba turned 27, Cruz 34, Leno 58 and Saddam didn't make it to his 71st birthday.
5. Among the digits of pi currently known, the concentrations of each of the digits 0 - 9 are pretty much equal. However, in the first 30 digits of pi's decimal expansion, one number is conspicuously missing. Which number is it? Zero
6. A panagram is a sentence composed of all 26 letters of the alphabet. Please compose a panagram.
Eg. Pack my red box with five dozen quality jugs. We got lots of interesting answers here. Good work everyone!
7. As far as I know, Monday is the only day of the week with has an anagram. What is it? Dynamo. That sure was nice of me to put the answer on the question sheet for everyone!
8. The word “lost” has it’s letters in alphabetical order, as the o comes after l, s after o and t follows s in the alphabet. What is the only number that has it’s letters in alphabetical order? Patience paid off for all of you that counted all the way to forty.
9. There are four countries in the world with only one syllable. Can you name them? Chad, Spain, France and Greece
10.Name all the body parts you know with only three letters. (there are ten) Hmmm, let's see what I can come up with: leg, arm, eye, ear, toe, lip, gum, rib, hip and jaw
English Expressions 'Every cloud has a silver lining' - You can always find a positive in any situation 'Nothing ventured nothing gained' - You have to risk something to gain something 'Out of the frying pan into the fire' - To escape one difficult situation only to find yourself in a worse one 'You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink' - You can show someone how to do something, but you can't do it for them 'The grass is always greener on the other side' - It seems like other people have it better than you 'The best things in life are free' - Self evident ‘You can't judge a book by its cover' - You can't tell everything about a person, place, etc... just based on how they look 'Live and let live' - Everyone has the right to live their own lives 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach' - Cook something tasty for your man, he'll love you forever 'Bob's your uncle' - I really don't know what this means! 'Eyes are bigger than your belly' - To eat, or at least attempt to eat, too much food 'Tie the Knot' - get married
Finally, if you've made it this far, you deserve to know the results so here's the final tally:
It's often quite difficult to separate the different factors that go into so many of life's little mysteries. With the Trivia Night coming up tonight (April 28th), along with everything else going on, I've been struck by the difficulty of organizing activities. Do you remember when you were just a kid? Didn't it seem that everything just kinda happened because that's what was supposed to happen? We all had school and friends and football teams and band practice. Mom telling us what shoes to where cuz it was raining, or that we needed a scarf to protect us from the wind. If you wanted to put together a game of football (or in my case some street hockey or baseball) you just called up your buddy, walked across the street to another friends and the next thing you knew it was game on.
So what changed? Reminds me of the Beatles song, Help!: "And now my life has changed in oh so many ways, My independence seems to vanish in the haze." Seems to answer the question of why it's so hard to get a bunch of people together for a day or night out these days. I started to notice it when I was living in Krakow. Along would come a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for a day out at the park, Blonia, frisbee, baseball, football and a couple of cold ones with some friends, what could be better (well, maybe a nice barbecue to go along with it). So begins the text messaging ordeal. Back in the day, you made a plan and you stuck to it. However, in today's new and improved world, you can make a plan one minute, then thanks to connectivity, you just send a text and change plans. Of course this text leads to a chain reaction of more texts, which then leads to round three..., you get the picture. The same thing applied again this past weekend, glorious sunshine beckons us outside and we find ourselves en route to the park, big lake, a few cold ones with friends while enjoying some "funky ball" (a game I believe was invented at AGH in Krakow, involving running, throwing and drinking beer). Originally we were to meet about 10 or 12 people in the middle of the afternoon, but as the day progressed, the number regressed. With excuses as lame as I've got to study or work on some school project (that they evidently didn't know about before 3pm on Sunday afternoon) or I'd rather drink beer in a pub (ok, not so lame, but it was really sunny outside). Long story short, we end up at the lakeside, five of us managed to make it by about 6pm. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to sit and drink beer on the grass, feeling almost one with nature until a train passed by, but it would have been better to get a little game in as well (five can't play funky ball in case you're wondering).
Yes, we all have busy lives and yes it's nice to have a mobile phone when you're lost in the middle of a strange city, wandering from street to street and remember the life-line in your pocket, but come on! When you make a plan to do something, try to imagine life before your mobile, think about your other commitments and organize your time, don't let your phone do it for you.
In response to overwhelming public demand, the pub quiz is coming back to Proletaryat on Monday, April 28th starting at 8pm. Make sure you get there early to ensure the best seat (and more importantly one of the limited number of free beers) as last time was a full house that saw a battle to the finish. Again, we'll feature 6 rounds of questions and answers on topics ranging from sports, to entertainment and maybe even a question or two about Canada(you know you want it!) Come alone and join a team or bring your whole gang and compete against other teams of four. Of course there'll be prizes for the winners, but what's most important is the knowledge that you know more than the rest!
Always wanted to know what life in Poznan was like for an English speaker? Ever wondered why they'd be here? Ever wanted to improve your English and have a little fun at the same time? Well, you've wound up in the right place! Please join the forum below, I'd love to get your feedback!
Part-time recluse, part-time rockstar,full-time ranter. Paying the bills teaching English in the wild west of capitalism.
Hope you like what you read, or that you learned something new. Don't forget to leave a comment if you agree, disagree or just want to discuss further! Oh yeah, subscribe above or burn the feed down below to make sure you don't miss anything else!
The summer solstice has passed which means a couple of things. One, the days will once again begin to shorten bit by bit and two, I must be packing my bags. The life of a nomadic English teacher; find a new place, teach eight months, pack and clean, travel for a few months and start again in the fall. I celebrated my unofficial going away party yesterday with a music festival featuring Morcheeba and The Manic Street Preachers which finally gave me a chance to explore the Malta area a little and in the end I wound up having a good time.
n there, the only way to figure anything out is to follow the crowd. Upon finding the entrance things don't look good as it seems to be true, there are more security personnel than fans. However, there does seem to be a Lech tent, there must be beer, stupid British friends. Entry also proved less stressful than a flight check in as we weren't carrying any food or beverages. Even the task of finding my friends visiting from Krakow was easy, but then things take a turn for the worse. It's about 5pm and they are entering their third hour without beer. The beer tent turns out to be exclusively for VIP's (most of whom seemed to be no different than you or me, save for the expensive camera around their necks alongside the plastic ID card, passes into Nirvana). Making matters worse, the clearing in the woods where the site of the festival took place, quite beautiful in it's pristine state I'm sure, was dotted with the churches of the capitalist faith. Red Bull tents, coffee stands, Coke, telepizza and of all things a Malboro booth! Caffeine and nicotine, but no alcohol.
It's a slippery slope this country seems to be taking. I understand the need to create a safe atmosphere, one where families can enjoy a music festival alongside fans of all backgrounds. However, by creating this mecca of corporate culture, the organizers also help in moving society in the wrong direction, ie. towards America and away from Europe. My British friends were in shock. An outdoor summer music festival, beerless. Fear of a few drunks is no reason to not have a beer garden at a festival. Thanks to the no re-entry policy at the gate, by the time the Street Preachers finished it was getting on 11pm and my friends were in hour 9 without beer, not to mention I was entering my 6th.
