American holidays...from Poland. (A Memorial Day tribute!)

Living in Poland for a year means I've seen most of the American holidays come and go with little fanfare.  Anyone of my friends back home would answer a resounding YES! if asked if I'm patriotic.

Exhibit A circa 2002

For example...after the 9-11 attacks on the U.S., my family would have lengthy motorcades to support the troops as we started an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.  While not all of us had the same political ideas, the love of country and our servicemen and women united us on more than one occasion...as did the shared lack of car horns after a two hour drive through the city!

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays...between barbecues and fireworks, there is no where I'd rather be than enjoying a cold beer with my family!

Which makes being abroad so freaking weird.

First off, obviously people in other countries don't celebrate American holidays.  I didn't even realize it was Memorial Day weekend until my dad mentioned not having to go to work Monday when I talked to him Saturday.  In the U.S., people would be making plans for barbecues, and reminding each other to not forget the real reason we have the day off, honoring our war dead.  In Poland, it's just another day.

Secondly, and less obvious, is that Polish people, Europeans in general, don't celebrate their military like Americans.  When I give a presentation on American holidays to high school students, they're usually intrigued by the number of celebrations we have revolving around patriotism...Veteran's Day, President's Day, Fourth of July, Memorial Day.  While Poland does celebrate some similar holidays, the emphasis is not there.

HforH outside the Polish National stadium

One way that I've really struck up conversation about attitudes toward military personnel in Europe is my Hooligans for Heroes scarf.  It's gone along with me on many trips around Europe.  When people ask me about it, it's an opening to talk about the Wounded Warriors project and the general attitude of the majority of Americans toward servicemen and women.  My stories are usually met with some level of surprise because other countries just don't celebrate their military.

Even on normal holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, Americans tend to remind themselves of our armed servicemen and women.  We watch football games during the holidays and see soldiers overseas saying hi to their families back home.  We buy dinner for a man in uniform at the airport.  We have TV shows that pay for elaborate homecoming surprises.  We have charities that support wounded soldiers and their families.  We have parades and ceremonies honoring these brave men and women in the smallest towns and biggest cities across the U.S.  We fly flags, hang yellow ribbons, and hold out hope that everyone who leaves will come back.

Today, if you're an American say a prayer for our war dead, for their families.  If you're not American, take a minute to think about your own country's military and the sacrifices people you never met have made for you and your family.  There is a lesson for all of us within the confines of something like Memorial Day, a lesson about the value of posterity and being part of something much bigger than ourselves.

Being away from home during these special times really drives home the uniqueness of American patriotism.  We can argue whether it's good or bad another time.  I'll leave it with I miss home.  I can't wait to be back on American soil with people who don't think it's weird to own and fly my country's flag on a daily basis, on every street corner.  And while I've learn and change and grow abroad, I'm always very proud to be an American.

Today, we remember those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice.

Ten Things I'll Miss in Poland

Since last week I wrote about all the things I'm looking forward to in the U.S. I thought it was only fair to write about things I'll miss in Poland.  So here's the list (as always, in no particular order).

Detroit's People Mover IS NOT
public transportation.

1. Public transportation... As much as I miss driving, I absolutely love public transportation.  Instead of driving for twenty minutes on my own, I get to read a book.  I've read SO much more here than I do in the States because I have significant periods of time in my day/week to do nothing but stare at people or read.  And having not adapted to the culturally accepted staring contests on trams, I prefer to read.
2. Smietankowe ice cream...Seriously the best flavor ice cream ever invented.  It's like cake batter, but better.  And it's made by all the major ice cream makers, not just available from the most expensive ice cream store on the planet (Coldstone).

   

   This is how I got to Poland

3. The ease I have in deciding what to wear...I said I'm looking forward to more clothing selection.  On the flip side, I'm dreading it!  When I only have a week and a half's worth of shirts, it's EASY to pick one...which one have I worn the least since I did laundry last.  More choices=more time.
4. Fresh bread...I usually refrain from eating bread back home, however it's impossible here.  You walk into a grocery store and see the bakers pouring warm rolls into their containers.  Cannot resist.
5. Cheap alcohol...Not in the sense of PBR and Bud Light, but in the sense that I can buy something that tastes like Killians or Leinenkugel for half the price of Bud Light and get twice as much!  Plus, the wine here is fantastic and inexpensive.
6. Working with the American Corner...Although my university placement has been much less awesome

   

   My partner in crime, Ania, from the
   American Corner!

   than I expected, my saving grace and sanity-check has been volunteering with the American Corner.  I've talked with some outstandingly intelligent community members and met my closest friends at AC.  Plus the weekly talks I gave with high school students were awesome!
7. Polish Mass...As much as I'm looking forward to saying "I believe in God the Father Almighty" in a congregation of Americans again, I will miss the beauty of the Polish Mass.  I'm finally getting the hang of all the "prz"s and "szcz"s, so it'll be sad to leave that.
8. Quiet time...I have a lot of time to myself (sometimes a day or two)  Having my dad and brother here made me realize that while I miss my previous hectic college life, I'm going to have to take some steps to readjust to grad school because if I jump right in, I'll
   
   probably end up with a mental breakdown.
9. My balcony...I have a beautiful view off of my balcony.  In the mornings, I can sit on it and absorb the sun with the babcias in my block who don't work during the day either.
10. Being cool because I'm from Detroit...This is the most unexpected thing.  People here know Detroit and think I'm AWESOME because I'm from there.  Yes, once in a while someone might ask if I killed someone, but everyone wants to talk about cars, Kid Rock or Eminem, and cheap houses.  It is entirely possible I'm mistaking "Wow she's cool!" with "Wow, she's scary."   I do know for a fact though...no where in the U.S. is Detroit cool.

Sometimes...other people have too much time on their hands

Especially when I get sent something like this.  Although, I won't have to ask someone what to watch when I'm bored for a while.

Ten Things I Cannot Wait to Have Again

One month and nineteen days until I'm stateside and just under two months until I'm home in Michigan (taking a detour through the south for some family time).  So I was thinking about what I'm looking forward to the MOST about being in the U.S.  Here's my list:

1. Normal showers...the showers here are normally in bathtubs and it's a strange contortion experience to take a shower and (God forbid) wash my hair without soaking the ceiling and entire bathroom.
2. Barbecued hamburgers...I don't really have a barbecue and parks don't seem to have them.  Plus, meat tastes different here. 
3. New clothes...I moved over here with one suitcase and I am ready to have access to my full range of skirts and dresses and SHOES.  I have three pairs of shoes here and I'm tired of them.
4. English Mass...no explanation needed
5. Free refills and free water at restaurants...having only 250 mL of soda for an entire meal is literally impossible.
6. DRIVING!...I love public transportation, but driving on a nice day with the windows down and my music up is wonderful.  I miss driving so freaking much.
7. Dryers...Polish people don't have dryers.  So on a day like today where it was humid and rainy, my jeans take forever to dry sitting around my bedroom.
8. Unlimited peanut butter access...I've gone through one and a half jars of Jif since I moved here in September...it's probably a record of my self control.
9. Understanding everything on a food label...Is this supposed to be fried or baked?  Who knows?  In English, it all makes sense.
10. Having English measurement cups and spoons...How many grams of flour are in one cup?  I have a special smart phone app that will tell me, but it's an extra step and I'm lazy.

When an American Becomes a Little Polish

The visit of my dad and brother the past three weeks brought to light some aspects of Polish life which I have readily adopted into my own behaviors and expectations of daily life.  Some of the stories are comical, others are just humdrum daily life things.  So, I give you a few "signs" that I've lived in Poland for awhile.

Our first story begins almost immediately after arriving at their sleeping quarters in Gdansk.  The apartment they were staying in hadn't been lived in over night for a while, so I wanted to open the windows.  It was a bit chilly, so my dad told me to crack the window.  Without thinking, I turned the handle 180 degrees and cracked the top part of the window open.  My dad jumped up, grabbing his heart, and shouting "Oh no!", thinking that I had broke the window.  Nope, European windows just have two ways of opening them...I forgot that it's not normal.  And thus I broke into a fit of hysterical laughter.

They're really ingenious...and I think my house in America might one day have this kind of windows

We ate out a few times in Gdansk, but when we headed down to Krakow, restaurant usage increased exponentially.  With eating out came my dad's complaints of the slow service.  During one dinner in Krakow, I was happily chatting away after finishing my meal when his complaining surprised me.  I looked at him and smiled and said something about enjoying my meal.  Eating out in Poland (and most of Europe from my experience) is a bigger deal than in the U.S.  Thus, people take their time and enjoy their family or friend's company, often lingering for a while after the meal to finish up a beer or drink a post-meal coffee.  There's little of this eat and run mentality that's pushed on us in the U.S.  Partially due to the culture and partially because waitresses here don't live off of tips!

Riding trains with my dad was also quite an adventure.  Unlike planes, trains require absolutely no security screening and they don't arrive early for you to get on.  The first four trains, I bought our tickets before the train left and we did things Dad's way...arriving over half an hour early to the train station (boring!).  For the last train from Katowice to Krakow, we arrived twenty minutes early to buy our tickets and dad was quite concerned about missing our train.  As it was, we still had to stand on the platform and wait for its arrival for a few minutes.

On the subject of trains, I have to give my dad credit.  He became quite comfortable with my 95% confidence interval of all directional issues, mostly regarding being on the right train, in the right direction, and choosing the right stop.  On our train to Krakow, some brilliant train conductor forgot to change the sign inside the train...so I was pretty sure we were on the right one, but I wasn't 100% sure that we weren't heading up to Poznan.  It's pretty much a "hold-your-breath-until-the-conductor-comes-and-if-he/she-doesn't-let-out-a-lengthy-stream-of-angry-sounding-Polish-you're-on-the-right-train" experience.  I was really proud of my dad for embracing the reasonable uncertainty that is my daily life in Poland.  I'm not usually 100% sure what I'm doing is right...and I've become okay with that fact.

In the end, my dad was impressed with my Polish skills.  A few times, in the depths of exhaustion I couldn't for the life of my translate a menu to English.  Unfortunately, the restaurant only had Polish menus and I struggled with the translation for 'papryka' five times in a row (it's peppers...like red, yellow, green peppers). We also had a few chuckles over the translation of some of the menus.  Now, I get menus in Polish because I understand about 90% of food vocabulary (at least the important stuff like ingredients).  On one of dad's meals, he had "pork scratchings" which was the translation of "small pieces of bacon."

Since I started with windows, I'll end with windows.  Polish windows (as with most European windows) lack screens.  I leave my windows wide open all the time.  I like fresh air and my apartment is high enough up that the bugs are to a minimum.  However, my dad was TERRIFIED that we were going to wake up with a pigeon in our room, an issue that actually never really crossed my mind.  Even so, I really like fresh air so I didn't let pigeon fright scare me away from opening my windows (Ask my brother, I hate pigeons).  I mentioned it casually to a friend that lives in Gdansk and she told me it's not unheard of because she's woken up before with a pigeon in her room!  So not all my dad's fears were baseless!