Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland (part 1)







Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland - (part 10) 
DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ?
By  Robert Strybel,   Warsaw Correspondent



 




 

 
















*  The foods bigos (meat & sauerkraut ragout) and pasztet (pâté) are used in colloquial Polish to
mean a mix-up or mess, and klops (meatloaf) can mean a flop or failure. English also uses food terms such as pickle to mean trouble and fine kettle of fish to
mean a mess.

*   Poland's top-priority foreign-policy goal of joining to the European Union in 2003 appears to have faded. Since negotiations have been deadlocked in
various areas, Poland is not likely to be admitted to the European economic bloc earlier than in 2005, possibly even later.

*  While officiating at the ordination of some three dozen Italian deacons to the priesthood in Rome, Polish-born Pope John Paul II called on the new priests
to 'always love the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ in spite of the stains and wrinkles on its human face'.

*  You can relive an old-style Polish country wedding on video by contacting Sobótka, PO Box 5244, Portland, OR 97208. The cost of the video is $10. plus
shipping You can get a glimpse of the wedding by website: http://home1.gte.net/marek/wesele14.jpg

*  A sour-rye soup known as ?ur was once a typical breakfast food in much of Poland.

 

*  On the eve of World War II, 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland, or 10% of the population -- more than
any other country until the state of Israel was established after the war.

*  The annual Polish Festival of Portland, Oregon, billed as 'the largest Polish-flavored event west of Chicago', is being held this year (2001) on September
29 and 30. For more information contact: [e-mail] or [e-mail]

*  Each year hundreds of thousands of Poles try their luck working in the West, mainly in Germany. Men work as construction workers, repairmen and mechanics,
while women are usually employed as waitresses, housekeepers and child-minders.

*  For information on this year's summer courses in Polish language and literature, organized by New York's Kosciuszko Foundation, visit website
www.kosciuszkofoundation.org or phone [phone] ext. 210.

*  The River Vistula (Wisla) becomes especially treacherous in the vicinity of the northern city of Torun, where its poweful undercurrents and numerous
whirlpools have proved fatal to even the best of swimmers.

*  The gradual warming of Poland's climate has made ticks far more a health hazard than previous. The blood-sucking insects, which can produce serious brain
diseases, are especially prevalent in the heavily forested northeastern corner of the country around Olsztyn, Suwalki and Bialystok.

 

*  Poles never eat apple sauce with their breaded pork chops, the typical go-together being braised
cabbage. In fact, although Poland is a major apple producer, apple sauce (mus jab3kowy) is rarely eaten in any size, shape or form.


 

*   The great British writer George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) once said that there were three tragic
nations: the Jews, the Irish and the Poles.
 
*  During the 18th-century partitions of Poland, French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau advised the
Poles: 'If you can't prevent being swallowed, then at least make sure the don't digest you. Through their uprisings and other forms of resistance Poles gave their
invaders plenty of headaches and occasional indigestion.
 
*  The Dominican Fair (Targ Dominikanski) in Gdansk is one of the country's biggest such folk festivals
whose roots go back to the Middle Ages. Held each year in spring, it includes craft demonstrations, folk performances and a variety of goods, refreshments and
entertainment of every imaginable type.

*  Poles are believed to have some $1.5 billion on deposit in Swiss banks, Polish TV reported recently. It quoted unnamed banking officials as saying they
were keeping a close eye on private depositors who make cash deposits, raising suspicions that the money may be from illegal sources.

*  You can find out about having Polish television programs beamed into your home by contacting this e-mail address for free information:
[e-mail]

*  A pale-blue shirt worn with a suit and tie has become a fashion trade-mark of Poland's ex-communist President Aleksander Kwaoniewski who was re-elected to
another five-year term in October 2000.

*  Back when the police and army were the loyal defenders of the communist regime, it was Poland's voluntary fire departments that served as the Church's
elite corps providing uniformed marchers, honor guards and marching bands for processions and other religious exercises.

*  Poland's State Archives are petitioning UNESCO to have the 21 Demands of the 1980 Gdansk shipyard strikers included on the World Heritage List. The
demands gave rise to Solidarity, the Soviet bloc' s first free trade union, and ultimately led to the collapse of the iron curtain.

*  Entirely on Polish territory before World War II, Bialowieza  Virgin Forest now straddles Poland's eastern border with slightly more of its 1,250 sq.
kilometer area on the Belarussian side. Europe's largest primeval forest is home to bison, tarpans (wild ponies), moose, wild boar, elk, deer, wolves, ermine,
otters, badgers and other wildlife.
 
part 11






















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