Category: Poland

As I mentioned in my last post there was a concert of Polish hip hop artist called Popek in one of Siedlce’s clubs. I booked a ticket in advance to be sure I have an entrance. I like some of the music he with his band mates create. All group is called ‘Gang Albanii’ – Albanian’s Gang. The group was created in the end of 2014. Continue reading “Popek’s concert in Siedlce” →

Hey. I’m going to tell you how is the beginning of May celebrated in Poland. Basically there are two main day to celebrate when everyone is off work. Many Polish people always try to organize some trip or meet with friends and family or just do some housework (repairing sink, painting the door, gardening, etc.) as everyone have got a lot of time on hand and the weather is usually warm and sunny already. Many people decide to do a barbecue and to drink vodka 😀 Continue reading “Majówka in Poland. What is it & how to celebrate it?” →

Hello everyone 🙂 Nice that you came back to read my blog about my experiences from different periods of my life. As I fly quite often – on average one flight per month – I have quite big experience from airports all over the world. I will write about ones from Warsaw airports as there I always feel strange and strange things happen to me.

Chopin airport

This one is located in the city centre  of Warsaw. I fly from here sometimes. Once I had a transfer here. I had half empty small jar of Nutella in my hand luggage. I love chocolate and always try to carry some on me. As I passed security on other European airport noone even told me to take it out of the bag. On Chopin airport they did something unbelievable. They scanned my hand luggage, told me to open it, took out and opened my Nutella. I was shocked! I always have chocolate in my hand luggage and those people told me I would need to leave it. I had a short argument with all people working by the scanners, but it didn’t change anything. I needed to go to catch my plane and leave delicious Nutella behind.

Modlin airport

Just fed days ago I flew from Modlin airport to Malaga. I haven’t been living in Poland for 7 years now and I may look different for them, because always they check me very carefully and look at me suspiciously. Once even were checking seams in my jeans to check if something is hidden there. This time I took off my shoes and removed all metal objects except my necklace which was a stone hanging on a small piece of metal. The machine beeped, i was routinely searched and later all my things, I mean clothes on me and thing which came through x-ray can like my jacket and my belongings inside my hand luggage were scanned by some detector – probably metal.

To sum up, I love to fly to distant different places, but I think people in Poland check me always as carefully as possible which is usually annoying. They don’t even smile.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid (GOCA or WOŚP – Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy in Polish) is one of the biggest charity organizations in Poland. It is non-governmental and non-profit. It collects money for causes connected with human health and helping sick children. It provides courses in CPR and ECC which is connected with saving people lives too.

The Grand Final of The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid happens every year on first or second Sunday of January. On the day of Grand Final are organized music events all across the country. Those events are sponsored by companies from Poland and organized by volunteers except only one the biggest event in front of Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw which is hosted by GOCA. All day long and during those events many volunteers walk on the streets with cans where everyone can donate money and support The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid. Each volunteer has got an identification card and in return for a donation hands out a red sticker with heart and name of the charity on it.

At the end of the day at 8pm in every place all across the country is an event called ‘light to the heaven’ when fireworks displays are carried out.

The Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid in Siedlce

This year I was in Poland, so I decide to participate in the event in my hometown Siedlce. It was small, but well organized. It was cold, so we went mainly to see the fireworks display. But before it happened we had an opportunity to listen to one of the Polish music stars – Norbi and his top song – Kobiety są gorące 🙂 Was fun. Later some announcements from organizers and sponsors and Dr Magda Daniel who is my cousins aunt and fireworks display started. I post some pictures for fireworks lovers.

During that event I met couple nice people, but Polish people are very shy and distrustful. Those features make hard for me life in Poland. I think everyone should be open and outgoing like for example in United States, Canada, Russia or Brazil.

I would like to share with the world some info about Christmas customs in Poland. I don’t celebrate each year like that, but all my family do. I want to show you some typical Christmas food and tell some more about things we Catholics do.

I am going to tell you about Christmas Eve’s dinner. The first rule says that it should consist of 12 different dishes, because we have that many months in the year or because there were twelve Apostles, and each participant of the ‘feast’ should try them all.

Christmas customs in Poland from the beginning:

Before we even start to eat there is a custom that we need to wait for the first star on the sky which is a symbol of the star of Bethlehem which guided Three Kings on the night when Christ was born. Usually we may start to look for it on the sky about 4 o’clock. Tradition says that on the Christmas Eve’s table should be always one free cover. Situated there in case of wayward wanderer or an unexpected visitor.

When the awaited star finally appears we sit down by the table and one member of the family reads a passage from the Bible. Then we take a special wafer and share it with everyone exchanging best wishes for an upcoming year.

Some families, especially from villages, put under the tablecloth some hay – before people placed in the corners of houses sheaves of hay and straw. This custom should ensure a good harvest in the coming year and it reminds the poor conditions in which Jesus came to the world.

Since few years the Catholic Church allows to eat meat on Christmas Eve, but Polish people are very traditional people and their tables are still dominated by fish.

Christmas customs in Poland require that on the table should appear dishes like:

• carp
• beetroot soup with ravioli
• dumplings (pierogi)
• sauerkraut-and-meat stew (bigos)
• “ryba po grecku”
• dried fruit compote
• cabbage with mushrooms
• Croquettes with sauerkraut
• Christmas Eve’s gingerbread

Finally after the dinner comes time to open gifts which where brought by Santa Claus to good children and adults 🙂 Hope that I helped you at least a little to understand what’s going on in Poland during Christmas.