December 4, 2011

This is from one of our lessons this week......listen, and laugh!

It is REALLY FUNNY

For more laughter, please utilize the Google Translate

Opóźniony pociąg pospieszny

Pociąg = train

Pociąg pośpieszny z Odessy do Wrocławia przez Przemyśl, Kraków, Katowice jest opóźniony 60 minut.

Za opóźnienie - przepraszamy

Uprzejmie informujemy, że w kasie międzynarodowej nie mówi się po angielsku. HAHA

Za problemy językowe - przepraszamy

Informujemy podróżnych, że Tanie Linie Kolejowe są droższe od normalnych

Za nieporozumienie lingwistyczne - przepraszamy

Pociąg pośpieszny z Odessy do Wrocławia przez Przemyśl, Kraków, Katowice jest opóźniony 180 minut. Jednocześnie informujemy, że wielkość opóźnienia może ulec zmianie.

Za opóźnienie- przepraszamy

Przypominamy podróżnym, że żeby klapa w ubikacji nie opadała, należy trzymać ją kolanem.

Za drobne usterki konstrukcyjne - przepraszamy

To prawda, że w ciągu jednego dnia PKP ma więcej opóźnień niż kolej japońska w ciągu całego roku, ale to nie nasza wina

Za opóźnienia - przepraszamy

Opóźniony pociąg pośpieszny z Odessy do Wrocławia przez Przemyśl, Kraków, Katowice zwiększył opóźnienie do 9 godzin z powodu kradzieży 8 kilometrów sieci trakcyjnej.

Za kradzieże druta - przepraszamy

PKP przyznaje, że dziś pociągi w Polsce jeżdżą wolniej niż 50 lat temu, ale to ze względów bezpieczeństwa, a nie z powodu fatalnego stanu torów, jak nam kłamliwie sugerują.

Za niską, choć bezpieczną prędkość – przepraszamy.

W dniu dzisiejszym pociągi nie jeżdżą z powodu strajku pracowników

Za to, że nigdzie dziś nie dojedziecie - przepraszamy

PKP zdaje sobie sprawę, że połowa pociągów jest przepełniona, ale przecież druga połowa jeździ prawie pusta, więc w czym problem.

Za przepełnione pociągi - przepraszamy

Opóźniony pociąg pośpieszny z Odessy do Wrocławia przez Przemyśl, Kraków, Katowice wjedzie wyjątkowo na tor dwudziesty pierwszy przy peronie jedenastym.

Za niespodziewaną zmianę peronu - przepraszamy

PKP przypomina o zakazie palenia w przedziałach dla niepalących. Informujemy jednocześnie, że można palić na wszystkich korytarzach.

Za nieszczelne drzwi w przedziałach dla niepalących -przepraszamy

Wagon restauracyjny Wars znajduje się w środku składu przedziału. Informujemy, iż obowiązuje zakaz używania laptopów w wagonie restauracyjnym, mimo że ceny są tam wyższe niż w luksusowej restauracji na rynku w Krakowie.

Za drobne utrudnienia- przepraszamy

Pociąg pośpieszny z Odessy do Wrocławia przez Przemyśl, Kraków, Katowice, opóźniony z powodu kradzieży 8 kilometrów sieci trakcyjnej, który miał wjechać wyjątkowo na tor dwudziesty pierwszy przy peronie jedenastym, nigdzie nie wjedzie, gdyż uległ awarii

Za awarię pociągu - przepraszamy

Oświadczenie: zarząd Polskich Koleji Państwowych jest w pełni zadowolony ze swojej dotychczasowej działalności i nie widzi potrzeby przeprowadzenia jakichkolwiek zmian.

A jeżeli coś ci się nie podoba -przepraszamy

Jeżeli masz jakiś problem- przepraszamy

Jeżeli coś ci nie pasuje - przepraszamy

Bo nic nas to nie kosztuje , więc przepraszamy

October 29, 2011

Dziś jest sobota, dwudziestego dziewiątego października

Jaka jest pogoda dzisiaj?

Padał śnieg!

This picture was taken by my best friend Natalie, who was visiting family in New Jersey

....the wintry mix was much lighter here in the DC area, but it has been a wintry mix all day long....

Jak minął w tym tygodniu?

Ja smakowałam sok z czarnej porzeczki w tym tygodniu.

Gdzie jest sok z czarnej porzeczki?

W sklepie!

W czwartek jechaliśmy do sklepu polskiego spożywczego w Rockville, Maryland.

The Google Translate

Who knew pierogi came in sweet and savory options?

Czekolada z orzechami ziemnymi

Masło

Black currant juice mmmmm

Sto lat!

October 26, 2011

STO LAT

Happy Birthday, Mom!

The Polish Happy Birthday Song!

Sto lat! Sto lat!

Niech żyje, żyje nam

Sto lat! Sto lat!

Niech żyje, żyje nam

Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech żyje, żyje nam

Niech żyje nam!

May she live with us for 100 years!

Narrative about myself

October 3, 2011

Fall is setting in here in Northern Virginia. Danger especially enjoys his long walks in the crisp air!

I hope that we can take a short weekend trip soon to West Virginia for apple-picking and hiking!

School is going well so far, and we are starting to piece together an epic "narrative" of ourselves...statements that we can remember and share with Polish-speakers!

I am sure I will use these statements many, many times in the future:

In case you are curious....give this a try: Google Translate. Just cut and paste my statements to translate from Polish to English!

Jestem Weterynarzem.

Studiowałam na Uniwersytecie stanu Mississippi.

Jestem z Georgii.

Lubię mojego kota.

Jestem Amerykanką pochodzenia irlandzkiego i niemieckiego.

Grali muzykę Chopina na moim ślubie. Bardzo lubię muzykę Chopina.

Myślę, że film “Something about Mary” był śmieszny.

Who likes French toast?

September 17, 2011

To jest chalka.

Chalka z maslem.

The weekends have always been when I like to experiment with food. Any of you who read my other blog, Lowcountry Local Foodie, know this well. This weekend is no different. This weekend's experimental creation goes directly to the Origins of Polska herself....and somehow it begins with a history lesson and ends with French toast.

How??, you may ask. The story begins around the year AD 965, or even earlier, and it involves a bread called challah or chalka. (Please humor me and click on the links, I promise you will learn something!).

I will now give credit where it is due to my husband, Doug. While I was at work this morning, he was making challah. He found a recipe online, made it, and it has perfumed my kitchen all day.

If you have never had it before, I suggest that you find some soon! Challah is a delicious egg-bread that is similar to brioche. It is a special braided bread that is eaten on the Sabbath and holidays of members of the Jewish faith. Jews and Gentiles alike enjoy challah, thanks to the sharing of traditions and homogenization of culture in places like the USA. The biggest difference between challah and brioche is that challah, being pareve, is not made with dairy. Brioche and other sweet egg-breads commonly contain butter or milk. I've had both versions, and they're both equally excellent!

Chalka has been ubiquitous in the diets of the Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Western and Eastern Europe for over two thousand years. The largest population of Jews in Europe prior to 1945 was in Poland. There is also very little reason to doubt that Jews lived in Poland from the earliest of times, and that Judaism had antedated Christianity.1

Prior to the 1700's, Poland served as an oasis for Jews, a place where they could live with less persecution. When England kicked out all of it's Jews in the year 1290, many fled to Poland. In 1262, Boleslaus the Modest, Prince of Cracow, granted a General Charter of Jewish Liberties. These liberties listed the "right of the Jews to travel round the country without molestation; to engage in trade; to pursue their own religious practices, including worshiping in synagogues, Jewish burial, and ritual slaughter; and to be exempted from slavery or serfdom." This provided the basis of later Jewish prosperity in Poland up until the 1900's."2

These liberties did give Jews an advantage over the peasant class, leading Jews to securing the majority of the merchant and intelligentsia classes in Poland up until 1945.

Now...on a lighter note...the challah! And the French toast! How does that fit in?

I will let you explore this on your own. Alton Brown states that French toast is best made with very stale bread. This is true, in that if you slice fresh bread and let it stale overnight, it will absorb more of the custard that sets French toast apart from just plain toast.

Egg-based breads, like challah, are excellent at going stale. If you slice your challah into 1.5 inch thick slices the night before you make French toast, and leave them sitting out in your microwave, uncovered, this will do the trick. The more the dehydrated, or stale, the bread, the more moisture it can absorb!

Doug used this recipe today: Bistro Challah Bread (which is technically a brioche)

*Making your own brioche or challah from scratch will create bread that goes stale faster, as most commercial bakers (yes, even the ones at the farmer's market) use dough conditioners. These "conditioners" extend the shelf life of bread slightly, but are not true preservatives. If you buy commercial challah, let the bread go stale for two days in the refrigerator instead of just overnight.

Tomorrow we will eat French toast for brunch, made with our stale challah: Alton Brown's French toast recipe

It is only right for anyone who wants to sample the food of Poland to include challah. It is not only delicious, it is a part of what Poland has been and is....something great!

Works cited:

1. Davies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland. Volume 1. The Origins to 1795. p. 64-66.

2. Davies, Norman. God's Playground: A History of Poland. Volume 1. The Origins to 1795. p. 67.

* Poles please forgive the mis-spelling of Chalka....I haven't figured out how to make the L-slash letter yet on my keyboard!

A B C, it's easy as 1, 2, 3.....

September 11, 2011

Well, here I am at the end of my first week of Polish language training. It has been quite interesting so far! I'm trying this morning to focus on reviewing our lessons for the last week instead of on the events that happened 10 years ago a couple of Metrorail stops south of my home.

The hardest thing so far is learning how to pronounce these very strange Polish words. We are learning to say our A-B-Cs this week, and also variations on the letter sounds. The Polish alphabet is almost the same as in English, since we share the Latin alphabet. But the variations are difficult. I think that the familiarity of having the same alphabet actually makes it harder. For example, not only do you have the letter e, but you have ę, which sounds different when you say it. The letter Q is not even in the polski alfabet.

Those of you who have never seen the written word in Polish, go ahead and Google some up. The first thing that you will notice is that the words are made up of very few vowels.

A few good examples I've had to deal with this week are:

czterdziesty

osiem

dziewięć

trzy

siedem

(Those are all numbers, by the way)

The "hooks" and "slashes" associated with letters like s and e don't tell you where to put emphasis on the word, or syllable, but tells you how to change the sound of the letter itself.

I am able to read most Polish words out loud, learning the phonetic rules, and sounding them out slowly, then faster and faster. I think that for the next several months, I will continue to feel a little like Eliza Doolittle, struggling to train my mind and mouth to match what is proper Polish.

I find that the Poles don't really care as much about pronunciation of their words, unlike the French. A lot of their words, like in American English usage, run into each other, and sounds get blurred. Even if you say it wrong, they know what you're saying.

It's been very frustrating for me so far, but it's getting a little easier every day. Practice makes perfect. I'm using a lot of youtube videos to help me hone my pronunciation, and to sing the alfabet and numbers 1-10. Last night on the bus ride out to the Falls Church Dogfish Head Alehouse, Doug very patiently taught me to count to 10 in Polish, and to spell them correctly.....all in 20 minutes. Let's see if I remember it all today......

Anyways, I thought I'd give a small update on how things are going. We will see what this week brings.

In the meantime, I'll continue learning my Ah, Beh, Cehs......it's easy as jeden, dwa, trzey!

Shores of Gdańsk

June 7, 2011

(Happy Birthday, Daddy!)

Hello friends and family! Sadly, my Lowcountry Local Foodie blog will soon be coming to a close, as Doug and I are preparing to move to Washington, D.C. in August. Don't worry, you can still read the Lowcountry Local blog archives, and I hope to continue to post recipes and foodie facts from south of the Potomac in Rosslyn, Virginia.


This new blog will serve as a sort of journal as we begin our adventure and journey to Poland!


As a start, I should explain why I named this blog "Warsaw to Warsaw," as we are not going to be living in Warsaw, Poland. Doug and I do not have any Polish heritage or ancestry (that we know of), so I came up with the next best thing. My mother's German family, the Summerours, have lived near Warsaw, Georgia for the last 150+ years. Warsaw, Georgia is in northern Fulton County, formerly Milton County.


I hope that you will join me as I blog about the cultural changes and challenges that we will face going from Warsaw to Warsaw. I plan to blog about my loves and my laughs, triumphs and failures, the language training, the environment, food, and politics of Poland.


Many of you may still be asking, why Poland? What will you be doing there? What does any of this have to do with Doug being a Marine?


I hope that I can answer those questions in the blogs to follow.


Doug has been accepted as an Olmsted Scholar, class of 2012. What is that? As best stated and explained by the Olmsted Foundation's website, the Foundation serves:
"To provide outstanding young military leaders an unsurpassed opportunity to achieve fluency in a foreign language, pursue graduate study at an overseas university, and acquire an in depth understanding of foreign cultures, thereby further equipping them to serve in positions of great responsibility as senior leaders in the United States Armed Forces"

We selected 10 universities that Doug was interested in studying at, and we were placed at Gdansk, Poland, #6 on the list. Doug's new job as a Scholar is to become fluent in Polish, and pursue a Master's degree in liberal arts at the University of Gdansk. It is also mandatory for us to travel around Poland, Europe, and to visit other Scholars in their host countries. This class will be studying in places like Bolivia, China, Israel, India and...Cameroon!

We went to Washington, D.C. this past week for the Olmsted Orientation and we also went apartment-hunting. We had a great time, and it was a great success. I was able to meet and make contacts with the wives of current and past scholars. I hope that with their help, I can support Doug to the best of my ability in this new program and new land!

In September, we will start school at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Arlington, Virginia. I have qualified to attend school alongside Doug to learn Polish! I am planning to set my veterinary career on the "back burner" for a little while and take advantage of this unique opportunity. My goal will be to become fluent in Polish, and pass the veterinary board examinations in Poland.

I have started learning a little Polish using DVDs and watching movies on Netflix in Polish. I'm also looking into starting a brief free online course on the Polish language, just to give me a little bit of a head-start before going to FSI. My favorite part so far has been reading about Polish history. This history buff is wanting to read more about the history of Poland than learning to speak the language!

Please check in with this blog every so often, I plan to write a couple of times a month here at the beginning. I hope that as we go along, I will also be typing this blog in English and Polish.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. This is going to be a very big change for me, but I am very excited....this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!