Inside/Outside Poland - Fancy a Chat?

This week I've been asking a lot of my classes where they see Poland going as a country over the next fifty years. The answers have spanned from optimistic to downright depressing - "If you look at our history, we are due another war pretty soon" - on issues such as pensions, medical care, birth rate, language and cultural identity. I never realised Belgium was held up by so many people as an example of multiculturalism gone wrong. Several people mentioned it, weirdly.

I've also been thinking a lot this week about how strange it is that, although I live in the same country as these people, I see it from a completely different perspective: It's not my language, although I am learning it, and it's not my identity, although I might be affecting it by my presence.

Stacked Vegetables = Civic Society?

Not only that but almost all of the complaints and concerns are ones that I secretly believe Poland doesn't have too much of an issue with, as things are much worse in the UK. Take youth crime and aggression, for example. I wonder what that says about the perception of crime vs. the experience of it.

Anyway, all this preamble is to announce I'd very much like to do some short snappy interviews with obcokrajowy (foreigners) who live in Warsaw, or Poland, with a view to finding external opinion on civil society issues.

I've given this idea the title of, "Inside/Outside Poland" which reflects the ability of a 'stranger' to comment with a different perspective on social issues such as crime, public spaces or relationships with neighbours. The idea is stimulate thoughts about what it is to live in Poland today and where the country is heading.

If you are an English speaking person from any country and would be interested in expressing your views on Poland and life here in a short face-to-face interview, please get in touch with my in the contacts section. Obviously, this would be more appropriate for anyone who doesn't already blog or write about life here regularly.


Paddy