When I explain to people why I moved here one of the reasons I give is the ties between the UK and Poland. Yesterday I started to compile the list as I think of it:
- History - a shared struggle against Fascism (despite all that followed).
- People - migrations of people first in the post-war period and then millions in the period after the accession to the EU.
- Trade - growing importance of each market to each other.
- Politically - are there syntheses to the UK/Poland's political relationship with each other? I think so. ( although that's another blogpost entirely).
- Emotionally? Hmm.... my heart wants to say yes to this but then I am rather biased.
This poll at the Guardian (which appears to be fairly unsound as it's not taken from a representative sample) indicates that there also appears to be a sentimental or psychological attachment between the two countries. The Poles who answered (that is, the people who entered their responses into this questionnaire) are more likely to view the UK as an attractive place to live, as somewhere well regarded by the world and as a positive player in the EU.
I am sure I have missed off lots of other important areas in which there are (Lord forgive me) synergies between the two nations, please feel free to suggest more in the comments box. All this is important to me as having an understanding of both markets, languages, political spheres and psychology is something I hope to integrate into my career in the future.
The other surprising realisation I gained from this morning is how little I meet or engage with anyone from a lower-income family or background in Poland. In the past I've talked about feeling a sense of dynamism and opportunity in this country. Of course I would: I spend my days meeting and talking with well-educated and ambitious young people worked at multi-nationals in the country's capital.
I think it would be a shame if I don't meet and understand the Poland that has been left behind, I just need to find a way to make that happen.
I remember reading that poll in Gazeta Wyborcza on-line service - of course in polish and for poles - the poll's outcome was ridiculous - poles consider themselves as the most beautiful nation in Europe. I left a comment that English look much better, though it must have got lost in the flux of comments.
ReplyDeleteAs for a pole living in Britain now... I consider this country a bit backwards, since the very moment I have entered it. It's more about the places Brits live in - old house, often very neglected (so is in poland) and trains using diesel instead of electric locomotives. That was the first impression I got here and I don't think there is anything to do with tradition 'cos if there was any, there wouldn't be any trains at all.
But I love Brits attitude and the way of life (at least in most of the cases) and as it is for you, it is for me as well - I don't know many guys anyway. Sometimes it's just a matter of places where you go to - instead of a local supermarket or shop in Ursynów, try some places outside Warszawa. You don't need to go far to get stuck with people not speaking English and being disappointed with their life (and disappointed is a very nice word here).
You may choose a little town just outside Warszawa, or a bigger one. It may also be a village - just take someone speaking polish and English. Just in case. Unless you know polish.
And there is another easier way - though in poland i wouldn't recommend it - just go out to a pub (not necessarily a local one as first of all - u may not find any, though you are in Warszawa; secondly - rough Englishman is really polite comparing to poles). Choose any less known in the city center - may be easier.
What I do is going out to a local pub which is near one of the roughiest areas in Leeds. I quite like it there as it is a quite nice place. And it takes 4 minutes to walk down the street.
Lukasz
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, I appreciate it. Do you really think the Poles are less attractive than the British? Surely not. I think Polish girls win out on just about every factor (although I try to stay off this topic!)
I plan to go up to Bilaystok on a walking trip, perhaps this weekend, to experience the truly deprived East of Poland, and try and stop off at a village. I estimate my vocabulary at 1000 words, so I have enough to get by.
I agree - in Leeds there are many good 'real' pubs, not in the centre, where you can find a genuine type of person. What we call in English, "salt of the earth".
But I wonder, what other similarities do you see between British and Polish people? Do you think there are any others? To me, I can't explain it, it's a feeling I have. There is some connection, like the Poles feel with Hungarians.
Some cultural links: Joseph Conrad (literature), Roman Polański (film).
ReplyDeleteThanks Pacze. I guess there's also sporting - Fabianski, Koscielny (he's a Pole to me) Szczesny, Kuszczak.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
ReplyDeleteBoruc, too, which means that if we took Koscielny out, we'd be limited to goalkeepers.
:D
A new tagline for Poland? "The Land of Big Hands"
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Yeah. I do really think polish (no matter what sex) look worse to British. It's not that you can see it each time on every single occasion - people looking good are always in minority (me thinks). It's like last evening on a bus, while I was getting back from the town center - no one to look at. But even though, those the roughiest seemed to be the nicest. Unlike in poland - my last holiday spent over there was with a question hammering in my head - why the girls try to look uglier with that dyeing hair - everywhere that stuff. That is why they are so easily recognisable in England, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteBut let's stop here - I think we all (or at least most of us) are looking for something different to what we are used to, to what we have lived with around entire life. Some sort of exoticness. That doesn't mean it must be someone from Thailand, but a little bit different... yes.
Anyway, that's what I thought I would add up on here.
Regarding any similarities between the two nations... If there were any, I would probably be somewhere else :-)
I don't think there are any - beside the fact that if a person starts to complain, poles and Brits can take a part in a competition and run for a prize. But that's about people who don't feel comfortable in their own skin. Brits have them as well as poles.
Ties... I don't think there are any either. Oh... no. Actually there are, but that's not understressed over here, in the UK. Fighting hand in hand during the II WW, bringing down the invador's aircrafts, that's what people over here are just starting to discover.
But the more we live together, next to each other, the more links we create.
A trip to Bialystok... Hmmm... Just Bialystok or you dare to check anything around, nearby I mean? I think there was something really interesting in that area. Would have to dig it out of my mud... that is my memory.
Well Lukasz I have to say we will need to agree to disagree, as I can't say I share the same sentiments about English girls. But I guess as you say the grass is always greener on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI really want to go and visit the primeval forests in Bialystok and do a bit of walking, but at the moment (although you are enjoying nice weather) it's rather depressing here.
You there and me here - long may it continue!