Welcome to Polish Culture Forum and Website. We have here people not only of Polish origin - also these who are interested in Eastern and Central European culture in general.

Please, join our group! Tell us something about you, how did you find us and what is your region of interest!

dziekuje (thank you)

ha ha! Is this topic inspired by my post? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As I have written in the other topic, I'm a native Pole, I will be 20 this year. I come from a town in the very eastern part of Poland- Che&#322;m. My town has about 70 000 citizens and is famous for it's chalk <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Actually we have no buildings taller than 5 floors, because they cold sink as chalk is not the most solid ground to build on <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Currently I study applied linguistic in Warsaw, with german as my first and english as my second language. I came to this site because I was searching for english articles concerning pierogi and knedle. I needed (and still need) them for my essay by definition about dumplings. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Somewhat silly, isn't it? But anyway, here I am, and I hope I'll stay here for a while <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Witam i pozdrawiam wszystkich u&#380;ytkownik�w <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I thought I make some advertisment for my little poor town <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Che&#322;m is an archaic polish word for "hill" and in the centre there is a hill called the Che&#322;m Mountain
I found some photos of Che&#322;m, but they are not so good: http://www.ga.com.pl/chelm.htm
There are no photos of Che&#322;m Chalk Undergrounds and no view from The Che&#322;m Moutain, where The Basilica from the photos is located though.

Poland is indeed a beautiful country, I really enjoyed the pictures posted here..

What impresses me even more is the new people coming on the forum from Poland, They are so well educated. All of them speak excellent English.. Americans can learn a lot from them..

Witamy was Mikolaj

Mikolaj,

thank you for the presentation. I used to speak German better than English but this was a long time ago.

Thanks for so much information about Chelm, it looks like a beautiful and cozy town! I did not know anything about problems with building skyscrapers in Chelm!

We had on and off threads to welcome our new members but these threads were usually buried in the stock of other posts, this one would stay here... forever!

What have happened to winter in Poland???

I don't know it either... This winter there is no winter in Poland <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> There were some snowy days, but only few, and that in november. I think in January the temperature hasnn't really fallen under 0 C.. I hope the winter does come back, because I really love a frosty, snowy, sunny winter.. And maybe the winter will come back in March or April? Who knows, there are many suprizes our moderate climate can make us....

Ja te&#380; nie wiem... Tej zimy nie ma zimy w Polsce <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> By&#322;o par&#281; &#347;nie&#380;nych dni, ale tylko kilka i to w listopadzie. Wydaje mi si&#281; &#380;e w Styczniu temperatura nie spad&#322;a naprawde poni&#380;ej 0 C... Mam nadzieje &#380;e zima jednak wr�ci, poniewa&#380; kocham mro&#378;n&#261;, &#347;nie&#380;n&#261;, s&#322;oneczn&#261; zim&#281;... A mo&#380;e zima wr�ci w Marcu albo Kwietniu? Kto wie, jest wiele niespodzianek kt�re nasz umiarkowany klimat mo&#380;e nam sprawi&#263;.

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Hi Valefor, Welcome!

You say >>I found some photos of Che&#322;m, but they are not so good: http://www.ga.com.pl/chelm.htm
There are no photos of Che&#322;m Chalk Undergrounds and no view from The Che&#322;m Moutain, where The Basilica from the photos is located though.

I have looked at the pictures and wonder what the good ones look like, if thes are only so-so! It looks like a beautiful town.

I am the resident Slovak/Rusyn on htis list. If some drunk fell in the river and come out on the south side one night, I might be Lemko or Polish. In any case the Slovak language is a great example for the Polish language, and I hope you adapt our spelling system soon! Your special diacritical notations are very difficult!

Kai

Those are fantastic pictures! I would ove to see it up close!

I am a senior in high shool in Colorado, USA. I love most of Europe and have only visited parts of England ad Ireland, but the weather was perfect, some rain, chilly but not cold, and I love the history and architecture of all that i have seen of the other European countries.
I am of Irish origion and hope to, one day, call Europe home!

other than that, I have little expierience with the languages (English is my primary one) and they don't offer anything other than Spanish at my school.

Eric, if you post in Russian would you please also provide the translation. I asked Valefor for double posts becasue it helps me learn Polish. But since English is the language of this forum, I do think posting ONLY in something other than English is, well, rude. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

thanks,
Nancy

Wow - you're making me feel young!

I have a lot of relatives in Britain (especially in Wales - Cymru), and so I would love the opportunity to visit someday. The closest I have been, though, is to see London from the air while I was landing at Heathrow. Still, it was quite beautiful! Also, my grandparents were in Ireland in the early 1990s, and they absolutely loved it!

Unfortunately, not many American schools these days are interested in offering foreign languages. The budget cuts only make the situation worse. Still, if you have an opportunity to learn any foreign language, I would strongly recommend it! It will open the world of a new culture to you!

Nancy - unfortunately, I am a very rude person! But in a rare show of kindness, I'll repeat my post.

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It's so interesting how many polyglots we have! Unfortunately, I don't speak Polish at all, but specifically through this forum I can already read it a little. Polish is also a beautiful language, but I'm not yet used to the accent.

At work there was once a man who was born in Poland. We often spoke together, he spoke in Polish, and I did in Russian!

Hi! I am Daniel from California, born and raised here. I came across Bella Online while browsing for information about Polish Weddings.
I am marrying soon a wonderful woman, Ewa, in Warszawa!!!! This might occur during March or April, depending on how long it takes Polish government to accept my documents that I am legitimately "available" to be married. We are wanting to get married in Poland before she and her son move here next summer hopefully, and so will apply for immigrant visa (I-130) after the ceremony, rather than applying for a Fiance Visa (I-129) and getting married here.
My questions, if you would be so kind:
1) I am wondering how I can best follow Polish tradition, in my suit (do men wear a tuxedo to get married, in civil ceremony, or how could I find a more traditional outfit?), and particularly in my choice of wedding gift to Ewa. What are traditional gifts the groom might give his bride? Here in US it tends to be jewelery. Is it the same there?
2) Do you have any experiences with the Visa/Immigration process for Immigration Visa. What would we expect on the time it takes? If we are married in March/April, I wonder if approval of a Immigrant Visa could be expected by August. Any information or advice or your experiences would be most appreciated.
Thanks very much!!
My email: [email]SkiGuy2@comcast.net<br[/email] />Dziekuje Bardzo!!!
Daniel

Hey Daniel! I hope you the best of luck in your marriage and the arrangements, unfortunately I cannot help you with your questions, but i'm sure that someone else on this site can. If you don't get a reply on this topic, you could make a new topic and may get more replies (just a suggestion <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )

Eric, thans so much for translating your post, I appreciate it! I can see how you can begin to understand the language by reading it on these posts, I am beginning to as well. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Also, you feel young compared to me? am as yet only 18 years old, still in the public high school and only beginning to think of college. My experiences are limited to be sure, but I do have a knack for knowing what I want to do and then completing it. (ie. I wanted to learn how to knit, and taught myself with a book from the library, a small thing but the most recent <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
Thus far, I have traveled to Europe only because I was given the opportunity and my family helped to pay for the trip. I absolutely loved it there and hope to spend a semester abroad during my sophomore year of college (if that is possible). I have tried, rather unsuccessfully, to learn Latin. The problem is that Latin is a "dead" language, however the benefits include it being the foundation language for Spanish, French, Italian, and other Anglo-Saxon languages. I have looked into learning other languages (Russian and Japanese) online and through tapes, but it doesn't seem to work, so I'll have to wait for college, and hopefully a professor who can teach it well.

Thanks again for posting the translation, it makes things interesting!

Congratulations, Daniel! Good luck!!

Jaga - this forum is beginning to depress me - everyone is making me feel SO OLD!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Eric,
Don't worry - we know how young you really are - but your position as youngest on the forum has been usurped by the new well-spoken teenagers who have joined us.

Hmm, now I think we range in age from 18 to 80. A very interesting group indeed! Jaga should be proud that she has "found" all of us <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Daniel,

Congratulations! Jaga is the best one to answer your questions, but I wanted to add my best wishes.

Nancy

Well-spoken, indeed! Honestly, I thought both of you were older than I am (forgive me!) because of the way in which you write!

Oh, well... I guess I'm not the baby of the forum anymore... <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Hi Lunarfrost,

welcome to the forum and website. I hope you would enjoy it here with us! I am sorry you cannot learn any other language except Spanish. Maybe... you would have a chance to travel - they need native speakers - people for whom English is a native language everywhere in the world - you could travel to Eastern Europe, Poland and Asia - then you would have a chance to learn other cultures and languages!

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I am forgetting to read this threat since it is marked as featured and it is always in the very top of the page! I am sorry.

You should wear a suit, I am not sure whether wedding tuxedo is necessary. Frankly, I am not sure exactly what is a difference - is tuxedo usually longer?

I would not worry about it. Usually the bride has a white dress if this is a church ceremony, but not necessary in civil ceremony. Besides, if she already has a child she may chose a different color - something creamy

As for the visa arrangements - in the past it was much better to arrange fiance visa rather than to marry somebody in Poland and waiting for this person to obtain necessary papers. Fiance visa is usually given during 3 months whereas the I-130 form - one can wait for it much longer, but the problem may be to arrange the proper paper for her child.

Check these forums, they were quite helpful for me when I was going through immigration processes:
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups/dir?sel=33566039&expand=1

lol, well i suppose my typing could indicate that I am older, but I have always been able to write well. Anywho, I found this forum when I was looking for a chat on European cultures, and this was the one that I chose to join, I have not been dissapointed!

I do hope to study several languages as soon as I reach college, however I believe that my major will be in Civil Engineering with a possible liberal arts minor. I just don't see how some people can let math and science completely take over thier life, writing is important in any field.

Thanks for the information so far! This has been a wonderful experience, meeting al of you! I really ought to get a picture of myself up so all of you can place a face <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

We would love to see your picture here! Although the smiling sun looks also nice <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
No, I did not think that you are older - people who travel abroad to teach as native speakers are either very young or very old... not any middle age people - since they usually have to devote their times to the family and work.

Well, Eric was a bit confused on my age, saying that he felt older than myself, when our birthdates clearly state that he is a bit oder than I.
I think it would be a great experience to teach English in a nother country, I love to learn about other cultures and languages are just fun!
I once had a class on Japanese, it was mainly the polite way to ask for tea and how to say "hello" to a new aquantence, but we learned a bit about the language. The problem with Japanese is that they have soooo many characters, almost a new one for each word, not just letters, so it takes years to be able to read an article in the newspaper.

I beleive that a good place to start is with a latin based language and work from there.
Anyway, I had better be getting to bed, a long day of school ahead of me for tomarrow <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Actually, I prefer working with the Cyrillic alphabet. It is more phonetically written than Latin alphabets, and unlike the Latin alphabet, the rules for pronunciation of Cyrillic letters remain almost the same in all languages that use it.

I thought I'd never see a thread like this! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Well, I'm a 16 year old, 2nd generation Pole (not sure if that number is right for the generation? Parents came from Poland)and from the Polish filled state of Connecticut. A high school in the heavily Polish populated town of New Britain offers Polish as a language. Lunar, what part of Colorado are you from? I used to live in Denver when I was younger. I loved going to Mt. Evans in the winter. Eric, are you a native Russian? If so, I actually enjoy some Russian things. Russian style bread and one of my favorite cartoons from Russia "Wilk i Zajac." Wolf and Rabbit. Are you familiar with it? I'd love to see the palace in St. Petersburg one day.

Yes, I know the cartoon with the Wolf and Hare. In Russian, it's called "Nu, pogodi!", meaning "Just you wait!". It's one of the most popular cartoons in the former USSR. Jaga knows this cartoon, too! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm sure you would enjoy the Hermitage in St Petersburg. It has the largest art collection in the world, and it's just absolutely beautiful, inside and outside!

I hadn't known that was the true title of the cartoon, I'd always thought that was what the Wolf yelled at the end of every cartoon when his plans were foiled by the rabbit. Sort of like the Russian version of Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner.

That sounds really nice, many of the languages with latin roots have slightly different accents and pronuciations, so this one seems to be a litle easier to get to know.

I agree that this is an excellent thread! I am actually from the far west of Colorado, Grand Junction. I used to live in The Silverthorne, Dillon, Breckenridge, so on and etc area. I also love Mt. Evans with all the snow!

Anyway, welcome! (although you may have been on more than I ) :rolling:

Did you know that Russia's #1 singer Alla Pugachova makes some appearances on "Nu, pogodi!"? In one episode, you can hear her most popular song, "Million scarlet roses". In another episode, the Hare wears a red wig and a big dress and actually pretends to be Pugachova while running away from the Wolf!

Eric,

you talk about English which is an exception rather - since the pronouncation is sometimes so irregular. For Polish, Italian or Spanish - Latin alphabet just works fine!

We do have simple letters which cooresponds to simple sounds - we do have a couple of modified letters - but this all just works great! Latin alphabet has even simpler letters that cyrilic, but I agree that Russian phonetic is very well adjusted to cyrilic.

Im a 53 year old Vietnam veteran ( never had veterans day off ) who married a polish woman who came here in 1979. She was 19 i was 27 ( hey! whats wrong with marrying a younger woman ? ) Two kids 18 and 20. I'm a manufacturing inspector and my wife is a accountant ( An account without one day of college ). Were from Albany NY. Right now its colder than hell here. I'm a third generation Pole on my mothers side. A fourth generation Pole on my fathers side. I have no idea where my name "Mason General came form. Off the top of my head i guess.

Jaga -

Belarussian and Ukrainian are even more phonetically written than Russian.

With English, the problem is that we are still using 500 year old German spelling rules, and yet the pronunciation of the language has become more Romance-related over time. This is why we have confusing things, such as the "-ough" ending (many different pronunciations), the silent "K" on "knee" and "knight", and we say "lite" for "light", and so on. It's horrible!

Hussar,

It seems we come from the same location. I am a second generation Pole who also come from New Britain, CT. Born and raised there.

I was a member of Sacred Heart church and attended the catholic school there. We were taught two languages, Polish and English. Also two religions, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Back then there was New Britain High School only. It was down in the south end of town and currently is a elderly living home of some sorts.

Every so often I drive down there to stock up on some good Polish food. We come back with bread from the Waterbury Bakery and Kielbasa from Martin Rossol on Grove St.

On Saturdays when we were growing up, we would go to the Roxy theater on Broad St. with a quarter in our pockets. This would get us in the theater and I still had enough left over for a bag of popcorn and a eskimo pie.

Across the street from the theater used to be a store front that had chickens. You'd walk in and view the many live chickens in cages along the wall. When you selected one the owner would dispatch the bird, gut it and clean it on the spot and you went home with some of the freshest chicken you can find.

At the botton of Broad Street used to be a grocery store that had a large fish tank on a back bench. This was loaded with live eels and it was a source of fascination for us to watch.

Well, enough reminiscing for now. Its about 10 below zero here right now and its time for a hot cup of coffee.

Skeeter, where do you live in CT? I live in Meriden, but went to to elementary school in New Britain... Holy Cross to be exact. Brooklyn bread from Waterbur y? (mmmmmm makes my mouth water) Rosol has good food as well as other places in New Britain now. Never heard of the Roxy theater. Interesting stuff though on Broad St. Now they're renovating it.

Mason,

thanks for telling us something about you. You are not the only Vietnam veteran, John (Skeeterj) is another one.

I am glad you married happily a Polish woman, maybe you could add something to our articles about Polish family and Dating?

check from the sitemap:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art939.asp#FAMILY

Hello everyone! I am researching my family's history. My grandfather on my dad's side immigrated from Poland, and both my grandmother's parents, from my dad's side. I am in the US military stationed in Germany and am trying to get as much on location research completed as I can before I have to move on to another assignment. I look forward to participating in this forum and to learn new things from all of you, thank you.

Masongeneral,

Welcome VietNam Veteran. This here is the best board on the internet now. Just for your info I spent 10 years in the US Marine Corps. We operated out of the
'I Corps' area in Viet Nam.

What branch of the service were you in?

Nothing wrong with marrying a younger woman. My wife was 21 and I was 27 when we got married. She comes from an old blood line here in New Hampshire. I provided great genetic stock from my ancient Polish blood line. It rejuvenates theirs and ours.

Talk about cold - - this morning at 7:AM it was 15 below zero f (-26.1C). We are expecting a snow storm to begin this afternoon into tomorrow.

Predictions are 12 to 20 inches.

Hussar,

I live in central New Hampshire. We have been here since 1970. My wife is a Colebrook, NH girl and that is up on the Canadian border.

The theater I refered to was on the corner of Broad and Washington streets. Right next to the Falcons club. I don't know if it still there.

I was baptized at Holy Cross church. Back then there wasn't any school associated with the church.


JSokolowski,

Welcome to the forum. Hope you can find what you are looking for.

Hey skeet) i was a draftee and spent two years in the Army and about eleven months in Nam. Nothing spectacular, but was happy to get out. 10 below this morning and were expecting 10 to 13 inches of the white stuff today. Love New Hamp., been there many times. Love the Northeast, but i have to admit the winters are too long. Great hearing from you Skeet

Hey skeet) i was a draftee and spent two years in the Army and about eleven months in Nam. Nothing spectacular, but was happy to get out. 10 below this morning and were expecting 10 to 13 inches of the white stuff today. Love New Hamp., been there many times. Love the Northeast, but i have to admit the winters are too long. Great hearing from you Skeet. Went to public grade school, but we went to something called Polish school after school hours. We were supposed to learn Polish, but all we got was religion. Taught basically by uneducated nuns and learned mostly nothin. We drove them crazy and they drove us crazy. Mostly a waste of time. But it was something to remember.

I'm not sure if it's still there, but next time I am in New Britain I'll check for you. If it's the area I am thinking of, I think there's a delicatessen there now. At some point, there was one HCS church, but it was taken down to make a bigger one. The old one is a parking lot for the bigger church now. The New Church is on the corner of Farmington Ave. and Biruita St. The school might close though. Lower and lower enrollment. It's been cold down here too and we're expecting at least a foot of snow today.

Might as well report in from Alaska with 22F this morning (-5C) and little more than the hope of snow. Was skiing after work yesterday, mostly in the rain. With lousy weather like that I might as well move to New Hampshire!

I am a vietnam-era vet, drafted and never sent over. Spent 3.5 months in Germany and the rest of the time in the ugliest part of the world, ElPaso texas. Sure makes you appreciate anywhere else!

I am from the south side of the river in Europe, so I am SLovak (or Rusyn) and not Polish. That gives me good opportunity to tell Jaga of the purity of our language and how Polish should follow our lead, and use oursensible spelling system as well! The langages are very close. History is my interest and the ties to Poland would be the vicinity - right across the river- and the history of the Spis - Spiz in Polish? which was the most prosperous period of time during the Polish posession of the area. I guess the Poles like the Hungarian & Slovak influence.

Kai

Welcome VietNam Veteran Kai,

We might as well organize and call ourselves
'Jaga's Vets'.

I wonder how many others of this ilk are on this board?

It's about 10 degrees out and we had over 18" of snow to date. Places by the coast have well over 24" and some over 30".

Old man winter has hit us with a vengence.

With no new snow in sight - well, a few half-flakes high on the mountian and rain down below - this guy had a good day on the mountain with a telemark ski lesson. I have been skiing free heel 30+ years and now the equipment caught up with my ambitions, so I will master that telemark method of free heel skiing. I took a lesson last year and forgot all that I learned, so it was time for another & it was a good one. I should have a good bruise to show for it - and it is well worth it!

Too bad you easterners stole all the snow, a bit more for cushioning would have been fine by me.

Kai
Always something new to learn. Oh. About 20 degrees, colder than the 28 from this morning.

Hello, I was born in Hamtramck, MI and also lived in Clawson. I joined the U.S Navy and was a lifer in the canoe club. I rode Gr4eyhounds and Airports and spent shore duty in Spain and England. I married my wife in Malaga, Spain and when I left the Canoe Club I settled down in Norfolk, VA (Tidewater Area). There are a lot of retired military in this area so it feels more like home. I have a son in the Air Force and he is attending Post Graduate school in Monteray, CA. I have two daughters also; one is a 3rd grade teacher and married to a web designer, the other is a stay at home mom and married to a sailor. I have many hobbies to keep me busy including Amateur Radio, Photography, Stamp Collecting, Cross-Stitch, Rebuilding old radios, Computer and now Digital Photography plus building model sailing ships. I also enjoy surf-fishing and fishing Coastal waters.
Living in the Tidewater area is like living in the middle of a early American History museum. It is hard to take one step without stumbling over some important event that occured. Jaga and I have opposite political views but I enjoy comming to this forum as well as the other forums at Bella.
Once again to everyone in the forum, a Rebel Yell and Hello Y'all.

Hi, I am a professional musician and a teacher/college administrator. I am interested in this forum because it seems to have the most activity and interesting political exchanges. I travel to Europe at least once a year. I live in the Los Angeles area.

John,

yes, we need to organize our Veteran group in the forum. I am glad guys that you share your experience (sometimes very critical) from your war - to understand this new one.

Jsokolowski,

welcome to the forum. I guess, you contacted me once by e-mail. I hope you would find here what you need. By the way, did you read other posts in this thread? We have quite many war veterans here!

Did you have any chance to go to Poland while stationed in Germany?

Hi Thridoctave,

thanks for telling us a bit about yourself! Your nick sounded as like you had something to do with the music! We all treat ourselves quite gently here in the forum - even if we do not agree with the views of other people.

Hi Jaga, and thanks! In looking back on some forum posts, however, it doesn't seem like everyone is so 'gentle' as you say...at any rate, I am interested to hear what folks think about the issues, and hope very much that they can *begin* to get *gentle*!!!

<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm a polish/american living in Hamtramck, MI. My great-grandfather was born in Poznan and immigrated to the US before world war II, our name is very common and was "americanized" to Cherry.

I found this forum looking for articles on Paczki Day. I found that the bakeries in my town will make 70 to 80 thousand dozen paczki between now and tuesday!

Our streets will be swarming on tuesday morning but I'll post some photos on my website.

Dear Hamtramck star. I guess your last name was probably "Wisniewski". Welcome to the forum! I wish I was living near Hamtramck and could taste some of the delicious pounchki!

Hello Hamtramck Star. I was born in St Francis Hospital (i wonder if its still there). I lived on Holmes St. and went to St. Lads in Grade School. I now live in the Tidewater area of Virginia. Hope to hear and see more of you in the forum.

Guys,

I moved this topic to the top - It is fun to look that Kai became Sue <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

It seems that the change of nicks affected rather our old visitors not the new ones...

Exactly Wisniewski. I know I'm in good company <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

We'll take some photos on Tuesday and I'll make sure and post a link here.

St Francis Hospital is now Hamtramck City Hall, 31th District Court, and Police Department! No longer a hospital but still useful!

http://www.rootsweb.com/~miwayne/francis.htm

Hussar,

I wil check. If you have any nice picture of old Polish historical object in Hamtramck maybe you would be willing to share it with us and we can post in on the website! Thanks for your messages

Huh? You must mean Hamtrack?

Wikipedia on Hamtramck

Mr. Hamtramck Star,

I am sorry, both of you guys start your nicks with "h". Thanks for the link!

Hello Jaga, the computer says you are reading this thread at 1:40. You should be sleeping!

Kai
finally signed on under my proper name.

Hello Everyone...I don't know if anyone remembers me..I've
been gone for a long time and just recently got a new computer, so I'm back online. Hope to hear from some of my
friends and look forward to making new ones.

Kai,

I am not sure, I actually do not really read it that late, especially when I have to get up to work the next day. When I did not work that much I definitively spend some nights at the computer.

Your Alaska time is s... up <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Dear Babcia,

you would not believe me but I thought about you for the last couple of days and I really thought that I have to ask Frank whether he does not know what is going on with you.
How are you? How is your health? How are your two boys <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />) from the nick

Barbara,
It has been SOOOO long. We miss you <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

FRANEK

YES IT HAS BEEN SOOOOOOO LONG AND I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY TO BE BACK

PANI BASIA\BARBARA

VERONICA

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER. IN FACT BECAUSE WE OF A WIDE RANGE OF AGES IT GIVES US A BETTER INSIGHT INTO LIFE AND THE KNOWLEDGE WE HAVE IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF LIFE. GEE DID I MAKE ANY SENSE? LOL


PANI BASIA
BARBARA

Basia,
Now all that we need is for BABCIA to come back,then it would be like old times..This is good for you.. It might take your mind of off some of your problems..Barb, just add what you can.. but in the meantime you can watch.. Since you have been gone.. We have added a couple of other nice people.. You will enjoy them.. One is now in Florida on a vacation.. But should be back soon.

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum, found it through New Russian Forum (the worst hosted forum I've ever encountered btw), which I found through Opnion Forum on Delphi, which I found after the 'Independent' newspaper forum was closed and participants were invited to DelphiForums, which I found...
well, I think it is enough for the moment <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I am a native Pole, fortish, husband and father, I live in Warsaw, Poland. And now, please do let me sit for a while quitely in the corner and read a liitle bit more.
Is that enough 'telling you something about me', Jahagost?:)

Hi,

I am so glad that from time to time we have somebody from Poland to login to my forum. Besides, it seems that people from my homecountry know English so well!
You are probably my generation, for us the first foreign language was still... Russian!

We just moved the boards to a different place and it seems that we lost some of our visitors. So, please, stay with us or at least visit us from time to time.

How are things in Warsaw? I was a native of Krakow, although the first generation, so I do not consider myself "Krakus centus" <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thank you for your nice welcome. It is elevating that from time to time on the web one one runs into a place where hospitality and openness equals sense and moderation. You are doing a great job! I think the main reason that you only have passing visitors from Poland is that the so called mainstream is well aware of the matters you discuss and that leaves little space for discussion :-)
As I understand you belong to the Polish diaspora - or Polonia. I'd like to return the compliment then - it seems that Polonia is as ever engaged in the Polish matters. That's really good!
In Warsaw -
meteorologically, total frenzy or 'groch z kapust&#261;', economically - flourishing against the odds,
politically - a year of double elections plus cf. meteorologically,
culturally - rewarding.
:-)

Thanks again and all the best!

You have very good English YyU3, did you learn it in Poland or did you spend time in the States?

I've first learned English in Poland. I could easily read books and newspapers - I was really proud I know English so well. Then I went to London. It turned out that in England the most popular language is absolutely dissimilar to the English tongue I've been learning. And then it somehow happened that the Englishmen I met have improved their linguistic capabilities and commenced speaking in an understandable manner... Well, that was years ago. And then I went to the States for my first visit. It took some time and many visits before the Americans I met eventually learned to speak proper English I brought them. And then after even more years I found myself in the symposium taking place in Glasgow, Scotland. I was listening to a speech by a native Scotsman. The title and the abstract were written in English but I did not understand a single word of the speech! I turned to my English companion for help. And he said - Sorry, I can't help you, I just don't understand :-)

LOL, YyU3. I know exactly what you mean - first I studied Spanish (in the US), and I learned enough so that in Spain I could ask a question, but I could never understand the answer. Now I am studying Polish and I am sure that this time I will not even be able to ask the question, never mind understand anything that is said to me.

I'm learning Spanish in school. I can ask questions and understand the written material, but when we have the audio section of our tests where a tape is played, I cannot understand what the people are saying. Very interesting YyU3. I've always wondered what it'd be like to listen to a native Scotsman.

Hi Yu,

I am glad you came again. You are so nice <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I am not sure that Poles leave us just because... I know this all!

I was accepted to the PhD studies in Texas in 1993. You know, in spite of the fact that i try to go to Poland every 1-2 years for some time - it changed so much there recently! It is really hard to recognize everything.
I guess, I left in the very beginning of th transformation to the capitalism. The stores were becoming more and more full with things.

I guess, everybody get used to the place where you are. I definitively feel a need to know more about Poland... maybe this is because I am abroad. Probably if I would still be in Poland I would rather look for information about countries abroad but since I am here - I feel more attached to where I was before.

Thanks for the update about Warsaw. I just talked to my dad on the phone. He stated that they had some snow in Krakow.

In Idaho is very cold (here I am), we had -17 C in the morning when I was going to work

To Forum jest ladne ale jakies skomplikowane. Nie wiadomo kto mowi, a kto odpowiada. Kto lata a kto fruwa?

Panie Jurku,

it seems that you do not have any problems to post the messages in the forum. thank you! Maybe you can write something in English so that everybody would understand?

There are always ways to tell who is speaking <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I am George, born in 1942 in Warsaw. I am glad to meet you all and greet you in this forum. Do you follow any subject, or just say whatever come to your mind? Have a Happy Presidents' Day!

Hello George,

A couple of my ancestors' names were translated to George, but they actually were called something else in Polish - I forget - what is George in Polish?
dziekuje!

George,

I love your direct way of saying of everything what is on your mind <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Nancy, I might be spelling this wrong, but my dad has a Polish friend named George. It's "Jurek" or something of the sort.

I thought there was an older spelling?

Yes, George is in Polish "Jerzy", abbreviation: Jurek.

Do you know guys that Polish first names have so many forms it is hard not to get lost for foreigners!

For instance people call me (my first name is Jagoda):
Jagusia
Jagodka
Jaga
but there exist tens of other diminuitives for "Jagoda" available, like "Jagna" - one of the more popular. Some people also believe that my name "Jagoda" comes from "Jadwiga (Hedwig) so they call me Jadzia

There was a beautiful alien woman on one of the sci fi shows who was called Jadzia (pronounced jad-zee-ah). I always wondered where the shows found these exotic sounding names! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Nancy,

this exactly sounds like Polish Jadzia! We had a famous queen - who is now a saint. Her name was Hedwig or Jadwiga, but she was originally from Hungary. You just reminded me - I was going to prepare the quiz about Polish queens!

Of course, by the time we take all those exotic sounding Polish names and anglo-ize them, they sound terrible. Just think of how most English speakers would pronounce "Jadwiga".

Guajalote,

welcome

my name is usually misspelled : Jadoga, Jakoda

and they pronounce me "Dzagota"

what about yours? Sound exotic!

I am so happy to have stumbled into this board. My husband is currently deployed and a large part of his job is working with the Coalition Forces. As Poland is heading up the Coalition Forces, he works very closely with the Poles on the ground and in Warsaw. I have been fortunate enough to visit Poland twice in the last year and have fallen in live with the country and the people. This forum is a delight and I am looking forward to learning form all of you!

Dear Hollister,

welcome to the forum! So, you husband may be somewhere in Iraq? Many people ask me always about Polish military forces in Iraq, especially before the holidays since they want to send the presents etc.

Where are you in Idaho? I am also from Idaho

welcome to the forum!

Jaga,
I am in Moscow - Where are you?
As far as my husband he comes and goes. The troops always appreciate presents! The major complaint I have heard from them is that they are unable to get good bread or coffee outside of Poland. After being in Poland I have to agree with them that what we accept as bread or coffee in the states is hardly passable!

Hollister,

thanks. I am in Idaho Falls, far from Moscow. Moscow has a nice university, does it not?

Polish bread is delicious, I agree!

Hello, I am a Kibbutz member in Israel, near the Sea of Galilee name Ein-Gev.
Yesterday a group of polish citizens visited our Fish Restaurant with very fancy customs. They looked like 13th Cen soldiers. They told me we are from Krakow, we are the Walls Gaurds of the city. A very old organization that still exist today.
In my search for more information about this organization I decided to enter to the Forum.

Can someone tell me about them or where can I read and see pictures on that issue ?!
Thanks for any help:
Yoel Ben-Yosef
Kibbutz Ein-Gev
Lake Kinneret-Valley
m-p. Jordan-Valley
I S R A E L

Yoel,

thanks for posting! Do you know how these people called their organization in Polish?

Did they look something like that?

(this is so called "Bractwo kurkowe" in Krakow

[imageBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Now I realized that the exact translation of the "wall guards" may be "gwardia murowa" or "gwardia miejska". In Poland the members of different guilds were going to protect different bastions of the town and they have their own coctumes.

Here below is the picture of the guard of the guild of furriers:

[imageBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Hmmmmm..... Any possibility that this could represent also the traditon in Krakow. That they play "Hej Nal" (I believe) from the four sides of the tower at St. Mary's Church to honor the guard who warned the city of attack from the Tartars?

Hussar,
good idea. I know that the Krakow trumpeters go to tours to meet with the people all around the world. I meet a musician in Germany who knew some trumpeters from such trips.

Let me refresh this thread since this is the only one I can get to. My e-mail account does not work again, my internet works very slow.

We are just getting ready to go to church, I will try to get back to the internet when we will be back.

WELCOME ALL THE NEW VISITORS TO OUR FORUM, PLEASE LET US KNOW ABOUT YOURSELF. HOW DID YOU FIND OUR FORUM AND SITE?

Welcome all new visitors! Please, tell us something about you and your interests.

I'm a newbee, aren't I?
I'm from Poznan, Poland.
First, I was searching for some info on so caled "Fat Thursday" and I got here.
It's fascinating for me to see so many people interested in Polan. i hope this is going to be a chance for me to practsie English as I have to use it every day at work (at an editorial office for a scientific journal - an ambitious and a very badly-paid job).
Hello, everybody

Hello Zooba,

I am pleased to meet you - and interested in hearing about your job - I live in the US, am a marine biologist, and do a lot of editing of techincal reports and manuscripts. One of my favorite projects was editing a book that had contributions from scientists from several nations, and they all had different levels of expertise with English. Sometimes I have to write my own abstract in Spanish or French, and then I am the one who needs help!

Nancy

Hi Zooba,

welcome to the forum. It seems that more people from Poland with good language skills are joining us!

Many of us have some scientific degrees or work/worked in science related fields- like me, Nancy, Kaima or Carl. So, welcome to our community!

Hi Zooba
Let one of the members of the forum also welcome you. You will see that I am noted as a 'New Member' - I can't seem to get this changed even though I have posted more than 200 times!! What's in a name!!
My major occupation since leaving University (a long time ago) has been in the fields of Personel - Photography - Soldiering - Teaching - but principally Training and Consulting. I did, however, take my first degree in Physics (with astronomy) and worked in astronomy for 6 months before realising that people were more important to me than things!
Edtors have been the bane (know that word?) of my life for the past 20 years during which I have written lots of books on the quasi-scientific subjects of training and other skills connected with it! But I have also been very grateful to them for stopping my worst errors from getting through into print.
I hope you enjoy the forum - there are a lot of interesting characters from various countries who post: some you might think from the things they say that they really disliked one another - it is 99.9% joking.
Enjoy
Leslie

Thanks for the warm welcome.
Well my job is collecting and to some extent editing scientific articles sent to us from literally all over the world. The journal is published in the US and (thank God) they do a lot of language corrections. Anyway I must take care if all the technical requirements are met, copyright transfers form s are attached and so on.
If you need any tips on travelling, eating and others in Poland, just let me know.
I'm from a big city (sorry, I've just moved and keep forgetting), actually a small town near Poznan - it is 300 km west from Warsaw and 300 km east from Berlin, a city with the biggest movie screen in Europe (I sincerely doubt it).
Bye now.

Hi All,
I actually signed up to this forum in June. So I think it's about time I said a few words about my self.
I currently live in San Diego CA.
I learned Polish from my mother not in school. So I am fairly profecient with speaking the language (except I have this female ending problem since I learned from my mother) but writing and reading it is a little more difficult.
I try to travel to Poland every year. Next month I am going again. I visit family about 150km north of Warsaw in a small village called Okalewo. Close to Rypin and Brodnica. One of my relatives is now in Kolobrzeg and I drive up there to see them then make a trip to Elblag to vist other relatives.
I try to visit cemeteries as I do genealogy research.
My hobbies are trying to improve my language skills, woodcarving, calligraphy.
I have degrees in Physics and currently work at building specialized computers.

Kuba

Hello Kuba,

I am glad to meet another cemetery-visiting genealogist! Are you tracing your family, or do you have a larger research project? I have a dream of doing a project on my ancestral village of Piatkowa - both paternal grandparents came from there. (I am second-generation American).

Nancy

Hi Kuba,

welcome to the forum! I am glad that you are so close in touch with your homecountry! I was in San Diego in March and I really liked it there also. Are there any Polish stores or Eastern Europeans stores in SD?

It almost looks as like all our Polish friends are on vacations. Poles usually take off to the mountains or on the sea or lakes in August. But September is also a beautiful month - with ZLota Polska Jesien.

Was it only your mother speaking Polish at home or she just made sure that you know Polish? I feel almost ashame because my daughter definitively understands English better than Polish!

Hello George,
I am John also born in 1942 but here in the USA. <img src="/images/graemlins/viking.gif" alt="" />

oops

Nancy M., where is your Piatkowa located in Poland? I used to live in an area of Pozan (my city, 600,000 inhabitants) called Piatkowo, which before WWII was a village. That's why I'm asking.

Zooba,

"My" Piatkowa is near Blazowa, which is near Rzeszow. I visited there last year.

Someone later told me the name means "five blacksmiths" - or 5 somethings (I don't remember what they said) Can you tell me?

welcome everybody in the forum! I noticed that today we have 12-16 visitors, at least when I am here.

Please, feel free to contribute in our discussions!

Hello, Nancy M. - the word Piatkowo, Piatkowa comes from the word "piatek", which means Friday. Only if it was "Piatkowal it could means 5 blacksmiths. And your Piatkowa is far away from mine - about 300 miles (for Polish this is far).

John, from St. Peters, Missouri. I'm American, of Polish ancestry on my mom's side (Harasim / Pachucki). Though I lived in a house growing up where at least 3 people spoke Polish, us kids were never taught, nor spoken to in Polish. After doing the research a few years back, I found my Grandmothers family, still living in the same place she was born, the village of Mikolajowek(between Augustow and Raczki). I've taken some Continuing Education Polish classes, as well as used "self teaching" resources and learned some Polish. With one of my daughters and my God-mother, we I visited the family "on the farm" last month. Amazing adventure. Planning on going back in two years�..

Hi John!

Welcome to the forum! Please tell us more about your trip to Poland ---any photos?

Nancy

Zooba,

I like your picture <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

John, welcome to the forum. I hope you would enjoy participating in our discussions!

Only 981 photo's <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> .. Many duplicates of course with 3 camera's firing at all times! I'm still trying to get the "lay of the land" here, so when I figure out how to share pictures, I'll certainly make some available.

Our Family are dairy farmers and own a few cows, and grow some feed. It is a relatively small operation. I'm not sure how they can make ends meet at all, and considering they treated us like royalty, I'm sure we destroyed 8 months budget. This I shall fix in time. Two of their children spoke a few words of English (but only to my daughter), so my 20 year old, their 21 year old son and 18 year old daughter spent lots of time on the "translator". They have an old computer, with no internet of course. Two of the children are in "higher education", and have no dealings with the farm other to live there when not at school. Their job is to study. While our communication was at time rudimentary, it was mostly sufficient. Lots of laughing, millions of questions, some frustration at the communication gaps... and lot's of Wodka! My daughter wishes to go back the summer after next, to which I will open a new thread to discuss. All in all, the family was wonderful, the Northeastern Polish country side beautiful, and the tears cried by all when we left traumatic. To use the Polish proverb: "splakalismy sie wszyscy jak bobry".


Thanks for the welcome!

Hi John
Welcome to the forum - there are a lot of nice people on it, so I'm sure you will enjoy.
I had the same problem thoughts about photos, so I took the free offer of Webshots and opened albums of the ones I had chosen and wanted to share. If you want to have a look at mine before you decide, go to [url=BellaOnline ALERT: For anti-spam reasons, we restrict the number of URLs allowed in a given post. You have exceeded our maximum number of URLs.

John,

I am sure you will figure out the "lay of the land" quickly! Some of us have opened free accounts at Webshots and just put a link in our messages. For example:Nancy's Photos

If you have your own website, you can insert pictures directly into your post here (but not all 981... <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )

I am sure your daughter will be interested in the adventures of our friend Hussar (Tomek) who spent this summer in Poland. Hussar's Trip

Thank you one and all for the warm welcome! This will be fun. I've looked at some of the photo albums mentioned, and read a few of the threads. When time permits, I'll try to get an online album going.

Nowego Polskiego Rodzina! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hi I am Mary from Pennsylvania. I am of Polish-Slovak ancestry. As you can tell from some of my posts I have recently found relatives in Poland. Trying to find relatives in Slovakia but having a hard time due to lack of information. So glad that I found this forum. Everyone is so nice. Love viewing the pictures. Thank you Jaga for doing such a beautiful job.

Hi Mary,

I am so glad you found our forum. We have some Slovak-Americans. Ron, his nick "Kaima" is one of the longest members in the forum. Very recently he even contributed some articles about the region on Polish-Slovakian boarder:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34070.asp
Polish Part of Tatra & Pieniny Mountains seen from Slovakia

Hi Mary -

This is Kai, the Slovak from PA, up here in Alaska most of the time since '71. If it were not for the width of the Poprad river I would be at least half Polish. As it is I claim Slovak casually, and Rusyn when things get to more precision.

Where is your trouble in getting information on Slovakia family? THere is a discussion group "Slovak-Roots" for geneology help on Yahoo, and Slovak-World on Yahoo for general discussion, some argument and lots fo tales about food and other things.

Glad to see you are on board!

Kai

For all our new visitors - please, tell us something about you!

Hi all,
I'm Suzanne and have been a lurker on this forum for a few months. I found it in the spring when I came here to post a question. I've enjoyed reading many posts and am amazed at the variety of topics here. I have some Polish ancestry in my background but I know pitifully little about Polish culture and history. But I'm very interested in learning more, and this site has certainly been educational.

Hi Susanne,

thanks for uncovering yourself and hope you would like it here with us. Please, don ot feel bad if you do not know that much about Polish culture yet. I do not know that much about American culture although I live here more than 10 years!

Czesc,

I am from San Diego. I was raised in Denver. Went to St. Joseph's Polish School and Church. No Polish Language classes there, just English.
Both Parents were from Poland, Blazejewska i Przedzienkowski. Attended the University in San Diego and continue to live there. Most of my career work has been in the field of Computer Science.

Czesc Kuba,

nice to see you here!

I was in San Diego briefly in Spring. This is a beautiful town. It seems that we have something in common, at least in a science part and also some interest in the Polish heritage <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

[color:"purple"]
Hello.... I am Marge Galus Sandlier of Omaha, Nebraska. Both my paternal grandparents immigrated from the village of Leki G�rne, Poland (located between Tarn�w and Pilzno) to Nebraska. My maternal grandfather immigrated from the village that is now Borzyslawiec to the northeast of Szczecin. It was under Prussian rule when he immigrated with his parents. I have been interested in genealogy for many years, but tracing my Polish roots has been my main focus for the past several years.

My husband and I have some of our genealogy on our website. My family information is at
Forget Me Not .

I was introduced to the Polish Culture website when I received an e-mail (from Nancy, I think) telling me that she had posted a link to my Polish photo albums on my website and at Webshots.

I took my first trip to Poland in May/June 2004. I stayed with a cousin with whom I connected through my webpage. He found my web site though a Google search. I have to say that my exprience in Poland was wonderful!!! I can hardly wait until my next trip. No definite plans are on the horizon as yet. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> It was so awesome to be able to visit the village of my ancestors and walk where they walked and breath the air that they breathed.... Gives me goose bumps just remembering the experience.

Besides genealogy I am interested in photography and crochet. I am trying to learn the Polish language, but I fear that I will always remain a neophyte in this venture.

I look forward to checking out the forum further.
[/color]

Hi Marge,

welcome on behalf of me and Nancy. Nancy should be back tonight or tomorrow.

You have really a wonderful website, I am glad Nancy found you and introduced in our site.

We just moved the site from a different location. We had there over hundred thousands visitors per month, now we have to build this site since scratch. But we hope we will succeed since we have so much information already on the site, but it would take a time!

Thanks for joining us here!

Hi Marge,

Glad to see that you have checked into this forum. As you know, we featured your photos, and those of your cousin Roman, last month on the new website. You really have done a wonderful job with your website - and your research - and your photography.

Welcome!

Nancy