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It was a close call in the polls; Life in Europe versus How to Survive a 12 course Polish Christmas dinner. In the spirit of the season, I will try to deliver both in time for the holidays.
In the middle of the pandemic, I moved from Jamaica and settled in Warsaw, Poland. Poland...so far off my radar it's still unbelievable that I'm living here. My journey here deserves its own blog post, it involved travels to Venezuela, Panama, the United States, and Germany but that's for later.
For now, I'll try to summarise this past year and a half into 10 points.
Generally, my life here is beautiful and a dream comes through. It's a cross between a Lifetime Movie and a feel-good Netflix series.
The population of Poland is 37.7M and is 99.9% white and I am a little black lady with dreadlocks, I stick out like a sore thumb. However, I see more and more people of color every day and it's a welcomed change. Occasionally I get the black nod of acknowledgment. That's always cool, like "Hey, I see you."
Poland has experienced faster economic growth than expected and with some of the best universities in the EU and shared services companies opening in offices in Poland; more foreigners are relocating to this central European country.
After watching a few YouTube videos, I got the gist about the Polish stare but it's not something you can be 100% ready for. As one Reddit user wrote "I'm just wondering whether it's safe for me to be here lol, are people going to try attacking me? Why do people keep staring? Is it a normal thing here? Been to many countries and never experienced this before."
Nonetheless determined to experience life outside the island of Jamaica and eager to learn and explore the world, I moved.
I got vaccinated, even got the booster shot. Armed with my Covid-19 passport, I traveled to five Schengen countries in 2021. There is a lot to get into soo let's kick it off!
1. Language
I should have taken my high school Spanish lessons more seriously. Not that it would help me in Poland, but it would have helped on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura.
My high school Spanish teacher Senora Daley and my Mom were right when they told me not to flunk out of Spanish class.
Most Europeans speak at least three languages. Their native tongue, English, their choice of Spanish, French, Russian, and or German plus any other language(s) that they fancied. The ability to be fluent in multiple languages is a superpower that my spouse possesses. It makes traveling much easier when you can read, communicate and navigate when visiting a new country. It is very handy when arguing in Spanish with the hotel manager who lost our reservation or the German cab driver who wanted to overcharge us and assumed none of us spoke the language. The school system, whether public or private introduces English as a second language and a choice of a third before leaving high school. Basic knowledge of a second language is strongly encouraged, so my advice is before your trip, try to learn more than "Gracias y Adios."
I have the pleasure and pain of learning one of the world's most difficult languages. I am taking Polish lessons, my dear gentle teacher managed to teach me a few phrases so that I can mumble a few words and get by in my daily life. It will take at least five years of full-time studies before I am close to fluency.
Most Poles in the city speak English, once they decide they are comfortable enough to respond "Yes/Tak". To my "Przepraszam panią czy mówisz po angielsku? Excuse me, Miss do you speak English?"
2. The Weather
Typically having four seasons is great fun. Switching up your wardrobe with floral spring dresses, super short summer shorts, trendy fall fashion, and Christmas sweaters! Sounds great right? Except sometimes the weather forgets to weather properly;
This year there was no Spring, just a long Winter. Some might agree that we experienced winter, winter, summer, and fall. It's now winter again. I hope you get the drift. It's COLD.
Winter started in November and ended in June. I sat in my home office, looked through my window, and witnessed four seasons in eight hours! Sometimes your weather.com app will be your best source of advice on what to wear and how you can plan your outdoor activities. If I've learned anything it's never to pack away all your sweaters you will need them on the cool summer nights in the countryside. Invest in a good raincoat, rain boots, and umbrella. And when winter comes back again too quickly, thermal socks and undergarments are the silent heroes under your Canada goose winter coat.
3. Food, this is a brief introduction to my favorite topic.
There will be several upcoming blog posts relating to food! Food is very specific to each country and region. Whilst I miss Jamaican cuisine (I'm able to cook a few Jamaican dishes from ingredients bought from the African shop), I am delighted to experience European cuisine. I will summarise my experience in food haven into three subcategories: WINE, CHEESE & BREAD
Wines:
While I am no expert on wines I've learned quite a lot. As my good friend, owner of Barika Wine Shop @chwałowski_pl said "People who buy wines with animals on the labels don't know anything about wines."
Since all my favorite wines have animals on the labels, I have to disagree, I get my drink on with a delicious low-budget chardonnay Reserva Privada from Valle central in Chile with a Capybara proudly printed on the label. I've learned to focus on what tastes great to me and I've honed in on wines from Portugal as my go-to wines. Even the cheapest Portuguese wines sold in juice box sizes at the local supermarket are among some of the best wines I've had.
Cheese:
I have been a long-time promoter of all things Jamaican, especially Tastee cheese. Un-meltable, salty, yellow cheesy goodness, real Jamaican cheese. I miss it very much, especially at Easter time. Until I can have it again, I had the chance to get to know other cheeses. I've disliked and detested blue and Brie cheeses, but with an open mind and help from House of Cheese I found out that I was right! The smell, taste, and sight of mold in my cheese are things that I will not grow to love. However, goat cheeses, cheeses with herbs and spices, and my favorite smokey sheep's milk cheese from Slovakia are divine. When done right a cheese board is the perfect snack/appetizer for a dinner party (pair with your favorite animal labeled wine). Bread:
I have the impression that there are hundreds of types of bread available and similarly hundreds of bakeries all over the city and in every town.
The smell of freshly baked bread sweeps the morning air. Mesmerized by the scents long lines of people patiently wait in long lines for warm loaves, rolls, and baguettes.
The fresh bread and pastry aisle in the grocery store deserves to be on the best bakery in the city list alongside Bread Morning.
With help from eatpolska.com and their guide to Polish bread, they have categorized bread into six types. Check it out here.
4. Transportation
Here's the first thing you should remember while driving keep on the right side of the road. (Except in Malta, they drive on the left like in Jamaica). The second thing is to keep your headlights on, even during the day (this has to do with the crazy weather and how fast it changes). I drive my car only when it's necessary. It's very easy to get around the city, with several options of transportation available. Transportation between major cities and neighboring countries can be easily done by train or short flights. Wizz Air and Ryanair offer some of the lowest fares I've ever seen. Once a friend of mine flew from Warsaw to Vienna for 80pln or $20.00! Plus the removal of passports and border controls makes seeing Europe a breeze, now, of the utmost importance, is proof that you are fully vaccinated.
There's no shame in walking, taking the subway/ metro, trams, buses, taxis, and my personal favorite bicycles.
With millions of people commuting daily, the metropolitan cities' infrastructures have been built with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Once I finally learned to ride a bicycle I purchased a beauty from Decathlon, put on a dress and white sneakers, and cycled around the city. I managed to cross off another item from my bucket list. My picturesque vision of the European lifestyle.
5. History
I could go on and on about the recent history lessons I've received by visiting sites, galleries, and museums. As far as I can remember, my high school history lessons were heavily focused on slavery, Jamaican national heroes; maybe a bit of American history, and something about the Queen. Independent Jamaica is a country with a short history when compared to some European countries. I've visited churches and castles built over 700 years old and touched artifacts over 1,000 years old. My mind was blown when I visited the prehistoric temples in Malta & Gozo built in 2500 BC and 3500 BC. Yes before Christ and older than the Egyptian Pyramids.
I concluded that I won't go back to school to learn the history of the formation of European countries, royal families, and wars, instead, I'll continue watching YouTube videos and continue to visit as many UNESCO World heritage sites as possible.
6. Art
I have little knowledge of art, like most, I can identify Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dali, and Frida Kahlo. I have recently gained more knowledge and with it my love and appreciation of art and artists. Art in all its forms is persevered, encouraged, and explored. Regular visits to exhibitions, galleries, and museums are a way of life for the cultured.
I recently had the pleasure of having dinner with Pola Dwurnik; a Polish painter, and her family. She took my four-year-old's interest in painting the solar system very seriously. We had an amazing live painting session, the result; five unique pieces of art depicting the solar system in abstract form.
I have visited galleries, met with curators and the artist themself. All the while, in awe of the complexity of their minds and creativity and puzzled at how differently they see the world. I can't count how many collective hours I've spent visualizing myself walking through the Hermes scarves designed by Jan Bajtlik.
Instead of being worn the scarves are framed as art pieces and added to the private collection of my close friends, who are featured in the designs. 7. Fashion
The category is Beige! I am dubbed the "Caribbean Queen". My skin glows in gold tones and yellow, I thrive in green, and shock in red. Here, the color palette is brown, beige, white, and the classic statement color... black. If you want color, leave it to the teenagers obsessed with Japanese anime for splashes of pinks and purples. Some women are brave and bold, they stand out in bright oranges, blues, pinks, and rainbow stripes!
Fashion is all about understated elegance, clean lines, ease, and comfort. The women are effortlessly dressed, the men...well they need some assistance, though there are a few gentlemen with swagger.
However, the ladies are show stoppers in sensible heels and boots. The must-have mini bag, scarves, whimsical skirts, and trench coats. It isn't common to wear heavily branded items. I don't remember seeing anyone proudly carrying around a handbag with Gucci printed all over it. I'm a big fan, watching the live catwalk that is Warsaw Center and Nowy Świat. To get a feel of the fashion scene visit Polish Street Style Magazine. Before packing for my travels, I usually consult with my go-to Pinterest boards for style inspirations. My recent trip to Prague, Czechia, in November was light packing and style triumph, thanks to my boards. You can check out my pins here. 8. Religion ... I mean Politics... The worldwide unspoken rule is; don't speak about religion. Here the conversational ice breakers are; complaining about the weather, followed by the politics and then religion, in that order.
Pope John Paul II, was Polish and that basically made him the King of Poland.
Jesus Christ was born in Kraków the first capital city of Poland.
The Virgin Mary is the most powerful woman in the history of the world. There are thousands of shrines dedicated to the Holy Mother on every sidewalk, nook, cranny, and courtyard you can find!
The surprising thing is, in Poland the idea of separation of church and state seems to be a far-fetched concept since the country's politics is heavily and I mean heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Much more than I've seen in the Protestant Christian-led government of Jamaica, who still at times cowers in the threats of high-pitched shrieks of over-tithed Pastors. Poland enforced a controversial near-total abortion ban. A devoutly Catholic country, Poland already had some of Europe's most restrictive abortion laws. An estimated 200,000 women have abortions illegally or travel abroad for the procedure every year. BBC News reported, "The October ruling by the Constitutional Court found that a 1993 law allowing abortion in cases of severe and irreversible fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional."
In 2019, 98% of abortions were carried out on those grounds, meaning that the ruling effectively banned the vast majority of pregnancy terminations. The ruling provoked outrage from supporters of the right to abortion. But Poland's conservative government, which has strong ties to the country's powerful Catholic Church, supports the ruling. It is my opinion that the government and the Catholic Church in Poland have been implementing laws to repress the rights of women. 9. Family The most important value for Poles is family. I see this played out in daily life. You have to understand that from my perspective, being raised by a single mom is very common in Jamaica. Of course, we have the traditional family unit; Husband, wife, two children, and a dog. But for me, growing up in the inner cities of Kingston, my Dad was never there since he has several other children with different women.
The other men were practicing the beliefs that they should be fruitful and multiply, with as many women as they can. And finally, disappear. Sadly this seems to be the culture at large and I hope that it changes for the sake of the next generation.
Keeping the family together is important to Poles and has you can imagine is influenced by their Catholic beliefs that divorce is bad.
From the outside looking in; I often see Fathers taking their children to the parks and playgrounds. Grandparents showing their grandchildren which chestnuts to collect to make old-time action figures. Family bike rides through the forest, picnics, and family Sunday dinners. Partners hold hands as they take a Sunday walk to the nearest ice cream shop. Poles really love ice cream. I know I am romanticizing it, ignoring the possible domestic issues they may have but why not!? Those dads at the playground might just have the kids for their weekend...so what?! We need more things to make us smile. A Dad teaching his cute toddler to ride a bike while Mommy cheers on seems to do the trick.
10. Music. Let's end this post with some fun!
Music is a part of the identity of a country, similar to its people, food, and flag. Reggae music is Jamaican, Fado is Portuguese and Boney M is a German band and the lead singer of UB40 is a white Brit!!! I know I am showcasing how very little I know about the arts, but "By The Rivers Of Babylon" is a Rastafarian classic that we sometimes sing in church! Watch it here. I can guarantee two things in my Polish daily life; I will hear one Boney M song and One song by Queen. Freddie Mercury is right up there with the Pope. I can't believe I moved all the way here to experience culture shock about Reggae music and do not get me started on Polish Reggae.
I love other cultures' appreciation of Jamaican culture and music. But Polish Reggae, I'll let one of my favorite websites; Culture.pl do the explanation in their article "Polish Reggae, Yes its a thing." This woman is protesting the Polish government's ban on abortion. Her sign reads "You are worse than Polish Reggae." UB40. My discovery about the group's ethnicity started one evening pouring a glass of wine, when I burst out in song "red red wineeeee, it's up to youuuuuu." My mood was high, I was doing a little two-step ska, over to the laptop, I thought a little dance session was in order so let's see what's on YouTube. And then... this happened...the bands' front man Ali Campbell, as white as George Michael but as smooth and soulful as Gregory Issacs. This revelation led me down a YouTube rabbit hole of white singers you thought were black.
Sun of Jamaica By Goombay Dance Band
Another German band, I'm starting to see a pattern here in Polish music taste.
Anyhow, I didn't know this song before now. At parties, it's played and to everyone's surprise, the Jamaican girl doesn't know Sun of Jamaica.
Their response is usually " What! This was a huge hit". And I have to disappoint them each time. I do not know this song, it wasn't a big hit in Jamaica, sorry, I don't know this man."
For your listening pleasure watch it below.
It has been great fun writing this article. I hope you enjoyed it! If you want to read more, stay tuned. "Walk good" Stacy
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