You know it's cold when your internal organs freeze. Walking across town last night I could definitely feel my liver beginning to go. It's about -12C at the moment, with a windchill of about -15C. Popping to the shops is a life-threatening activity. It's nice to have a bit of snow though.
Well done to anyone who noticed the slight error in my last post - I missed the word 'you' from each line of the joke at the end. To check that you were all paying attention of course. I made another mistake as well but I'm not telling you what it was. All being well, I'll have a laptop after Christmas and these blogs won't have to be done in a hurry at work. Should improve the quality somewhat...
As for the question I left you with (about those rather large 'hedges') ... the answer is that Ciechocinek is a spa town; the water was pumped to the top of the towers and allowed to trickle down through the sticks. As it evaporated it released the salts and the vapours could be breathed in by people who walked through the middle of the tower. These days they're just a tourist attraction though - you can't walk through the middle any more as the structures are over 100 years old.
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A few observations of differences that have struck me based on my first few months here ...
All women's names end in 'a'. (Something to do with the requirements of Polish grammar.)
Jaywalking is illegal. You can get a 100zł fine if you're caught crossing before the little man turns green. It is common to see people standing at a crossing waiting when there isn't a car to be seen.
Christmas dinner is eaten on Christmas Eve and is always fish, the main dish being carp. Some people buy their carp live and keep it in the bath. I saw an advert in the cinema the other day that began with a family all looking sadly into the bath and a large carp looking sadly back up at them.
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Last Sunday the staff were all invited around to Romek's house (the owner of the school). We began by sharing large communion wafers - you offer as piece to each person and they offer you some of theirs. You then wish each other Merry Christmas. A very nice tradition. There then followed a range of fish dishes + salads and pierogi(!). Very nice too. After a while we did a little singing. The Poles outsang the Brits by miles. I'm sure they'd been practising. We were also treated to a few musical pieces by some of the children. They played a range of pieces entirely from memory.
I have been practising my Polish of course. As you can see, I am studying hard. Here we are in the cafe with our textbooks ...
Your Polish lesson this time is (partly) of course on a Christmas theme:
jeden (yeden) - one
dwa (dva) - two
trzy (tsch) - three
Wesołych Swiąt (vesowych schviont) - Merry Christmas
Well, that's about it for this year. I'm heading home on Sunday and will be travelling around seeing family and friends. In case I don't see you I'll wish you ...
WESOŁYCH SWIĄT!!
Have a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year.
