Read my interview with an Englishman, Jamie Stokes, who now calls Kraków his home: "If the Shoe Fits ... An Englishman's Curious Devotion to a Curious Country." A professional writer, Stokes is one of the founding members of the collaborative blog Polandian, which helps expats with the many challenges of living in this, one of Europe's "most opaque" destinations.
1
mlaw
Not sure why the interview link didn't display, but here it is: http://seentheelephant.blogspot.com/2010/11/if-shoe-fits-englishmans-curious.html
2
gocha_123
It's always interesting to read sb's else impression on my country.
But.... I think that Jamie Stokes has to live much longer here to understand the complicated history, relation within Poles but also relations with our neighbours, like Russia...
It's also the first time I hear about shoe-mania.. You have to have many pairs as the weather and seasons differ a lot in Poland. there can be 40 degrees during summer, 10 and heavy rains and -30 during winter.
As to Polish cuisine...it's definitely better and more interesting than English. The best thing about English cuisine is indian curry :)
3
andrewsmith
Thank you for posting this. Good interview.
As a frequent visitor to Poland for both business and pleasure I can identify with many of his points. Like him, I fell in love with Poland but I then married an English girl, and now we travel to Poland together with our kids.
4
fieldgate
Good link. Thanks for posting.
Like gocha_123 #2, I too, being a Pole myself, can't get some of his points. It's an approach that is too simplistic. After only 3 years in a country, without speaking the language, you can scratch the surface only and not much else. Too much stereotyping and extremes is what newbies normally do when they try to grasp the situation in an unfamiliar ("opaque") surrounding.
Still interesting to read about one's home country through the eyes of others.
5
andrewsmith
Yes, I did wonder what OP meant by "opaque".
To me, "opaque" means its difficult to figure out what's going on, or what people are thinkig / feeling. I have to say, this wasn't my experience of Poland at all - I was rather impressed by the extent of commonality with my (British) culture. Despite the difference in language, I found Polish ways of doing thing easy to compehend compared to (for example) the US. I have learned some Polish, and have been told my pronounciation is good, but after a few sentences my limited vocabulary and unorthodox grammar betray my foreign origins.
I would say Russia is much more opaque. I spent less time in Russia than in Poland, but each time I visit Russia I feel I understand it even less.
6
mlaw
From what I can make out (I am not Polish and have never visited but like to talk to the kind of people who leave their home countries to live in far-flung places), Jamie chose the word "opaque" because Poles give out so many mixed messages--at once embracing visitors while denying they have anything to offer them. To put it another way: Poles have transmuted Groucho Marx's famous line (echoed by Woody Allen in Annie Hall), from "I wouldn't want to be a member of a club that would have someone like me for a member" to: "Why would anyone want to be a member of this club to which I don't even wish to belong?"
7
fieldgate
mlaw,
As a Pole living in another country, I see it the same way as you say, more or less. You've got to work your way out, It.s called assimilation.
On the other hand, I've met Brits living as expats in other countries, both in former colonies (Kenya) and in western Europe (Spain, Portugal). It's very rarely that they assimilate into the society. In Kenya, even if they are born there and speak Swahili they never mix with black Kenyans. That's a different story though. But, even in Spain and Portugal they live within their expat community and rarely learn the language fluently. You could use the same quote again, "Why would anyone want to be a member of this club to which I don't even wish to belong?".
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