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Give my regards to Witold Pilecki, a real life Rambo, if you happen to hit Warsaw: it's Powaski Cemetary. I can't believe somebody hasn't made a movie about him.

I've only ever been to the Airport, on Lot Airlines, back in the mid 90s, for a transfer. But it was already very modernized.

I'm curious as to what they think about the EU and if it should go back to being a free trade zone and not try to be a Superstate?

Do they blindly hate Russia and Putin against all reason? It seems they have as much reason to hate Germany from history.
Do they think they will be annexing a portion of Ukraine eventually?

Polish Beer:
In Poland you can find 100's of different beer domestic and imported.
Traditionally the most awarded Polish beer is Zywiec and Okocim.
My favorite is Okocim Porter. Available in BevMo.

Patrick says

Any questions you want me to ask my relatives?

Could you assemble the village together and have them demonstrate their lightbulb changing method.

Ask if they will annex the rest of East Prussia after Russia loses the war and they are forced to return to Russia proper.

How hot is it there now?

Do they know any good Polish jokes?

Make sure that you warn them about blacks!

REpro says

Polish Beer:Traditionally the most awarded Polish beer is Zywiec and Okocim.

Did they steal those names from an optometrist's eye chart?

Is Rob Reiner: Michael 'Meathead' Stivic famous over there?

If you run into any Shukeats tell them their distant cousin in Texas says hi!

Try to learn (and later translate) the most bawdy polkas, along the lines of "I don't want her, you can have her, she's too fat for me." If you can get the sheet music (at least the chord charts) or a crappy recording, I can whip up a keyboard accompaniment that you can use for the (un)official anthem of PatNet. It's the least I could do for exposing me to (RIP) iTulip.

I hope you have time to visit Gdańsk and Krokow (check out the salt mines as they are out of this world).

I was born in Gdańsk, left in 1984. Haven’t been back to Poland since 2017 when a grandparent passed but very much due back for a trip.

Drink plenty of Zywiec.

REpro says

My favorite is Okocim Porter. Available in BevMo.

How does it compare to Guiness?

Trollhole says

REpro says

My favorite is Okocim Porter. Available in BevMo.

How does it compare to Guiness?

There is noticeable difference. I like Guiness too, but Porter is smoother, stronger and heavier.

Sorry for the delay in answering. Continuous family events.

Some answers:

It's pretty hot, in the 90s.

The love the EU for giving them new highways and other infrastructure.

They like Lech Walensa and pope John Paul II.

They do not like Putin, saying he's an egotist who is trying to be a great historical figure when he is not.

They think gay and trans is a silly fad. One cousin said she has a friend who declared herself lesbian but she doesn't belive her because she had four boyfriends.

There are no openly trans people.

They say men and women are different but women should have a career. I was talking to female cousins though.

They say they trust the EU more than their own government, which is too close to the Catholic Church.

Some old people say communism was better, but no young people say that.

Economic prospects are good even in small towns now. Lots of building going on. My cousin's husband has a construction company and is doing very well. They have a big beautiful house.

They don't see any downside to the EU and are happy that they don't need a passport to travel in Europe.

Tuliszków is almost entirety Polish, with just a few foreigners, like the guy who has a kebab shop. Bigger cities have more foreigners, especially Belarusians who come to make money. Some Kazakhs too.

You would not know about the war at all. No trace of it that I can tell, and they don't seem concerned.

Children out of wedlock may not be able to get baptized, but they say there is no particular shame in it since the parents would both be together anyway. Single mothers are apparently not a thing.

They are for Ukrainian independence, but not eager to fight on their behalf, though some Polish men have gone there to fight on their own.

They are a bit worried that if Poland got involved it could cause a nuclear war.

Gas seems to be about $6 per gallon.

You can feel that it is a country on the upswing. One downside is inflation of 10%.

The highways seem to all be toll roads. Not sure how that happened with EU highway subsidies.

They have pretty much the same stuff as the rest of Europe now. US fast food, Spotify, Mercedes, Tabasco. Salaries are catching up and Poles are moving back to Poland from abroad.

They don't like that foreign Poles get to vote even though they don't live here anymore.

They have good beer and even micro breweries.

Restaurant prices are similar to in the US, just slightly cheaper.

Smoking and drinking are much less than when I was here 35 years ago. No one offered me vodka yet, unlike last time when it was even served at breakfast.

Food quality is high now.

komputodo says

Is Rob Reiner: Michael 'Meathead' Stivic famous over there?

No. But they are proud of Polish athletes abroad that I never heard of. A tennis player, a basketball player, soccer players.

Booger says

Ask if they will annex the rest of East Prussia after Russia loses the war and they are forced to return to Russia proper.

They are happy with current borders and don't want any trouble over them.

Ceffer says

Do they blindly hate Russia and Putin against all reason? It seems they have as much reason to hate Germany from history.
Do they think they will be annexing a portion of Ukraine eventually?

They definitely don't like Putin, Russia, or Germany. We just visited a WWII prison in Lodz where the Nazis burned it down with >1000 Polish prisoners inside one day before the Russians arrived.

History is much more real here. Some relatives were killed by the Nazis.

steverbeaver says

I need recipe for exemplary (good) Polish dish that I can make here, and advisement on best Polish beer that I may find stateside. Have a nice trip!

I will try to remember to ask.

They think Victor Orban is a dictator who controls Hungary via money.

They are certain that NATO would win a conventional war.

Oddly, they think NATO is independent of the US.

They seem unaware that the US is declining in power and economically.

richwicks says

Are they aware the US overthrew Ukraine in 2014?

No, they had no idea that the US was involved.

Weed is not a thing. Didn't smell it at all even in Lodz, which is a pretty big city.

No homeless.

No litter, though there are weeds and some graffiti, mostly about rival soccer teams.

They are very pro American and everyone knows someone in Chicago. Many people have been to Chicago.

We are driving to Krakow now. There are a lot of fields of rye. I thought it was wheat but they assure me it's rye. There are also some cornfields. Lots of birch and pine forests.

I asked about tolls vs EU funding, and they said it's both. The EU funded highways have no tolls. Also, the government is removing tolls, but only because elections are coming up in October.

They think that the American system of two parties is bad because then policies oscillate. Their own system seems to be proportional representation, so more consistent.

Poland is more traditional and conservative than the US, so the conservative party is dominant, but they do have liberals.

Everyone who could challenge Nazi power was systematically killed during WWII and I think that has ramifications down to the present day. Basically, all intellectuals were eliminated, leaving a more rural and conservative population.

Patrick says

It's pretty hot, in the 90s.

Any air conditioning?

Patrick says

Everyone who could challenge Nazi power was systematically killed

Everyone who could challenge Communist power was systematically killed.

Patrick says

some graffiti,

What % of the graffiti is in English?

Patrick says

They have good beer and even micro breweries.

Restaurant prices are similar to in the US, just slightly cheaper.

Smoking and drinking are much less than when I was here 35 years ago. No one offered me vodka yet, unlike last time when it was even served at breakfast.

Food quality is high now.

Interesting observation as I was just talking to my father about this. 80 proof was so engrained in the culture. It wasn’t uncommon for families to have vodka on the table at any meal where guests were over.

In western culture it seems crazy and destructive to take shots at meals but this is what we did when I would visit any family. At dinner parties, you’d have some food, someone would toast with vodka and it would repeat. By the end of dinner, you may have 5, 6, 7 shots of vodka! Additionally it was rude to decline.

My understanding is that it is less and less common now as people have more opportunity and therefore value productivity, having a clear head, etc.

As someone that’s watched no shortage of family problem growing up that were triggered by vodka, I’m happy to hear that this trend has been declining in Polish culture.

During the communist era, I do think heavy 80 proof drinking was largely due to misery, poor quality of life, corruption, and lack of opportunity leading to people wanting an escape.

We’ve all been to beer/wine weddings and open bar weddings. By the end of the night, open bar weddings have a very different feel than beer/wine weddings. I caution against 80 proof as I’ve seen on far too many occasions how destructive it could be.

I have some relatives in Gdańsk who say the following

- Putin is monster. There is fear and concern that Ukraine is just first in a sequence of his plan. Therefore Poles don’t want to see Ukraine fall and are in favor of support.

- At the same time, many poles are appalled at the number of Ukrainians that have been taken in, many millions now. Ukrainian presence is everywhere in the larger cities and refugees are getting free healthcare, schooling, jobs etc
Many Ukrainian refugees are well off financially.

Patrick: Tell us about communication.

I found that in the bigger cities, English is common.

What about the small village where your grandmother is from?

I’m fluent and can communicate in either language but think in English.

REpro says

There is noticeable difference. I like Guiness too, but Porter is smoother, stronger and heavier.

Thanks @REpro

I will buy some today.

Patrick says

Oddly, they think NATO is independent of the US.

Show them this:



Patrick says

They seem unaware that the US is declining in power and economically.

Because we are not. In relative terms -- which is how comparisons between nations must be done thereby except in a few exceptions -- we are doing well compared to most of the rest of the world. And that will only get starker as demographic collapse and deglobalization proceeds.

BayArea says

We’ve all been to beer/wine weddings and open bar weddings. By the end of the night, open bar weddings have a very different feel than beer/wine weddings. I caution against 80 proof as I’ve seen on far too many occasions how destructive it could be.

Killed my brother in law. I don't care if it offends anyone, I'm not drinking hard liquor. Ever. I sip light beer. I don't like to get "drunk" and pass out. It's not pleasant. The easy way to do that is with hard liquor. Also it's easier to hide. We didn't know for a decade that the water my BIL was drinking was vodka. 20oz bottle at a time. He'd have multiple at any visit to my sisters house.

I'm libertarian leaning and hate regulation, but I do think hard liquor should be restricted to an extent. Smaller bottles. Your typical handle is a massive amount of booze. Prohibition definitely won't work, but I think a restriction to 750ML bottles would help with aggressive drunks. One bottle per visit. Not sure how you'd track that as you could go to different stores, but handles of booze shouldn't exist in my world. You'll live though a fifth 750ML if you binge it. Not a handle.

I know Eastern Europeans in general liked to drink, didn't realize that they might have it at breakfast. Hard stuff too? That's insane. Mimosa is the highest I go. Then just beer sipping time if I want to continue which is usually a Sunday doing yard work and other house projects and go to bed at 9pm.