Tag Archives: life in Poland
Too Broken to Fix, Too Late to Matter
The Polish government, in its usual cack-handed matter recently passed a bill limited the time that applications could be made for the resitution of property seized by the communist governmen. Contrary to most international media coverage, this is not primarily … Continue reading
History repeating…
Not too long ago there was an outburst of anti-Ukrainian prejudice in one of my classes. A student said she didn’t like Ukrainians, didn’t want them around and wasn’t happy that there are so many of them in Poland in … Continue reading
The Polish Abortion protests in a Nutshell
I have the idea that some might want to know what’s going on with the abortion thing in Poland. Quick and dirty rundown Abortion was legal in the communist period but not common for a number of reasons, some of … Continue reading
Inka Oppression
Aspects of the current political situation in the US remind me of coffee in Poland during the communist period. Polish people loved coffee (too mild a word – they absolutely lusted over it) and the country imported large amounts… to … Continue reading
Being dragged kicking and streaming…
I was very psyched last weekend. The university was preparing to begin classes again as of June 1 and the coronavirus situation is absolutely under control with a small number of deaths (currently averaging about 10 a day with an … Continue reading
Pessimistic about Optimism
One of the more useful, in my experience, ways of understanding cultural differences, especially in Europe, is ‘uncertainty avoidance’. In short, cultures (meaning majority preferences within a society) tend to differ in how they deal with the inherent uncertainty of … Continue reading
Never Enough Busywork…
Since classes were cancelled (beginning March 11) the administration both of the college and the university have been going berserk about making classes ‘zdalne’ (remote). Within the first week my department asked instructors what we’re doing and I answered (basically … Continue reading
Not Enough Degrees of Separation
I had to change offices and realized I have to throw out a bunch of old student work I’d been letting pile up for years (there are good and dumb reasons for that). Due to EU privacy regulations anything with … Continue reading
Different Internal Thermometers
The other day I was leaving home at around 10:30 in the morning. The temperature was 0 celsius. The building I live in has a kind of semi-enclosed courtyard and on one of the balconies I saw a neighbor that … Continue reading
Socialism and Social Relations
I’ve been thinking about grocery shopping experiences lately, especially how they’ve changed in Poland since the communist period. I only spent a couple of months in the People’s Republic (and in a privileged position of a foreigner at that). I … Continue reading
