Hi. My name is Anya. I have 25 jars old. And I volunteer in project European Corpus Solidarity.
A month has passed of my stay in Poland. Given the situation with quarantine this time is not the best for begin .
But I will start ower.
This is my first time in Poland. And my first impression was mixed.
Arriving in Warsaw I was impressed by the station underground. A lot of new buildings and beautiful design around. It really impressed me! Then I was taken to the apartment. I left the rest of the impressions for later, as my suitcase was too heavy (Oh, this girls).
The flat also impressed me, but not a good way. “I need to pay attention to the good thinks” – I thought and went for a walk in Warsaw. A beautiful urban center with a beautiful architecture. I really liked the mix of modern urban architecture and Stalinist classicism. I am a creative person and I was inspired by the upcoming life in such a city!
In later day I have study day in office Robert Schuman foundation. For the weekend i went to Wroclaw with my friends. It was there, for the first time for me, that my acquaintance with the Polish mentality began. Different people with different characters and opinions. I will briefly talk about this in me blog. I hope I succeed.
Compared with Belarus, the Poles are more measured, unhurried. At the same time, they are more open, more valued by family and friendly relations, more honest. This is both good and bad at the same time. Since for the first time it was here that I came across aggression due to the fact that I do not know Polish. The case was in Ikea in Wroclaw, I wanted to buy food and, since it was the third day in Poland, I read the name incorrectly. As a result, the pretty woman at the checkout changed in the person of “Learn Polish, everyone comes here, they can’t read,” I heard in pure Polish. Very much surprised, explaining from the third time what I want, I silently retired with my food. Belarusians are used to being silent, so for me this is a normal reaction. After asking friends who have been living here for 2 years, I heard about nationalism and the slogan “Poland for the Poles.” It turns out that many people don’t like the huge flow of migrants who hit the country. And the Poles, being able to express their opinions, are not silent about this. This is sad, since I know a lot of people from Ukraine and Belarus who, living here, have learned the language and respect the culture. Their children will already be real Poles. About this aspect, I do not want to leave my opinion. I will not evaluate. I would like the children of these people to travel to another country to never encounter discrimination when they speak Polish. We all must respect each other. And I am glad that most Polish people are different. Open and welcoming.
Why? And here is the first. There I was rude at the checkout counter at Ikea, but here at a nearby store, I was crying out at the checkout and said 2 words in Russian, the Polish women were friendly to me by the translation, saying that she studied Russian at school. She also asked me how much I was in Warsaw, greeted me in Poland. It was very nice. Then I found out that there are a lot of workers from Ukraine in this store. Often I heard how Poles help Polish Ukrainians. Other side? Yes! And there are many more such people. In dealing with such Poles you really feel the difference from your mentality. These are more open, welcoming and hospitable people. I noticed that the Poles are able to create a family atmosphere around them, and getting to know such a person for the first time, you can feel like a long-time friend. This is an amazing feature that I really liked.
Great people work in the kindergarten, where I am a volunteer. From the first day they help me learn the language, are interested in the culture of my country and talk about their own. Also, I think that the presence of a foreign volunteer in kindergarten teaches children tolerance and solidarity. And with the proliferation of such projects, we will all learn to accept other nations and cultures. 🙂