I have been living in Warsaw for 4 months and I really like this city with green parks, interesting museums and beautiful riversides of Wisła. Learning Polish language I discovered for myself very cool Polish comedies like “Rejs”, “Miś”, “Matka brata mojego syna”, “Kebab i horoskop” and others. I like Polish memes and Polish sense of humor.
But I find some things in Warsaw sometimes funny, sometimes strange and crazy, and sometimes just cute. And this is my collection of crazy things in Warsaw. By no means of offending the locals, this is just my vision of the other side of Warsaw.
Warsaw marketing
Polish shopkeepers like to name their stores using the word “World”: “World of the book”, “World of sweets”, “World of shoes” and even “World of the bathroom”. But my favorite name is “World of alcohols” (“Świat alkoholi”). I see this store every day going to my kindergarten and it makes my day. But what are there in that store? Rivers of vodka, shores of beer and mountains of tequila? I don’t know, but I really want to know.
Of course you know Żabka (“frog”) and Biedronka (“ladybug”) – the largest grocery chains in Warsaw. But their names still make me confused. Unfortunately there are no Aligator stores in Warsaw – another one large grocery chain in Poland. It could keep them a good company.
Are you an animal rights fighter or a meatlover? Doesn’t matter if you are in Warsaw. You could buy vegan food and kebab at the same place. Rondo Waszyngtona is the place without any stereotype. But why does it seem strange to me?
What do you expect to buy in the church? The Bible, saint icons or the Cross? But what about “angel ice-cream”? I don’t think that it’s a good idea.
And of course, children should know about death. Therefore, the advertising of funeral services should be placed near the playground.
What do you think about Ukrainian cuisine? Is it borsch, dumplings or pancakes? Auchan believes that Ukrainian cuisine is roasted nuts and black seeds. I really miss Belarusian food, but I’m very happy that there is no “Belarusian cuisine” in Auchan.
In love with Maluch
Poles love their cars, there are a lot of fiats in Warsaw. But perhaps, the most favorite for the Poles is Fiat 126 or “Maluch”, that means “baby” in Polish. It was very popular car during the days of Communist Poland. Poles were not rich at that time, and Maluch was truly their treasure. Every Polish boy dreamed of such a car.
But maluch is still popular in Poland. I saw many maluchs on the streets of Warsaw and even on a parking near my house.
I also like maluch and I think that love to maluch is the cutest feature of Polish people.
Praga-Północ
People from Praga-Północ district use to say: “I’m going to Warsaw” when they are going to other bank of Wisła. And they are right. Praga-Północ doesn’t look like other districts of Warsaw. First of all, because of its architecture. There are a lot of the buildings that survived after World War II. That’s why Praga-Północ is a bohemian area with buildings of the XIX century.
But the locals are very strange here. You can meet many bums, hooligans and alcoholics, who can say “hello” to you. Greetings to passers-by is a local tradition in Praga-Północ and it’s nice. But local people do not always follow Polish laws, they can drink alcohol right on the street, throw outdoor parties and break any prohibition. For example, you can see locals using street gyms because the quarantine is not a reason not to train for them.
I can’t say that Praga Północ (especially Stara Praga) is a safe place. I advise you to keep silent walking by Brzeska street if you don’t speak Polish. It will be better, just believe me. And don’t forget to answer “dzień dobry” if someone greet you.
Anyway Praga Północ is a really interesting place and I recommend to visit it but, please, do it in the daytime.
Dreses and blacharas
Dresiarze or just dreses is a youth subculture, common among Polish hooligans. The name of subculture comes from the word “dres”, that means “tracksuit” in Polish – favorite clothes of Polish hooligans. The girlfriend of dres is called blachara. And blacharas also are not very nice people.
Once Elmira and I were returning home by tram. At one of the tram stops some dreses and blachara entered the tram. There were pizza, beer and stereo with Polish swearing rap in their hands. They sat down, started eating pizza, drinking beer and shouting rap words. Then the tram driver couldn’t stand it, he got out of the cab and told them to stop, otherwise he wouldn’t drive the tram. But they only said: “Let’s drive like you drove”. The driver returned to the cab, and they went on. After a few stops they got out of the tram. The Polish woman, who was sitting behind us, said that it all was because of coronavirus, but I can’t agree with her.
There are also hooligans in my country. We call them gopniks. But they never allow themselves to behave this way in the public places, because they will get to the police very quickly. But in Poland dreses feel completely free and it makes me confused.
Warszawa Zachodnia. Is it Poland or Ukraine?
Warszawa Zachodnia is the place where even pigeons speak Ukrainian. And it’s not a joke. There are Ukrainian speech and advertisements in Ukrainian everywhere at Warszawa Zachodnia. When I’ve arrived in Warsaw for the first time, my Polish was terribly bad. I decided to have breakfast at the cafe at Warszawa Zachodnia, but I couldn’t ask about vegetarian dishes. When the cafe worker had noticed that I had problems with Polish, she started talking to me in Ukrainian. So I made an order in my broken Ukrainian and I was incredibly happy.
Crazy shopping
It was not the Armageddon and not an economic crisis, when shelves in Warsaw markets were rapidly emptied and there were long turns to cash desks. It was only 25 cases of coronavirus in Poland.
I understand that Poles lived in a communist country and they know what empty shelves in stores are, so they were seized by such a panic. But I’m also from a post-communist country, and and I don’t understand these behaviors. Poland has a stable economy and I think it’s enough food for everyone.
And some other crazy things…
The presidential election in Poland during the coronavirus became a test for the political system of Poland. Some people even started talking about the political crisis. And it isn’t known yet who will become the next president of Poland, but one of the candidates has already become my senpai.
Polish hospitality knows no bounds, but you may hardly want to visit some places …
And finally … I very often see white dogs near this store. Probably warzywa attract them:)
