2 years in Poland

Graffiti in Centrum

Two years ago I wrote about my decision to move to Poland. I was enthusiastic to learn Polish in the beginning but my language learning motivation decreased little by little. Therefore I never learned fluent Polish but at least I can speak a little. I decided not to extend my contract and therefore I am going to Finland for one month. I do not know yet what I will do or where I will go after the holiday in Finland. At the moment I am considering and looking for different options. Lets see what the future will be.

Skiing in Georgia

On the top

Last week I did a skiing trip to Gudauri in Georgia. The skiing resort has marked routes over 50 km and the top stations is on the height of 3007 meters. This was the first time I was skiing on a big mountain. My previous skiing experience is mainly from short but steep slopes of Finland.

It was foggy on the first skiing station and you could not see very far away. I was very impressed when I reached the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain you could see amazing landscape, clouds below and sun shining brightly. From the top it was possible to go down on steep slope covered with powder snow reaching your knees. It was the first time that I could enjoy skiing in powder snow. There are many possibilities to ski in powder snow. You can take a helicopter ride to the top of one of the many mountains in the area.

Salary differences between Poland and Finland

I have few Finnish friends and foreign friends working in a service desk job in Poland. From them I found out that you get paid very well in Polish standards. Before I have also written about the job opportunities for Finnish speakers in Poland. I decided to study the topic little more and compare the salary of service desk worker to the salary of a doctor in Poland. Click "read more" and find out the exact salaries.

Strange Finnish culture

Today I read an interesting post "here's why other countries think you're weird". In a chapter called "a confused Indian in Finland" is an interesting story how Indian business man was confused because of the lack of personnel/service in a high-class Hyatt hotel. Then one commentator in the post tells how he was confused how men do not even hold door for women which seemed pretty rude to him.

Top Posts 2014

Art in Lodz

I have been even less productive in posting than last year. I have picked still my favorite posts from this year.

1. I realized that in Poland there a lot of job opportunities for people who speak different European languages.
2. Traveling is not necessarily glamorous even though everybody seems to love it
3. Early maternity leave in Poland
4. Holiday to Georgia was unforgettable
5. My point of view to beauty of Polish women

Top posts from the previous years 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010.

Polish Christmas Table

It is Christmas time and I will introduce what you can find in a Polish Christmas table. Now in supermarkets you can find a big fish pool. The fish pool is filled with carps. Interesting that in Poland carp is considered a good fish to a festive table as my granddad would not eat carp because he considers it trash fish. Also families like to prepare big amount of dumplings which can be eaten during Christmas days. There are many things on the table but meat is not eaten traditionally on the 24th of December.

Probably the most interesting tradition is to prepare a seat and plate for an unexpected guest. It is not common to receive an unexpected guest to the Christmas table but still the place is prepared.

Hairy Comic Strip

In the beginning of January 2013 I wrote that I had little project to create comics based on my experiences outside of Finland. Finally I will release the first strip. The idea behind the first strip is the most popular post of my blog titled Hairy.

Learning Polish

Clueless alien

Polish is known for being one of the most difficult languages to learn. That would be a good excuse to say why I have not learned to speak fluent Polish in 1.5 years. Despite the reputation of Polish being a hard language I believe that I could have learned it in this time. I can speak some Polish and I can have a conversation in Polish. I believe that I could actually fully live in Polish if I would be patient enough to speak only in Polish and also communicate with friends who would be patient to listen me speaking slowly Polish.

Before coming here I was aware that the biggest obstacle for me to learn Polish would be that I end up spending time with people who do not speak Polish. I wanted to learn Polish and I still ended up spending my free time mostly speaking other languages than Polish. It was just much easier to live and rely on the languages I already know. I have been living in this bubble of foreigners in Poland and therefore have not learned to speak fluent Polish.

Eating in Georgia

Chicken salad, gomi & sacivi with chicken and khinkali

In Georgia there is a habit to usually share the food when you eat in a restaurant. Everybody can order what ever they want but plate is not brought directly in front of the person who ordered it. Instead waitress brings an own empty plate and cutlery to everybody around the table. When the order is ready it is brought to the middle of the table and everybody can take little portion to their own plate. This way everybody can taste many different flavors.

Seemed that in Georgia Coke is not as popular beverage as in many other countries. Instead of Coke Georgians like to drink lemonades with different flavors produced by local companies. Georgian wine or beer is also commonly consumed with the food.

Kazbegi

On the top of Kazbegi, Gergetis Sameba

Today we went to Gergetis Sameba monastery on the top of Kazbegi mountain. This time traffic did not seem as crazy as in the first time even though our driver was passing constantly cars in front of us. The road was in better shape than between Kutaisi and Tblisi. In the last post I forgot to mention that cars are constantly honking the horns. Once we faced the road going up to the mountain with the monastery I experienced the most bumpy ride of my life. The car had to go really slowly because of the extremely bumpy road. Finally when we reached the top of the mountain the view was amazing.