Friday Oddities

A collection of amusing videos for you today from around the world.

Knut, the famous polar bear of the Berlin zoo, died suddenly about a month ago. A controversy is still going on about his fate after death, but here's his famous, ridiculously sweet song once more:


Japan explains the nuclear crisis to kids using Nuclear Boy's stomachache.


"How I Met Your Mother" Russian remake... watch for very blond, tall Lily.



Finally, in honor of Passover, what if Moses had facebook?

Smoleńsk: A Year Later

A year ago today, the plane carrying Polish President Kaczyński, his wife, and countless other senior officials in the Polish government crashed in the forests of Smoleńsk, Russia. The leaders of the Polish government were on their way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyń massacre. All 96 people on board the plane were killed. Many consider this one of the worst tragedies Poland has suffered since World War II.

The tragedy has since become politicized, including the debates over a cross in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw, where Kaczyński should be buried*, the heated divisive politics of twin brother Jarosław Kaczyński and others, and even clashes over the wording of the memorial plague and how the solemn anniversary should be commemorated. Relations between Poland and Russia, which initially seemed to thaw, have since returned to a questionable state, though leaders from both countries continue to commemorate the 2010 Smoleńsk tragedy as well as the 1940 Katyń tragedy this year.

* Rather than being well-loved by all, he was a rather divisive figure, yet he was buried with Polish kings and heroes in the Wawel Cathedral of Kraków, a place considered to be THE heart of the Polish nation

Shut it Down

The deadline for a likely federal government shutdown in the U.S. is rapidly approaching. 5.5 hours remain, and counting...

It's late for me, so all I will say is this. If it's an issue of disagreement on spending as Republicans claim, then our politicians really need to get their acts together (but we knew this already), and they should start acting on the proposition that's floating around on some social media sites that all elected officials take a 20% cut to their own salaries for each day that they can't reach a compromise. Wishful thinking, but still.

But if it's like Democrats claim and the impasse is the question of Planned Parenthood... well, I'm at a loss. I believe in women's equality and women's rights, but I'm against abortion. That being said, I support Planned Parenthood. How many times does it have to be said that federal money is not and CANNOT be used to fund abortions?! Instead, the money to Planned Parenthood is used to fund basic rights of women for health, including screenings for breast and cervical cancer, HIV testing, treatment of STDs and more. And yet, according to the Washington Post, Republicans are claiming that "federal funding for those services frees up more private funds for abortions". You have got to be kidding me. Federal funding for those services also frees up women's ability to, you know, pay for food and bills and care for the children that they do have.

I do not support everything that Planned Parenthood does, especially if the stories are true that some employees coerce women going through a difficult time to have an abortion. But at the same time, I do not support the so-called "emergency pregnancy centers" started by anti-abortion groups that provide only limited information to pregnant women, and, in the end, provide no help to her to give a healthy life to her child.

The abortion debate in the U.S. has reached an impasse, much like the budget debate in Congress. The situation has been polarized to for and against, with no middle ground. And yet, how are pro-lifers protesting outside of abortion clinics (or worse, bombing them) helping life? If pro-life activists and politicians are truly pro-life, where are the programs to actually support women and their children after they are born? Pro-life does not stop after the child leaves the womb, but indeed, this is perhaps the time when the life needs even more attention and support. Similarly, pro-choice advocates and politicians must reconcile with the facts of science that there is indeed a separate creature in the womb from the early days of pregnancy with all the early features of a full-grown human being. This is a separate life, not simply an extension of the woman's body. Is it really simply her right to decide what happens to this separate creature? But if it is not solely her right, then society must provide the support necessary for her to care for it and be able to continue her life fully while providing for another. Unfortunately, I can't see this happening any time soon.

In the end, I must conclude that a proposal to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood is decidedly anti- pro-life. The services that are funded are those very services (limited though they are) that enable women to have a healthy life and care for the children that they bring into the world. Isn't that what pro-life means?

EDIT: Also, mind you, this whole debate is only $80 million in the federal budget. In terms of the federal deficit and other federal spending, that is mere pennies! Yes, a penny saved is a penny earned, but have you looked at our defense budget recently?


*And I haven't even touched on the correlation between birth control and dramatic increases in women's equality in developing (and developed!) countries.

A Glimpse of Erasmus in 30 Seconds

So many languages from all over the world, same message. Because washing machines live longer with Calgon.



Calgon jingle sung by native speakers in: Romanian, German, Italian, Polish, French, Portuguese, and Croatian.

Today's News

Mubarak is out, and the results of the referendum of Southern Sudan are in.

Edit: here are some amazing pictures during the revolution (via FB) and jubilation after.

Life Lessons

The water in Poznań is not exactly clean. Even the locals don't drink it. It doesn't contain pathogens or other deadly substances (as far as I know), but everyone buys bottled water. Maybe it's because the pipes are old, maybe it's because Poznań is far from any mountains, or maybe it's because it just doesn't taste good. My green sentiments were revolted by the idea of buying so much bottled water, but when in Rome, sometimes it's best to do as the Romans do.

The sanitary situation of the water was most evidenced by my electric tea kettle. After only a month of boiling the local tap water, I was repulsed by metallic pieces that started to chip away from the interior bottom of the kettle and float in the hot water. First the flat shiny metal bottom became dull, then brown, then green, then brown again with a greenish hue. I almost bought a new kettle until some friends assured me that this would happen to any hot pot boiling Poznań water and that the unknown substances that flaked off the bottom were harmless. Good thing the spout has a filter to keep them out of my tea cup when pouring. Still, I thought I might be slowly killing myself with carcinogens of some sort.

Today, that changed at last. After making a few volcanoes of baking soda and vinegar that did nothing to clean the inside, a friend suggested simply boiling the vinegar and letting it sit. And WOW. What a difference! I wish I had before and after pictures. For the first time in six months, I can see shiny metal again, and I don't feel like I'm dying by drinking tea!

So maybe the moral of this story is to always have vinegar on hand to clean things. Or to not wait six months to ask for help. Or to not drink the tap water in Poznań.

The only downside is that now my room reeks of vinegar.


As a side note, the tap water in Gdańsk is delicious, so it might only be the more central parts of the country (no mountains) that have a tap water problem.

Lech Poznań: Kolejorz!

The latest TV-spot for Poznań's football/soccer team.

Time-Lapsed NYC

Another video of a city: A beautiful glimpse of New York City in three minutes. This one definitely deserves a full screen.

NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

Poznań from Above

Here's a third video of Poznań from the brilliant filmmakers of Poznań, I Love You. This one includes shots of the Cytadela (park), Stary Browar (shopping mall), the Rynek and the famous clocktower goats, the Lech Poznań football team, and even the Swięty Marcin parade.

Wigilia and Polish Christmas Traditions

Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone has had a very relaxing and joyous holiday. Christmas is a very important holiday in Poland, but unlike the traditions for many families in the US, the most important celebrations for the Poles occur on Christmas Eve, or Wigilia (the Vigil).



The family gathers in the evening, but traditionally the feast only begins when the first star has been sighted in the night sky. Pieces of hay have been placed on or under the table to remind of the manager and Christ's humble beginnings. Additionally, an extra seat is always left open with the place set; depending on the family, this symbolizes either Polish hospitality and the openness to any guest who may knock on the door or an open seat in remembrance of those family members and friends who have passed on or could not be present.

After the sighting of the first star, the meatless Wigilia feast begins with the sharing of opłatki Christmas wafers. Each guest at the dinner takes one whole wafer and goes around to every other person with wishes for the new year. Wishes may be as simple as "wszystko najlepszy!" (all the best) or very personalized and detailed. After saying the wish for the other person, the pair break off pieces of each other's opłatek and eat the pieces. It is bad luck to skip someone, so guests are sure to exchange wishes with every person.

The Wigilia meal proper begins, as with any Polish dinner, with soup. Red barszcz (borscht) with uszka, small tortellini-shaped dumplings filled with mushrooms, is the tradtional Wigilia choice. The soup is followed by a large number of dishes (often a symbolic number, such as 7, 12, or 13) including carp, pickled herring, pierogi (with cabbage inside), sauerkraut, a fruit compote drink, and of course, lots of pastries and other desserts. Carp has become the signature dish of the Polish feast, and fresh carp is a must! Most families buy a living carp (or several) in the days before Christmas and let it live in fresh water in the family bathtub for a few days; this will cleanse the carp of any muddy tastes. I've met a number of Poles who speak of traumatic experiences as children when they named the carp and then saw it be killed. The most innovative way I've heard of killing the carp involved a bathtub and a communist-era hairdryer.

During the dinner, Santa Claus/Father Christmas/the Christchild delivers gifts, and the family exchanges and opens the gifts after the meal. Sometimes games or played or songs are sung, but finally, the celebration concludes with the midnight Christmas mass at the local church.

Christmas day is generally a relaxing day with family time and delicious food (of course!), but the main Polish traditions apply to the night before.


Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku 2011!

Christmastime in Poland

December is, of course, a very busy time of year with all the preparations for Christmas, and I'm afraid that I've neglected my blog terribly. My days have mostly been filled with teaching, visiting as many Christmas markets as possible, and packing for a pan-European holiday week (actually, only PL, UK, and NL, but still).

I shared the American classics How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with my students and European friends. I've been amused to learn that apparently the media tradition in most European countries, especially Poland, is to watch a different movie on Christmas: Kevin Sam w Domu (Home Alone)!

Also, besides these American imports, Poles generally do not have secular Christmas songs or stories, and the holiday remains very strongly tied to religion. Every town has a grand nativity scene beside its Christmas market. (Though my favorite has been in Toruń, where the Christchild was surrounded by artists and other historical figures). And one of the most beautiful Polish Christmas carols that I've heard is a lullaby sung by Mary to the baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas, and Wesołych Świąt!
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Finally, on an unrelated note, the Telegraph wrote this great travel article about Poznań in a nutshell: Poznań, the Birthplace of Poland

Andrzejki - Feast Day and Fortune Telling

Today, November 30, is the feast day of Saint Andrew, the apostle who is generally considered one of the first who preached Christianity in this region of the world. Because Andrzej is a popular name, this feast day is also the name day for many Poles.

However, the feast of St. Andrew is most famous for the superstitious traditions that take place after nightfall. Generally for children (though I've also seen a lot of clubs taking advantage of the holiday to advertise special events for an otherwise dull Tuesday), these traditions form the night is known as Andrzejki in Polish. For example, young girls pour hot wax through a key into a bowl, and the shape that forms is supposed to be the face of her future husband. Additionally, if a person remembers a face from his or her dream during the night of Nov. 30-Dec. 1, this is the face of his or her future spouse. Though traditions vary by country, here's a full list of some of the Polish superstitious traditions that I've heard. No one takes the superstitions seriously, but they have a lot of fun with them.

I've yet to figure out why St. Andrew is tied with these fortune telling traditions. It might simply be the time of year. Indeed, some of the clubs are advertising that Andrzejki is "the last time to have fun before Advent." (although this year Advent has already started...)

Animated Guide to Polish Success

Humorous Depictions of History

Cross-posted from Transitions 21

For a humorous interlude...

Here's the Economist's take on what would happen if World War I were a bar fight. This is one way of understanding the complexities of WWI by applying it to a more simplified and perhaps common scene. Also check some of the links in the comments to the Economist's post.

Similarly, here's the continued version that leads to the World War II bar fight.

All of this reminded me of this excellent comic with characters for every country and a colloquial picture and humorous interpretation of World War II. Poor Poland.

Of course, wars are no laughing matter. But for all the history buffs out there, the divergence into humor can sometimes provide more illumination to the complex facts of history.

Independence Day and more

Happy Polish Independence Day!! Even Google has paid tribute to it.



Also, Poznań has another holiday today. In honor of feast day of the saint of the main boulevard, Św. Marcin, it's St. Martin's Day! There will be a big parade down the boulevard later in the day as well as other festivities.



Also, as a special food for Święty Marcin, which is now available in Poznań only year-round, I will be eating a lot of these today:

Rogal Świętomarciński (sorry, there's no Wiki page in English)

And a Happy Veteran's Day to everyone back home! Thank you to all the soldiers for your service.

New Blog Project

Through a generous travel-grant from my university, I've been given the opportunity to travel throughout Central and Eastern Europe to examine current 21st century perceptions about the communist past and the recent decades of transition in Central and Eastern Europe. After much delay, I've finally launched a blog project for this purpose (entitled Transitions 21).

I'll be focusing mostly on my observations and studies within Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and hopefully also the Baltic and Balkan states, but I also intend to examine the perception of other countries, especially my native USA, toward this period of history and the Central and Eastern European region.

WM will continue to be my personal blog, and Transitions 21 will solely focus on this travel-study project for the next year or so.

Check it out: Transitions 21

1 Nov: All Saints' Day

Junikowo Cemetery
Poznań, Poland





Every. Single. Grave was cleaned and covered with beautiful flowers or fresh boughs and candles.



In keeping with Polish tradition, family members traveled long distances the days before (and after) All Saints' Day in order to gather at the cemeteries on Nov. 1 and pay respects to their deceased loved ones and relatives.





The cemeteries were extremely crowded, though it may not appear to be the case in my pictures. So as not to disturb the families on this solemn day, I only took photos in areas away from the other visitors.




Thousands of candles at the Katyń memorial



Coming soon: The night of candles.

Halloween Abroad

I'm sorry to say that I did not get a picture of myself carrying a 20kg (44lb) pumpkin on the public tram last night. It was quite a feat. And perhaps even funnier than seeing me struggling with the beast was the reactions from the people around me. Children were pointing in curiosity, and adults were laughing at the absurdity. It was clear that it is not every day that people walk around Poznań carrying large pumpkins, not even on the day before Halloween. Happily, we did successfully carve it (as you see on the left), though we had to use a dinner knife to do so.

Halloween is not a major holiday in Poland. Granted, many of the larger stores have a small corner for Halloween decorations, and a few of the clubs, bars, and restaurants did have Halloween-themed events or parties, but generally it is all on a much smaller scale than might be expected in the US. I have found a fair number of pumpkins in supermarkets, but most are pre-cut into quarters, and even the whole pumpkins are rather ugly and strangely shaped-- much better for cooking than for carving. Some places do have small jack-o-lanterns on display, but it seems that they are generally purchased pre-carved. I have yet to see a child dressed in costume, though a rather ghastly-clad trio of adults was handing out candy in the Rynek two night ago. I have not heard of anyone who goes trick-or-treating, though whether this is because it is an outlandish idea or whether it is because neighbors simply do not have candy on hand for the children, I cannot say.

Instead, I think one of the big reasons that Halloween is not widely popular in Poland is because of the immense importance of the day after-- November 1, All Saints Day (Wszystkich Świętych). To mark this holy day, Poles travel all over the country to visit their hometowns and the graves of their relatives. (Thus, the days before Nov. 1 are always the busiest travel days of the year in Poland). Family members visit the cemeteries, clean the graves, and add flowers and candles. To make the holiday a little bit less stressful, many cities, including Poznań, add extra public transportation services directly to and from the cemeteries to accommodate the huge crowds of people. Tomorrow I intend to join the throngs journeying to the cemeteries, but for now, have a happy All Hallows' Eve!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

If someone has visited Poland, chances are they've been to Kraków. Perhaps they've also been to Warsaw. Maybe Gdańsk (but probably not). But the longer I'm here, the more I learn about gems that are hidden below the surface and off the beaten track (or at least, off the radar of most American and Western European tourists). The following list is a work-in-progress that I will continue to add to as I learn more. In no particular order, here's just a few of the amazing places I would like to visit:

• Przemyśl, Krasiczyn Castle, and the Bieszczady mountains (also Lviv, Ukraine, which is just across the border)
  
• picturesque Kazimierz Dolny
  
• Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains -- a hugely popular summer and winter destination for Poles, but a place I had never heard of before coming here
  
• Białowieża Forest-- huge primeval forest in eastern Poland and western Belarus. They have bison!
  
• Toruń, a red brick city from the days of the Teutonic Knights, has fantastic gingerbread. Also, Copernicus was born here.
  
• Lancut castle
  
• Gniezno, the first capital of Poland, and today famous for its cathedral doors
  
• Warmian-Masurian lake region
  
• Malbork castle near Gdańsk, headquarters of the Teutonic Knights and the largest Gothic castle in Europe
  
• Częstochowa, famous for the Black Madonna icon
  
• German bunkers in Miedzyrzecz area
  

And of course, the cities:

• Poznań, Lublin, Wrocław (whose Old Town is connected by 100 bridges), Katowice, Łódź, Szczecin, and more!

Here's a Map of Attractions from Stay Poland.com

Poznań Marathon 2010

Poznań Marathon, 10.10.10
from Aleja Niepodległości
runners from all over the world and all ages












And last but not least, my favorite participant, and the last runner of the day: