are you polish?

This week's theme: What's a culture you like and why do you like it?

The original plan for this theme was a little weirder and while I do not endorse that theme, I will say that I have numerous times, on the record, said that I would take my spouse's last name if I married someone with a "cool Polish surname." You know, like Wojciechowski or Czarnecki or Sobczak. Anna also got me a book called "The Essential Guide to Being Polish" which I have not made nearly enough headway in but which I do hope to read at some point.

I don't really have a good reason for why I like Poland, but I just think a lot of Eastern European countries have really interesting cultures, especially countries that once had large Jewish populations, like Poland. Poland used to be a center for Jewish culture in Europe, and of course those Jewish communities were heavily targeted during WWII, as Nazi-occupied Poland became home to some of the most infamous sites of cruelty during the Holocaust, including the Auschwitz complex in Oświęcim. The parts of Poland that were not occupied by Germany during WWII pretty much all were occupied by the Soviet Union. There's a really powerful and of course very painful history there. I don't know enough about the history of Poland or how its Jewish population recovered from the events of World War II, but it's definitely a subject I want to learn more about (I wish I had made time to take a Jewish Studies course at Smith before I graduated but I'm not sure if I'll have time unfortunately, so I'll have to just educate myself more on my own.)

Beyond the history that makes me interested in Poland, I think I'm also so interested in Poland because it's a pretty big country in Europe that you rarely hear anything about. I don't honestly know anything in Polish and I don't know anyone who's Polish (at least anyone Polish who has a real connection to Poland and Polish culture). That probably speaks more to my own insular communities, but I think it just makes more interested in Poland. I wrote this whole oral exam script in Korean about an imaginary trip to Krakow, which is the cultural capital of Poland, and I got really into looking at all the images of the city of Google images. It has a lot of medieval architecture still in place and a large Jewish quarter (which also has the Museum of Municipal Engineering!) I'd like to actually be able to visit some day.

look at those horsies :0

Also, I just have to say that Polish sausages are way better than German ones in my experience. In DC, we went to this German cafe and my dad, my sister, and I all got samplings of sausages and I was the only one who got the Polish kielbasa. It certainly bested the bratwurst, weisswurst, knackwurst, etc. Kielbasa just hits different. I've always thought that Polish food is just like Russian food but actually tasty, and I stand by it in my very limited experience. I definitely want to try more Polish food.

pierogi, of course :')

Anyway, that's me and Poland! Unlikely bedfellows, I know, but someday I hope to visit her and experience all that the great land of Po has to offer. Dziękuję Ci!!

Other than that, my birthday was this past week! I am 21, which means we're all legal now (in case you were wondering). I went to Plymouth with my dad, here's a few pictures :^)

the mayflower, new and improved

miss plymouth rock is definitely a little worse for wear but she's 400 so i think it's ok that she shows her age a bit

if we all believe this picture isn't crooked and poorly cropped, maybe we can it real. hex hex~