Tuesday 30 January 2018

Magiel: a disappearing phenomenon

You see less and less of these shops in Warsaw. We noticed this one while waiting on the bus in somewhere in Warszawa Powiśle, close to the Vistula river.


A what?
To be honest I was clueless when my wife asked me to guess what kind of shop it was. In the Netherlands this kind of light is used in public toilets in big cities, so that junkies will not be able to see their veins (If they might have the idea to utilize the toilet for their daily dose). I also saw a woman inside wearing a white apron, but no toilets nor that small plate to put on some money. After a good thought I admitted that I did not have a clue what kind of shop it was.

My wife explained that this shop was a so called 'Magiel'. A place to mangle press your clothes, but mostly sheets, duvets etcetera. What is also a bit awkward is that these shops would apply a price per kilo, not per item. Never heard of it before to be honest, it all sounded a bit medieval to me. 


Tumble dryers
I had the idea that tumble dryers for laundry are not very popular here, just did not see that many when visiting other people's places. I asked my teacher and she confirmed that these dryers are still in 'innovation stage', for the last 30 years ;-)
Another reason is that your sheets will be absolutely wrinkle free and you do not need to iron it. But there was another thing.


Meetings
The Magiel shops were known for the meetings of the women living in the neighborhood, to gossip but also as social control. If the women did not see the old woman of number 117 outside for a while, then one of them would have  a look to see if everything was alright. It is a fact that the current society has become more individual, especially in big cities, but I was positively surprised about social control taking place in apartment blocks. 

Social control
Let me make a short detour to social control. More old people live on their own here compared to the Netherlands. Or with family. We also have a few really old people living in our block, they are not very mobile. In the Netherlands most of them would be in a care home together with other seniors, apart from the stubborn ones. It is nice to see how people help, to get down from the apartment. I am also sure that some neighbours also prepare them a warm meal, as they heavily rely on their children or other family.

Magiel shops
Now back to the subject, Magiel shops. Great places, old school. More than just a shop to get your sheets pressed. Good that they still exist, but I expect to see them disappear from the streets. But surely these women will find another place for their meetings.

Monday 29 January 2018

Seems legit

I previously blogged about a post communist Poland entering the open market economy. Laws and regulations regarding patents and trademarks stayed behind for quite a long time.
Missed it? Click Video games in Poland
Click Adidasy for a quick introduction to footwear in Poland.

2018
The funny thing is that I still see pretty absurd things being sold in Warsaw nowadays, almost 30 years later. And not only on the black market.

A typical bazar stand
Let's have a closer look.

Seems legit...

Trade
Of course we have some illegal trade on black markets in the Netherlands as well, but there it gets surrounded by fear of getting caught. Merchants of fake Nike trainers are constantly looking over their shoulders as they can get in serious trouble with their trade. I know for a fact that Nike Netherlands have a full army tracing and prosecuting counterfeit sellers of their products. A small inventory of lets say 50 pairs of trainers could risk a claim of tens of thousands of Euros, not accepting will result in a court case where the impact to the seller will be even bigger. Respected trademark lawyers will always advise to  immediately settle a fine with the American giant. Always.

Regular retail
The hypermarket phenomenon did not really become succesful in the Netherlands, but here I see tons of them. Tesco, Kaufland, Carrefour, Auchan and E.Leclerc are the big players. I took the below picture at one of the locations of these chain stores.


What you see is a bunch of replicas of Nike's popular AirMax90 model, but without their trademark logo and name.
You will never find these in regular Dutch retail, not a chance. Of course the trademark logo and name are the most important to brands, but also copying designs is not legal and can bring you in big trouble. We even have a subculture which wears these, 'Gabbers.' Like many subcultures they are connected to a music stream, extremely loud, hard and fast house music in this case. Skinheads wear Doc Martens boots, Gabbers wear AirMax trainers.

Trademark laws
It really looks like the laws concerning trademarks are the same by now, you do not see many of the exact replicas on markets. It's the copying of the design where Poland seems to be less strict.
Or it's simply too time consuming to investigate. I expect that jurisdiction is just different, otherwise a big name chain store would never place these on their shelves. Right? I am not too sure :-)

Target market
You will not see many teenagers wearing these, they want the real deal. Or perfect replicas from Ali Express or other Asian online marketplaces. Getting back to the AirMax90 model; I also own some pairs of them. The model has been extremely popular in the Netherlands for around 25 years now and to my surprise I have seen quite some 'babcias' wearing these on the streets (the ones without trademark). You remember babcia right, a grandma with super powers.

Super babcia

The above picture I did not take myself, I do not want to get troubles with babcia.

Learning Polish

In July last year I started to attend classes at the Polish Linguistic Institute in the center of Warsaw (PIJ: 'Polski Instytut Językowy'). Now, 7 months later I passed a couple of exams and am now following the A1.2 course.



A fellow Dutch expat living in Warsaw recommended this school and I did not regret one second of my time there. I did not have to compare prices with other language schools, as the advice came from another Dutchman. The stereotype says that we are tight, on the money. I would prefer to call it that we always want value for money. Like you.

Radio show
The Polish equivalent of my name Vincent would be 'Wincenty'. It is a pretty rare name nowadays, but I noticed a few in Polish media. Like last week on the radio, where they had this game where people could call and win a prize. A woman was asked to conjugate my name in all cases.

The Polish language has 7 cases. 7 singular plus 7 plural. Oh lord. In Dutch it's just Vincent, in any grammatical form.

Hang tight. Concentrate. Focus.

Singular and plural forms of my name in
the 7 Polish cases.

Right. Let that sink in. And breathe on.

The woman won the prize but was really struggling when the radio host started firing cases at her like he was holding an Ak47: 

'Biernik!' 
'Errr errr...Wincentego.' 
'Plural form!,'
'Oh shit oh shit, errr errr Wincentych?' 
'Dopełniacz!'

And this went on and on, this woman was struggling. Big time. In fact it felt good and confirmed that us students are not the only ones who struggle with the language sometimes :-)


Learning methods
The methods used at my school are not unique, but to me these were new. I can remember the first lesson, my teacher did not use one word in English, just Polish. That raised a few eyebrows I can tell you, but it went surprisingly good. The following lessons you really need to prepare good, as you will need to answer questions in Polish.

I knew around a hundred words before starting the course, but I really had to work hard in between lessons to not make myself look like a fool during classes. You can know thousands of words but making sentences is a whole different ball game.

After the first trimester I was ready to introduce myself, on camera: 


The method is proven to be successful, you get thrown into the deep but are not drowning. You are forced to speak Polish,
in a nice way.



Melting pot

Students come and go, my current class is totally different than my first. Classes are always small groups, which is a good thing because it does not give you a chance to dream away. Nationalities of my classmates so far: Chinese, Brazilian, Kenyan, Australian, Lithuanian, US American, Peruvian, Italian and Japanese.

I always arrive early as I do not like to rush. I like to prepare myself with a coffee and talk a little bit with students from other classes. It's funny to see how football connects people. People who know me good know that I am very passionate about it, which resulted in nice chats with guys from Spain, Dominican Republic and Colombia. 
A true melting pot.



Location
The school is located in Warsaw city center.
First I take the bus, as the train tracks are being replaced, a big project which will probably finish later this year.
After hopping off the bus I always choose to walk to Mazowiecka street, where my school is located. Coming from a village, the walk along Marszałkowska street gives me a buzz. That will never change, I cannot explain it. The impressing Palace of Culture and Science, the huge skyscrapers, tons of buses and trams passing, love it. It is a 15 minute walk to school, but I tend to take more time for it. I can remember good that this really old 'babcia' (grandma) overtook me. Only later I found out that Polish babcias have super powers. 



Area
Śródmieście (downtown) is such an amazing district, so much contrast. I had the luxury to spend time for myself after the lessons. I have found, and still find, many hidden gems of Warsaw there. Even places which locals did not even know. There are so many stories that I started to maintain a blog and photo account, where I regularly post content.

Blog: facebook.com/mywarsawdream
Photos: instagram.com/twentewarszawa

You are very welcome!





Monday 22 January 2018

Wars and Sawa

Wars and Sawa, first time I saw these two words was at Marszałkowska street in the center. 




I remember thinking that this was some kind of brand with either an illiterate brand manager or some kind of hip name sounding like Warszawa. Only a year later I read about the legend of Wars and Sawa, and realized that the shop name wasn't so strange.

The legend
There are a lot of legends about Wars and Sawa. They emerged because nobody really knew where the name of Poland's capital came from.

The three I know...

Version one
King Kazimierz Odnowiciel, while on his way from Kraków to Gniezno, came across a fisherman’s hut. The hungry king found his way to the hut thanks to the smoke and the smell of fresh food.

King Kazimierz I
Odnowiciel ('Restorer')
As he was having some fish from the night’s catch, the fisherman told the king the story of his family which had just recently grown bigger thanks to the birth of a twin boy and girl.


The poor fisherman and his wife could not baptise the babies, though, because there was no church in the area. The king, who had really enjoyed the meal, wanted to pay the the family with gold, but they, according to the old Polish tradition of hospitality, refused to take any payment. Then the king asked them for one more favour – he asked to be the twins’ godfather at their baptism that he would organize. An altar was set up on a hill, and a priest commissioned by King Kazimierz named the twins Wars (the boy) and Sawa (the girl). And King Kazimierz announced that Pietrko Rybak (Peter Fisherman) would from then on be called Piotr Wars, the royal fisherman, the father of Wars and Sawa, and the owner of the vast forest. The king also told him that one day, when a village began to take shape near his hut, that he should give it a name derived from his new surname – and that the village would carry that name forever.


Version 2

Another version of the legend says that a long, long time ago there was a tiny hut standing at the shores of the Vistula River. Wars, a fisherman, and his wife Sawa lived there. One day a hunt was organized in the area and Prince Ziemomysł, the owner of the estate, got lost in the forest. He wandered around for many days and nights and he finally reached the fisherman’s hut. Wars and Sawa made the stranger welcome and in the morning the grateful prince said, ‘You didn’t hesitate to take in a stranger and save him from hunger, cold and wild animals. Therefore this land will forever be called Wars Sawa, so your kindness can never be forgotten’.


Warszawa

Version 3
A long long time ago (typical how these legends always tend to start) Poland was covered by wilderness which was full of wild animals and people lived in small settlements. In one of them, on the bank of the Vistula (Wisła) river, li a young fisherman was living. Wars, that was his name. 

One night when he set off in his boat and started fishing a gorgeous woman suddenly surfaced out of water. He was staring at her because she had golden hair, big blue eyes and…a fish tail. At that time when the mermaid rose up singing, the young boy fell crazy in love with her. Since then he always waited for her and listened her songs.



One day, the mermaid noticed Wars and she swam up and asked him: ‘Why are you watching me? ’ 'Ehrr, I’m a fisherman so…’-

‘ I know who you are but…’- said mermaid but she couldn’t say anything more because Wars disturbed her and showed his love to Sawa, her name. She always knew he was there and she was singing for him because she had fallen in love with him as well. 



Then Sawa called a secret to her mind that if a mermaid falls in love with a human she can lose her tail and become human. Wars and Sawa left the Vistula river together and after that the couple lived happily ever after and after many years. Around their cottage, a huge fishing settlement was created, Warsaw.


Bed time stories
The pictures I showed are looking a bit childish but they were taken from children's books. At school the youngest kids learn about this legend and parents buy the book to read with their spouse before they go to sleep.

I bet there are many more versions, I guess where a mermaid protects the settlement as she wears a sword and a shield on Warsaw's crest. Fellow Varsovians please let me know any other versions might you know any!

Saturday 20 January 2018

Video games in Poland

Video games in Poland, a pretty fascinating story, as I experienced the introduction of these games from the west of Europe as a kid.

I have never been a big fan of handheld computer games or consoles, I preferred our Commodore64 in the 80's. But why am I writing about computer games? Well my wife asked me to pose in front of this wall acting like the game's character.



Mural made by the Warsaw Etnographic Museum

She explained this particular game was Russian and very very popular in Poland back then. This game on the wall is called "Cat catching fish" ("Kot łowi ryby").

There were more variants, the one with the wolf catching eggs is the one every 80's kid knows here. Many Poles named the game "Jajka", which simply means "Eggs." 


When arriving at home she installed a clone on her smartphone and we gave it a shot. Fantastic those old school sounds,
good memories. 



Exposition
Later we went to an exposition going back to the year 1988, at the Etnographic Museum in Warsaw. There we found the game in a drawer.


Mrs MyWarsawDream in action

Nintendo
Being born in 1978, you could call me an 80's kid. I remember the hype when Nintendo was introduced in the Netherlands. The Nintendo Entertainment System broke all sales records and lots of kids owned one. I was one of those guys staying loyal to Commodore 64, just like there were many Atari or MSX kids who did not buy a NES. 

Poland

The experience in Poland was totally different, fascinating really. The Polish economy was only just starting to open to the west. One video game console dominated the Polish market. Nintendo’s first home video game system did not arrive in Poland until 1991, sort of. 

They were not available in retail yet. Instead, people went to a local bazaar, where you could find video game consoles being sold next to potatoes, home-made pickles and replica sports shoes. The Nintendo Console was also a replica, you for instance bought a "Funstation" instead of Nintendo's NES.


Free market
After the system wide transformation in 1989, Poles were only just starting to get accustomed to the free market economy. However, the law did not catch up with the changing market.

Intellectual property
Until 1994 there were virtually no intellectual property laws in Poland, which activated the bootleg market to flourish. At bazaars, flea markets and even in regular stores, people could just buy ‘legal’ bootleg clothes, music, films, video games and – thanks to Marek Jutkiewicz's video game consoles. Read that again!

Marek Jutkiewicz
In 1989 Jutkiewicz was a jeans trader. Buying in Taiwan selling in Poland, but that business was not profitable anymore. Looking for alternative trade,  he discovered game consoles during a business trip to Taiwan, 

He started importing the Nintendo bootleg pecifically a bootleg Taiwanese version of the Famicom (the original Japanese Nintendo console for the domestic market). He marketed the consoles under the brand name Pegasus.
 
Pegasus (source: wikipedia)

They did not bother to add an ® mark to the Pegasus logo. It looked like the Nintendo logo and they even mentioned their name on the packaging of the first version. 





Fuck patents!
The lack of intellectual property control laws, led many to believe that the Pegasus was a genuine legitimate game system. 
Nintendo did not seem to care – the NES was never officially sold in Poland (Nintendo did not have official distribution until the late 90's) and the low average Polish income at the time did not help becoming a good market for the electronics giants ftom Japan. 


Games
A video game console is nothing without exciting games and the Pegasus had them from day one. There were ‘168 in 1’, ‘1000 in 1’ and even ‘9999999 in 1’ cartridges.

I had a quick look on Allegro, the Polish  local version of Ebay still shows tons of consoles and games being offered.




Even though the Pegasus was compatible with Famicom (Japanese Nintendo system) cartridges, and also some modified NES cartridges, everyone was playing the bootleg ones. 


The end of an icon
The 1995 European release of the Sony PlayStation, which featured amazing 3D graphics for that time. The market was slipping away.

Still, the Pegasus will always be remembered as the system which introduced a Polish generation to video games and provided them with many happy moments. This in a time when video games were more simple, but no less entertaining.

All in all an amazing story about the time doors to the west started to open after the communistic regime. For me personally this is always a difficult topic, at history or economy classes we did not get much information about this subject. This story was an eye-opener for me, I hope you enjoyed reading it.





Sources: Wikipedia, Culture.pl

Wednesday 17 January 2018

Bazyliszek

The first time I noticed it was at a restaurant at the Old Town Market square. The restaurant's name was Bazyliszek and I remember asking my wife what that creature was.



She explained it was connected to a myth where people got stonified when looking straight into this ugly friend's eyes. The eyes of it were red like you can see.

From another angle:


She then explained that someone came to the bright idea to hold a mirror in front of its face to kill it.

Months later I started to notice more of these on buildings in "Stare Miasto" (Old Town). 




So it was not just one restaurant named after it. That triggered me to find out more about this myth.

The word
The word Bazyliszek comes from the greek word basiliskos. It is sometimes called the king of the snakes - a mythic creature, which appears in legends tales.

Harry Potter
You might have heard of it, J.K Rowling wrote about in her Harry Potter book in which the monster attacked students in Hogwart. Bazyliszek also comes forward in the fantasy book "Forgotten Lands". It is introduced there as big monster, hunting with its nails looking at enemies with a glance look. Also, it is a character of Terry Prachett's book "The world of disc - Sorcery".

What was it?
The Bazyliszek was born from a hen's egg and could reach a very high age. Another legend states that Bazyliszek was a creature born just once every 100 years from a rooster's egg.

OK, a rooster egg...noted.


Furthermore, it looked like a snake. And it showed similarities to a lizard. It could reach up to 15 meters long, it ate birds and mammals and his natural enemy was the spider.

Defending itself it used its cuspids, but the Bazyliszek was mostly feared because of its eyes. The myth says that looking into its eyes would stonify yourself.Some person came to the bright idea to hold a mirror in front of it. The natural element that can kill Bazyliszek is a crow of rooster.

Conclusion is that this myth is not specifically connected to Warsaw. 
And I have not seen one in real yet, so we will be fine I guess.





Sunday 14 January 2018

Słoiki - Jars

"Słoiki" (jars) is an informal term used for incoming residents of Warsaw. The term is derived from jars which are used by many students and workers for carrying food from their parent's house from when visiting during the weekend. They typically come from the towns and villages around Warsaw. Monday to Friday they live in a room or small apartment in Warsaw, enjoying food prepared with love. Mama wants her spouse to eat good in the big city.


My wife and I always make fun of ourselves, when we leave her mother's place with a bag full of food. The soups she always puts in a jar (słoik) for us to take back home. During time we gather quite some empty jars at our place, her soups are truly delicious.


Then the fun starts, we walk with a bag full of empty jars to the city bus and get seated. Being a gentleman I always carry the heavy bags, but with this bag full of empty jars in public transport I sometimes cannot resist. When the driver hits a bump or hole in the road I always shake the bag. My wife did not like it so much at first, as it might have sounded a tad embarrassing in a silent Sunday morning bus.

Poster at my language school.
Stolica means capital city

Humor
I am glad that the Dutch and Polish share the kind of humor where we do not hesitate to make fun of ourself. Now it is a bit of a running gag, great to see the reactions on people's faces. Priceless.

Restaurant
In the center you can also pay a visit to a place named "SŁOIK", just for a drink or for a meal. Some drinks come in a jar and there are a lot of things to watch inside the restaurant.


Very nice place which is fun visiting when having guests from out of town. We also went there when my family visited city center for the first time. 



Very colorful and I remember  they also had old photo prints on walls showing how the area looked like in the past.

What's cookin'?
My kind of place...

Saturday 13 January 2018

Visits to the Netherlands

As this blog has many Polish followers, I thought it would be interesting to read. So this time the subject is not a Warsaw or Poland story.

Visits to the Netherlands
After marrying Mrs My Warsaw Dream and settling in the capital of Poland, I still went back to the Netherlands quite regularly, just for a few days.

Welcome comittee
My best friend and my father were always ready to pick me up, bless them. Most times senior took the dog, which always was heartwarming. The moment Doris the dog picked me up with her senses, there was no escaping from a charge like she was an American football player. Of course the full facial treatment with her tongue was included. Very nice to see that pure happiness, people could learn from dogs really. Make that a should. But without the facial treatment please.

Product flows
A while ago I blogged about the goods flow between the two countries, taking Products to the Netherlands and vice versa (missed it? Click here).

Commodities
Unfortunately there are also products which cannot be taken while travelling, due to its size or weight, exceeding liquid maximums or products which should be chilled to keep fresh. Of course there's the option to vacuum package things, but I did not want that hassle. And find out that it did not finish the trip fresh. Also, a simple jar of peanut butter is not allowed to take in carry on luggage, I love the Dutch variant. Just a little different than elsewhere. I have been thinking to have a box of products shipped to me every few months, but not eating it only when visiting family and friends in NL also hat its charm. It then even seems to taste better!

"Fresh" products
Especially that reason led to the situation that I was like a junkie close to his fix, when walking out the airport terminal. Dutch deep fried snacks and cod, smoked sausage, fries swimming in sauce looking like someone already ate it before you. Lovely.

First stop
The funny thing is that I always hated the fast food and snacks sold at petrol stations, being kept warm on these hot plates. Some of the snacks look like they have been sizzling there for a week, but could not wait for the first one when driving from the airport to my hometown. Greasy or not.

But what exactly?
First gas station: satékroket and bamischijf. Or occasionally a normal kroket.
A kroket is a deep fried crusty snack with a sort of beef ragout inside. They come in many variants like with veal meat or saté sauce (the satékroket).

Satékroket

Normal kroket

Due to our colonial past this Indonesian sauce is very popular in the Netherlands. We also call it peanut sauce, a name despised by people of Indonesian descent in the Netherlands.

A bamischijf is also based on Indonesian food, bami. The Dutch just make a crust around it and deep fry it.

Bamischijf

In my hometown
When arriving in my hometown, I always follow the same routine. Grocery shopping, meet my sis, brother-in-law and my Godchild. For dinner I always go with her to a "cafetaria", also named "snackbar". Order Dutch fries for the four of us and eat together at their home.

Patat Speciaal

The day after
After a day like that it's time for a more healthy day. Nothing really fancy, just the Dutch dishes which my wife prepares perfectly in Warsaw with local ingredients.

Day three
After a healthy day I went for some small groceries end of the morning. At the nearest Supermarket there is always a fish truck on Fridays and Saturdays, selling fresh raw, smoked and deep fried fish. Sometimes I just could not resist the smell of that delicious fried cod...

Lekkerbekje, deep fried cod
For dinner later that day it was always a good healthy meal. If I stayed longer I did not eat any more of this fast food.

Snack culture
I want to bet some of you are pretty shocked seeing this, but for the majority of Dutch it is normal to have this kind of food once a week. It's a lot of deep fried stuff indeed, but it's always better than the English kitchen! ;-) Well...apart from their full English "brekkie"

Soon I will blog about Polish fast food, which is totally different.

Stay tuned folks!

Statistics

Just some statistic I posted a couple of months ago: Pretty amazing isn't it? Lets go over some other ones, not necessa...