Święconka

Easter.

Just a quick explanation for the ones of you not so familiar with Catholic/Christian traditions.

The Netherlands 

In the Netherlands we have 'White Thursday' followed by 'Good Friday'. On Sunday we celebrate 'First Easter day' followed by 'Second Easter day', which is a bank holiday. I translated the words literally, some might look funny. About this Saturday in between I do not know anything to be honest.

Poland 

In Poland the days around Easter are called 'Wielki Czwartek' meaning 'Great Thursday', followed by 'Wielki Piątek', meaning 'Great Friday' . Then comes 'Wielka Sobota' ('Great Saturday'), followed by 'Wielkanoc' on Sunday ('Great night'). The Monday is called 'Poniedziałek Wielkanocny' (Easter Monday). And, inofficially, 'Śmigus-Dyngus' or 'Lany poniedziałek' ('Wet Monday'). I will publish another post about this phenomenon later.

Summarizing:

Thursday
English: Maundy Thursday
Polish: Great Thursday
Dutch: White Thursday

Friday
English: Good Friday
Polish: Great Friday
Dutch: Good Friday

Saturday
English: Holy Saturday
Polish: Great Saturday
Dutch: Not celebrated

Sunday
English: Easter day
Polish: Great night
Dutch: First Easter day

Monday
English: Easter Monday
Polish: Easter Monday
Dutch: Second Easter day

Baskets
One of the Polish traditions during Easter is called 'Święconka', which takes place on 'Wielka Sobota' (Holy Saturday).
It means "the blessing of the Easter baskets" and is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions on Holy Saturday.

This was totally new for me. I remember that mama Mrs MyWarsawDream came back from Church with this basket.

She showed me its contents and explained that the priest blessed the food inside with holy water. Later we ate this food, the morning after. I remember I could still see some drops of water on a sausage.

So let's go

This year I went to Church myself to have a look how this goes. The basket was prepared containing bread, eggs, salt, kiełbasa (sausage) and a ram. Yes a 🐏. 

You can also put in other things, but the below are most common. 

🔸Bread, the most important. Symbol for           the body of Christ. 

🔸Salt, the mineral giving life.
🔸Baranek 🐏, symbol of victory of good           over bad, life over death. Also symbol of       Jesus resurrecting from death.
🔸Eggs,  symbol of life and fertility.
🔸Radish root, symbol of strength and               good health.
🔸Cheese, symbolizes the harmony                     between human and world.
🔸Kielbasa (sausage), symbol for health             and a good life.

We put our basket on the table, together with all the other ones and a priest started his preach. He was a Dominican, I could understand about 75%. It was just a short preach about Easter, Jesus Christ and about the symbols.

Then he walked around the table and sprayed all baskets and people with holy water. I catched just a few drops but the man next to us was looking like he just returned from a sailing trip. The kids liked it and did not hide their emotions like the adults did. Nice to see.

He then returned to his place and generally wished the people a good time with their loved ones, mentioning the symbols I wrote about.

He also invited us to a room in Church which is the symbolical grave of Jesus Christ. My wife told me that Churches in Poland always have places like this. It was busy, also many people were queueing for confession. Hundreds of them. We had a quick look at the grave and after a moment of silence we walked home.

This reminded me of my childhood in the Netherlands, when churches were still packed full.

Nice.

Getting married: bureaucracy or?

After proposing to Mrs MyWarsawDream (and her saying the magic word), the fun started. After searching online on what would need to be arranged to marry each other in our situation, I was about to throw my laptop out of the window.

How come? 

First of all the websites of the official instances are not very clear. Asking for clarity on expats groups on Facebook was not a very wise decision either. The proces is such a pain in the arse that people tend to forget half after being in that same position, or they have a memory which is just not right ("Oh that was easy", synonym for: my fiancee arranged the stamp by writing, calling, going to three different places, returning to the first one).

You might get the feeling that I am exaggerating a bit here, but lets sum it all up and you decide, OK?

Our situation
Dutch man (residing in the Netherlands), Polish woman (residing in Poland), want to get married. Not in church, but let me come back to that later.

First of all, let me sum up the requirements for a marriage of two EU citizens from different EU member countries, with both countries having their own demands.

The above gives you an idea I think, here we go. 

For the Dutch authorities;

- Act of birth of myself (NL)

- Civil status of my fiancee (PL)

- Sworn translation of civil status (PL to NL)

- Registration of my fiancee in Warsaw (PL)

- Sworn translation of registration (PL to NL)

- Copy passport (PL)

- Act of birth of my fiancee (PL)

- Sworn translation of act of birth (PL to NL)

The Netherlands

After a visit at town hall in the Netherlands they granted me a document which confirmed that I was eligible to marry.

Back to Poland 

In Warsaw we could now go and request marriage, taking the following documents with us. 

- Act of birth of myself (NL)

- Sworn translation act of birth (NL to PL)

- Eligibility to marry (NL)

- Sworn translation eligibility (NL to PL)

- Passport (NL)

- Act of birth of my fiancee (PL)

- ID card of my fiancee (PL)

This all might seem like a quick mention, but it was a struggle. We had to go to so many different governmental buildings that I have lost count. Also we did not realize that we would need so many sworn translations. Many documents were old and were not an international version. And if I recall correctly we even had some international versions translated to Polish.

Ratusz Arsenał

The most frustrating was the moment when one of my documents did not get approved by the civil servant in Warsaw. It was close to metro Ratusz Arsenał. In the Netherlands it is common to use a small word in an act of birth before the place of birth. The word, "te". Like "te Neede" or "te Amsterdam" (in Neede, in Amsterdam). We had the whole bloody document translated inclusive of two stamps, but it was rejected. 

They told us to have it corrected and also we would need to bring a translator in person this time. We were stunned, was this woman taking a piss out of us? Apparently it was mandatory to have a third person with you if one of the lovebirds does not understand Polish. 

I can remember that we were upset by all this. Why a third person? We spoke English to each other the whole damn day! We then switched the button and contacted the translation company again. It had to happen fast as we needed to have this sorted. Suck it up and move on! 

Ratusz Arsenał part 2

The second try was also a tad nerve wrecking. We now had the corrected translation with us and were waiting for our translator. And waited. And waited. Until my fiancee really had to go to work...

And the third try...

Like they say, the third try is a charm. Well, not in our case. We had the corrected document, a translator (cousin of my fiancee), what was wrong now?! 

The issue was that a document of Marital Status is only valid for 6 months, with our desired date of marrying was not available anymore. Our alternative preference was September 16th, but the document of marital status was expiring right before that date.

We had to sign that we would bring a revised document with a new date stamp within 14 days, otherwise no marriage on the 16th of September. 

So there I went again, to the Netherlands to obtain a brand new original with a new date stamp,  they did not accept copies and the Civil servant in the Netherlands required me to come pick it up in person. 

🇵🇱🛫🛬🇳🇱📃🕺🛫🛬🇵🇱

Then we had it translated again, which also requires some days. Meanwhile the clock was ticking, the 14 day deadline was getting closer. 

Then we received a message that the translation was ready, my fiancee dashed to the office to pick it up and went to the city office right after. 

What a relief after bringing it to that city office.  We were so happy, had our wedding ceremony planned on a dream location, in Warsaw's Old Town. Stamped and sorted! 

Permits 

Now that we had the day and time, we had to go to another city office in Old Town, to request a permit for the wedding car, to be able to drive through Old Town and park it for some time. After some time we could pick up two permits. Stamped and sorted!

  

Ceremony 

For the ceremony we also needed to hire a sworn translator for me and my father, who was my witness. She would translate every Polish sentence to Dutch, I could answer in Dutch and she would translate back to the person marrying us. Booked and sorted!  

Next was arranging the location where we would go to after the ceremony, write invitations, bring them in person, plan flights and arrange accommodation for our Dutch guests, etcetera. But that was peanuts compared to our previous adventures. 

Marrying in church would add another level of complexity. I am glad we did not, as I would have gone ab-so-lute-ly nuts by then. One of my classmater had to get re-baptized as the priest did not recognize the one which he underwent in his home country as a child.

But now back to our ceremony...

Drums please

We were happy to sign one more document!

This whole history made us feel so relieved that I nearly swallowed my wife, I can still remember clearly what was going through my head. Something like: "Fuck it all I will kiss you like there is no tomorrow."

WE DID IT!

Well, almost
And one more at the city office in our district (there's always one more) to register the marriage.

I just noticed that it does not even have a couple of stamps on it. Finally, an international document without stamps! They saved the best for last I guess...

And again to the Netherlands

I made an appointment at town hall in the Netherlands, booked a flight, went a couple days after, took the declaration of marriage and had ourselves registered as a married couple in the Netherlands. I was back in Warsaw the day after. 

Bureaucracy?
My Polish teacher spoke the following words after listening to my story:
"They just wanted to make sure that you really loved each other."

Photo by Fox_graf©

She was right.  

The Warsaw barricades

During the second world war, there were more than a 1000 barricades built by civilians. 

For the ones who do not know, with the Polish armed forces losing terrain, civilians formed underground groups fighting against the Nazis, as a non Jewish civilian you were not receiving any "privileges", you could get shot. 

The most famous barricade I read about was very close to where I always get off the bus in the center. Main reason was to build a shield which allowed people to cross one of Warsaw's main streets: aleje Jerozolimskie (Jerusalem avenue). The Germans were just a few hundred meters away in an annexed high building from one side, where snipers shot on people crossing the street; and from the Central Station on the other side.

This Jewish woman explains it clearly. She survived by using the shield of the barricade.

Recently I wanted to have a look myself.
After school I walked via Plac Powstańców Warszawy (Warsaw Uprising square) and ulica Szpitalna towards ulica Bracka. I was getting close.

When arriving at Aleje Jerozolimskie (Jerusalem Avenue), number 23 to be precise, I noticed the below  commemorative plaque.

It shows code name "Bełt" which I knew, but I was sure when I saw the word "Barykady", barricades.

I was there, a very important place in Warsaw's history. Meanwhile trams, buses and cars were passing me, driving like there was no tomorrow; but I just stood there, time stopped for a while...I have soft spot for these kind of things.

Aleje Jerozolimskie crossing ulica
Krucza, ulica Bracka in the background
(left from the Orbis sign).

A bit further the same thing happened to me again when I noticed I was on the place where Aleje Jerozolimskie crosses with ulica Krucza. This exactly was the place where thewoman in the video talked about.

The woman also talked about German snipers, let me try to visualize so that you get an idea about the situation and distances.

Left the building which the Germans annexed. Right the places where people crossed the street with the barricade being their shield.

A bit further to the right the station (not visible), also annexed by the Germans. Bullets came from both sides, but it was vital to be able to cross the streets. In a situation where many citizens lost their lives, there were also many lives saved by building this barricade, it was a road to freedom for some literally.

Pamiętamy - We remember

Promotions in Poland

Promotions in Poland, a true phenomenon. Racks full of products and at least half of them have a discounted price, visible by these little colored "promocja" cards. Poles love 'em promos, that's what I learned over the years.

Promocja! 

Rabat! 

Taniej! 

Super cena! 

Super okazja! 

(Promotion! Discount! Cheaper! Super price! Super offer!).

Just a few terms you see a lot in shops, an awful lot. It almost hurts the eyes sometimes. Just look at it.

In the Netherlands we had promos, surely. But these were just a small selection of the shop's products. Maybe this strategy just works better in some countries, but it always gives me a feeling to be cautious. I tend to turn a tad sceptic as it makes me think that they just do price ups and sell for the standard price.

The topic is not that spectacular to write a blog about, but this week the mother of all promos popped up at our local supermarket. 

I had to blink my eyes a few times, but I had seen it right. They even had a promotion on the plastic bags! I have never seen anything like this before in my life. I only noticed price ups and EU driven environmental awareness campaigns forbidding stores to give them for free. 

Back home I showed it to my wife and she was confused as well, never saw it before either. So this is not something I would describe as normal in Poland, the huge number of promotions is...holy cow.

Fluorescent snake pits. The orange labels are products having a promotion

It's an awful lot of work to manage all these price changes, errors slip through sometimes. From 2.49 for 2.49!

Or this one, a price slash upwards. From 0.88 for 0.89..

You also have these in opposite order, price downs of 0.01 PLN, which is less than a quarter of a Euro Cent.

OK...enough fun for today. 

Seriously, there truly are very good offers in shops, but searching for them is like a needle in a haystack. If you really want to go bargain hunting in Poland it is wise to check the offers online before going to the shop, which many people do. Of course Polish women (especially the babcias) can find their way through these promo jungle shops, but Mr MyWarsawDream does not own this super power. Polish women, heroes without capes!

Have a nice day folks

Breda

A while ago I was walking around Saxon Garden (Ogród Saski). Always when I am there I have a quick peek at the Tomb of the unknown soldier (Grób nieznanego żołnierza). Why? Because it is such an impressing place where history, pride and respect come together.

Tomb of the unknown soldier

In 1923, a group of unknown Varsovians placed a stone tablet commemorating all the unknown Polish soldiers who had fallen in World War I and the subsequent Polish-Soviet war. On April 4, 1925, the Polish Ministry of War selected a battlefield from which the ashes of an unknown soldier would be brought to Warsaw. Of some 40 battles, the battle of Lwów was chosen. In October 1925 in Lwów, three coffins were exhumed: those of an unknown sergeant, corporal and private. The coffin that was to be transported to Warsaw was chosen by Jadwiga Zarugiewiczowa, mother of a soldier who and whose body had never been found.

On November 2, 1925, the coffin was brought to Warsaw's St.John's cathedral where a Mass was held. Afterwards the coffin was brought to its final resting place beneath the colonnade joining the two wings of the Saxon Palace. The coffin was buried along with 14 urns containing soil from as many battlegrounds. Since then, except under German occupation during ww2, guards of honor have continuously been there, next to the tomb stone and eternal flame.

The tomb stone, eternal flame and guards of honor.
Left side: "Breda 1944" engraving

Breda
Every time I'm there I notice more details, like this time when I saw "Breda 1944" engraved on a marble plate.

For the ones who do not know, Breda is a city in the Netherlands. What I knew is that Poland's tank division played a big role in liberating Nazi occupied territory during WW2, mostly below the big rivers in the south part of the Netherlands.

Liberation of Breda

Dziękujemy Wam Polacy
The ones who know me good know that I am loving the game of football and this engraving of Breda in Warsaw brought back a memory. Years before I was watching football, a match between NAC Breda and a team called Polonia Warszawa. A small club from Warsaw. They are playing in the lower divisions and are in the shadow of Legia Warszawa, the team which I support.

I remember a banner made by the NAC Breda fans and could read "Dziękujemy Wam Polacy" in Polish. I worked with many Poles in the Netherlands and learned a few words. I knew it was meaning something like: We thank you Poles.

History
This thankfulness is connected to the liberation of the city of Breda, on the 28th and 29th of October 1944, thanks to the 1st Polish Panzer Division led by general 
Stanisław Maczek.

For me it was very nice to see this gesture, a sign of gratitude and respect towards Poland.  

And yes, Polonia Warszawa lost 3:1. But they are used to that ;-)