Barbara about top three Polish words

Wedding, baby and bad are the most common Polish words. A month has passed since I came back from Amsterdam and since then I hear those words everywhere. It is so contrary to party, beer and bicycle that are the top three for the Dutch. I am not going deeper into analysis. I just feel that for someone like me who is kind of in the middle of those two poles the best would be to settle down in… Germany. Fortunately/unfortunately I don’t speak the language:P

The reality is so much different in Poland than in the Netherlands. I am not saying that Polish people do not party. Believe me, we know how to party hard. It just seems to me that most of the parties are called weddings, especially among the group of people age 25-30. What I perceive as quite young age, compared to the West. If someone is not planning his own wedding, or, being a woman, thinking how to make this only one propose, then probably one is talking about the friend’s wedding or any type of wedding he saw as there is a wedding season. To be trendy – one should talk or take part in a wedding! It is crazy. Don’t understand me wrong, I am not against (or maybe I am but I don’t want to discourage anyone who is happy and thinks that this is the best thing to do). I just think it is too much. Speaking about weddings, my best friend is getting married next month so I will attend one:) In the end, I am in Poland;)
Wedding is a topic of everybody as couples plan their own ceremonies and/or parties, parents try to influence their plans and the grandparents are worrying if their grandchildren are 25 and not married yet. They want to have grand grandchildren. So we smoothly moved to the next topic – babies. It is imposed by the third generation but it is a natural turn to have a baby after wedding. And then all the conversations with your just married friends are hijacked by this only one and eternal theme – babies! It is unbelievable how much could be said about sleeping, types of poos, new abilities gained etc. Lovely topic. Again, I have nothing against babies. I am just surprised how this little human being can be the reason of switching the topics from parties and dresses into baby food and cloths. It is worth mentioning that not only parents talk about their babies, but their parents or godmothers etc. This is a universal theme so if you know that your friends are expecting a baby – do not be surprised. Get prepared. Read dome forums, articles, books to share your insights. Otherwise you will get bored. Tip – record what you hear. You can exchange ideas between parents and… find out many important things that you can find useful in the future.

Speaking about future – we do not raise this topic. Otherwise the only answer will be – I do not want to talk about it. It is bad now – it will be even worse in the future. Complaining should be defined as out national feature or trademark. We tend to complain about everything: bad weather, bad economy, bad heath, low incomes, high prices, neighbour’s new car, friend’s prettier wife or smarter kid etc. Everything is a good reason to complain. If you want to make friends in Poland – ask a question and let him complain. That’s it. As simple as it is.

Of course I believe that there are people who have other topics to share and who do not complain and avoid malcontents. I haven’t met them yet so I keep my eyes open...