Today I'm going to write the same article I wrote for my polish lesson, but in English. It is about the first time I have to deal with the polish language. It had to be about 300 words, but I wrote way more than that.I hope you enjoy this one.
If I had to say when was the first time I heard the Polish I ought to come back, when my stepfather went to visit Mexico with a colleague of his. I was around 13 years old and the first thing that came to my mind was that Polish was like a language of whispers and even once I said something using the sound of "sh" and I said a word in Polish. I was quite astonished, because I didn't expect to say something it polish, my stepfather was the same as me and even asked me if I knew polish to which I replied "No". I used to break my head trying to catch at least one word, but always fruitless. Anyway as an any other curious person that meets a foreigner I asked my stepfather and his colleague to tell me how to greet in polish. My jaw dropped after listening to the word "cześć". I mean greeting it's supposed to be easy to say and remember and not something too difficult to say... Thanks to my ingenious mind (as I thought at that time )I put together the word chess from English with the sound "che" from Spanish. In that way I managed somehow to remember and say it. The next word I learned was "dziękuję"- thank you. This one was like something not from our planet. I wasn't even able to pronounce it. Neither in Spanish, English nor French exist the sound of "dzi", so I was in a really difficult situation... I didn't know how to remember the world, but suddenly I associated the word "chinkuya", which in Spanish is a really delicious fruit ( I really love it ) and somehow I learned how to thank. It didn't sound exactly the same, but at least whenever I wanted to thank to my stepfather or his colleague, they understood me (or at least they pretended). By that time I didn't imagine what was expecting me.
When I came to Poland I was shocked because of three facts. The first one was that the letter "v" was replaced by "w", the "w" by a weird l - "ł" and another 6 or 7 letters exist, which pronounce I couldn't. I clearly remember how much I was crying, when my very first homework of polish was learning how to pronounce all of them and remembering them. I was so powerless and devastated that I couldn't say all of them that I was crying till my nose became red and my head start hurting... That was the first time I cried because of the Polish and unfortunately not the last. The second thing that in Polish exist, are these called "przypadki" - cases (I'm not sure if this is the correct translation of it). Although in my whole 13 years I never had heard about it, I was told that in every language they exist, but that in the Polish you have to conjugate the noun depending of the "przypadek".... I've been living in Poland for almost 5 years and I still can't recognize each of them and how to conjugate the noun, what makes me frustrated and angry. Despite that I really love having these "przypadki", because they make Polish more challenging and interesting. My favorite "przypadek" it's the "dopełniacz", because I know when I'm supposed to use it and how to conjugate the nouns. The less is "biernik" since I keep mistaking it with the "mianownik", which it is said to be the easiest one, but it seems that's not true or at least not for me. The next fact that made my eyes pop out of my head was that I was told that Polish is one of the most difficults languages in the whole world. When I heard about it I wanted to pack my whole things and buy a ticket back to Mexico. However I didn't do it, because I didn't want to leave my mom alone in a foreign country and me living without her in Mexico (Yeah... I kind a have a mother complex)
Wherever I went I was always surrounded by people talking to me in Polish. There were some that spoke to me in English and even in Spanish, but if you live in a specific country, it is obvious that the people will talk in the national language, so just after coming to Poland my mom and me started going to intensive Polish lessons. They lasted two months and sincerely I learned a lot, but as always I knew more how to talk than I understood. I started attending to a polish junior high school. There Polish could have been a problem, If it wasn't for my teachers the helped me with it. They allowed me to express myself in English or they explained me the things I didn't get in English. I really really I'm grateful to them. If it wasn't for them I don't know where I would be standing right now. The Polish with my stepfather's family was pretty comic. Due to their bad English and my bad Polish we were forced to communicate using the language of our bodies- mimic. I have a really vivid memory of one time, when my "babunia" (my stepfather's mom) tried to explained me the word honey. She started imitating a huge bear and then pretended to eat something. I remember that I was laughing pretty loud, but the same went whenever I tried to explain myself to them. We used to have a great time doing it. In the streets thing weren't that easy. I still have the image of this lady from which, my mom and me bought tickets to the bus. That happened just after we came to Poland, so as expected our pronunciation and Polish were really bad . The lady was so irritated that we couldn't say twenty in Polish- dwadzieścia (really difficult for any foreigner, but not like the number three - trzy). When we got to explained ourselves, the lady threw our tickets at us, started complaining and I'm pretty sure she even started cursing us. I'm quite relived that at that time I didn't understand what she said. Another thing that makes me laugh is at how my mom and me used to make the shopping. We always used to pay with banknotes of 50 zł or 100 zł and wait to the rest to know how much we usually had payed. I know it's a reckless thing to do, but it was the only way we came with at that time.
If my memory serves me correctly, I started speaking fluently in Polish after nine months, when I went to a camp with my cousin (my stepfather's niece). There nobody knew how to talk in English or in Spanish, so I was cornered and forced to speak in Polish. I don't complain, because thanks to that I was able to speak without any fear and without changing to English after two or three words like I used to do with my teachers, friends or stepfather. My mom says that when I came back from that camp I was like a parrot, because my mouth wouldn't stop moving. That was the first time I felt really happy with something that was involved with speaking in Polish. I was very proud of myself.
I won't lie and say that Polish is an easy language, because it isn't (it has a lot of exceptions and too less rules) and I didn't suffer at all. I had and still have headaches from time to time, because my mind exhaustes from listening to it and forcing myself to understand (sometimes I even can't talk correctly in any language), I cried a lot, because I didn't understand anything at school or in the streets, I cursed and use to hate Polish, since it was the cause of my suffering and complicating my life and even considered going back to Mexico. But exactly that's what Polish is about! When I started understanding what the people said to me or started recognizing when and how I had to conjugate the noun I felt really proud of myself and kind of invincible. I've been living almost for five years in Poland and my Polish is far from perfect, but little by little I'm getting better at the language that made me cried and suffer a lot of times. And that exactly is what makes Polish so interesing, funny and worth learning, because I know that when I will have mastered it, I will feel amazing, I will have overcame myself and became a better and stronger person, I will have won the battle between Polish and me, between the difficulties of life and myself!
martes, 11 de noviembre de 2014
jueves, 16 de octubre de 2014
One thing that enamors me...
Whenever I talked with a pole and they ask me what I like the most from Poland and they hear my answer, their expressions are priceless. They're like "Are you alright there, inside your head? Cause that's awful!" and let me tell you that, although I'm a little weird and sometimes airhead, what I like the most from Poland is one of the thing I enjoy the most of life.
So... what is this thing, that takes my breath away and that the poles don't share the same feeling? The answer is THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR!
Most of you must think that this is something common, since in Europe or in the parts of the world that are situated in the hemispheres of the Earth, it is a natural phenomenon that happen each year. Still for someone that comes from the equator this is something completely out of his imagination. As you know, I'm mexican, so coming to Poland and seeing the snow for first and the change of my surroundings made a huge impact on me. It was so shocking but in the same time so amazing that I was totally charmed and speechless. I think the fact that I'm mexican made me realized that the seasons are amazing and that's exactly what I want to say to all the people that have the privilege to enjoy such a wonderful thing and haven't realize about it.
I'll start by explaining you where I come from. In my dear and lovely hometown the whole year the tremendous, big and shiny sun shows us how much power it has around 12 hours per day and let me tell you... It is so tiring that, unless you have experienced it, you won't understand me. The whole year it is about 34° to 40°C, so hot that just walking one kilometer under the sun is enough to dry you up and put you in a bad mood. I remember how much I used to hate the sun and always ran away from it to the coolest place I could found.
Everything changed when I came to Poland. In the beginning, before deciding that we were going to live here (or as my mom used to think, because it was really obvious that we weren't going back), the way my mom convinced me to come to Poland,was that for first time I was going to see and touch the snow. Of course I didn't think it twice and after a few seconds I was already sitting in the plane next to my mom (My...I felt on her trap! How naive of me). I was so excited that I couldn't contain it, and when in my 13 years old I watch how a thin lay was being formed it the balcony of my nowadays home, I ,together with my mom, changed quickly and went out to the street to touch and taste this white phenomenon. I remember it was in the end of November. My mom and I were laughing and playing with the snow like little kids use to do whenever is winter and an old man was watching us. In contrast to our joy and fascination to the snow, the old man's face had written his bewilderedness of our actions. After a while he kept going kind of dumbfounded. At that time I couldn't (and still can't) imagine what was the reason of such a behavior, because for me snow is really beautiful.
To enjoy winter to the fullest, my stepfather took my mom and me to the mountains. I'll be sincere, I really don't like skiing or snowboard, because first of all, the trip to the top of the mountain is far longer than the way down and the second thing is that I prefer team sport. That doesn't mean that my winter it's boring as many of my friends say. I also can make snowmen, that actually I've made just one, make an angel on the snow, riding the sleigh, drinking hot chocolate, ice skating, playing snowball fight... The list is much bigger and that's why I really enjoy winter.
Then it comes Spring...
The first thing I realized that had changed, putting aside the fact that the snow was melting, was that the tree. that used to be in front of my building. started having smalls white flower buds on its branches. I saw them but didn't pay them a lot of attention, I mean "Oh, they look cute" was all I thought, till one day, when I was coming back home, I saw how they bloomed. The flowers were white with some pink in the middle and OMG! The tree looked so gorgeous that my jaw dropped. I took a look of the streets and saw that everywhere were white petals. Immediately I went to the closest park to my home and the view I got was one I wasn't expecting at all. I felt as if I had been in a fairy tale. The trees were white and pink, the flowers were red, yellow, purple, blue and their smell was so sweet and intense that I just stared at the park amazed. In my whole life I didn't expect the nature to surprised me so much as it had done in just two seasons...
However, the surprises kept coming and then was Summer.
Honestly I was begging to skip summer, since I knew that it was going to be hot and more than 12 hours of sun for three whole months. But as I said, Mother Nature once again left me open mouthed. Considering my experiences I had in Mexico, I was expecting to hide from the sun and take shelter wherever I could. Nonetheless, thanks to the long lack of sun in winter, for the first time I could enjoy the rays of the huge star on my face and even sunbathe! Yeah, sunbathe...In my whole 13 years I never expected to enjoy sunbathing as much as I do now! I mean it consists of having the sun over you the whole time! But thanks of winter the warm the sun transferred me at that time was really pleasant. Also in Poland summer is the time to practice windsurfing (what I haven't tried, but maybe someday I'll try), sailing (which I really enjoy) and swimming. The first two were new to me, therefore I enjoyed a lot learning how to sail.
And finally Autumn!
This was the final fling that made me love the seasons. Autumn is my favorite season and I remembered what captivated me. It was a day before Halloween and my friend asked me to take her some photos, because she wanted a new one for her profile in Facebook. I accepted it and we met at a park not so far from my home. There I felt in love with Autumn. The floor, that was supposed to be green was covered in yellow and orange. The trees that were amazingly huge were making a path to another and bigger tree that had still some leaves left on it. The fog, that wasn't so dense, gave a mysterious and kind of a scary atmosphere ( I was wondering from time to time if the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow was going to make his appearance, but fortunately he didn't). Everything was so mesmerizing that I found myself alone in the middle of the park, while my friend had gone to buy some coffee. I made a lot of photos of the park and the trees that caught my eye, and of course some photos of my friend. Autumn is so beautiful and it is when, for me, the temperature is ideal (around 8°-14°C).
As a resume, I want you (if you live in someplace that have the four seasons) to enjoy each of the seasons, because thanks to it, you are able to appreciate all the nature has to offer and also in each of them you are able to do different activities. Moreover I think it's great, since you don't get bored at seeing the same landscape for the whole year. I won't hide the fact, that when it is winter you can be depressed, because of the little amount of sun there is; when it is summer the really noisy mosquitoes attacks you from everywhere or frequently after taking a shower you don't know if you're drenched in water or in sweat; in spring some people have allergies or the floor is covered in mud from the melting snow and in fall it rains or the sun shines that sometimes you don't know how to dress... I won't denied them, because even I really hate these facts, but let's don't forget what Jan Kochanowski, one of a really famous polish writer, said " Nothing is forever, everything changes all the time" and endure the bad times and be prepared to enjoy the good ones to the fullest!
So... what is this thing, that takes my breath away and that the poles don't share the same feeling? The answer is THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR!
Most of you must think that this is something common, since in Europe or in the parts of the world that are situated in the hemispheres of the Earth, it is a natural phenomenon that happen each year. Still for someone that comes from the equator this is something completely out of his imagination. As you know, I'm mexican, so coming to Poland and seeing the snow for first and the change of my surroundings made a huge impact on me. It was so shocking but in the same time so amazing that I was totally charmed and speechless. I think the fact that I'm mexican made me realized that the seasons are amazing and that's exactly what I want to say to all the people that have the privilege to enjoy such a wonderful thing and haven't realize about it.
I'll start by explaining you where I come from. In my dear and lovely hometown the whole year the tremendous, big and shiny sun shows us how much power it has around 12 hours per day and let me tell you... It is so tiring that, unless you have experienced it, you won't understand me. The whole year it is about 34° to 40°C, so hot that just walking one kilometer under the sun is enough to dry you up and put you in a bad mood. I remember how much I used to hate the sun and always ran away from it to the coolest place I could found.
Everything changed when I came to Poland. In the beginning, before deciding that we were going to live here (or as my mom used to think, because it was really obvious that we weren't going back), the way my mom convinced me to come to Poland,was that for first time I was going to see and touch the snow. Of course I didn't think it twice and after a few seconds I was already sitting in the plane next to my mom (My...I felt on her trap! How naive of me). I was so excited that I couldn't contain it, and when in my 13 years old I watch how a thin lay was being formed it the balcony of my nowadays home, I ,together with my mom, changed quickly and went out to the street to touch and taste this white phenomenon. I remember it was in the end of November. My mom and I were laughing and playing with the snow like little kids use to do whenever is winter and an old man was watching us. In contrast to our joy and fascination to the snow, the old man's face had written his bewilderedness of our actions. After a while he kept going kind of dumbfounded. At that time I couldn't (and still can't) imagine what was the reason of such a behavior, because for me snow is really beautiful.
To enjoy winter to the fullest, my stepfather took my mom and me to the mountains. I'll be sincere, I really don't like skiing or snowboard, because first of all, the trip to the top of the mountain is far longer than the way down and the second thing is that I prefer team sport. That doesn't mean that my winter it's boring as many of my friends say. I also can make snowmen, that actually I've made just one, make an angel on the snow, riding the sleigh, drinking hot chocolate, ice skating, playing snowball fight... The list is much bigger and that's why I really enjoy winter.
Then it comes Spring...
The first thing I realized that had changed, putting aside the fact that the snow was melting, was that the tree. that used to be in front of my building. started having smalls white flower buds on its branches. I saw them but didn't pay them a lot of attention, I mean "Oh, they look cute" was all I thought, till one day, when I was coming back home, I saw how they bloomed. The flowers were white with some pink in the middle and OMG! The tree looked so gorgeous that my jaw dropped. I took a look of the streets and saw that everywhere were white petals. Immediately I went to the closest park to my home and the view I got was one I wasn't expecting at all. I felt as if I had been in a fairy tale. The trees were white and pink, the flowers were red, yellow, purple, blue and their smell was so sweet and intense that I just stared at the park amazed. In my whole life I didn't expect the nature to surprised me so much as it had done in just two seasons...
However, the surprises kept coming and then was Summer.
Honestly I was begging to skip summer, since I knew that it was going to be hot and more than 12 hours of sun for three whole months. But as I said, Mother Nature once again left me open mouthed. Considering my experiences I had in Mexico, I was expecting to hide from the sun and take shelter wherever I could. Nonetheless, thanks to the long lack of sun in winter, for the first time I could enjoy the rays of the huge star on my face and even sunbathe! Yeah, sunbathe...In my whole 13 years I never expected to enjoy sunbathing as much as I do now! I mean it consists of having the sun over you the whole time! But thanks of winter the warm the sun transferred me at that time was really pleasant. Also in Poland summer is the time to practice windsurfing (what I haven't tried, but maybe someday I'll try), sailing (which I really enjoy) and swimming. The first two were new to me, therefore I enjoyed a lot learning how to sail.
And finally Autumn!
This was the final fling that made me love the seasons. Autumn is my favorite season and I remembered what captivated me. It was a day before Halloween and my friend asked me to take her some photos, because she wanted a new one for her profile in Facebook. I accepted it and we met at a park not so far from my home. There I felt in love with Autumn. The floor, that was supposed to be green was covered in yellow and orange. The trees that were amazingly huge were making a path to another and bigger tree that had still some leaves left on it. The fog, that wasn't so dense, gave a mysterious and kind of a scary atmosphere ( I was wondering from time to time if the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow was going to make his appearance, but fortunately he didn't). Everything was so mesmerizing that I found myself alone in the middle of the park, while my friend had gone to buy some coffee. I made a lot of photos of the park and the trees that caught my eye, and of course some photos of my friend. Autumn is so beautiful and it is when, for me, the temperature is ideal (around 8°-14°C).
As a resume, I want you (if you live in someplace that have the four seasons) to enjoy each of the seasons, because thanks to it, you are able to appreciate all the nature has to offer and also in each of them you are able to do different activities. Moreover I think it's great, since you don't get bored at seeing the same landscape for the whole year. I won't hide the fact, that when it is winter you can be depressed, because of the little amount of sun there is; when it is summer the really noisy mosquitoes attacks you from everywhere or frequently after taking a shower you don't know if you're drenched in water or in sweat; in spring some people have allergies or the floor is covered in mud from the melting snow and in fall it rains or the sun shines that sometimes you don't know how to dress... I won't denied them, because even I really hate these facts, but let's don't forget what Jan Kochanowski, one of a really famous polish writer, said " Nothing is forever, everything changes all the time" and endure the bad times and be prepared to enjoy the good ones to the fullest!
viernes, 10 de octubre de 2014
So...Who am I?
As I said my nickname is Bea, because is easy to remember and because my mom didn't want people to call me Betty. I'm mexican, but eventually living in Poland, now that my mom is married with a pole. I love Japan and everything that is involved with it (from anime to history). Now I'm in the last year of high school and in someway I'm struggling to pass and be accepted at the University I long to go, to study more about Japan (please, wish me luck!). I love electronic music or at least that's what Itunes says me, nevertheless I hear different kind of music. I've spoken English since I was 3 years old, but still I'm not native and keep making mistakes, so please don't be too harsh on me....
My story....
I came to Poland when I was about 13 years old and well I won´t say it was like a piece of cake to adapt to everything. First of all I had left my whole life and family back in Mexico to live in Poland, a country I didn't know it even existed. The second thing was learning the language- polish, one of the most difficult languages in the world and let me tell you that's true. Although I've been living here about 5 years I haven't learned it at a 100%. I remember that after finishing secondary school in Poland (here it is about three years) I took in mind going back to Mexico, but after giving it a second thought I decided to stay. The third was being a TEENager... It was so difficult and quiet of a rebellious stage of my life. Poor my mom and my stepfather, I'm sure they had a pretty rough time with me. However and happily I'm in the edge of going out of this stage and I'm still alive!
So concluding I'm a normal girl, who's passion is Japan and writing. Also loves Poland and listening to music (especially electronic) and looks forward to experience new things!
My story....
I came to Poland when I was about 13 years old and well I won´t say it was like a piece of cake to adapt to everything. First of all I had left my whole life and family back in Mexico to live in Poland, a country I didn't know it even existed. The second thing was learning the language- polish, one of the most difficult languages in the world and let me tell you that's true. Although I've been living here about 5 years I haven't learned it at a 100%. I remember that after finishing secondary school in Poland (here it is about three years) I took in mind going back to Mexico, but after giving it a second thought I decided to stay. The third was being a TEENager... It was so difficult and quiet of a rebellious stage of my life. Poor my mom and my stepfather, I'm sure they had a pretty rough time with me. However and happily I'm in the edge of going out of this stage and I'm still alive!
So concluding I'm a normal girl, who's passion is Japan and writing. Also loves Poland and listening to music (especially electronic) and looks forward to experience new things!
My goal and reasons to write a blog.
My name is Bea (nickname) and I've decided to write a blog about myself, because I love writing and I want people to enjoy the life and love it despite the difficulties sometimes we have to face. I will be writing about things that make me happy and also about those that make me feel sad. It will be from some special meeting, food , things I love to some observations. So let's keep looking forward another day together and I hope you will enjoy my blog!
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