‘Where are you from?’
That’s the first question that people always ask everywhere. I’ve learnt it in many languages. I answer:
‘I’m from Poland.’
Sometimes there’s complete emptiness in their faces. Sometime they want to be more precise.
‘From America?’, they ask.
Sometimes the name of my country triggers some more adequate reaction. At some point I started collecting those reactions. It’s interesting to know what the word ‘Poland’ actually means for people.
Croatia:
– Robert Lewandowski
– pope John Paul II
– Polish tourists come here for holidays
Greece:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Polish football coaches who worked in Greece: Jacek Gmoch, Kazimierz Górski
Turkey:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Warszawa
– Lech Wałęsa
Iran:
– volleyball team, Michał Kubiak
– Robert Lewandowski
– Fryderyk Chopin
– Maria Skłodowska-Curie
– Krzysztof Kieślowski
– Polish people were here during WWII (the march of general Anders army)
Turkmenistan:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Warszawa
Uzbekistan:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Grzegorz Lato
– Warszawa, Kraków
– ‘Czterej pancerni i pies’, ‘Stawka większa niż życie’ (Polish TV series from the communist times)
– ‘I served in the army in East Germany, Chechoslovakia; I know where Poland is.’
– Lech Wałęsa
– Dzierżyński
– ‘There’s a cementary/a memorial of Polish soldiers near here.’ (the march of general Anders army)
Tajikistan:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Błaszczykowski, Fabiański, Milik
– between Germany and Ukraine
– ‘I served in the army in East Germany, Ukraine; I know where Poland is.’
– plane accident of Smoleńsk
Kyrgyzstan:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Legia Warszawa, Lech Poznań, Cracovia, Widzew Łódź – Polish football clubs
– Warszawa, Kraków, Poznań, Lublin, Radom
– Wojciech Jaruzelski
– apples
– ‘I’ve been there.’
– WWII
– ‘I/my dad served in the army in East Germany, Czechoslovakia etc. (never Poland); I know where Poland is.’
– ‘You’re from the Soviet bloc too.’
– ‘The pianist’, ‘Ida’
– near Germany
– ‘You say Pan/Pani (Sir, Madam) to each other.’
Kazakhstan:
– Robert Lewandowski
– Lech Poznań, Legia Warszawa, Jagiellonia – Polish football clubs
– Warszawa, Kraków, Poznań
– ‘I’ve been there.’
– Polish people live here
– ‘You say Pan/Pani (Sir, Madam) to each other.’
– ‘I served in the army in East Germany; I know where Poland is.’
– Warsaw uprising during WWII
– football fans of Legia Warszawa
– ‘We buy horses in your country.’
– ‘You steal German cars.’
– Janusz Wiśniewski
So it really seems that we have one but solid ambassador of our country abroad. Thanks, Robert.
P.S. Finally, one more story. In spring of 2013 Lewandowski scored 4 goals against Real Madrid in Champions League semifinal. That year in summer I travelled to China. Somewhere deep in the bamboo forest, away from everything a buddist monk smiled broadly to me and said: ‘Poland. Robert Lewandowski.’