Teatime stories

When talking about the Polish tea drinking habits, I should start with the fact that they drink a lot (of tea; of course they drink a lot of other stuff too :-)) but that’s another story). They have probably the largest consumption per capita in Europe, after UK, of course. And still growing. They drink it every day, several times a day. For breakfast (like British), if not coffee drinkers and they definitely drink it along with their usual sandwich-based dry dinner. They produce a lot as well. Most of the tea on the Romanian market comes from Poland. I was surprised to find that out, after curiosity drove me to read the packages, that Belin, Teekanne or Celmar, the most famous tea brands in a Romanian supermarket (besides Lipton) are all Polish brands. Even the no-name tea in discount supermarkets comes from Poland. Still Romanians don’t have much of tea-drinking culture. It was very funny a few months ago, while in Romania with my Polish workmate, when he ordered green tea in a restaurant on the Black Sea shore, the waitress asked “Would Lipton be OK?” “Of course” and she brings him Lipton Green Ice Tea. And then he said “I meant hot tea” “Oh! Is everything all right? Are you ill?” OK, so that’s fact. It’s not very common to order tea in a Romanian restaurant or coffeehouse, needless to mention pubs. We usually drink it at home and it’s mostly herbal tea, for pharmaceutical purposes, so we shouldn’t blame the poor waitress for getting a bit confused. It’s all about climate after all. That’s why, in a coffeehouse in Poland, if you are not a coffee drinker and you are not very fond of juices, you’d most probably order tea (not plain water with lemon like in Romania :-)), normal tea. But watch out what you’re ordering, because in Poland, normal tea means black tea (not like in UK where normal tea is every kind of tea that comes from the tea plant e.g. black, green, white, or oolong). But even if it’s black tea, don’t expect to get milk with it, I never got and I have never seen a Pole drinking it with milk. Instead it’s very probable that you get lemon. Besides “normal” tea they usually drink berry flavoured tea. Most of the Poles that I met hate mint or lime tea, which are the most popular in Romania. They don’t make it strong when they drink “normal” tea. Usually the infusion takes no more than 30sec. At home they even infuse only one teabag for the whole teapot. Maybe that’s why they don’t drink it with milk.
By far the most bizarre remark would be the word for “tea” in Polish. In most of the languages in the world and all the European languages besides Polish and Lithuanian this word is derived from the Malay “teh", from Amoy Chinese dialect “t'e”, or Mandarin “ch'a”. It has developed in the European languages based on two roots: either “te-” (in all Western languages) or “cha-” (in most Slavic languages, in Greek and Turkish or even Romanian – “ceai”). But it’s not the same story with the Polish “herbata” or the Lithuanian “arbata” (that probably came from the more influential Polish). Who knows what the story behind this word is, but one thing is sure - they have a long history in being special about it.
Nevertheless, the best tea I have ever drank was in a krakowian "kawiarnia", a place called Camera Café (very nice atmosphere and they project classic movies, mostly mute, so you can even watch while enjoying your drink or your ice-cream topped hot apple pie). The recipe is not complex at all, but the mix of flavours is simply amazing. I won’t tell you, you’ll have to come to Krakow to try “Smak lata” (“Summer savor”). Besides, they’re paying me big money for this post :-))

Well, what can I say, maybe at the beginning “herbata” wasn’t my cup of tea, but I sure enjoy it now, especially that it’s a legitimate alternative, for a change, to a non coffee drinker like me.

Heeei, tramvai!

Un lucru pe care polonezii nu'l suporta - sa stea in picioare in tramvai. Pesemne s'ar simti aiurea in tramvai, nu stiu, insa nu vrei sa stai in calea cuiva atunci cand e pe cale sa isi revendice vreun loc in mijloacele krakowiene de transport in comun. Si nu vorbesc de persoane 50+ si nici de locurile rezervate, caci lucrurile ar fi cu atat mai grave in astfel de situatii. Daca cineva te'a impins, si dupa ce iti verifici portofelul realizezi ca e la locul lui, inseamna ca pe undeva pe langa tine e un loc liber. Asa ca te dai la o parte din calea nefericitului. Alte motive sa te impinga cineva nu prea am intalnit. Ar face orice sa puna mana (sau fundul) pe un scaun liber. De multe ori, doamnele se urca in tramvai, vaneaza un loc (sau ridica pe vreun tanar), isi lasa poseta pe el si apoi pleaca in cautarea unui compostor, uneori destul de departe chiar. Iar odata ce'au sezut, nu se ridica inainte sa coboare. Am vazut o intamplare de'a dreptul infioratoare. O tanara doamna ii arata cu degetul unei oarbe care incerca sa se aseze peste ea crezand ca locul este liber, ii arata unde este un alt loc liber. Insa nu s'ar fi ridicat sa sa duca insasi catre acel loc. Ii era teama. Insa experienta de azi m'a pus pe ganduri. Ma urc in vagonul din spate al tramvaiului, fara sa ma preocupe faptul ca e mult mai gol decat primul. De fapt nici n-am bagat de seama astfel de detalii. Oricum, ca idee, in general ultimul vagon e cel mai liber. Ma asez pe un scaun dintre cele multe libere si imediat dupa ce se inchid usile ma izbeste drept in fata un miros intepator de cacat. Mi'am zis initial, ridicandu'ma si indreptandu'ma catre celalalt capat al vagonului ca pesemne sunt doar fructe, fermentate... Dar mirosul ma urmarea cu aceeasi persistenta, incat, pentru cateva momente eram ingrijorat ca ar putea fi de la mine. Ma blocasem, pur si simplu. Eram blocat pana la urmatoarea statie. Mi s'a parut atat de mult. Nu sunt scarbos din fire dar mirosea mai rau decat in orice buda in care fusesem, chiar mai rau ca in haznalele de la tara. Ceilalti, destul de multi de altfel, cat sa acopere cam toate scaunele, nu pareau sa se sinchiseasca prea mult. E adevarat, unii isi puneau ceva la nas, altii doar il si'l strambau, dar nimeni nu m'a urmat la prima statie in celalalt vagon, mult mai aglomerat si fara nici un loc liber. Abia la a doua, am vazut o cucoana care, recunoscandu'ma, imi marturiseste ca ea nu mai putea. Am coborat in sfarsit la Dworcowa, si am privit trecand pe langa mine, vagonul din urma in care cei cel putin 10 oameni isi acopereau nasurile cu hainele sau cu fularele, dar erau totusi fericiti, pentru ca erau asezati. As putea ghici ca in sinea lor se simteau mai norocosi decat suckerii din primul vagon care stateau in picioare.

Zapada, omat, nea...

What could more beautiful and romantic than the first snow when it takes you by surprise and the snow flakes are huge and dense. I was thrilling at 2am when getting out of CK Browar after 5-6 hours of 'beering' it has taken me by surprise. It's been unusually cold yesterday (I had bought a scarf to ease my neck from the stinging Krakowian cold that had come too soon for me), but still I couldn't expect it. Nevertheless it didn't stop me from enjoying it like a lunatic jumping with Maria in a crazy dance in chase of these gigantic flakes like I had never seen before (at least she's not very used to snow). The others could not keep themselves from laughing at our unusual dance right in the heart of the city, a dance that to the people passing by seemed rather a busker's performance than a delighting personal experience.
At about 4am, as we were getting out of Kitsch it had already stopped and the snow was laying on the branches of the previously naked trees and on the cars. It was a good reason for a first snow fight. I must admit, I surrendered easily. We eventually retreated to a warmer place with snow melting in our collars and in our souls.
It has rashly melted right after dawn, and with it our winter mood. It was then when I realized that it is hardly past mid-October and that I should be worried at least as much as I was happy. I hope I'll survive. After all, it's Poland not Scandinavia.