Early May, spring and weekend getaways give you ample opportunity to practise your Polish with the locals and spark your interest in uncommon Polish vocabulary. Having left the city and spent some time in the countryside you will be surprised to hear that the word pole refers not only to a beautiful recreation area in Warsaw (Pola Mokotowskie) or the main avenue in Paris (Pola Elizejskie), but first of all to a place where farmers grow crops (field).
Right next to a pole (field) there might be a pastwisko (pasture), i.e. a place where farm animals such as cows, sheep or horses graze, and nearby you can often see a łąka (meadow), which is an area covered with grass and flowers. You remember seeing those places, don’t you?
IS SAD SAD AND WHERE DO VEGETABLES GROW?
Now, let’s come closer to the house, where we can also see some flowers. Here they grow in an orderly manner and serve as decoration. This is ogród (garden), of course. And is a place where fruit trees (apple, pear and cherry trees) grow an ogród too? This is was participants of our Polish courses often think. No, this place has a different name, it’s called sad and has nothing to do with the English adjective “sad”. Quite the contrary, Polish sad (orchard) is the essence of joy and life.
If you stay at an agri-tourism farm during your weekend getaway, you will definitely notice that the hostess has a warzywnik (vegetable garden) by the house, which is where she grows vegetables so that the guests can have fresh and healthy food every day.
Have fun on your May getaways!
