MAJOR TOURISM SPOT ON THE MAP OF POLAND

COURSE OF POLISH OF A WEEKEND ESCAPE?
With days getting longer and warmer we are more and more tempted to take some rest in the bosom of nature or go away and leave the city rather than learn, although there should always be time and energy for an interesting Polish course ;-)
If you ask your Polish friends or the foreigners living in Poland where to spend the weekend of part of your holidays, Warmia i Mazury (Warmia and Masuria) will definitely be among the proposed destinations.
Many cities and regions have been trying to win the title of the Summer Capital of Poland, and this competition will probably never end. However, Warmia and Masuria has always been a major tourism spot on the map of Poland.
This region is called the Land of a Thousand Lakes and takes its name after the enormous number of lakes (it boasts over 2000 of them!), which made it a perfect place to spend free time.

POLISH TOURIST PARADISE
Water sports enthusiasts definitely won’t get bored in Warmia and Masuria. They can sail across the largest lakes, go kayaking, diving, go on a short cruise by boat or take a slow paddle boat ride.
If you like cycling, this region offers a range of routes of varying levels of difficulty, from short trips to multi-day tours across the land of Warmia and Masuria.
Those who dream of doing nothing can enjoy the beaches at the warm and clean lakes.
And if someone is craving for international sports experience, they should go to Stare Jabłonki and see the beach valeyball tournament.

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WARMIA AND MASURIA’S CASTLE TRAIL
Warmia and Masuria, however, is not only all water and sports, but it’s also turbulent history expressed in its architecture.
This is where the most impressive system of medieval castles in Europe is located. Their condition varies, some of them have been restored and turned into museums or hotels, and thanks to that they have been restored to their former glory, others have fallen into ruin.
They are all worh visiting, both the castles and the ruins. You can spend the night with the ghosts that haunt them (the castle in Morąg offers such an attraction, for instance), and learn about their history. It’s a good idea to learn the history of the town nearby, which may now be tiny and unimportant, but several centuries ago it was an important political, defensive and cultural centre. The castles of Olsztyn, Frombork and Lidzbark Warmiński definitely deserve a mention. Obviously, the Malbork Castle is the most famous of them, but it is located in a completely different geographical region .
At the end of the trip you should go to one of the local restaurants and try some local specialties, among which the most popular are freshwater fish.
So, should you have no idea how to spend your next weekend, go to Warmia and Masuria, it will also be a great opportunity for you to use the expressions you’ve learned in your Polish courses.

KANIKUŁA (DOG DAYS), OR THE SUMMER WEATHER VOCABULARY IN POLISH

WHAT DOES SŁOŃCE (SUN) DO?
This post can’t be too long. In such heat (upały), when żar leje się z nieba (literally: heat is pouring from the sky), even the diligent participants of Polish courses need respite. These are the days when when the sun is not simply shining (świeci), or blazing down (grzeje literally: heating/spreading heat), but… schorching (praży). That’s right, the heat wave has been sweeping across Poland (przechodzi fala upałów). It’s the time once called kanikuła (dog days). Nowadays this word is hardly ever used, it’s been replaced by a more trivial word upał (heat).

HOW DOES THE VERB  POCIĆ SIĘ (TO SWEAT) CONJUGATE?
On such scorching days (upalne dni), when the temperature reaches 35C in the shade (w cieniu), we’re always looking for ways to keep cool (szukamy ochłody). How can we cool down (ochłodzić się)? Some people find relieve in the shade of trees (cień drzew), in a hammock, with a good book and a glass of lemonade or ice tea (mrożona herbata). Others, hoping for a breeze (bryza), go to the seaside and spend their time sunbathing on the beach and biorą morskie kąpiele (going in the water; literally: taking sea baths). Unfortunately, some people need to work. If they don’t have air conditioning, they are sweating (pocą się ) behind their desks, and even on their way to work, sweat (pot) running down their back. The only thing they can think of is a long cool shower (chłodny prysznic).
Sultry evenings (parne wieczory) only make things worse, since there seems to be no air to breathe, and humidity (wilgotność powietrza) is very high. It’s stuffy (duszno) everywhere, and those at the seaside, those who have just got out of their hammocks and those who have come back home after a long day at work, they all feel that, too.

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PROS AND CONS OF SUMMER
Hot summer days may be a pretty bad time also for farmers (persistent drought – susza – may damage the crops), and foresters (hot air, sun, spark and… fire in consequence). But let’s do not complain, because we all actually like the long summer days (letnie dni), outdoor events organised in the city in summertime, the abundance of blueberries, blackberries and chanterelle mashrooms in woods, ice-cream, which we can buy simply everywhere, and a cool breeze (chłodna bryza) in the sails when we’re sailing across the Masurian lakes. We’ll have something to remember and talk about during the looong, freezing and dark winter nights :)

NAMES OF VEGETABLES AND FRUIT IN POLISH

WHERE DOES THE WORD ZIEMNIAK (POTATO) COME FROM?

With spring in bloom it’s time to talk about fruit and vegetables, which effectively diversity our diet. Participants of Polish courses are pleased to hear that many of the names of fruit have been incorporated into the Polish language with virtually no changes: awokado, ananas, banan, figa, kaki, kiwi, just to name a few. However, as you can see, those are exotic fruit (from the Polish point of view), which are not grown in Poland. The well known and generally liked ziemniaki are a different case, though. Their Polish name is nothing other than the translated German "der erdapfel" (apple of the earth), or the French "pomme de terre". In both versions the noun ziemia (earth) appears. We’d like to remind you that depending on the part of Poland you are in, you eat ziemniaki  (nationwide), kartofle (the form often used in the south of Poland), or pyry (Wielkopolska or Silesia).

IMMIGRANTS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

Some of the vegetables are successfully grown in Poland now, and when using their names we don’t even realize how far they came here from. Who would have thought that melon is derived from the Greek "melopepon" (soft apple) and arbuz comes from the Turkish word "karpuz" (which was borrowed from the Persian language – "charpuz"). Bakłażan is a similar case, it is derived from the Turkish word "badenjan". It’s worth noting that in the past another word was used to name this tasty vegetable: oberżyna (from the Catalan "alberginia", which, in turn, was borrowed from the Arabic "al badinjan").

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ITALIAN FRIENDS, OR NAMES OF VEGETABLES OF ITALIAN ORIGIN

It is our Italian cousins , however, that make up the largest family. Students of Polish, especially those from Italy, are astonished to see how many Polish names of vegetables sound almost the same as their Italian equivalents. Kalafior – cavolfiore, fasola – fagioli, karczoch – carciofo, pomidor – pomodoro, szpinak – spinacio, cukinia – zucchina, brokuł – brocco, i.e. sprout, etc. We owe the existence of those words in Polish to an Italian aristocrat Bona Sforza, who became the queen of Poland in the 16th century, and introduced the custom of planting vegetables that had been unknown in Poland before. It soon turned out that they easily adapted to the cool climate we have here. And that is probably the reason why a bunch of vegetables (carrot, celery root, leek, parsley) used to make homemade broth is commonly known as ... włoszczyzna (from Włochy, Polish word for Italy).