I am writing here in English as recommended, admitting that I hate to use English in Poland! Poles tend to use a similar non-native version of English as Czechs do. That makes communication very easy, but if I try to use my own native language slightly enriched by adding my poor Polish vocabulary, it is harder to understand each other, though it gets mutually amusing and inspiring. Polish sounds to us the Czech people as a medieval, extremely literary and poetic version of the Czech language. Polish seems full of pet names, too. A lot of common Polish words are also used in Czech, but sometimes they have a totally different meaning: either funny or evil. A few cases in point, the Polish name for "to search" translates as a very colloquial description of human reproduction in Czech, or Polish “to smell good” means in Czech “to stink”, and conversely, “to stink” means “to smell good”! The Polish “girl” sounds nearly the same like the Czech “bitch” and again the other way round... etc). However, it is pleasant and funny to listen to the Polish language! I made a deeper analysis of both languages and concluded with a feeling, that Poles tend to speak very ornamentally, poetically and politely. Most of those polite fillings make their speech longer. Czech seems briefer, more effective and thus less romantic.
There are so many resemblances, but each appears to be supplemented by a striking difference between the Czechs and the Poles. Surely, the origin of our nations looks common, but there are 2 different narrations of the underlying legend.
The Czech version says that there was one great Slavic tribe travelling west and it was guided by Čech (Pol. Czech) and his younger brother Lech (founder of both the Czech and the Polish nation). When they reached a scenic countryside, with a solitary hill called Říp in the middle, the brothers climbed that hill and, astonished by the beautiful scenery, decided to settle down in the area. Later Lech and his relatives decided to move to the east. He would signal his progress by smoke. Now there is a town Kouřim (Czech: “I’m making smoke”) and near that town there is a legendary Lech's stone, just at the crossing of the 50th latitude and the 15th longitude. That place is often considered as the true centre of Europe. Lech and his relatives later decided to go further northward reaching Gniezno where they settled down for good.
Now, in a nutshell, the Polish rendition of the legend: There were 3 brothers Lech, Czech and Rus (Lech was the eldest of course). They went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all travelled in different directions... Eventually, Lech kept moving north until he saw a beautiful region where he settled down and developed a settlement called Gniezno... it was the first Polish capital in the tenth century.
Poland is for us a kind of alternative reality, a fabulous country behind the mirror:
Entering Poland from the Czech Republic geographically means to go northward. But the Polish society indicates you have moved southward by their hotter-temperament than you expected. Amazingly, even plants seem to start to blossom one month earlier in Poland! The month “April” is ‘kwiecień’ in Polish (i.e. a flower month), whereas the phonetically identical Czech month "květen" means ‘May’.
Entering Poland means to leave the Czech fortress (a country encircled by mountains along the border) for large open spaces where borders are allocated mostly by rivers. Poland is the only country whose flatness deserves to be forgiven for its other qualities. However, such natural borders cannot guarantee the same stability as mountains. That is why the Polish borders changed so many times in the past.
Entering Poland means to have many occasions to enjoy railway archaeology when looking for abandoned train routes replaced by an unbelievable spectrum of buses ranging in size from coaches to taxi-size vehicles, whereas the Czech Republic still keeps organising many regular passenger trains commuting even between little villages and looking like a museum of the 19th century industry. That Polish rationalisation makes sense, but in some areas it is overdone. I believe that a Polish town of a population near 100 000 deserves more than two passenger trains a day.
Entering Poland from Slovakia convinced me that Poles are very entrepreneurial. They have managed to overtake Slovakia during the last decade. Economically speaking, Poland looks like a European China for its great potential. Year by year in each pilgrimage I and my Slovak comrades noticed a lot of changes that have taken place in Poland. Within 1990s Slovakia seemed much richer when compared to Poland, but within the last decade the Slovaks began to feel sort of awkward in Poland, because Poland accelerated its development so fast! All in all, I am very pleased to witness the growth of Poland - my great neighbouring country - and I wish the Polish people all the best! I keep hoping to visit Poland as often as I only can!
