Tuesday, July 7, 2009

the big show


One of the most beautiful medieval rooms I've ever seen, the paintings are of former Polish royalty extending charters to the University. Other folks adorn the walls; Jan Pawel II is there as well. A big speech, then off to the Centrum .
I've discovered that I cannot speak Polish. Folks are very nice about it; the tipoff is when litle old ladies say something like " I'm so sorry, I didn't realize that you were not Polish." meaning: you are unintelligible to them but they don't want to hurt your tender American feelings. Hopefully this will change; there are a lot of really expert speakers in the crowd, but the instruction is by ability, so there's hope.

2 comments:

  1. Correction: you CAN speak Polish, just not as well as you want to.

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  2. Seconded. Plus most of us don't even have the chance to begin a conversation with little old ladies in Polish, no matter the outcome. Now that you are outside the Ivory Tower, lose the binary notion of "I can/I cannot." Assimilate, gain ability, and enjoy.

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