Polka dance

Last Sunday we went to the XXth annual Portland Polish Festival. I must admit that after nearly two months in the U.S., I really enjoyed a kiełbasa with bigos.

Organizers prepared well for Polish and American guests.  From conversations, I learned that the Polish community in Oregon is not as vibrant as it was years ago, and some, due to better economic conditions, have already returned to Poland. However, I heard a nice "welcome to the USA" from a lady who was working at the Polish school booth.

A wide range of Polish sweets, pastries, jams and conserves, as well as various souvenirs with the eagle symbol, was offered. A likeness of Marshal Pilsudski was hanging on the wall in Grandpa's Café, an elderly woman shared her war experiences in the library, and others were watching slides of Polish monuments.

Rainy weather did not prevent the organizers from running a polka contest under a tent, calling out in English, not Polish. Little girls in folk dresses eagerly jumped to the live music.

Somehow, I am reminded of a book I recently by Polish American Actress Dagmara Dominczyk. In the semi-autobiographical "The Lullaby of Polish Girls,” the protagonist, whose father had been forced to flee Poland as a Solidarity activist, does not fully find her way in the American reality.

On paper, descriptions of Poles both in the United States and in Poland, seem in my opinion quite pessimistic. However, the essence of Polish reality and homeland sentiment remains.

I like to tell Americans how Poland has changed over the last years. Vietnamese women, working in the beauty salon, were pleased to hear that so many of their countrymen live in Warsaw. Surprisingly often I encounter people of Polish descent. Many have not visited Poland, but almost everyone would go back and see the towns and villages of their grandparents if they could. Unfortunately, not all of the places still exist. Those places that do exist, including much of Warsaw, bear little resemblance to the land of their grandparents.

It seems to me that for many Americans with Polish roots, including perhaps the majority of festival participants, being Polish is a longing for something somewhat uncertain, but still essential.

Autumn is coming, and I am planning a trip to a Russian deli, where Polish food such as Zamojski cheese is sold. Today I'm going to prepare, using the U.S. bullion cubes, a vegetable soup. I may be also using the cherry jelly kisiel.  And the Seattle Polish Film Festival begins soon :)

H.xx

                                           

                            

Cheeseburger Paradise

On September 18, America celebrates National Cheeseburger Day. The temptation of a beef sandwich interspersed with pickles, lettuce and tomato lurks here at every step.

Drive-in restaurants are very popular, and unlike in Poland they do not belong mostly to McDonald's, but to many fast food chains.

Legend has it that the cheeseburger was born in Pasadena, California in the 1920s. A homeless customer of Lionel Sternberger’s restaurant asked to add a slice of cheese to his bread with the meat. The Chef fulfilled the request and later entered the new styled sandwich to the menu permanently. By the way, the hamburger had been invented a little earlier in Texas, and not in Hamburg Germany.

I have to admit that during the last few weeks, I have tried at least 4 kinds of burgers, although I do try to order the without cheese option and to avoid the extra goodies served the dishes. At the restaurant Lunch Box Laboratory in Washington State, a pleasant waiter, and a former American football coach in Sweden, told us that in the menu, we will also find one of the ten best shakes in the USA. Similarly, in the Hawaiian restaurant Cheeseburger in Paradise, they suggest complementing every order with a solid portion of chili - cheese fries.

To me, one of the tastiest burgers did not come from a fine restaurant, but from the popular food chain Wendy's. It is known for its square beef patties, unlike the round patties of most burgers.  For foodies, Wendy's has introduced a new hit: Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger.

A few days ago I found a TV program called Burger Land, in which the field connoisseur George Motz tours America in the search of the tastiest burger. In an interview, he states that the burger is so popular because it is a truly American dish and its consumption inspires a feeling of American pride. Hamburger is a dish of freedom – it was created to be able to quickly and easily have a bite while stuck in a traffic jam.

Fast food is one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy. Every day it serves around 50 million customers, employs 4 million people, and its annual revenues are comparable to a third of the Polish GDP. Of course, fast inexpensive food comes hand in hand with low wages. Recently there is a political movement to increase the minimum wage for fast food workers.

I hope that today you will find in your menu a place for some cheeseburger pleasure.

I am attaching a little review of my American culinary experiments.

Say happy cheeseburger day :)

                                           

Crop marks

- Do you know how hot it is today? -  a stranger asked me recently while I was crossing the street.

- I think it is about eighty – I replied, but I was a little afraid of his reaction. What a pleasant surprise to discover that, according to him, I was really close, just off by 5 degrees Fahrenheit. I can only hope that one day I will understand the American system of measurement.

Apart from learning Celsius to Fahrenheit scale conversion, inches, miles, feet and pounds are on my "need to decrypt" list. Fortunately, on food packages, in addition to ounce (oz) and pound (lb) there are also the familiar grams and kilograms.

In theory, Americans already changed to the metric system in 1866. However, in practice, the imperial units are all that are used. A saying that the measure of a foot is a measure of the foot of the king, and inch is nothing but a big royal toe is well known here.

It seems to me that Americans will not switch quickly to the metric system. A huge campaign in the 1970s with slogan: "meter and liter are neater" - failed miserably.  On the web I found a funny meme showing a kitten cramped inside a far too small glass aquarium. At the bottom the inscription read: to hell with the metric system, the order in centimeters seemed so big! (12 inches is about 30 cm).

On the other hand a few days ago, I failed to properly print wedding invitations designed by my sister in Poland.  Probably the staff (perhaps only at this store) was confused by the crop marks, located where the image is to be cut. Earlier, a research was also needed as the envelope standards here differ.

Fortunately, after the technical intervention of my fiancé, the second time the properly formatted cards with bright red and yellow pattern jumped from the printer. Today, Dean instructed me via Skype (calling from New Zealand), how the American can opener works.

As for the street signs, can anyone make sense of our address? We live at the corner of 112th Ave North East and North East 8th Street. It seems that creativity is lacking here, and no one is anything but confused by the results. 

On the highway distance in kilometers is shown rarely, which I will 

definitely have to keep in mind while learning to drive here. Automatic transmission poses another problem. Fortunately, in the U.S., people drive on the right side of the road, and they wait on the right side of the escalators. 


                                   

Ladies' night

I have been invited to a Ladies' night out. We are not going bowling. We are not going to the movies, or even for a drink. Honing our shooting skills is on the menu tonight.

I've never even had a gun in my hand. I remember, years back, my parents being very disappointed when temporarily and quite by accident I became an owner of a gun. Of course it was a fake, but its purpose was not to serve in the game of Lego blocks, nor was it a part of the dollhouse decoration.

Of course, I'm curious how the evening will unfold, but at the same time I do not fully understand such a practical approach to the use of weapons of many Americans. I found the streets of Bellevue very safe, and so far I have not seen any situation requiring calling the police.

During a recent trip to Oregon, when sipping my iced coffee at Starbucks, a young stood in front of us calmly putting sugar in his drink.

This would not be surprising if not for the fact that he had a small gun strapped to his belt. Although I quickly took a photo, I have to admit that, for the first time since in the States, I felt quite uncomfortable.

Speaking of guns, maybe you have recently heard about the Starbucks boycott, which was imposed by the organization created after this year's tragedy in Newtown. The group "Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America" demanded that this well-known national chain introduced a ban on carrying weapons into their premises. Recently a Starbuck's client was accidentally shot in the leg when a colleague accidentally discharged the gun, which was in her purse. They are especially concerned about restricting the so-called open carry states, where carrying weapons in the public places without the need of a special permit is allowed. It is disturbing to 
note that most states are open carry.

The US also has the opposite end of the spectrum - the "gun free zone". Most of these are schools or cinemas. Recently Seattle, close to where we live, introduced the weapon free zones for the businesses. On the action’s webpage, I found a list of several companies that bravely agreed to join the gun-free movement.

Although results of a survey conducted in the state of Washington 
demonstrate a high support for gun ownership restrictions, there is no shortage of critical opinions on the forums linked to the city's initiative. To cite one of them: If I see a sticker even remotely ressembling this, I will take my business elsewhere. Why would I want my family to go anywhere completely unprotected? 

H.                                

                                     

Roadtrip to Oregon

Just as about 50,000 people cross the border daily between Washington and Oregon states, we drove last week across the border for a few days

Wikipedia says that the state of Oregon is known for its frequent rain, however the sunny weather did not let us down. This made me very happy, especially since the rainy season is about to begin. Yes, that’s right, frequent rain seen in the dark series "The Killing", filmed in Seattle, is apparently not a special effect:)

Oregon is not a very populous state.  Approximately 4 million people live in an area comparable to Hungary. Oregon is also famous for its beautiful nature. In each city you will find beautiful paths for bicycle rides, and lovely parks great for having a picnic.

First stop - Springfield town, whose people are considered to be the conservative complement of Eugene, its famous liberal neighbor.

In the past Oregon was perceived as a "swing state," in which both the Republican and Democratic candidates have a good chance of winning the election. However, for some years it is now regarded as a so-called "blue state.'' in which voters vote Democratic.

In 2000 Al Gore barely beat George W. Bush. In 2004 victory went to John Kerry over George W. Bush , and both in 2008 and 2012 the political race was won by President Obama.

Let me add that, for over a century, one of Oregon’s districts has been represented in the Congress almost invariably by the Republicans. 

In Springfield I found many one-store, smaller family houses on which roofs and porches American flag often waves.

The Stars and Stripes not only frequently decorates private residences, but also, of course, public institutions, sport stadiums, and even malls and hotels.

In the afternoon we stopped at the hippy- artistic- student town of Eugene, where we went for lunch at the local network Laughing Planet. Eugene is known locally as the Berkeley of the North. The basic components of food served here are black beans, spinach, kale, porridge and tortilla. A couple quietly consuming their burrito drew my attention. Dressed in clothes resembling the Amish clothing, they were probably Mennonites who came to Oregon in the late nineteenth century.

For dinner we went to a Japanese restaurant, mysteriously called Izakaya Meiji. Our choices included: mini duck skewer, sweet carrots, beets, shrimp lasagna and a super sweet banana split.

I cannot wait to show you pictures of the upcoming Halloween, which we may spend in this unique town.

We spent the weekend in the charming Corvallis, home of Oregon State University, which competes often during games of American football with its rival in Eugene, the Unversity of Oregon. The first team’s symbol is the beaver, while the second’s are ducks.

Every Saturday you can visit the Farmers' Market, where locally harvested tomatoes of different sizes and colors, peppers, goat cheese, dyed wool, apples, berries, nuts, fruit preserves and a variety of wonders are sold. I found a belt buckle made of seasonally shed deer antlers sold by Mr. Koski, whose great grandparents were Polish. A lot of hand-decorated jewelry was displayed.

Additionally, Corvallis is also home to a Hewlett-Packard factory.

On the way back (in the morning we were able to have breakfast at a local Patisserie) we stopped and shopped at a discount mall, south of Portland. The Mall was for me yet another example of the western multi-cultural social model.

Customers were constituted mainly of totally covered women, Sikhs resting after shopping, family festively and neatly dressed as it was Sunday, and dark-skinned men, riding around to the rhythms of rap around the huge parking lot Woodburn store.

Shopping was very successful. It's nice to be for the first time an owner of a stylish shirt with the popular polo player logo on it. Designer clothes are of course much more affordable here.

Back on the highway, a little boy happily boasted about the dead buck laid at the rear of assumedly his grandfather's pickup truck.

It goes without saying that American driving culture is superior to that of Poland. Drivers try to follow the rules and do not race past slower vehicles. On the other hand, Americans lack what we take for granted. There are not many trains, they don't walk often, and they rarely go where you want to go. And go, you will, because you can’t find European-style kiosks. To get a newspaper and a cup of coffee most people drive to Starbucks or to smaller grocery stores chains. Being stuck in never ending traffic jams becomes quite annoying. Nevertheless, we will not be dissuaded; more American escapes will be planned and executed!

Let me finish with a trivia question. What is the connection between the state of Oregon and "The Simpsons?"

H.xx

                                        

                            

10 days in America

After a long 10-hour flight, I find myself in front of an American customs officer; he stamps my passport without batting an eye. Walking out of immigration I see Dean waiting for me with seven roses. He might not know that in Poland it is considered a lucky number. Later I will see Brandon from 90210 walking out of the same door.

And this is how my adventure in America began. I spent the first few days in a beautiful location - Newport Beach. I had already been to U.S. a couple of times, but in August I decided to stay here for a little longer.

Beaches here are not primarily for tourists, and unfortunately the water is not great for swimming. However plenty of surfers enjoyed the ocean waves. Sometimes I could see dolphins in the distance; sometimes I would see pelicans flying overhead.

About Los Angeles, the city that I saw a couple of times usually while traffic, I will write later.

Americans love to eat and go to restaurants. In just the past two weeks, I have already tried Mexican, American, Mediterranean and Asian foods. At home we cooked a popular local dish -properly seasoned swordfish. I noticed that portions served here are generally too large, and very often clients take leftovers to the ,,to go boxes''.

Recently at the Cheesecake Factory, a very popular chain restaurant here, I found a list of 26 kinds of a cheesecake:  fresh banana cream cheesecake, extreme dream cheesecake, dulce de leche caramel cheesecake, pineapple upside-down cheesecake … Well, living large:)

It seems to me, that Americans drink coffee all the time, so I was surprised to find out that they do not excel in international rankings of coffee consumption.  However, Starbucks' green logo has become an omnipresent part of the urban local architecture. The first Starbucks opened its doors in Pike Place Market in 1971 in Seattle.

Interestingly, a new law requiring information on the calorie content of each item, available in this well-known franchise, has been recently introduced.

Still, on the west coast it is very difficult to get a normal, instant coffee. After a few attempts, I finally settled upon instant coffee from Whole Foods.

Just as previously we waited for food parcels from the West, I may now place orders for delivery of coffee with a request to send overseas. 

Of course, like the Poles, Americans spend a lot of time in the malls. Recently, in one of which, I even found a shop of the famous Polish beauty line “Inglot’’.

Each store has a welcoming atmosphere, so when walking around the store you will nearly always hear someone asking: "did you find everything ok so far?''.  Sometimes it's overwhelming, but the attentive atmosphere around the client is authentic, and it seems to me that it’s not a strained standard.

As for the shops, a few days ago already in Bellevue (in Washington State, where we currently live), I learned that the available weight scales which show the dimensions in kilograms are the so-called "old-school" ones:)

This is my first blog entry, I will add more, I'll be very glad if you, dear friends, visit me here from time to time.

Helena

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