Letter from Poland.

 

My medieval life...

06.05.2008

Recently, I was talking to an English friend of mine who has also made the move from London to Warsaw about the main differences between our lifestyles in the two cities. We eventually came to the conclusion that although we prefer living here, our life in Poland is somewhat, well... medieval.

Presented by Ania Piwowarska.

Now, of course we were joking but there is some truth in this observation. For example, let’s take the issue of drinking water. Most people agree that it’s probably best not to drink tap water in Poland. This means a lot of lugging bottles back from the shops. Or, if you’re like me, going to the public water source. Yes, that’s right, a couple of times a week I take two empty five litre bottles of water and make my way to the ‘well’ at the bottom of my street. I’m not sure where this water exactly comes from but it tastes alright. I have since found out that of course, internet shopping exists in Poland and many of my friends have their water delivered to their door, I still prefer my medieval method. It makes me feel like I’ve done something practical during the day.
The other old-fashioned part of life here is cleaning. I feel like I spend my whole life sweeping. I never swept in London – maybe that’s because I didn’t live in a wonky, dirty old building with creaking wooden floors but instead had wall to wall carpeting. Sweeping is actually quite satisfying and calming. However, I refuse to do what most self respecting Poles do around this time of year – carpet beating. In most courtyards in Poland there is a metal frame and one can regularly hear someone giving a carpet a good old thrashing. Although its good way of venting your anger the dust storm that accompanies this process has made me get rid of all the rugs and carpets in my flat. I’ve got enough sweeping to do, without having to do beating and hoovering as well.
Another part of cleaning, that I’ve had to learn about here is how to clean windows. My fellow English Varsovian remarked how in the London there was always some energetic, lanky teenager who would come around a couple of times a year to ask if you need your windows cleaning. No such middle class luxury here. I don’t actually mind cleaning windows – the problem is more to do with how you clean them. Last Spring I tried and a whole pane of glass fell directly on my head. Thankfully it fell at a right angle and so the hundreds of shattered bits of glass miraculously missed my face. One did stick itself into my foot, but I still think I got off lightly. Why did this happen? Well, my windows are post war and not the usual window shape. They are enormous and beautiful, divided into 6 different segments, which can be opened in three different ways. I didn’t quite realize that the top window was not secured in any way but by a slotted into the window frame. This year, I’m going to get my sixty year old neighbour, Pani Ela, to show me the art of cleaning ancient windows.
Another part of my medieval life in Poland is shopping and cooking. As most food items, particularly fruit and vegetables, are completely organic they tend to go bad after only a few days. So it’s a real change from London where you can eat some ancient hummus and two week old lettuce if you’re desperate. No, here you have to go and ‘gather berries’ (so to speak) every couple of days. Which I guess is healthy, particularly when you spend the majority of your life sitting in front of a lap top, like me.
As for cooking, making a vat of soup is an essential part of being a female in Poland. No more, popping down to your local supermarket and picking up a carton of ready made carrot and coriander soup – no, here you have to make it yourself. So, you must always keep a bundle of ‘włoszczyzna’ in your fridge (that’s the word given to the key soup making ingredients - a celery, carrot, celeriac and parsley – that are sold in a bundle in every Polish shop). This handy bundle of vegetables is named after the Italians that brought it over ('włochy' meaning Italy in Polish). Apparently, vegetables were made popular in Poland in the 16th century by the court of Queen Bona. Anyway, once you’ve got your 'włoszczyzna', you can whip up a barszcz (beetroot soup) or rosół (chicken soup) in no time and have something to serve around ‘the hearth’. Seriously, I have seen the power of soup making. I remember that when I came here and my mother-in-law found out that I didn’t make soup; she started sending it to me via my husband in jar every day. It was as if, we didn’t eat soup every day, something terrible would happen to us. Now, that I learnt how to make soup I have found that my in-laws have a new found respect for me. Particularly if I serve a Polish soup with an exotic twist. Since I made Thai chicken soup for them one evening, they love me unconditionally.
There are lots of other elements of my medieval life that I could talk about such as hanging clothes out to dry in the attic or constantly lugging things up and down from the cellar as I have nowhere to store them in my small flat. However, the one thing that I enjoy most is inviting friends around my ‘hearth’ at least once a week. Having spent years in London, eating in fancy restaurants and sipping cocktails in trendy clubs, I like the fact that in Poland people like nothing better than being invited to your house for an evening of food, drink and laughter. So instead of drinking mojitos in private members clubs, here I am making soup for my friends. I never thought I’d say it but I love my medieval life here. But perhaps that’s nothing to do with living in Poland, perhaps that’s just growing up...