Welcome to the forum - tell us something about you

[Jaga]

Dear All,

I am overwhelmed by your response to this new forum and also by your active participation. But, since we started a new forum maybe we should know about each other a bit more again - for us and for our visitors.

Let me start with me...

My name is Jagoda. I am originally from Krakow. I live in Idaho now. I moved to the USA to do my PhD studies in nuclear applied physics in Texas. I am still working in Physics, mainly in positron annihilation but part-time.

I have a small daughter, Ela:
jaga.netfirms.com/baby.html

she is now 5.5 and she started kindergarden. She understand some Polish but speaks mainly English because her mama is busy with work and .... Polish site & forum and neglects a poor kid education.

My husband, John, is originally from Texas.

We had right now 30 K (freezing) and it is the warmest time during the day! Idaho has a continental climate like Siberia. It looks like a preria with not too many trees, lots of sagebrush (type of shrubbery) and is famous for potatoes, but lots of extra melioration (watering) is needed for these potatoes to grow.

My both parents were humanists, trained in Polish literature, history, journalism, therefore my soul is split between sciences and humanities.

If you would like to read more about the history of our (Jaga & Nancy) website and forum please check the article here:

The Short History of Polish Culture Website, Forum & Newsletter
culture.polishsite.us/articles/art261.html

[jimpres]

Hmmm,
Let me see a short bio.

I was born in LA, Alhambra, a suburb. Move to Denver Co at 2 and lived there until I entered the service. Attended St. Joseph's Polish grammer school and church. The church has a stained glass window in it donated by my grandfather, Blazejewski, Jan. my mothers dad.

I spent 4 years in the US Navy in a fighter squadron.

Attended SDSU and got a MS in Nuclear Physics, primarily neutron activation analysis. I remained here in San Diego since the Navy and SDSU.

Got married in 1959 have two daughters. The youngest of which had twin boys in June of this year. There names are Zachary and Nathan. After our trip to Poland last year and a stork flew over her twice, that's how it happens folks.

I have worked and still do on US Navy projects. I have been to Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Phillipines, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Poland, and in August Taiwan. I know enough of the languages to get me in a heap of trouble.

My plans are to retire in Poland next year. That way the balance of power will be maintained , Jaga came here so I will go there.

[forza]

Oky,
I am Forza, formely ForzaPogon. I am 41, from Szczecin, Poland. Proud to be a bum but always on the lookout for job.
I keep trying here to improve my writing skills in English so one day I get that top end job in Brussel. If you saw a good link here it was me. I am into movies, computer, soccer, blonds. I lay my hopes for this world in America. I pray it wakes up. I'd like to move out of town. Love my bike. One cat (mean mf) Favourite places: Londonistan, Romania, Bay Area, Ukraine and Ireland.
P. S.
Ready for adoption

[nancy]

Jaga told me to post here so I will.

I was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, during the post-war baby boom. All 4 of my grandparents were born in Poland and met and married in Chicopee, MA. They raised their children to speak Polish and English, but my generation was raised with only English. Polish was "the secret language" - except that we all knew when we were being scolded.

Besides Massachusetts, I have lived in Dublin, Ireland, for a year; Texas for 5 years (the less said about that the better, sort of a "Thelma and Louise" thing, if you know what I mean); North Carolina, and Georgia.

I have a master's degree and a PhD in biology, and work in the field of marine biology. I owned a small bookshop for 8 years, where I honed my tracking skills ("Can you find the book with the blue cover that was here 4 years ago?" ) In 1998 I sold the shop and retreated to my ivory tower, where I live life on the computer.

Well, sometimes I actually leave the computer to feed the cat (see avatar), feed the husband (also a marine biologist who has traveled frequently to Antarctica), read books, play in my sewing room, and take millions of digital photographs of trees, flowers, bugs and whatever else is out there.

My trip to Poland in 2004 - and the people I met there and here on the forum when I returned - have caused major changes in my life (more family, more friends, computer, more fun).

sorry to be so long-winded .....

[Bob S]

;D Bob S., Born in Hamtramck, Michigan. I have also lived in Warren, MI and Clawson,MI. I am now living in Norfolk,VA after retiring from the U.S. Navy (I have lived here since 1975). I married a girl from Malaga, Spain and have a large family there. Having a Polish last name in that country served me well because everyone assumed I was Catholic (correct guess). I have a lot of hobbies that keep me busy for more than 24 hours a day (Amateur Radio, Astronomy, Stamp Collecting, Digital Photography, Fishing, Target shooting [antique firearms] A bit of History, Model Ship building and a few others that I cannot remember right now. For music I like Flaminco (not the knockoff stuff but the real thing from real Gitanos). I like Spanish music (from Spain and not the so-called Latino type). My fathers family came from Moshina and the family on my mothers side was Kashub (Samp) but I do not know the town they came from.
I probably have a lot more to add but I cannot remember it right now nor is there enough space in this thread y'all

[marmota]

[glow=red,2,300][/glow]

Witam wszystkie mile Panie bo chyba to forum dla Pan. Marmota to ground hog po hiszpansku wiec nie trudno sie domyslic skad jestem. Zycze powodzenia w forum i Szczesliwego Thanksgiving. George.

P.S. Staralem sie zamiescic moje zdjecie, ale nie wchodzi.

[Pawian]

marmota said:

[glow=red,2,300][/glow]

Witam wszystkie mile Panie bo chyba to forum dla Pan.

Forza, this is about you. Didn`t I always tell you that your nick is too ambiguous? ha ha ha ha

Being a pawian, which is male gender in Polish, I will write nothing in this thread.

OK, I can write something:
I AM A MAN!!! EVEN A MALE CHAUVINIST!!!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[suzanne]

My name is Suzanne. I was born and raised in Missouri, but I've spent half my life in Massachusetts, where I live with my husband and 2 young children.

I work as a freelance translator, translating medical and pharmaceutical documents from French and German into English, and I also do proofreading and editing.

Poland has always been a place of interest to me and I am hoping to do some genealogy research to learn about our family's Polish ancestry, on my mother's side. My father's side of the family has always been interested in genealogy and so his Irish/German/Welsh ancestry is all well-documented, going back almost 300 years, but my mother's Polish/Austro-Hungarian/German/Swiss background has many unknowns.

Edited, because I should add: In my university days, I lived for a year in Munich, where I continued my studies in German literature, and I miss that city a lot. That was a great year, and my only regret was not visiting Poland, Hungary and Italy when I was there. I spent a little too much time studying and writing papers, and wish I had spent a little more time traveling! I've since made it to Hungary and Italy, but not Poland yet. That will happen, I still have many years ahead of me, hopefully!

[gardenmoma]

Well, it is so very interesting to read about the busy lives of those contributing to this Forum. Especially interesting to me is that Nancy, Suzanne and I all live in the great Commonwealth of MA; Nancy was born in a town (Chicopee) which is right down the road (about 45 minutes away) from me; and there is at least one more Scorpio contributor.

Here is a very unfortunately long-winded introduction to the inner workings of Garden Moma:

My Polish heritage has always been an important part of my life. Among my earliest memories of growing up in Cleveland, OH are those of family gatherings with a lot of Polish food. Especially important were my experiences learning to cook and the memories of Weigelia / Wilia (Polish Christmas Eve) which we still celebrate as a family. It appears as if my middle child, a daughter, might be taking over for me

At Miami (OH) University, I earned a B.A. in botany with the goal of teaching. At the University of MA at Amherst, I taught and gained plant knowledge while working for a degree in plant ecology. My first full time job was teaching horticulture and other plant-related courses at Springfield (MA) College before my three children were born.

While my children were in school, I worked as a substitute in local schools and wrote gardening and food / cooking articles with a heavy emphasis on Polish food ways for local newspapers. My trip to Poland in summer, 2005 was the impetus to pick this up once again.

As the children became self-sufficient, I taught biology and horticulture at Holyoke (MA) Community College. In addition, I began delving into my Polish heritage as well as the culture and history of the country.

Additionally, I began to photograph gardens and plants, and mounted several exhibits of my work at local venues. I continued with my writing and photography upon leaving HCC. I began maintaining and writing articles for two topics at an internet writer's site, Suite101.com"]http://www.suite101.com]Suite101.com At Suite101, my writing and photography centered upon my two topics Garden Design for Homeowners Garden Design for Homeowners"]http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/garden_design_homeowners]Garden Design for Homeowners and a children's topic The Green Thumb Club – Plants for Kids"]http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/green-thumb-club]a children's topic The Green Thumb Club – Plants for Kids. The site has ceased publishing for a few months, but my articles are still there. I do not know if I will apply to return once reorganization is complete.

Travel to private and public gardens in the U.S. and out of the country continue to increase my knowledge and powers of observation and comparison. My photography has thrived with these travels and my image library has grown tremendously. I have been fortunate to share my travels with many local groups through my illustrated talks. Recently, my attention focuses on gaining experience with digital images.

I am working on a photography project, centered around my trip in summer,2005, as part of a continuing search and investigation of my cultural identity as a second-generation daughter of Poland. Stas Radosh (Director of the Polish Center at Elms College"]http://www.polishcenter.net]the Polish Center at Elms College and his course "Introduction to Polish Culture" (originally taught at the University of MA (Amherst) and now at the Elms (Chicopee) are responsible for my beginner's ability to understand and synthesize the history and culture of my ancestors.

This probably sounds polished because it is! I have needed to submit forms, etc. as I apply for money and places in which to show my pictures from Poland. And so have needed to develope a lot of what you read above...

If you have read this far...Thanks

Garden Moma

[Yanc]

Hi there

My name is Arkadiusz (Arek for short), I live in small village of Brodnica, 40 km south of Poznañ, Poland. I was born on March 8th, 1975. I am married, have three kids (2 daughters - 6y and 4y, and son - 1,25y). I work as an electric engineer. I joined the forum to polish my english :-), but found many intersting things here (and on Bella) so I stayed.

Yanc

PS. Am I the only one so young here??

[Pawian]

yanc said:

PS. Am I the only one so young here??

No, not at all. There are younger guys. Look at me:
www.republika.pl/jerzybo/ja.jpg

[jimpres]

Arek,

As you can see Jerzy is pretty young. He looks a lot younger then the age that you are.
I have family in Brodnica, however, its the Brodnica east of Torun. Are you an electronic engineer or electric engineer?

[suzanne]

Arek,
I'm not sure of everyone's age, but you're not the only young one here. I'm 35 - that's young, or not, depending on one's perspective!

Anyway, regardless of age, there seem to be no "old fogeys" here!

[jimpres]

Suzanne is right you can be young at any age and you can be old at any age.
It's all relative. This forum seems to have a great group.

[pieter]

Dear People,

Jaga and Adam asked me to participate in this Forum, so here I am.
I am Pieter, and was born in the town Apeldoorn in the East of the Netherlands, near the city I live in now, Arnhem. When I was three months my parents moved to the South-Western coastal Island and peninsula area Zeeland, and for twenty years I lived in Vlissingen (Flushing NY is named after that), a navel port and dockyard, small commercial harbour (merchant navy) with a fishing fleet, pilotage. A place with strong winds from the North sea,and the typical port feeling of the end of the world. Growing up there felt a little bit lonely, because I was not one of the local Harbour workers, farmers or fishermen
(the people that lived there). My fathers family came from Rotterdam, where my Duch grandparents lived. My Mothers family from her fathers side originally came from the east of Poland, Tworki near Augustow in North-East Poland. My grandfather was a Polish officer in the Tsarist army, and later experianced the Polish-Russian war of 1920,
and in the second world war he was on the run for the Gestapo, because he belonged to the Polish intelligentsia. He studied in Kiew and his brother studied in Prague. As an adult he moved to Warsaw to study there and teach at a girlslyceum in the twenties and thirties. He was also a schoolinspector for a warsaw district. After the war he could'nt get that job back because he refused to be a member of the Communist party.
The family of my granmother came from Pozñan, and some family stil lives there.
My grandmother was a administrator at a choclate factory, an exellent cook (I loved her duck, fillet and polish dishes, typical Polish pastry and Easter cookies), bridgeplayer and a very strong and temperamentful lady. From 1934 (when she was born) until 1943/44 my mother lived in Warszawa with her sister and parents. At the end of the war my mothers family went to Pozñan to start a new life there, and my mother went back to Warszawa when she was a young women in the fiftees. In 1967 she met my father in former Yugoslavia, in the town Dubrovnik in Croatia. In 1968 she came to Holland, and they lived in Apeldoorn, where my father was a Banker. In the seventees I went to Poland several times by car or train. It was exiting to travel via the DDR then,
due to the border troubles and may fathers irritation with the East-Germans (he always said these guys are exactly the same as they were in Holland during the occupation -1940 - 1945-). In the eightees I only went back three times in 1984, 1987 and 1988. My grandparents visited us in Holland in the seventees, and my babcia visited her daughters in Holland and Chicago several times. I remember my mother talking Polish to the phone, you could say shouting, because the connection was not always good. I wrote cards and letters in German, and often added drawings too.
About myself. I studyed in Amsterdam, The Hague and Arnhem, history teacher school for highschool and on two art academies. Since 1992 I live, study and work in Arnhem. Arnhem is a nice city with 130.000 citizens, higher technical-, economical, agricultural and cultural education, industry and regional adminstration (Capital of the provence Gelderland). It has a beautiful green environment in the north (Green woods), a river landscape in the south (the Rhine and Ijssel rivers) and farm (country) land. Historically it is known for Market Garden in 1944, and the movie "A bridge to far". Brits and Poles fought a tough battle here. Unfortunately the Poles were dropped in a German area. Un Polish-American uncle of mine fought here and rescued himself by swimming over the rhine river in full marching kit from Driel to Oosterbeek. The Poles fought very bravely in Oosterbeek, helding up many Germans and by doing so saving many British lives. It is sad that they lost that battle, because there was a heavy SS panzer division overthere (German and -yes- Duch SS). I love biking, waling in the woods and along the rhine river, painting, photography (taking pictures and working on them in photoshop and in I-photo. I also collect art photobooks and photojournalistic images), reading history books, biographies, literature, newpapers and magazines (articles, texts and essays).
Besides that I love to go to pubs and party every now and then (dance with girlfriends), travelling, social life (with my friends in Arnhem and Amsterdam) and music ( I have a very ecclectic tast. Most Pop and rockmusic, but also classical, jazz, chançon and oriental - Gypsy, sefardic, Persian and African music-). A handicap of mine is that I can not write short messages.

Pieter