Parthemores in Poland

I saw this on TV a few weeks ago and about halfway through, I realized that it was poking fun at many of the common stereotypes that foreigners have about Poland.  It is actually the opening theme to a show called “I love you, Poland” which features teams of TV personalities competing to answer questions about Polish history as well as spelling challenges.  When spelling constitutes entertainment, that’s a clue the language is difficult. 

So let’s watch, discuss, and then you can try to get the tune out of your head:

The very beginning features various city “mascots.”  Poznań’s is the goat.  The goat icons are everywhere here. 

I love the rastafarian guy playing the bongos.  I have seen more dreadlocks here than on my vacation to the Bahamas.  For some ungodly reason, they are extremely popular for both men and women.  Fascinating.

You will also see the bison (żubry), which live in eastern Poland and are the last remaining wild bison in Europe.  There are also plenty of storks, which are supposedly good luck.  Poland has the largest population of white storks in Europe, according to the 6^th International Census of White Storks in 2004.  Really.  I have never seen an actual stork, but we see the nests on top of telephone poles.  The nests are about 5 feet across, and we suspect they might actually be for pterodactyls. 

The actors in the leather outfits and embroidered dresses look like the people who live in the mountains of southern Poland.  According to our teacher, their language is quite different from the rest of Polandand it is hard to understand them.  So it’s just like West Virginia and the rest of America.

The terrible road conditions are addressed by the dancing construction worker.  They don’t show the three other guys taking a break.  The one guy working, three guys watching ratio is just like in America. 

I’m not sure what the deal with the nurse is, but she definitely says the word “błędy” which means “mistakes.” I don’t think I want to know…

The soccer fans are all decked out in their white and red spirit attire, complete with crazy hats and the requisite scarves.  On the show, the audience is dressed similarly. 

The polar bear is particularly funny to us because our other teacher mentioned on numerous occasions that foreigners seem to think that polar bears freely roam the streets and that Poland is somewhere north of the Arctic Circle.  In reality, the weather is a lot like Ohio. 

So there’s your little mini-tour of Poland.  And good luck getting the song out of your head.