Five Things about Płock, Poland

As I finish up my assignment in Płock, Poland, I need to reflect on a few things that are a little different here. Its been my longest assignment so far, 3.5 months, but a very nice one. It was a different summer, but one I will definitely never forget.


Here are a few things that are different about Płock:

#1: Pizza and its Sauce: Here in Plock the main restaurants in town are Pizza, Kebabs, and traditional Polish food. Wherever you go around the world, Pizza is just not the same as it is at home. Here the individual sized pizzas are large - 32 cm..so more than enough for one person. With every pizza they ask you if you want garlic or tomato sauce. This sauce is not the sauce on your main pizza. They bring you an extra gravy boat of sauce. So yes, sometimes we have a pizza that is way too big for one person and two extra grazy boats of sauce...healthy right? Delicious nonetheless!


#2: TV and Dubbing Voice : I have told many people about my two English stations on TV here, Bloomberg and a goofy music video channel. The truth is that many of the other channels have English shows on, but the Polish people make it very difficult to watch. On every station, for every show, they have the SAME man, dub every voice, for every character. He is speaking for every character in Polish, and has no expression in his voice whatsoever. If you turn up the TV loud enough you can hear the English, but its just not worth it with the Polish man ruining every scene...watching Sex and the City just isn't the same...

#3. Picking Mushrooms: September started a new season here...Mushroom Season. I was speaking with one of my friends here, Anna, and she was very excited to have two days off. So I asked her, "Oh what will you do with your time off?" She then told me all about how she and her friends plan to spend the days picking mushrooms. After they were done, they will spend the whole next day boiling them and storing them for the next couple months. She also told me about how many people die each year during mushroom picking. They all know how to tell the difference between the poisonous ones and the good ones...but sometimes people make the mistake. This tradition isn't just my friend Anna - everyone in Poland does it -- and apparently almost all other Slavic nations. I will stick to buying my mushrooms at the store :)

Mushrooms...not sure if they are poisonous..

 #4: Trumpeter in the Town Square: Every day at noon and at 6pm a trumpeter comes out of the clock tower here in Plock and plays a little trumpeter call. I would say it is to announce meal times, but here in Plock they actually eat at 6am, 10am, 2pm, and 6 or 7pm. If you are lucky, the trumpeter will wave to you.

Town Square at Night -- Clock tower is where trumpeter trumpets

#5: Sundays in Płock: Sundays in Płock are definitely something to enjoy! Everyone from the surrounding towns come to the "city" to enjoy a festival, have a nice dinner, and sometimes just a nice stroll by the River Wisla. Every Sunday the town square comes alive. A man brings out his popcorn stand and sells balloons and popcorn. Another man, who I swear is a homeless man, brings out his pony for pony rides. When it was warmer out, kids would put on their swim suits and swim in the fountain. The town also has a small train on wheels that hosts tours all around the town, including the river. As featured in previous entries, every weekend we have been here there was a festival including a Reggae Festival, an "Air and Water Show", a Techno Festival, and even a beauty pageant...among sooo many more!

Weekend Popcorn Cart

Set-up for one of the crazy festivals

It has been a crazy summer and September!

Everyday Pictures of Płock

It has been a little while since I updated, so I decided to post some pictures to hold you over until my next big adventure. Tomorrow, on our one day off, we are traveling to a town called Łódź, the third largest city in Poland. I hope to have many new pictures!

This is a beer from the microbrewery in town - Browar Tumski. They have some of the best food in town.

Portion of a church on what I call the Zoo walk. Yes, there is actually a Zoo in Plock. We have not been there yet, but we plan to visit soon.

Catholic Church with a neat cross, near our hotel

Not in Plock -- but this is the sign you see entering Warsaw :)

Plock Chemistry Day & Torun, Poland

This past weekend our town had an equivalent of Schaumburg's Septemberfest. They celebrated their town's history with food, music, crafters, and medieval reenactments. The Saturday of the fest was also Chemistry Day where they celebrated all the scientists in the village -- mainly everyone that works at the refinery. In fact, all the employees at the refinery get a bonus each year on Chemistry Day. No the bonus does not include UOP.

With our one day off a week we did have a chance to visit a nearby town, called Torun. Torun is one of the few cities that did not get destroyed during the wars. It has a significant amount of the original medieval architecture still remaining. This also happens to be the hometown of Nicolaus Copernicus. He is the picture of the statue below and one of the first people to say that the Earth was NOT the center of the universe.

Town of Plock and MORE food

SOO once again this post will feature more excellent Polish food! But first -- a little about the town. Below is a picture of the fabulous 4K walking path along the river behind my hotel - Hotel Tumski. This morning I ate my breakfast on the terrace of our hotel overlooking these views.

Now a picture of a walk after dinner in the town square! Below you see a picture of the city centre square and the capitol building. The picture was taken with my phone and the sky color during dusk was crazy!

I got home from work today and was craving more authentic Polish food. Before I came to Poland the only real Polish words I knew were Pierogi and Golabki (stuffed cabbage). So since I have already had some Pierogis, I had to try the Golabki:

Here there is a tomato sauce on top of the cabbage rolls and potatoes. These were quite delicious, but they still come in a close second to Grandma Wojtowicz's Golabki. I also have a passion for potato pancakes (I'm obsessed I know...) and my friend from UOP, Liz, happened to order them:

As you may have guessed..I tried some of the Potato Pancakes...

Although from here on out I will be working 6 days a week, we are hoping to do some travel to a close Polish town this Sunday -- we still have to choose!

New Assignment - Plock, Poland

All - I have successfully made it to Plock, Poland. We flew through Frankfurt, Germany which my first business class experience...it was awesome and then it was on to Warsaw. Then Europcar somehow allowed me to drive stickshift the rest of the way to Plock, Poland. To say that I only stalled out a few times is a definite understatement.

Our hotel is beautiful and great except for the fact that I have a twin bed, with a twin blanket that isn't much wider. If any of you knew me as a kid, you also know that I used to have a bad habit of rolling off the bed - so hopefully that doesn't happen here. Below is a picture of some of our crew and some of the contractors out on the hotel terrace. The terrace overlooks the river and is quite beautiful.

As many of you know, I am 50% Polish with my Mom being the side who is 100% Polish. During the holiday season we have a day called Pierogi Day where we make about 1000 Pierogis to share for the whole Wojtowicz family. Today I had my first real real Pierogis and they were sooo delicious. The ones shown in the picture below are my favorite stuffing of sauerkraut and mushroom.