Saturday, November 21, 2009
2:33 PM | 
Posted by
Ryś |
This post is dedicated to Becia Svehlova, who can't fall asleep last nights, because one question is bothering her... What the hell, the dwarfs have to do with Wroclaw?
The answer is pretty simple - since the begining they lived, live and will live here. They showed first time in public, in eightees of 20th century. The first one - called by people "Papa Dwarf" has writen an anti-regime sentence on one of the city walls. The only thing which we know about him is that he was wearing orange bonnet and began the Orange Revolution in Wroclaw, which with its happenings and events took few bricks from the Soviet wall.
Although nowadays Wroclaw is not endangered by any regime, the dwarfs are still present on the streets and what's more, with every month their number increases. Dwarfs are everywhere - not only in the city centre, but also in the most unexpected places. They even have their own, official website - www.krasnale.pl - where you can get a map and start looking for them. The dwarfs became a symbol of the city and consequently the aim for many thieves - mostly from the other cities and British islands. But be careful! Dwarfs are playing tricks, so better respect them and leave in peace.
With drawfs is connected the second subject of the post - Dzień Życzliwości - the Day of Kindliness - no, it's not a joke, such a day really does exist and is celebrated not only in Wroclaw. You could notice, that underneeth I set a form - it's called the Kindliness generator - where you can post a kindliness report of someone. Unfortunatelly it is in Polish, but Uncle Google will help You. I hope that now, everytime, when you will meet some traveler giving people small drawfs statues, you won't call the emergency, but recognise him as a man from Wroclaw and invite him or her to pub. Don't worry, there will be no denying, eventually we are citizens of the most kind city ;)
Links:
- Events
- Dwarfs
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Polish Radio EURO published the video highlights of the broadcast in which I had honour to participate. It was a great pleasure for me to join Justyna Majchrzak in the studio and to be her guest. I really encourage you all - not only the Polish listeners - to listen to PR EURO, where also foreigners can find from time to time few words in their mother-language :)
Labels:
2009,
Bartek on Radio,
Justyna Majchrzak,
News,
Poland,
Polish Radio EURO,
Video,
Warsaw
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1 comments
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I have been invited to participate in the radio programme- BIS-Up, broadcasted by Polish Radio EURO on 6th of November. The broadcast starts at 2p.m., however I will be on air since 3.
Polish Radio EURO broadcasts nationwide on short waves, but the foreign listeners can listen to that also online.
The current programme can be seen at http://polskieradioeuro.pl/MeetingPoint/MeetingPoint.aspx
I am very surprised with the invitation, because I am not that sure what they want me to talk about, however I promise to not to ashame my friends ;)
If anyone is looking for greetings on air - post your wish in comments ;)
Over 30 Celsius degrees temperature, 100 % of moistness, almost zero visibility and permanent feeling, that something big is hanging over my head. Where have I recently been? Some equatorial jungle or maybe some sand-mud storm in Asia? None of them. This time my journey had very scientific overtone and was connected to my studies.
Many ask, what I am actually studying and when they hear - "geoengineering", they either try to nod with misunderstanding or congratulate me, assuring, that there will be always need of surveyors in geodesy. Actually the second try is more less accurate, because geoengineers or rather geotechnical engineers have to cooperate quite well with surveyors, however it is still far away from the right job, which I would be able to do after studies.
Geotechnicians are simply responsible for the field studies of rocks and soils, their movements and stability. Every time when you drive your car on motorways, in the tunnels or above the cliff, you can drive calmly unless it was checked by wrong person. However sometimes geotechnicians have to go underground, to the mines and caverns to find out and eventually solve the static problems, which can be hazardous for miners. So do we from time to time with various groups at university.
Last time – thanks to the invitation of the Hard Coal Mine "Piast" – we have gone down to one of the most interesting mines in Poland. You can ask, what can be interesting in that? For majority of people mine is associated with “Triple D” – dirt, dust and darkness. But to be fair, that is just a drop in the ocean of things, occurrences and effects appearing in miners’ working environment.
I must confess, that miners are probably the strongest people, I have ever met. Not only with their physical strength - all the time they have to carry heavy “escaping equipment”, which in case of danger should provide oxygen and save their lives – adding to that high temperatures, moisture and fumes coming from diesel machines – makes the environment very hard and tough. Puny wouldn’t manage to stay there 8 hours to say nothing of working and operating heavy machines. We were just walking about 6 kilometres in the mine for 3 hours and really some of us had enough of this. You have to know, that galleries, leading to the so-called “long wall” are one of the most unpleasant places where man can be. Only all the time changing airflows, moisture, uneven floor, deep ponds and darkness could be difficult for somebody but it gives just a foretaste of what is to come.
Usually in such conditions, man becomes tired and muddle-headed, but they can’t take the liberty of doing that. All the time they must pay very high attention to everything what they do and what happens around them. Small mistake or minute without thinking can end up tragically.
Miners show no fear underground, work hard and confident, but when you meet them after shift in some pub, few beers can sometimes stir up and release their emotions. Every morning when they meet in the elevator, which with speed of 6 m/s takes them underground, you can hear around very characteristic “Szczęść Boże” (God, give us luck). Miners are conscious, that every time when go down, they can die, but 99% of success is in their hands. They have to rely on their workmates, take responsibility not only for their own movements, but also for the others. There is no competition, who will work faster or more efficient, because the most important is safety. Therefore you can feel very strong bond between colleagues from shift, they have big respect to each other and they know that in case of any fatality their families won’t stay alone. And although for people who go there for the very first time, the enormous number of vulgarisms can disheartening – really sometimes the rain of swears and curses can bring you to the knees – miners are good friends, just in some unique way.
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