Polish Music

The last meeting of The Polish Culture Club was aimed at Polish music. Believe me or not, picking up songs for the meeting was a really tough job. First of all, Poland has a really lively and diverse music scene. There is a lot to choose from. Second of all, I had to put away my personal music taste for the time being, so I could actually show the variety of music styles. 

We started with Fryderyk Chopin, the brightest star of Polish classical music. Despite his unusual surname, he is NOT French. He was born in Żelazowa Wola and left Poland in 1830 just before the November Uprising. He did not even expect that he would never return to his homeland. Chopin wrote 200 compositions (about 20 hours of music, mostly for solo piano), the first at the age of 6 (Polonaise, both music genre and one of the 5 Polish national dances). It's not a coincidence that Robert Shuman said "žGentlemen, hats off to the genius [referring to Chopin]!"

Fryderyk Chopin "Revolutionary Etude"

If you're not really into classical music, you can listen to jazz impressions on Chopin by one of the most talented jazz pianist in Poland, Leszek Możdżer.

Leszek Możdżer, impressions on Chopin

Then, we moved to more contemporary music scene in Poland. After the presentation of two major music festivals (Open'er and Woodstock) taking place in Poland, we listened to a wide range of Polish artists. Check out yourself!

Pidżama Porno "Ezoteryczny Poznań"

- the place where I came from :-)

Edyta Górniak "To nie ja byłam Ewą" 

- the first Polish performance and the 2nd place in the Eurovision Contest, 1994

Kayah & Goran Bregović "Prawy do lewego"

Maciej Maleńczuk, Yugopolis "Ostatnia nocka"

- an album inspiried by Balkan music

Compare to... Bajaga "Verujem, ne verujem"

Other Bajaga's songs with Polish lirycs: 
Krzysztof Krawczyk "Mój przyjacielu" ("442 do Beograda")
Olaf Deriglasoff "Falochron" ("Moji drugovi")

And Ewa Farna, a Polish singer performing in Czech and Polish language.
"Cicho"

"Ticho"

And what is YOUR favorite song? Please, feel free to comment :-)

Fruit Salad

Spotted at school today...

Those cute clay fruit inspired me to make a fruit salad. Really easy and really healthy.


You need:
- one apple,
- one pear,
- two bananas,
- one orange,
- two spoons of homemade peach jam
- two spoons of cream
- one spoon of brown sugar (optional).

First, wash and peel the fruit. Be careful while using a knife ;-) Then, chop fruit into small pieces. Mix ingredients together and sweeten the salad with a dressing of jam and cream (or sprinkle with sugar).

Have fun and enjoy your healthy snack!

World Health Day

Today (7 April), as a tribute to World Health Organization (WHO), 

World Health Day is celebrated.

World Health Organization was opened on the 7th of April 1948 to coordinate global health actions. Nowadays, it monitors lifestyle trends, runs extensive research and sets all kinds of health norms and standards.

On Friday, teacher Dalija invited me to celebrate World Health Day with the first and second graders. By various games and activities, we explained how important is to exercise on regular basis, maintain high hygiene standards and eat a balanced diet.

Teacher Dalija explaining what is a healthy diet

The food piramid

Coloring exercise: green - eat a lot, yellow - eat sometimes, red - avoid eating.

Healthy vs unhealthy food.