The Man in the High Castle

Hello everyone!
Today I will continue writing about new TV series and, as always, I will tell you if it's worth watching ;)
Have you heard about the new Amazon serie, "The Man in the High Castle"?
If not, you're lucky to get to know it with me ;)
According to a polish website about movies, which is called "Filmweb", "The Man in the High Castle" is a science-fiction thriller, created by Frank Spotnitz. The serie shows us the alternative vision of the world's history: United States of America are ruled by nazis who won the World War II. The serie is based on a novel written by Philip K. Dick. I have to say that to me the main idea seems pretty interesting and I couldn't wait to watch it. However, after the premiere of the first season I was quite dissapointed. Although I still think that the idea is really good I can't help feeling that the director and the crew also believed that with this brilliant idea, they don't have to do nothing more. In my opinion, the plot isn't captivating and the viewer is unable to relate to characters, who seem cold and unreal.
I don't think I'd watch the second season, but still, I think that if you wanna give it a try, you shouldn't hesitate after one bad review ;).

Christmas in Poland

So, I didn't really notice that I haven't written anything for a long time. As it is december, I have to say that I feel pretty obliged to write about christmas traditions in Poland. I will write down a list of some things that are essential in polish christmas ;)

1. I think I should start with typical Polish obsession about cleanliness: the most important part for Poles is to have their house or apartment sparkling clean. It is believed that if the house is clean inside and outside on christmas, it will remain clean throughout the whole next year. I don't know if it's true, but my mother definitely believes in this supestition ;)

2. The second most important thing on christmas: snow. When it's not snowing it is not real christmas! In my opinion, the weather is very important for the majority of Polish people and every year they spend a whole month waiting for the snow. Maybe it is like this because we all want to feel again like children and our christmas memories are always strongly connected to playing in the snow with other kids. It is well known, that we're all dreaming of a white christmas ;)

3. Twelve dishes. In Poland on Christmas Eve we always eat 12 dishes, most of them made of fish. Everyone does the same traditional dishes every year and everyone is waiting to eat them. What migt seem weird for some people is that Poles don't eat meat on Christmas Eve.

4. Opłatek:  a the traditional wafer that we break and exchanges good wishes for health, wealth and happiness in the New Year. This is supposed to be a deeply moving moment, but many people consider it as fake and weird tradition.

5. We leave an additional plate on the table, which is supposed to reuite us with those who cannot be with us. Although, it is also a plate for people who may come to our house on Chistmas Eve.

That's all for now. If I come up with something else I'll write about it in the next post. Merry Christmas everyone!

Traditional polish food

So my erasmus friend is coming from France tommorow. When I asked her what she wants to see in Poland, she answered me that the most interesting thing for her is polish food. As a result, my fridge is now full of some weird stuff like lard, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, mushrooms in vinegar, thin smoked pork sausages, bigos (a traditional polish dish made of sauerkraut, sausage and mushrooms) and, of course, vodka. When I saw all this food in my fridge I realised that I don't think that I'd be able to eat it with her. I haven't eaten bigos for years, and the last time I tried lard was when I was ten years old. I can barely remember the taste. But, who knows, maybe she'll like it? I can't wait to see her face when she tries mushrooms in vinegar, which is for me the most disgusting thing in the world!Maybe she'll like it, maybe not...but I think I'll also order a pizza, just in case ;)

Vikings

We have autumn now: the evenings seem to last forever and those who work or study can barely see the daylight. What can we do about it? The answer is simple: nothing. But we can use these long evenings to discover some new TV series. And I have another one to recommend you! It's called Vikings and as you can imagine, it's about vikings. No surprise here! It's an Irish-Canadian historical drama created for the TV channel History. It is inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok, a great scandinavian heroe. In the serie we can watch Ragnar's vicissitudes which lead him from a simple farmer to a succesful earl who organises first raids to the west. I'm not a history expert, but I appreciate that the serie tells us something about a scandinavian way of life, their traditions, their mithology or a women's position in society (we can see Ragnar's wife, Lagherta, who is a brave shieldsmaiden who fights as well as men). In short, Vikings is worth seeing and I think it's a good way to get to know a little bit about the world.