GIFS & Stuff (but mostly just stuff)

1. Droughts. I feel like I’m memeing, but they and the problems with upkeep of the rivers in Poland have been our problem for quite some time.

2. The people who were passing their matura exams in 2014 had more difficult questions than those who were passing in 2015 and 2016. The conspiracy theory is that the ruling party of the time wanted to confirm that their changes to the educational system they’d brought were paying off. There was a meme going on saying “one of the next years’ question will be “draw a gnome””. Edit: I forgot that this year we also had this discourse, where the teachers who created questions for matura were also gathered on one site which offers additional private lessons, which some people took to mean a possible conflict of interest.

3. I’m not sure what they went with the translations, but when the aristocrat was asked about a “pociąg”, this word means either a “train” or a “predilection to something or somebody (usually meant in the context of libido)”.

4. The dream sequence was most likely a reference to Gombrowicz’s “Ferydurke” and the pupils’ protests in Września in 1901-1902 against germanisation.

5. “Cossack” also stands for a “person with swag” in Polish slang.

6. There’s this meme: person A’s getting on person B’s nerves through private messaging, only to come back later with “Do you want something from [a brand with cheap cosmetics and MLM scheme going on]?” when in financial trouble.

7. There was a lot of drama related to crash of a Polish plane during a diplomatic visit to Russia in April, 2010. At some point a cross was taken away from before the presidential palace during the mourning phrase, and people started chanting and making memes with the shout: “where is the cross?”. At first I thought they’re going to reference “Where the fuck is Zbyszek?” instead.

8. We've got some issues with the corruption related to the hunters’ lobby and the national institution assigned with looking after the forests in Poland, which is why the men’s bickering wouldn’t lead to anything other than the animal’s extinction and why they weren’t thinking about the long-term consequences for the land.

9. While “Lach” is one of the words for the Poles, “Lachożerca” (“The Lacheater”, idk with what they went with in other languages) can also be a pun related to the “lacha” – “a blowjob” or “a woman (usually meant to signify contempt for her, but can also refer to her hotness if in speech between chavs)”.

10. If you’re familiar with the New Age stuff and the related websites, there were some stories about the indigo children of Russia floating around the Polish net. It’s just, no one expected the superpower will be visions of an ad-ridden local news/tabloid, Polish website.

11. The queen is Eleonora of the Habsburgs and her lady-in-waiting, Klara Izabela Pacowa, was a well-known persona and apparently, also a schemer who wished for France to have more influence in the Polish-Lithuanian politics. I assume that the sort of receptionist was supposed to be her, based on the paintings of her where she wears a blue dress.

12. The capons were considered a staple of 17th ce cuisine among the wealthy Poles.

13. I think there’s a possible reference to Mr. Twardowski, a Faustian figure in Polish literature. At some point, the devil flies, kidnaps him and tries to drop him on the Earth, but instead, drops him on the Moon. There’s no single version of the story and the reason of the failure. There’s also a flying rooster in the story, which Twardowski can ride on.

14. Aniela takes up work from the foundation, a concept popularised during the positivist period, ie. the 19th century, when the educated folk would try to spread knowledge and better the lives of the peasants.