Polish Blog Is One Year Old

May

2009

You know what? This week, little blog is ONE YEAR OLD! Happy Birthday Polish Blog! Well, technically, my first post appeared on May 11, 2008, but I just can’t wait till tomorrow!

I must say this has been an interesting year. Sometimes challenging, sometimes lost in translation, sometimes controversial, but never boring. At least it hasn’t been boring for me, because you, as my readers, might have a different opinion.

What surprised me was that even with the proliferation of Polish- and Poland-themed blogs on the internet, this one still managed to find a more or less dedicated following. And as you all know, the competition is fierce, there are some truly excellent “Polish” blogs out there. And here Anna bows towards Polandian.

So, we are one year old and I’m sitting here (no cake, and no candles) realizing that I haven’t covered even one measly percent of all those topics I set out to write about. Maybe 0.5% and that’s still a very generous estimate. Which means we have a lot of work ahead of us still. And a lot of new blog posts. Which hopefully, you will have as much fun reading as I will have writing.

So, Happy 1st Birthday Polish Blog! Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji pierwszych urodzin!

Sto lat, sto lat, niech żyje, żyje nam!!!
Sto lat, sto lat, niech żyje, żyje nam!!!
Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech żyje, żyje nam,
Niech żyje nam!!!

You know what this is, right? It’s a traditional Polish song sung at birthdays and other joyous occasions. A bit like “Happy Birthday” but more neutral in meaning, because birthdays aren’t actually mentioned in it. And as such, you can sing it whenever the circumstances demand a bit of happy, drunken cheer.

Here’s what it sounds like, courtesy of the Polish-American Cultural Center in Philadelphia.

And to all my readers who are mothers and live in countries that celebrate Mother’s Day today – Najlepsze życzenia z okazji Dnia Matki!

We’ll celebrate Mother’s Day again the Polish way in a few weeks. We do it on May 26th over here.

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9 Comments

Gabriel commented on May 10, 2009 at 4:26 pm |Permalink

Congratulations, many congratulations!
Keep on the good work
Thomas Maholski commented on May 10, 2009 at 8:11 pm |Permalink

I can read “100 years” but what is the rest.

In other words, translate please.
Anglopole commented on May 11, 2009 at 10:03 am |Permalink

Wow! Looks like our blogs were ‘born’ more or less the same time last year, weren’t they? Keep up the good work chica!
An commented on May 11, 2009 at 12:36 pm |Permalink

Congratulations!I love your blog.
Przybliżasz różnice i podobieństwa językowe.
100 lat i happy birthday:)
Hoosier41 commented on May 11, 2009 at 1:16 pm |Permalink

Congratulations!!! Keep up the good work.
Really enjoy your insightful blog.
Karen commented on May 11, 2009 at 5:49 pm |Permalink

Hey thanks for writing out the lyrics of the song! I went to a wedding where we sang this over and over! This was about 10+ years ago and I couldn’t remember the words, but I had remembered the tune!! Fantastic!
Karen commented on May 11, 2009 at 5:51 pm |Permalink

Just found other comments above - the closest translation I was given was this as a kid by my grandfather:
100 years, 100 years, hope you live a 100 years!!
100 years, 100 years, hope you live a 100 years!!
Once again, once again, hope you live a 100 years!
One hundred years!
(You can sing it to the same tune with these words!)
natasha commented on May 11, 2009 at 11:53 pm |Permalink

Happy Birthday, Polish blog! Anna, congratulations, you are great!
Maciek @ Polart commented on May 19, 2009 at 9:35 am |Permalink

Congratulations, I’m very happy to have discovered your blog.

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