So… it’s that time of the year again. The time of parties, bigger parties and totally massive parties. What are your plans for New Year’s Eve (Sylwester)? Going anywhere? Doing anything special?

We’ll stay at home and watch TV. And then watch our terrified cats as they try to hide under the bed when the fireworks go off.

This is also the time of New Year’s resolutions, and I do believe I mentioned this phrase in my previous post.

• Postanowienia noworoczne =

• postanowienia, which is plural of “postanowienie” – noun, neuter, can be translated as “resolution” or “decision.”

+

• noworoczne, which is plural of “noworoczny” (sing. fem. noworoczna, sing. neuter: noworoczne, pl. person-masculine: noworoczni, pl. all others: noworoczne) – adjective, which in turn consists of these two words:

• nowy + roczny = new + yearly.

Ok, that was a bit convoluted. But you see how these phrases are constructed – you can take them apart word by word, and then you can take the words apart, too, until you get the basic building blocks.

Anyway, let’s move on.
I don’t normally do the whole New Year’s resolutions bit, but this year I thought I’d give it a try. And then hold myself accountable. Maybe it will finally force to me to do the things I’ve been so diligently avoiding so far.

So, here are Anna’s resolutions for 2009:

• Go to Kościerzyna and Kartuzy and visit an elementary school, or two. I want to see kids being taught the Kashubian language. I won’t believe it until I see it with my very own eyes. Incidentally, I had a conversation about it with my father not so long ago, and he totally surprised me by breaking into a Kashubian folk song. He said his mother had taught him and while he can sing it and recite the words, he doesn’t understand what they mean. Not all of them, anyway.

• Don’t begin every other sentence with “so.” It’s annoying.

• Stop thinking about going back to school and actually DO something about it. But that, on the other hand, prompts questions to which I don’t know the answers. Like, “What should I study? English or Polish? Or maybe something else altogether? Russian perhaps?” and “Where should I study?” and all that. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

• Read more books in Polish. After seeing glowing reviews of Dorota Masłowska pretty much everywhere I turned, I got my hands on her debut novel “Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną” in Polish and the English translation - “Snow White and Russian Red” (US version) and meh, not my type at all. I read both books side by side, and disliked both of them equally. But this little exercise did inspire me to read more books by Polish authors. So, (yes, I know, don’t start every other sentence with “so.” But it’s not 2009 yet, ok? I’ll work on it next year) that’s on my to-do list for 2009.

Those were the big resolutions. I have a few less important ones, as well.
And how about you, my dear readers?

• Jakie są Wasze plany, postanowienia i cele do osiągnięcia w 2009?

What are your (plural of “wasze”) plans, resolutions and goals to achieve in 2009?

See you next year!