Hello everyone!!!!
Hello everyone!!!!
Right, where do I start... there are very many things I'd like to say, and questions I'd like to ask, and so it's difficult to decide what should come first. I hope that you will excuse me if this first blog gets a bit chaotic :)
Of course, I'd like to say hello to my new English teacher - Hi Sophie :) I've read your first post with great interest, and some of it with my jaw dropped - in a positive sense, of course! - where you give etymologies from French, German or Latin. I'm happy to have such a well-read teacher to help me, and I'm sure that blogging with you will 'broaden my horizons'. I myself speak only a little German and French, but even so I often realise how helpful it is to know the origins of a word to be able to use it in the right context.
It is also surprising (again, in a positive way) that you know my country, personally that is. A year spent in Poland must have given you a lot of insight into what Polish people are like? Please do tell me more about your job here, and what impressions you have of Poland - it doesn't necessarily have to be complimentary, you know :)
Then, I'd like to say hello to everyone else who might join in this fun way of learning. Please feel free to comment on anything you like, and ask any questions you like - I am rather a direct person! Farha, thank you for your comment, you were the first to write! Yes, I will try to write a lot about my country, so by the end of the month the name Poland should sound more familiar :-)
Now, a few lines of introduction shouldn't be out of place.
My name is £ukasz - the first letter is an L with a dash, I wonder if it will show correctly when I post it. Anyway, that funny L is pronounced like "w" in English, that's why some of the more ignorant friends of mine spell my name "Woocash" - which looks funny but sounds in English more or less as it should.
I was born in November 1973, so I am 34 and born under Scorpio :)
My family originally lived in Warsaw, the capital, and I was born there. I never really liked that place - huge blocks of flats, huge schools, everything made of concrete, grim and overwhelming. I didn't like my school either - I was a shy kid, with not many friends around. Gosh, now I look back on it I feel happy that that stage of my life is over :)
When I was 16, so somewhere in the middle of my secondary education, my father got a job in the Netherlands and we all moved there - both my parents, my brother (he's 6 years younger than me) and my sister, who at that time inhabited my mother's womb :) Yes, she's about 16 years younger, will turn 18 this December.
Holland was where my adventure with the English language really started. When I went there I could only speak a few basic lines, and then all of a sudden was placed in an "IB" type of college, where all subjects were taught in English (the lesser evil, still, comparing to a Dutch college where I would not be able to understand a word!). I can remember my first class there - a Geography lesson, where the teacher got amazed at me not following some very basic ideas... All I could do was to sit there in all the classes, pretending to understand what was going on, and then spend the rest of the afternoon and evening, going through all the notes and textbooks, looking up word after word after word... Day in, day out. Very strenuous two years these were, but worth it: when I was 18 I passed all the final examinations in English, and with good results too.
At that stage my parents had to move back to Poland, so I decided to go with them: Poland was not part of EU then, and it would have been very difficult, if at all possible, for me to stay and study there, or in the UK. We settled down in Poznan, and I spent 5 years studying marketing and management (not very interesting, it turned out), and then got a job with a British software company - mainly because I could communicate with them, not because I knew much about software.
I worked with them for some 7 years, and these were fine 7 years: I travelled around Poland, making presentations of the program, and I occasionally had a chance to visit UK, as the head office was in Surbiton near London. I then thought I need to "develop" and decided to change my employer in favour of a large IT corporation - a Microsoft partner. A complete mistake - I became a cog in the machine, I hated it and quit it after 6 months. Ever since then, that is for the last two years, I've been doing all sorts of odd freelance jobs, giving myself time to think what I want to do, what I am able to do and what will turn out right in the long term.
Phew, this first post is indeed more chaotic, or rambling, than it should be... and I feel sort of guilty writing about myself all the time! I'd better finish it here and now.
I will just add, to answer your questions Sophie, that I never studied English as such, but I did those two years of secondary school in English; I never did any English exams either (I have been thinking about them, but they are quite expensive, so unless I have a clear purpose for passing one, I don't want to spend the money...). And of course I have friends living in the UK now, but I'll write more next time. Oh, and please do point out every mistake you spot, as long as you have the energy to do so - it is very valuable to me.
OK, it is nearly 3 a.m. now, time to say good-bye!
Talk to you soon,
Lukasz
Comments
Hi Lukasz: A warm welcome to the blog!!! I wish you enjoy it very, very much. I'm Mercè, a woman from Spain and I'm 45. I nearly visit this blog every day. It is very useful to improve English skills but, the most important, a great possibility to know many and different people from all places of the world. I'm very interested for knowing lots of things about Poland. What about job, prizes, education, tourism ..... ? I'm looking forward to hearing from you very soon!. Bye for now Mercè
Hi, Lukasz. Warmly welcome to here, This month will be my Poland month. It is a smart way to tell people how to speak your name just like " Woocash ". See you and best wishes. james
Hello Lukasz! Excuse me, I tried to put a dash to ´L´ but I am very bad at using computer and the atempt failed. The name-day Lukáš is in Slovak calendar on the 18 October. I might have remember of you than too, for the next day we are hopefuly going to celebrate my mother´s 80 birthday. Do you celebrate the name-day, too, in Poland? When I worked in the hospital lab about 16 years back a woman from Poland ask to work there. She was a young widow with a boy married to one politician from here and I accepted her. That time she complained that conditions for life were better in Poland than here. She wasn´t qualified correctly and other women didn´t liked it. I don´t know what she would say today. So, welcome for saying us more about life in Poland!
Hi Lukasz, Welcome. Your first post has been very interesting. You introduced yourself in a good way. Your flow in English is very good. I found many new good expressions in your today’s blog. It takes many months to own English vocabulary. You really did miracle by passing examination in English medium. It shows that you really a hard working person. Being a nature lover, I also feels suffocation in the cluster of huge buildings. No greenery. In the name of development man is destroying nature thus destroying himself. While learning English and working in London, you must have undergone some funny experience, kindly do share. Have a nice day, Bye for now.
Hi Lucasz, I have never been in Poland but have several Polish friends. I am looking forward to learn more about your country. That must have been quite hard to attend school in an unknown language. "Proficias" to have overcome the handicap. Antonio
Lukasz, nice to meet you, I am Leila from Northern Finland and I have been following BBC Learning English site for over a year off and on. I will be following your writings also, and hopefully I will be able to respond from time to time. I was November 2007 blogger and I enjoyed it very much. I do hope you also find this opportunity pleasurable. All the best…
Hello Lukasz, I read your first post and I very like it. I think you are very interesting man and I hope you'll to write a lot of excellent posts about more things. I hope one of they is Papa Ivan Pavao II. I wish you all the best. Bye.
Hi Lukasz! Your name sounds difficult to me:). Im Mahjabeen from pakistan im female. But first let me say nice to meet you and welcome to this wounderful learning site:). I think we all enjoy your future blogs. I'd like to ask which sports polish people play internationally?. Thats for now signing off
Hi, Lukasz. I am KR from Korea. Really nice to meet you here. Actually, this is my first time to leave a message here, and I think that my message would be chaotic as well. kk Today, your long message is very interesting, and I hope to read more interesting stories here such as your contury, job and so on. See you. Bye!
Hi Lucas, My name is Elly from Tanzania, specificaly from NE Tanzania, on the slope of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Highest in Africa. I have to say that i'm delighted to join BBC blog for the first time and come accross your blog. It is well written with a go style. I'm surprised to hear that you havent be in any formal english classes, with such good english i bet you must be a geneous. I hope reading your blog in this months will improve my English considerably.
Hi Lukasz It seems to me you have a very good command of english. Welcome to the blog. Bye.
Dear Lukasz, First of I like to introduce myself. My name is Kishor Silwal and I am from country of the Mount Everest-the highest peak of the world and land of Gautam Budha-pioneer of Buddhism. I am working in one of the casino in Nepal at night shift and way of life is quite different that other people. You’re the first b log is very interesting. You are able to communicate well in English and your language standard more than good enough. So for further coming period we will be able get knowledge of your country in better way. As you are in the driving seat of language learning in this blog site, all role played by you guide our learning process.
Hi Lukasz! It’s wonderful to meet such high-leveled blogger as you are. All of us are looking for some experience in an art of communicating with people. Vocabulary and writing skills are undivided part of that art. I don’t find your first blog chaotic, as you’ve said, in any way. It’s interesting to read about your way of life. So go on, please. You’re welcome!
Hi, Welcome to the blog community. I am glad to have you with us and I was right when I said that probably this month the student would be from Europe. it was not clear for me how do you pronounce your name. I am also interested in the freelance work. Did you work for an international company, I mean telework, or it was for firms located in your place. Regards. Beatriz
Hi £ukasz! I’m Natasha from Minsk, so we are almost neighbors =) I’m 22. I’m graduating the university, chemistry department and working at the pharmaceutics. I’m new for this blog but I find this idea very interesting. I must say that your English is very good, I’m reading your post and I really can’t find a mistake. I wish I could know the language like you. My problem is that I can’t speak English; maybe I can write and read it but when it is necessary to speak I immediately forget all English words and phrases. But it’s almost impossible to imagine a better way of learning English than you did it. Maybe it was very difficult but these 2 years was invaluable for mastering the language. You are almost polyglot: Polish, English, German, French … Maybe you speak Russian a little bit? =) Have you ever been in Belarus? A half of my family has a Poland roots, they live in Volkovisk, a town near Poland border. Unfortunately I have never been in Poland yet but I hope to visit it one day. So, I hope we will become friends through this month. =) Buy for a little while!
Hi Lucasz firstly welcome to here. I've read your post with interest. Surely, The things in your post is important to know you and your wiev about the life or your interests.But I have to say I was interested in your post much more how to be written than what to be written. While reading your post I thought if I will be writing one day like you or not. :( Reading your post was a pleasure for me and after then I will look forward to reading you. Thank you. By for now :))
Hello Lukasz. You wrote so many things about yourself in your first blog. When we are kids we can not change our lives. I was born in a town, in a part with blocks of flats. There were so little space to play in the middle of 5 floor houses. And I was not a very sociable child. Therefore I prefered to stay with my granny during summers. She had a nice garden. Now I live in a small town too, but there are no block houses in the nearest surronding. So, things become better. I wish you to find joy in blogging.
Hi Lukasz, Welcome to this amazing world of cyber friends. I liked the way you wrote your first blog and let us get to know you better. I was the student blogger of April so I know how you may feel. I wish you enjoy blogging with all of us during this month. Looking forward to your next blog. Best wishes, Cristina
Nice to meet you Lukasz! I hope you enjoy your month as a student blog :-). Morover, I´m looking forward to hearing more about you and your country. Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Lukasz, Welcome, in Student Blog !!! Hello ! My name's Danuza, I from Brazil. How are you ? I'm glad, because can post new comments for new colleague. Poland is a sounds interesting, Poland officially the Republic of Poland. The offially name of Brazil is Federative Republic of Brazil.Poland is beautiful country, for tourism is perfect there are wonderful places. I wish know a lot about the culture (melodies typical, typical foods etc.) through your blog. I wish you all good and you can achieve your goals. Good luck !!! Best wishes !!! Danuza
Hi, Lukasz. I am reading your first blog here, not finished yet. So I thought that the beginning of letting us know your name would be better. Oh, I see, it's your way of showing your name in the middle, not directly. I'd read it all the way down there, til "bacame a cog in the machine". What's that mean? I didn't catch a hint anywhere. You said it's a big mistake when you were in the second IT company, the larger one. And here obviously U don't want to go on the topics about yourself, so you make out a sumarise about it and called it a rambling. Oh, I don't think so. Your English writing is so good, and why not talk about yourself all the time. Why not? It's the showtime of you. And do to take the plunge, donn't be shy. I know the word "woocash" how to pronounce in English, U said it's very similar,right? But I thought your name spells ...something like …to pronounce it as /Lu:kэs/? I am not quite sure. By the way, I am 2 yrs younger than you, old bother, and born under Virgin:) See yah, soon Raby lee
Hi, Wookash. I'm from Vietnam,but I live in Russia now. It's the first time I've visited this blog. Your post is very interesting and I really like it. I don't know how you were, but I'm sure you're very witty and friendly. you must have a lot of friends now. Best wishes. See you soon. Hung
Hi Lukasz. My name is Mariusz (I think it could be Mark in english for foreigners). It's nice to meet some people from the same country here. It was an interesting story about you and especially about your observations that gave you a real point of view on a differences between our country and country outside the comunist border then. I agree with you, I think it's true. Nowadays We have a great oportunity to travel all over the world. I admire you that your written english is well developed. I wonder how is it with your spoken english? I think it's the same as written maybe better because you had some oportunity during your working in a international companies and living in Netherlands. I wish I could write as good as you. I am looking forward to hearing from you very soon. Mark
Hi Lucasz! I was touched by your life experience. I think you have a great opportunity in your hands. You have proper education, international language knowledge and the youth. You can use all of them in your benefit. Maybe the only thing that you do need is to have a goal in your life and discover what really turns you on. It is rare to find out someone that really enjoy everything in their work. Sometimes people hate their jobs. Others keep trying new types of jobs. Some like their jobs, though partially. And just very few really appreciate a 100% their work and work environment. I used to like more my job than I like today. And I have been thinking about the reasons for that for long, long time. From my simple thoughts, I believe that nowadays we lose a bit the sense of meaning regarding what we do on daily basis. We are sometimes so distant from the one who will have the benefit from our work. There is an interesting book written by Stephen Covey called 'The 8th habit' where the author points out the importance of hearing your inner voice. I believe that the search for job meaning is related to that. (but to be very honest, my inner voice has to up the volume a bit; it is pretty hard to hear it. :) ) Well, good to chat a bit. It has been the 1st time I am writing in blogs and it`s indeed an interesting experience! Besides, all this BBC website is so fantastic! Prolly, you are sleeping now, and I'll be sleeping at the time you will read this. So, I wish you a very good morning & also a good day for all the folks who is reading this. :) Kisses (it is the Brazilian way of saying bye-bye to friends), Marcia
hi~look at your words ,i'm intrested in your blog at once .
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