Submitted by David Snopek on October 4, 2008 - 11:57am
Shortly after posting my first YouTube video, I was contacted by a Polish guy who wanted to make a video of people all over the world saying "Happy Birthday" to his girlfriend. He dug that I was an American who could speak Polish, so he asked me to wish her "Happy Birthday" in Polish and I did. He also corrected some of the Polish from my earlier video (see the comments there), for which I am very greatful!
The video he made is now finished and posted! While some of it is pretty corny, I think the video on the whole is really cool. Some people sang, some made signs, some played musical instruments (there's a flute and violin in there) and several different languages are represented (Polish, Czech, Spanish, French, sign language). I particularly like the guy at the end with balloons taped to his head, singing in French and drinking a beer!
But its really the YouTube community that impressed me. That all these people, from all over the world, who don't even know each other would put so much effort in to this. Great work guys!
Submitted by David Snopek on July 30, 2008 - 7:03am
I just got back on Sunday! I'm still trying to recover from the jet lag (I wake up completely awake at 3am) and I just came down with a cold. But I'd rather suffer in the USA than while on my vacation so I'll take what I can get.
Anyway, the trip was brilliant on several levels!
I bought a whole bunch of awesome stuff:
A few bottles of Żubrówka (if you buy it in the USA, it doesn't actually contain any bison grass, its signature ingredient).
Lots of Harry Potter stuff: All the books and audio books I don't already have, as well as all the DVD's currently released.
A post apocalyptic sci-fi book: Apokalipsa według Pana Jana by Robert J. Szmidt.
June and July editions of Science Fiction magazine (Robert J. Szmidt was also founder of this magazine). These are collections of short stories.
Submitted by David Snopek on July 1, 2008 - 6:33pm
On Saturday, I'll be traveling to Poland again, for a 3 week stretch. Like last year, I'll be taking a Polish language course at the Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski (Catholic University of Lublin) in Lublin, Poland. The 9-10 hour plane ride should afford me lots of time to read!
When I took the course last year, I had a really strong grasp on conscious grammar but was rather weak with speaking, understanding and vocabulary. On the first day they give you a placement test, to see what level you should be at. It has a written component, which I did really well on, and an "interview-ish" spoken component, which I bombed. Even so, they placed me in the highest level, bardzo zaadwansowany.
