Hello Again,
It's a wonderful flu season for all, so I'm hoping that all of you have been able to avoid the flu bug and stay healthy over this period of time we call spring.
In Poland, the weather's been quite warmer than what it has been in Wisconsin, usually averaging mid 50s to low 60s throughout the last few weeks leading up to spring, and now in the first full week spring. Although we can only hope to be seeing weather like this coming anytime soon, there's only 7 weeks of school left so let's make the best of it.
Like I had mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, the great Polish ski-jumper Adam Malysz had planned to retire at the end of this ski-jumping season which has concluded this season. All of Poland, including major politicians, heads of the country, actors, and other popular stars have one last event planned for the "White Eagle." This weekend there will be one last competition that does not count for points, but only to honor Malysz in his hometown Zakopane. In fact, this event is so huge that even some of the biggest VIP's have no chance of getting in. The event will have all of the world's best ski-jumpers and although they are not required to be there, they have all wanted to say good-bye to Malysz. Tomorrow, everything in Poland will pretty much stop functioning, stores will be closed in the morning, bars will be filled, only to have one last goodbye. Malysz has always wanted to end his career while still jumping well and he is certainly doing so by retiring this season after he took third place in this season's championship. Although there will not be a *coughcough* Brett Favre like comeback, Malysz has said that he wants to remain within the sport whether as a coach or an instructor to younger kids and eventually even the national team's jumpers.
On to more "political" things...
The nurses in Polish hospitals have decided to protest in their own way. The nurses are protesting over the new change brought in from the Polish government that allows hospitals to hire nurses on contract. Currently, nurses are allowed to meet with patients outside of the hospitals and receive compensation from those patients privately without having to disclose anything to the hospitals. Under this new law, the nurses would have to register every patient that they see outside of the hospital and be compensated for this through the hospital, and not directly from the patients. For three days, and three nights the nurses camped out on the floor of the Polish Parliament. After refusing to eat anything, they have finally given up and presented their new proposals to the First Lady. Nothing has been released of what the nurses demand exactly, but there is some mention that right now they demand a meeting with the President. The reason the nurses have given for ending the protests is because they "don't want to risk their health for the parliament." I'll be sure to include more as it gets released, perhaps this is something that is a possible topic for my comparison paper.
Have a great weekend, check in next week!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Political Lull
After forgetting to post a blog last week, it's time to update you a little bit on what has happened throughout the last couple of weeks. Rather than just posting twice in one day for the last post that I have missed, I'll send one over spring break to get you caught up more on what's actually going on.
To be completely honest, over the last two weeks not much has actually happened. First and foremost my prayers go out to all the people that have been affected by the tragedies that have struck the people of Japan and their families. It's an incredibly saddening event and hopefully the death toll will not continue to rise like the news and media are predicting. For those of you who have not yet heard, you can get caught up with a nice summary here.
As for Poland, most if not all of the media coverage has just centered around what is going on in Japan. The Polish Premier Donal Tusk issued a statement saying that the Polish firefighters are more than willing to help out those people that are hurt by the tragedy. Poland is just waiting on the official word from the Japanese officials and our people can be there as quickly as this weekend if Japan is quick to respond. I'm assuming that they will want all the help they can possibly get, so I don't see why Japan would not agree to this propossal.
More news regarding the Presidential plane crash has surfaced from Russia. They have now announced that they will ground all airplanes Tu-145M (same model that crashed) because they have recently recorded a very frequent emergency rating and have been deemed unsafe to fly. Whether or not this is just Russia's move to put more blame on the Polish government or not has not been stated by either side. Obviously, Russia would never admit to this but an answer from the Polish side is expected.
To finish off on a good note, there is a very good chance for Poland to boost their economy a little bit more. Greenpeace, the EU's most dependent fossil fuel member, has stated that up to 350,000 new jobs could be generated in Poland by 2020. The article does call this a very "ambitious move from fossil fuels to green energy." If such a project would be implemented this would more than double the amount of workers in the Polish coal sector. Officials are yet to meet and agree to this, but it seems like a very healthy proposition that can not only help out the country, but also the environment.
Once again, stay updated next week as I'll be covering the actual set up and details of how the Polish government functions and looks today.
Thanks for reading!
To be completely honest, over the last two weeks not much has actually happened. First and foremost my prayers go out to all the people that have been affected by the tragedies that have struck the people of Japan and their families. It's an incredibly saddening event and hopefully the death toll will not continue to rise like the news and media are predicting. For those of you who have not yet heard, you can get caught up with a nice summary here.
As for Poland, most if not all of the media coverage has just centered around what is going on in Japan. The Polish Premier Donal Tusk issued a statement saying that the Polish firefighters are more than willing to help out those people that are hurt by the tragedy. Poland is just waiting on the official word from the Japanese officials and our people can be there as quickly as this weekend if Japan is quick to respond. I'm assuming that they will want all the help they can possibly get, so I don't see why Japan would not agree to this propossal.
More news regarding the Presidential plane crash has surfaced from Russia. They have now announced that they will ground all airplanes Tu-145M (same model that crashed) because they have recently recorded a very frequent emergency rating and have been deemed unsafe to fly. Whether or not this is just Russia's move to put more blame on the Polish government or not has not been stated by either side. Obviously, Russia would never admit to this but an answer from the Polish side is expected.
To finish off on a good note, there is a very good chance for Poland to boost their economy a little bit more. Greenpeace, the EU's most dependent fossil fuel member, has stated that up to 350,000 new jobs could be generated in Poland by 2020. The article does call this a very "ambitious move from fossil fuels to green energy." If such a project would be implemented this would more than double the amount of workers in the Polish coal sector. Officials are yet to meet and agree to this, but it seems like a very healthy proposition that can not only help out the country, but also the environment.
Once again, stay updated next week as I'll be covering the actual set up and details of how the Polish government functions and looks today.
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)