Recently I had a speech at our local Toastmaster's Club about the Indo-European languages. I overestimated my audience since I thought that people know about Indo-European languages everywhere in the world or at least in the countries of European ancestry. My audience had no clue not only about Indo-European languages but also about how different European languages are interrelated. No, wonder, we live in homogenous America, not in multinational Europe. People here are not exposed to foreign languages like Europeans do.

Read more: What do we know about Indo-European Languages

WASHINGTON, D.C. // It seemed like a good idea at the time, and turned out to be an excellent one when it was finally brought to fruition. Counselor Mariusz Brymora -  Chief of the Culture, Press and Public Relations Office here at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland - wanted to undertake a commemorative project to celebrate Polish immigration to America that began with the first Poles who arrived in the new English settlement of Jamestown, Virginia in 1608.

Encouraged by Ambassador Robert Kupiecki, Brymora teamed up with Professor James S. Pula, of Purdue University, to write their book "400 Years Of Polish Immigrants In America, 1608-2008." The resulting large format album was published in 2008 to coincide with the 400^th Anniversary of Jamestown, whose Polish contingent of the settlers represented the vanguard of all the Polonia in America today.

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     WASHINGTON, D.C. // Malgorzata Szrum arrived here from Poland in August, 2009 in the immediate wake of her predecessor, Mariusz Brymora, who was elevated in the Foreign Ministry and reposted to Warsaw. Without pausing a single heartbeat, she immersed herself in the extensive and onerous responsibilities and duties involved with being the Head of the Culture, Press and Public Relations Office at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

Read more: Malgorzata Szrum - Polish Culture New Face

SIERPC, Poland  Who could have possibly imagined that while visiting the Museum of the Mazovian Countryside here on July 30, 2008 we would encounter the very personification of one of Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz's most beloved, entertaining, shrewd and patriotic fictional characters - Pan Jan Onufry Zagloba, who appears to the delight of the reader in the 17^th century-set Polish epic classics of "With Fire and Sword," "The Deluge," and other celebrated books by the author.

After touring the many authentic and unique buildings in this amazing Mazovian skansen, located here 75 miles north-west of Warsaw, our foursome (three Polish friends and I) retreated from the hot summer sun to the 18^th century log-constructed karczma (inn/tavern), well protected by its heavily thatched roof, for necessary refreshments.

Read more: Pan Zagloba- Visiting Mazovian Countryside Museum

You have to see Birkenau (Brzezinka) with its train unloading ramp, and the wooden stables to fully understand the horror of Auschwitz. Some of the wooden barracks once served as stables for just over fifty hourses - then after some modification they had to accommodate up to 1000 prisoners. The maximum number of people who lived in any one time in Birkenau concentration camp was up to 100,000 people (1944).

Read more: Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp: Advice from a Tour Guide