I have a lot of Eastern European friends. But back then, I never physically met any of their parents until one day I was invited to their family home close to Nowy Targ in Poland.
I was told: “please don't reject any food or drinks they give you”.
Naively I said, “sure”.
When entered, I was hugged by mother, received a firm manly shake from the father and was ordered to sit down.
Mother went to the kitchen and within a minute she started hauling out large portions of food. Everything from salad, to chips, to traditional Polish dishes.
Father went to the liquor cabinet to bring alcohol. I was expecting 1 beer. He came with spirits, some family brewed, others commercial. In the range of 70–96% alcohol..
Fuck me..
I was eating and drinking. I tried to “keep up” with these guys, I failed horribly. I went to bed defeated.
Next morning when I woke up, I went downstairs, it was after 12, I saw dad already downing a beer. He could handle his alcohol…
And before you know it, when I sat at the lunch table, I was asked if I wanted a beer with my lunch.
This was a pure culture shock.
When you walk around in small villages, they have small supermarkets. A proportional size of this offers a lot of alcohol. You wonder who drinks all that.
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