Members of the Polish community in the United States have been celebrating the festive season with events including Christmas Eve feasts. On Christmas eve, several hundred low-income and homeless people attended a special gathering in Chicago, Illinois.
The annual event was held at a Polish parish in the midwestern US city for the 20th time. Chicago is said to be home to the world’s second-largest population of Poles after the Polish capital Warsaw. Similar Christmas events have been held in other US cities with large Polish American communities. Every Christmas expat Poles around the world get together to sing carols and share the traditional Christmas wafer, a symbol of unity and friendship. Around 20 million Poles live abroad, including 4 million in Western Europe, 1.5 million in Eastern Europe and 12.5 million in the Americas, according to recent estimates by the Polish foreign ministry.
Polish State Bank invests in Ukrainian Shopping Centre
Poland’s state-owned BGK bank has agreed to provide funding for a new shopping centre in eastern Ukraine, securing favourable terms for Polish exporters in return. Earlier this week BGK signed a contract to provide almost 54M EUR million in long-term credit towards a new shopping centre in Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine. One of the conditions behind the agreement is that at least 40 percent of products and services imported as a result of the investment must come directly from Poland.
The head of a Polish export insurer, which is also involved in the project, said that the stabilizing political situation in Ukraine offers significant opportunities for Polish firms. In 2018, Unibep built a similar shopping centre in Kiev, financed by a EUR 41 million credit from BGK.
British Couple Reunite Polish Bride with her Wedding Band in Time for Christmas
A British couple on a diving holiday in Thailand have reunited a newlywed wife in Poland with her wedding ring after they found it 7,000 miles away on a Bali coral reef.
The couple were snorkelling near an underwater statues attraction as part of a romantic break.
Spotting something gleaming on the reef about 50 metres out from the beach in shallow water, they found the gold ring which had the name 'Monika’ along with '04.10.2019′ engraved on the inside. They found it on the last day of their holiday on December 1, and when they flew home, they began by calling hotels on Bali asking if there had been any guests with the name 'Monika’ staying with them. Eventually, through a Facebook chat group they managed to locate the owner and reunited her with her wedding ring that she had lost 7 weeks earlier.
Lotos PetroBaltic Rig out in the Open Seas of the Baltic
And finally, a large oil platform that has been a resident at the Gdansk shipyard for the last few months The Petro Giant platform owned by LOTOS Petrobaltic has reached the B3 old and gas field located 80KM off the Baltic coastline. At the beginning of the year, it will start work on seven wells. The rig is the fifth and largest of all units belonging to the Gdansk company and cut an impressive sight over the docks in Gdansk where it had been undergoing renovation. At the end of September, she arrived in Gdansk, where she underwent adaptation works and trained the crew. On October 22, the vessel was registered by the Director of the Maritime Office in Gdynia and entered in the register of Polish seagoing vessels.
Petro Giant is intended for reconstruction and drilling work on LOTOS Baltic fields. It can drill wells up to a depth of over 7,500 meters.
Weather
Today’s weather will bring thick cloud in a moderate breeze. Temperatures will only reach 2 degrees centigrade (36 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, and 1 degree centigrade (34 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight.
Sunday will see temperatures remain the same and with the day remaining cloudy.
What’s On
Good Morning, here’s some highlights of what’s going on this weekend in the Tricity.
On Sunday at 9.30 am to 2pm at Zlota Karczma, park games orienteering will be held. Park Games in the form of a walking or orienteering run are recreational and sporting events in individual districts of the Tri-City, which aim to promote active leisure, explore interesting places (mainly parks and forest areas), play together outdoors and promote competition with a map. Colorful maps were prepared for the participants, four interesting routes to choose from at various levels of difficulty and warm tea. At the finish line everyone will receive a commemorative medal.
On Sunday evening at 5pm at the Filharmonia Bałtycka in Gdansk will be a held an evening of winter songs of Frank Sinatra. „Winter Songs of Frank Sinatra” is the perfect repertoire for winter evenings. Swing versions of famous American holiday songs are a real musical feast. „Let it Snow”, „The First Noel” and „Jingle Bells” will allow you to move to the festive New York of the 1950s. During the concert you can hear the timeless hits that are American holiday standards performed, among others precisely by the famous Frank Sinatra and the beautiful carols from the artist’s repertoire, ie „Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, „Winter wonderland” and „Silent night”. Tickets are priced from 49 to 149 złoty.
And finally for today there’s the Oliwia Star Lego Family Sunday. Every Sunday from 10:00 – 15:00 for large and small LEGO®Maniacs a special workshop zone is organized on the 32nd floor of the magnificent Olivia Star building, which is led by passionate and ideas animators from Brick4Kidz Tri-City. Kids are crazy about the blocks, and parents have the opportunity to fully relax and watch their children in action. Tickets are price 18 PLN and 15 PLN Discounted.
