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Welcome to Poland! We are a country located in the centre of Europe.

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Our total area is around 120,000 square miles.

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This makes it the ninth largest country in Europe,

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with the UK coming in at number 12.

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Poland has over 300 miles of coastline,

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of which over a half are beautiful beaches.

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If only a swim in the Baltic Sea wasn't so refreshing.

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Did you know that the number of people living in Poland

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hasn't changed for the past 20 years?

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The amount of Polish people has increased, but strangely enough,

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Poland's population has stayed level at 38 million.

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One of the reasons for this is migration.

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Currently there are 17 million Poles living outside the country.

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That means that for every ten Polish people, four of them have emigrated.

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Jacek Kunysz is one of the Poles

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who have made the hard decision to leave Poland.

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Together with his wife and son,

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he is about to make the move to Britain.

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The family leave behind a small flat on the outskirts of Warsaw.

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It's quarter to five in the morning,

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and Jacek, his wife and his son are about to depart for the UK.

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Bye-bye!

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Jacek and his family are joining the 643,000 Poles

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who are currently living in the UK.

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The Wierzbiccy family moved to Scotland in 2011.

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The family have settled near Glasgow.

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You're maybe wondering how many Poles live in Scotland.

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Well, in 2011, there were 67,000 of them.

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That is 1.25% of Scotland's total population.

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The Polish community is now well established in Scotland,

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and there are more and more Polish shops opening

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catering to Polish and Scottish customers.

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I think life is much easier here for us.

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It was very hard at the beginning because of language,

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different culture, but everything can be possible.

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And the weather, that is hard for us!

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The weather is horrible!

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The Polish community even has its own radio show

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in which listeners can vote for their favourite Polish band.

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All my life I dreamed about radio, and a job like a DJ in radio,

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and I'm glad, because I do something for Polish culture.

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What has prompted this increase of Poles settling in the UK?

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With the average Polish salary of £635 a month,

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compared with almost £2,000 in Britain,

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Poles find the UK an attractive destination.

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Moving to a different country and leaving your relatives behind

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is never easy, but at least technology

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makes keeping in touch easier.

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When Poland joined the European Union in 2004,

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there were 75,000 Poles in the UK,

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and by 2011 this figure shot up to 643,000,

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an increase of more than 850%.

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It's not just for economic reasons people immigrate.

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Three years ago, Pawel moved his family to Aberdeen

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to further his career as a ship designer,

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but they have now returned to Poland.

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We decided to move to Scotland, to Aberdeen,

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somewhere where is the offshore market,

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which I could learn a lot from just to develop the skills

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to have more chance to talk with other people and companies

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and to have an international environment.

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Pawel's move to Scotland wasn't so much to get him a higher wage,

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it was more about getting him a better career experience.

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He also found he got a better work and life balance in Scotland,

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allowing him to spend more time with his family.

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His working hours in Poland are much longer.

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My life in Scotland was much easier than in Poland.

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We had much more time after work.

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In Poland, life is completely different.

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Sometimes I have to take work home,

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sometimes I need to organise some jobs for me and it's harder.

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When Pawel's children reached school age,

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the family had a big decision to make,

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whether to stay in Scotland permanently,

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or to move back to Poland.

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Our children needed to start school and we had a choice,

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or they start the school in Scotland

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and then we would be there for another ten years or something.

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We spoke with our family and all decided it was time to move back.

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But the family don't regret the time they spent in Scotland,

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as it has improved Pawel's career prospects.

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Poland is a very proud nation, and us Poles are convinced

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that most Polish things are the best in the world.

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For example, Polish men have a reputation

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for being old-fashioned gentlemen.

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Poland is one of the few countries

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where polite hand kissing is still a practice.

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In Poland, it is normal for men to open doors for women,

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and carry heavy things for them.

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In a recent survey, Polish people were rated as the most attractive

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compared to other Europeans.

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Curiously, the Polish people

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were also one of the most unhappy people within Europe.

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In 2004, Poland joined the European Union,

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and opened its borders to fellow EU countries.

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You might be surprised to find out it has seven borders.

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Its neighbours are Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine,

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Belarus, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, a small part of Russia.

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Two of its neighbours are not part of the EU,

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so these borders are patrolled

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to stop people crossing them without permission.

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Karol is a border guard at Bezledy,

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and looks after the vehicles crossing between Poland and Russia.

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Karol's son Wiktor is nine years old.

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Wiktor is a keen boy scout, and on Saturday mornings

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he spends time with his friends at his scout club.

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Wiktor is on a trail exercise,

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looking for clues left by his fellow scouts.

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In a way, it is quite similar to his dad's job as a border guard.

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His father is constantly on the lookout

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for signs of illegal activity,

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but the dense forests of this area of Poland make Karol's job tricky.

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Luckily, he has the right equipment for the job!

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CHILDREN SING IN POLISH

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After the morning's scouting activities,

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Wiktor is picked up by his dad.

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Karol has a trip planned for his son, to show him

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the difference between a closed and an open border.

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If you follow the border east from Bezledy for two and a half hours,

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you will come to a point where three countries meet -

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Poland, Russia and Lithuania.

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With Poland opening its borders to other EU countries,

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it has become less isolated and open to outside influences.

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The Second World War started in Poland.

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In September 1939, the Nazis invaded the country.

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The Nazis' leader, Adolf Hitler,

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wanted a Greater Germany for pure Germans only.

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He attacked anyone who didn't agree with his master plan.

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He specifically targeted the Jewish population.

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Most Jews were made to wear yellow stars

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and taken away from their homes.

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They were sent to ghettos to isolate them

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and make them easier to control.

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Rutka Laskier lived in one of these ghettos,

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and is often called the Polish Anne Frank.

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She too wrote a diary about what it was like

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being a Jewish girl under German occupation.

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Maja is 11 years old and lives in Bedzin,

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the town where Rutka wrote her diary.

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The ghettos were only a temporary solution.

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Eventually, the Jews were sent to concentration camps

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where millions of them died.

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One well-known camp was Auschwitz, which is the German name

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for Oswiecim, a little town in the south of Poland.

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Malgorzata Jakubas is 29 years old and studies political science.

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She is learning all about the Holocaust and human rights law.

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Her college building was originally part of the concentration camp.

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Adolf Hitler spoke against Jews and blamed them

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for everything that had gone wrong in Germany's past.

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The German people were looking for someone to blame

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and Hitler was there to urge them on.

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This hatred grew into what we now remember as the Holocaust.

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It wasn't just the Jews that were

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sent to die in the concentration camps.

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Hitler and his gang also targeted the mentally ill and the disabled.

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Poland was under Nazi occupation for six years, and during this time

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nearly a quarter of the Polish population were killed.

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Three million of them were Jewish.

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The Auschwitz museum is there to remind us

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that we must never forget the victims who died here.

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A few months after Rutka wrote these lines,

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she was taken to Auschwitz, where she tragically died.

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The majority of Jews transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau

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died in the gas chambers...

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..most of them within an hour of arriving here.

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For this group of Israeli Jews,

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visiting this place is a particularly emotional experience.

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I think every person should know it can happen everywhere,

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all the time, if people don't pay attention onto each other,

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if people don't take care,

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if people don't see behind their shoulders

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and just think for themselves, it can happen everywhere.

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Poland is mainly a Roman Catholic country.

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90% of Poles have been baptised,

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and about 40% go to church regularly.

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Christmas and Easter are very important dates.

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Another major event is All Saints' Day.

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People all over Poland visit the graves of loved ones

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and place candles and flowers on graves.

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The special candles, which can burn for many hours,

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are placed there so that departed souls

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can find their way through the darkness.

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The Gregorczyk-Janik family lives in Lec,

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a little village outside Warsaw.

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For Agata, All Saints' Day is a very important day.

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All Saints' Day starts with an early Mass

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attended by the whole family including eight-year-old Jeremi.

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The family stop to buy some flowers, and meet up with grandparents.

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Tradition is not just important in the countryside,

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it also has its place in the modern cities like Warsaw.

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STRING GROUP PLAYS FOLK MUSIC

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THEY SING IN POLISH

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The Warsaw Village Band plays traditional Polish folk music

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combined with modern elements.

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Maciej Szajkowski plays percussion in the band.

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After visiting the graves of their ancestors,

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the Gregorczyk-Janik family gather for lunch.

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Poland produces 82% of its electricity from coal.

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Much of that power -

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around one-fifth of the country's electricity -

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is produced from just one plant, Elektrownia Belchatow,

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in central Poland.

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This huge power plant produces enough electricity

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to power the whole of Scotland.

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It is Europe's largest thermal power plant, and its biggest polluter.

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According to the European Commission,

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it emitted close to 32 million tonnes of CO2 in 2010.

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Belchatow power station produces its electricity from coal,

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dug out from this huge open-cast mine.

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Piotr Dominiak is a journalist and a passionate environment campaigner.

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Belchatow open-cast mine

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produces low-quality brown coal for its power plant.

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Pniowek Coal Mine is a deep-cast mine.

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Its black high-quality coal is used for providing electricity,

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heating homes and for heavy industry.

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Slawek Polak is a foreman in this mine.

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Poland is highly dependent on coal

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because it's used to provide most of Poland's electricity.

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It is also exported to other countries.

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The coal industry is a major employer, with over 100,000 workers,

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so any reduction in coal production

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will have a big impact on employment.

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As a member of the European Union Poland will be expected

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to eventually switch from using coal to using cleaner power sources.

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But the end of mining will have a huge impact

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on the people who work there.

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Poland does potentially have another very lucrative power source.

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Renewable energy occurs naturally and continuously

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and does not get used up.

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In 2010 Poland didn't generate much renewable energy -

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only 9%.

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By 2020 they are hoping to raise this to 15%.

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In Scotland we are aiming to generate

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the equivalent of 100% of our electricity

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from renewables by 2020.

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Another way to reduce pollution created by power plants

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is to use less energy.

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The 50/50 scheme does exactly that.

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Wiktoria is 12 years old

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and her school is keen to create a greener future.

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Schools involved with the 50/50 programme

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work hard to reduce their energy bills.

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They get 50% of the money saved back to buy equipment

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and materials for the pupils.

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To meet its EU targets

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Poland needs to improve its recycling as well.

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In 2010 less than 15% of municipal waste was recycled in Poland,

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well below the UK at 25%.

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Some would say Poland still has a long way to go

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when it comes to green issues.

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With coal being such a huge part of the Polish economy,

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it is hard to make the leap to sustainable energy.

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The first thing most people learn in any new language is how to swear.

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The next thing with Polish is how tricky it is.

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The Polish language is said to be

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one of the most difficult languages to learn

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and it's not very catchy to foreigners.

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"Tak" is "yes", "nie" is "no",

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"witaj" is "welcome",

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"czesc" is "hi",

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and "do widzenia" is "goodbye".

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Polish grammar is full of traps

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and the biggest one is numbers, especially number two.

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There are 17 forms dependant on how it is used in a sentence!

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Although 97% of Poles speak Polish

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there are a few other major languages -

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German, Lithuanian and Kashubian,

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the only officially recognised regional language in Poland.

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Pawel aged 13 attends school in Staniszewo,

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a typical Kashubian village.

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Most of the 50,000 Kashubian speakers

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live in north central Poland in the region of Pomerania.

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In Kashubia, there are still some strong signs

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of the Kashubian culture.

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Kashubian folk dancing is very popular

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and Pawel is a member of his school dance group.

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There was a time when Kashubian culture was suppressed.

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The communist government controlled all aspects of Polish life

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and Pawel's teacher still remembers the time

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when it was even forbidden to speak Kashubian.

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One of the tourist attractions in Kashubia is the upside down house.

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It was built as an artistic statement about the communist era

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and current state of the world.

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Many tourists who visit complain of mild seasickness

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and dizziness after just a few minutes of being in this house.

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The upside down house was built by Daniel Czapiewski -

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Polish businessman and patriotic Kashubian.

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For a traditional language like Kashubian to survive,

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it not only needs to be taught in school,

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but it has to be spoken at home.

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The Kashubian tradition is alive and well in this area,

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but for the Kashubian language it is make-or-break time.

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Did you know that Poland is 12th in the world education ranking?

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This is well above the UK, coming in at 20.

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With a ranking like that you would expect all Polish schools

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to be modern and hi tech, but there is a big variety.

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They range from old-fashioned buildings in need of renovation

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to brand spanking new schools.

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What is school like in Poland if you are Scottish?

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Meet Emelia, she is 14 years old and moved to Warsaw when she was eight.

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Her family have recently returned to Scotland,

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but she's back in Poland for a brief visit to her old school.

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It's really funny being back in my old city

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where I used to go to school, just right here.

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It will be really interesting

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because I've not been here for a few months

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and all of a sudden I'm back in my old life.

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I can't wait to see my friends,

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it will be great to catch up with them

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and talk about their first few weeks of school.

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Emelia used to go to this school, Szkola Marzen,

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it's a small private school in the outskirts of Warsaw.

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Some Polish parents decide to pay for schooling

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as they feel it will improve their child's education.

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Emelia's class have no idea

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they are about to see their old classmate again.

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Polish education's really academic,

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so you're getting tested all the time

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and everything comes down to your final grades.

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'You're just told to memorise things, write a test

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'and then you forget everything. And in Scotland,

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'I've even gone up a year and I still find in Poland'

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they're already a step ahead of you, pushing you.

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Samuel is eight years old

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and attends a typical Polish school just outside Warsaw.

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The Polish government has recently invested a lot of money

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in its schools.

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But not as much as its European neighbours.

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Samuel's original school building was built 40 years ago,

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but recently a brand-new wing was built.

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Samuel's mother Melvina is a teacher at his school.

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Things have changed a lot since her schooldays.

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The teaching was traditional

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in the way that we had to listen and repeat.

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And I think that there was much more discipline in those years.

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I don't really remember if it was interesting or not interesting,

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it's hard to say because it was a long time ago.

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Yeah, it was different, not so much fun, I think.

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That's very good.

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So today we have a lesson about Halloween also, OK?

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What is that? Who remembers?

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OK, but in English.

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Melvina teaches English to children starting as young as six.

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Pumpkin, OK.

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'You have to learn English from the first grade

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'at primary school.'

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It's, like, obligatory.

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It is obligatory for the whole of education - in primary school,

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junior high and then secondary school.

0:54:270:54:29

And in many, many kindergartens now, also languages,

0:54:290:54:33

different languages are taught.

0:54:330:54:35

She's a witch, yes. Very good.

0:54:370:54:39

To start with, Polish and Scottish primary schools are quite similar,

0:54:390:54:44

but by age nine or ten,

0:54:440:54:46

the children change classes and teachers every 40 minutes.

0:54:460:54:50

From the fourth grade they have separate subjects

0:54:500:54:53

with different teachers.

0:54:530:54:55

So it is difficult for them, especially in the very beginning,

0:54:550:54:58

when they have to remember about different things,

0:54:580:55:01

and they have to get to know different teachers,

0:55:010:55:04

different characters.

0:55:040:55:05

It's time for Samuel's school lunch

0:55:090:55:11

and it's a hearty affair with soup and a main course.

0:55:110:55:15

But for Emelia, school lunch is one of the things

0:55:370:55:40

she definitely hasn't missed.

0:55:400:55:42

Lots of people say that their favourite time at school is lunch,

0:55:420:55:45

but for me that was definitely not the case.

0:55:450:55:48

I didn't particularly like Polish food,

0:55:480:55:52

some of it was quite nice,

0:55:520:55:55

but the pierogi and the potato pancakes aren't nice.

0:55:550:55:59

Poland is a country of food lovers.

0:56:400:56:43

Although Polish food may not be the most varied and exotic,

0:56:430:56:46

there are quite a few main dishes that hold a special place

0:56:460:56:50

in the Poles' hearts.

0:56:500:56:51

A soup with eggs and sausage sometimes served inside bread.

0:57:020:57:05

Another popular soup is red borscht - beetroot soup.

0:57:110:57:14

Golonka is pork knuckle served with cabbage stew.

0:57:240:57:27

Polish pork cutlets are breaded and fried.

0:57:310:57:34

But there is one dish which is most popular,

0:57:350:57:38

although it's not originally from Poland.

0:57:380:57:40

These dough dumplings can be filled with almost anything -

0:57:510:57:54

potatoes, onions, cheese, cabbage, meat, mushrooms, spinach,

0:57:540:57:59

you name it.

0:57:590:58:00

But Polish cuisine is not just about food. It's also about hospitality.

0:58:030:58:08

There's even a popular saying that says "a guest in the house

0:58:080:58:12

"is a god in the house".

0:58:120:58:15

So next time you visit your Polish neighbours

0:58:150:58:18

you can be certain that you won't leave their house hungry.

0:58:180:58:21

In fact they won't let you leave

0:58:210:58:23

until every last piece of food is eaten.

0:58:230:58:26

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0:58:260:58:29

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