Life #2 - The Gamer

My name is Kris, I live in Poznań and I’m 13 years old. Gaming and You Tubing is something that I’m interested in and I go to a bilingual language school.

The name of the city of Poznań comes from the Polish word "poznać", which means to meet and is connected to the legend of Lech, Czech & Rus, which goes something like this: A long time ago there were three brothers and they were separated to find new lands in which to live. After a few months they met together and during this time Lech saw an eagle, which was considered to be a good sign from the gods. He said that he’ll climb up a tree to look around and when he did he saw an eagle’s nest and an island. Actually Poznań football club is known as 'Lech Poznań' in connection with this legend.

The famous legend of Lech, Czech & Rus

So now it’s time to talk about the Poznań Game Arena (PGA). The PGA is a special e-sports event for me because it’s held in Poznań, so I don’t have to travel very far. It’s an annual event and every year many people come to Poznan to meet gamers and Youtubers (YTbers). The PGA takes place at the Targi (international trade fair) which has large rooms showcasing many video games, but most people hang around in a big corridor that is shaped like a cross, waiting to take selfies with YTbers.

waiting for the rock star you tubers

These days YTbers are even more famous than rock stars and have completely changed the way we watch television. We have many meet-ups because gaming is the most popular pastime in the 21st century. In my opinion e-sports should be a part of the Olympic games. The common use of the word selfie shows how teens nowadays are using a different language compared to older generations. In gaming people use words like, “noob” which means a person who is unskilled or new to something, and expressions like "to go viral", which means something that spreads very quickly on the internet. My generation is revolutionising the English language.

Welcome to the 21st century, the world of selfies

Vocab Builder
1. E-sports - electronic sports
2. Selfies - photos of yourself taken with your phone
3. Meet-ups - organised events where people with the same interests meet
4. Pastime -  hobby
5. Revolutionise - to create extreme or radical change

Life #2 - The Gamer - ProProfs

Life #1 - The Teacher

My name is Pete and I'm a British expat teaching English in the wonderful city of Poznań. Over the years a lot of locals have asked me with confusion, "why do you live here?", especially in a time when so many Poles are moving to Britain in search of a better life. So in order to answer this question, here is my story.

The first time I came to Poznań was back in October 1999. A few months before I had been working in a bayside hotel on a remote Greek island called Lemnos. It was quite a summer and it was there that I met a bunch of Poles from Poz. The blokes were cool, despite wearing speedo trunks and white socks with sandals, and all the girls were mysterious and gorgeous, but one in particular was quite special. Marta didn't speak much English at the time but we quickly fell in love. It was a summer romance like a dream, but all dreams have to end when the morning breaks. Marta had to return to Poland, a country that I knew nothing about except for Pope John Paul the 2nd and the images from the news back in the 80s about the Solidarnosc movement when everything looked desperate and grey.

we fell in love at Lemnos Village Hotel

So Marta went east and I went west. It was a time when mobile phones and the internet were only just taking off. At first we only managed to keep in touch via air mail before I learnt how to send emails at the local library. I decided that I couldn't go on without her and I had to get to Poland. But there were no cheap airlines to Poland back then, only the separation of a 2 day 1,000 mile road trip. The things we do for love.

I managed to get a couple of friends together and without much thought we headed off in an old Ford Fiesta for a far off mysterious world. When we finally crossed the German-Polish border we were immediately alarmed by the erratic Polish drivers and the tired and worn out roads. We feared for our lives and wondered if we would we actually make it to Poznań alive.

a kick about on Lech Poznan's pitch

Of course we survived to tell the tale and it was a journey that changed my life. I fell in love with Poznań and I fell even deeper in love with Marta. We drank Zubrowka, partied every night for 5 days, made new friends and even got to play football on the Lech Poznań pitch. We both eventually set off together on an even bigger adventure and travelled around the world, before settling down in Poznań in 2007. We've been married for almost 14 years now and with our beautiful daughter Ela we are all living happily ever after.

living happily ever after

Vocab Builder

1. Poles - people from Poland
2. Bunch - a group of things/people
3. blokes - men
4. Trunks - a swimming costume for men
5. Desperate - a hopeless situation
6. To take off - to become common/fashionable
7. To keep in touch - to communicate regularly with someone
8. To head off - start a journey
9. Erratic - out of control and unpredictable
10. Tale - a story

Now take the quiz and test your comprehension:

ProProfs - Life #1 - The Teacher