Whatever else you can say about Poles, they are very good workers.

In Belarus I met a Polish man (he stayed at the same "sanatorium" as me) who really liked Russia and its' culture and people. He was the owner of a chain of Polish hardware stores, and was actually quite a hotshot.

He was really into Russian music (estrada/chansons) and spoke great Russian, although according to himself with a very strong accent. This actually made it easier for me to understand him, because he spoke slowly and used simple words. In fact, he was a great inspiration to me.

He said that it impossible to do business with Russia or Belarus even though he would like to, due to excessive bureacracy in both countries, and corruption in Russia.

However, he said that he goes to Belarus or Russia every year on his holiday.

(I am really pleased that I was able to speak about all these relatively complicated issues in Russian....)