Communist times

I attended our company party last night - the theme was "Poland 20 years ago." It was interesting, since Poland during the 80s was behind the so-called "Iron Curtain."


Despite the controversial theme and some pretty controversial events (which I will not mention here), we had lots of fun. We were given "tickets" (shown above) which we could use to purchase drinks. During the communist regime, each person received similar tickets every month - one coupon was for a 1/2 kg of sugar, another one for a loaf of bread, etc.


The tables were strange though - this was apparently what they looked like back then. You cannot see it in the picture, but the bowls were actually bolted to the table. Apparently this was done to prevent people from taking the utensils and bowls home.


I'd love to see airlines implement something similar, especially in Manila-bound flights hehehe.

This is what a typical communist store looked like. The purple stuff is denatured alchohol - used to light candles and remove tough stains from dirty clothes. A friend was telling me that during communist times, they would actually drink this stuff. They would have to filter it first though - to do this, they would cut a loaf of bread in half and pour the alchohol through it. This would apparently be enough to filter out all the bad chemicals.


My question is: "can't they use socks instead?"


I couldn't really "get" all the communist jokes during the party - there were lots of things going on at the same time. The most interesting thing about this whole event is that it's poking fun at a very painful past event.



They say Filipinos forget events like these rather quickly, that we tend to put the past behind us rapidly. I disagree - nobody would dare throw a "Martial Law" themed-party and poke fun at this event back in Manila.



A Polish friend said that they can throw parties like this because they're just "so glad that the whole thing is over." Amen to that.