My English Life... urmm Polish Life: February 2005

I'm Sick :(

I woke up today feel really horrible. As the day progressed, it got colder and colder outside and I just got worse and worse. Unfortunately, it was my longest day as well so I wasn't very happy. After the long day and trip to the Apteka (Pharmacy) I'm at home. Thanks to Annetta who spoke to the pharmacist for me - it isn't like at home where everything is out in the open. You have to ask and I wasn't in the mood for trying. So she, who is German but speaks great Polish, just got me some Lemsip type things and some cough sweets. Not working yet but hopefully they will. I did go out to dinner tonight with Tom and Allan as well. I didn't feel like making anything and it was just around the corner so I could handle going outside. It turned out to be the best place I've eaten here. I think it could be quite popular in the future.

I had my first Polish lesson in Poland today. It was very intensive but I think it will be great. She doesn't say a word of English so getting started is really really hard but it will be the best way to learn. Managed to learn numbers up to 100 and some more food. Oh and some general greetings we didn't already know. We'll what Wednesday holds!

Monday's schedule has changed : much harder to get places as it takes half and hour to walk to Polish class. It's now:

9:00 - 11:30 Comparative Gender
12:30 - 14:00 Polish
14:30 - 16:00 Comparative Social Stratification

I was late to the last class today. But fortunately the professor understands. Hopefully I can get the Polish instructor to finish on time!

Tomorrow I was supposed to have Poland and the EU at 8am but it was canceled. I'm very glad as I am sick. I will sleep in. I think Tom and Allan are planning to go to a museum tomorrow but if I feel like this, I will miss out and stay in bed. But its a possibility.

That's all now! I'm going to bed to watch a movie.

It's FREEZING Again

Well the warming up didn't' last! It is absolutely freezing! Today hit a high of -7 degrees I believe. Later on in the week the low reaches -24 degrees! Oh well... least I'm adjusting a little.

Today I went to the salt mines - Wieliczka. It was pretty interesting. We got to about 200 m below the surface. It was a bit too touristy actually though because it was completely set up like a museum. But it was still interesting. I took some ok pictures - it was pretty dark though so they didn't turn out great. Below are the photos - just a select few! I hope it gives you an idea of what it's like. In the mines, there are many chapels built all out of salt. We visited three of them and one of them is magnificent! I can't believe that it is all salt. It looks like marble sometimes - the floors really do in the tunnels. On the second level down there is also a cafe type thing and a ball room - which used to be used to play sports too. There are so many sculptures of famous people that have visited it as well - they are all salt!

After the salt mines, we returned home for a few hours before heading to Some Place Else (a pub in the famous five star Sheraton - our second favorite pub) to watch the Carling Cup Final between Chelsea and Liverpool. Liverpool were so close to winning but lost it right at the end.

But now I'm home and going to relax before classes begin again tomorrow. Mondays are my most busy day so I should sleep early tonight! This is what I think my schedule will look like:

Mondays: 9:00 - 11:00 Comparative Gender
12:15 - 13:45 Polish Classes on the other side of town
14:30 - 16:00 Comparative Social Stratification (back in the first building)

Tuesdays: 8:00 - 10:00 Poland and the EU

Wednesdays: 12:15 - 13:45 Polish Classes

Thursdays: 17:45 - 18:15 Modernity, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe

Not so bad! But it will be busy. Hopefully it won't be too hard to find resources. Books will be hard. But we'll see what happens!

Planning to go to Oświęcimiu this week - most commonly known as Auschwitz. Maybe Thursday or Friday. Will tell you about that later - after a lot of thinking I'm sure. Problem is it is going to be extra freezing so we'll see I'm sure.

Enjoy the pictures!

One of the three chapels we saw. All made of salt!

A statue representing how salt came to Poland from Hungary in a myth

King Kazimierza - he created a mini city can Kazimierz (now part of Krakow) and founded the Jagiellonian University. He also owned the mine at one time and introduced workers privileges.

Snow White replication 1

Snow White replication 2

The Pope - he has also been here.

Looking down on the most amazing chapel. Even the chandeliers are salt!

Allan and Tom in front of a salt version of the Last Supper. This is in the main chapel - were absolutely everything is made out of salt.

This is Goethe - he was a large supporter of something in Poland. Don't remember what! Also visited the mine.

An underground lake and statue. Dedicated to a famous Polish person who protected the Polish language from Russian.

The ballroom - 150 m under the surface!

Tom and I at the the end of the tour. Bit bright outside! Freezing, too!

Today's Craziness

10am...gone shopping at M1, a larger mall type thing. Bought a router and a very long cable. Moved on to Real - a grocery shop. Bought some good food. Hopefully will last the week. Still need to get washing powder as I continuously leave mine in Beaverton. Must do that soon...need clean clothes. Traveled by tram - first experience...very crowded but fine.

1pm...headed home also on the tram. Much fast and not crowded - managed to get a seat! Checked the mail - received two essays I wrote in Exeter - very disappointed. But at least it is from the same professor so perhaps he dislikes my style. Still sucks though. Not terrible but not what I had hoped.

1:30pm...tossed food in apartment and ran to other side of town for 2pm meeting with Polish instructor. Complete waste of time. Lasted 15 min.

2:20pm...headed home. Stopped to get Tom a hot dog - Polish style with cucumbers etc... and then to unlock my phone. Finally able to use Polish sim card so can receive calls for free!!! Email me if you want my new number.

3:30pm...got home and set up router. Works great...cord not long enough. Have to use internet in living room. Inconvenient but better than internet cafes. Will try and fix later perhaps.

Now... sitting. Need to eat to get energy but takes energy to get up. A bit of a kerfuffle, really.

Talk soon!

Cheeeeeeeese...... :p

oh wait my bed! It is actually the sofa...but more comfortable than the bed... I had a coffee table too.. but i moved it into the other room.

one more! i have posters and pictures up now so it doesn't looks so bare!

another slightly blurry view

part of my room

A night shot!

View from one of my windows! This is ul. Dietla. The tram runs down the middle and it is apparently a Polish blvd....very nice!

Don't Forget to Look Up!!!!

So the ice/snow started melting. Krakow plans for this time - blocks of areas of pavement where snow/ice could fall on you. Or... not. Well it happens a lot but then there are areas that just didn't get noticed. Yesterday, we were walking from the Sociology building and a HUGE chunk of ice nearly landed on some unlucky person's head. Yup.... like a foot cubed big. Scary. Then when we were going home there was rocks and pieces of building all on the pavement too. So we've taken to walking in the middle of roads whenever possible!

It is supposed to get freezing cold again pretty soon! We were getting a little excited because it was warming up. Oh well... just a few more weeks until spring! But it should be I can get some good photos of the snow. I didn't get a chance to take my camera out before. I have a few pictures I can post - not of anything too great. But hopefully I should get some good ones this weekend. I'm going to a salt mine! Should be interesting! It is also supposed to be the coldest day of the week so as I'm gonna be underground it should keep me a little warmer! I can handle that!

We've finally got internet at home! It is much nicer! Now I can post photos and write more often! Once again, I'm gonna try and do it a lot! But we'll see what happens! I want lots of comments, too....

So Tired!

Hello!

Today was an early start. We had our second class - Poland in the EU - at 8am this morning. Normally that wouldn't be so bad, but it is extremely hard to fall asleep here!! So maybe this afternoon I will go home after some lunch and take a short nap before tonight's events - whatever that may be.

I can't remember what I wrote last time and am too lazy to check. So if you have read about something I right - too bad! :) hehe!

My apartment is great. A little cold in my room but it should eventually be fine. The shower is also freezing because the hot water doesn't get there so I have taken to ever other day showing or in the sink hair washing until it is fixed. Everything else is great. I have bedding, maps and pictures on my walls, plenty of seating, desks, etc in my room. It is quite nice. Absolutely huge though.

Monday morning we had a meeting with a woman who is sort of looking after us. She is quite helpful though she doesn't quite know exactly what is going on - though that is the situation with the whole university. Two of our core classes, for example, are scheduled for the same time! So I'm sure something will be sorted out but it is just a little frustrating when we are trying to figure everything out! We have our id cards now - which are quite nice. We can get 50% of public transport and trains which is really cool. I don't really need to use it in town too much but I might someday! But we would like to go visit our Exeter classmates in Poznan so it will be handy for the train there!

Apparently, I can't see the message board from this computer so I can't see if anyone wrote to me! Hopefully the next computer I use I will be able to respond. If not, you can send me an email! :)

Have a great day! Miss you all lots!

I'm Here!!!

I made it! It is snowing, too! I hope everyone is well and enjoying life. Things here are starting off fine. I have a huge room which I will put up some pictures of really soon!! We are going to have internet in our apartment soon so it will be easier to share everything then. Right now, I am in the British Council building where Allan and I found free internet! So that is great.... the internet cafe's only cost about 1 zloty for 20 minutes though so it isn't expensive (that's about 30 cents!). Things are going to be good I think.

I bought some more socks today... I needed some longer ones to tuck into my thermals! It was an interesting shopping experience. Tonight, Allan, Tom and I are going out to dinner somewhere because we don't have any food yet. But we have seen on a map that there is a large tesco just a tram ride outside of the city that we are going to explore tomorrow. My apartment is right on the tram line too so it won't be hard! I am also about only 5 minutes walk from the Sociology department which is great...

Walking around town certainly is really pretty - and when you are moving - it isn't that cold.

Sorry that is all for now, Allan and I must go meet Tom who just took his girlfriend back to the airport. I think we are going to go explore the Jewish section of town - it looks really really beautiful.

Will share more later! Don't forget to write to me lots!!!

This is me - apparently!!

Aphrodite/Eros

Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ?
brought to you by Quizilla

I quite like the response! I hope I can always be like that. Recently, I've been thinking about my attitude and actions - and there are certain things I would like to adjust but I will talk about that some other time! BUT I would love to find out what you are.... take the quiz to find out. I am going to try and find some other interesting quizzes and post them frequently so there is something a little more interactive on this site once in awhile! I hope you enjoy them - please share the results with everyone - use the newly installed tagboard!!!

My Little Birthday Dinner

Hello all, this is Nathan. Becca's birthday dinner was very fun. We spent some time with our families and our soon to be married friends. I was even fitted for a tuxedo for the wedding. [Not at the party mind you....] Wild times, eh? We had chicken (chausseur?) for dinner. It's one of Becca's favorites, as long as there are plenty of mushrooms. We filled ourselves up on that and on good yummy dessert. Becca is 23 now.

WheeeeE!!!!!!!

Now it's Becca... Here are some pictures from the fabulous event :)