The Prime Minister Gave Me Flowers

Unfortunately, Aleksander Kwaśniewski came down with some sort of bug that prevented him from attending SWSPiZ's opening ceremony. Instead, this lovely man, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the former Prime Minister of Poland spoke.

I arrived thirty five minutes early (not early enough, evidently as my professorial contact insisted on calling my old phone number multiple times), and I sat around in a very lovely room in this very lovely building.

Shortly after arriving, I met Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (referred to as Wlody from now on). So, he told me about his family. We talked about being Fulbrighters (Fulbrighter for life, yo!). He explained what his speech would be about - since the speech itself was in Polish. (The EU's need to get its act together before China takes over the world.)

After his speech, he received some flowers. Flowers which he then gave to me.

So I journeyed home with this monstrous bouquet. Which seemed a bit awkward at the time because there were totally three possible future Polish husband contenders in the metro car with me!

So, I didn't get to wear these sweet robes, but I did get some flowers from the Prime Minister!

Warsaw Explorations

Today was quite the adventure, exploring Warsaw.

I started on Nowy Swiat, by the super fake palm tree that my roommate tells me is actually part of some art installation.

I got coffee with a friend of mine from KUL. Then headed over to Lucka for my school meeting. My school is only a couple of blocks away from the museum my roommate is focusing on. Only, I work on Tuesdays - when the museum isn't open. Otherwise we could be travel buddies.

School is still overwhelming. Evidently the kids don't know anything either. So I guess I can show up the first day, tell them with some authority which books to buy, get their e-mail addresses so I can e-mail them the syllabus (I think I'll make a big deal about being a teacher who prefers low levels of paper consumption), and make them write some stuff down so I know what level they're actually at.

I then wandered over to New Town/Old Town. I got some ice cream from a shop keeper who refused to take my new two zloty coin.

I stumbled into the Marie Curie museum. Major disappointment. And for 11 zloty! It's just a bunch of pictures and captions. They captions would say things like "Marie one year after Pierre's tragic death." But nothing explained how Pierre died! (Wikipedia tells me he slipped on wet cobblestone and then was run over by a horse and carriage. Ouch!)

I sat down with a beer to people watch and examine the books for class. I still don't really know how to teach from a workbook that would take me maybe an hour (tops) to complete. (OK. That's an exaggeration. There's a lot of reading to be done, and it would definitely take more than an hour - but the questions are so basic for native speakers. There's a reason I want to teach at the college level.)

While people watching, I noticed something super interesting. There were two different groups (a Spanish speaking family and a German speaking group of young men) who didn't speak Polish. Both of these groups had one English speaker who was delegated the task of communicating in Poland. Perhaps this isn't as interesting as it seems to me. But maybe it is.

Eventually, I purchased a bathmat (our apartment is almost complete!) and met my roommate for dinner. This is after sitting on the old wall that surrounded the medieval city of Warsaw and watching the sun go down. That is, until this lovely, Arab-Christian, Israeli man who has family in Colorado and Tennessee stopped to ask me if there was a river (of course there's a river in Warsaw! Does he not have a map?!) So I pointed in the direction of the river. I also managed to tell him that he has a lot of identity. I seriously need to keep my mouth shut. I just can't quite figure out how he managed to figure out that I speak English. The only blatant clue I have that I'm not European is that I wear my class ring on my right ring finger - so it's on my "wedding ring" finger, but it's not a wedding ring. Also, my bracelet has English on it, but it was hidden and is usually too far away from people for them to see. The whole rest of the day, I managed to have interactions with people in Polish - they didn't immediately switch to English even though many of them spoke English. :(

Then I met roommate, Lola for a delicious dinner and wandered back to the apartment. All in all, a full day. Filled with many e-mails to reply to and lots of applications to finish and lessons to plan. Everything is under control.

Ikea

Ikea is no NFM (which, personally, I find to be a dumb and non-intuitive acronym for Nebraska Furniture Mart), but it was definitely useful. Roomie and I picked up a second bed (so roomie doesn't have to sleep on the uncomfortable futon in the living room any more. This means that we now have my ideal set up of a sleeping room and a living room. We also got boxes and a bedside table, lamp, bedding (PILLOWS! I missed having a pillow so badly, but they were so expensive at the mall by us), etc. We still need some kitchen things - a mixer and a frying pan are at the top of my list - but otherwise, the apartment is fairly well set up.

So, I met roomie and her father for brunch before heading to Ikea. We had a bit of a problem because Ikea in Polish is more like "ee-kay-uh," so the taxi driver wasn't sure where we wanted to go at first. It was only slightly awkward. Eventually we got to eekayuh, and took approximately three hours getting our wonderful wonderful wonderful (and incredibly cheap) purchases.

Coming back to the apartment involved moving furniture and redecorating things, so the apartment looks entirely different than it did yesterday when I gave my parents the grand tour via Skype (when Cooper - the most adorable puppy ever - kept licking the speakers because he heard my voice. This almost makes up for the fact that he didn't deem it necessary to say "goodbye" to me.)

I'm super happy about the changes. It's a bit more crowded with the furniture changes, but it's incredibly more homey. After that, we had a sushi feast at the mall. It was delicious, and I'm incredibly happily full now. Also exhausted from trying to get everything put together. I was going to try and finish another row on the scarf I started yesterday, but I think it might be time to take out my contacts and read a very short chapter of Eat, Pray, Love before collapsing into delicious, exhausted sleep.

Leaving Wroclaw

I wasn't a huge fan of this city initially, but I think I discovered some gems too late to do anything about it. So leaving Wroclaw is making me a bit sad. Yesterday, I made people accompany me to an outdoor market. Unfortunately, we took too long eating beforehand, and we barely had time to get anything done. There's also this souvenir shop in Old Town that appears to have legitimate folk art things, which are the souvenirs that I want. I had such difficulty finding them last year. I'm sure I'll find things in Warsaw. After all, I'll have plenty of time to look in the next few days before things get busy.

Inaugural Ceremony

Some really cool things keep happening to me. First, I'm on national TV during an ND ad (see below) about how Peace Studies/Rashied A Omar are the coolest things ever.

Secondly, I get to wear academic robes at the inaugural ceremony of my school. At which the President of Poland is giving an address about Poland's future in the EU.

Touring Wroclaw

Sunday brought with it the tour from hell. I was super excited to tour Wroclaw and get to know the area. Unfortunately, the tour guide was insane. She firmly believed that no rest was necessary for us weak Americans. All in all, between 9 and 3, we walked about six miles without a break. And I was super hungry because the night before we'd gone out late. So, of course, I assume I'll sleep in then grab a light breakfast and hold out for "lunch." Only obiad was crazy late.

Even so, we had some cool experiences. Below is some building they built for an academic conference in a real World's Fair tradition. The whole park is reminiscent of World's Fair grounds. Except on a smaller scale.

Also in the park was this awesome example of social(ist) realism.

This is a sweet sculpture in the same area. It's super phallic, and when Solidarity was coming to the forefront, someone scaled this HUGE thing in order to put a Solidarnosc flag at the top. The authorities took months to find a way to get it down, so the flag just stayed at the top. Swell.

I was saddened by the small scale of the Japanese garden. There was no waterfall of remembrance or pathway of peace. Obviously they need to go to the stud farm in Ireland (which has a legit Japanese garden) to learn how to do this.

We took a boat tour of the "Venice of Poland" and there was this legit event going on where all these volunteers were painting a huge fence along the zoo. It was so cool.

The other super legit thing in Wroclaw was this bridge. It has a billion locks on it. It's a tradition for couples to come to the bridge and put locks on it. Usually with their names and frequently saying how long they've been together. There were obviously a lot of Polish locks, but I saw asian characters and some foreign languages. The bridge was being used to film a new soap opera based in Wroclaw. So we were shooed off the bridge almost as soon as we got there. The actors were covered in fake blood, so I'd be interested to see that episode! Not because I like violence. But because I was there for the filming.

Wroclaw also has these little gnome things everywhere. This is the one on the bridge. There are academic ones reading near libraries and universities. There are golfing gnomes in old town. They are seriously everywhere. It would be fun to go around and just find them all, but obviously our tour guide was not cool enough to do something like that. In fact, tour guide, didn't even explain the background of these gnomes.

We saw some churches and whatnot (the usual European tour), but the most beautiful room was this ornate room in the university. Evidently people have real life experiences in this room. It's not just for show. Notre Dame needs to get on this. We have a large endowment, right?

Lower Silesia

Sunday involved a trip around Lower Silesia.

We started in Swidnica - founded in 990. In Swidnice is this Church of Peace (Kosciol Pokoju w Swidnicy). It's entirely legit and built of wood. The deal was that this guy had to build the church within a year if he wanted it. So it was built incredibly quickly by some awesome people.

The best part of this church (other than the private box seats for the wealthy) was that the pulpit included hourglasses. I need to give one of those to Father Andy at SRB, for real.

Next we headed to Ksiaz Castle, which was built in 1288 (or at least, the first written texts about it were around 1288). It was part of the Piast dynasty. Then it changed hands a bunch, and people built on to it. Hitler totally invaded it and constructed tunnels beneath the castle, but no one knows where they were supposed to go. The best part of the castle is that some woman from Spain totally enchanted the castle owner. So he married her. Then she took a fancy to his son. So she divorced the owner of the castle and married her stepson. Gross.

Below is the most beautiful room of the castle and our wonderful shepherd, Roland (also Rolly).

After this, we ate obiad at the mansion of this woman who started a preschool to get German and Polish children to interact more.

Wroclaw

I haven't taken many photos yet, so I stole these from the beauty queen's facebook. This is Wroclaw, the "Venice of Poland."

Wroclaw is where we're located for our week long orientation. Wednesday was Warsaw orientation at the embassy. The American Embassy. Because I'm a big deal. That was mostly safety and insurance info. Then lunch - delicious lunch - with the Fulbrighters at the American Ambassador's house. Bomba.

Then it was off to Wroclaw. We arrived late but still managed to attend a scintillating lecture on the rocks of the Silesian region... To be fair, the professor was the most adorable Polish man. He had the mustache and the very deep crinkles around his eyes. He shook my hand when I left because I said "dziekuje" for his lecture.

When we got back, we waited (forever) to try and get our internet set up, before we went out on the town. We went to the rynek to a brewery. I wanted to try their piwo czekoladowe, but Roland (Rolly, a fly dresser, but maybe not tall enough to be FuturePolishHusband) told me it was sweet. That sounded dangerous. I like a good mocha stout, but those aren't... sweet, necessarily. I finally got my piwo z sokiem, though!

The next morning brought a long lecture about the history of Poland.

After the lecture, we had Polish language classes. They were supposed to have three divisions. Instead, they have two. So I have the option of relearning the alphabet with the absolute beginners or joining the advanced group with the heritage speakers (in which I understand maybe 20% of what's going on). I decided the challenge was better than boredom. But it's gonna be a rough time.

Between classes, I went to the market that is next to the class building.

When I got home, I had the internet. So...I checked my e-mail. I discovered that my short story (Shaken) has been selected for publication at a university's online journal. It's not the most prestigious, but it's definitely not something to shake a stick at. I answered my e-mails. Then, I did the most important thing of all... streamed The Bachelor Pad season finale. WIN.

First days in the city

Moving anywhere probably has its share of complications, but moving to somewhere in a foreign country can be especially frustrating. Getting my phone set up with people who don't speak English was an especial challenge. A challenge that was made even worse by the fact that my pre purchased, quad band, unlocked phone was neither quad band nor unlocked. Now I have the cheap phone that I will hopefully adjust to in a week or two.

Our internet was supposed to be set up on Monday, but it was delayed until Thursday. This was especially unfortunate because I didn't look up all the bus routes before I left. The trip planner is online, so it seemed kind of unnecessary. Luckily, I am incredibly brave. I managed to find my way to the metro with vague directions and no map. I managed to use the metro and the bus system. There were a couple of hiccups, of course. Like, never again will I assume that the bus runs along the same streets in both directions. I ended up walking two miles in a residential, heavily wooded area of Warsaw uncomfortably close to nighttime because there were no bus stops to be seen. Luckily, when I did find a bus, it intersected with a metro stop, so I was able to find my way home. Granted, finding the way out of the metro and to the right direction was a challenge.

The other transportation difficulty came with my attempt to pick up roomie from the airport. I saw a taxi stand at the mall, so I decided to go there and just pick up a taxi (since my phone was not operational yet). Surprise. The mall opens at 9 - the same time roomie's flight lands. So, the taxis would not be waiting there. I worked up the courage to approach a stranger.

"Prosze, pan. Nie mam telefon komorka i chiablym taksowka."

Which, I thought was a very good attempt at saying "Please, sir. I don't have a cell phone and I need a taxi." in my broken Polish. Luckily the man I approached (wearing a shirt that proudly sported the British flag), was a fellow ex pat who wanted to know why I needed a taxi to get to the airport when I could catch the bus less than a block away. Unfortunately, BritishBoy didn't count the stops correctly, and I had to get off on the fourth stop, not the third stop. Thus, I walked through a dirty construction zone with my formerly shiny black dress flats on my way to the fourth stop where I could transfer to the airport bus.

I got a taxi with roomie, and I filled her in on the complicated system of locks that we use to get into our apartment. Then I met with my professor. I'll be teaching GRADUATE STUDENTS. Older than me. And I'm teaching academic writing. I think that isn't the worst, but it's not an AMST class, like I dreamed. Prof took me to traditional Polish lunch, and he invited me to wear academic robes (because I'm faculty) at the opening ceremony! So excited. Expect photos.

Orientation soon. Lunch at the Ambassador's house! Then onto Wroclaw. Can't wait. 

Welcome to Poland, right?

What I did my first day back in Poland

Frankfurt seemed like a great connection spot when I booked the ticket. And while flying Lufthansa was much nicer than my last experience with LOT, the set up of Frankfurt airport was ridiculous. I landed with an hour and a half to spare. It took me an hour to go through security again (which involves this ridiculous snaking around of one terminal) to get to my terminal to get to my gate at the end of the terminal. Very exhausting after an already long day.

Everything goes fine in securing my apartment, but the internet will now be set up on Thursday instead of Monday. That's OK because I can contact my family with my cell phone, right? Wrong! My cell phone wasn't unlocked. It will still work after the people unlock it. Which will be on Tuesday.

So I went to Carrefour and bought, of all things, a hair dryer, hangers, tea, toilet paper and shampoo. Of all the things to buy, right? Except I forgot to bring bags, so I had to ask someone for them and pay separately. I didn't want to carry my toilet paper around in the open.

I went back to the apartment then, but I realized I needed to eat. So I went to the very close grocery store and bought pierogi, the makings of pb&j, pasta, and a big bottle of wine. Which resulted in yet another language misunderstanding. Evidently I had to pay for the wine separate of everything else. Imagine my surprise.

So I got back to the apartment, and started unpacking all while watching... The Big Bang Theory in Polish. BaZinga! I used my miniature universal dictionary to decipher the directions on my pierogi. We'll see how that goes.

Carl Sandburg

This is just a note to say
That I have eaten the pierogi
Which were in the ice box
And which I myself was saving for dinner
Forgive me
I now need to buy dish soap
And do dishes.

Also, the first song I heard on this side of the Atlantic was none other than Lady Gaga's You and I. They didn't change the words from Nebraska to Warszawa, unlike those Wisconsin losers.

Music and Whatnot

I've had this song stuck in my head all day (Znow Jestes Ze Mna).

I figured it might be worth it to look up the lyrics:



Chociaz jestes tu przez chwile
To na pewno sie spoznilas
W tyle miejsc

Tylko twoich miejsc
Wciaz kogos gonisz
Bijesz glowa w mur na oslep
Wszedzie jestes tylko gosciem,
Nawet tu...
Jestes gosciem tu

Znow jestes ze mna
Chociaz jestes tu przez chwile
To juz znudzic sie zdazylas
Bardzo tak
Zdazylas znudzic sie

Uciekasz z domu
Slysze kroki juz na klatce
Ty nie wrocisz zanim zasnie
Caly dom
Czy kiedys zmienisz to?

A teraz, kiedy przy mnie spisz
Wybaczam wszystkie te nie najlepsze chwile i dni
Dotykam twoich rak...
Wiem, ze juz jutro daleko bedziesz stad

Znow jestes ze mna
Chociaz jestes tu przez chwile
To na pewno sie spoznilas
W tyle miejsc, tylko twoich miejsc

A teraz, kiedy przy mnie spisz
Wybaczam wszystkie te nie najlepsze chwile i dni
Dotykam twoich rak...
Wiem, ze juz jutro daleko bedziesz stad

Best as I can tell, it's about being with some girl who's about to leave. It's not very happy, as you can probably figure out from the tone of the song.

Mieszkam w Mieszkaniu

The apartment is a sure thing, now. I have a mailing address (upon request) and everything. Here are the photos of my three rooms. With more to come once this gets decorated.

The bathroom. Complete with a washer in true Poland fashion and lots of storage.

The kitchen. Surprisingly with a dishwasher. And plenty of cabinet space.

The livingroom/dining area.

There's also a bedroom, and roomie and I plan on buying a second bed. Hopefully roomie's down to share a bedroom. I think that will be the smartest method. It looks like there might even be a lock on the TV cabinet. Which wouldn't be terrible as far as storage goes.