Grazie, Muzzu

I went to a bus station in a small town, to catch a ride 40 km back to my (small) city. The buses traveling to the various other towns leave from assigned platforms/binarios which are simply three sided enclosures beside the street. I didn't know which platform was for my town/bus.... So I walked up to a but idling there to ask.

Me: Excuse me, do you speak English?

Bus Driver: zxyczxyzhl. (which I took to mean either "what?" or "no")

Me: Inglese?

BD: No, no. Italiano.

Me: (Very big eyes and big smile) OK!

BD: (big eyes, backtracking now) Oh! Oh! Un poco, un poco!

Me: Is ok. Is enough. (notice how I switch to Pidgin)

Me: Ho bisogno andare a Radom. Vado a Radom.

BD: Vai in Radom? Uno! Uno! (pointing)

Me: Grazie. Grazie mille!!

And I went to Platform 1 to wait for my bus.

Monday - Friday

7:30 -- Alarm starts ringing

8:30 - 9:30 -- Complete administrivia from last night’s classes

9:30 - 11:30+ -- Complete lessons plans for today's classes

11:30 - 1:30 -- Shower, eat

1:30-ish - 3:00-ish -- ride to school

8:20-ish 9:20-ish -- ride home from school

10:00 fall into bed exhausted

Wash, rinse, repeat

Life decision confirmed

I hate children.

My first perogis

Handmade by my new friend’s mother  

This is the way we dry our sheets...

Dry our sheets, dry our sheets... 🎹🎼 

Autumn in Radom

(not) train spotting

So after being given only barebones grunts of directions from police officers to the train info center, up two flights of escalators experiencing heavy suitcase PTSD every step, I found a nice lady there who spoke English, I had my ticket in hand with 20 minutes to spare.

I made my way back down the escalators to the platform to wait.

About 5 minutes before we were set to leave the board started indicating the train was late. And it indicated the train was late for about 20 minutes... Until my train disappeared off the board. Poof! Gone... And another arriving train appeared.

Apparently MY TRAIN had come. To another platform. Without stating such on the board.

So. Hmmm.

Me and my overweight suitcases went back up the escalators to the info center... crying and PTSD-ing the entire way... and the nice lady took pity on me again...

She said the train had come. And I tried to explain that if it had indeed come the board never told me to change platforms.

So, she found me another train... which was through a "commuter" trainline and left through some secondary platforms.... And she KNEW I'd be unable to find these platforms (through my sobs!) so she enlisted the info center guard to walk me over.

So me and my escort took the escalators back down again... and then we took elevators and walked through the bowels of the station up and down concrete stairs (remember, TWO OVERWEIGHT BAGS) and ended up on some platform where escorted prisoners catch the train for Nurmengard, where my handler proceeded to ask two teenage girls "Is this the train to Radom?"

He smiled and left me to fend for myself.

full disclosure... I'm a dufus

I'd done my research (as usual!) and there was a nice train from the airport into Warsaw central, where I could catch a train to Radom.

If I'd done my research more thoroughly I'd have learned that going into Warsaw central was back tracking, and it would be much more efficient to catch a bus from the airport to Radom. And dammit, more thorough research would have saved HOURS of confusion and many public tears.

So I took the train from Chopin into Centrum, where couldn't find the handy machines to purchase my ticket to Radom. But I did find a big map of the station. And in the Legend of the map was the "i" -- the international symbol for the information desk.

But sadly, I couldn't find the "i" marked on the map... only in the legend. I could find the showers... I could find Starbucks... I could find escalators... but I couldn't find the "i" desk...

(Until today... when I was looking at my video through stress-free eyes... because it was in a different size and color from all the other icons... but this explanation doesn't make me any less of a dufus.)

speaking of latkes

I've been here almost a month now, and no one I've asked here knows what a latke is........

I say “it’s a potato pancake, that’s what we call it in the US”. And they say, “no, a potato pancake is a psymznkzszszsskyskysky”…

wat up wid dat?

velcome to Poland...

When I got back to Warsaw Chopin from London, things started going sideways again immediately.

On Thursday the Border Control guys I'd dealt with had assured me that if I leave and come back on Sunday -- when my Polish Work Visa begins -- I'd be set up in the system and everything would be hunkey dory. So I expected to just blow right through Passport Control and into the lovely land of latkes.

But, nooooooo.

There'd been a shift change since Thursday, and now my friendly, smiling border control guys had been replaced with stern, unsmiling border control girls.

Hmmmmmm.... you say. We all think it but won't say it... But dammit, as a card carrying girl, I'm allowed to say it.

Why do girls in positions of authority always have to act so much tougher than guys?. Why do they need to exercise their power? Why? What is the use of having a dick-measuring contest, if I'm refusing to participate???

This Kashia lectured me on how the Polish Consulate should have never defied Schengen and given me a visa - to which I asked "Do Schengen border rules trump Polish sovereignty?"

Later she came back and asked me if I obtained a Polish work visa in response to receiving a border ban from Schengen -- to which I responded "I obtained a Polish work visa in response to receiving a job offer in Poland".

Then she called my employer to measure dicks with him for a while.

All in all she made me wait for HOURS while she called her Swiss overlords and searched for ways to deny me entry. But eventually, gritting her teeth, she walked me through to Latke Land... getting a final word in... "Do you plan to travel in Europe while you're on this visa?"... to which I answered "Oh, no, I'll be traveling only in Poland".

A Radom Friday night

Apple cake (no ice cream!!!), kick ass Polish beer, and working to translate Italian documents to English... 

My trip to Pizza Hut

In Radom we have a fiiine mall, and inside is a Pizza Hut.

Why does an American company use the British flag on their menu to show it’s in English? 

Pepperoni on traditional crust and Pepsi.... not exact, but close enough for government work... 

My trip to Subway

Sometimes you just need a taste of home!

The small US drink is the large drink in Poland  

Wait until corporate headquarters hears I got FOUR napkins!!!!! 

Day in Warsaw: Pancakes

Day in Warsaw: Along the Royal Route

Day in Warsaw: St Anne’s

Day in Warsaw: Royal Palace Details

Day in Warsaw: Royal Palace

Day in Warsaw: St. John's Archcathedral

A heavenly host was singing….

Destroyed in the war and painstakingly reconstructed

OK, he’s here, church can begin now…..

Getting out of order, yet again!!!

On Sunday I went to Warsaw sightseeing with students/friends. It's about 1.5 hour drive from Radom, so we had lots of time to discuss 20th Century Polish history... WWII, Soviet, Solidarity, and now the new rebirth of Poland.

Did you know that Warsaw was 90% destroyed during WWII?

I clearly remember discussing current events in university classes, the importance of Lech Walesa and the revolution he was starting in the Gdańsk Shipyard, and now to hear about from people who were living it from the inside. Fascinating!

We had a great time, visiting the National Cathedral of Poland (St. John's Archcathedral), the Royal Castle (where they have two Rembrandts), the almost Rococo Church of St Anne, and then strolling in the fabulous weather along the Royal Route.

After a great lunch of pancakes and ice cream at the large central mall, we strolled by the Polish equivalent of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Wall Street.

It was a great day with friends, and we hit 14,000 steps!