Kino II

After finishing Dekalog, I have now moved on to Big Animal and Warszawa, the final two full Polish movies  that seem to be available at my local library (a couple of others might have Polish characters or some brief Polish dialogue or they are documentaries with Polish speaking in them that I may consider watching later).

In terms of reading, I finished Snow White and Russian Red and Catching Fire (the second book in The Hunger Games series), which means I am now reading Mockingjay (the final book of The Hunger Games series).

Kino

It seems that some of my recent Polish education has come in different forms. I do a little work in the textbook and workbook I used in Poland, but I am also using literature and films. Not really a lot of Polish knowledge can be taken away from reading something translated into English, but, being in the middle of Dorota Maslowska's Snow White and Russian Red does give lessons through untranslated graphic comic strips interspersed throughout the novel. There is also cultural information in regards to the Polish characters and setting. Additionally, I have been renting Polish films from the local library. First, I watched The Promised Land (in Polish with English subtitles; I had already seen this in a Polish Literature class while abroad) and now I am in the middle of Dekalog - a film with ten separate one-hour parts, each one's subject related to one of the Ten Commandments (again in Polish with English subtitles) - after watching the first three parts (I had also watched one or two random later parts in Polish class while in Warsaw).

Other forms of Polish cultural education have come from trying Polish foods - usually different variations of surowki or salads or soups - and I will try to try out some recipes soon.

"Can't Wait to Have My Own Show Again..."

Recent activities:
-Walked and shopped (mostly book-related when it comes to purchases...) along Third Street Promenade area in Santa Monica (Barnes & Noble, Disney Store, Sur La Table, and Anthropologie were a few of the stops) [http://www.santamonica.com/visitors/what-to-do/shopping/downtown/]. I was close enough to the beach to almost feel and smell it. I saw the pier and beach area in Santa Monica a bit when leaving.
-Ate Japanese at Torafuku [http://www.torafuku-usa.com/]: clam soup, side salad, seaweed salad, and marinated eggplant.
-Saw Conan O'Brien documentary (shown above), which was great and hilarious. :) La Bamba - a member of Conan's shows' bands - he was in the bands for both shows on NBC and is in the current TBS one - was outside the theatre as I entered; maybe he was at the showing right before. The movie theatre was a cute little place with one screen, located in Westwood/West Los Angeles - a really nice area near UCLA. There were a lot of colorful lights on the several other nearby cinemas, plus numerous nice shops and restaurants/bars/cafes (saw pizzerias, sushi bars, and American Apparel to name a few spots).
-More light grocery shopping and a tad unpacking.

DISNEY MONDAY! Also, there may be a trip to the San Diego area on Wednesday, but not too much else is that solidly-planned yet (everything else is just ideas thrown into the mix that could be done). I am glad the weather has been quite pleasant since my last time in California was rainy.

CALIFORNIA

Currently in the Los Angeles area. I am coming up with ideas and making plans for my next week here. One place in mind is a well-known Polish restaurant in Santa Monica called WARSZAWA (appropriate after my recent time abroad :-P ).

http://www.warszawarestaurant.com/index.html

My sister did not have a good enough fill of Polish food during her short stay at home in New York, so I have been wondering if we should check this place out (it would be a first time for both of us). Other than the chance to go here, we also have plans for going to the movies (new Conan O'Brien documentary released today), heading to Disney (Land and California Adventure, of course ;) ), seeing a Tim Burton art exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), maybe seeing one event at the Los Angeles Film Festival (an event about music videos directed by Eric Wareheim from "Tim & Eric Awesome Show: Great Job!"), and playing lazer tag. I will be on the lookout for more to do (possible plans to maybe see an LA Dodgers game were one item scrapped). So far I have gone to visit my sister's work (fun cooking supply and more store), helped with shopping and unpacking/apartment setup, and went to MENCHIE'S for frozen yogurt fun. We love Menchie's. :)

Little cups to try frozen yogurt flavors; do-it-yourself soft-serve and topping bar... :-D There are even fun spoons now

http://menchies.com/

More later. :)

Polish Favorites: Bookstores

1. Traffic Club, Warsaw (there is at least one other in Wroclaw, but the Warsaw store is pretty epic)

http://www.traffic-club.pl/

Over 4 levels of merchandise

Basement has music and movies, ground has cafe, periodicals, gift items/cards, and some top sellers of music, books, and movies, next two floors have books, and the top floor had a birthday party when I was there once. This place has materials in both Polish and English (the amount of English is not too much, but still very good).

2. Empik, all over Poland (I particularly like the Megastore in Krakow's rynek)
http://www.empik.com/

Ahh, the memory of walking in here and stumbling into the Sephora 5 years ago...

Empik is basically a good Barnes & Noble or Borders (since I think Borders beats BN in the free rewards program and the media area - music and movies - but BN seems better in atmosphere, cafe, and ties for overall and books). However, Empik also advertises and sells tickets for concerts in Poland and offers classes in foreign languages (I know people who take English lessons offered).

3. Massolit, Krakow
http://www.massolit.com/

Want books only in English? Then this place is great. It offers a good selection of Polish authored books translated into English, plus a wide variety of genres (poetry to specific area studies to general literature). I was saddened to leave empty handed, but my list of books to buy did grow. And, yes, there are comfy seats, couches, and a cafe in this two-level store.

4. American Bookstore, all over Poland
http://www.americanbookstore.pl/

Again, only in English. BUT, this one is a chain! There is one on Nowy Swiat in Warsaw, plus several in many malls across the country. Helping English-reading expats and travelers (or those fluent enough in English looking to improve their reading skills) find books easily.

5. Museum Bookstores/Gift shops
Many museums, especially art ones, have great bookstores/gift shops. I was surprised that many had English-language books as well. I remember some cool books at the Zacheta National Art Gallery and the Center for Contemporary Art.

There are definitely many other bookstores that I did not have a chance to see or did not know about. There were also many cities that I visited and did not stop at bookstores. But these are some definite good ones if in need of a book, in Polish or in English. If another language is needed, well... that depends.

Coming Soon...

Finally watched "The Way Back" and it was pretty good. Some of characters are Polish, including the main character Janusz (Jim Sturgess). The story is about men who escape a gulag in Siberia and trek all the way to India through Mongolia, China, and Tibet. The film left me with some questions that I had to research online after the movie ended. It had a lot of important facts - not just from during WWII, but also after about such events as Prague Spring and Solidarity - that I generally already knew, but they are still not widely known in history classes taught in America, so it is valuable for the audience to learn.

I am working on my last paper for the spring semester. After that, I need to begin thinking about some work I will begin in the fall.

Some posts I am planning to do:
-Recommendations (food, stores, restaurants, museums, tourist/interesting places to see - mainly in Poland, Warsaw especially)
-Future travel and possible plans to go back to Poland in 2012
-Further Polish lessons
-School (and thoughts about grad school)
-Summer reading and events

Fall

Still a bit jet-lagged, but now is the time to finish up my work from the spring semester. I have two more papers to complete (one entire paper for Polish politics and less than half left to finish for the other in Central European - mainly Polish - history). Some aspects of Europe have been maintained at home, such as eating borscht a couple of days after coming back when my Babcia/grandma made it. Also, I still drink some sparkling water and eat salads/surowki. But I have also welcomed back items I did not have abroad: Kashi cereal, almond milk, On Demand television...

I spent the last few days catching up on a few television shows (The Office, Parks & Recreation, some Castle, United States of Tara...) and beginning Game of Thrones.

There is a lot to like and some that I do not like about this show. I like some characters (Ned Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, the dire wolves, Samwell), while others are terrible. Some parts of the storyline are a bit strange or gross, but the show still remains to be good as I watch around the scenes where you wonder if certain views are necessary...

There are also some movies I need to catch up on. The Hangover Part II was quite good, but used an identical model to the first movie with a few changes. However, the writers know what worked for the first film, so why do too much differently for the second film; this is about entertainment at the end of the day. And everyone laughed a lot in my theatre.

Once I finish my two papers, I will read a lot more. I finished a few magazines, but I have books I need to go back to. I also have new Polish instructors and homework: my mother and grandmother are now going to give me written work out of the book and workbook I used during the spring, plus I was told to watch Polish television and practice more speaking and listening.

Something for travelers:
These trips sound really interesting
http://escapetoshape.com/

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

So, there it is, 4 months in Poland are now complete. Woke up at 3 AM (but it was light out when we took the taxi at 4 AM) on Wednesday. The first part was quick (check-in and security). We had tea and coffee at the airport and then took our first flight from Warsaw to Amsterdam. This was quick and we were given a couple of little sandwiches: one had mystery meat with butter on grain bread (weird since I am not a processed meat lover or butter fan) and curried egg salad on brown bread (not bad). We were later given biscuit cookie sandwiches with caramel filling (also not bad; the biscuit part tasted a bit graham cracker-like and the caramel was mainly just sweet). On this flight I read some of my Oprah magazine. The layover at Amsterdam was short. We flew from there to Paris (Charles De Gaulle) and had a selection of baked goods at one time during the flight (I had a regular croissant, but there were also pain au chocolat - chocolate-filled croissant - or some kind of pastry that looked to have maybe nuts and apple? from which to select), which looks a lot nicer since the last time I was there (there are fewer renovations and the complete ones make the airport look better, but it is still not an easy experience since the layout is confusing and the security check is annoying). At this airport, I had a chance to go to the airport lounge for frequent fliers. This lounge is nicer than the only other one I had seen (which is also very nice) in Detroit. I had some good fruit salad, canned Pellegrino, and a little vegetarian sandwich (all tasty). This longer flight from Paris to Philadelphia was not as nice an experience as my last transatlantic flight. There was a baby that cried a lot and a little boy (probably her brother) moaning, while a few other people were strange and/or difficult and/or complaining a lot. We each had personal TV screens in our seats, which was nice. I watched Tron: Legacy (I liked it a lot, or maybe it was just the nerd in me having a fun time for the Daft Punk music and video game-like aspects... who knows), The Green Hornet (only for Christoph Waltz), Samantha Brown's Passport to Great Weekends: LA, an episode of The Big Bang Theory, some of Biutiful (I was falling asleep, but was not successful taking a nap when I turned the movie off because the baby was crying and I was not comfortable) and some of the pilot episode of The Borgias. Pretty sure there was a girl who had been on America's Next Top Model on this flight. After we made it through all of the security, customs, and passport checks in Philadelphia, we picked up our luggage and our car before a drive home (I slept through most of it), making it back at almost 10 PM. I had been up almost a day (or more for others).

Today is relax day. Last night, I went to bed regular time (around midnight) after going on the Internet and watching some television. This morning I woke up early because of my weird sleep schedule (nap in car and going to sleep before, plus not being used to time change and jet-lag yet) and our cat's meow cries on-and-off from early this morning until early this afternoon (he is so needy and was lonely I guess :-P silly boy - but also looking older and bigger). I am caught up with Community as of this morning, but made a list of other shows and movies to catch up on. I also have two more papers to complete the next couple of weeks so that I will then really be on summer vacation. Too bad the weird phone call from an army recruiter earlier this afternoon did not know he was calling someone without interest. :-/

Being back in America is still very recent. I will reflect more on being back, my time abroad, trips, and the future soon. For now, I will relax and finish up the work for the spring semester before looking too far ahead or behind. One recent thought is about persons, places, and things I miss. It has been strange being home without our dog Maggie, but not much else seems different yet. I also know that a trip in the next couple of months to California sounds very exciting. :) I will soon begin planning activities for the summer, such as deciding places to go and books to read and things to do. I just have to fit in some time for my work on Polish before it escapes me and to learn more. In the near future, I will be watching The Hangover Part II and X-Men: First Class (maybe).

Source Code

Have not written since Tuesday, so I have some bits to fill in from the last few days in Krakow. On Wednesday, we went on a trip around Wawel Castle - the royal tombs, rooms full of weaponry (I was pretty interested in the weapons, especially the swords...), the castle itself (where, in one room, people wore period clothes and sang or used archaic instruments to perform a song), and the cathedral. It was really nice, but sadly no pictures were allowed of most of it. :-/ After the tour, I had my first Krakowian pretzel (obwarzanek; it had a mixture of seeds and such on it) and a vegetarian kebab (basically a regular kebab without meat or cheese or falafel - so lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, tahini-like sauce in a roll). I walked around the city a bit (including going back to a famous store for my family - a deli in the rynek that has candies on one wall and alcohol on the other). For dinner, I went to a place called MOMO (it is an eco vegetarian bar), where I had a miso soup with mixed vegetables and a plate with rice, beans and onions in a sauce, spinach and tofu, and zucchini and broccoli in a sauce (the best of the three; I liked it a lot). After dinner, we all met up for a string concert at a church near the hotel. The music included pieces by Handel, Vivaldi, Chopin, and Mozart. It was really nice. On Thursday, I went out for a walk and saw a monument for a famous Polish battle and then walked a bit at a mall and around the city before taking our group bus to Oswiecim/Auschwitz. This second time at the death camp, for me, was interesting since last time I did not watch the video shown to tourists. We also had two great guides - the one from the museum and our program director (who had previously worked as a guide at the camp years ago as a summer job when still at university). I learned a lot more and had another chance to look at the camp. I did not mind going again to experience it with different people and to learn some new or additional information. Thursday night included a little going out at night to dance and to see the city when it's dark. :-P On Friday, we went on a tour of Kazimierz, the Jewish area of Krakow. The tour included a few synagogues and a cemetery (I also saw a more recent Jewish cemetery later on after I went to the nearby mall). After the mall, we all met up at the restaurant at our hotel (http://www.podwawelem.eu/), where I had some barszcz with dumplings and an oriental salad with shrimp, before catching a train ride back to Warsaw. Since then I have been relaxing since I have more "travel lag" with fatigue and aching muscles. This has led to 24 hours of nothing. I have some schoolwork to accomplish and I am in the middle of catching up on TV shows and movies I have been meaning to see or missed recently. The weather today and tomorrow are not the best for going outside a lot, so at least I do not have to feel very guilty about not leaving much. School starts again on Monday for our final two weeks!

Photos added: http://photobucket.com/kab1221

On To The Next One

Feeling a bit of travel/train lag today. :-P I need to finishing preparing for my program's trip to Krakow tomorrow midday.

The few days I had in western Poland went by quickly: visiting "Jesus," seeing around Swiebodzin or Lagow or Sieniawa or Legnica or Wroclaw, Easter family visit/meals/gifts, music video channels, bus rides, train rides, watching movies ("Chloe" and "Limitless"), first time at Pizza Hut in Poland (it's fancy here :-P) and first gofry (with strawberry jam), shopping, listening to organ music, learning Polish, and being able to see people who had not seen in a while.

Backyard Garden in Legnica :-D

Now I am resting and preparing for a few days in the Krakow area. :-D I am also looking more at where I will be going in about a year when I finish up in Fairfield. Right now I think I might be interested in pursuing a Masters in International Management/Business. Since I am thinking Europe might be less expensive and more sensical than the US, I am researching schools mainly on this side of the Atlantic... particularly because I am in the process of earning a Polish Passport. This would mean probably going to Warsaw again or to Krakow or to Poznan [I am thinking using English and being able to continue learning more Polish while being close to friends and family again]. Some prospects include:
http://www.kozminski.edu.pl/index.php/en/graduate_ma/abe_international_master_in_mana [mostly in Warsaw, but also time in other parts of the European Union]
-maybe back to the school I am at now (SGH/Warsaw School of Economics)
-maybe the school of economics in Poznan or Wroclaw or Krakow

Easter Weekend

Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych! Wszystkiego Najlepszego z okazji Wielkanocy i Smacznego Jajka.
[My rough translation: Happy Easter! All the best on the Easter occasion and tasty eggs! - The last part is a Polish phrase for the holiday. :-P]

I am here in Świebodzin (the place of my mother's birth, close to the Polish-German border and the Polish cities Poznan and Zielona Gora) celebrating Easter with family (my first Easter in Poland, of course). Yesterday I packed and took the train; I have a guest room at the house of my mother's cousin (his house with his wife and daughters is very nice and they are all wonderful hosts). Today I visited the famous Jesus statue here and walked around the town a bit (lunch included a seafood soup and Nicoise-like salad at an Italian restaurant; I liked the soup since I quite enjoy anything with tomatoes - broth, sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, cooked tomatoes, raw tomatoes... - and seafood).

The BIG Jesus statue of Swiebodzin, walking distance from where I am staying right now and a good "person" to celebrate the holiday with... since it is HIS death and rebirth ;) [picture from Internet, but I do have a few pictures with it from today with me and others as well - too bad I look funny with the wind blowing my hair around :-/]

I watched the movie "Chloe" at my relatives' house and we chatted a bit; I showed some pictures of friends, family, and other students here. We hung around the house (lots of Polish practice :-D ) and relaxed (now watching "Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events" dubbed in Polish on TV) since tomorrow a lot more family members are coming to visit. I think Monday we may go out somewhere if the weather is nice - cannot remember the name of the place - and then I take a bus to Legnica on Tuesday.

I am in the process of earning Polish citizenship (dual with my natural US citizenship) so that I can be part of the European Union, which would mean cheaper tuition in member states in case I decide to go to a graduate school here. It also means easier travel between countries.

I am very excited for certain people in the US to join me here in Europe. ;) I am also the only one on my program who has yet to leave Poland for at least a couple of days (I do not mind this fact), but being taken out of the country (as my family will take me) is a lot easier than doing it myself alone or with other students here. :-P

Under Pressure

Watched the movie "It's Kind Of A Funny Story" earlier and now "Under Pressure" is in my head. :-P I watched "Modern Family" from last night and now I am about to catch up with "United States of Tara." I packed and depart for Gdansk tomorrow morning.

A couple of the photos from Wroclaw:

Marcin and I

Pawel, me, and animal statues

I am looking forward to watching Thursday NBC shows sometime after the Gdansk trip. I also have the Spring Break and Krakow area travels that I am excited about coming very soon. :)

Neat travel blog I heard about today: http://anywherethereisanairport.com/

Bigger Than Us

Bleh weather today. I actually had coffee from a machine this morning for warmth and to wake me up a bit. It was raining when I left class (during Polish, there were issues with the disc for the movie we were supposed to watch, so we watched another series instead). We watched one episode of the series "Dekalog": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092337/ This is a series that details one of each of the Ten Commandments in each episode.

The episode we watched was "Thou Shalt Not Steal" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094989/]. It was about a young girl who kidnaps her "sister." Not sure I want to reveal too much. :-P A good actor from "Pan Tadeusz" was also in it. After class, I had some reimbursement money given to me and headed back to the dorm. I have a make-up class this afternoon/evening and may just hang out in my dorm until then (doing laundry tonight, unfortunately...)

Weekend trip weather: (I hope it stays closer to this rather than change to anything bad...)
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/weekend/PLXX0005

Parliament trip is now scheduled for Tuesday morning. :)

Cool Warsaw websites:
http://warszawazadarmo.pl/
http://wrszw.pl/

Another train website:
http://www.tktelekom.pl/

The Office

Interesting past couple of days... sort of. After Polish class in the morning, I had lunch before heading out for a walk around Nowy Swiat Street and Old Town (hooray that outdoor seating is out or being set up!). I stopped by an American Bookstore (http://www.americanbookstore.pl/) and bought a few Polish-related books:

2 books on Polish tales (meant for children ;) )

A love story set somewhat in Krakow that extends to different generations; looks cute and has had some good reviews online

Yesterday the weather was great, until it began to rain while I was in my last class and I had to walk the few blocks back to the dorm in the rain (sadly, the unexpected showers meant I was hood-less and umbrella-less). :-/ On my way to that final class, the sky seemed darker, but I did not know that the weather was going to change so much and just let the idea of rain slide out of my mind... until I thought I heard rain outside the classroom window and the noise of cars driving in water. :-P I made it back to my room and had some issues with my computer's mouse (now it is working fine, but my program's assistant director called for me about my laptop's warranty - it is up, so no help there - and tech support before I ended up buying an optical mouse and discovering that my mouse NOW will work when I was about to set up an external one... well, I have back up and when the tech support calls me tomorrow I can ask about what to do in case this problem occurs again, but I hope it doesn't). I also picked up a package today. Thanks, Mom, Dad, and Babcia. :-D I now have an Easter card on my desk, new magazines, LUNA bars, gum, candies, and soup (as a gift since Campbell's tomato soup is not so easy to find here). :-P

Today I had history in the morning before doing some grocery shopping (I went to one of the malls, where I had some food from TUKAN salad bar: http://www.saladbar.pl/index.php, which was basically a salad bar in a food court, where your plate was weighed at the end and priced accordingly with any other items - drinks, sandwiches, soups, other prepared dishes. I then went to Carrefour for a mixed bag of foods and supplies after eating). In the afternoon, I had to miss my literature course to go on a field trip with my Jews in Poland class to see the Jewish cemetery here in Warsaw. It was very large and had both well-maintained plots and some that had fallen into disrepair, which made me sad to see. It was an interesting, yet awkward, experience learning about history and customs while walking around where dead people are buried. It became quite cold by the end of the tour, so everyone in the group was quite anxious to make it back to the dorm or at least somewhere for dinner. Tomorrow I have Polish class, where I believe we will be watching a film called "The Debt" (originally "Dług"): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0225535/

In the afternoon, my program group will be having a meeting about the upcoming Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot weekend trip (next weekend).

Interesting side note, I like updating my sister on my "Krasinski" sightings. There is this one guy I have seen a handful of times in a few different areas on the way to or from classes and he resembles (to me right now) John Krasinski from "The Office." I am tempted to scope him out and take a picture to see if anyone else agrees. Distant cousin perchance? He totally has the ears and the nose, in my opinion. :-P There is Krasinski ancestry connected to this part of Poland: they were a noble family and there is a Krasinski Palace and a Krasinski Garden near it. Plus, there is a Krasinski Street after the famous poet, Zygmunt Krasinski.

Pictures updated on Flickr (from Sunday at the zoo) and Twitpic (a few from Monday's walk and today's lunch).

Disney Crazy

The Scientist

"Nic o nas bez nas."
["Nothing about us without us."]


Two days (the "tougher"/longer ones) of classes complete. :-P I had Polish history in the morning and then a break since this is the first of two weeks without my politics course. During my break, I watched one of the recent "How I Met Your Mother" episodes I had yet to watch ("Desperation Day") and it was really good. I later discussed "Promised Land" in literature class and received some reading for our next class (which will be in a week because our Thursday class is cancelled, which means my weekend starts tomorrow. :-D Maybe we will push the idea on this teacher that we do not need to make up this missed class... one can hope.) I then had my Jews in Poland course before heading back to the dorm for the night. It was there that I noticed how I am receiving more and more emails about registration for fall courses at Fairfield. It is weird to think that housing and course registration is being done already since it seems so soon. :-P I looked over what I have completed and what I have remaining and I think if I do some work over the summer and then have a regular schedule in the fall, I might be able to complete my requirements for graduation in December. This is tempting since then maybe I would take the spring off to work and apply for graduate schools. It seems both far and close. Gee. I emailed my advisor about some of my thoughts and questions, so we will see where it all goes! I even received my pin for online registration already and will be picking classes on April 12th (2:30pm my time, 8:30am Fairfield's).

Tomorrow I have Polish in the morning followed by a break and then a CIEE program-paid lunch in the afternoon (it relates to an assignment involving directions that the Beginning group has to complete). In the evening we are going to a ballet: http://www.teatrwielki.pl/repertuar/balet/kalendarium/nowy_balet.html?kid=528

Some thoughts I have had recently are that, when thinking about or planning or preparing to go abroad, I rarely thought about emotions. The only well-known ideas that are discussed during pre-orientation are culture shock and homesickness when away. Well, lately, I am wondering more about the end of my time here in Europe (Poland specifically) and thinking about how hard it will be to leave, to go back to "reality." There is a lot I am missing right now, but I have already come to terms with the fact that no matter where I am or what I am doing, I will ALWAYS be missing someone or something; there is no way to have everyone and everything I love together with me all of the time. I discussed it with my friends this weekend, how difficult it is for me to settle because of my indecisiveness, dispersed loved ones, and all of the great places I have lived or visited or want to visit. It will not be easy to pick one place or one profession, but now that I know there is no way to make everyone happy, then I can at least think about making decisions based on greater good instead of being stifled by innumerable choices. It is tough to be in a world where I may be able to communicate with people all over the globe, but if I want to see them, I cannot simply "fold a map" as if the world were flat and see them in person whenever I wished.

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I've set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, let's go back to the start

Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on the science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart

Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

Oh tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start



Adjective of the Day for Me: Nieśmiała (timid)
Website of the Day: http://polish.typeit.org/ [helps with typing Polish letters with accents.]

Todd Packer

Today, I went on a bit of a duck hunt... only this duck is gold, wears a crown, and is a monument. :-P Part of my homework for Polish class was to find this monument and to take its picture. I researched online to find its location and headed there before my afternoon class. It took a while since the weather was not the best (pretty windy, gray sky, a bit chilly, no sunshine) and I decided to just jump on one of the first buses to come in front of my dorm. I took it to a stop close to the Wisla River and used a map to make my way in a somewhat zig-zag fashion to the monument. It took some street crossing and step retracing, but I finally found my ducky and took some photos, before heading back to my dorm for a bit. I emailed the shots to my teacher before watching the end of "Promised Land." The film was not bad, but I wish the ending gave a bit more detail about what happened to the three friends or even a couple of the other characters; there was a progression in time shortly before the conclusion and I was hoping we would hear more about the lives of Karol, Max, and Mauryc (we only really saw that Karol married and had a son, but not much more than that; it seems the other two men are still involved with Karol in business and in friendship, but it is unsaid whether they marry or have children or do anything else). It was not a film that seemed to be enjoyed by the other students, but I would say there were points I liked and points that I did not like, as with any film. All-in-all, I am more neutral than being someone who completely disliked it. Now I am catching up on "The Office" (I guess I only missed one episode when it seems to have been some time since the last time I watched it; I guess it was on vacation, too). Then, I have to pack for my trip tomorrow.

Be sure to check out http://twitpic.com/photos/kab1221 for up-to-date photos, even my golden duck.

The Promised Land

"Stara miłość nie rdzewieje." [Slight translation: Old love does not die.]

So, two longer days of classes completed, which means two days and two classes left before another weekend. Polish class on Monday morning included learning about some Polish history and monuments. After that, I had my history and politics classes. During the politics class, we discussed the current Constitution in Poland. My final class did not happen because we students waited thirty minutes before giving up, only to receive an email a few hours later that the professor was never going to show up because he had been undergoing medical tests at the hospital for having fainted earlier in the day. Today I had my history class followed by politics, where I learned that my professor is leaving for a trip tomorrow and will not return until the 11th of April. I had a break (picked up my Beethoven Festival ticket and enjoyed a few minutes of the nice Spring weather we had today - sunny and only slightly chilly) and then, during literature class, watched the first half of another Andrzej Wajda film based on a novel by Wladyslaw Reymont called "Promised Land." It is about three friends - a Pole, a Jew, and a German - who are entrepreneurs in Lodz in the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution. It reminds me of "The Jungle" and other either fictionalized or true stories about the negatives of industrial, urban life in the US and Great Britain. I spoke to another student later that I hear more about the problems that this revolution caused other places; I did not know that it affected Poland in a similar manner, with many poor working in the terrible, dangerous conditions of factories while greedy businessmen make money off of them. There is a lot more gore in the film than any of us were expecting, but I guess we saw the worst of it already. It is neat watching a movie that is more current in the time period being portrayed, but made longer ago than the last film. At least one actor is in both and it is interesting seeing him in the "future" while looking younger (since he is younger when this film was made). I am a bit curious what happens next and I suppose I will wait and see on Thursday. My Jews in Poland class was interesting as well since the teacher wanted more discussion today -he must still be a bit tired (especially after fainting and hospital testing yesterday). Tomorrow I have Polish in the morning, where we will continue talking about monuments and history and who knows what else. :-P I hope the weather continues to be nice because it is mainly Mondays and Tuesdays that I do not have as much time to enjoy the weather with the four classes I have throughout the day.

Oh, and I guess Obama will also be joining me in Poland before I depart: ;-)
http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,9280595,Obama_przyjedzie_do_Polski.html

Pan Tadeusz

... was interesting. The movie was both very good and a bit awkward. I liked it except for a nephew and an aunt (although I guess more of distant relation connected them than direct by immediate blood or marriage? So she was not a sister of his mother or father nor was she married to a brother of his mother or father...) had a lustful, secret, brief relationship - I would barely call it that since it was more physical and I never could figure out Tad's true feelings; she said that he had mentioned loving her, but I am not so sure since it could be that she was throwing herself at him - a bit too much cleavage, but I guess not for the men around, including Tad - and he was a young guy; the use of "aunt" made me wonder about this fact and I looked it up later, hoping maybe the title was simply a sign of respect so that the "romance" (used lightly) would be less awkward (more May-December than both that and incest being involved). However, she is actually related by family... making it distant was still a bit strange for my modern head. Also, of course, this was "old school" in that a girl marries before 18 (she was 14 at the beginning, but the wedding was being planned during the film's conclusion, so maybe she was 15 as a bride when the wedding would eventually take place... :-P). Most of the characters were okay and at first I thought I might enjoy the story and want to read the book someday, but the aunt-nephew bit creeped me out. I also prefer to have romance develop more in the story instead of, what I guess was, "love at first sight." I think the story was reminiscent of "The Pillars of the Earth" (want to read that one) mini-series, but I prefer Pillars a bit more. The actor who played Tadeusz was very good-looking and a couple of the actors in the film were pretty skilled. I also liked the way the film looked: colors, costumes, scenery, etc. Also, I liked the themes, particularly those of freedom and of nationalism, that were shown.

Good News! Cigarette Juice!

The above title relates to "Tim & Eric." ;-) :-P

The above photo comes from a blog I read; more reason to love my favorites, SWEET POTATOES. ;-)

Today I had two classes (woo, Polish history and politics!) with two more to go. I am watching a movie in my literature course ("Pan Tadeusz") and then I have my Jews in Poland class. Today was one of the days to pick up new bed linens, which is good because I spilled yogurt on both sides of my comforter. :-P Now I am enjoying some tea time since, sadly, it is not as nice weather-wise as yesterday. It is gray and chilly. Tomorrow I have Polish class and a CIEE group meeting. After those, I think I might make it INSIDE of the Copernicus Science Center. I also need to pick up my train tickets to and from Torun (I go on Friday for the day). The following weekend (25-27 of March) I head to Wroclaw (buying train tickets soon). I also think I may plan times to go to such places as Bialystok and Lodz for day trips. Other places may wait for Spring/Easter Break if they require more time to both travel and sightsee.

"I've never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It's probably because they have forgotten their own."

-Margaret Atwood