My Worst Night in Poland or An Enemy Returns

Last Wednesday night, I was visited by a resurfacing arch enemy, the toothache. Mind you, I don't have your average set of teeth. Nearly every dentist says I can thank my birth parents and their kin for my set of choppers. As my mom recently wrote, "Your teeth have always been rotten." Thanks for the support, mom!

This ache wasn't your run of the mill tooth pain. This was an old mercury crown from I'm not sure how many decades ago, and either it, or what was left of the tooth below it, was loose. For the last year this tooth would ache for a few days then go away. Only once before while climbing in the French Alps did the pain get bad enough to take some killers. Wednesday was different.

As the night progressed, the pain worsened and stretched from my lower jaw to my neck, middle of the back of my head and then continued down my spine. Did I also mention a fever? This little loose tooth came on with a vicious infection that sent me spiraling towards a black hole of misery. I was freezing and sweating, my hearing was amplified so any noise was supersonic, my loose tooth had to come out, so out came the pliers...but to no avail. Back to bed, still freezing with a half meter of covers on me. I was so cold that my teeth, as sore as they were, were chattering uncontrollably. I even used a sock. Jill slept through all this, by the way...

5:30 a.m. she wakes to my convulsions and moans and takes my temp: 103.7 F (39.8 C). Not good. We (she) scrambled and started making calls for emergency dentists that would hopefully speak English. My condition was surreal, much like when I was experiencing high altitude mountain sickness after summiting Denali (Mt. McKinley) in 2003, I could move and make decisions, but my motions and thoughts were slower than a snail. Jill thought I was going to drown myself in the bathtub as I couldn't physically quite get to the tap to shut it off.

Dentist #1 was a lovely Polish lady who hung up on her. #2 spoke just enough English to say the doc wasn't in. #3 repeat of #1. #4 was Lux Med and they said come in ASAP. Small vicotories.

Even in my state, I was still fearful of what this Polish medical experience would be like. The hospitals here haven't had any good press here for nearly a century. At the clinic, my stomach didn't agree with the mixture of sterile hospital smell and the cigarettes being smoked in the entry way, three times, so at least they knew I wasn't kidding about being sick. From then on the clinic did a marvelous job of providing someone who could translate for us and take care of this bastard child in my mouth.

I was smart enough to bring my dental records and x-rays from the states. I thought the Polish dentist would just want to yank it, but he actually wanted to save it. Turns out it was the last tooth on that side that hadn't had a root canal yet! So I ended up getting the old crown pried off and got the fastest root canal I've ever had in my life. The implements (files) were similar, but not as coarse, and he didn't take the time to continually widen the hole, but he did keep dropping in the toxin they use to kill off the rest of the living tissue. The work was complete in 10 minutes. No gloves, no assistant, no sucking thingy hanging off my lip, no soft rock/classical music. But unlike the states, where it'd be a thorough scouring for hours and a temp put on the same session, he left my new hole in my tooth wide open, refused to give me any antibiotics and told me to come in the next 2 days for a 'rinsing' of the hole. If things were bad, then he'd issue the antibiotics. Oh, and I had to eat with a wad of cotton covering that side of my teeth. For comic relief, try it sometime when you're trying to impress someone like the in-laws.

The next three daily visits (an extra was required, apparently) were all with different dentists at the same clinic, and all had various forms of poor English. Since it was just a 'rinsing' no translator was really necessary. The last woman dentist (2 male, 2 female, btw) put in the temporary fill after re-poisoning the tissues again and sent me on my way to schedule the next appointment, where we'll prep for a crown. My pain and misery reduced relatively quickly, but it took several days to recover from the high fever, as I was still weak on Tuesday (6 days).

And the cost for all this suffering and modern Polish dental medicine and procedures at a private clinic, where they didn't even bother asking if I had insurance (was it that obvious?!)?

50 Złoty! ($15)


Hopefully it's not a 'you get what you pay for' experience, but so far so good (no infection, yet!).

Perhaps I'll invest in a new set of Polish choppers while I'm abroad!

Bring on the novocaine!

:-)

Other sad medical news...

Our lovely, little Dudek is getting his little boys chopped this afternoon. I cringed every time the vet said the word, 'castration,' oh, it just sounds so cruel, especially in a Polish accent.

Wish him well. Live and toy mice are welcome.

Poof!

And just like that...

we're off to Spain!

When I haven't travelled in a long time, especially by plane, I tend to forget how easy it is to enter 16 digits online and suddenly have the right and near future ability to travel anywhere in the world. No wonder credit card fraud is such a lucrative business!

So Jill and I had been wondering what to do for xmas, as prices for a trip back to the states had nearly dooubled after we snoozed over a weekend to think about it all...so we loozed.
I'm not sure where the idea came from, perhaps Jill's desire to use at least some of her Spanish language background before we leave Europe for good, but came it did, and after perusing some stuff online and reading over one of the climbing guidebooks we picked up from Rick and Carolyn Nelson from last year, we decided on going to Costa Blanca!

Costa Blanca is a region on Spain's south coast, southwest of Barcelona by about 4.5 hours drive by car. Here's one web shot of one of the places we hope to climb, Peñon de Ifach. Yep, that's multi-pitch rock climbing territory, right over the water and within rolling distance of 2 beaches.

Sweet

So more on that later, but if you'll be in the Costa Blanca 'hood between December 17 and 27th, let us know, we'd love to share xmas with ya!

Adios amigos!

(Yes! Another language I get to butcher!!!)

The Book

No, not the bible, rather the thing that sits kattywhumpus on a table, leans at a funny angle when it doesn't have enough support from its friends, collects all sorts of crumbs, body hair, and coffee stains, gets rubbed raw at the edges, occasionaly torn and written in and fortunately, oh, so rarely, gets burned.

I have been a horrible book reader in my life.

By the age of 16, I think I had read (on my own, with no help from mum): Where the Wild Things Are, all the Curious George books, some of the Dr. Seuss books, James and the Giant Peach (wow, big step, eh!?), a few of the Narnia Chronicles (Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, etc.) and topped it off with Conan the Barbarian (after I had seen the film, so no imagination necessary). I hated Dickens and anything else forced upon me in high school. Pathetic, eh?

I don't know what it is with books and me. Once I'm in a good one, I love it, but it's so hard to start a new one. I usually feel too busy to start...and this thing called the internet hasn't helped my behaviour, either. So, what's a lame-bookreader supposed to do? My friends always talk about the books they're reading (how do people read 3 or more books at once?), but I can't say they always enjoy what they're reading...so why bother? I really do like books, I want to read more, but I don't want to be stuck reading something so-so when I could be reading something wonderful. So, when I remember, I try to ask those book lovers what are/were their favorites (top 3 or 5 or 10, they often get flustered when asked to narrow it down so!). I then try to compile the lists of said favorites...if one or more people agree on the same title...bingo, we have a potential winner for me to add to my 'yeah, I'll hopefully read that one someday' list.

So what are your favorites? (feel free to enter in the 'comments' section at end of post)

So, what spurred this post? Well, this year's been good for me as far as book consumption goes. This summer I had a chance to read Lance Armstrong's Every Second Counts (while watching Le Tour de France in person, that was cool (le Tour was better than the book!)), the famed Da Vinci Code, the Dave Egger's Gen-X A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and the truly wonderful The Big Open, by Rick Ridgeway. (the latter was bought by Martin in Warsaw, passed on to Tessa in Trento, Italy, then passed to me this summer and returned to Warsaw!) 4 books in one summer, that's a lot for me. (Shows how much crappy weather we had in the mountains, too!)

But the latest is another gem for me, as thanks from Dawn for helping her move from one flat to another, she gave me Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. And it is. Really.

I like historical books, films and documentaries and this one tops the cake. His understanding of the sciences is as lame as the rest of ours (minus my dad) so he truly tries his best to convey in as simple of terms the history of us, the Earth and the universe. There's too many one liners of comedy and horror to post here now (maybe later), but here's a brief history of the earth if viewed as a simple 24 hour day (note: Earth is roughly 4,500,000,000 years old):

"Life begins very early, about 4 AM, with the rise of the first simple, single-celled organisms, but then advances no further for the next sixteen hours. (!) Not until almost 8:30 PM, with the day 5/6ths over, has the Earth anything to show the universe but a restless skin of microbes. Then, finally, the first sea plants appear, followed 20 minutes later by the first jellyfish and the enigmatic Ediacaran fauna first seen by Reginald Sprigg in Australia (see book). At 9:04 PM, trilobites swin onto the scene, followed more or less immediately by the shapely creatures of the Burgess Shale. Just before 10 PM plants begin to pop up on the land. Soon after, with less than 2 hours left in the day, the first land creatures follow.

"Thanks to 10 minutes or so of balmy weather, by 10:24 PM the Earth is covered in the great carboniferous forests whose residues give us all our coal, and the first winged insects are evident. Dinosaurs plod onto the scene just before 11 PM and hold sway for about 3/4ths of an hour. At 11:39 PM they vanish and the age of mammals begins. Humans emerge one minute and 17 seconds before midnight. The whole of our recorded history, on this scale, would be no more than a few seconds, a single human lifetime, barely an instant.

"Throughout this greatly speeded-up day, continents slide about and bang together at a clip that seems positively reckless. Mountains rise and melt away, ocean basins come and go, ice sheets advance and withdraw. And throughout the whole, about three times every minute, somewhere on the planet there is a flashbulb pop of light marking the impact of a Manson-sized meteor or larger (we're talking MASSIVE). It's a wonder that anything at all can survive in such a pummelled and unsettled environment. In fact, not many things do for long."

Us homosapiens really don't matter much in the cosmos, eh? But all things are reltive, right? But my dad was famous for once saying, "Relativity sucks!"

:)

Happy Turkey Day

How many turkeys will Bush pardon?

God only knows.

Just over a year and a few months here in Polska, and we're slowly ignoring and forgetting about more and more American holidays. Our Labor day doesn't affect us here. And the Poles really don't care about Columbus, either. Halloween is gaining interest, but this year it fell at the wrong time-when Jill's school was on their autumn holiday week-and no parties were had (unlike Russ and Kim's bash last year, see October '04 archive). But Thanksgiving is upon us and it has enough popularity here that several of my students have wished me a "Super Thanks day" or a "Merry Turkey day." It is, as far as I know, a holiday that is truly unique to America. There's no shopping for gifts for others, no real reason to get dressed up. Your mission is to eat.

So American, indeed!

But here in Polska we have to work today (unless you work at the US Embassy, where they get every American AND Polish holiday off! What a deal!). My students in my 4 classes today are getting to learn more about real American values (food) and the meaning of 'appreciate,' of all the things that we find we're thankful for-for that day, for the week, month or year.

Since we all have to work today, there's no time to cook a turkey, or a tofurkey for us veggies, so in honoring our pseudo-tradition as of late to semi-ignore American holidays while abroad, we plan to have a scrumptious meal of hot, spicy Indian food at Tandoor Palace tonight.

It won't be turkey, but we'll still be bloated!

Happy Thanksgiving to y'all and smacznego! (smach-NAY-go = bon apetit!)

jr

c3Po

Wiwa la Polska!

Oddly, in this modern world, where everyone has mp3 players, died hair and purposely misspelled middle names, there seems to be an abundance of bloggers, not just in the world, but here in Warsaw. Without having met a single one of those involved (Martin excluded, he just got his site up and running 2 months ago at PolandExplorer), I've been invited to join a new Warsaw-based expat community weblog, titled none other than Pijemy po polsku, which, for you who passed Latin but not Polish, translates to "We drink in the Polish way (or style)." Choose your meaning of drink, or the phrasal verb, "to drink in." Sure I've had my fair share of rough nights and mornings in this fine country of the plains, but I prefer the latter definition, as being a foreigner in this unique place allows one to absorb everything with more interest and intensity than dealing with the day to day life back home, and what you soak in is some fine Polish traditions and the occasional outrage at the well-ingrained bureaucracy...but not that we don't have our problems back home...

Perhaps I'll even meet these other mystery P3 bloggers in person, as they seem to attend a piwo(a) enjoyment festival weekly at the Warsaw Tortilla Factory!

However, it's a small world in blogland, and it turns out I do know one of the writers, Aaron Fowles, as pictured here 3rd from the left from my CELTA course back in August 2004.
Crazy.

So feel free to click on the little P3-PiwoBlog link on the right to see what a few other expats from the states and the UK are thinking, planning, laughing and crying about a few thousand miles east of y'all. I'll probably be too lazy to post to both sites...
:)

Bonus points to anyone who can see how many languages (or references to) are used in the subtitle of this post! :)

Czesc!

Tamara/Krakow/Auschwitz

Two weeks ago we were fortunate to have our second Seattle guest, Jill's good friend, Tamara.



She was already flying through Amsterdam enroute to Africa for a photography course and some photo work in Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia, and used some flyer miles to hop over to Warszawa! It was a quick weekend visit, but here's some of the sights we got to see... Well, first off, our trusty rusty Ford Escort Kombi died, and we had to quickly purchase this alien Fiat fireball so we could all get down to Krakow in a jiffy!

just kidding, thankfully! These cars are all over Poland, and Jill wants every one of them banned from the highways-with one person they can max out around 55-60 mph...but they always seem to be packed to the gills with 4 or more people, and usually large people...then they max out around 40 mph...

But we made it to Krakow and unfortunately didn't arrange a place to stay, thinking tourist seaason was ending...so we got a swanky room at the 'nearest hostel to Old Town', an interesting, young person-filled pinkish/reddish thing west of town, and close to where our half marathon started last spring.

To make up for it, we found a nicer place for her and Jill to stay on night #2, right off the Old Town square, while I headed back to Warsaw to teach in the morning. So we saw the usual sights in Krakow, then on Sunday we catched an hour + van ride, 60 km west to Oswiecim, also known the world over by its German name, Auschwitz.

Not only is it the scene of the largest experiment in genocide in human history, it's also the world's largest cemetaryThe 'town' is split up into 3 camps: Auschwitz 1, 2 (Birkenau) and Monowitz (Monowice). A1 was originally a Polish miltary camp, conveniently converted to a prison camp, torture chamber, and the fist gas chamber for the Jews, Roma (gypsies), and Polish, Russian and even German political prisoners. But it wasn't big enough to hold (and to process) the incoming trainloads of workers and victims, so Birkenau was built in 1941/2-solely for the elimination of human beings. Eventually 40 camps were created in the region, all for the same purpose. In the end, 1.5 million, yes, 1,500,000 human beings from 27 nations, including 1.3 million Jews, 150,000 Russians, 75,000 Poles and 21,000 Roma were wiped from the face of the earth here, just at Birkenau. The total loss in all the camps for WWII was 5 million, 3 million of which were Polish Jews.

With the Russians hot the on the heels of the fleeing Nazis, the Germans had little time to destroy their evidence of their 'experiments' in genocide. Much of the architecture still stands, yet the 4 largest gas chambers were dynamited-a disgusting set of buildings where the Jews were led into thinking they were about to all take a group shower before they started their new life in this temporary camp, until they were gassed en masse, 2000 people at a time, and incinerated on the spot.

The camp's original Polish Army barracks still stand, and if you didn't have a clue about the place's history, it's actually a nice looking place, full of orderly red brick buildings, lined with tall trees, leaning slightly and dropping some of their colorful, golden leaves. But the barracks have been converted to museums, each representing different parts of the camps and what the Russians 'found' after the liberation in 1945, including TONS of human hair, used for weaving hats, scarves, jackets and wigs for the fashionably conscious back in Deutschland. And I don't mean 'tons' as an expression, I mean it literally. There were also rooms full of the luggage the Jews had brought with them, the last of their possessions after leaving their homes or the walled ghettos. Rooms full of glasses (spectacles), shoes, shoes, thousands of shoes. Whatever the Nazis could re-use for their own gain, they did. What we saw was what was left. There's no way to fathom how many of these kinds of items passed through these places.

The barracks were also full of various types of 'sleeping' chambers. They displayed the progression of the structures and living conditions the prisoners lived in-first on wood floors with some hay, then mattresses, then cots, then bunk beds stacked to the ceiling, with as many bodies squeezed on as possible-both because so many people had been shipped there, and for those who hadn't been eliminated yet to try to stay warm and survive the freezing winter nights. Dysentery was the norm, as was starvation. Those who couldn't work were eliminated (the old, young and female). Those who did anything out of the ordinary were eliminated, if not tortured first.

"Work makes free"-entrance to Auschwitz I camp and the exit for very, very, very few

:( We joined a large group for an English guided tour. The group was so large that we only heard half of the stories, facts and tragedies. We'll go again, and if you ever get out here, it would be worth the price for a private, small group guide, and allow at least 4-6 hours, this place and its horrid history can't be rushed, but shouldn't be missed, either.

Six to ten to a "bed." No heat, no blankets, no toilets. Over 300 of these occupied the camp, which was able to house up to 200,000 prisoners at a time. Only the brick barracks remain standing

The blown remains of one of the industrial, custom-built gas chambers at Birkenau. The train brough the Jews straight into the heart of the camp, and those not fit to work were led immediately to these chambers, up to 2,000 people at a time, first stripped, then gassed, then incinerated. None of the structure has been altered since the Russians liberated the camp

The Auschwitz Memorial, a stretched out mass of stones and sculptures, representing all the nationalities of people annihilated. There is a plaque in every language of those who died here. However, despite there not being any British or other English speaking people massacred, an English plaque was added, so the message would be clear to the thousands upon thousands of British, American and other English speaking people to the camp

Birkenau (Auschwitz II), left nearly intact due to the quick invasion of the Russians. Only the gas chambers and the wooden sleeping chambers were destroyed

2 bodies at a time, loaded into the incinerator by 2 German workers, just after the hundreds were gassed in the room behind them, twenty four hours a day, even after the massive gas chambers were erected at Birkenau a few kilometers away, and the doctor who orchestrated the torturing and experiments lived with his family less than 100 meters away, in a nice wooden house with a yard, and no solid fence to hide the sights from the children...

I don't think there were any recorded escapes from any of the concentration/murder camps. Another strange thing was that locals in the nearby towns were also forced to work here or executed for incredibly petty crimes (stealing one potato from a shop, etc.), including children

"Murder alley" More people were shot or killed here by more 'typical' means than any other camp or ghetto, by shootings, hangings, beheadings. Notice the bricked-in windows on the right. One of the rooms on the other side is where the Nazis conducted formal juries regarding every execution or form of torture, processing paperwork and victims' i.d. numbers for every kill.

Thousands and thousands of suitcases and baskets, filled with dreams of new lives in new places...

2 Steps Back?

Since the fall of communism sixteen years ago, back in 1989, Poland has never had a right wing government at the same time as having a right wing president.





Until now.

So I, of course, am not allowed to vote, but my students and cohorts are...and you can guess who they voted for.

As is typical of elections everywhere...the urban areas with higher income and education levels tend to vote for the more worldly and progressive candidate (Tusk). Unfortunately for Tusk, Poland is hugely rural, and he wasn't able to convince the farmers that a free market economy and the EU should be embraced with open arms (Most of the other outspoken presidential candidates are anti-EU).

What was interesting, though, was watching the votes by districts (like our states-in the states-our 'blue' states were along the coasts of the oceans and great lakes-here, they were all the ones lining Germany's border-and equally split along the Baltic shores. Odd? Another oddity was that as large as the main cities are (Warsaw 2 mil., Krakow 1 mil., Wroclaw <1mil, Lodz-ditto, Katowice, Gdansk, etc.), the rural regions surrounding them within their districts (states) almost always outvoted the inner city voters. That's like the rest of Illinois out voting Chicago area (1 million against 8+ million)-something that has never happened and never will-but it did here.

A phenomenal voting and marketing campaign was had in the rural regions, where unemployment (18% for the whole country) and anti-EU feelings are highest, and Tusk's focus on an economic future tied strongly to its western neighbors didn't sit well with the country bumpkins. Lech Kaczynski first stood on the grounds of ousting all the remaining communists in parliament (which fortunately happened last month, despite many of them changing party names to 'hide' from the SLD label on the ballots), and he's since pushed family/catholic church values, Poland's self dependence (go away EU!), and increased miltarism-possibly leaning towards a police state?!

Lech Kaczynsky has been known for his 'tough on crime' stance here, as the mayor of Warsaw-the jails have tripled in 'membership' over the last 3 years, and they're bursting at the seams. For better or worse, the police force has been growing at a tremendous rate, but they still don't seem to be cracking down on the dangerous drivers (drunk and sober), something that every pedestrian and passenger seems to fear. Mr. Kaczynksi is also famous for preventing gays and lesbians from having their gay parade permit last spring-of which they held anyway, and had some scuffles with the law. He'll be meeting in the Hague soon as the EU commission on equal humanitarian rights has a few words in store for him in court-a potentially dramatic event that I only wish had occurred before this election.

Another story missed here was Kaczynki's brother, make that identical twin brother, Jaroslaw, who happend to head the PiS ("Peace" by sound, but Law & Justice by meaning) party in parliament. He just got voted in last month, and now his brother will be president. Earlier, they agreed on a no-name financial analyst to be Poland's prime minister. Let me repeat that, that was earlier this month-just after the parliamentary elections...but they may easily change their minds and hand the most powerful position in Poland to Jaroslaw.

That would then empower two identical twin brothers to run the show. They're so identical that either one could be speaking for the other-and no one would know who really said what or who could be accounted for saying this or that. It could make for some interesting hearings in the future!

So what does the PiS party stand for? They plan to stand in the way of international development within their borders. They plan to increase their military might (the decision to pull out of Iraq is officially on hold until the new President enters his palace in January). They hope to reduce the rights of gays and minorities. They will continue to keep abortions illegal and women's power reduced in the workplace.

And with his party dominating parliament, his brother dominating the party, and himself as the new poster child of all that is good and right in Poland, he'll be getting everything he wants, except for an American visa.


And speaking of which, he'll probably make it even harder for me to stay here...

I'm going to Raciborz!

Through an array of interesting events, I've been invited to give my Denali slide show at a travellers/mountain slide/film festival in the small mountain town of Raciborz (Rah-CHEE-boze (like nose))

The festival is called Wiatraki
(Click for link to page, and see if you can find me under 'Program'!

Dawid Wacławczyk is one of the founders of the festival, and this is its 2nd year running. The festival is the last weekend of October, and kicks off with the main event being a slide show by Piotr Pustelnek, a major force in Poland's mountaineering history-as he was the first person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest...in winter!? (btw, all 14 8,000 meter peaks in the world ONLY have winter ascents by the Poles!).

I met Dawid at one of my former student's wedding parties here in Warsaw (Iwona). Her and her new husband, Grzegorz (Greg) grew up in Slonsk (Silesia/SW Poland) and all their friends came up for the party. Jill and I were fortunate enough to be invited and once again got to see up close how the Poles like to party (no one's afraid to dance!). Dawid (David) is an avid traveller, and he's giving his own show on trekking in the Himalaya. For my trip they'll be covering my transportation and accomodations-which is fine by me, though I usually get paid for these things, this will be a lot of fun and a great way to meet more like-minded people-though most of them are a bit far from Warsaw (but maybe will have a place to stay with when we go to the mountains in the future?!?!)

The down side is that this is the start of Jill's long week off from school, and half of her family will be in town. They're still deciding what to do for their itinerary, but I'm, of course, trying to persuade them to see my show, then go to Prague, etc. so it'll jump start their trip and get them to see some less touristy places in Poland!

Well, I'm glad I brought my slides with me...but this will be the first time giving a show with a translator.

Yikes! Wish me luck!

Meet (Jerzy) Dudek! Star 'socker' player extraordinaire!

Our new flatmate! He's a bad-ass soccer player when playing with my socks-nothing can get by him, and the crazy, wild maneuvers he can do are truly astonishing. I hope to get some video footage soon before he gets old and lazy like the rest of us! Jerzy (Yezzy) is named after Poland's top football (soccer) goalie-but he doesn't have ears quite the same as our Dudek!

Updates and Downdates

Hi y'all,

So pokey me still hasn't put up any pics from our summer adventures...anyone know of a fast way to load a few dozen on to this site?!

So what's happening in Warszawaland?

Well, Jill and I just taught/helped out the 9th graders at ASW with an adventure trip to the Jura Krakowska-Czestochowa, a craggy, limestone area in the south-middle of Poland. The (usually well-pampered) kids got to rough it in the sticks-setting up AND sleeping in tents (oh, my!), cooking their own food (Egad!) and got to do some cool things like caving, hiking, bike riding, a 'high-ropes' course and, of course, rock climbing! It was a three day trip, and probably the most intensive baby-sitting I'd ever done! 60 young teens are a bit of a handful, especially with 12 adults-many of which were doing this trip for the first time, too.

All went pretty smoothly overall. More kids participated in the rock climbing and rappeling than last year, and with a lot more enthusiasm-so that was great! Unfortunately, however, the high ropes course is run by the local Search and Rescue (GOPR) and they're pretty young Poles. Their attention to detail, care and safety weren't as high as ours...and one of the kids went flying down a zip-line and into a tree-smashing his (luckily!) helmeted head hard enough to black out and not remember too much for a little while. The ASW staff doctor, who was at our climbing area at the time, took mine and Jill's car and took him off to the nearest hospital in Czestochowa (45' away). Fortunately, he's fine, but it gave everyone a good scare. We're proud to say that the climbing portion of the trip has never had an injury for the 8 years it's been going. See climbing is safer than most people think!

The poopy part of the trip was the end. Friday was the end of it all, and Jill and I hoped to finally go down to the Tatry mountains-Poland's famed, high, rugged, granite peaks-where some of the toughest climbers and mountaineers in the world were bred and crafted. But, the end of our rock climbing portion with the kids ended in rain and lots of it. News had it that Zakopane and the Tatry were getting doused, and that Rysy, Poland's highest (2499 meters) was getting a lot of snow.

Bummer.

So, in an exhausted stupor, we (stupidly?) drove back to Warsaw. I can't remember the last time I drove while being so tired. Knock on Ikea formica/particle board that we made it back in one piece, especially on these horrendous roads!

But, and there's always a but, right?

We were so damn tired from the ASW trip that we're not sure if we could've done anything in the Tatry...so we got a day to dry out and recup at home. The big bonus of being home for the weekend was that the Warsaw Marathon was happening on Sunday, and Martin was running in it. He was shocked to hear we were back in town and invited us over for his carbo-loading dinner. His German co-worker, Christian, was also in town for the run. This was both of there's 2nd marathon-Martin's first in Berlin (with 35,000 people?!) and Christian's in Bamberg, north of Munich/Muchen). Christian is one of those naturally fast runners, with 8 foot long legs and a very aerodynamic profile...unlike the rest of us! He was shooting for 3:30 (Boston marathon qualifying time!). Martin's wife, Basia, is Polish and is fluent in German and is learning English. Jill and I were curious what language(s) we'd all be speaking or translating for the night, but fortunately for us it was 96% English! ;-) Christian said he didn't know much English, but he had no problems keeping up with us native speakers, and neither did Basia, really!

We had some fine piwo, coffee and wine and some great pasta with the best tasting tomatoes from Basia's mother's garden, from central Poland. If America had tomatoes that tasted like this, maybe I'd've become a vegetarian a really long time ago! Yum!

We left there and headed to an ASW Oktoberfest party at the high school principal's house. By 10:30 there were very few people there, but the few were well soaked in Deutsche birre! It was a good enough time to warrant a late stay... but it delayed our departure the next morning to cheer the boys on in the marathon!

After several, wet and cloudy days, the Warszawa maraton had a spectacular day-sunny and a little bit brisk-perfect for a long run! Well we certainly missed the start but we were able to ride around the course and guage the 2,200-ish runners' speed and roughly figure where we'd find Martin and Christian. Marin was happily found in a matter of minutes and was fortuately still happy, too, after finishing off the first 45 minutes of the run. Interestingly, he had a yellow ribbon tied to his jersey, a mark that apparently all foreigners had to wear during the run. He joked that it was payback for the Nazis making the Jews wear their bands in the 40s. Fortunately, no harm or egg throwing occured!

Christian was just too fast or we were just always poorly placed along the course. The long-leggeder finished in a disgusting 3:20! Meanwhile, back in normal-humans-land, Martin plugged away while choking down some of the Gu energy gels we'd given him the night before and finished at an awesome 4:06, beating his last time by 10 or 20 minutes?! Awesome!

For you runners out there, I'd highly recommend this course! They really set it up to go through some of the most beautiful and historical areas of the city. There is a bit of cobblestone-hell but the course overall is flat and fast. The only ho-hum part is the long stretch from Old Town/Warsaw University area down south to our neck of the woods and Wilanow Palace, but it's still well-treed with decent asphalt...and if they can always guarantee weather like this-perfect!

So, super congrats to Martin and Christian! I unfortunately left my digital camera in the car, parked at the Oktoberfest house...of which we wisely left there and walked home...so I pulled out my dinosaur Yashica T40 and shot slides of the event and some of the city's sights. Knowing me, those will never make it to electronic copies...sorry!

OK, what else!??!

Work, yeah, that dreaded subject. I'm doing my best to get my EF students back into school with much coaxing, but my bosses aren't diggin' it. They're not happy that I'm in communicando with their clients...but I know that EF hasn't been contacting them so fooey on them-don't they want business!?! Well I do, so continues my hunt for private students. I have a mother/daughter pair once a week, with a potential friend of daughter, too. The word is getting out and so are some spiffy business cards. Hopefully the feds don't come a knockin'! Because of how my bosses are reacting and acting (to other teachers, too) I'm doing my best to find hours elsewhere, still keeping the other EF branch downtown as an option. They seem to have their poop together, at least a little bit more! For now I have 2 individual students at EF-Marcin, the 12 year old, and Agata, one of my faves. So there's a bit of grocery food!

Hmm, what else...I taught at ASW, or rather pre-taught the 9th graders about rock climbing equipment and safety. I was nervous but all went pretty well. Plus I'm getting paid for the Jura trip. Yeah! I'm also on the substitute list for middle and high school so there's some more opps.

Part of me still thinks about photography/writing/massage/etc. as other potential sources of income...we'll see. It's fun and stressful to not have a solid job...the best of both worlds!

OK, back to running:
My left hip is hurt and no idea what's wrong with it. Taking a week off and seeing what happens. Biking hurts it a bit, too. IT band, old shoes, bursitis, who knows? But we're still planning on going for Florence in November. I'm shooting for 4:30/finishing/finishing happily/finishing without injury. That should be possible, right?

Visitors:
Tamara's first, from Seattle, in October, en route to Africa! Yippee! But only for a weekend :(

Jill's oldest sis, Janice, her mom and aunt will be here in early November, and newsflash, her mom will be here for 3 weeks! Gulp! We hope to give them a tour of Warsaw, Kaziemierz Dolny, Krakow, possibly Auschwitz, Zakopane, then off to Prague/Bratislava/Vienna/etc. and back. Likely go to Berlin a different weekend with her mom, too, as she's full German blood (Koeppl, I think?).

Dawn Hoffer's coming to Amsterdam, but right when J's family's coming, so we won't get to see her, which is a big bummer. We had a great time at her and Chuck's wedding on the Olympic Penninsula the previous summer. Hi to you guys!

OK, well, I think that's about all the goings on in People of the Plains-land. Sorry it's so long, but a 1,000 words load faster than a digital picture's worth!

;-)

Do widzenia!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

:-)

So whazzup?

Ciao, Bon jour, Buon journo, Hallo, Dobry Dien, Dzien dobry, Czesc!

Ah, just a small sampling of the various greetings we had to use over the summer

So, how's everyone?
Jill and I are good. And here's a few things, in random order of course, that are happening on our end.

We're back full time in Warsaw. Jill's begun teaching her 2nd year at the American School in Warsaw, fulfilling the 2nd year of her 2 year contract (with the option to extend annually, afterwards). This time 'round she's teaching only 6th grade Math (thankfully!) and new this year...wait,...are you ready?...get this!...she's teaching ESL (English as a second language)! That's what I teach!? She's got a mixed grade class of only about 8 students or so, and fortunately they're not all total beginners. However, I think at least one of them is, and that'll be very challenging to work with. But, at least at her school, the kids are immersed in an English speaking environment, so the kid will pick it up way quicker than my adults tend to. Kudos to her-I have full faith that she will be a great ESL teacher, and will not let her ASW students suffer like it sounds like her poor Japanese students had several years back when she lived in Tokyo and didn't have a clue (or a care?) about teaching back then. So, she's fully back in the swing of things and asked me last night if our summer vacation even happened.

I told her no, it didn't.

So, on to me! Well, English First (EF) pissed me off quite a bit last week. When we were back here in July, I had set up at least one class to resume teaching on Wednesday, August 17 at 7:30 a.m. We returned to Waraw, I called and emailed my boss and got no response. I stopped by the school and it was closed (a holiday, apparently). Jill and I ran by the following morning and it was open, but she said we were too sweaty to stop in, so I'd do that later. Later-close again. Call, no answer. Call s'more, no answers or answering machines. Grr. Show up before 7 a.m. on Wednesday...no staff. 7:30, no Agata. 8, still no one. 8:20, Danuta, the owner, drives up in her Skoda. She's shocked to see me. She also speaks very, very little English (strange, yes, but she is learning).

"No Agata?"
"No"
"Dlaczego?" (Why?)
She shrugs her shoulders. I ask if she's still learning English...and she doesn't respond. Not a good answer. We go inside and she points to a calendar.
"Agata" while pointing to the 2nd or 3rd week of September.
Grr, my lack of Polish and her lack of English doesn't help here, as I still try to say in English, "why in the hell didn't anyone call or email me?"
"Nie rozumiem." (I don't understand) You hear this in Poland as much as you hear 'no problem', a truly world-wide, if not universal, phrase.
Grr. So I ask where Joanna is, my EF Director of Studies (DOS). "Holiday" In Europe it's 'holiday' in the states it's 'vacation'. Holidays to us are dates already printed on wall calendars, where everyone, except sales people, have off.
Ahh, and returning when? Pani Danutia points again to the calendar, sroda (Wednesday) the 24th. I ask again, why didn't anyone call or email me? Even send an SMS? No response. Further proof that I really need to take real Polish lessons this year.
So, I enquire about my other students: Renata (she shakes her head no-she not knowing that Renata's been emailing me all summer and has already asked to start lessons the next week(are they trying to tell me I'm fired?)), Kasia and Monika, my holy girls, as I like to call them, we spent almost a month talking about the Pope (dead) and Catholocism in Poland (she shakes her head again, this time saying, "Nie wiem" (I don't know (them)). Grr.
OK, well how 'bout conversation classes, FCE prep, EF general English classes...anything set up?
(deer in headlights)

OK, so on to bigger and better things...through much quickly found mayhem, I suddenly had an interview with a Brit, from Germany, in a Polish hotel in less than 1.5 hours downtown. Prof. Dr. David Jones (the IIIrd or IVth?) set me up to meet with one Patrick Gallery at the Sobieski Hotel, this ugly, pastel-painted hotel west of downtown. Not sure if there's a pic on my blog of this thing or not...and I didn't bring my camera to the 'view as I was a bit rushed, not having showered yet that morning. So, Sir Patrick's a total jack of all trades: an international business language company co-owner, a gourmet chef, and an online radio dj for KISS FM. You've probably heard of KISS, it's in most big cities in the world, and his show is played in some cities and multiple continents at the same time on European Friday nights.
His stage name is Kelly $tuart.
Really.
Anyhoo, he has this super, German-ized, streamlined business language company that seem ridiculously efficien and fully embracing technology...and is now trying to embrace Poland and other eastern Euro countries. It's a brand new gig, and he's looking hard and fast for new staff to equip his project in Polsa. He's hoping to have at least 3 branch offices in Poland-Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk. He's got Germany covered in Munchen (Munich), Frankfurt (his home), and Dusseldorf, and he wants a mirror image of his company in Poland, which would mean employing about 400 teachers, whom would teach up to 12 different languages, with English being in the most demand...as the companies he already works with are mostly German , or are heavily German-based: Mercedes, T-Mobile, Dunlop/Goodyear and several others I've forgotten about, but many of whom are entrenching themselves here in Poland...being wise and lucky to be so close to such a cheap labor/land market, getting a one-up on the rest of Europe.
Anyhoo, if all goes well, this company will be getting off the ground, through Polska's red tape by January or so. I (he) can guarantee that the pay will knock the socks off what I currently make (well, not currently, as currently I don't make a red cent, oops, sorry, wrong country, I dont' make a goldish (zloty-ish) grosz(e?/ik? oh, Polish confusing!). So, wish me luck on that one and I'll keep you posted on that front.

Next: world events: Kris, my super best friend in San Fran is living the rough life in Costa Rica with his girlfriend. Have fun and don't forget to send me a postcard!
Tim, my ex-roommate, sent me a horrific email. He went swinging out over a lake or river on a rope swing and came crashing down on a hidden rock underneath...and broke both of his feet!

OUCH!

He's in/just had? surgery this past week. If you know him, give him a cheer as he doesn't drink beer. Recover well, my friend!

Locally, Martin, my German friend here in Warsaw, is going for the Warsaw marathon next month. Jill and I are running again (didn't run a mile all summer) and we're not sure if we can join him on the run. I ran an hour and felt ok today. More likely, we'll go for the Poznan run in October (free!), or possibly the Budapest (very expensive, like up to 70 euro, each!?), but now Jill's thinking about going back to her dreamland/home...Italia! She's truly smitten by Italy, not that I blame her, it is a little jewel-landscape-wise, great language, architecture, history, etc. but the cuisine is lacking...believe it or not. Anyhoo, she found that there's a run in Florence! We've both been before, and the date is right around Thanksgiving weekend (USA, not Canada, and I'm not sure if any other country even has one) and that would, officially, give us enough time to fully train for the full length (murderous?) distance of 26.2 miles or 42.195 kilometers.

Ugh. How silly us humans are.

Anyhoo, gotta run. I have a million pics from the summer that I hope to put a few highlights up for y'all. I'm also applying for other jobs...and this weekend Jill and I are heading down to the Jura Krakowsaka-Czestochowa, where we'll do some rock climbing on very white rock (limestone) where I had helped with the 9th grade field trip last year...and where we'll be helping again in a few weeks...this time I'm at least getting paid for it-as I'm running the whole climbing porting with Jill since Rick and Carolyn Nelson have moved on to greener (wetter) pastures in Hawaii for this school year. Oh, hi to you two if you're reading this! Hope you had a great summer!

Oh, another update that I totally spaced...

Kelly, my Texas friend from Krakow (pic'd somewhere way below), came up for a visit for a few days the previous weekend, taking a rest after too much consumption with her fellow alcoholic British friends, both in Britain and Krakow. She came up mainly because her flight to her next English teaching gig was flying out of Warsaw. Earlier in the year, Jill and I were talking to her about where she wanted to head to next, and Mongolia was on her list (Jill was there in 2003!) and one of our friend's parents had helped run/start an English schoool in Ulan Batar, the capital. Well, she got in touch with the school but the new woman taking over the school wasn't providing much info for Kelly, so, instead of risking being deported for lack of visa, etc, she found another school online in Kyrgyzstan! They totally took care of her, answered all her questions immediately, and helped provide for her an 'ordinary' visa, whatever that is! (The consulate in Britain said there was no such thing!). Well, she was still lacking a bit of info but wanted to go for it anyway. She's been ready to leave Poland for awhile, as she's pretty fluent in German and Polish, and now she'll be taking up Russian and Kyrgy. If only she passed on some of her Polish to me first! She was pretty worried that she might be kidnapped or something, especially since there was a revolution there in May...but she's emailed since she landed and all is well and she's slowly moving into a dingy little flat, and hanging out with the few remaining teachers from last year...all of whom are leaving. So she's fresh meat, but will be ahead of the other incoming teachers (from all over the globe). Good luck to ya, Kel, and stay in touch!

Anyhoo, again, take care, keep in touch, and if you think you're up for a visit, get in touch ASAP, as we seem to have many more visitors coming this year than last (and there's no guarantee we'll be here the next year...so take advantage of us while you can! ;-)

Hopefully, by next post I'll have done SOME work SOMEWHERE?!

Czesc!

jr n jillio

Ciao, ciao, grazie, ciao!

Ciao! We àre in Canazei, Italy! just got cleaned up after spending 28.50 euro for a night of crowded european camping! (most expensive camping to date!) Done some nice climbs and via ferratas in the Cortina area. Our friend Tessa came up to join us, too. Now that we're squeaky clean, we're heading up to the mountains (higher ones) for some more alpine rock climbing in the Sella pass area. Should be fun.

Dolomitic rock is very, um, interesting and has taken some time to get used to. It's very slick or very sticky. It's very loose or it's sometimes solid. It doesn't take protection well, and the bolts and pitons are fairly spread apart. We did one big multi pitch climb that the first half was very loose and had no places for protection...for 3 full rope lengths! Yikes! The via ferratas (ironed ways) have been fun and entertaining-taking us through all sorts of WWI tunnels and barracks drilled into mountain sides and even on or just under some high mountain summits where the Italians duked it out with the Austrians. This was high altitude trench warfare and the journal entries of the soldiers placed around these outdoor museums is a bit scary to think of what they were going through-not to mention hiding out in the dead of winter at 3000m waiting for an enemy attack! Ack! ok, running out of time.

Ciao all y'all!

Via Ferrata trailhead poster/billboard/route map. A via ferrata (iron way) is a human-made mass of cables, wires, ladders, steps, rungs, posts, pipes, zip lines, etc. attached to rocks and mountains to help people get through them more easily and quickly. First built during WWI to aid in battle...now used (and re-built) for pure adrenaline and fitness freaks (us!). Notice the large gap in the lower image...and scroll down a few pics for the real thing! Gulp!

A typical French approach to a randomly placed phenomenal via ferrata (i.e. active adult playground!) up and right out of the pic...through gorgeous grazing country and covered in tons of cool wildflowers that don't exist in the US

Jill enjoying the big, wild exposure along the pretty new ferrata. You can use a real climbing rope, too, and just flip the rope through the big ring/coil thingies. Crazy, but it's a lot safer than it looks!

Me pooping my pants on an incredibly exposed and windy suspension bridge on the crazy 2nd half of the French via ferrata

Mont Blanc (4810m) from afar (SSW) during a hike along a tiny portion of the Tour de Mont Blanc in the Beaufort region (tasty cheese!). After summiting via le trois Mont Blanc (3 peaks over 4000m) we descended the long, exposed but easy Gouter route (left skyline from highest point). Beautiful views, but super ugly, loose rock descent once off the glacier. Ick!

Mini French TR

Our last few days in France were spent in the Ecrins National Park, south of Chamonix. We almost bagged the highest 4000meter peak in the area, Barres des Ecrins, but it was cold, we were psychologically crushed still from the news about Mark et al. and it was a very exposed, low 5th climb to the true summit. The weather was super clear but incredibly windy. Instead we opted for the easiest 4000er hump to the immediate west (name?), where we had a good view of the German and Austrian bad-asses completing the route we had originally planned for.

We headed down and out that same day-a super long glacier and trail slog. To shift gears and remember how to rock climb we went cragging the next day on a big sport wall with a few nice 5.6-ish cracks, a nice corner and some (icky) face/slab climbing. I felt good and refreshed back on the rock again and chose for the next day a monstrous multipitch route called Fissure d'Ailefroide, a route pioneered by LaChenal (France's Fred Beckey!) who got the first ascent on Annapurna way back when. Now, very importantly, Jill and I haven't climbed trad for real since our last trip to the amazingly beautiful Red Rocks, Nevada 2 Aprils ago-and we launched ourselves out on this 9+ pitch 5.9/10a trad route that thankfully did have some bolted anchors (or partially bolted). It was super tough, fun, scary, exposed, heinous and, very thankfully, mostly in the shade. The route climbed uncountable chimneys and some really nice cracks and took gear very well. The temps in the sun were well over 90 F (34C). I got my chimneying down pat on the climb...but was so absorbed I didn't realize until back at camp that I (once again) broke my Cebe prescription glacier sunglasses :(Crap! I just got'em fixed in Chamonix for 10 Euro!!! Anyhoo, t'was awesome to be back on the rock (granite, too!) and the walk off was fast, though very exposed with a via ferrata type steel cable to help you through a really nasty, loose, exposed section over a bottomless gully. We nailed the route with literally extremely little beta (info), no climbers, perfect weather, awesome views and the only real hangup was that we didn't have our radios and all the chimneys cut off our belay commands and frustrated us on both ends... Needless to say I bought more rechargeable batteries today for the next leg!

We're off to Italia tomorrow. Got two new tires on the car (moneypit) this morning and we're slowly packing our gear for our next adventure in the Dolomites-where, as usual, we plan to be as safe as possible.

I stopped by English First today, too. No money for me that they owe from early June...but I have classes lined up as soon as we return around August 14th or so. I have some returning'continuing students-fortunately my favorites!

Anyhoo, take care all y'all!

J n J

I'll miss you Mark :(

We're back in Poland, finalizing the car registration and we're heading off to Italy and the Dolomites again tomorrow!

While we were in France, a horrible accident occured back home in the Cascades near Seattle/Bellingham. It was a Mountaineers led event that was on a generally basic level climb, based in an incredibly beautiful setting of Cascade pass, dominated by Sahale, Boston and especially Forbidden and Torment peaks-home of one of the 50 Classic climbs of America.

I knew two of the climbers in the Sharkfin Tower climbing accident, Mark Harrison and John Augenstein. Mark was first a student, a customer and then a climbing partner and friend of mine. Mark was an awesome, super safe climber. He's an ex-Marine with a great sense of wit, a very well-balanced head and kept focused on the right things in the short and long term, no matter how crazy life was around him. He leaves behind a wonderful wife, Lori. They had made their home in Bellevue for the past few years-allowing Mark an umpteen mile bike commute to work along Seattle's waterfront as a GIS computer geek in the World Trade building-the one he quipped as being labeled on the map as 'Bomb Me!'

John I knew less, but knew him well enough through The North Face and the Mounties and ran into him several times on training hikes and climbs throughout the Cascades. He was a fun, sometimes goofy guy, and he and Mark went through the Mountie's climbing courses together at the same pace-and did I don't know how many climbs together. It's really no wonder that they were together on this climb---bosome buddies to the end.

I still don't know the details but it sounds like a 10' wide rock came down on them during an attempt to rappel the incorrect gully they had climbed to get up to Sharkfin Tower.
It seems it was just a freakish thing-it's rare that rocks that large come undone-but I still don't know if it was human triggered, equipment failure or what. But it's an area I'm very familiar with and nearly every climbing friend I know has climbed at least one of these incredible peaks-it's that popular and that accessible.

I'm really going to miss Mark. We had been in touch the whole time I've been here in Poland. We talked about him and Lori coming over to visit-likely off season to avoid the crowds and the costs. In fact, the day Jill and I heard the news about the accident was our birthdays (July 13). We had been watching le Tour de France in person-witnessing Lance Armstrong take back the yellow jersey (maillot jaune) and seeing the most physically and mentally fit people on the earth whiz by us at incredible speeds-even uphill! The racers had gone by and we slowly moved with all the traffic south towards Briancon, France. On the drive we were talking about how much we'd like to come back next year and ride parts of the Tour with friends-and the first that came up were Mark and Lori. We talked about how we had figured we could do it cheaper than a lot of paid tours and still have a great, time with great company. I wondered aloud what he'd been up to, knowing that he gets in at least 2 decent climbs per summer month-and the solstice had just passed-so climbing was in full swing around the globe.

We got on the internet for the first time in a week or so and we were devastated. This is the 4th climbing friend to have passed, 3 to (natural?) rock fall.

How safe can you be?

I had felt unsettled and anxious the previous days and didn't know why. Was this the reason? We had been out of touch with the world for several days, only hearing about le Tour and weather forecasts from people.

Mark was a strong supporter of mine when I climbed Denali, and when I told him Jill and I were going for this crazy move to Poland. We had only climbed two peaks, but they were classics-Mount Hood and Mount Rainier.

On Hood, it was us two and Tonya. Tonya felt sick from the altitude and turned around early (we were doing the easy/safe south side route in the winter for a conditioner). We plodded on in a tired haze and summitted with a few other Oregonians. The mountain was very icy and took crampons well. We had done it in one push from the parking lot and were tired from lack of sleep and the long drive from Seattle. We made it safely back down the steep and exposed 'Hog's back' and were passing Crater Rock, a tower that looks like R2-D2 and reaching easier/safer terrain. As one of my funniest memories of Mark was about to occur-it could've been a tragic one way back then. I made the suggestion that this descent would be a lot faster if we glissaded (sledded) down on our shovel blades. I was half joking, knowing that the conditions were too icy but before I could tell him that, thin-air impinged Mark blurted out, that's a great idea! and jumped on his shovel and rocketed down the incredibly slick slope-bouncing, bounding with cramponed feet flying this way and that. I ran down after him screaming and laughing at the same time-what a sight!

Fortunately the snow softened enough that he could eventually stop without snapping his ankles. After his 1000' lightning fast descent he got up and said, 'Well that was stupid!'
It was, and as far as I know, it was the only stupid mistake he made in the mountains. Altitude makes you dumb or dumber sometimes.

He made it through that trip and another time we climbed the super popular route on my favorite mountain, Rainier-the Disappointment Cleaver route, via Paradise and Camp Muir.

We were a foursome-me, Mark, John Methot, (my old climbing partner until we both found women to replace each other) and Sean Ardussi-all Mountaineers and we ran it as an express climb (I was leader) since we had a great forecast and someone needed the credit (maybe all 3 did?) for their climbing courses.

We went fastish and lightish-bivying and using two short glacier ropes but climbing close to each other if the other team needed help with crevasse rescue. We battled with the RMI guided groups and the other private parties up the glacier and loose volcanic choss pile of the 'cleaver'.
The highlights of the trip were a pine martin hanging out at our high camp, getting it's little nose ridiculously close to our stove and checking out our packs and trying to find our food. The other memory I have from the fuzzy ascent (altitude makes your brain fuzzy when climbing fast, too!) was reaching the top of the Cleaver and Mark taking a long, much needed, puking break! He leaned over the north side of the cleaver, kind of into the wind, actually, and let it all go for awhile as we stood or crouched there shivering in the early alpenglow of sunrise, wondering if Mark will feel good enough to go on.
Well, like any time we're sick, he felt much better after getting rid of dinner and we carried on to the crater rim and the true summit. It was a spectacular day on Rainier with good friends and it was my 3rd summit and 6th attempt and first time on the 'dog route'.

Mark and I had talked a lot about us climbing together in the near and far future. Rarely would my (rare) weekends line up with his since I worked retail-and usually we were busy with our own activities with wife/girlfriend/Mounties/etc. But, we had still planned on going to either Denali or St. Elias together in the next 4 years or so. It was fairly open, but it was also fairly realistic and not just a pipe dream. It's now a dream that will never occur and I'm so sad for this great loss. Mark was a great human with a twisted sense of humor, a hearty appetite for food, beer, adventure and life, an athlete and a friend that I will miss for a long, long time. My thoughts are out there for you and Lori, Mark. I'm sorry I missed the memorial service at the clubhouse last week. I'm sorry for missing your funeral service.

Keep climbing and enjoying your new life out there. See you sometime.

jr

We're back!

And I'm exhausted!

Driving on Polish 'highways' is a lot like playing Russian roulette, pun intended!

It took us 8 hours to get from the border crossing to Warsaw...where the same distance would've taken around 3-4 hours on the Deutschland's autobahns. Rough, curvy, hol(e)y, lacking in paint, lacking in signage and is overloaded with crazy drivers who don't play by any rules except that the driver more or less drives on the right (or left of middle!) side of the road.

I'm too pooped to write more now, but it looks like our digi pics came out OK, but not great. It seems my camera's on the fritz, especially when it's either cold or dark out...I'll see what I can get posted before we take off for Stage 2 of Jill 'n Jeremy's 2005 Central Europeal/Alps Tour!

Au revoir/Czesc!

JnJ

Oh, congrats!

Kudos to those who went for this year's Fremont Solstice Parade bike ride (John T, Dan S. (and g-friend, and???). For some cool pics of the crazy antics (look for Dan in the purple wig!) check out:

http://www.eduardkoller.com/poze/FremontParade2005/index.html

Wish we had joined you this time around!

Grr!

The Polish DMV only granted us 30 days on our plates...so it looks like it'll be a shorter trip than planned for. We'll be back in Warsaw by July 17 or 19 to re-register and prove that the car wasn't stolen. Grr. Still enough time to enjoy the Alps, but less time for the Dolomites...we'll let you know how we work all this out!

Czesc!

Have you driven a Ford lately?

Well, yes I have!

Yep, Jill and I have finally landed ourselves a good, used car! Two nights ago, with much help from my student/drinking buddy, Rafal (Ralph) we wheeled and dealed and bought our new/used car!

It's a 1993 Ford Escort Kombi (wagon), diesel, has 118,000 KM (less than 75,000 miles?!) and only had one owner. The catch is that it's from Luxembourg and was recently imported, so we have to swap to Polish plates, get our nifty little 'P' sticker for Polska and get the even more important registration sticker which goes on the windshield. BUT, after you register the car, you're given temporary plates which are only good for 30 days. End of school year + 30 days equals having to return in the middle of our vacation!?! Grr! But, folks at ASW were able to push the number up to 44 days, so if all goes smoothly at registration this Monday...we'll need to be back in Warsaw before August 3rd-still not great-but I'm sure we'll be very content with how much we travelled/climbed/saw/experienced/etc. by then. Besides, that gives us 2 weeks in Poland to soak up some other national treasures-like the Tatry mountains for example. I still can't believe that we've been in this country for 10 months and we never made it to the big mountains here. Crazy!?!

Anyhoo, we're out the door on Monday the 20th, bee-lining to the French Alps and Chamonix.
Climb a lot, hopefully summit Mont Blanc and then hopefully meet up with Maureen Seeley from Seattle, a fellow Mounty/REI-er, and do part/all of the infamous Haute Route traverse from Chamonix to Zermatt. Then if all goes super duper well, we'll bag the Matterhorn, too!
Woohoo!

OK, then off to Italy...we have 3 sets of friends all across northern Italy. Relaxing, eating, and more climbing in the Alps and Dolomites while there.

Then off to Slovenia. More of the same, except no friends there, but cheaper accomodations. If we have the time, we may go to Croatia, but now that our summer is being shortened by the car thing...likely not. But it'd be cool to scuba and/or get certified in diving while down there (Jill's already certified).

So, you gonna be in the 'hood?
If so, give us a shout!
my mobile
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and email: jrwclimbs @ hotmail . com (without the spaces) (or now I'm trying out google's at:
jrwclimbs @ gmail . com

We'll probably check the net about once a week.

Otherwise, this is the
Duza do widzenia!

Czesc!

Jeremy 'n Jill

We got Skunked! (see below)

Red sky at night...part-time English teacher's delight! Perhaps the best sunset we've had since we've lived here in Warsaw. This is a quick shot fom our kitchen window...and tomorrow I have an easy schedule for work-so I'm riding to ASW w/Jill, working out, then hopefully continuing a long ride in Kabacky Park...if the weather is as nice as this sky predicts! (I got skunked on the PCT during one amazing 24 hour period in Oregon!)

Cracovia! (Someone was holding their thumbs for us!)

Here in Polska the country still can't decide which season it is (but the Communist-dominated Parliament did decide to postpone elections until the fall-hoping for a better chance at survival (approval still around 5-10%!)), as within the last 48 hours we've had temps from 32-70 F, sunshine, big puffy cumulus clouds, strong winds, biting rain and even some hail-while the Tatry mountains got some more snow. But I guess it could be worse. Some of the American School teachers who've been here awhile say that it snowed in the city in May a few years ago!

So Jill and I were successful in completing the Krakow half marathon last weekend! And so were Dawn and Lisa who joined us! I had hurt my left knee the previous weekend and I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to run-but lots of icing, stretching, resting and then using Ben Gay the day of the run helped a lot! My goal was to finish in under 2 hours and I did it in 1:54. Jill finished around 2:03 (she was hoping to beat 2 hours, too :( but she was a bit sick the week before the run-and neither of us slept very well in Kelly's stuffy flat). Lisa and Dawn finished strong and Lisa even got interviewed for TV!

The weather was crappy. Lots of dark clouds hovered over us at the start with wind and rain keeping everyone chilled before the starting gun was fired. But I had a positivie attitude about the weather improving and was the only one wearing my sunglasses-and sure enough, about half way through the run, the sun popped out and I was the only runner not squinting :)

The finish wrapped around the Wawel Castle, then up the Royal Way on the painfully unsmooth cobblestone street that killed my feet. With a final run around the Rynek square, I finished just a few meters from the tall Clock Tower (see old pics in blog). I was glad to be done with it...though a part of me felt like pushing through and doing the whole marathon...but I'd probably be injured if I had.

But, I think we all finished because there were a few Polloks and Polkas (Polish men and Polish women, respectively!) who were holding their thumbs for us! It's fun to find both the similarities and the differences between our cultures-and here's a small example. In the states, we wish someone 'good luck' and often respond with 'thanks!' or some other form of acceptance of the support. We also sometimes cross our fingers for good luck. Well, in Polska, it's actually BAD LUCK to accept a 'good luck!' comment! Because basically you're jinxing yourself. It was entertaining watching the Poles and myself stumble over this tradition with our mix of languages and habits the few days before the run! But, instead of crossing their fingers for good luck, they 'hold their thumbs' (both of them) for you. Oddly, during the end of the run, and afterwards, my right hand index and middle finger were numb-two of the most affected by the extreme cold during Geoff and mine's epic climb of 'The Idiot Journey' on Denali's Upper West Buttress almost 2 years ago. Renata, one of my favorite students quipped that perhaps I would've had warmer fingers if they were holding their thumbs rather than sticking out being crossed during the run!
:)

Oh, speaking of Geoff-he and Glenn, both of my partners from Denali are heading back this week to lay seige on the famed Cassin Ridge route up Denali's massive south face. That was our original planned route 2 years ago-but weather, equipment and especially bare, icy conditions didn't make it so feasible for us little guys. I wish you two well and will be holding my thumbs for you over the next month! Climb fast, drink a lot and sleep little!

So, back to Krakow...
There was a crazy, cute, little old lady, all dressed in white (including white panty hose!) who was running the full marathon with an umbrella strapped across her back! Well, we ran into her later in the old town square. She was shuttling her 4 heavy bags across the giant square, trying to get her and her belongings to the train station (a good 2 hours at her current pace!). We helped carry her things and she took my arm for support, as she happened to have twisted her left ankle around the 18th kilometer (42 km in the full marathon). She was from Poznan and this was her 25th marathon! She was easily 75-80 years old! Her name was Maria, and after we helped bring all her stuff to the station and helped her get her ticket, she bought us little Krakow key chain souvenirs and gave us her address and phone in Poznan (a beautiful city in Poland we haven't been to, yet). She told us she runs every day, M-F and that we were welcome to come join her. The Poznan marathon is in October (Warsaw September)...so we'll see. Anyhow, she was quite inspiring-if she can run 25 marathons...I can at least do one! (Besides the umpteen marathon-plus-length days I hiked with a pack while walking along the Pacific Crest Trail way back in '97 (42.5 was my longest-that has to count for something, right?!)).

So, Jill had noticed and commented on the fact that this was my first competitive event in over ten years! After so much racing in triathlons, road and mountain bike races in Arizona, I had solidly shifted to non-competitive (but sometimes life-threatening!) sports-pursuing sea kayaking, long distance hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering and waterfall-ice climbing. I must say, it was nice to run against others-thought it's still really against myself. So, for the first time in over a decade, I have a pretty medal and ribbon added to my wall. Perhaps while stuck in this flat part of Europe I'll add a few more before our time is done here...


Well, I came back to Warsaw and English First to have another class cancelled. Many students are starting to save their zloty for the summer holiday(s). And, unfortunately, Hanna, my private student also cancelled after our class this week, too. :( So, I'm back down to 18-ish hours a week (paid), but the load is lighter and giving me more time to plan, which is good since my First Certificate exam prep group needs all the help they can get-as their exams for English are in one month.

So, since I'm working a bit less, I'm helping out with the American School a bit more. Yesterday I got to be a chapperone and tour guide for a visiting school, in town for a middle school volleyball tournament. I picked up the Belgrade (Beograd) kids and 2 adults, cashed their Euro and dollars into zloty and we took a big blue bus to Wilanow Palace for some sight-seeing. It was fun being a tour-guide for a few hours-giving me a taste of what it must be like for Tessa, our lovely host in Italy, who does this for a living. Hmm, maybe someday that'll be my career-so many options!?!

Well, that's it for now. Italy pics are still on the way. Oh, and if you're thinking at all of making a European vacation, Jill and I will be romping around the Alps, Dolomites, Slovenia and Croatia from June 19 until around August 15. See you somewhere?!

Ciao!
jr and jsj
:)

Don't be such a Szczyrk!

Easter weekend was approaching and we thought we'd have one last chance to ski for the year (last and only time was Austria over xmas for me and Jill!). Poland had been dumped on in March-but it also got damn hot fast, too. We set our sights on the Polish mountains and skipped Zakopane because that's where everyone would be and I hear the lifts are incredibly slow. Everyone wanted to relax, too, as life'd been hectic and heading to a small town sounded like the right ticket for us-so after 2 trains and 2 buses we finally made it to 'sh-CH-r-k' (kind of with a rolling 'r' sound in the middle). I get it right about once every 2o tries. Ugh!

Lance strongarm joined us for our extended Easter weekend trip to the unpronounceable town called Szczyrk in the foothills of the Polish mountains in the south. Lance is another ASW teacher of the 8th grade and formally taught in Athens for a few years after departing Los Angeles awhile ago. He unfortunately just told his kids the big secret that their 8th grade scores don't mean a thing...they only matter once they're in high school. Doh!

Mostly cloudy and up the lift we go! You don't buy an all day lift ticket, but a little ticket like what we use for the busses in Warsaw. It's 9 zloty a ride ($3) so you pay for how much you play. Unfortunately, the rain came soon after this shot...and didn't stop, so this upcoming run was mine and Lance's last...as for the girls...read on!

Hmm, now why are we doing this? A huge warm front had come through the week earlier-the snow had been a meter high in town and now it was almost all gone-and it was raining, relatively crowded-but hey, we lugged our stuff this far-might as well use it!

J tearing it up in epic damp conditions! Wipers would've been nice to have on the goggles!

Lance and I hanging out under the umbrella in the pouring rain. We waited for a long time for the gals...apparently they went to circumnaviski the mountain and took a few diggers along the way-they were a wee bit muddy when they came back to the hotel!

You ever have those moments when something gets stuck INSIDE your jacket?! Dawn's zipper jammed and it took some surgery to get her wallet out of her gore-tex jacket!

Mmm, big ass pizza! It seemed to help being a bit closer to Italy, as the pies were a bit spicier than what we've found in Warsaw

L & D at an underground disco with a very, very grumpy bartender (the place was dead, and it was, afterall, Easter)

I had a fun night out with some Polish military boys who enjoyed practicing their English with me. I was hoping to get them as private students (they were also from Warsaw) but didn't see them again. Probably for the better, as soon as their English meets a certain level, they're off to Iraq-of which they'd rather skip. They kicked my butt in foosball, too.

Heading out to do a pseudo urban and nature hike, just picking our way through the houses to get up to the higher ridge above

Look at the scale of that ski run! Not too bad for a po-dunk mountain town-but too bad for us it was so warm and rainy the day before :(

Jill happy to be out hiking in the natural, smog-free world again :)

J & D, mushing in the snow, about to embark on our descent off the ridge

Wringing out the soaked-through socks and shoes...but it was well worth the effort to be back in the hills again!

Zoom in and check out the thickness of that roof! This looked like a great restaurant...but had zero, zilch, nada for vegetarians...oh, well.

Very tall, modern Catholic church, of which Dawn said the interior didn't take advantage of the height. Oh, well, still an impressive ship-like prow, especially from a distance!

Quick-spray graffiti, even in Szczyrk!

Java Kava. Kava is coffee po Polsku. Jacek, the co-owner of the place spoke with us awhile about this and other business ops he's handled-he's also the GM of a big hotel in Krakow, of where Dawn and Lisa will stay at during the Krakow half marathon. It was a really nice building with some massive, custom windows. He said labor is still dirt cheap in southern Poland, so the expenses weren't so bad. Surely to be a little goldmine-as every tourist who saw it came in, and all their beverages and food were great! Good luck, Jacek!

Yum! Good coffee, big comfy seats and American sized cups, too! A great way to relax on our long holiday weekend

Random Stuff!

Howdy! Spring has sprung and what follows is some semi-random pics from the last 2 months or so. Enjoy!

Trivia Night! We spent a fun evening in the ASW gymnasium at a combo dinner/trivia game night that benefitted the tsunami victims. We were team PU...which stands for Pilsner Urquell...and we kinda stank in comparison to a lot of the brainiac groups :)

There were 6 topics, and 9 questions per subject. The caterers definitely fueled the sugar high that night (see plate)

Team PU, enjoying their mascot, and sitting out the 'winning' round, but we won the award for having the most team spirit! (and won some nice Polish pottery for it! Cool!)

More guests! This is Martin and Aza. Martin is my urban climbing partner from Hamburg (home of the exploding frogs!) and Aza's his faithful dog with the straightest and tallest ears ever!

Kinda cool, kinda creepy. Not sure about the history for this massive monument over in Praga, the un-bombed city across the river from Warsaw

Jill gettin' deep with Simon about life in Japan (one of Jill's previous overseas (otherseas?!) adventures) (Her haircut's still lookin' great :)

Simon and Julie at the Cork Irish pub. Julie met Simon, who's from the UK, at a school conference (in Italy?) last Fall. They've been going strong ever since, and she's making the big move to England next year to teach French and Spanish there instead of here. We'll miss you Julie, but we'll surely visit! :)

Riding 'round Warsaw! Warsaw's amazingly (and sadly) flat, and they are slowly building more and more bike trails. One sunny weekend in early April we got out to enjoy an urban ride. Hopefully they'll keep adding new bike paths, as the drivers aren't the nicest when you're out on the road!

George and Agnieszka, our former neighbors...George just moved to a much nicer flat at a much better cost, with much help from his Polish speaking girlfriend!

Pan Adam, his baby and Ralph, all out enjoying a pint at Klub Lolek, a Flintstone's-esque bar in the middle of a large park in the city

not your average war memorial...on the north side of the city. The 'bars' on the ground are the names of numerous Poles from this part of the city who died in WWII