Thousands and thousands of suitcases and baskets, filled with dreams of new lives in new places...
Acadia National Park 2018
8 years ago
Friday, November 04, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
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...
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...
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
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!
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!
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
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!
Monday, September 19, 2005
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!
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!
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
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
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
Thursday, August 04, 2005
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!
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!
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