January 23rd (whoops!)

January 23, 2012

4 months later….

I'm going to split up my next blog into 2 parts because of my laziness/procrastination and missing a huge gap of time.  The first section is about the happenings in Poland:

At the end of September, I found a new job to complement my other job and maximize my hours.  I started at the end of October, and 3 months in it has been going pretty well.  I have 3 classes that are "mine", as in I keep track of their grades, progress, etc.  Then I teach most of my hours with other teachers' classes doing conversation, which is quite easy and enjoyable if I have upper level students.  I learn a lot about Poland from my students, so it's beneficial for everyone.  The biggest downfall of my new school is I have to work Saturdays L However, my first class is the highest level of English, and we usually end up talking for the first 2 hours of the 4 hour class.  The other school I work in is mostly morning hours, and continues to go well.

Apart from work, I have finally found a group of friends to hang out with in Poland.  In August, I met a bunch of Americans/other English speakers through my colleague Wojtek.  Lodz has an international medical school taught in English, and all of these guys attend.  When it was warmer, we played a little football on the weekends, but we still get together Sundays to watch football games and do other manly things.  Wojciech knows a club owner, so on Saturday nights when Dagmara and I go out, we can get VIP treatment, which is pretty cool.  For Thanksgiving, we had a big dinner get-together with 2 huge turkeys and over 20 people.  Two of my friends (both Pakistani) grew up in Norway and have family there, so I've been invited to go back with them sometime.  I'm hoping I'll also have a chance to meet up with long lost relatives while there.

Halloween at Layali

Dagmara has been busy with school stuff, apartment stuff with carpenters/designers (our new apartment had to be turned from bare concrete to a sleek, stylin' pad), a trip to Morrocco to crown the next Queen of Poland, and the occasional modeling job.  In October, Dagmara and I went to the mountains again to see the fall colors.  We arrived a little late, as there was already a good amount of snow in the mountain trails.  We took a gondola up to one peak, and ended up sliding down on our butts.  The next day, we took a detour home and went over the border to Slovakia.  The landscape was the same as the Polish side of the Tatras, but the architecture/towns were a bit different.  There was some speaker system set up from the Communist times in this village we drove through.  Every 100 meters, there was a speaker playing old music.  It still seems weird/surreal for me to just drive across the border of Poland and Slovakia, no checkpoint, and come back "home" a few hours later.

Enjoying the late October snow

Excessive border control

Every road in Slovakia looks exactly like this

So much greener than the Polish side of the mountains

Other than work, a little traveling, and friends, I have been slowly studying Polish, doing some writing, applying to graduate schools for next fall, growing a mustache in November for Movember, meeting Polish politicians, Tori Amos concert in Warsaw, and teaching Dagmara how to carve pumpkins for Halloween.

Palace of Culture, Warsaw

Tori Amos concert--amazing musicians on the stage

Part 2: My Polish "Cultural Learnings" a la Borat

As I write this section, I realize that it will be subject to change as I learn more about Poland and my general opinions evolve.  I feel like I know a lot about Polish culture and what the people are like because my job is to interact and converse with students of all ages, but more likely than not, I know next to nothing.  This section will be in list format.

#1.) Almost 100% of the time, women clean the bathrooms in Poland.  They do not care if you are in there or not.  Standing at a urinal doing your thing?  No problem, they'll just clean the one next to you.  Sitting on the throne away from home with no more TP?  They got you covered.

2.) Drivers always speed (except near marked traffic radar cameras), as well as flash brights and tailgate your car to pass you

3.) No one uses dryers, only drying racks

4.) I'm pretty sure A/C does not exist in 99.9% of residences (not that it's needed)

5.) There are a million kinds of vodkas, which is not really my thing so I can't tell you if it's good or not, but apparently there are some good ones.

6.) Their beer is an acquired taste.  After being back home for 3 weeks, I was only reminded of what I'm missing over here…

7.) Parking tickets in Poland are more expensive than in Miami.  FACT!!

8.) Polish people love tea, coffee is significantly less popular.

9.) Most of the time, light switches are on the OUTSIDE of the room, making it real easy to turn off the light on someone using the bathroom when seeking revenge.

10.) Tipping is 10%, but leaving nothing is also common

11.) Parking lots are built for small-sized cars and I drive a station wagon.  My mom's truck would be impossible to drive in many parking lots

12.) Wedding bands are worn on the right hand, and women's bands usually have no stone

13.) Polish students are among the best in the world…at cheating on tests (self-reported by many of my students).  Someone who does not cheat can be made fun of.

14.) The education system is quite different from the US: the students do not have to attend high school, which starts at age 16.  To get into high school, you have to take a test.  Many high schools are specialized, so students specialize at a younger age.  High school is only 3 years, and you finish at 19.  Then University is 5 years, and is free if you scored well on the Polish version of the SAT/ACT, but this test is also specialized, ie you can take a science test, or math, or whichever subject you would like to go to school for.

15.) Poles eat sandwiches for breakfast

16.) GoŁabki, pierogi, ham sandwiches, and Cookie Crisp are my meat and potatoes in Poland

More cultural learnings to come later…

Ibiza (Finally!!)

Wow!  So a looong delay since my last entry, but I'll do my best to recall the majestic events of the trip to Ibiza that Dagmara won as part of her prize for winning the Queen of Poland beauty pageant.  We flew out of Warsaw on the 9^th and arrived in the afternoon to a round of applause from all the Polish passengers.  Apparently the pilots did a good job not crashing….either that or everyone on the plane was half in the bag by that point, pregaming for a week-long party.

(A quick background on Ibiza might clear a few things up for those of you unfamiliar with the island: it is considered to be the party capital of Europe.  It's a sort of coming of age journey for many Europeans, especially Brits.  The island is known for its drugs and clubs, which is sad because most people who visit never see all the beautiful things the island has to offer.)

View of Platja d'en Bossa from our hotel Syrenis Goleta

Dagmara and I took a little different approach to the week, and probably had a better time than most.  I was pretty excited when we arrived at our all-inclusive 4 star hotel.  It wasn't perfect, but it was way better than most hotels I've stayed in.  The view was pretty nice, the food was good (I gained around 8 pounds I think), and the drinks were free.  The hotel was located on Platja d'en Bossa, which is probably definitely the ugliest beach on the entire island by far….needless to say, Dagmara and I were beginning to question our vacation destination choice as we walked along the beach that first night, exploring our surroundings. 

Platja d'en Bossa

Ibiza is home to some of the biggest and most famous clubs in the world: Space, Pacha, Eden, Privilege, and Amnesia to name a few.  I mentioned before that a lot of young Brits vacation here, but being a Spanish island, there are at least as many Spaniards, which meant I got a chance to practice my Spanish again, a welcome change to always taking a backseat to Dagmara in public interactions in Poland J.  Of course as soon as they hear my accent most people begin to speak English, but an easy way around that is to pretend you don't speak English, which was pretty easy being with a Polish girl.

Pacha

Our first full day we just took it easy, relaxing and enjoying the resort.  The 2^nd full day, we did more of the same, until the evening when we went to our first and only club.  David Guetta, the techno/house music superstar, has a show (Hug* Me, I'm Famous!) every Thursday at the club Pacha.  Entrance was ridiculously expensive, but we're both fans of his music, so we decided to go.  We showed up at 11pm to make sure we would get tickets.  The atmosphere was crazy, the club interior was like nothing I'd ever seen. The music was not that great, however. After a few hours, the place was packed, shoulder to shoulder, impossible to even get into the main room of the club where the DJs were performing (they had big video screens in each room of the DJs).  There are always a few DJs that play before the main guy comes on, but we did not anticipate that David Guetta would wait until 4 AM to start spinning.  His music was so much better than the guys before him, but at that point Dagmara and I were pretty exhausted.  We stayed for half an hour and called it a night.  I think I understand now why so many people do drugs in those clubs—for us drug-free folk (besides alcohol), it is impossible to dance past 4:30 am, and the fun starts to disappear after 2:30 anyways.  I believe the club closed at 7am, maybe I'm getting old, but there's no way I could have made it that long.

The next day, we took it easy and slept in, of course.  In the evening, we went to a quiet bar and played a little pool and called it a night because we were about to make the best decision of the trip early the next morning: renting a car. 

Now, there is public transportation in Ibiza, but it only has regular service to the so-called tourist hot spots and clubs.  With a car, you can get to the best, most secluded beaches and cliffs.  Our first destination was the Saturday morning Hippy Market.  A quick note about renting cars in Europe: they are all manuals.  I had driven a manual before, but it was probably 7 years ago in Webster (ie no traffic, hills, or stoplights) when Matt let me try his manual out for fun.  I was a bit nervous, because Ibiza has all of the aforementioned things, including numerous roundabouts.  I was told that one of the biggest tests to driving a manual is on a steep uphill where you balance the clutch and the gas to keep the car still.  I basically was forced to do this for one hour in terrible traffic on the way to the Market.  Ironically the only place I killed it was at a traffic light on flat ground with no traffic. 

Cala San Vicente

The Market was interesting, but expensive.  I only purchased a sweet pair of earrings, but Dagmara got a lot of cool stuff, including a leather/alligator purse.  After the market, we just drove.  We stumbled upon the most beautiful beach I've ever seen, Cala San Vicente.  It appeared between the trees as twisted and turned on a very fun and dangerous road on the rocky coast of the island, bright blue and turquoise.  We decided to keep driving and come back another day.  We had heard that another beach, Portinatx, was supposed to be really beautiful.  It was nice, but not as good as San Vicente.  Being fairly remote and inaccessible, Portinatx is more of a family resort area.  That being said, the beach was borderline nude with middle-aged people, which left Dagmara and I a bit uncomfortable.

Port de Sant Miquel

2 star-crossed lovers

Our last planned stop of the day was Port de Sant Miquel, where we hoped to see their famous caves.  We arrived maybe 20 minutes too late, the last tour of the day had just left.  The trip wasn't a complete waste, however.  The caves are located at the top of a cliff overlooking a beautiful bay.  We ended the day going for dinner in Sant Antoni, one of the bigger cities on the island, opposite Ibiza Town.

The next day we got an even earlier start (11am) and took the car towards what people had been telling us was the best beach on the island: Cala d'Hort.  We never quite made it there, but we did make it somewhere better—Torre del Pirata (The Pirate's Tower).  The southern coast of Ibiza offers beautiful views, and we couldn't resist the temptation to hike to Torre del Pirata, which overlooks the beautiful small mountain island of Es Vedra.  The hike wasn't the easiest, especially with sandals, but we made it.  The view was amazing.  We could see half the island, including Cala d'Hort, which didn't look as impressive as San Vicente.  You get the best view of Es Vedra and below, you can see the rock that was carved to make the tower, along with water so clear you can see the shadows of the yachts on the ocean floor.  If you ever make it to Ibiza, take the time to go to Torre del Pirata.

Dagusia with Es Vedra in the background, on top of Torre del Pirata

View from Torre del Pirata

After that, we went to San Vicente to relax on the beach for a while, then toured the northwestern coast of the island, a largely ignored area due to its remoteness (by this point I was a pro at the manual).  We basically had no clue where we were going, so I can't tell you the names of the beaches/cliffs we saw, but it was very beautiful.  We also got a good look at the interior of the island, which is full of olive and grape plantations.

That night, we had heard about a free rock concert from one of the locals, so we went to check it out.  The band was "Barón Rojo", or Red Baron, one of Spain's biggest rock bands from the 80s.  It was pretty fun.  They were selling lots of beer and a little food during the concert, which took place inside a school playground.  The most interesting part of the evening was a young mother with her THREE YEAR OLD son.  She was breastfeeding him in the middle of the crowd while simultaneously rocking out to the music.

Sunset at Cafe Del Mar

View from Ibiza Fort

The next day we went to an okay beach close to our hotel, Ses Salines.  It was veeeeery crowded and extremely hot.  That evening we drove to Sant Antoni to catch the sunset made famous by the painter José Padilla at the Café Del Mar Restaurant.  It was beautiful but definitely not romantic as there were several thousand tourists packed into a very tiny area.  Highly overrated experience.  After the sunset, we finally toured the historical Ibiza town.  There is a castle/fort located on the bay, so we decided to climb it.  The view at night was incredible, but the climb up was also long and cobblestoned. 

After we got back to the car and were driving home, we witnessed another awesome spectacle.  The streets of the island are very narrow and include a lot of one ways.  We were on one such one way and had to wait for some idiot to parallel park in a space that was half the size of his car.  His approach was as good as any for a 6 foot space.  His rear bumper gently hit the bumper of the rear car already parked, and he apparently realized that he wasn't going to fit.  He moved a little forward and I thought the ordeal was over, then he went backwards even faster and hit the car harder.  Still not realizing he was hitting the car, he proceeded to try and push the car backwards, really putting on the gas.  That didn't work, so he went forward again.  Then he went back and rammed the car one last time, moving the car backwards maybe half a foot.  After hearing the crunch of the car, I think he finally figured out that he just wasn't going to fit.

And that was our last night in Ibiza.  Overall, a fun trip, but if you ever go, I definitely recommend renting a car, because the best places on the island are hard to get to.  Also, pace yourself.  Half the passengers on our plane back to Poland looked pretty hung over…

Miami 2011

August 7, 2011

Miami

Chomper

After a grueling but awesome trip to Tampa and Orlando, we arrived back in Miami.  Over the next few days, Dagmara and I met up with some of my friends from my days at Bubba Gump.  It was good to see them again.  The night we hung out with my friend Pino, Dagmara spotted a scrappy looking kitty wandering the streets.  We tried to lure it out of its hiding place, but to no avail, so I bought some bbq chicken wings to coax him out.  It did the trick immediately.  The little sucker was voracious.  Dagmara held him while we drove home.  While feeding him delicious chicken wings, he kept biting Dagmara's bbq sauce-flavored fingers, prompting his name, Chomper.  It was a sad day when we had to give Chomper to an animal shelter before we left.  I might have shed a few tears if it weren't for the fact that he peed on our bed. 

We also had the chance to party with Nestor's family Venezuelan style at the house.  This included loud music, karaoke (mostly Nestor singing), dancing, lots of food, and Mariachis (which are Mexican, but it was still awesome).  I must admit, Nestor cooked the best South American food that I've ever had the pleasure of eating.  Fun fact: every night we partied in the house with karaoke and mariachis, the police showed up, so one night we invited them in and had the mariachis sing a love song for them and plenty of pictures were taken (unfortunately not by me).  So we could get around by ourselves, Beata rented Dagmara and I a red Ford Mustang convertible for the 2 weeks we were back in Miami.  It was awesome and made me realize that I definitely need to save up money and buy a convertible one day.  One day…

the Stang

Already these 2 are far superior dancers than I

Dagmara and Grandma

On the 19^th, my mom flew down for the week.  It was a lot of fun having her.  She got to party with Nestor's family as well.  My mom, Dagmara, and I took a few road trips to the beach, and went down the Florida Keys to Islamorada one day.  It was hot.  I got sunburned just in the car.  The beach was even hotter.  And so we went into the water to cool off.  And the water provided no relief.  The views were pretty nice though, and it was so shallow that we could wade out like 100 meters from the shore.  We probably could have gone even farther, but I-err, everyone else was afraid of sharks.

After a few more days flew past, before I knew it, my golden birthday had arrived.  Unfortunately my mom had to leave that evening (the 26^th), but we still enjoyed it.  We started the day off at the beach, then came back to the house for some ice cream cake and some of the finest scotch money can buy.  As an afterthought, ice cream cake and scotch don't go together nearly as well as beer and normal cake (which I enjoyed later that evening.  Thanks Jake!).  After a few pieces of cake, I brought my mom to the airport and we said our goodbyes.  That evening Dagmara and I went out to Mike's, a hidden gem of an Irish bar.  We met my friends there for some drinks and games of pool.  Fittingly for the birthday boy, I was on fire and only lost a few games to Dagmara ;)   We got back pretty late, but it was one of my more memorable birthdays.  It was really good to see all of my best friends from the MIA. 

Me, Dagusia, Pino

Jake, Dagmara, me, Dee

Coincidentally, the 27^th was Nestor's birthday, so we gathered ourselves up for one more party.  The party was at a Venezuelan bar near the house.  There was a ton of food, free drinks, a crazy elaborate cake, loud music, a piñata, a latin band, some strange clown on stilts that blew that canned party foam stuff all over the cake so it had to be cleaned and finally, Mariachis.  Oh yeah, and a 300 pound belligerent idiot that had to be thrown out and picked up by the cops.  It was excellent entertainment all around.

And just like that, the trip was over.  Dagmara and I went to say goodbye to my friends on our last night, then started packing.  The trip home went smoothly enough.  We even had a laugh at the smoker's glass cage in the Frankfurt airport.  Finally we all made it safe and sound to home sweet Poland.  Thanks for an amazing time to Dagmara and her family, and thanks to my mom for coming down to see me in Miami!!  And of course, thank you to my friends who took time out of their busy schedules to see me!

Next stop: Ibiza, Spain.  Party capital of the world.  Plane leaves on Tuesday!

Orlando and Tampa

August 3, 2011

Orlando and Tampa

The Backyard

On July 9, I got to return to the motherland and visit the city of Miami for 3 weeks, probably the longest vacation that I've actually labeled "vacation" since I graduated from college.  It was quite awesome.  Dagmara, Babcia (her grandma) and I met her mom (Beata), Oscar, and Nestor (Beata's boyfriend) at the airport and rode on to Dagmara's mom's 2nd house in the burbs of Miami.  The house is awesome, complete with a pool, bbq pavilion of sorts, and an imported backyard jungle.  Honestly, I probably would have been satisfied if we never even left the house.  But we did.  And it was legend…wait for it…dary!

After a few days of relaxation and changing my pale body to a light beige, we took off for Orlando.  You might hate me for saying this, but the trip was actually quite tiring and…Disneyland just isn’t the same as it was when I was a child.  Actually, it might have been had it not been for the 10 parades that halted all foot traffic, singing about some sort of celebration that we were all supposed to be having in the 95 degree heat and 100% humidity, using only slightly different rhythms and lyrics each time.  I'm very curious to know how many college students and foreigners from 3^rd world countries working for Disney that die each summer from heat exhaustion wearing those excessively warm costumes…sarcasm aside, it was a fun experience, but I do recommend that young adults with no kids go to Universal instead of Disney, especially if you like thrill rides and don't have a lot of money.

The poor guy that had to wear that beast
costume obviously had no idea what he
was signing up for

Mickey and Minnie

We stayed in Orlando/Tampa for 5 days, so we did it all.  Universal was up after Disney, and I was super excited.  The rides at Universal are incredible.  Not only do you get an adrenaline rush from the rides, but the visual details are very simply amazing.  I do have to admit that in my ripe old age, I discovered that I had contracted the tendency to get motion sickness.  Alas, I didn't bring any Dramamine (a mistake I would not make twice!) and by the end of the day, I was feeling a little sick.  A quick list of my favorites: the Hulk roller coaster, Spiderman (incredible visuals!), Harry Potter (feels like you're flying!), almost threw up on the Simpsons, the Mummy was good, and the Rock and Roller coaster (something like that) was great.  For those planning a trip to Universal, FYI, buy a fastpass, definitely worth it.

Classic

Hogwarts Castle

Village from Harry Potter.  I was quite disappointed
that the snow wasn't real :(

The next day, everyone was exhausted, 2 full days walking and standing in line in the heat and humidity wears on you.  So we drove to Tampa/Clearwater to the beach and cooled off in the ocean…which actually wasn't even remotely lukecold.  Cool enough I guess, it just felt nice not to be on my feet.

Our last theme park day was arguably the best.  At least for me.  We went to Busch Gardens in Tampa.  No, the visuals aren't as impressive as Disney and Universal, but the thrills are better.  They also have a plethora of exotic wildlife.  The roller coasters were awesome.  My favorite was the Cheetah—it was easily the smoothest, thrillgiving coaster I've been on.  You seem to glide through the air so easily, yet still get plenty of butterflies.  Dagmara's favorite was also good…I think I blacked out on it a few times.  Something called the Mummy or Egypt coaster, I can't quite remember, my mind was a bit foggy.  Thankfully I had loaded my bloodstream with Dramamine before the park and I only threw up a little bit after the 25^th coaster ride.  By the time the day was over we were all ready to go home, happy but ready to just lay down in one place and not move for a very long time.  Awesome trip, thank you Beata, Nestor, and Dagmara.

 

the blackout ride

(belated) June 25

June 25

Warsaw

The day spent in Warsaw was amazing.  For a quick background on the city, it is the capital of Poland, the largest city in Poland, and the most modern that I've seen so far.  The Nazis destroyed 85 percent of the city during WWII, so many amazing things were lost, but they've done an incredible job rebuilding and restoring it to its pre-war state.  I'm not sure what the names are of a lot of things I saw, but I'll do my best.

We started the day at Lazienki Park, a park created a few hundred years ago by the then king of Poland.  There's a beautiful palace situated between two ponds that we got to tour.  They make you put "slippers" over your shoes so as not to damage/mark up the floor.  At the end of the tour, I almost killed myself going down the stairs when my feet slipped out from under me.  Other than a bruise to my ego, I was unharmed.  Next up was the city center built inside the remains of a castle.  The center was beautiful with unique architecture, statues, churches, and tons of people.  A statue of a mermaid warrior is supposed to have special significance for Warsaw.  We spent hours looking for it, and we're still convinced we hadn't found it until after we got home and looked for photos of it on the internet.  What we had thought was much too small to be the mermaid statue about 5 feet tall), was in fact the mermaid statue.  The city of Warsaw was very impressive, especially considering it was almost completely destroyed.  I like Krakow more, but Warsaw is definitely worth visiting.  The architecture is very impressive and the area is definitely tourist friendly.

The worst part of the trip was the drive to and from Warsaw.  Somehow, the best/only direct route to Warsaw from Lodz, two very large cities about 70ish miles apart, is a two lane highway/road passing through small villages.  Kind of pretty but very slow going, lots of construction, and very stupid planning.  The civil engineers in Poland either lacked funding or foresight (probably the former), but that is what happens when your country is ran by communists for decades.  Stupid Russia…

Lazienki Palace

Stupid shoe covers that made me slip...

Lazienki Palace

Part of the castle that wasn't destroyed

Mermaid Warrior statue

Tallest building in Poland: The Palace of Culture...
built by the stupid Russians