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 

Adventure in the Polish Mountains

June 23

I am writing this from our hotel in Warsaw before a day full of sightseeing and magical adventure.  I figured before Dagmara and I set out on our Warsaw tour, I would fill you all in on the last few weeks.

Work has been going really well for me.  I've been at the school "Speak Up" for exactly a month now, and they still like me, so that's a good sign.  I work about 15 hours a week there, but hopefully it will be a little more soon as one of the British teachers is leaving in a week.  Classes are pretty easy to teach, very little preparation time, and generally I really enjoy my students.  Some of them are very intelligent people.  For example, one student does electrical engineering and programming for the GPS company TomTom, and another is either finishing a thesis or a patent on some algorithm for eye-scan identification, kind of like they had in the movie "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise. 

Now that I am legal to work in private language schools, I've been getting flooded with job offers, but the hours and pay are the same as where I'm at, so I'm still looking for some daytime hours to add to my evening work at Speak Up.  The preschool is going ok, I told them to cut me down to 3 days a week, as it's only for 30 minutes a day and I spend close to an hour commuting there and back.  The owner had promised that there would be more kids and more classes soon, but there hasn't been, so I have a feeling I will part ways with the school in a month or two if nothing changes.

As for adventures….Dagmara and I made a very exciting trip to the Polish mountains about two weeks ago.  We went to a beautiful mountain town called Zakopane in the Polish Tatra Mountains, determined to ascend to the highest peak in the country, Rysy (wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rysy), at 8,212 feet.  The mountain can be climbed from both the Polish side and the Slovakian side, as it is exactly on the border of the two countries.  However, the Polish side is much steeper and more difficult, something Dagmara and I underestimated.

After doing some sightseeing on Saturday afternoon/evening in the town, going up a gondola to a shorter mountain peak overlooking Zakopane, and buying some warmer clothes for the higher altitude, we hit the sack early.  Sunday morning, we set out from the parking lot in the national forest at 9:30am.  A website Dagmara read said it should take 10 hours to get to the peak and back, so we knew we were okay on time.  The trail for the first 2.5 hours is actually a blacktop road, which was kind of disappointing.   The road ends at a hostel/restaurant/grocery store on the glacial lake of Morskie Oko.  That’s where the real hiking begins.  The view from Morskie Oko (Marine Eye) was beautiful.  After another 1.5 hours, we made it up to the second glacial lake, Czarny Staw (Black Lake).  Planning ahead, we packed a lot of food and water, so we stopped here to rest and eat some.  Most people who hike in this Tatra park stop at Morskie, but of those that choose to continue, the vast majority stop at Czarny Staw.  We were already behind almost all people that were going to the peak of Rysy at this point, but based on our research, we still had plenty of time to get to the peak and back down.  Or so we thought…

The trail goes around the lake and then begins to rise very sharply on the far side of the lake.  Maybe 100 feet above the lake, the snow drifts begin.  After this, the trail really deteriorates, with loose rocks and no real steps.  After an hour or two of hiking, we met a group of people coming down who told us it was about two hours to the top from the point we were at.  No problem.  We hiked another hour, met a guy coming down.  He said another 2.5 hours, but he didn't make it to the top.  He said we could do it easy because we were young.  My confidence was high.  In all honesty, I wasn't too tired yet because the trail was so bad that it forced us to move very slowly.  It was a very tedious task, and probably more mentally draining than physically. 

The views were more and more amazing as we went up.  The two glacial lakes below us were beautiful, the pictures I took will not do them justice—my camera just couldn't capture the vivid blue-aqua color.  At about 3pm we met a middle-aged couple coming down from the top.  The woman was wearing sandals, so I felt encouraged that the way may even get easier.  They laughed when we said that this part of the trail was difficult.  It only gets harder, they responded.

We crossed a few more snow drifts and at 3:30 we rested for a while on a plateau to take in all the beauty.  We still had a ways to go, and we were running out of time.  At this point I started to have serious doubts.  We climbed another 20 minutes and reached something I wasn't prepared for: chains bolted into the mountain side to help with the ascent.  While helpful, there is a reason they had to put chains on the trail: it was too difficult to climb without them.  We went even more slowly and carefully now, getting our gloves soaked from the snowmelt as we climbed up.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared at times, there were some pretty hardcore maneuvers we had to pull to move around, under, and over the rocks.  Just before 5pm, we met a group of climbers descending.  They said we were very close to the top, but the way didn't get any easier.  We were probably an hour from the top by my guess, but we simply had to turn around, the daylight was running out.  So we took a few pictures, soaked in all the beauty, and prepared ourselves for the long trek back.

Going down, however, proved to be even more difficult than going up.  We were both tired at this point, having started the hike (actually, it became a "climb" once we reached the chains) at 9:30am.  It was already twilight when we reached Czarny Staw, and the sun was completely gone when we reached Morskie Oko (we did get to see a few mountain goats, though!  Too dark to get a picture L ) Thankfully, the trail was basically flat at Morskie Oko and the moon was very bright, so the danger of falling was zero.  As we walked in the moonlight, Dagmara mentioned that there were lots of bears near Morskie Oko.  This was a very comforting thought, especially since our only flashlight was a cellphone.  We regrouped at the Hostel, and prepared for the 2 hour walk to the car in the darkness.

About 20 minutes into the walk, we heard/saw something, but it turned out to be a deer.  After that, our nerves were on edge, so we talked very loudly to scare away potential bears.  After an hour of walking, we saw headlamps coming onto the road—we were saved from the darkness by another group of hikers!  It was much welcomed company for the last hour of the hike.  We were both so tired when we got to the car at 11:30 pm.  14 HOURS OF HIKING!!!!  Nearly 2 weeks later, I think we both are still a little sore from that brutal hike.  It was a great adventure, but next time I think we will take the Slovakian side.  (pictures to come soon!)

But now, the adventure is Warsaw!

June 3

About a month has gone by since my last entry, and I'm back in Poland again.  It's been a busy, packed month, with a wedding, a baptism, and work.  My trip back to the US unfortunately did not go smoothly.  I had to wake up at 3am Polish time (8pm Central), I forgot to pick up my carry on bag that they made me check at the airplane on my first flight from Poland to Germany, then I was detained in Toronto for an hour because I wanted to bring a Kinder Egg (chocolate egg with a toy inside) that I bought in the airport into the US.  At customs, they asked if I had any food, and I said, "not really, just this chocolate candy egg that I bought for my nephew in the airport."  Big mistake.  Don't make small talk with customs officers, ever.  They have no social skills at work and definitely have no sense of humor.  I learned my lesson--it's best to keep my mouth shut.  While being detained, the officials had to "process" my egg and do paperwork.  After the paperwork was finished they called me up and said that Kinder chocolate is illegal in the US and they had to destroy the egg in front of me.  I almost missed my flight from Toronto because of the ridiculous ordeal, and I actually yelled at the officers because I was super tired and not able to deal with the ridiculousness of the situation.  Luckily I didn't get in trouble for that.  So, I FINALLY got to Minneapolis at 4pm-ish, and was about to leave the airport, when I realized I left my stupid passport in my seatback on the plane.  I sprinted back and an airline employee was luckily able to go back on the plane and find it.  Wow.

The good news is that after this hellish plane trip, the rest of my time in the US was awesome.  That same day I got to meet my nephew Jase for the first time, which was awesome.  The cutest thing in the world is watching Mac talk to his little bro in his baby voice. 

Mac and Jase

I can't believe I let her drive!

While home, I was lucky enough to work at Passage and pay for most of my plane ticket.  I also got to see most of my friends and celebrate my friend Lisa's 25^th bday in Uptown Minneapolis.  On the 15^th, Dagmara arrived from Poland.  We went to the Mall of America, where surprisingly she didn't want to shop—rather, we went on rides the whole time as there aren’t really any rollercoasters in Poland.  Back in Webster, we rode horse with my mom.  Dagmara got to "steer" while I rode behind.  We also went on a boat ride, bike ride, and 4 wheeler ride.  On Friday, we headed up to Lutsen for Nick and Sarah's wedding.  It was beautiful on Friday, and we really enjoyed the bonfire by the lake.  Saturday was rainy, so the wedding was held indoors, but it turned out really nice.  The dance was a lot of fun too.  Immediately after the dance was finished, we drove the 3.5 hours in thick fog back to Webster, getting to bed around 4am.  We woke a few hours later to head down to Jase's baptism.  We couldn’t make the ceremony but we did make the brunch after.  It was fun watching Mac play and make his baby voice to Jase again, and it was good to see Matt and Micah again.

at the wedding

the happy couple gettin' down

Dagmara and I stayed with Uncle Rob and Aunt Nancy Sunday night, and Uncle Rob drove us to the airport the next morning for our long trip home.  Which reminds me, thanks to Uncle Rob, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Joyce, and John, and Lisa for all your hospitality!!!

Upon arriving in Poland this past Tuesday, we quick drove home in time for me to finally go to work in a language school.  I was just kind of thrown in to the classroom without preparation, but it all went well, and I've ended up working every weeknight so far.  Apparently my students have fallen victim to my American charm, because the school is giving me more hours due to rave reviews.  Hopefully the work situation continues to go well. 

This last week, it was Mother's Day in Poland, and I asked Dagmara's mom if she would like me to build a firepit for her backyard.  She was excited for the idea, so I went with Dagmara's cousin to the Polish version of Menards, got the necessary supplies, and we built a fine fire pit, then roasted delicious Polish kielbasa.  That's all my news for now, but I'm sure I'll have some good stuff to share in my next post…

May 1st

5/1/11

Poland's Easter traditions are a little different than those of the U.S., but they do have the Easter Bunny of course.  On Saturday, I colored eggs with Dagmara's family.  It was pretty fun, Dagmara and her brother were very competitive to see who could make the best one.  I, on the other hand, have long since accepted the fact that I have little artistic talent and made a red and blue Twins egg which was probably the best egg I've ever colored.  I'm not sure if American Catholics do this, but in Poland, Saturday is the day you bring your Easter basket to the church where the priest blesses everyone's food in a short 15 minute service.  Baskets typically have a few Easter eggs, some Polish sausage, and other small food items.  Sunday morning, we had a big breakfast (it seems that a typical Polish breakfast always has ham in it) of buffet style ham sandwiches.  Poland has a ridiculously wide variety of ham, most of which is very tasty.  That being said, I have yet to see a pig in this country.  After breakfast, we went to the church (we got there on time so I could sit down!!!).  The service seemed like a typical Easter service, though I couldn’t understand anything.

I was disappointed to learn that Poland does not have the tradition of hiding Easter baskets for children, so I took it upon myself to hide a basket for Oskar, Dagmara's 5 year old brother.  I made a couple clues, and Dagmara gave the first one to him, telling Oskar that a mysterious rabbit had given her this piece of paper.  His face was full of excitement and surprise. Oskar can't read yet, so it didn't matter that the clues were in English.  We read him the clue, and he went to work, quickly finding the next clues.  When he found his Easter basket at the end, he was disappointed that the actual Easter bunny was not there.  As a consolation prize, he got to eat a bunch of candy.  After a few vicious games of Uno, we went for a walk in the woods.  We saw a rabbit, and Oskar knew right away it was the Easter bunny.  Dagmara confirmed that it was the same rabbit that gave her the first clue.

Monday in Poland is also a holiday.  No work for anyone.  The name of the day pretty much translates as "Wet Monday."  All the kids and teenagers, even some adults, have water fights in the streets and neighborhoods.  Apparently the tradition started a long time ago when boys would throw water on girls they thought were attractive.  I'm not sure how well this worked for the boys on a romantic level, but it's changed over time to become an all-out water fight. 

Instead of water fights, Dagmara and I decided to go to Auschwitz, which is about an hour from her mom's house.  Not really a "fun" trip, but a very educational and historically important one.  The weather was gloomy, raining off and on, which fit the mood.  When driving to Auschwitz I, right before you arrive, there is a beautiful river to one side of the road with lush green trees on the banks, and to the other, a brick wall with barb wire.  There was far too many people touring the facility that day to really feel the impact of this terrible place emotionally, but it was still very powerful and scary.  To save time explaining exactly what Auschwitz is, here's the Wikipedia link to those interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp

Basically, Auschwitz is divided into two camps: the original camp (Auschwitz I) is the smaller one, the second, Birkenau, was built later by the Germans to accommodate more prisoners and build new gas chambers.  The camps are about a mile or two apart.  Auschwitz I has more artifacts and takes longer to tour, though it is much smaller.  The museum reveals a lot of horrible things that the Nazis left behind.  There are thousands of shoes from the victims, pots and pans, suitcases, eyeglasses, children's dolls, prosthetic limbs, deportation orders, and the worst thing for me, leftover human hair that the Nazis were using for the textile industry.  The famous sign at the entrance of the camp says "Arbeit macht frei ", which translates as "Work will make you free."  There are a million things I could say about the camp, but words can never do it justice.

On a more positive and lighter note, it was decided due to my projected work start at the end of May, that I will be coming home…tomorrow…for 3 weeks.  I'm pretty excited to meet my new nephew Jase, see family and friends again, and of course attend Nick and Sarah's wedding (friends of our family).  Hope to see some of you guys soon!

PS forgot my camera cord in Lodz, so no pictures for a while L

April 20

April 20, 2011

Wawel Castle

It's spring in Poland, and I've been making a big effort to get outside more and see the country.  A couple weeks ago Dagmara and I explored a huge park in Katowice—the park gets crazy busy on the weekends, especially now that it's warm.  We also went to the "cultural capital" of Poland, Krakow.  Krakow is a one of those lucky cities that was spared all the devastation during the two world wars, so a lot of its architecture is still intact.  We didn't have a ton of time in the city as we had a late start, but we made good use of our daylight hours.  There is a huge castle in Krakow called Wawel Castle overlooking the Vistula River.  We spent most of our time walking in and around it, taking lots of photos.  I busted out my 

Church inside castle

35mm film camera for the trip, but have yet to develop the pictures, hopefully they turn out well.  After the castle, we started to walk around the Old Town.  I immediately knew that this city was an international tourist destination because I was actually seeing people who weren't white—a rarity in Poland.  A quick fashion side note about the people I saw in Krakow—the warm weather brought out some interesting, quite daring styles, and also a lot of mullets.  Such things one does not see as often in the U.S.

Dagmara in castle courtyard

Cloth Mall

Krakow has countless historical churches and there is no way I can remember all of the names, but I did get a few pictures of them.  Main Market Square was beautiful.  It is home of the Cloth Mall (arguably the oldest mall in the world), the Town Hall Tower (which leans to one side like the one in Italy), the Basilica of the Virgin Mary, and numerous restaurants. 

Basilica

The next weekend, we went to a Polish rock concert.  The artists playing were Dzem (pronounced "gem") and Myslovitz (miss-low-veetz).  The former was more classic rock, the latter was alternative rock.  I couldn't understand the lyrics, but it was pretty fun.  The next day we explored a big forest near our apartment, but it was pretty cold so we didn't go far.

Last weekend, I had my first encounter with the Polish Catholic Church for Palm Sunday.  The church was very crowded, and since we got there late, we had to stand in the back (they had the doors open so some people could listen from outside too).  To be quite honest, it was pretty boring listening for 1.5 hours to something I couldn't understand, plus having to stand up for all of it.  This weekend I hope to arrive early so I can sit down.

Dagmara and I recently joined a fancy gym, and our first day there we went to an "advanced" group excerise with this swinging trapeze bar contraption hung up for each person.  I had been running, doing push-ups, sit-ups, etc. for over a month, so I figured it would be easy.  As I looked around the exercise studio, I noticed I was the only guy, which made me start to worry.  After about 15 minutes of stretching/twirling exercises, I realized my back would not last, but looking over at Dagmara, I just couldn't leave and risk her gloating over me for not finishing the class.  So I finished.  Approximately 10 days later I'm still paying for it.  What I learned from this experience is this: if there is an exercise class with only women in it, I should probably get out of there before it's too late. 

Kozak

My final piece of news is the new addition to my family: Kozak (pronounced "ko-zock"), our new cat we adopted from Dagmara's brother.  He is a very curious creature, and quite hyper at night, waking us up multiple times.  Time will tell if this kitty will have to be locked in the bathroom at bedtime.

Most of the pictures I've taken can be found on Snapfish: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=6940530014/a=106547587_106547587/

You may need to register, but it's free and it's a decent site for posting pictures.