February 22

2/22/11

Well, about 3 weeks have gone by and I'm still alive.  I've been adjusting to my surroundings pretty well, getting the lay of the land, seeing some sights, but mostly focusing on getting a job.  Employers have been stubborn, but I knew it wouldn't be long before my American charm won them over.  The job offers are starting to roll in.  I've been teaching little children (2-5 years) English for ½ an hour a day, 5 days a week for about 2 weeks now.  Unfortunately, my commute is about an hour roundtrip, sooooo….  On the bright side, the kids and I get along very well, except when they decide to dogpile on me all at once, or bite me like one did today.  In all fairness, it was a good-natured bite.  It's basically all fun and games and songs, so it’s a nice change of pace from the complaining, why are we doing this, I want to do that, etc. etc. "working professionals" I had been teaching in Miami.  The kids and I exchange a lot of fist bumps and high fives, so I can't complain.  As for the "real" work situation, I aced a "trial lesson" last night where the school observed me teaching a class for an hour.  It was actually much easier than my last teaching job because every activity is scripted.  The good side of this is that I have virtually no preparation to do, the bad side, I don't have the freedom I did at the school in Miami.  I should start work at this school in the next few weeks.  Another school wants to hire me as well, and I have a meeting set up for sometime next week.  So the employment end is all coming together.

Evil Trolley Car

My driving skills have required a degree of adaptation.  For example, when driving I always keep my head on a swivel for the city of Łódź's many cable/trolley cars--I've seen several cars get hit by these things, as they travel on the road just as a car does.  I would describe the trolley system like this: a spider web of cables that run above the city's streets, except there is no symmetry whatsoever so it looks pretty tacky.  ALWAYS give the trolley the right-of-way.  ALWAYS.  I've also learned that if you want to pass someone, you need to tailgate them veeery closely, honk your horn, and flash your lights repeatedly.  At first I took this personally, but I've discovered that it is a cultural phenomenon and not just isolated incidents.  Also, the speed limit signs in Poland are outdated, but a simple rule of thumb will let you know the speed to drive: whatever the sign says + 40 km/hour.  As for parking, if you can't find an open space, just drive up on the sidewalk (as long as the curb isn't higher than a foot).  Another thing to note is the drivers' lack of concern for pedestrians.  Example: when visiting Dagmara's family in Katowice, we went on a walk with her little brother Oscar to a nearby wooded area.  The road we walked on was residential, and the few cars that went by sped past at around 50, not bothering to give us any extra space.

The gates to the cemetery

Cemetery wall

As far as sights I've seen, the only one of significance is the Jewish Cemetery near my apartment.  We went about 2 weeks ago.  It was one of the most fascinating, powerful, emotional places I've seen.  Officially, it is the biggest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and most of it is in the woods.  Not all of the graves are from WWII, but many are.  To maintain respect, photos are not allowed inside the cemetery, so I'll do my best to describe it: the entire cemetery is walled in.  The main/old part of the cemetery is a forest with tall trees that let little light in.  Picture a horror movie cemetery, old gray stone with moss growing everywhere.  Some of the graves were massive shrines, almost temples.  The cemetery is gridded out into "streets" because of its size.  The forest ends abruptly about 400 meters from the wall, where the "killing field" begins.  Here are the markers for the many thousands of Jews who died from starvation, murder, or disease in the Łódź ghetto.  What really got me were the dates on some of the crosses or gravestones—many were just children.  As we headed to the exit, we walked along the edge of the cemetery and read some of the dedications engraved into the wall.  It's one thing to read about the holocaust in books or on the internet, or learn about it in school, but seeing something concrete, tangible— 

I plan on going to Auschwitz at some point while I'm here, and that will be even more difficult to see I'm sure.

I can't make any final judgments as I've only been in Poland a few weeks, but Poland doesn't seem to have a "Midwest nice" vibe (which can be good and bad) with strangers, but I did get help from a guy in the parking lot when my car didn't start.  On the flip side, if you're a guest, family, or friend, the Polish treat you right.  Last weekend I went to a party at Dagmara's uncle's house, and the hospitality was unbelievable.  Unfortunately no one spoke English, but I still had fun.  So far every weekend we've spent in Katowice, and I've gotten to know her mom and little brother Oscar (he's 5) pretty well.  I spend most of my time playing games with Oscar.  Since Dagmara's grandma lives 30 feet away, I've met her a few times, but we can't really communicate.  Her dog had puppies recently, so Dagmara and I are considering taking one in….we'll see, we want to do a lot of traveling, so a dog might be difficult to take care of. 

In the coming weeks, I hope to get outside and take a lot more pictures, so stay posted and thanks for reading!!

One week in the books

A shade over a week into my trip to Poland and I'm ready to go home!!  Just kidding.  But here's a quick summary of my journey thus far.  The flight over here wasn't too bad,  I flew LOT Polish Airlines, with an overnight haul from Chicago to Warsaw (Var-shaw-vuh in Polish).  I have to admit the airplane interior/features were a bit dated, but the food portions were very generous.  After a nice 2 hour slumber, I woke up just in time to see Denmark (I mistook it for Ireland at first) below.  On the descent to Katowice (cat-oh-veetz-uh), the 3^rd largest city in Poland where Dagmara's mom lives, the scenery below was very similar to that of southern MN near Gustavus: lots of fields with some woods here and there.

Denmark at sunrise

Woods near Katowice on my descent

The airport security in Poland was very easy to get through, as I did not even have to go through customs or fill out a form on the plane before we landed.  Oh, PS on the plane I met the girlfriend of former WI Badgers bball player Trevon Hughes.  She was on the way to watch him play in Lithuania.  Fun fact if you're a badger fan.

Dagmara's mother's house

Backyard view

Grandma's house

Dagmara's house in Katowice is beautiful.  The city kind of blends into a farm landscape on the outskirts, so there are a lot of fields around her neighborhood.  I even spotted a couple pheasantesque creatures.  Her grandma's house is on the same property, about 30 feet away.  The landscaping is cute (feel strange using that adjective), there's a pool, and a little playground for her little bro Oscar.  Sunday (the day I arrived) was the only day that it didn't rain/snow since I've been here.  While In Katowice, I got to try some Polish food: Kluski slaskie, Rolada (beef), Golabki (cabbage w/ meat and rice inside).

On Monday we hit the road for Lodz (sounds like "wootch", translates to mean "boat" though there is no lake) in Dagmara's mom's sleek, smooth-riding VW Passat Station wagon.  If you come to Poland, you will see that the station wagon is very much in style.  The silky ride of the Passat has been key, because roads here have a re-donkulous amount of potholes.  The roads are also much narrower, and the road signs are not always intuitive, and the drivers are slightly better than those of South America.  Also new: diesel car using kilometers per liter.

Kitchen area of the apartment

View from the window

The drive took about 3.5 hours and we arrived when it was dark, so I didn't really get to see the city till Tuesday.  I did notice a fair amount of garbage and graffiti in Dagmara's neighborhood (it IS safe, though!), however, and made the comment that it was a bit "ghetto."  Little did I know, her neighborhood literally WAS a Jewish ghetto during WWII.  There is a Jewish Cemetery/Mass grave memorial 2 blocks from her house that we are going to visit hopefully tomorrow.  There is a lot of sad but important history throughout Poland. 

Lodz is the second biggest city in Poland with close to a milli inhabitants.  The architecture of many buildings is older, which I find cool and Dagmara finds normal/not so cool ;)  There are no skyscrapers in Lodz.  I've seen a lot of interesting churches that I still need to take pictures of, so hopefully I'll have some up later.  They do have a few very modern/American-looking commercial areas.  Dagmara took me to a nice mall that was converted from a factory, giving it a really unique look.  There were colorful fountains, ice-skating in the central plaza, normal mall shopping, and traditional Polish restaurants such as KFC, Subway, and McDonalds. 

Some foods I've tried so far in Lodz are Bigos (a delicious soup of cabbage, shredded meat, kielbasa, and mushrooms) and pierogi (pasta-like ravioli) with cheese (more for dessert) and pierogi with meat and fried onions. 

Bigos and Polish Ham!

The past week I've spent a lot of time job hunting and visiting a lot of language schools, working my American charm on them.  I have a promising "tryout" teaching very small children for half an hour tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well, but I'll need to get a lot more hours from another school….we shall see.

Another fun fact about Poland: per Wikipedia, it is the LEAST diverse country in the world.  So everyone is white, but I have seen 2 black people and 1 Asian so far.  This is almost culture shock for me, because in Miami I was the minority being white.  In Miami, since I look white, people would speak English to me instead of Spanish.  In Poland, I look like everyone else, so they speak Polish to me.  The biggest culture shock issue I'm having is communication, which has taken away some of my independence so I have to rely on Dagmara at times if I want something.  The weather also is not the greatest—yes, it is much warmer than Wisconsin, but it rains or snows or both everyday, and it is just a mess outside.

Overall, I am having a great time, I love seeing new things and I learn something everyday.  I hope to keep this blog updated every week or two, so check back then!  Hope all is well with everyone back in the states.