March 15

Not a lot of exciting news from the past few weeks, but I do have some interesting observations.  The warmest days I've had so far in Poland was the day I arrived (January 31) and the day I got back from Florida (60s!).  Hopefully it will continue to get warmer so Dagmara and I can get out and about more. 

Here's a few observations I've made about Poland thus far: gas costs about $6/gallon, fast food restaurants are much nicer than in the US—I'd even go as far as saying fancy.  I stopped at a KFC a few weeks ago, and the women working there are apparently required to wear skirts.  People dress up to go to Pizza Hut.  There are a lot of small parks in the city where older people push around their grandchildren in strollers during the daytime, or just sit on the park benches looking at nothing in particular.  People wear wedding rings on their RIGHT hand, I rarely see minorities, but once I did see three black people in the same day—highly unusual.  There is also a small Vietnamese population, apparently immigrants from Poland's communist era.  I met one of our neighbors in the apartment building—she's an old woman that tries to teach me some Polish every time I see her.

As far as news for me, I just got back from my film school interview in Tallahassee.  It went okay and I'll find out if I get in by mid-April.  The competition is really stiff, something like 600 applicants for 24 spots, so we'll see what happens.  It felt good to be able to wear a t-shirt outside again.  The weather was perfect, the FSU campus is beautiful, and the city has a nice southern feel to it, unlike Miami, which had more of a Latin vibe.  People were very nice in general, so it was a fun time.  I got the chance to see the set of one of the student's thesis film.  It was pretty cool to watch.  

Lake Geneva

The trip there was okay, I got to fly over the heart of the Alps and see Lake Geneva from the air, which was beautiful.  The trip back to Poland was a little brutal—it took 1.5 days, with 4 flights, 2 taxi rides, and 1 train ride.  My first flight was a bit counter-intuitive, as it took me to Fort Lauderdale, much farther away from Newark (my next airport) than Tallahassee. On my final flight (Frankfurt to Warsaw), the woman sitting next to me woke me up because I was snoring too loud.  Whoops.

Working with the preschool kids has continued to be fun—one of them gives me a small memento (a little piece of garbage) every day before I leave.  My work permit should be finished shortly, so I should be starting teaching in the afternoons/evenings by next week, so that will good.  I plan on studying Polish in earnest now that I don't have to worry about preparing for my interview anymore. 

Dagmara at the Lodz Film School

Dagmara and I have done a little sight seeing in the past few weeks.  There is a famous film school in Łódź that Roman Polanski (directed the Pianist) attended.  The facilities aren't as nice as FSU's, but they seem to be pretty good.  We also went to some live music at a rock n roll bar called the Lizard King on the famous Piotrkowska Street.  Dagmara gave me a tour of her art school a few weeks ago as well.  We're hoping to go to the south of Poland in the near future and check out the Tatra mountains, check out the capital city of Warsaw, and visit the historical city of Krakow.

That's about it for now, more to come later.