FULFILLING MY HOROSCOPE

You could be overbooked and it's frustrating trying to be at your next appointment when you're not even finished with your last one. You might be tempted to just give up or delete your calendar and tasks from your computer, thinking you will do better without the external distractions. Even if you can't withdraw as much as you like, making time for yourself can help you cope with all that you must handle.

It's 4:34am and something has drastically changed in my life. At this time last year, I was working as a temp at Paychex, getting ready to change my life forever. I had taken my TEFL course and was just waiting for my first trip abroad. Now, I am about to go on my first vacation (okay, a mini-break) to the north of Poland. What is so special about this trip is that on my way home from Poland last June, I opened up the sky magazine and, unlike most people who open it, I picked out what I was going to see when I came back to Poland that following autumn. Gdansk.

So here I am, about to head out to a beautiful town, on the Baltic sea (I think...) and be alone and introspective (one of my most favorite hobbies!) and have a beer in an outside cafe and take pictures and walk and shop for gifts and buy an ice cream and walk and read and relax and take pictures and walk and see monuments and practice Polish and walk.

I can't wait.

MIP IS CREEPING

Got my pre-course assignment email from only one of my professors yesterday and I'm already having problems breathing. Half-hour presentation on some aspect of education (this really isn't much interest to me anymore) and I'm dreading it. Have to read a book, write a six page paper and read to the class for ten minutes (any topic, could even be something we ourselves have written). I recognize that this master's program is not strenuous by any means but it's weird in that we don't go to school for a year and then we take classes randomly, for two weeks, twice a year. For this, I think it sucks. I love learning and expanding my mind but sometimes, it's tiring - especially if I haven't done it in 4 months. So this break, and then being thrown back into it, isn't the best method for my learning. Yesterday, my father was asking me about whether or not I would be working if I decided to actually tackle my PhD (as I have been saying I will) and I answered that I would probably be working as a teacher's assistant. But after much thought today, I really don't know if teaching is right for me. I mean, I have awesome students that make it one of the best jobs I could imagine, but then the other classes, are just getting so unbearably boring that I don't think I can handle it. And then on top of it, I know I'm not doing my job to the best of my ability but I don't seem to want to change it - and I know that can't be a good sign. But what if I'm just lazy? What if working in the states is completely different? What if working in a college would be the perfect fit but I won't be able to ever find out? I don't know. I guess I'm just freaking slightly about the whole two week semester when I really shouldn't. It'll be two weeks and then I'm done and can come home and see my friends and my family and just relax.

VODKA FROM THE TAP AND AN AERIAL EAGLE TO BOOT

So it's been a few days. And I haven't really been in the "writing in my blog" mood but I decided to buckle down this afternoon. I really have nothing else to do anyhow.

Got to get a tour of my student's work the other day. It's a plant that manufactures faucet taps. It was pretty freaking cool actually. I totally felt like I was on the Mister Roger's show or something. They actually make the molds from compacted sand that is then put into a stove and has hot brass poured over it. Then, they somehow get the sand out of there. Totally cool.

Went to Kluczbork yesterday for a party. My student got married a few weeks ago and had a small gathering of friends to drink vodka and celebrate. It was nice. A TON of kielbasa and desserts and chocolate and cabbage. And the way they seemed to be drinking was just a shot of vodka with a chaser of some kind of juice. It seemed like every 20 minutes or so, someone would pour everyone a shot and then stand up. Everyone would stand up and sing or clink glasses and then drink. And you'd think it would slow down as the night went on but it seemed to pick up. My friend Susan was with me, and she doesn't drink, and this concept was extremely difficult for everyone to grasp. They thought she just meant that round so then every other time, they would go to pour her a shot. Or they'd ask her, "do you want a drink with some vodka or just a little vodka with some juice??" It was a little funny when she doesn't drink and those are her choices.

Also got a short Polish history lesson from one of the party patrons. Turns out there's a neighborhood in Wroclaw that's built in the shape of an eagle when you look at the aerial view. Very cool. I guess it was built by the Germans, to symbolize the German eagle, but it's more similar to the Polish eagle. (REALLY difficult to see a difference...)



This is the Polish eagle (according to google...)

and this is the German one.

Purely by chance that the Polish one is ten times bigger than the German. I swear.

THE THINGS THAT ROCK HAVE IT: 10-4

things that rocked yesterday
1. being able to snag a seat on the fart bus
2. laughing a ton over a beer with my students
3. the beautiful day that prevented me from wearing a coat
4. finally having an appointment with the neurologist and getting some medication
5. one my students asking me if i would be his teacher next year and then promising to be good if i came back.
6. my usual dinner of pierogie ruskie at wieczor stary (old night...i think)
7. the waitress actually smiling at me at wieczor stary (i believe that was the first time; i've been going there since october)
8. having my doctor's appointment finish early and getting enough time to run home for lunch
8. the medication i have no insurance for ending up being really cheap
10. having my awesome students (they're married and have been out due to just having a baby) finally come back to class

things that could've gone better
1. the stress that inevitably comes with the Friday 1:35 fart bus run
2. the feedback form from my morning business class (she wants more "discipline"...she's about 40 years old)
3. not realizing the medication i took before teaching class was a heavy-duty painkiller
4. the response from my kluczbork class when i told them about the summer program at naz

POLAND STILL GRAND

So Poland is going well, still. It's really weird for me to be missing one place but yet still enjoying another. I drive (well, okay, I have a crazy driver that loves the brake pedal) to Olesno every Thursday and bask in the fact that I can't speak to the driver. I love it. I just stare out the window and daydream. It's wonderful. I think it may be hereditary...my obsession with staring out windows and daydreaming. Thanks dad.

Been thinking about going to Prague during the May break, that is if the school still gives me Monday off. Also want to see Warsaw but everybody says it's not worth seeing. Guess it's pretty ugly.

Got a ton of new cds from my student today. I love swapping music. He's always calling me a "typical American" and laughing at my "energy". He thinks I need to exercise more so I'm not so "energetic". He loves it. But I'm trying to teach my students not to call me a typical woman or a typical American. I tell them I'm special, unique and different. They're learning.

Got a neurologist appointment tomorrow, finally. Maybe he'll do some x-rays and see if there's anything funky going on in there. That would be nice but I'm not holding my breath. Nobody in the states will even give me that much. Then again, Polish doctors are usually way more thorough, in my experience, than doctors back home.

EASTER WEEKEND

Went to Aushwitz and Birkenau yesterday. Truly an amazing experience that just seems to sit with you.

One thing I didn't realize is that Birkenau is what you see in most photos and movies; it's what you see in Schindler's List. Aushwitz is now more a museum of pictures and writings about the war, although it does have its share of nightmarish exhibits.

Above are the photos I took while there. I apologize to anyone that isn't prepared to see them; I tried to make a link but wasn't having much luck.

Reading about the war and wanting to learn more about Clandestine (the underground group of artists and writers that wanted to keep learning and educating during their incarceration) has definitely inspired me for school again. I've also been researching where I might want to teach next year, if I don't stay in New York...which I'm not sure I can now. Thinking Africa but I don't know that I'll have the money to get a ticket back to Poland to finish my masters in February, which is why I'm not doing central or south America. We'll see. I'm always changing my mind. I've also been sitting here looking at PhD programs and where I would want to study and what I would want to study. I just can't seem to narrow it down and figure out what I would want to submerge myself in for two years, and then defend to a panel. It freaks me out - until I look at pictures of current students. They look fairly normal.

WESOLYCH SWIAT, AGAIN

Wesolych Swiat...again! Since the same phrase is used for both Christmas and Easter, I'm lucky in that I already learned this one.

Today I spent the day relaxing once again. It's been wonderful. I first went to the library to bring back the rest of my books and see if I could renew one of them. But the woman at the counter only spoke Polish or French but somehow, by merely pointing to the bookmark in my book, I was able to communicate my desire to renew it. Yes - mission one accomplished.

After that, I headed to the Easter market to shop a bit. Ended up finding a great necklace and the scarf that I've seen everyone and their mother wearing here but had yet to find till today. Then a cheap bracelet and a family member gift. Then I went to buy the perfume that I want at the drug store, only to find out that it's 185 zloty; a little too steep for me. So I traveled to the next drug store and found a cheap perfume for 7 zloty that I solely bought based on it's name - Anais Nin, my favorite writer. Although I'm sure she'd turn in her grave for me buying a perfume based solely on her name, what's a girl to do...I needed something new.

FLIP FLOPPIN' MORNING

I woke up this morning with my bedroom light on. Extremely weird. So I'm wondering how I went to bed without turning it off; I was reading. I proceed to look down next to my bed and there's my book. So I flip through it and find that there's no bookmark in it; it's still next to my head. It seems that last night, I was so exhausted that I completely fell asleep in the middle of reading - so much so that I dropped my book and didn't even hear it - and then slept through the entire night without realizing my light was on.

On top of all that, I went to check my phone for the time. There was a message from Peter. So I wrote back and then went to the bathroom. Of course, he called. So I couldn't call back and I texted him asking if it was him. He wrote back yes and asked if he could try again. I texted, or went to text back, but alas, no minutes left on my phone.

Now one of the things we, as native speakers, have noticed of the Polish culture, is that you don't go out of the house without looking presentable. Unless you're a drunk, homeless or an English-speaker, you don't even think about leaving the house in anything resembling pajamas or a sweatsuit. So I had to suck it up, throw on some dirty jeans, my flip flops and a pair of sunglasses and head to the shop below my flat. Of course the girl with no patience for non-Polish speakers is working so I put my half-awake, already bad Polish to the test and ask for what I need.

What a morning.

I'm still sore from all the bowling I did on Tuesday night. I went to my class on Wednesday morning (they're the same guys that I went bowling with on Tuesday) and told them how sore I was. They claim they're not sore at all - I told them it was because they lost.

To boot with the fabulous night of bowling, I got a ride home from my student on his motorcycle. Now granted, it was slightly illegal with him not wearing a helmet and all but we made it back to my flat, safe and without a ticket, and it was great. I'm sorry I didn't ride my father's motorcycle when he had it but for some reason, it didn't really interest me then.

Easter is finally sorted. Peter is coming in on Saturday and I'm planning on sitting around and renting a movie (English movie - Polish subtitles). Then church on Sunday morning and I'm making dinner for everyone (okay, well 3 people...including me) on Sunday. Then it's off to Zakopane for the day and then Krakow that night. Then, shopping and Aushwitz on wet Monday and home that night.

IS THAT A FUN HOLIDAY IN MY BUNNY'S BASKET?

I just noticed my profile picture makes me look like I'm wearing a neck brace. But at least a cool one. But I don't really care. This week is a glorious week. The class that I wasn't keen on teaching is over, I only have four more classes: one that we'll either watch a movie or just talk, another "make up" class from when I was sick (we're going bowling tonight), the same class tomorrow (we'll probably talk about bowling and then do a game I had planned), and then my teenagers tomorrow night. After that, the flat is all mine (Maja is going to Germany) and I can relax for two days before I head to Krakow on Saturday. The plan goes as follows: call my girl Heather on Wednesday or Thursday (it sounds simple but it's a treat), read and sit on the internet until Saturday, and then head out on the train to Krakow early Saturday morning. From there, I will shop for gifts for friends, family and me until 2:00 when my friend Peter gets out of work. From there, we'll head to Aushwitz (he's never been either). After that, we'll head to Opole where we'll spend the night and go to church Easter morning. Following that, I'll attempt an Easter dinner with the last ham that my dziadziu sent me a few months ago. Once we're finished, we'll hop in the car and head to the mountains where (hopefully!) we'll drink vodka with the mountain people and sing mountain people songs!

Also, I'm gonna try and celebrate wet Monday that day. I'm so filling up water bags and throwing them at the teenagers that hang out and smoke under the balcony of my flat. What an excellent tradition!

In addition to all this excitement, I went ahead and added to it by booking my flight home! I'm leaving from Warsaw on June 30th and will be home that Saturday night. I miss everyone tremendously and can't wait to see you all!