To Kasia
CONTENTS
| Poland I | Poland II | Poland III |
04 October 2003 I have now had 5.5 full days in Mikolow (pronounced 'me-ko-wolf'). Some new friends also took me on a day trip to krakow (pronounced 'krakoof'), which is one of Poland's oldest towns, its former capital, its third largest city, and the possessor of the largest medieval town square in Europe. It was particularly special because it was left untouched during the war. The Red Army managed to corner the Germans and so they cleared out without fighting for (and thus guaranteeing the destruction of) the city. Because of this, the architecture was amazing, and I was mightily impressed. One friend rates it as second only to Prague for beauty. [For more, see Krakow.]
The people here are very friendly and hospitable. I am afraid that I may become an alcoholic in this short time, as they take me out almost every chance they get. I can usually get away with a beer or two to begin with, but then someone's sure to start pouring shots of vodka, and after I've had seven or eight of those straight I'm ready to be put to bed. I could remember absolutely nothing from the other night, but I didn't lose face because neither could Jon (my flatmate and American colleague) or his friend Mario (who was visiting for a few days). Last night, I paced myself with only one beer and one shot, but there's another party tonight, so we'll have to see. It all goes back to that old saying, "When in Rome...".
So far, I have found the people here to me rather like those that I'm used to at home. Despite their past, they are nothing like the Chinese, although the Polish are now free of their restraints, whereas China is still run by a communist government. The people that I have seen in this short time enjoy a good quality of living and their surroundings testify to a growing economy. Some friends are also quite happy to talk about the past, and that's a real eye opener. I am amazed by their candour outside of the classroom, and by their approach to learning English when we're in it.
Anyway, that's all the updates that I have for now. I haven't come to spend my time bent over a computer, so this site may be little more than a travel journal for quite a while. All the bugs that remain, such as glitches in my essays, will have to remain.
Here's to the unpredictability of life
INDEX 11 October 2003 Tomorrow will mark the start of my third week in Europe. So far, so good.
I'm still trying to adjust to my new job, but I have now done all of my classes at least once and I'm pretty happy with how they went. The students are hard working and their approach to learning is very positive.
As I had anticipated, there are some different dynamics at play when teaching Eastern Europeans in contrast to Asians. Most of my policies have been well received, along with my methodology, but I have met with a student who objected to various activities, and where I would immediately deal with this very effectively if she were Asian, I am in this case cautious.
It has been my experience that classes increasingly become less successful when students are allowed to object to the flow of the lesson, and so my policy has been to demand either their participation or their withdrawal from the class. Of course, it has never gone this far, and so my policy worked marvellously. Now, however, I sense a certain amount of resistance and it may take me a few weeks before I learn how to deal with such students without risking that one of us loses face.
The people that I've met so far have impressed me for their individualism and independence, which is a rich as anywhere I've seen. It's much like being in New Zealand or Australia in this way. Most men wear their hair short, and there is a sense of machoism, but at the same time all types seem to mix together quite happily. Some have long hair. Some are short. Some are overweight. Probably I'm about the same hight or a bit taller than most men I see, but then some stand a foot taller.
Many of the women are extremely beautiful, and I don't think it's just because their Slavic features are exotic to me. I would say that three in every four girls would be considered quite beautiful by the standards that I'm used to. They are also very friendly, but then that may only be because to them I am also exotic.
Some students have said that Polish people aren't traditionally friendly to strangers, but I haven't found this to be a problem. At the same time, no one's going out of their way to help me, unless they know me through someone else.
It seems that there's a party every second night, but I am now limiting myself mainly to weekends. This is easier said than done when invites are very forthcoming, but I've done well over the last week.
I am starting to pick up on a certain kind of behaviour that is foreign to me, but I am unable to grasp it as yet and so I won't comment on it just now. Suffice it to say that it's there.
26 October 2003
A letter to my parents:
Hey,
I resigned on Tuesday and I have a new job starting up in a few weeks in another city near here named Rybnik (said 'ribneek').
My grounds for leaving were as follows:
I am being paid half what I was promised and there are periods where the school closes down and I get no work.
I have not been given the professional freedom to adjust my lessons according to the needs and wants of my classes. This is a matter of respect. Ela doesn't respect that I know how to do my job well, and I can't respect myself when teaching to an inferior model.
My boss has proved herself to be incredibly difficult and uncompromising. She disrespects the Cambridge techniques that I use in the classroom, and insists that I follow a thirty year-old methodology that was designed to teach English to soldiers. We can agree on absolutely nothing, and even after I resigned on Tuesday she tried to tell me on Friday that she was terminating the contract. Too many people have witnessed that this was not true, and if she lies about this to anyone else, I will take elaborate pains in setting them straight. If Ela wants to save face for her school, she's going about it the wrong way.
So, that's what happens in my bussiness, and many other teachers that I know who have also accepted more than just a few positions in foreign countries have shared similar experiences. Indeed, my new boss could empathise, and so I think this one may well work out for me.
I am convinced that I am not to blame for all this, except for the fact that perhaps I need to be more assertive when I sense certain problems. I should have presented my terms explicitly and I should have made it clear that with certain points there could be no compromise, take it or leave it. The thing is that I have options in this world - I have my pick of jobs - and so this affords me a certain amount of strength when I negotiate. I am beginning to see that I may be a little too flexible and forgiving. This opens me up to manipulation.
Other than all that, however, I have rather been enjoying my time here. I have met a good bunch of people and most of them aren't caught up in this nasty business with my work. Those who are, like my flatmate and American colleague Jon, are wisely remaining impartial and objective and we are still getting along very well. Perhaps one day, with a bit more experience, he too will become fed up with being underpaid and dictated to about how to teach. I told him that he could join me, as my new boss expressed an interest.
I am glad that I have had many such experiences as these, as I am now quite used to the way things can go in this world and it doesn't phase me too much. As always, I found something better pretty fast, and my strike rate re job interviews remains at a hundred per cent. I will take everything in its stride and perhaps in a few months things will be going more smoothly.
As yet, I am unable to give a thorough analysis of the Polish character, but I will do so as more and more appeals to me. One thing though is that most males are on average an inch shorter than me, and this surprises me. They still have a bad habit of taking me out and insisting that I drink far too much vodka (we drink it in shots straight from a chilled bottle, and chase it up with a sip of coke or something), but I have been able to contain this to only once per week. My next job will be providing me with a car, and so this will give me the excuse not to drink whenever I want.
Anyway, that's about enough for now. I may place this on my Web site updates' page, with minor adaptations, so I hope you don't mind.
Lots of love,
Jonny
31 October 2003
An edited collage of emails from around 30 Oct '03:
I think that things are starting to work out. I have now left that horrid woman and her hopeless job and I think I have found the right employer.
I've finally gone about it in a sensible way. On Saturday I got a good offer from a decent guy whose terms seemed reasonably fair, but instead of doing my usual thing and accepting the position without further thought, I told him that he would have to wait until Wednesday evening for my decision. I also asked him whether we could negotiate the pay somewhat (as it wasn't an improvement on my previous pay, only he was guaranteeing more hours). He said no, and this was his failing. He shouldn't have let me slip away, as he knew I was a good teacher, and had he offered to reimburse my visa costs (as he said he does normally) and then pay me perhaps 5 zl more per hour, I probably would have accepted before my next set of job interviews. Finally, even if more hours would have meant more pay, I would also have had to wake up some mornings as early as 5.30 am, and that's just not acceptable, so he really needs to be a little more competitive.
Anyway, I went to several interviews yesterday [Tuesday 28 Oct '03]. The first one proved to be a joke. It's a large McDonalds-type language school called Berlitz and they were offering me a pitiful sum. I told them that they wouldn't have a hope of hiring me without negotiating this wage somewhat, but this they were unwilling to do. They seem to think that their teacher support and development offsets this lack of pay, but I'm not impressed. Also, they figure that teachers will want to work for them because they can then expect to move from centre to centre and country to country. This doesn't do it for me either, as I've already had little trouble moving from country to country. I imagine that they succeed by targeting inexperienced and unworldly teachers who don't know the international market and who are thus easily seduced by such promises.
The second interview proved to be the one. I went in aware of the following advantages: I'm a good teacher with proven experience and credentials; I'm here in Poland now (saving them the risk of emplying through the Internet); I have all the paperwork they need; and, most importantly, I had another good offer, which meant that I had nothing to lose when I demanded that they better it.
So, the interview went along very nicely. I questioned the DOS about as much as she questioned me, and after forty minutes or so we were both quite happy. She went and got her non-English speaking CEO who then asked me my terms. I told them that they would have to better the previous offer. I negotiated them up to 50 zl ($25 NZ) per hour (which is very good in Poland) with a promise of 20 hours per week. This is more money for less hours, but I will really notice the difference when I work overtime.
Also, the hours I negotiated for are far preferrable to the other job; I work afternoons and evenings, Monday to Friday. I am happy with the terms that we agreed on, allowing me some flexibility within the classroom and the right to strong creative input, and I made it clear that we would need to keep one another happy. I hope to be able to afford a bit of travel abroad on this income, as well as save towards doing the Cambridge Diploma in English language teaching next year.
Because of all this, I really think that I am learning something about job interviews now. I've never failed to receive an offer in everything from aviation and bar-tending, to factories and teaching, and I must have done well over thirty interviews. Perhaps I'll write a successful book on this subject one day. I played hardball this time and I think I've got what I'm looking for. I do think this school will be a good one, but of course I've said all this before. I can only hope that it goes right for me this time, but at least I've looked into it thoroughly and I've met everyone in person. I'm very impressed with their facilities and I'm confident that I'll be okay until June. Then we'll see what happens from there.
Anyway, that's the gist of my last bunch of emails. I have almost run out of time, so I must rush off. Also, I am moving out of my first flat, so I have to get home to continue packing and finish up with the washing.
Flowers cover Polish graves on 1 November
25/30 November 2003 Almost a month has passed since my last update, but still there is not much to add. I'll give a brief summary of how things are, after which I'll itemise a few observations that I've now made about Poland.
First. A Summary:
Work, beer, dinner, vodka, sleep.
Beer often follows work, and then there's dinner, and sometimes (though thankfully less and less these days) vodka comes next. And that's pretty much my routine. To break it up a bit, I have some friends who are happy to go with me to neighbouring cities, and so because of this my horizons are somewhat extended. We go to restaurants and bars, see movies (which are in English), and sometimes take turns cooking for one another. They have yet to handle the spices that lace my spaghetti bolognaise without requiring litres of beer or water. They consider my cooking quite a challenge, it seems.
Second. Some Observations:
I can watch many TV programmes here. They're often in English, but the only problem is that a rather monotone Polish voice accompanies them all. You can still hear the actors quietly in the background, but over the top of them comes one male voice. It's the same voice throughout, no matter who's speaking (man, woman or child), but after a while you actually get used to it. It's merely as if it's a drone in the background, and I'm quite able to understand about eighty percent of the actual dialogue. This is enough. Also, their programming is a lot better that what's available in New Zealand or Australia, and then they only have ads every thirty minutes.
The Polish often use fold-out couches in preference to beds.
They tend to drink more beer than vodka, but they often use vodka when getting drunk is the main aim. This they consume cold in fifty-mill shot glasses, and it's often followed up by a chaser - which is a sip of coke, or something. They accuse the Russians of drinking one hundred or more mills at a time straight from the glass, but then they've made me do this also, so perhaps they're friendly hypocrites.
At the moment, the temperature fluctuates from between zero and seven degrees C. I am told that this is very unseasonal and that often by now there's snow.
They're a lot happier than we give them credit for in our countires. In fact, their culture's not too far removed from my own, and so adjusting to Poland is not too much of a problem. It's nothing compared to the leap onto another planet that is China. People are not rich, and unemployment stands at twenty percent, but their education system deserves some respect and many people my own age and younger speak very good English. They love to party and I have found most of them to be very friendly and accommodating. Some Polish people are indeed very nice.
I find the men here to be very average - sorry guys, but then look who's writing - but the women are incredible. I think it's something in the Y chromosome. Polish women, who lack this chromosome, are surely among the beauties of the world, but the Polish Y chromosome allows for nothing special. But, hey! I don't hear any males complaining.
Learning something about Polish modern history is interesting. They pretty much ring-lead Eastern Europe out of Russian control and they are intensely proud of their independence. They are proud to have endured communism without ever completely condescending themselves to it - they partied as Poles and I'm told they spoke as freely as they liked among friends and relatives (even at the height of the totalitarian reign) - and now that they're free of it they're ready to embrace the European Union (scheduled for next year).
They also like to parody this ugly past. A close friend of mine recently went to a formal dinner where she said some effort had been made to give it a communist feel. They were made to wear red scarfs and ties. Their knives and forks were chained to the tables (as if they might otherwise steal them - though I believe this is an exaggeration). Two gruff polish women (actors) attended to the toilets, and so of course the toilets were in a terrible state, with several 'out of order' and cigarette butts littering the sinks. A waiter (another actor) went around allocating to each person what proportions they could have of whatever food. Everyone was given one shot of vodka and one sausage, or something like that. Reliving this past, with exaggeration and humour, I'm told they all had a ball.
For further observations, see also my Poland A - Z. 21 December 2003 Nowadays a long time goes by between each update. That's because there's not much to tell, as I've expressed several times below. Today, after a very brief account of my time here, I intend to say something on the Polish Christmas, and then talk a little about possibilities for the future.
My Time Here:
To the left I have uploaded a photo of Morskie Oko, which means 'Eye of the Sea'. Kasia and I hiked there through the snow. It was pretty breath-taking. We had a very nice time getting away from Mikolow's smog and enjoying the beautiful mountain fresh air. There were also local foods to try, such as a famous cheese made from sheeps milk (if I understood rightly). I tried it, but it was a little too salty for me. I will place more photos up once I've had them developed.
Otherwise, there is nothing much to add about my time in Mikolow, Poland. I've now been here for close to three months. Work is fine, although I'm still learning how to reach Polish teenagers in my classroom, and I'm fairly happy with my social life. Of course, because Mikolow is a small town, I do get a little bored with going to the same pub all the time, but perhaps this is best if it encourages me to do less drinking. Recently, I've been going to a few movies (as they're cheap in Poland, if a little dated), and, rather than learning 'Survival Polish' basics all over again, I've been putting my efforts into learning some Polish poetry. This seems to keep the natives happy that I'm interested in their culture, and it saves me from learning what I learned in China all over again when I know that I'll never use it when eventually I do leave Poland.
A Polish Christmas:
Perhaps I will need to make some changes after I've actually experienced the celebration, but here's a description of a Polish Christmas as I understand it from my students and friends:
Unlike the countries I'm familiar with, Christmas in Poland begins on the 6th of December when Santa appears to hand out simple gifts. Somehow, I missed him, but I anticipate that my luck will change when some saintly spirit (rather than Santa) comes to deliver further gifts on Christmas Eve, when the Polish really celebrate.
Of course, I will see all this on Wednesday, but Christmas Eve is definitely the main day. Traditionally, people will be cleaning their houses pretty thoroughly right about now, and on the day itself, carp (the fish) will be the dish of choice. Until now, the Catholic church had stated that no meat (other than fish) should be consumed on this day, but this year the church has changed its mind. Clearly their meditations with God have resolved something of a misunderstanding.
I'm supposed to fast on Wednesday until Christmas (Eve) supper, but then I seldom eat before dinner anyway. As I've said, we will be having carp, and then there's another eleven traditional dishes that I am eagre to try. I imagine that there will be vodka jelly on offer (but then perhaps I'm stereotyping). There will also be an extra plate, available (by tradition) for any stranger who might happen along without a family to go to. Then there's something about hey or straw being placed under the tablecloth, but I'll wait and see about this one.
After dinner - and it's my bet that this won't last long with the children - the presents are handed out. There won't be much time to appreciate them, however, as I will then be dragged off to church for a two hour service of carols and communion. Perhaps I'll try to learn a simple carol in the process. Anyway, I'm sure I'll have a good time and so I'm rather looking forward to it. It will surely beat last year's Christmas in Beijing, where for the Chinese it was barely an event, and for my psychopathic Irish boss, it was a nice opportunity to argue both with his wife and his girlfriend in front of us all.
Plans for the future:
I'll keep this simple. I applied yesterday for a new job in Germany and I'm thinking of getting out of here sometime in February. I like Poland, and in February I will have been here for over four months, but then I'm simply not earning enough money. Of course, there are those who may think that the money shouldn't be important when I'm having this kind of experience, but then I can have both the experience and the money in Germany, and then because of some mounting debts in both Australia and New Zealand, It's really important right now that I have a stable and comfortable salaried position. Although there's much to like about my current school, they're not meeting the promised amount of hours that I negotiated for, and my debts back home are only getting worse.
Anyway, that will do for now. Poland's good, work's good (despite the financial realities), and Christmas and New Year's will be good. Merry Christmas to all that read this.
23 December 2003 Not much to add today.
I just think that this might be a good Christmas for me. It will be the first good one in a while. For a start, I spent last year in Beijing at my bosses house, and that didn't go well. He was a former Irish boxing champion and a doctor of philosophy at the same time. Problem was that he was a self-confessed saddist and on Christmas evening he thought he'd take the opportunity to argue in front of us to both his girlfriend and his wife (and her family). A few days later, I escaped a very serious situation along with two other foreign English teachers from America.
The Christmas before that was a non-event, as Fuzhou Chinese aren't big on it. And then there were my Christmas's in Australia. Some were average, but if I wasn't broke, I was typically poor. I haven't had a Christmas with my family since 1997 (sob, sob) and so at this time of year I kind of miss them. I love you guys (if you're reading this). Perhaps next year I will aim to return home.
30 December 2003 Once again, Happy New Year. Here, the snow has melted, but the ground's dressed in ice and the trees and buildings wear smog. Over Christmas there was some snow on the ground, so it kind of rates as my second White Christmas.
Otherwise, there's nothing especially interesting to add. My Christmas was much as I described it below. Tomorrow (New Year's Eve) I will be joining my friends at our local pub (The Fraktal), where we've pre-paid and booked what will hopefully be a pretty good night.
03 January 2004 Welcome to 2004. I still have a few days' holidays and presently I'm hard at work putting something together for my China page. I quite miss China these days, and my views about aspects of the place have matured and even changed in retrospect. I hope to have my work up shortly.
The snow's back in Mikolow. It covers everything except for the roads, and walking through the park day or night is especially brilliant. The snow's over your ankles where it lies undisturbed, and even the trodden footpath remains completely white. The children have taken to their sleads and are at it all day. There's definitely something special about being in the snow.
New Year's Eve was fantastic and I plan to have the photos up within another week. They should be worth a few laughs.
The best thing about Poland is definitely the people. I've made more friends in this short amount of time than I have in years. Most of my friends have known one another since primary school, and so there's a deep sense of comradship, but they're all very happy to include me in their circles. It made my New Year's go off extremely well and I will miss the when I leave. Because of them, I'm having a lot of fun.
The first photo (above) shows a fair portion of my good friends from Poland. From left to right: Peter, Waldek, Ania, Lukasz, Kasia, Olek, Asia, me, Grzegorz, three girls whose names I don't know, and Antek (behind them).
The second photo (to the left) shows us boys. Again, from left: Rafal, Grzegorz, me, and Antek. I didn't show this one in my photo page, as it's rather incriminating.
For more photos, see Poland Pics
17 January 2004
Pretty happy with things presently.
A week ago I went into a state of alarm when it seemed that I might have lost this Web site for good. Dreamconsciousness.com is now three years old - although I lost a year in China - and a lot of time and effort has gone into it. Having had to learn HTML and java-script, etc, it's not as easy as it looks. What happened was that my domain name expired ahead of schedule (cheating me out of eleven days) and, with no way to reach my work on my server, I wasn't sure whether or not my Site would be stored in a holding bin. It all depends on the policy of the server as to whether a Site automatically clears or otherwise is held for a period when a domain name expires. Not wanting to risk losing everything, I tried to salvage my Site by appealing to friends to save any stored data on their computer's history. The response was generous, but thankfully it proved unnecessary and the Site has been up and running since I renewed my domain names a few days ago.
I'm happier at work nowadays. In December I was feeling frustrated by some of my teenage groups, as they largely comprise students who are forced to be there by their parents and who are overburdend with school work in general. I had gone into my classes with thorough, appropriate and appealing lessons only to face Resistance and dwindling enthusiasm and to meet students who cultivate boredom as if it's cool.
Since returning to work after my Christmas holidays, I have applied a new policy which seems to be working. Chiefly, I give every group the option of choosing between several different lessons - at the moment, Sexism, Bad Language, or (Job) Interviews. This gives them some control, encourages them to interact with me and it psychologically commits them to stand by their decision and to make the most of the lesson.
The other contingency is that they also have the option of sitting quietly at the back of the classroom completing individual work, such as grammar or reading and writing tasks. The idea here is that I'm not demanding that they participate and if they wish to be bored, quite and unchallenged, they can be. It also means that these bad apples aren't spoiling the bunch. I present this option to them as if it's a positive alternative and as if they have a choice, but of course the reality is that being part of a group is preferable to segregation, and the effect is that my students tend to become more enthusiastic. Students who lapse into truancy are soon reminded that they don't have to participate if they don't want to and that they can do something else. This tends to bring their attitude around.
Otherwise, my classes have been going very well and I have received good feedback of late. My success tends to correlate with the maturity of the students, but some teenage groups have taken to my lessons now. Really, they're a pretty positive and happy bunch and they're a pleasure to teach. I can quite understand if sometimes they're feeling tired and stressed. I don't think one of my many students is nearly as bad a student as I was.
As I have already commented on, I have a good social life here in Poland. I have not known so many good people since I was in Darwin (Australia) five years ago. I am close to about fifteen people and friendly to many more. It is guaranteed that I will find most of them on Friday night at our local bar, which makes for some pretty heavy drinking, and there are always a few friends to be found any night of the week. I am well on the road to alcoholism - which I should joke about (as it's affecting the fluency and lucidity of my writing) - but for now it is paradoxically rather therapeutic. I'm triple blessed that I don't seem to be suffering much from hangovers either.
As for my Site, I plan to do the following:
The above won't be done according to a schedule. I just hope get to each of them at some point and to have completed each goal within a few months.
As for my life, I'm not really sure of what I want any more. I love teaching and travelling, but I miss what I could have from a more settled lifestyle - such as more money, a house and a car, etc, the time and means to complete further philosophy papers, and the chance to pursue flying and kayaking again as hobbies.
I worry sometimes that I am living my life by other people's criteria; as if my dreams aren't for my own sake, but for the sake of impressing others. For example, do I travel because I truly love travelling, or because I think others will respect me more? Do I want to have a successful career and prosperity for my own sake, or because it's what I've been socially conditioned to pursue. Sometimes I wonder whether I should just become a vagrant international nomad, rejecting money, stability and all forms of ambition, and living day by day with no thoughts for either my future or my past. This is not mere romanticism. I lived and loved such a lifestyle once. For now, I leave my fate to destiny. I pursue my goals - namely: relationships, career, travel, experiences - in the hope that something will come of them, but if they don't, I am just as much inclined to do away with them. Success will breed success; but failure will not breed failure - merely freedom.
28 January 2004 Four Months in Poland!
Ice stalactites hang from ledges. Brown dust sprinkles footpaths of snow, providing traction for pedestrians. The snow seems to endlessly, if lightly, fall, and I don't know by what manner of equilibrium (perhaps evaporation; perhaps compression; perhaps up-drafts) that the level of the snow on the ground stays constant at about a foot's depth. Dog shit continues to accumulate, cryogenically freed from its death of decomposition until the Spring Thaw should release a miniature forest of turd. (Dogs are quite the trend where I live, but no one carries pooper-scoopers.) Condensation on bus windows soon turns into a screen of ice, making it impossible to see outside, in temperatures hanging around -8C during the day. However, it's not so cold. There's practically no water in the air, and so I am quite able to get by in a good jacket and a hat. I have experienced it worse in a wet Christchurch, even when it was above the negatives, forced as I was to wear layers of socks, trousers and under-shirts. It works in the same way (but in reverse) as Darwin at 32 decrees can seem hotter than Sydney at 40 because of the high humidity. In the heat, water makes it hotter; in the cold, water makes it colder.
So I have now achieved the mark of four months in Poland. I am still quite happy here, but the itch remains to move on. I am hoping to serve my term at my school, which means that I'm here until the end of June, but if anything goes wrong now (such as a reduction or loss of work) I shall certainly look towards Germany.
My classes continue to be fairly successful on average because of my new contingency plans (where each student can choose between individual and class work [they all choose the latter], and those who opt for class work can then vote over a selection of lessons). However, I still feel that I suffer somewhat from having so many different groups and so little authority in the classroom. The school's policies have it that us teachers have to please every student and that the students don't have to please us in turn; and the students know this.
Still, it's normally not a problem, as most Polish students are fairly decent. Nevertheless, I might prefer simply to drop one or two classes. If this doesn't produce the ideal result of these classes asking for my return, where I then gain the initiative, I should hope that it will at least send the message that I am to be reckoned with.
If this all seems pretty desperate, it is only because it is high up on my thoughts right now. Truly, I am thinking of only two classes out of so many others, and I am really happy with these. I have learned to be less theoretical with Polish people and some games that I have introduced, such as the use of mime, have really seemed to reach them. All in all, they work very hard for me and I am confident that the vast majority of my students and classes are satisfied. Still, it will be some while before I am as confident with them as I am with Chinese students. (This sense of challenge is definitely an aspect of the job that I appreciate, and I am sure that I am becoming a better person for it. Perhaps the fact that I am learning how to interact with people from various cultural backgrounds will prove advantageous in later years.)
On to my thoughts for the future, my old American flatmate, Jon, and I are thinking about travelling to Slovakia and Hungary in the last weeks of February. I will have to see about whether I can afford it, but I have two weeks' holidays during that period and it would be nice to make a start on Europe.
Regarding my Web site, I am still working hard towards completing my China page. I don't really want to add it to my Site until it is fairly much complete, which means that I have yet to complete a fairly hefty introduction, perhaps another essay on Chinese Vs Western prejudices (where I think us Westerners compare poorly), and then I still have to edit the damn thing. I am still aiming for the next couple of weeks.
Which brings me to the conclusion of my update. Basically, life's good, but I am a dreamer and an adventurer, and this will always conflict with any reality where I am of fixed abode. I am quite content for now where I am, but I know that somewhere in my unconscious mind I still seek excuses and possibilities for moving on. Anyway, I am learning to be stoic about life's surprises and I am trying nowadays to go with the flow a bit more.
Take care all
02-03 February 2004 Slush & Turd
A few weeks ago some friends of mine invited me to go sledding with them. For the last month, the park has been quite an attraction. Children and adults alike try their luck down the slopes. I have observed all sorts of new sports, such as the idea of sliding straight into massive lumps of snow and ice - perhaps, a form of human snow-skittles. On this night, perhaps I went a little too high up that slope and a little too impulsively down it. Our last go came when I went racing down the hill and succeeded at flying about two metres in the air. (They called me Adam Malusz, after their celebrated Ski Jumper.) There was a crunch upon impact, which claimed several planks of wood. I am not used to the dynamics involved in sled-jumping, but even though my friends forgave me, it was rather embarrassing.
Now, given the heatwave that's affecting the whole of Poland, the temperature has crept up above zero to a whopping 5C, and so the snow has turned to sludge. I'm quite amazed at how quickly large patches of snow have disappeared. Where the snow remains, it's quite grey. The ice rink that engaged happy skaters only two days ago has become hard ground. A mortar or mine has claimed another life: an old snowman lies maimed; his head a foot away; his arms perhaps another metre; his body a decaying heap. The park is virtually deserted. It's an unhappy atmosphere. I trudge to work every day. As I predicted, turd is everywhere.
08 February 2004 Sun & Vodka
The reason I'm making this entry is to say a few words about updates to my site. To start, the note button (above right) has been added to say a few necessary words about my Journal. Look for other notes or tips similarly located on other pages.
I have also done quite a bit of work towards upgrading my photo pages, and you will see that I have added some of my photos from Poland. There are more to come, of course. I also intend to add a couple more photos to the other photo pages, which will now be easily accomplished thanks to the changes I've made.
Otherwise, I'm still working on my China page, and then I hope to make a start at revising some old essays and then adding some new ones. Soon I hope to make my essays a priority over Site programming and maintenance.
Regarding Poland, my time here is the same as usual, but the heatwave is up to 8C and I even got to enjoy the sun in the park just yesterday. It's so warm that I like to walk with the breeze in my face. I also had a good weekend, although far too much alcohol was consumed. Finally, all the turd is drying up and decomposing. The atmosphere about the place is much improved.
16 February 2004 Snow & Parties
A week ago the temperature plummeted back below zero and more snow than I've previously seen was dumped. It now comes halfway up your shins when you're standing in it. Again the kids are out with their sleds, I walk with caution across even the footpaths (in case a speeding child should run me down), and the place looks a whole lot more pretty.
It's interesting to walk about in the evening when (as my friend's temperature gauge tells us) it's below -20C. I have seen other thermometers reaching -11C at 8pm, but it's not unreasonable to assume that it gets colder as the night wears on.
After some consideration, I concluded that the sensation of my nose hairs sticking to my nostrils upon inhaling must be caused by the subzero air rapidly freezing the moisture inside. The fact that this sensation leaves me upon exhaling also supports this theory, as the air from my lungs would be sufficiently warm to thaw out my nose again. Thus, it's a cycle of continual freeze and thaw; although the freeze may indeed be partial. Strange, nevertheless.
I now have two weeks' holiday again. Kasia is away in London, arranging three months' internship with a Internet phone company there. She is doing very well. Jon and I have planned a trip to Hungary and Slovakia together. We will go later this week. Ting has just sent me some very beautiful photos from New Zealand. I miss her dreadfully.
Last Friday evening, Jon and I went with some friends to a nightclub in Katowice. The place was incredible. Without describing the nightclub itself (which was done extremely well), the thing about this club was excruciatingly the women. As I have said before, the women in Poland are exceptional, and, on this evening, I had never seen so many absolute stunners in one place before. Given that I'm allowed to look, but not touch, the ordeal was wholly traumatic. We stayed until four in the morning, spending most of our time dancing to Dance and R&B, but continually I found myself surrounded by some of Poland's most beautiful women. At points, I had to take a seat and chill, but not so much because I was tired, but because it was all too much. It's been a while since I've seen so much flesh - given the weather - and so this didn't help things. I went home feeling quite frustrated.
I have settled in quite well to my job and to my life here. It the space of one week, I have taught everyone from the most complete beginners I've ever had, to the most advanced students also. The advanced group presents no problem, but teaching people who may know less English than I know Polish is a real challenge. Luckily, the school has provided me with some excellent resources, and a course book that I use really helps me out.
Poland I:
mikolow |
observations |
zakopane |
christmas |
new year |
site worries |
work |
site plans |
4 mths/snow |
slush & turd |
sun & vodka |
snow & parties |
clubs |
party
Poland II:
holidays |
budapest |
gliwice |
krakow |
wisla |
auschwitz |
leaving |
spring |
parochial |
job hunting |
where next? |
pope john paul II
Poland III:
to germany |
hearty food |
poland a - z
(inc: politics,
skinheads,
union,
wodka)
At the time, I said to people: "I'm not sure if I would want necessarily to be born in Poland, but it certainly seems an okay place to die".
There! I think that covers it quite nicely. To elaborate just a little, my work is still going well and I am starting to adjust quite nicely. I teach about twenty-five different classes over the month (some once and some twice), which means that I am unable to know my students particularly well. Some groups are young, and so I have to appeal to them with games, humour, and 'cool' - however that works. They're a little more challenging than the older groups, because they're not paying for their own classes and some of them don't want to be there. Without adults, they start off fairly positive, and so it's not normally difficult to keep them there; but young teenagers tend to start off negative, and so it's a bit of work trying to show them how to have fun as they learn. However, I've had no problems so far and everyone seems fairly happy. Also, the positive side of having so many different groups is that they require much less planning. In three weeks I've only used two different lessons.
A few weekends ago I went with a friend to an area known as Zakopane. On the border between Poland and Slovakia, Zakopane (said, 'zar-ko-par-ne') lies within the Tatra Mountains and it's a pretty neat place.
1. Complete my China page [Completed, 15 March]
2. Upgrade the side-menu [Completed, 19 Jan / 18 March]
3. Reformat the layout of my Journal [Completed, April]
4. Integrate the java-script images of my Map with my Home page [Completed, 21 Jan]
5. Add an essay on Dreams and edit the other essays
6. Add another essay arguing against the oppressive ideology of Political Correctness
7. Upgrade the Photo pages [In progress, 04 Feb]
8. Upload the photos from Poland and include them throughout my Journal [First photos, 03 Feb]
On Saturday night I hosted a party at my house. It was nice to see my house so clean just before everyone came (short thrill; not to be repeated), but when my friends arrived things got off brilliantly. I cooked everyone up some spicy sauce with sausage and pasta. Jon says that it's not traditional to torture one's guests, but I enjoy watching them all sweat it out as they scrape the bowl clean. They're not used to the chili. They sweat, grunt and swirl back mouthfuls of beer. I take it as a compliment to my cooking that they keep eating it. They always ask for more.
As the night progressed, so did the volume of the music, the complaints of our neighbours (spoil sports), and the swilling of the vodka. I don't know how I did it, but after four beers (two litres), I still managed to down no less than seven (100 ml) shots, and then I remained in a sensible state for the whole of the night. My speech praising Poland and declaring, in Polish, that it 'shall never disappear', did much to rev everybody up, and Jon's later toast to 'the last man standing' guaranteed that there would be no place for mere social drinking. I think we had a pretty good time, and the state of my apartment in the morning laid testament to this.
Later on, we all headed to our favourite (by virtue of it being our only) pub, Fraktal. Unfortunately, our night came abruptly to an end at this point, as the place was dead owing to Valentine's Day. Never mind - our snow fight from my house to the pub more than made up for this. Jon tried to wind me up, of course, by proclaiming that I 'throw like a girl', but I do believe I showed him up when comparing our strike rates: He got me only when we were one metre away from one another; I got him several times from across the road. When I threw, he dodged; when they threw, I was safest if I remained squarely rooted to the spot. Eventually, Jon and I declared a truce and we had the others on the run for the rest of the way.
Well that does it for an update. I shall enjoy these holidays during this last stage of winter. Soon it shall be spring, which, corresponding with springtime girls' fashions, I imagine I shall enjoy even more.
From here, proceed to Poland II