journey back with me two years, will you?

one of the joys of moving into a new apartment is seeing your STUFF for the first time in a year and a half. most of it is unremarkable.... like the tupperware. hoorah for my tupperware. but other stuff is downright entertaining! i'm suffering serious distraction while unpacking and looking at old notebooks and pictures and what not. since i can't think of anything else to write about my life NOW, i'm going to copy what i wrote about my life THEN.

6/27-6/28? (if i remember correctly, this was written while sittin gon the floor waiting to get through customs in newfoundland)
O Canada... I'm stuck here overnight......
techincal malfunction on AA flight #122 en route to london. apparently the audiovisual system started over-heating. it zapped off just as the climax of "miracle" was building- the triumphant victory of capitalism over the commies, on ICE! i'll skate my way out of communism! i would've been happy without seeing the rest of the movie, but "our safety is paramount", so we turned around somewhere mid-atlantic (not sure where because the indiana jones screen was burning up) to retreat to newfoundland, home of sturdy dogs.

we are currently waiting in customs for our luggage- then it's a wuick over-nighter at a local hotel before coming back to this wonderful airport at st. john's for a NEW flight. i want my movie, cued up to the tie-breaking scene between US and the USSR. and i want to be promoted to first class. and it would be convenient to have a cell phone that understood being in canadia.

but i have always wanted to go to newfoundland. here i am! flight AND a totally unnecessary hotel for $750- what a deal.

now- about the family- the EXtended family of hassidic jews aboard our flight. the whole lot of them can't seem to understand seatbelt signs and kept getting up to wander about yelling "miiiiiiriam?" and soliciting nasty responses from the flight crew. i asked one guy where everyone was going- cause they seemed to all have a ridiculous amount of luggage- and got absolutely no response. i know he heard me. is there some code that the can't answer politely to non-jews? or answer at all for that matter? wish i was at the dog run. i'm turning into a disgruntled passenger. but no bitching.... just sitting on a cold floor waiting....


6/30
i've just been served the hottest cup of tea ever. this and the fact that the english will eat every conceivable flavoUr of chips possible are the two greatest observations that i've been capable of today. so far the morning's thought are dominated mostly by concern over the katowice-krakow connection- going over my minimal polish possibilities to converse and generally fretting. they won't understand me and i'll get stuck there, i know it. or they'll send me to newfoundland.

7/1
minimal possibilities indeed! lots of non-productive smiling and a 220zl fare on a private bus from katowice- with andrzej! big mole. now i'm waiting for my traveler's checks to be cashed- apparently it is a rather delicate process, requiring lots of patience for a broken computer. soon- money, rest. unpack for the first time in 5 weeks. my room is huge- 8x10 with 2 people- and i share it with one of the program coordinators- kasia. she seems very pleasant and drinks mocha fix- a beverage i thought they said goodbye to with lenin (movie fact). my bed is 2 feet wide and the shower is 1x1. alas.

i have to wait a lot- i'm becoming at expert- and exercise an enormous amount of patience. and then take a nice hot shower in a tiny stall at the end of the day.

7/6
lessons learned:
1st: krakow weather is completely unpredictable. always have a sweater. and umbrella
2nd: never assume that your destination will have a toilet- and even then, never assume that the toilet will have toilet paper. or that it will be designated for one gender only. or that if you weigh 250 pounds you will be able to get inside the stall.

7/13 (in the bar on the ground level of our dorm)
it was fine until she started yelling about how drunk she was, and it's only 9:30/ "i'm so fucking wasted at 9:30!!" i guess I could be the loser for coming to poland to do work in a bar at 9:30.

decorative mirrors, leftover russian novels that can be used as tripods, bottles with candles, foosball, locals.

sun goes down late. 9:50. morning class starts early. 8:30. now she's making out with some guy.

here is a poem:
Love, by maria pawlikowska-jasnorzewska

i have not seen you for a month
and it is nothing. i may be a little paler,
rather sleepy, a little more silent,
but apparently you can live without air!

7/19
obiad is an adventure everyday. adventures in obiad!
chicken balls with chicken ball gravy!
jello surprise cake!
beetrot!
cabbage creation!

pan tadeusz, by wajda- long, epic, boring, "but it is by wajda, so we will watch it"
romantic nationalism! more that i can take, but what place does it have in poland in 1999? how long can they carry that around? who's the enemy now? a question i run into a lot.

7/27
introduction to polish grammar = intro. to BOREDOM. "what IS language?" there is a case of miscellaneous pieces of iron in the classroom. some look like plumbing joints, some like machine parts. i can't imagine what their display is meant to evoke in the viewer. "i must work in industry!" otherwise the case is empty. "polish is richer in consonants"- i'll say. people carve and write the same things on desks here- "KORN" "PANTERA"- a universal teenage language. now i'm really dreaming of a nap, but i came here to learn polish, damn it, and i paid well to do so, so i better sit through 'aspects of polish inflection'. god, i hate linguistics. crazy people. NAP. oh, a nap! spac! may i also note that these chairs suck. folding pieces of wood that come out of the desk behind so everyone is attached and shoved together! what i really want is a class covering the evolution of hair-dye usage in eastern europe. "what is a noun?" blah! i'm starting to become more red and less tan in the summer. i'm victim to random thoughts about anything BUT polish grammar! such as... rearranging my rooms- doing the switcheroo between office and bedroom. oh yes, it will be done. and how about money? i have none! what to do, what to do. and my craving for tacos. what a poorly designed classroom. 8-9 rows, desks about one foot wide, no room to study/write, can't see anything from the back. seems to be the case with many polish constructions- either they didn't plan ahead or needed to cram as many people into one space as possible. or both. tokyo has space issues, but lots of money, too. good engineering. what is poland famous for? salt? suffering? i know! salt on wounds. i can't take it, this is too boring.
mysz= mouse (drawing of mouse) "mickey mouse was a problem to translate"
niemozliwe!

8/8
ed in krakow! he arrived last night at the PJPII airport and i took him on a long, uncomfrotable busride to the hotel chopin. next we walked to old town and had dinner at szara- yum! veal medallions with grilled zucchini and potato..... balls. fried mash, i guess, but quite tasty.

8/11 LAST DAY IN KRAKOW
ed is currently filming my looking 'studious' in the courtyard of the jagiellonian museum. we all thought we would learn in some environment like this, but no- socialist realism awaited. ed has also just purchase an amber ring dla mnie. piekna! bomba!

8/12
hell ya i'm riding on the second story! wizzair is bomba- big huge double decker bus straight to katowice. AC, fun view of the polish countryside, and all around a posh way to leave krakow. got my paluszki! (i can't remember what the hell that word means.... but i guess i got it!) the taxi here took every conceivable side street- i thought maybe he was mad at me because i asked him if driving a taxi was good work. maybe that was rude and ostentatious- but heck, i just wanted to exercise my polish once more. then i swear he said something about belorus while pointing me in the direction of the bus station- cause he dropped me off about a block away.




ok, back to 2006. time to go crawl into my tent and sleep.