Thursday, March 29, 2007

Finally, some photos

I've had several requests for pictures of Krakow. Here are a few of my better shots from my first trip.

Here's Wawel castle at night:



And here's the head in the main square (don't ask me what the significance of it is)




This is the main square:

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

More resume chuckles

I am reviewing resumes again, and I just came across the funniest qualification yet.

Under personal characteristics the candidate lists "abstinent".

I am assuming the person doesn't drink, but who knows what he actually abstains from?

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Work permit woes

As many of you know, I have been planning to leave for Krakow on or around April 1st. Getting ready to leave by this date has been a mad rush of appointments, cleaning, sorting, packing, banking, and countless other activities.

On Monday, my work permit contact told me there would be a slight delay, but that the work permit would still be ready at the end of this week or early next week. All good.

But, as I am learning, work permits seem to have a mind of their own. My work permit has already been delayed once, and last night I found out that it's delayed again.

Arghhhhh!

The tentative new date now is April 22nd.

I'm not holding my breath.

I am going to stop telling people I am leaving. I feel like the girl who cried wolf . . .

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

What am I doing?

I should be leaving in less than two weeks, although there is still no definitive date.

The closer the departure date, the more moments of self doubt I have - usually late at night (like now). Like, "why am I leaving my home, my family, my friends, my comfortable job, not to mention my country?"

But when I describe my new apartment to people, or when I show them the map of Krakow and point out all the landmarks, and the parks I'll go rollerblading in, and the river I hope to row in, I start to get really excited again.

Just not so much this very minute.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

And sometimes Z

I was half listening to the radio show "And sometimes Y" on CBC radio this morning, while cleaning out still more stuff (who knew one person could accumulate so much crap?), when the host, Russell Smith, started talking about the Polish alphabet.

I have already started to discover some of the quirks of the Polish alphabet - w is pronounced v (and I don't think there is actually a V in the Polish alphabet), L is sometimes pronounced w, and z seems to be used in almost every word.

Apparently the Polish alphabet contains three different Zs. Perhaps if I can learn how each of them is pronounced, I can finally learn how to say Czesc (hi) correctly.

How do you say Canoe in Polish?

When I was cleaning out stuff a few weeks ago, I found a gift certificate for Canoe that I won years ago. So I gathered up two of my favourite foodies (one who I think was promised a free dinner when I actually won the gift certificate) and we went out for a big dinner Thursday night.

Shannon, who's not shy about asking questions of the wait staff (and we love her for it), somehow worked the fact that I was moving to Krakow into the conversation. About halfway through our first course the waiter showed up with a menu of Polish vegetarian specialities, created especially for me by the manager, who just happened to hail from Krakow.

At the end of the night, the manager, Piotr, came over and chatted with the three of us, and promised to take me out and show me the sights when he's in Krakow in May.

Seems like everywhere I go these days I find a Polish connection. As Donna says, we need more connections like the manager of Canoe!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Would you like a job or a date?

I spent a few hours this morning going through resumes for potential candidates on my new team in Krakow.

In Poland, almost everyone includes a picture on their resume. And, if you like what you see, you can tell how old they are, because they also include their birth date, and their marital status! My friend V, who works for the human rights commission would be shocked.

I asked my Polish colleagues about this, and they said they find the pictures helpful, because it helps them identify with the resumes. I believe the age and marital status are compulsory, as is their level of driver's license.

I don't know why I'd want to know if they could drive - I just want them to be able to write . . .

Monday, March 12, 2007

Lists

I've been overrun with lists lately. Lists of what to take to Poland, lists of things I need to do this week, lists of things to do before I leave, lists of to dos for my new job.

I've also been making mental lists of things I think I'll miss when I am in Krakow. That I'll miss my friends and my family immensely goes without saying. Some other things I think I'll miss (in no particular order):

TV - some of my friends gave up TV years ago, but I am a proud TV watcher. I have lists of shows that I watch faithfully and love. I negotiated satellite TV with my landlord, so I won't be entirely without TV, and some of it should even be in English. But I am not so sure that BSG and Veronica Mars will be on in Krakow any time soon.

Basketball - I've been playing basketball twice a week for the past 10 years. This year, I was out for the fall with some ankle injuries, so I got an idea of what it will be like without a team in Poland. And yes, I know they probably have basketball in Krakow too, but it may be a while before I can find a team who will take me. The same goes for Ultimate and Dragon boating, which don't even exist in Poland. And I know I'll miss teaching fitness classes - I don't think my Polish will be up to that for a long time.

CBC Radio - I'm an addict. And yes I know I can listen to it online, but it won't be the same. I am hoping I can find an English language radio station that I can listen to. I want to be in touch with what's going on where I am living, and I hope I can manage that with out speaking the language. I'll be taking Polish lessons but it will take me a while to be able to understand radio.

Peanut butter - What can I say? It's important to me. I am told I should be able to find most North American food in some of the larger more expensive grocery stores, but the local grocery store I checked didn't have any.

Multi-culturalism - Living in Toronto means living with people from all over the world. I can sit on the subway or streetcar and hear 10 different languages in one trip. And it means we have a great variety of food. I am not sure many people are immigrating to Poland from Asia and Africa these days.

The Danforth - I never came to the Danforth much before I moved here 5 years ago - I was a west end girl. Now I love walking the Danforth on a weekend, just checking out what's new in the stores, and browsing in Book City. But I know I'll be able to do similar things in Krakow - I am looking forward to falling in love with a whole new set of neighbourhoods.

Being teased - Donna promises to tease me long distance, but it just won't be the same. However, based on my previous visits with my Polish colleagues I am sure it won't take long before this is part of my daily routine in Krakow. My new manager was teasing me already about saying "in Toronto, we . . . ." Apparently, in his eyes I am not from TO anymore.

I could go on, and I am sure I will in future posts when I discover what I really do miss.

More than anything, I think I will miss being with people who know me so well. The other day I was out for lunch with my friend Diba, and when her lunch came with a dill pickle, she just looked at me and handed it over. Who in Krakow will know that I love dill pickles? And last night DW told me that he knew I would love blogging.

And he was right.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The last of the plants

My friend M just left my place, loaded up with 5 more of my plants. I've been giving them away for the last three weeks and my house is starting to look a little bare. One sad little plant is still sitting on the kitchen window sill, but that's about it.

It's driving me crazy to live in the midst of piles of stuff. With any luck my work permit will be ready in the next two weeks, and I can move to Krakow at the end of March.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Fat Thursday

Thursday morning (February 15th), I arrived in the office to find everyone eating doughnuts. Although this is a fairly typical event in my Canadian office where we have a Tim Horton’s in the building, I hadn’t seen doughnuts before in Krakow. And today there were flats and flats of them everywhere.

I found out that the doughnuts are a tradition to celebrate the last day of carnival, Fat Thursday, which ends the day before Lent begins. I asked my team if they gave up anything for Lent, and the reaction was mixed. Regardless of their diet during Lent, no one held back on the doughnuts. One woman ate 6! I believe the team average was four. I ate only two while at the office and was feeling pretty smug about it not eating more.

However, my relocation agent gave me another donut later that afternoon, and then when I walked into my hotel, I couldn’t resist taking another from the huge pile of donuts at the front desk

All smugness was gone by the time I was lying in bed that night, clutching my donut extended stomach.

Dzien Sw. Walentego

As someone who seems to be perpetually single, I have never been a big fan of Valentine’s Day. All of the Valentine’s Day hype – endless TV and radio commercials, restaurant specials, overpriced roses everywhere, and big red paper hearts – blurs into just one more over commercialized event on our North American calendar.

In the days leading up to it, I didn’t see many signs of Valentine’s Day in Krakow. My hotel advertised a special Valentine’s Day menu, and a red decorating scheme materialized. However, it is a big hotel, catering to foreigners and is part of an international chain.

I did see a few red paper hearts in some store windows, but a walk through one of the downtown malls didn’t reveal much more. And when I stopped by a chocolate shop in the main square Sunday afternoon, there was no sign that Valentine’s Day existed.

On the day itself, I pretty much forgot about it. That is, until I tried to find a place to eat.
I took a cab from the office to a restaurant in the center I had been meaning to try. When I walked in and asked for a table for one, I was turned away, the hostess saying I need a reservation. I had been turned away from another restaurant a few days later for the same reason, so I thought nothing of it until I started looking for another place to eat.

Everywhere I tried, I got the same response. Reservations only.

Then I started to realize that I was surrounded by couples. Most walking hand-in-hand, and almost all of the women holding single roses, which oddly enough, they held upside down. Some were even carrying red gift bags. I was right in the heart of Polish Valentine’s Day!

After a few more futile attempts to find a place to eat, I gave up and headed back to the hotel. I ended up eating in the hotel dining room, which was also full of Valentine’s Day celebrations. Young couples stared deep into each other’s eyes, while several older couples were also out celebrating the day.

The next day I asked my team if they celebrated Valentine’s Day and everyone emphatically answered yes. “Of course we do”. The men stated they’d be in big trouble if they didn’t.

I guess some things are just the same everywhere.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

I'm back

I finally managed, with help from blogger support, to get access to my blog again. So I'll start posting some more entries, and some pictures of Krakow in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I am back home and desperately going through all of my belongings, trying to sort out what to take with me, what to get rid of and what to keep here. For those of you who are thinking of doing an early spring cleaning, I highly recommend it. It's been about 5 years since I did a big purge of my stuff, and I wish I had done it sooner.

It feels good to get rid of stuff. And at the same time, I have been taking trips back to my youth, reading old love letters, notes from high school friends, and digging through tons of old photos. I decided that I should keep my old team photos of the Oilers (back in the glory days), although I did throw out my newspaper clippings of Torvil and Dean.

One thing that kept amazing me as I read through old letters was the amount of correspondence I kept up in my late teens and early twenties. All before email! I must have been constantly writing letters!

The letters pretty much stop about 10 years ago - damn email. After all, who keeps all their emails? Even if you do file them, if you are like me, you'll never back up, and eventually lose your hard drive, so they'll just be gone. Although I am happy I don't have to lug more boxes around with me, I am going to miss having the physical record of all my correspondence since I stopped writing letters.

Same thing with photos - after going through boxes of negatives, I was pretty happy that I have a digital camera. But I never print photos out anymore, and rarely look at them online. There's something to be said about having a tangible object to hold in your hand.

Finally, in some weird twist of fate, my mother has decided to clean out her house at the same time, and every time she phones me, she goes through lists of things of mine she still has stored. So not only do I have to clean out my home, I have to do a virtual housecleaning of my parents house every time I talk to them! It's a bit too much of a good thing.