The Tatras

At the end of June I went on a full day hike with many of my colleagues in the Tatra mountains, a few hours south of Krakow.

A full day hike translates into four hours up, and 3 hours down, with a few rest breaks in between.

The Tatras are Poland's highest mountains and are spectacular, even compared with my beloved Rockies.

Here are a few shots of from the few hundred that I took that day:













I'm going on another hiking trip with my team next weekend, in another of the mountain regions. Maybe I'll be able to post those pics a little sooner . . .

Happily ever after . . .

I attended my first Polish wedding yesterday. It shared many similarities with every other wedding I have attended: the bride was beautiful, the groom was very proud, family and friends were joyful.

However, unlike any other wedding I've been to, this one was held in a beautiful 14th century Gothic church. Fittingly several of the lovely hymns, sung by a choir composed of friends of the bride and groom, were also from medieval times. And the bride wore a long flowing dress and a crown of flowers that reminded me of portraits from the middle ages.



And, as my 3 year old friend Mis remarked several times, she was a princess. He was in awe of her, especially when he handed her a rose and she asked him for a kiss.



Before the ceremony my friends and I stopped in the Rynek (the main square) and bought huge bouquets of flowers for the bride. Flowers are extremely popular in Krakow - one corner of the Rynek is dedicated to flower stalls (see the yellow umbrellas in the picture below).



As I witnessed at some of the weddings I stumbled across this summer, everyone brings flowers for the bride. A few lucky friends or relatives are drafted into flower duty. Yesterday there were at least two flower bearers.



My Polish friend told me that there is a complicated system in place for distribution of all of the flowers after the wedding: some are given to the church, others decorate the reception hall, some are given to relatives, and others go home with the bride and groom.

And yes, it was all in Polish, except for a few Latin bits.

Small's long lost sister

Check out my friend M's blog to read about and see pictures of her cat Lola.

I know Lola, yet reading about some of her habits (and seeing her pictures again), made me realize that she and Small must have been separated at birth. They are strikingly similar in both temperament and looks.

And like M, I love Small fiercely (perhaps because not many others do) in spite of all her quirks.

The tram party

I attended my first big party in Krakow on Thursday night.

The party included all of the usual elements - dancing, drinking, lots of new people - with one major twist - it was on a tram (or streetcar for those of you more familiar with the Toronto public transportation system). And not just some old show tram, but a normal part of the Krakow fleet, following a normal route.

So full of anticipation and carrying a bag of unopened alcohol, I waited at a nearby tram stop with a few of my colleagues. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the tram pulled up, lights darkened, music blaring. The conductor jumped off the tram, ushered us on, punched our tickets, presented us with a plastic glass, and a shot of vodka.

Thus the night began.

I quickly discovered that the Poles really only drink vodka, and that they drink it straight, one shot after another. Everyone was so generous, constantly refilling my tiny glass, that at one point I had to start emptying it out the tram window instead of drinking it. Using my Canadian citizenship as an excuse ("I am Canadian, I am not used to drinking shots of vodka straight for hours") didn't seem to work on them, so I had to get even more creative in my non-drinking strategies in order to remain standing for the rest of the night.

Aside from the vodka, the party had many other attractions, including a DJ at the back of the tram, which led to a modified form of dancing in the aisles and on the seats, and some sort of athletic activity that was a cross between dancing and doing chin ups on the hand rails.

And since there were well over a 100 people crammed into the tram, I couldn't help but meet new people. I have no idea who many of them were, and will most likely ever never see most of them again, but all were very friendly.

Several hours later, after driving through areas of Krakow I had never before seen, the tram stopped and we all piled out.

Elections and online shopping

Today I received my voter registration card for the upcoming Ontario election (my Canadian mail is forwarded to me here - just a tip if you ever want to send me a physical letter).

This will be the first election I haven't voted in since I reached the age of majority. Which is a bit of bummer. I did spend a few more minutes seeing if there was an alternate way to vote if you are out of the country, but the registration card didn't mention anything but advance poll dates.

So I guess Ontario's fate will be decided without me.

Coincidentally, Poland is also having an election in October. I have yet to see one sign for a candidate. However, one of my politically astute employees ensures me that there are some, and that there will be more soon.

So to drown my sorrows in not being able to vote in not one but two elections, I indulged in some online shopping. A month or so ago, one of my friends sent me a site that specializes in Canadian food for expats.

And although my grandma tried to talk me out of buying salt and vinegar chips (she told me I didn't need them, which is true), several bags of Miss Vickies will soon be winging their way toward me, accompanied by wine gums, jujubes and Kraft Peanut Butter.

Cabin Fever

I've been fighting the flu since last Thursday, which means I've been shut up in my apartment since Friday night.

It's a lovely apartment, but rotating from the bed to the couch, with occasional stops at my desk, is wearing a bit thin.

On the bright side, the cats are enjoying my constant company. However, they are getting a bit too used to the routine. This morning Flannery meowed at me when I sat at my desk instead of going back to bed.

I can't wait to get out of the house.

Fast food

One of the things I miss most about Canada is being able to stop somewhere on my way home from work to pick up a veggie burger.

Yep, it's sad. I miss fast food. Not that they don't have fast food here in Poland, but most of it (as in Canada) is meat-oriented. Hamburgers are scarce in Poland, and I am pretty certain in asserting that there is not a veggie burger to be found anywhere in the country.


I think this is my 100th post. Could the topic be anymore inane? Wait, don't answer that . . .

Babies

It's appropriate that my first post after "Weddings" is all about babies . . .

I just found out that one of my long-time friends had her 2nd child yesterday. Welcome Joe!

When I left Canada, I knew that I would miss these special events in my friends' and families' lives. Joe (who I assume might actually go by the name Joseph) lives in Calgary with his parents and big brother Thomas, which is pretty far from TO, but baby Diego, who was born in May, only lives a 10 minute drive away from my former abode.

Diego and Joe, and all my other small-fry friends, I'm thinking of you and your parents. I am sorry to miss all the major and minor events in your first years.

Weddings

I have weddings on the brain. Today I discussed Polish wedding protocol with several of my colleagues in preparation for the wedding next weekend. One of my writers asked me if I would get dressed up for it, and then we spent the next few minutes discussing dresses.

Yep, girls are the pretty much the same everywhere.

And I just now whiled away some time online looking at pictures of my little niece as a flower girl, and then reading all about a friend of a friend's wedding. The description of the dancing made me remember the promise I extracted from several of my friends a few years ago.

Shannon and Donna, whenever, if ever, I get married, you are on the hook to dance late into the night. I hold the rest of you reading this to the same standard.

Lights out

The street lights in my area have been out twice in the past week. It's spooky, not to mention hard to park in the dark, particularly when you park on the sidewalk like I do.

I keep imagining plots to invade the neighbouring embassy. Obviously I have been watching too many episodes of the British show Spooks (known as MI-5 in North America).

Polish wedding

One of my colleagues at work just invited me (and many other people we work with) to her wedding ceremony next Saturday. I'm excited!

As I've been touring around the past few months, I've run into several weddings (accidentally crashing a few ceremonies as I wandered into churches on Saturday afternoons).

Polish receiving lines appear to take place right after the church ceremony, in the church yard. Many people bring flowers for the bride, and the maid of honour ends up buried in bouquets, as the bride hands them off to the maid immediately after being given them. We also saw people give huge gift boxes, including children's toys, at one receiving line.

I am also looking forward to attending a wedding ceremony in which I won't understand a word.

What I did on my summer vacation

Thought you might like to see how I spent my week on the Baltic coast of Poland.

I spent time visiting castles (this one at Malbork is a beauty),



walking through parks,



and hanging out at the seashore.

Expats

Today I attended my first expat event since becoming one. It's astonishing how many people from around the world live and work in Krakow - I met people from several different parts of Europe (a large number of French), India, Asia, and the US. No other Canadians though, although I know there are some out there since two work for me.

I am also amazed by the diversity of work in Krakow - I met people who work in fibre optics, IT, and someone who creates liquid nitrogen products that fuel space shuttles, (or something like that).

I had been a little hesitant about hanging out with the expat crowd before moving here (I thought I could more truly experience Poland by socializing with the Poles). However, the expat gang was extremely welcoming, and it's nice to be with people who are experiencing the same things as me (like struggling with the language!)

Meow!

Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow.

It started sometime after 5 am and didn't stop even after I finally fed the little monster around 7 am.

Then the other one started up!

Flying

I've flown to several European cities this summer: Paris, Rome, Gdansk. But I haven't flown directly to any one of them from Krakow, so I've also had pleasant stopovers in the Vienna, Munich, Milan, and Warsaw airports.

Krakow is not a hub and I can't ever get a good, cheap flight with one of the many discount airlines that apparently fly out of Krakow and fly directly to the above mentioned cities.

But, I don't mind, because one of the unexpected bonus of flying is free English language newspapers. Today I read the Warsaw Business Journal (yeah, I am a little desperate to read English newspapers), the Chicago Times, which I found lying in an airport waiting room, and the Financial Times, which is British and has an excellent weekend paper, including all my favourite weekend sections - lifestyle, arts, books, and home sections.

I have been reading more papers online lately, but nothing beats reading a physical copy.

Home

I just arrived back in Krakow after a week exploring Poland's Baltic coast with my parents. Like everywhere else I've been in Poland, the Baltic coast was surprisingly beautiful. The more I see of this country, the more entranced I am by it.

And on the way back from the airport, I realized that I felt like I was going home.

My new haircut

Pauline in Toronto has been cutting my hair for years. For so long now that I can't even remember the last time someone else cut it.

Like most women, I have a special relationship with my hair stylist. I trust her implicitly not to make me look like an idiot, and she pretty much knows that she has complete control over me when I sit in her chair. Plus, we have really good conversations.

At some point during the long lead up to my move to Poland, Donna, who also gets her hair cut by Pauline, turned to me with a horror stricken look on her face and said, "but who will cut your hair in Krakow?"

I laughed because at the time I thought, "I'll find someone to cut my hair. No problem."

A few weeks ago I decided that 4 months between haircuts was probably long enough. I got a recommendation from my friend Magda, who actually called her hair stylist and explained to her that I didn't speak Polish and booked the appointment for me.

However, Magda was busy the day I actually got my hair cut, so I went it alone. How hard could it be?

It's harder than I thought. Just try and mime to your hair stylist how you want your hair to look.

And hair cutting techniques in Poland are different than in Canada. At one point I had to stand up while she cut my hair. Then I had to turn my head in different angles while standing. Finally, I was allowed to sit down again.

So far so good. But when we came to blow drying and styling things got a little tricky. At one point she showed me a picture of a woman with incredibly curly hair. I thought perhaps they have really advanced styling products in Poland if they could make my hair look like that.

Then they showed me another photo of a woman with straighter hair, but flipped out on the ends. I thought that might be manageable, so nodded my assent.

Yet, the reality didn't quite look like the picture. And trying to explain that I didn't want wings at the side of my head (complimenting my brand new straight across bangs) was beyond my abilities. The stylist and I just looked at other, neither really understanding what the other was trying to convey.

It all worked out in the end, and Magda says that the stylist will take me again. I just miss my conversations with Pauline.

Maybe I'll even post a pic of my new bangs.

The princess and the pea

My mom is a notoriously poor sleeper. She's very particular about her sleeping arrangements and everyone knows if she hasn't slept well. As a result, both of my brothers and I have murphy beds in our homes (her bed of choice away from home).

After my first guest in Krakow told me that the sofa bed in the guest room was very hard, I started to panic. What could I do to make the bed more comfortable? Several helpful North Americans suggested I buy the egg shell crate foamy things you can put on beds in North America.

No such thing in Krakow.

So off I went (again) to Ikea to find something soft to put on the bed. My first attempt was a pillowy mattress cover. My second house guest said it was fine, but I knew it wouldn't be enough.

Before my third set of guests arrived, I went back to Ikea to find something else. This time I bought a mini mattress that was 5 cm thick to put on top of the bed. The third house guests said it was just fine (and one of those house guests sleeps on an extremely soft mattress called the Debutante).

I was hopeful that this solution would be enough - sofa bed, 5 cm foamy mattress, and pillowy mattress cover. For the first night it seemed to be.

But then a few days later, Mom admitted to me that she found the bed uncomfortable. So off we went to Ikea again. Mom's favourite option was a 30 cm thick memory foam type mattress (Dad looked aghast as he mentally calculated not only the price in CDN dollars, but how we would get it into the car and carry it up 61 steps). Fortunately, that one wasn't available in the correct size.

Instead Mom settled for a 10 cm thick foam mattress topper. Dad and I were relieved that it fit into the car.

Back at home, we swapped the 5 cm thick foamy for the 10 cm one. The next day, it was decided that the 5 cm thick foamy would also go on.

Since then, she's slept just fine (except when Dad is snoring). I haven't tried inserting a pea under all of those layers yet.

I've been busy

Can't believe I haven't posted for two weeks. My parents are here now, and providing me with much material for blogging (including burning toast which resulted in a visit from the fire department - 3 trucks, and an obsession with the reconstruction of the building across the street), but I haven't had the chance to sit down and write.

Mom and Dad arrived on the 23rd, and I've been working during the weeks (and a few too many evenings) while they've been here. I am on vacation now for a week, and we are off to Gdansk on Monday. Although I have been on a few trips since I've been here, this is the first time I've had more than a few days off in a row, and I am really looking forward to being able to relax and sleep in a bit. Plus, everyone tells me I'll love Gdansk, and that it is one of the two most beautiful citis in Poland (the other being Krakow).

The parents seem to like Krakow. Dad has developed a fondness for Polish beer and Mom has quickly found her way to the market, the cukiernas (cake and cookie shops), and several art galleries. Several times Mom has mentioned what they'll do on their next visit.