The beach

I spent three lovely sun-filled hours at Vanier Beach in Vancouver today with my sis-in-law, two nieces and the family dog.

Ella built sand castles for hours, while Loki repeatedly retrieved balls from the Pacific ocean. I divided my time between throwing the ball, filling buckets with water (to create mud), and holding Mia, who slept the whole time.

I always forget how beautiful Vancouver is. I took several photos, which I'll post some day soon.

On my way

It's 7:51 am and I am sitting in the business class lounge at the Krakow airport sipping orange juice and wondering if I really want to eat paprika potato chips this early in the morning.

I'm off to Munich, then Frankfurt, and then finally Vancouver. With any luck I'll be meeting my new niece in 16 or 17 hours.

Spinsterhood

At dinner tonight, one of my friends told me that the Poles consider a single woman over 28 pretty much a spinster. I wasn't particularly surprised as one of my employees mentioned a few months ago that her mother was concerned that she would never get married.

She's 24.

I will add these tidbits to my list of things I should have learned about Poland before moving here.

Geek fit

Although I've never been a big gamer, I've been coveting the Wii since I first played with it last Christmas. And my desire for it grew even stronger when I heard about Wii Fit.

My friend S raved about Wii Fit so much when she visited me in June that we went looking for the Wii when she was here. We didn't find it that day, and I sort of forgot about it until my brother and his family showed up in August. My mother had just bought it for the girls and they told me all about it.

We just happened upon it one day while we were all out shopping, and after that I couldn't get it out of my head. I ended up buying the Wii the next day, and my brother bought me the Wii Fit as an early Christmas present.

It just might be the 2nd best Christmas present I've ever received (I don't think anything will ever top the great guinea pig event of Christmas 1980). I've used Wii Fit everyday since I got it. 19 days - I know exactly how many because it tells me when I first turn it on, along with other facts I am not so keen to know, like my weight, my BMI, my Wii Fit age, and my center of gravity.

But once I get past those not so happy thoughts, I am all over the exercises. Who knew virtual hula hooping was actually a workout? And who would have thought it was fun? Today I hit 405 spins (right direction) in 90 seconds. Top that!

Somehow, getting scored on push ups and other strength and yoga exercises makes me want to do them more. And having my total workout time shown to me after each exercise makes me think, "just two more minutes". Which often ends up turning into another 30.

I'm addicted. And if I keep it up, I just might meet my ideal weight goal, which Wii Fit set for me. It tells me I've got 74 more days to make it.

Rain, rain, go away

Not only has it turned cold, but it's been raining non-stop since Monday. It's chilly, grey, wet, and generally miserable.

Plus I can't remember how to turn the heat on, or figure out how to fix my skylight that's stuck slightly ajar, 12 feet up.

To top it all off, I had looked at the weekend forecast earlier today and it said sunny and 16 on Saturday (hurray!) and slightly cooler but still sunny on Sunday. Now it's forecasting rain both days.

It's making notoriously rainy Vancouver look good.

3 weekends

without guests or a trip is apparently my limit. Last week (after only one free weekend), I got it in my head that I needed to go to Canada. So after a short discussion with my boss today, I booked a plane ticket for the end of September.

It will be a whirlwind trip with stops in Vancouver and Toronto (with even shorter stops, I hope, in the Munich and Frankfurt airports), but I am sure 10 days will be enough to get my much needed Canada fix.

Fall

It's 10 am in Krakow and 8 degrees. The forecast high for the day is 13. Plus it's grey and cloudy.

Last weekend it was 30 degrees on Saturday and 29 on Sunday. Last night it was so cold I had to get my winter duvet out.

I am not ready for summer to be over yet. I'm hoping this is just a blip . . .

The Wild West?

A few weeks ago a note went around my office inviting everyone to a company picnic. The theme for this year's party was the Old West, complete with native dancers, cowboy-themed games and country and western dancing.

My first reaction was laughter. After all, I grew up in Alberta, and my hometown hosts an annual rodeo, which is part of the qualifying circuit for the Stampede. Poland doesn't even have beef cattle!

But then I became intrigued. How would the Poles interpret the old west?

Today I found out. The dancers (all Poles) wore native costumes with varying degree of authenticity. Some looked similar to what I remember seeing in Alberta and in museums there, while others looked like they might have actually come from India.

Although the dancing was enthusiastic and participatory - audience members were dragged in - one of my Polish colleagues remarked that some of it looked remarkably similar to a Polish waltz.

However, the country music later in the evening and the accompanying dancing was a bit closer to the mark. I was never part of the country scene growing up, and can't two-step to save my life, but hearing several old country songs while sitting in a Polish hall, watching several of my co-workers attempt to line dance made me yearn for the real west.

Dancing queens

During my holiday with my brother and his family, I often threatened my nieces by promising to write about their (mis)adventures on this blog.

Although they pretended to be mortified by such exposure, I know they are secretly craving the fame that comes with a mention here. So my little bratanicas (Polish for nieces), your 5 minutes has come.

From now on, I'll always think of Budapest when I hear certain ABBA songs, particularly Mamma Mia and Super Trooper. The bratanicas saw the movie Mamma Mia (twice) just before they came to Poland, and their father thoughtfully loaded their iPods with the soundtrack.

We spent many, many hours on trains to and from Budapest, and ABBA was in high rotation. H particularly likes to sing along with her iPod, which isn't always the best idea when you are sitting in a train compartment full of your family members. Being resourceful, and tired of the relentless teasing, she found an empty cabin where she could sing aloud to her heart's content, much to the amusement of the conductor who came to check her ticket.

A similar train compartment was the site of my favourite moment of that trip. After 10 or so hours of boat and then train travel, we were all tired and a bit giddy. H was still singing aloud to her iPod, when I realized I had ABBA on mine. I suggested that we try to synch up and listen to the same song.

So with one earphone in my ear and one in M's, and H sharing hers with her mother, we starting listening to the same tunes. And as everyone knows, you can't just listen to an ABBA song, you have to sing along. So slightly out of synch, and terribly out of tune, two generations of Hex women sang loudly and enthusiastically to all the hits. We gestured, we giggled, and we made up the words.

I loved every minute of it.

The kitchen is closed

After 5 months of hosting many of my family and friends, my last house guests have gone home.

And I'm sad about it.

But not sad enough to invite anyone else to stay just yet :)

I think I spent more time with the important people in my life in Krakow this past spring and summer then I did when I was living in Canada. And without fail, after each visit I wished that the family member or friend lived here so that I could see them more often.

I'm not ready to leave Krakow yet, but I do wish you all lived here too.