Jinxed

As soon as I posted the pictures of Krakow with snow, it started to rain. Krakow now looks muddy, and dirty. Kind of like Edmonton in late April or Toronto any time in the winter months.

Snow

It started snowing in Krakow on November 9th, and it hasn't really stopped since.

Here's what Krakow looks like these days:

Online

I'm typing this from my Mac, which after 6.5 months in Poland is finally online.

And it is all thanks to the first hockey fan I've met in Poland. I won't hold the fact that his favourite teams are the Leafs and the Flames against him.

Fluffy towels

The dryer part of my washer/dryer machine stopped working ages ago. Sometime in July I believe. Workman came to look at it and reported it needed a new part, which took forever to arrive.

Yesterday, in a flurry of activity (5 different tradesmen showed up at my apartment yesterday!), the dryer was finally fixed.

I realized this morning as I was drying myself off that this means my towels will once again be fluffy and soft!

Now if only the IT guys can get my router and internet connection to my Mac working.

Fog

Apparently, Krakow is famous for its fog.

Who knew?

After living here for nearly 7 months, and experiencing all four seasons (winter came to Krakow a few weeks ago with a 25 cm dump of snow that is still on the ground), I understand why. It can be foggy at any time of day - spring, summer, fall and winter.

Tonight my friends and I stepped out of the gym into complete fog. It is pretty, but not so much fun to drive through.

The Wall

I first visited Germany early in the fall of 1989. I stayed with some family friends for a week or so in Stuttgart, in what was then West Germany. We spent several evenings discussing the political situation - the German family had been divided after the war, with several members of their family still living in East Germany. The Germans were hopeful that change might come to their country gradually, allowing them to be reunited with their family, but at that time no one had any idea of the magnitude of events that would shortly occur.

6 weeks or so later when the Wall actually came down, I was somewhere else in Europe - I can't remember exactly where - maybe southern France. And like every other backpacker in Europe at the time, my friends and I wanted to head for Berlin to witness history. But when we checked the train schedules everything was completely booked. We figured it would take us a few days to get there, and we were nearing the end of our trip.

So I never made it to Berlin in 1989.

I'm finally going tomorrow, 18 years later.

B-ball boys

I spend my Tuesday evenings playing pick up basketball with some of the guys I work with. I'm the only female that plays (I used to drag one of the writers along with me, but she finally gave up on it, in fear that she'd get hurt) and I am sure I am probably ten years older than most of them.

The guys are exceedingly polite to me. They apologize profusely if they even brush against me and I don't think they try very hard to guard me. And they continue to pass me the ball no matter how many times I miss . . .

However, I feel like I finally may be getting treated like one of the guys. Tonight I went up for a rebound against several of them, and got elbowed in the side of the head!