Warsaw

I finally downloaded my pictures from my trip to Warsaw a few weeks ago. Poor Warsaw has a reputation for being grey, and unfortunately the weather was the weekend I was there. I only saw the sun for a few hours in 3 days.

However, the grey skies and the chilly weather didn't dampen my enthusiasm for the Polish capitol. The architecture is extremely diverse - from the old town, which was totally destroyed in WW2 and then rebuilt in the 50s based on 17th century paintings, to the social realist/brutalist style, to modern skyscrapers. The art and design magazine Wallpaper was so impressed with Warsaw that it dedicated an entire travel guide to the city.

Here's a pic of the iconic, yet locally hated, Palace of Science and Culture.



The Palace is a pretty impressive building and can be seen for miles. However, Stalin built it as a gift for the people of Poland, which doesn't make it popular with the locals.

More pics to follow in upcoming posts.

Too good to be true

For the last several months, I've felt like I've been on a roller coaster.

During the first several weeks of 2009 I was focused on trying to stay in Krakow. After I received the final answer that I would be moving back to Canada this spring, I needed to concentrate on the logistics of my move, finding a new position at home, figuring out who would replace me here, and many many other details.

On top of all of that I decided to renovate my home before I return to Toronto, and I turn 40 next weekend.

Frankly, it all is a bit too much for me.

So, imagine my glee when I checked my Canadian bank account last weekend and noticed that I had received a very substantial tax refund.

The euphoria didn't last, as lately I've learned to wait before celebrating any seemingly good news.

Sure enough I got an email yesterday telling me that this wasn't my 2008 tax refund, but some repayment from the government for my dual tax payments in Canada and Poland in 2007. The email stipulated that this money is not for me, and I must promptly send a cheque off to my employer.

Back to that roller coaster . . .

Not so small

As I sit here writing this Small is meowing at my feet, wanting to be fed.

A few weeks ago, in preparation for our upcoming move, I weighed her. She now tips the scales at close to 11 kg - I am not even going to translate that into pounds as the number is appalling large for a cat, no matter how big . . .

When I looked at the paperwork I kept from our move two years ago, she only weighed 9.5 kg.

So, she's on an even stricter diet. Needless to say she doesn't like it. Today I caught her eating the crumby remains of my blueberry muffin.

Glitterati

I finally made it to Warsaw - I figured I shouldn't live in a country for two years without ever visiting the capitol.

I already have much to say about the city and I've been composing this post over dinner, but somehow I have landed in the middle of some swanky Polish celebrity event. I'm literally in the middle of it: the hotel "business center" is actually a desk with a computer in the lobby. I am surrounded by tall, gorgeous women in beautiful frocks and the papparazzi is everywhere.

I'm pretty much blinded by the flashess.

And since I feel a little out of place typing away in my comfy, baggy travel pants in the middle of the party, my impressions of Warsaw will have to wait.

I'm hoping to snag some of the swag they are giving the starlets (Frey Wille bags), but I think they'll realize I'm not with the party.

Stangely there don't seem to be any male stars here.

Coincidence

I was at my book club last night when one of the members told me she'd been reading my blog. I haven't really publicized it, so I was a bit surprised (but very pleased, since she told me she'd read the whole thing!)

Apparently she was searching on Krakow and Benjamin Moore paint (she's decorating a new flat) and she somehow happened on my friend S' blog Apropos of Nothing. S' blog is about her life in Canada and her blog, like her life, is mostly consumed by her house renovation. At some point she must have been discussing Benjamin Moore paint.

From there my book club buddy noticed S' link to my blog about living in Krakow, and she figured out it was me. Funnily enough she lives just across the street from me!

It really is a small world.

Tears

I found out a few weeks ago that I will be going back to Canada in a few months, as was originally scheduled when I moved here in May 2007. For most of the last year I thought I'd be staying in Krakow longer (perhaps a year or two more), which really pleased me, but, as everyone knows, the economic climate has changed since then.

So I'm going home. I cried when I found out and have shed more then a few tears about it since.

It's not that I don't love Toronto and all of my fantastic family and friends in Canada, but I've fallen in love with Krakow, and I'm not quite ready to leave.

The toughest part was telling my team this week. I interviewed and hired all but one of them (currently there are 12), and have watched them all learn and become passionate about our profession. They truly are a great group.

By Wednesday I thought I was prepared for it, but as I started to tell them, the tears started again and I had to stop and compose myself.

But I got through it, and now I am concentrating on all of the things I need to see and do in Poland and at work in the next two months (believe me there's still a long list and I haven't even gotten to my European list yet).

And, as my mother keeps reminding me, I have had a fantastic two years here. I'm not quite ready to summarize it all yet - there will be more then enough time for that when I'm back in Toronto.

Chim chim cher-oo

The other morning, on the way to my early morning tennis lesson (7am!), I noticed two men dressed entirely in black. On their heads they wore small black caps, and over their shoulders carried long coils of cable.

I realized they were chimney sweeps. Their outfits reminded me of the illustrations in one of my favourite childhood novels, The Water Babies.

Although Krakow is in many ways a modern and westernized city, small details like the chimney sweeps in their Victorian era uniforms remind me daily that this is a very different place, with a much stronger sense of history and tradition, then where I'm from.

The sweeps I've had in to work on my chimney in Toronto wore blue jeans and white coveralls. Not nearly the same effect.

If only I'd had my camera with me.

Note: The wikipedia article linked to above mentions that sweeps in Croatia still wear the traditional dress with the small black caps. I should write in to append that they do in Poland as well. Note that the sweeps in Krakow were not wearing the extremely odd headress-like hat that is in the accompanying picture.