For Christmas party, tight black dress, multiple layers of tights and leggings, a turtleneck, and snow boots.
Sadly you can’t see the boots, but they are fab, and I am rockin’ it Poland style!
Cold and Flu Season Update
I have contracted The Plague from a 10-year-old who sneezed on me. Lesson learned: never tempt Mother Nature
Friday Night in the Kingdom of Radom
On Friday night Rebecca my roommate and I went out after work. There’s a nice upbeat restaurant/bar downstairs from the school where we sometimes go. The waiter Damian speaks great English, though in the Polish tradition he likes to say “no, no, my English is bad…” He’s tall and smiles with a Lauren Hutton-esque gap and Flock of Seagulls hair.
We drank some killer dark beer with a fabulous flavor, and we had a Polish vodka shot with the requisite smalec (lard) on dense bread. Pickles required.
Then some of Rebecca’s adult students (in truth, her fave students) came to our table with a bottle of vodka and forced two more shots on us! Nostrowia!!
We split a dinner of Hungarian Goulash over a potato pancake. JHC! That’s some good eatin’!! The pancake was really like hash browns, and the goulash was fork tender.
This is my half of the order!
We stumbled home arm-in-arm — actually she guided me home because she is a professional drinker, whereas I am only an amateur — and then there was some drunk dialing going on…
All-in-all, a pretty successful excursion.
Friday Fish
I’ve been asked if the portions are really small, and therefore the people are not as obese in Poland as in the US.
The portions are slightly smaller than in the US, but it seems soup is always served as part of the (restaurant) meal. And these are big honkin’ bowls of soup— I’d guesstimate a good 12 ounces if not more... and always delicious.
In comparing today’s fish and chips (and two kinds of fabulous kraut) with last week’s baked fish with tots and kraut, definitely today’s portions were larger than last week... I couldn’t finish everything... but in today’s restaurant they don’t serve dessert as part of the lunch special. The price is the same.
There is much less obesity in Poland, but it still occurs (much more than in Italy).
Holiday Plans
I'm really excited about planning my Christmas trip. This time I'm going to Krakow. I'm meeting my friend Barb, an American who lives in Milan. This is Christmas-palooza Due (pronounced "doo eh"), as we were in Provence together last Christmas.
My first stop, as usual, was AirBNB where there are tons of fabulous apartments at great USD prices!
Next I talked to many of my colleagues and adult students about what I should see... and I consulted TripAdvisor.
It had totally left my mind (or perhaps been blocked) that Krakow is near Auschwitz and is also the city that Schindler operated in -- so these items are Priority 1. We both feel we must take time out of a happy holiday to be justifiably horrified -- lest people be allowed to forget.
After this we're going to be taking in the Christmas market, some old churches and synagogues, and maybe drinking some Polish vodka... Maybe...
It's Better in Poland
By Dec 1 2017 I had already had three terrible colds - debilitating and long lasting. I confirmed with an American doctor living in Milan that your body needs time to adjust to the strains of illnesses specific to a place, and as such it was normal for a newcomer to fall ill often until they build immunity.
Also, public trans (subways, trams, buses) are fantastic incubation pods for every plague flashing through the day cares and elementary schools -- the air you breath as well as all the surfaces, doors, card readers, hand rails, etc.
In Radom, though much colder than Milan, I haven't been sick once yet, even though I'm surrounded by plague carriers all day every day. I'm attributing this to taking mostly private cars and walking. And taking a big dose of Emergen-C every freakin day!
(Don't ask me if I'd rather be in Milan even WITH the probability of plague... Let's not go there...)
The Line Starts Here
I've never really thought in-depth about the process behind standing in line.
We learn it from our earliest forays into group care or education, a way for sitters or teachers to keep us corralled, safe, controlled. We're judged on how compliant and calm we are in the line.
Even into adulthood we judge others on how they perform in line. There's even a Big Bang Theory episode about In-Line-Etiquette (and I must say, I'm torn between the Sheldon hard line, and the Howard meh… ).
In a US shop, not a grocery store or big box store where checkout lines are very clearly demarcated, but in a shop where there may be only one or two cash registers, the line typically forms perpendicular to the counter. It’s just a thang. We all know it.
But in Poland, the line is formed parallel to the counter... so in small shops, at the meat counter in the grocery store, everywhere, you lean on the counter and inch yourself toward the person who is helping you... which means (in the case of the meat counter) that no one can even SEE what's in the counter until you're in the line and leaning up against the glass...
The lines are very orderly, everyone would get gold stars... I guess it's the residual training from Communist times.
I have never had this experience.
It was a very good year...
Oh! If you are a Netflix addict -- and really, who isn't -- there is a new Polish show on called 1983.
The linked article suggests that Americans will need to read subtitles -- and we know THAT will never happen -- but on my Italian Netflix there is dubbing in English, so I'm golden and you may be too.
The premise is of an alternate timeline where the Lech Walesa-led Solidarity-movement never came to fruition, Mr Gorbah-Chev never tore down the wall, and "the party" is stronger and more pervasive than ever.
I've just gotten into it, but a plotline of an old-school cop, mysteriously out of favor, following a series of so-called-suicides which no one wants investigated is prolly gonna keep my interest.
Watch closely, now... are ya watchin me now...
I find myself at the movies again on Saturday night. This time I saw "A Star is Born".
This movie has been made so many times. 1937.... Judy Garland in 1954... And then, from my youth, Barbra Streisand and Kris Krisofferson in 1976 (do the math, jerks!). I had the soundtrack on vinyl and it was meditative while doing my many household chores in high school.
"The black, black widow is sittin' in the middle of the web It's the fly she seeks.."
I notice right away that Bradley Cooper (of the glow-in-the-dark blue eyes) is taking on some kind of non-Bradley voice which I (wrongly!!!) attribute as an homage to Kris Krisofferson. It was actually an homage to hunka-hunka Sam Elliott (Lifeguard, anyone... anyone?) who plays Bradley's long-suffering less-successful brother.
Story is predictable -- fourth iteration, after all -- but seemed more ham-fisted with the morals... yes, Elly sold her soul for fame; yes, Jack was stupidly jealous of her rising star.
I didn't really enjoy the camera action in this file. Everything seemed very close... too close...
Three points of comparison leave me slightly favoring the 1976 version:
2018 - It seemed in this version, Elly kept her wide-eyed-wonder love for Jack, even in the face global humiliation and his disintegration before our eyes.
1976 - I felt that John Norman Howard took a more "manly" way out, than did Jackson Maine.
1976 - I preferred the tribute concert by Esther over that by Elly.
WTF-o-meter!!!! Andrew Dice Clay plays Elly's father!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoon and Fork
Omg! Another stellar meal today in my fave restaurant Fork and Spoon (Spoon and Fork???). Piping hot soup with boiled egg, kielbasa and a delicious broth; baked fish, sauerkraut, and tater tots; chocolate cake for dessert. It might have been chocolate carrot or chocolate orange and it had just a drizzle of cream cheese frosting... cake was a tad dry, but yummy!!! $6 including tip!!!
And on the way out, the waitress and I rescued a ladybug from certain death by broom, so maybe my luck is gonna change!!!
Bambi sighting
When we dropped the young teacher off at her family home deep in the forest, a group of deer were frolicking in the night. They didn’t want to move out of the road.
Not the greatest photo, but you get the gist.
Can You Say SAD?
Seasonal Affective Disorder
... So there's that....
I found myself at the cinema again today. I saw Crimes of Grindelwald. I came away ambivalent.
I'm an old-school HP fan, reading all seven books multiple times, and seeing the movies over and over. I am a true fan.
Those movies were kept on track, on plot, by the JKR canon -- there were books loved by millions and the author insisted that Hollywood not waiver away.
But this series, written in screenplay, is allowed to exist more for bigger and better special effects than for the plot (as always good vs. evil, if you look closely beyond the explosions to see it).
I give it three 'Meh'...
But hey, I went to the mall and saw some people.
Sex and the... Pierogi
I had a Sex and The City moment this weekend. Not that kind of Sex and The City moment!
It was a moment when Carrie was in grey and frozen Paris, and she stumbled into a cafe and all around her were groups of women friends laughing and hanging out together.
And she really missed her friends....
Yummy for my tummy
Potato pancakes with mushrooms sauce... from my favorite restaurant
It's Better in Poland
In Poland my radiator heat is on throughout the night!!!!!
In Italy, the radiator heat was on during the day (while I was working) and then would go off from 10 pm to 6 am (when the weather is coldest).
I guess it was a signal from some Don Benjamin Franklin-ese — “This is the time when all good Italians should be in bed”… I vividly remember having a conversation with a German student… we were both like “WTF wid dat!?”
Happy Thanksgiving
I have no idea who took this photo, so I cannot give credit to that person, but I can say unequivocally that I did not take it... all rights reserved. Please do not fold, spindle or mutilate. Do not rebroadcast without the express written permission of Major League Baseball.
Moose!
I saw a moose! It was standing in the trees at the side of the road as we drove through the forest. It was a female and she was maybe 20 feet from the pavement. It was too quick for me to get photo proof.
A teacher who’s has been driving this route weekly for 8 years told me she’s only seen a moose once.
The Trifecta
Fine Polish Vodka, bread with lard...
... and snow.
