Lots of seemingly phallic Soviet era art here.
Poznań 7
15 years in the EU
Poznań 6
This waiter in Poznań is from a little village where I teach!
Guess who?
Goulash soup
Breakfast “bagel” (yeah, no!)
Poznań 5
Pay as you use Vespa
This is flat painted wall
Poznań 4
Fabulous Greek food
Poznań 3
Poznań 2
Grilled chicken salad
Pork knuckle
Even saints like umbrellas
Poznań 1
It totally slipped my mind to post my photos from Poznan, where I went to May Day (Labor Day).
First, Poznan is a nice city of 550K, but it is not large enough to overpower a state holiday. There were two holidays while we were there, and the only place to find breakfast was in the historic center of the city. Restaurants did open later in the day, but shops were not open during the holiday.
Word to the wise -- if you're going to be in Poland during a national or religious holiday, stick to Warsaw and Krakow!
As always, there was lots of public art, decorated buildings, and there was fantastic food.
Nice video here -- not by me!
The photos will be in no particular order. As always, apologies for poor photography skills.
What’s up wid dat?!
Why do so many people remove their shoes on public transportation??? Can you not nap with your shoes on???
37
.... days left....
May Day in Poznan
I'm going to Poznan for Labor Day in Poland, called May Day in many other European countries.
Originally a celebration of spring, as labor movements in the US grew in power they suggested having a national holiday to celebrate the Worker and this movement gained popularity.
Most countries chose the May 1 date as a reminder of the Chicago Haymarket Massacre of 1886, in which police killed eight workers striking for an 8-hour work day.
US leaders instead chose to divert attention away from an actual Worker's tragedy, choosing a long weekend in September as their Labor Day -- which quickly morphed from celebration of Workers to a final blowout at the end of summer. This was actually a very smooth bait-and-switch and most Americans (even those evil few who read or watch International news) don't know that the parades and somber affairs they see on video stem from a tragedy in the US.
And so, public schools in Poland are closed for a long weekend, and my school is closed for a long weekend, and so I'm seeing a little more of Poland before I leave.
Poznan is supposed to be fun! And we KNOW there'll be good food and alcohol.
What I'll miss...
... a 16oz kickass flavorful beer, for $1. With $.20 refund if I bring back the bottle.
I am SOOOO looking forward to...
... a hot soak in a bathtub.
While in Poland, if there's been a tub the water has been only tepid. I've had some nice showers in AirBNBs... but I just want a nice soak...
42
Countdown to my last kiddie class ever!
Trip to Embassy Lessons Learned
Ok, one more lesson down on my way to becoming a Visa Consultant. (Discounts for services available for friends 45 and older.)
If I can get an Italian Notarization, no Apostille is required.
If I must get a non-Italian notarization, it must be based on my current geography. So, I have to get a Polish notarization and the i must get the Apostille from the appropriate Polish entity...
8 hours of my life without a tangible result, but I came away with a lesson which I can turn into Euros - guiding others who don’t have time make the mistakes themselves.
4 Month Suspension; Yeah Right
The teacher’s strike in Poland, which started with such promise - you know your message is generating positive feedback when conservatives call you “terrorists” - has fizzled out like a dud sparkler you bought at the state line for Fourth of July.
After the parliament revoked the requirement, making it so the students didn’t actually need to take the EO Year Exams (and then be rated/ranked) before taking the Ginormous Forever-and-ever-amen exam, the teachers union didn’t make such a big stink about the Unqualified administering the EO Year Exams.
Then the days continued passing .... and everyone seemed to settle into this lackadaisical finger pointing exercise... and no progress was being made... because the parents were no longer in pain because little Janusz’s exam needs were being met even if he was actually at home playing Fortnite.... and oh well, as long as little Janusz gets to go to the good school next year...
And the long Easter holiday was coming, and the May Day holiday weekend immediately after...and spring has sprung and everyone just wants to be happy... and of course the teachers have been without pay for 3+ weeks and they’re already poor as church mice....
(Colleagues told stories of ruined Easters because of fighting between actual Teachers and Old Man FOX-News-type PiS Poles - how the teachers enjoy cushy lives on the backs on the hard working people who don’t take the whole summer off.)
So the union, in its ultimate wisdom, decided “okay, we’ll ‘suspend ‘ the strike now, and start it up again when school STARTS in September...
Ho him, anticlimactic.... and I’ll be interested to see if the government gives any room after seeing how easily the teacher’s union caved at Exam time.
Aposti-wha?
Up this morning at the crack to catch a bus to Warsaw for an appointment at the US Embassy.... I need to get some documents notarized for my immigration attorney in Milan.
The preference is that they be notarized by an Italian notary, but the Italian Embassy/consulate only performs services for Italian citizens (as is to be expected I guess) and they actually didn’t even deign it worth their time to respond to my queries..... so I must have my documents notarized by a US notary AND THEN get an Apostille (which to the best I can understand is a notarization of the notarization — and needed in this case only because the notary is not Italian ).... thinking about it now, standing in the sunshine at the bus station, I wonder if a Polish notary (in Hooterville!!!!!) could have done the same for me... hmmmmmmm.... digressing, digressing.....
No clue if I can accomplish both tasks in a single visit.... I might be making ANOTHER early morning trek across Poland!
More about apostille: http://www.internationalapostille.com/what-is-an-apostille/
I hate teenagers
nuff said
Get Shit Done
One of my students— 10 years old — was wearing this shirt
Poland Farmland
… as seen from the bus window…