Winter Break

This is definitely something the Poles are doing right and we are doing wrong.  Only four weeks in to the new term and I'm already on holiday; a two week break.  Fantastic.  Winter break officially starts today!

Most Poles go skiing in the mountains for winter break, some visit relatives and a few make it abroad for a more exotic holiday.  I'm going to spend a few days recovering from the last hectic few weeks, nip to England for the weekend and then head to Lviv and the east of Poland.

Jeszcze swieta czas?

There's something a little strange going on in Poland.. it's the end of January, and all of the Christmas decorations are still up! Did someone forget to take them down or are they just ultra prepared for Christmas 2011?  I heard that they will be up till early February, which seems rather late to me, but they're not bad to look at in the meantime.


Apparently most Poles don't take down their Christmas trees and decorations till around the same time either, it's traditional to leave everything in place until the local priest has visited and blessed the home, then they come down.  A busy time for priests then, but maybe not for much longer.  A friend told me that she took her decorations down before the priest had been, and many people no longer even let him into their homes or donate money to the church which has always been part of the traditional routine.  


This is another indication of progressive Poland; people seem to be moving away from their previously very strongly held Catholic beliefs and traditions.  As I've said before I think it's a shame to see tradition being gradually eroded here in Polska, it may be a very different country in a few years time.  I just hope they keep the soups.

He/She/It - what?

I love the Polish way of naming everything we would refer to as 'it' in English as a he or a she....

Today I found out that my computer, well he broke himself.  Damians arm, she was hurting him.  Our router, well he was too fast for 'that little guy' (the modem).  I remember when a bee was chasing Pawel, 'she' wouldn't leave him alone.  It's the same with plants too.  I really can't fathom how any of these things become sexed, but I'm glad they do, it never fails to make me smile.

It's snowing - again!

Hurray, the black slush is becoming white slush as we speak.  Torun is so pretty in the snow.. my mood lifted as soon as I saw it was snowing again this morning and by this evening everything was starting to become white.

I really hope it keeps on snowing and gets really cold.  It hit around minus 15 briefly in December but since the new year began its been a very boring 1,2,3 degrees, even as high as 8 a few days ago.  Sarah bought a thermometer for our balcony, and we've been very disappointed with what we've seen so far, where is this minus 25 winter we were all terrified of?

The Poles seems to hate winter, obviously they're sick of it year after year, but for me this could be the only year I get to experience winter in Poland, and I want it to hurt!!!

Fort VII

Toruń is surrounded by 15 forts dating back to the late 1800's.  According to my source (wikipedia) they were built by the Kingdom of Prussia to defend the eastern Prussian border against the Russians.

Today, desperately in need of exercise and looking for something to do, I took a walk to Fort VII.  It's only 40 minutes walk from Długa and easy enough to find down a couple of main roads through the forest.  The walk reminded me that it's still winter in Poland - the weather has been disappointingly warm since Christmas, but I had a few near misses on some of the icy paths and some of them I found completely impossible to walk on.  It was pretty though.

Fort VII was intended to be one of the major artillery forts of the 15, but unfortunately it became the site of the execution of over 1,500 Poles by the Gestapo in the Second World War (Oct 39–Jan 40).  The 'Wall of Death' still stands, the thick red brick walls are charred and full of huge holes where people were lined up and shot.  It was eerie and uncomfortable as all remnants of the brutality of WWII are, the reality of it really smacks you in the face.  The memorial plaque was a mess, candles and flowers were broken and strewn all over the place.  I really hope that the bad weather was responsible for the mess and I spent some time tidying up as best I could.  

I walked around the ruins of the fort trying to find my way back to the main road, concious that the sun had already started going down.  I finally found a road and guessed the direction to take, thankfully I was right.  I walked past a couple of old ladies on my way home and thought about the things they must have seen in their lifetimes, reminded that history for me is still experience for others.  Lest we forget.

To date

Well, I've been completely bored and a bit depressed (January and so forth blues) all week.  I've trudged through and finally made it to the weekend.  Everything has just seemed to go wrong this week, my cough (2 months in counting) came back with a vengeance, salsa class aggravated my rib problem and I spent most of today in pain, and some of my lessons could have been better, so I was told!

Anyway, tonight Klif bar saved me, Damian and Marcin saved me, and Sarah saved me.  It's good to know that when I'm sat in on a Friday night overdosing on episodes of Poland's next top model, nothing to do, nowhere to go, moping over a wine glass of water, I do have a few good mates who are there to pick me up and get me drunk.

Going back to Klif bar after so long was like going home, it was weird without the smoke (I haven't been there since the ban) but it was good seeing a few familiar faces, and being greeted by Happy New Year M***** F***** was the icing on the cake.  The vodkas helped too.

Unfortunately not every week can be a good one, and this one certainly wasn't, so I'm going to bed.  Tomorrow is a new day, hope it's better than this one was!

WOŚP Charity Concert

On Sunday there was charity concert in Torun's old town square.  In fact, I think it was everywhere in Poland, or at least it has been touring Poland as it does every year...  It was the Wielki Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy!

WOŚP is a children's charity, something along the lines of Children in Need I think, and it raises money annually by putting on concerts and holding charity auctions.




It was a good do, the bands ranged from downright awful to I'd buy their album, there were a few stalls selling balloons and flashy bunny ear things and stuff like that, plenty of food and a great atmosphere!

There were also fireworks for those not stupid enough to leave 20 minutes before the display :-( and apparently they were pretty good too.

Bydgoszcz

Well I am back! And decided to kick off the year with a trip to Bydgoszcz, it's Poland's 8th biggest city and only an hours drive from Torun.  Bydgoszcz is very dear to me because it was my first ever experience of Poland in the summer of 2007 and I loved it, and while it isn't bursting at the seems with tourist attractions and things to do, it's a nice, normal Polish city.

Because Torun and Bydgoszcz are so close to each other and joint capitals of their vovoideship, there's a degree of rivalry between them.  Torun has the beautiful, original old town, and Bydgoszcz is well known in Poland for being distinctly un-pretty, and while I have to agree (granted the black slush all over the ground yesterday didn't help) I really do like Bydgoszcz.

It's situated on the Brda river, surrounded by lots of forest and the square is well, not bad actually.  I would even say that the lack of touristy sights to see, things to do etc in Bydgoszcz is part of it's charm and while I love Polish history, culture, architecture and experiences, Bydgoszcz is an excellent example of Polish normality, and it is also great for shopping!

Torn

Emotions are difficult.  Living abroad is great, but it can be emotional.