Burrito West Blog

We had our last wander around Wroclaw today. Leaving a place sure does create funny feelings. We had our last dinner in Wroclaw (amazing place called Bernard), we have carefully allocated stuff to suitcases up to the weight limits, shipped the rest, frantically given stuff away.... tomorrow we fly to Bangkok and start our 4 week Thailand adventure!

Possibly I'll have more coherent and meaningful thoughts on our time in Poland and leaving it once I've had time to stop trip-preparations and think properly. :)

Peter and I have just returned from a whirlwind tour of all the bits of Poland with family members. It was an intense schedule of visits where I was at least able to console myself with the fact that I could follow the gist of conversations much better than 10 months ago. But it was a lot of hard work for Peter to talk to all his family members and try to translate for me at the same time. On the up side -we took 3 long train rides and they all went without mishaps! Trains were heated and on schedule; hurrah!

We are now in that painful stage of packing where you have little piles of miscellaneous things all over the place that you aren't sure how to pack. We are shipping a few boxes (by boat) and taking 2 big suitcases with us, plus the small bags we will travel around Thailand with - so packing is a big game of, what bag should this go in?

Tomorrow is our last full day in Wroclaw - how weird is that?  I am both looking forward to starting the journey home and sad that the year is almost over already. I imagine I'll feel the same when I get home - sad that this particular adventure is done but hugely relieved to be home too. Life is full of contradictions.

I should mention, in reference to my complaint about being cold, that actually we've been quite lucky - until a week ago, it was a very mild winter for Poland. It was generally around 5 or 6 degrees every day through December. Last week it started to dip below zero for the first time and it looks like it will stay there. I have forgotten what it's like to go outside in below zero temps every time you leave home; it's a shock for both Peter and I.

We're headed to Prague in a few days and then Vienna and I'm a bit worried about how one sightsees in below-zero temps. Definitely need to find indoor things to do - our usual approach of wandering and getting lost isn't going to work in -5C!

Peter's great-aunt passed away. Like I said on Facebook: We haven't seen her on this trip (she's been unwell) but I remember her hosting us 10 years ago - she was welcoming and prepared an immense amount of food for us despite being in ill health. She even let Peter and I sleep in the same room despite our unmarried state! She told Peter stories of her time as a girl in Nazi-occupied Poland (Peter translated an abbreviated version for me). She was the first person I ever met who lived through the war and spoke about it, actually.

We attempted to take the train to Gdansk for the funeral. We didn't make it. Here's what happened.

We left the apartment to catch the midnight train. It should have been an 8.5 hr train ride. We didn't have sleeping berths but the trains are set up with compartments and we had one to ourselves. The train left on time but was going very slowly. The lines (and everything else) were entirely coated in ice. I got cold, as I always do. Then in the wee hours of the morning I noticed Peter putting on his coat and I realized it was actually getting cold.

At Ostrow Wielkopolski they got a diesel engine to pull our electric train and we started to make better progress, but this also meant we had no heat at all. And it's winter here in Poland.

At Jarocin they took our diesel away and we took off as an electric train again. That started out cold, then we got some wisps of heat, and then the line came down and we were stuck next to a farm field for an hour and a half while a crew came and took care of that.

Eventually, around 9:30am a diesel engine arrived (= still no heat) and towed us back to Jarocin where some of us got on the other train that happened to be there (it was heated! glorious heat!). At this point there was no hope of making it to Gdansk for the funeral since we were only 1/3 of the way there (6 hrs to go - on a good day). Peter called and explained and gave our apologies.

The heated train took us back to Ostrow Wielkopolski where it was chaos because every train in the system was late. We sat down in a depressing cafeteria to have beer and tea and food of some kind. We got our beverages and sat down, then Peter suddenly got up from the table and went outside - he had heard a scrap of an announcement about Wroclaw. We abandoned our drinks, canceled the food and got on the 10am train to Wroclaw (which arrived at 12:30). It was an electric train pulled by a diesel which meant..... no heat. It took 4 hours to get back to Wroclaw. 4 more hours without heat. During a Polish winter day.

We walked out of the Wroclaw train station and tried to take a cab home, too tired and cold to walk... but there were no cabs. Normally there is a line of them waiting, but that day there were none. So we walked. I don't think I've ever been so happy to get home.

 It was unlucky weather - the rest of Poland was apparently fine (Peter's uncle took a train from Szczecin to Gdansk and made it without any problems), we just happened to go through an area that got an ice storm.

We were able to laugh through the first train - make the best of it, be glad I always make us carry snacks and candy (because there was no food available on the train). We finished our audiobook. It was okay. We survived.

But I am going to complain. I am a wuss in the cold. I have perpetually cold bits even when it's not all that cold. I specifically avoid outdoor winter activities because I am always cold and can't enjoy anything when I'm cold. This was 18 hours on trains, and only the first few were really heated.
It sucked.

I spent all of today in bed with a migraine. Side effect of missing so many meals and not sleeping at all.

Usually I can put up with the hassles of travel - they're worth it, but Polish trains, I'll be honest, I have trust issues with them now.  We've been told that we have exceptionally bad luck to be always having epic troubles on the train, that it's not usually that bad.  So, don't let this stop you from traveling by train in Poland. Just, maybe bring a blanket if you do. And lots of food.
 

Peter and I went to a nearby place for dinner before our tango class tonight. It was a sit down Polish food place called Chatka that we go to every now and then. I thought it would be interesting to note the music they played while I ate my goulash: ABBA, Enya, The Village People. Sometimes Poland is a very funny place.

Peter and I rented a car and spent yesterday and today exploring the area outside Wroclaw - visiting castles, and ruins, and small villages. We had a splendid time. Very interesting blog post on that coming once I get some photos to go with it.

In other Polish happenings.....

Jan 6th is a holiday in Poland - I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it involves the 3 kings of jesus' birth story.The bit we saw involved a big procession of 3 men (dressed as ye old kings) on horseback and a huge crowd of people and everyone singing Polish Christmas carols. Then something happened on a stage.

Best part? I spotted a guy in the crowd wearing a Jesus cape! That is a serious fan. Or else it was SuperJesus.

That was last weekend. Then today we came home from our little road trip to find all of Wroclaw hanging out in the Rynek - there was a concert going on (raising funds for charity), and a bit of a market to go with it, and a very big happy crowd out in the cold. It ended in fireworks somewhere very close to our apartment. Exciting stuff goes on here in winter!

Huge crowd singing carols.

3 kings on horseback, very popular.

Peter and I are in London while you read this!  Here's a photo of Peter making a friend in Wroclaw to tide you over until I can say something London-related (a few more Wroclaw Christmas photos over on flickr). I suspect I'll say something about there being so. many. people. in London.

We head out to London for Christmas soon! We've got a few days in London, then we head out to the English countryside (Devon, Cornwall), then back to London for a quiet NYE. This will be the first Christmas my sister and I have spent together in... over 10 years (longer even, I think)!!

We've had a nice stretch of home-time in Wroclaw, enjoying the Christmas market and dance classes and lots of quiet time at home.  Here are a few random notes about life in Poland....

We went to this vegetarian place for lunch a few days ago - Zle  Mieso - and it was really really good. Really good. Funny things about it include: 1) its name means 'bad meat', 2) it's located on 'Victims of Auschwitz' Street :(  3)there was no sign outside the building but Peter remembered the address number so we went into the building, through to the courtyard and poked through 2 doors before we found it. This is not entirely unusual in Poland - signage is... just not as big a thing here. Makes you feel like you've found some secret restaurant that only people in the know go to.

We met a nice couple from Wroclaw at the lindy hop event in Krakow and we've met up with them a few times. The woman's name is Jagoda which is a kind of berry in Poland - a cousin to the blueberry of some sort. I don't know why her name makes me so happy, but it does. I guess it's the equivalent of the English name Cherry.

Polish people have adopted a few English words into their every day speak. The best is 'super', said with a Polish accent. It's wonderfully endearing to hear people talking in Polish and end with "Super!". I love it.

Wroclaw has a nice Christmas market in the main square. It's nice to have a big market that we can wander through - makes things seem festive! We are working our way through all the junk food on offer. So far, we've had: mini-donuts covered in chocolate sauce, waffles with whipped cream and peaches, "hungarian novelty", roasted chestnuts, chocolate covered apples, and straight up candy.

Warning: rambly blog post.

Peter left yesterday to visit the family a few hours away. I skipped this visit because I think it's easier on everyone not to make Peter translate everything for me when everyone wants to talk to him - it's a distraction and it's awkward and I tend not to say much because I don't want to make Peter translate. I'll go on the next trip.

So, I'm on my own for a few days! I stayed in yesterday because we're having a windstorm here. I watched the poor guys on the roof of the building next door working in the cold (without safety lines), having to brush snow aside to lay roofing tiles - that's hard work. I will try to picture that next time I feel like my job is hard (uh, I mean when I am back at my job, since my current daily activities are definitely not hard).

Peter and I went to a nearby town a few days ago - Kłodzko. Peter's family has some distant relatives there (the exact relation still hasn't been explained to me) so we went to visit them. We did a bit of sightseeing first - touring some crazy underground tunnels, then the fortress. It was 2degC out, and windy and despite wearing all my warm clothes (including leggings under my jeans) I was still cold; this doesn't bode well for when winter really hits here. Anyway, Kłodzko is a neat little town. We had lunch in an empty restaurant (options were limited) and were told that it would be 40 min before anything was ready - except goulash, we could have goulash right away. I'm not making this up. So we had goulash. It wasn't bad. I've had a surprising amount of goulash since moving here.

A view over Klodzko from the fortress.

 Unrelated Polish experience. We went to the post office to mail some packages - mailing anything here is always an interesting experience. One package - which I had taped up very securely (I assume all postal systems are going to attempt to destroy my envelopes) - had to be put inside another envelope because their stamps won't stick to tape, there has to be paper for the stamp glue to stick to. (I found all this out later, during the transaction Peter is having lengthy conversations with the postal clerk and is inexplicably buying envelopes and it's all very confusing to me.)  The other quirk here is that if you add additional tape - like a stripe of packing tape on a bubble envelope to make sure it stays shut, they will make you write on the envelope next to the tape (in Polish, obviously) that the package was sealed by the sender. This really confused me the first time until Peter explained that they used to have a problem with postal workers opening envelopes, taking things, and taping them back up. It's always quite amusing getting the run down from Peter afterwards about wtf just happened at the post office.

Another Polish fun fact:
This is the word for 'entrance': Wejście
This is the word for 'exit': Wyjście
Yup. And they sound virtually identical. Have I mentioned I've kind of given up on learning Polish?

We were supposed to come home from Amsterdam, have a few days at home, then catch a train/bus to Krakow for a lindy hop festival. But I got an email from work - turns out the City of Vancouver won an award and they wanted to know if I could swing by Warsaw to pick it up. Sure!  (Turns out someone more senior from the City was able to make it so I didn't have to accept the award myself, but I got to participate in the conference which was fun; nerding out with sustainability people is always a good time.)

Jack and Jill competition - these two were really fun to watch.

Today is Independence Day for Poland - a strong reminder of what a complicated history this country has, one that includes not existing formally for decades. This holiday commemorates the anniversary of Poland's resumption of independent statehood in 1918 after 123 years of partition by Russia, Prussia and Austria.

Think about that for a minute - Poland effectively did not exist for 123 years! But it's here now. I find that amazing. That something could be wiped out and then come back - that's kind of hopeful and inspiring, isn't it?

To further highlight Poland's complicated history -  Independence Day was constituted in 1937 and was celebrated only twice before World War II. So they barely got to party when WWII landed on them.

It should also be noted that Poland has another national holiday (a bigger one, I think) - May 3 is Constitution Day, which celebrates the declaration of the Constitution of May 3, 1791. This became a holiday in 1919, then became not-a-holiday during Communism, and was reinstated when Communism fell.

The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is considered one of the most important achievements in the history of Poland, despite being in effect for only a year, until the Russo-Polish War of 1792. Historian Norman Davies calls it "the first constitution of its type in Europe"; other scholars also refer to it as the world's second oldest constitution.  In Poland it is viewed as a national symbol, and the culmination of all that was good and enlightened in Polish history and culture.

Poland's history is sad like that - develop a fabulous constitution, then have your nation wiped off the map, then come back from nowhere and then immediately get oppressed by Communism.

I hope things go better for them in the future!

Parade, May 3 2013 - Wroclaw, Poland

Peter and I went to a train museum on Thursday (our designated tourist day). This is the kind of little day trip that is easy with Peter here and would be kind of a pain to do if he wasn't - he can easily get the train tickets from the office and can translate the museum stuff and order us tasty things from the bakery and understand the announcements at the train station explaining that our train is delayed but will come eventually. Non-Polish speakers could do most of these things, but it would be work. Which is all to say, I'm glad Peter is here so I can just relax and have fun looking at old trains in an old roundhouse!

The Museum of Industry and Railway in Silesia is a private museum in Jaworzyna Śląska outside Wroclaw. It's pretty cool. Mostly, it's a parking lot for old trains, including 50 steam engines! Lots of cool stuff. After we explored the trains outside, we went into the roundhouse to explore and heard meowing. A little black and white cat came running to see us - super friendly guy who was happy to let me fawn over him and followed us around for a bit before going off to do more interesting things.

There is one steam engine in this collection that is ENORMOUS. It's a Polish-built train and it barely fit through the roundhouse doors, apparently. Huge. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to see that engine go by on tracks.

The museum also has a collection of old computers, equipment from a railway school (including a model that students would use for training), and a Harley Davidson collection.  Definitely a cool place to spend a few hours wandering around. There aren't many explanations or written information - but I think in the summer there are tours.  We were very happy to wander around on our own.

I had a great time taking photos - you can find them in the Wroclaw folder on Flickr.

      

We finally made it to the opera! We got dressed up and went to Rigoletto last night (after studying the synopsis in advance). The Wroclaw opera house is very pretty - the interior dates from the last reno after a fire in 1872 and is ornate and gilded, as one expects. It's a small place - seats maybe 500? I really liked it.

Peter had to stay awake through the entire opera to translate for me since it was in Italian with a screen showing the Polish translation. The soprano was amazing.  Here's the song from Rigoletto that you know even if you aren't an opera fan.

Our opera tickets were $12 each (for upper upper balcony). For the most part things in Poland are the same price as Canada except in zloty (which is why we can afford to live here while unemployed - everything is 1/3 the cost for us). So milk is 3zl which is about the same as home where it's $3. This holds true for most stuff. But a quick check shows that the cheapest opera ticket you can get in Vancouver is $60.  Here, ours were 36zl. My impression (based on very little research) is that opera is generally more affordable in Europe. We puzzled over why this might be and don't really have any answers....

In any case, looking forward to at least one or two more trips to the Opera while we're here - also ballet and philharmonic! Got to fill up on culture!

I'm in Wroclaw, why do you ask?

What I mean by my title is - I never showed you guys where our apartment is!   It's where the arrow is pointing on the map below. I've outlined the main square so it's more obvious how awesome our location is.  Our apartment building may be ugly, but it's a short walk away from all the pretty stuff.  :)   We struggled when apartment hunting on how to pick the area we wanted to live in.  I had my heart set on being in the picturesque old town and we lucked out and got a great place. We walk through the main square pretty much every day and it's very nice. Being surrounded by (mostly) pedestrian streets is also very nice.

I'm trying to be better about taking photos in and around Wroclaw... I've gotten so used to being here I often leave my camera at home. But, the summer days are winding down and terrifyingly soon there will be snow and unpleasantness, so I'm trying to get some photos now while it doesn't involve suffering!

Best to check the Wroclaw set on flickr to see what I end up uploading.  Most recent photos include some from the Archery World Cup (we stopped by to see the finals), buskers in the main square, and bikes.

In my continuing half-hearted efforts to learn some Polish, today I taught Peter something.

I was going through a grammar lesson on my software and it was teaching me something about conjugation relative to numbers. (Remember that in Polish you conjugate nouns.)  So it was: 20 kubkow (cups) and 24 kubki (cups).  I asked Peter how you know when to conjugate with which numbers and he was all 'you don't' and then the ran through it in his head and said 'holy cr*p, you do sometimes'. Then he apologized on behalf of Poland, because, wtf?  Why do they conjugate a noun when there are 20 of a thing?  No reason at all. None. Just because.

!!!!!
And in my previous post, I lamented because they conjugate nouns so you have to learn 7 versions of each noun - making vocabulary building tough and the odds of saying anything correctly ~ zero.  I was wrong, actually. Because in Polish they have special additional words for nouns to make diminutive versions, to small-ify things (not size wise necessarily, more like cute, adorable, loved).  You can small-ify 'dog' or  'house' or a person's name - every noun has a small version (children are always called by the smallified version of their names).  These smallified versions also get conjugated.  So - in my previous example, pies (dog) has 7 conjugations and piesek (small/beloved/cute dog) has 7 conjugations also.  So 14 potential conjugations for every noun, in effect.  Awesome. No wonder I never understand anything anyone says!

Unrelated photo of a barn cat.

The reason I'm so frustrated by the conjugations of nouns - aside from the fact that it largely prevents me from recognizing words I know the root form of when I listen to people speak - is that it adds no information. It makes the language more complex for no reason at all.  Peter says it's occasionally useful for clarity in verb-noun relationships in complex sentences, but mostly it doesn't add any information to a sentence at all. You are perfectly understandable if you do not conjugate nouns, you just sound weird because all native-speakers are used to conjugating everything all the time.

I protest this. It feels suspiciously like the Polish people made their language unnecessarily complex just to prevent us foreigners from ever having any hope of learning it.  I don't like to buy into conspiracy theories normally, but this is pretty obvious, right?  Why else would a language conjugate things unnecessarily?

One of the reasons I love living in an old European town is that we can go for a wander to some new part of town and we are guaranteed to find something interesting or weird.

(my photo is wonky, not the building)

Yesterday we went for a walk to a part of town where we had spotted some new developments. I wanted to see the new stuff, get an idea of what new buildings in Wroclaw looked like. They were interesting - looked like they would fit in in Scandinavia. But we also stumbled across some amazing old buildings!

Wroclaw has a ton of ornate old buildings that are just full of potential. They would be a nightmare to try to restore, I'm sure - so many years of neglect!  But, wow, if they could be restored, they are so lovely.  And we don't build stuff like this anymore, not even close, so I want to save them all.

This building caught our eye because: a) beautiful detail, b) curved balcony, c) giant tree in front, d) bricked up ground floor, e) old but the plaster hasn't fallen off yet.  We got nosy and went into the entrance, since the door was ajar (they often are here).  It was pretty crazy inside.  Clearly once it was a more valued space, worthy of ornate decoration... not so much now - broken plaster, broken rails, broken doors, etc. This is an active entrance to a lived-in building.  But a lot has survived - which is amazing when you think of the age and what these buildings have probably been through! I wonder what the people who live here think of this - do they not even notice it, do they enjoy seeing it every day, do they wish they could fix it up, do they wish they lived in a shiny new modern building instead? (Click the photos to see bigger versions.)



A few blocks away we spotted this industrial building, also oozing potential.



We paused to make the unavoidable comment that industrial buildings used to be rather pretty, compared to the eyesores they are today. This one had a super interesting doorway detail that seems to have been added in communist times (celebration of peasant life was a big thing with them). This is just on a derelict building in town. No big deal. No plaque or explanation, it's just there.



On and on, street after street.  I would love love love to walk these streets with someone who really knows their architectural history - I feel like the layers of history on display here tell an interesting story and I'm missing most of it!