Week: hm.. 33 or 34?

It's been well, 6 months or so since I posted it seems, almost 7.

My intentions for my blog were originally to document new and astounding things, changes or transitions, updates in my emigration, etc. However, I kind of lost interest in that rather quickly, it became a chore and frankly there were very few things noteworthy enough to sustain a blog. So, I think, that after almost 9 months of living here - and 6 months since my last post, I can offer a bit of a greater insight into things..

I want to rant and make extensive use of expletives and reduce my wit into very simple, clear and 'speech-like' structures. However, I'll refrain from doing that or I'll be no better than those I'll post about shortly.

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I'm not sure if it's just me, or it's just this city? But people seem to be extremely rude and confrontation here is quite inevitable if you use any sort of transport other than your own car. In the last two months, i've had two violent encounters:

Firstly on a tram number 1, getting off at Rolna, there were a few chavies on the tram apparently taking delight in me for some reason, laughing, being intimidating etc. A succinct "fuck off" made them more entertained and more aggressive. Getting off the tram, I heard them shout something to me - being only kiddies, around 16-17 I beckoned them off the tram. Apparently they expected me to be afraid, so it wasn't the least bit anticipated when the bravest of them came charging at me aggressively only to get a swift punch to the face, falling back on his arse into the tram and crying like a little bitch - I don't speak Polish very well, but I can only assume his nonsensical gibberish would translate to something similar to: "Mummmmmy, I tried to be a tough guy and got my face smashed, now I have a booboo, please kiss it better".

My second violent encounter occurred today on a bus - #71. Somewhere close to Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny, a ginger chavy ran to get onto the bus pulling away - the driver stopped and let him on, he nodded and shouted 'dziękuję' enthusiastically and he seemed like an OK kind of guy... Now, normally when facing someone, it's inevitable that a little eye contact and some passing glances would be made. But the guy seemed to be a little more direct and was aggressively staring down at me (he was standing, me sitting). I dislike people who try to intimidate through staring, so I stared back. We had a staring match with neither of us breaking eye contact for around 20 seconds. Finally I thought to myself "Let it go... just a ginger chap with an attitude", but he continued to stare constantly, I'd stare back... To take my mind from it, and to help avoid a confrontation I called up my girlfriend to have a talk - but he continued to stare and began to say shit to me while I'm on the phone in an aggressive manner.. I was getting more and more frustrated, and started voicing my opinions on the guy to my girlfriend over the phone... The last straw, was when he reached around the glass to put his hand on the chair next to me, his foot on the step, and lean right into my face to iibberjabber his Polish sentiments to which I could only assume meant something similar to "Got a problem?" etcetc.. I couldn't move because he was blocking me aggressively, so I hung up the phone, stepped up and stared down at him and told him - in English of course - to fuck off.  He said something, which I could vaguely understand, and then I realised - it was English. I said "What?" and he said "You angry at me?" and I said to him, just get out my face, piss off and stop staring at me.. He just continuously tried to provoke me, and I could see that he was one of those people who will intimidate but not back anything up. So I said one more time "Get out of my fucking face." louder and louder I was exchanging expletives to get him to piss off.. He replied "Why would I do that?" - I said "Why? Because if you don't I'm going to break your fucking neck".. he said "OK, do." - so I said "Get off the bus with me here then" and pointed to the doors which were about to open as we stopped.. he said 'ok' and invited me off the bus, to which I got off and beckoned him to come with me.. he smiled, stopped smiling and shook his head so i got back on the bus and said "Thought so..." he said "I don't want to fight.." so I said "Fine, so piss off and leave me the fuck alone" and he said "Ok, sit down".... Few minutes later, and after continuing to exchange intimidating and aggressive smiles and stares, he was getting off the bus - same stop as me, and as he was doing so he said "Take it easy" and walked off in the opposite direction.


I understand that in both situations I could have dealt with it more appropriately that wouldn't have escalated into these situations. But I'm tired of people thinking that they can intimidate, or be aggressive to people, and not suffer any consequences. In both situations, I hope I showed them that they can't do this shit without running the risk of having their faces caved in by someone bigger and stronger than them (and by no means was I bigger stronger than them, but one day they will do this to the wrong person...).

It's not just to foreigners either. My girlfriend often encounters similar situations. A month or so ago, she was coming out of McDonalds with a coffee for me and her while I was waiting at the tram station. She was a little longer than usual, and when she got to me looked a bit shaken so I asked whats up, and she said that some idiot muscley men wouldn't let her get out of the door, so they pushed past her.. and shouted some shit at her, something like "I'll punch you". When I found out I was going to go back and teach them some manners, but you know the ladies... restraint, restraint.

I find that queues in Poland are absurd. There's no sense of respect, or order, or appreciation of the fact that people in front of you were there first and were waiting longer, or that everybody is in a hurry and doesn't want to be waiting. Too many times lately we've been cut-in, and had to speak up our mind only to hear some bullshit excuse. It pisses me off, and I truly hate the rudeness of people in Poland - which is rather surprising because when I first came here, I applauded at how polite and open people seemed compared to those in Brighton... but after almost a year of living here, I can safely say that each day, I see or experience people doing something that in England would get them a fat lip.. and it's only making me angrier and angrier.

Maybe some other people have some experiences they would like to share in the comments?

Week 13

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Week 9: Work abounding!

After responding to a few advertisements (which my love found, thankyou dear) on the local gumtree, from a few schools. I was contacted by one school for a substitution position for a contract that expires at the end of January. It was very short notice and I was called for preliminary interview one day prior to lesson, and went for said interview 5 hours before said lesson.. The shortness, my lack of teaching experience, my lack of knowing where anything is in this city, and the lack of information anywhere, made it extremely stressful and challenging. But my first lesson went well, students were happy and enthusiastic, and everything went according to plan (even though I didn't have one). The end result? I will have a work contract written up by next week and I'm technically working with a school now :)

Still continuing private lessons, even though I have only one client at the moment.. I was also contacted for interview on the 22nd December by another language school interested in cooperation, and so it looks my prospects are high and things will start to improve. Hopefully this will start eating my time more, so I will spend more time focussed and earning money, than being depressed and lonely :) Hoozah

P.S: -11c, wet, windy, in just a jacket, shirt + tie. for 2 1/2 hours = so incredibly cold I could feel my soul floating away towards the light.

10/12 Update

So a few things...

Scratch the final note in the previous note about slipping, it happened to be that we had freezing rain followed by every spot of Poznań being immensely slippery. Resulting in not one, but two slips, a bruised ego and sore wrist ensued.. That being said, it was quite humerous watching people have fun on the ice, moonwalking, sliding down hills, finding creative ways to not move on the ice, etc.

Also trying to get my regisitration of residence sorted here. I'm officially registered on the flat, however we're finding it difficult to get myself a residence permit because there is hardly any information anywhere about how to do this.. Hopefully we will get this sorted on monday with a little more research and patience (and providing we go to the correct office dear!)

/end

Week 8: Two months from home

Week 8 has begun, and so marks the two-month point I left ground in my homeland to come to this strange and seemingly distant [albeit relatively close] place. I would like to say it's all rosepetals and rainbows, and while I am happy here, and proud of the things I've done, that I followed my dreams and my heart to get to where I am, I can't deny the extreme hardships and costs (not just monetarily!) that come with living a dream.

So what is positive thus far? What inspires me to keep going, to work at it?:

* I've currently conducted 5 private lessons and will be doing another tonight (and so earned 155 pln.. which in the grand scheme things isn't alot but who wouldn't object to an extra 30 quid a month?)

* I have someone I love, close with me, someone I can confide in, share feelings and thoughts with, and live dreams with

* I'm acquiring new skills - my 3rd language, teaching styles / methodologies

* I'm becoming more mature, responsible, individual. While a monetary dependent still until permanent work setles, I'm responsible for keeping house relatively tidy, for keeping cat fed and watered, keeping myself, our home, our cat, and my love safe.

* I'm seeing things that I've not seen before, and experiencing things I've not experienced before.


What's not so great?:

* It's indescribably lonely. There are English expatriate groups here, and ocassional meetings but finding time or morivation to go to them is difficult. When I am not teaching a student, and my love is working 10 or 12 hours and getting home at 10pm, and the cat still hates me that I can't cuddle her or pick her up. And the only times I speak are to myself, it gets very, very, incredibly lonely and moody.

* I've had 3 different students: First one never contacted me back after our first lesson, the second came to first lesson and showed enthusiasm to continue but then wrote saying they'd have to suspend it for now but might continue. But thankfully my third is a regular with sometimes 2 lessons per week, but this does not change the fact it's not enough money to help cover bills, only minor expenses.

* Time: I have a great deal of it, but with the loneliness and lack of progress with work making me quite moody, it's hard to find motivation to prioritise and organise my time. I should be making plans, sticking to it and being productive since I have so many things I must do:  Study for uni, study polish language, study English grammar so I can explain it to students more easily (and correctly), prepare lesson plans, spend time with my love, clean flat, take care of cat, and time for myself... but instead of doing this, I spend most of my days withering away in self-pity that I never have the motivation to get much done even with all the time in the world resting in my hands.


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Enough of that, so how am I dealing with other things?

Well, we had a little bit of a november coldsnap, with temperatures averaging a daytime high of -9c and evenings getting to between -12c and -16c.  Oddly, I was ok with these temperatures, I seem to be colder when the temperatures are averaging -3c / -5c.

I've slipped countless times on the ice, two were very close to actually falling, but thankfully I've never gone the whole way down. (The two very close ones were spectacular saves.. one involved running across the road as the light was changing and jumping over a mound of snow, landing on ice and making a marvelous comeback to not slip... the second, was the result of moisture being turned to ice by outside airconditioning at McDonalds, my love was conviniently there for me to grab to prevent faceplant)

The snow makes bouts of being very low and slushy, to quite deep and white/fluffy. I havn't seen it snow for about 3-4 days (though it snowed last night) alas the snow isn't going down.  Here are a few photos of the winter thus far:

and remember, wrap up warm when it's cold! And cuddle a cat if you have one...

 

So I guess I don't really have much else to share for now... so, tata

Weeks 6 and 7

It's been a little while (I admit, I have been slacking!)

Weeks 6 and 7 have now passed, and the past few weeks have been quite eventful.
I have been contacted by around 5 different people interested in private English lessons, and I have conducted one conversation class which went quite successfully and pocketed me my first earnings. I was contacted today by another person interested in lessons and will conduct my second teaching this coming friday, quite excited!

Well, we've done a few things around the flat! A trip to ikea and a few bookshelves later, we've gave ourselves space for our .. ach em, reasonable movie game and music collection. with more space to store the books upon. Avast!

I finally bit the bullet and went to the doctors (which was a comical event in itself given the delicate nature of language. Suffice to say, an "errection of the throat' and a hasty "take off your shirt" made for an interestingand somewhat entertaining visit, for both me and my girlfriend)

Language is coming along slowly still, I've not found much time nor motivation (given illness among other things) to put a lot of thought into study. I've been working for the last few days on my assignment for university which, when finished, will give me free time until january (although I'm looking forward to my third assignment about the Arctic and a musem exhibit I must design which seems very interesting)

The weather has been changing alot. It's very depressing in the mornings when it's cold and miserable and dark. The temperatures dropping a lot now with most days bordering on freezing point. Fortunately I've got a nice new (elegant :P thankyou dear) winter jacket to keep myself warm.  Today is the first day of snow in the new season :) apparently it's a mixed blessing but time will see.

 Perhaps a few minor additions will be added later when i have a little more time ;) but until then, these are the most noteworthy of things to report :)

~Jay

1 month mark

So a month has passed now since I departed the UK to live in Poland with my love. It's been fun, it's been exciting, it's been a new experience but it's also been stressful, lonely, encapsulating and challenging.

Rather than write up more events and happenings (of which there are few) I'll make a list of everything positive and negative I have learned as a lesson since my short time here. I'll start off with the list of positives!

POSITIVES:

* Cost of living is significantly cheaper / routine expenses are smaller

* There are systems in place to handle most forms of inquery without the hassle of a thousand departments

* Public transport (though a mixed blessing; see later) is efficient and handled well

* Cuisine, while simple, is exciting as it shows new ways of doing things with the same goods we are used to

* People in the streets, while inquisitive, often don't care about what you are doing (see; smoking, photography, drinking, shouting) they keep themselves to themselves usually

* Architechturally and scenically, it's a beautiful city with history and lots of places to go / things to see(/do)


NEGATIVES:

* Polish - as a slavic language with a case-system and completely devoid of articles (a, the, an) with only 3 tenses and a context-based understanding - is not only difficult to learn and understand, but also to speak. For an english speaker to see a word like 'szczęśliwi' (happy) is disconcerting, to pronounce it is even more so ;)

* Lack of personal space; there is no such thing in poland. At traffic lights waiting to cross the road people will stand up your arse, on public transport rather than wait for the next tram, much like london underground, people just stuff themselves like sardines into it, even if it means you are being groped and frolicked in ways you didnt know were possible. Also, if people wish to get past you on the street, its completely normal to just touch your ribs, hips or arm and move you out the way. (In england, this would get you a broken nose)

* Queuing is a nightmare! People have very little respect for other peoples time and energy. Unless your genitalia are pushed up against the person in front of you, people will take every opportunity to squeeze in front of you in a 5mm gap without a care, apology or explanation,

* Change and money in stores is odd. for such a supposedly open culture where people have no taboo's about touching strangers' hips and ribs, or just cutting your queue, or rubbing themselves pervertedly up you in a packed tram... it's so forbidden for a cashier to give you change in your hand, instead they insist on putting it on some little silly tray and then you spend the next 5 minutes trying to scoop the coins up while the people behind you get increasingly impatient.

* Football hooligans here are even worse ;)



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And so concludes one month in passing since I arrived here, with new experiences, new knowledge, new stresses and new enemies. I look forward eagerly to what the next month and the month after and so forth brings for me.

 At Lake Malta ;) loves x