So week 3 has passed, things have started to look up a bit! On the road to recovery, with just a minor sore throat in the mornings, occasional cough and only slight loss of hearing at night time. Still no luck on the job frontier yet but keeping an eye open and my contact lines open, and remain optimistic!
I submitted my first assignment for my new uni course and I'm optimistic about this one, so hope I get a good mark and useful feedback. My lovely partner is helping me out when I have questions about the language, and she got for me a piece of language-learning software and a dictionary :D so that in combination with my other books, my uni resources and my unbelievable amount of free time should help me progress quicker. I'm still learning but it's coming along, I can have basic (written) conversations, ask simple questions, describe things slightly, etc etc. Learning about cases now, tackling the accusative and know about the nominative and dative! Difficult but rewarding :)
The cat still hates me, and everyday I have new, and more impressive and painful reminders of just how much she hates me :D I miss my beloved tigga back home terribly, terribly much :( And when I next return to the UK, whenever that is, I will give the little guy a great big cuddle and kiss. Apparently the demolition of my room back home has already gone underway :P My mother stole my monitor, my chair, my speakers, my drawers and even my mattress! Bed has gone, and a lot of my stuff boxed up.. I can't even imagine how it looks now, but suffice to say I'll be sleeping on the floor or the sofa when I visit :)
I've found a few people online who I can write / converse with in Polish so this should also help me to speed up my progress in the language and give me something to do on occassion while I'm still waiting on the job frontier. Did I mention I love my dear terribly, terribly, incredibly much? :) Hope she knows this.
Not much else to report, so ta-ta, aurevoir, do widzenia!
About Me
- Jay Scott
- My name is Jamie (Jay) R. Scott, I'm 20 years of age and an English expatriate from Brighton, UK now living in Poznań, Poland.
Friday, 29 October 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Week 2: Tragic!
I'm into the second week now of my move.
Do not misunderstand, I am incredibly happy to have finally made it, to be here, to be with the person I love and want to spend the rest of my life with. But if an international move with work, language, cultural and financial barriers wasn't enough, 2 weeks of illness has really made this substantially more difficult than I wished it to be. I have one of the worst sinus infections I've ever had, if at least the most excrutiating one. My ears are both infected and feel like they are stuffed with cotton, my throat feels tight and burns everytime I swallow, and I feel like a druggy knocking back painkillers like they were tictacs, eardrops like they are going out of fashion, strepsils like they were mints and lemsips like lemonade. Despite all of this, I'm still awake at 12:15am in terrible pain writing this!
I've found a reasonable amount of time over the past few days to get on with some studying of Polish language, and it's coming along ok! I understand genders within the language now, understand a little better possessives, and my vocabulary is increasing. In an effort for mutual benefit, my girlfriend and I plan on making a list of all the items within each room of the house (with the list being divided by room) with the english name followed by its polish name. Most movies are being watched with polish subs and I'm being exposed to the language most of the day through TV, stores, listening to phonecalls, people outside etc. So I hope that I will pick it up quickly! I feel like I am, I'm reading a few things now, looking at sentences and able to pick some apart and make a guestimate of what it means based on some particles, adjectives and nouns.
I've sent a C.V / Covering letter to 4-5 schools now or so, hope to send more and hope to hear back from some of them! It felt great to finally get some off after a slow start due to both my loves and my illnesses. I also have a profile up at info-praca, though I've no idea how to use it, or what any of it means (Thanks dear for setting it up though!)
My love is going back to work tommorow(today now?) and so again I will be back to having long days of cleaning, studying, looking for work, and sitting around like a lemon - pity I will be doing all of this while I'm completely ill. it's rather unfortunate I am 90% dependent on someone due to language, knowledge and finance, but to not have that dependent person when I'm the most vulnerable (new transition, terrible illness, etc) So not looking forward to surviving the next few days in pain, alone.
Not much else to report! Oh, all attempts at peaceful negotiation and initiation of mutual friendship with the not-so-domesticated moggy I share my home with has so far failed and resulted in my hands appearing reminiscent of one afflicted with leprosy. Hail!
Do not misunderstand, I am incredibly happy to have finally made it, to be here, to be with the person I love and want to spend the rest of my life with. But if an international move with work, language, cultural and financial barriers wasn't enough, 2 weeks of illness has really made this substantially more difficult than I wished it to be. I have one of the worst sinus infections I've ever had, if at least the most excrutiating one. My ears are both infected and feel like they are stuffed with cotton, my throat feels tight and burns everytime I swallow, and I feel like a druggy knocking back painkillers like they were tictacs, eardrops like they are going out of fashion, strepsils like they were mints and lemsips like lemonade. Despite all of this, I'm still awake at 12:15am in terrible pain writing this!
I've found a reasonable amount of time over the past few days to get on with some studying of Polish language, and it's coming along ok! I understand genders within the language now, understand a little better possessives, and my vocabulary is increasing. In an effort for mutual benefit, my girlfriend and I plan on making a list of all the items within each room of the house (with the list being divided by room) with the english name followed by its polish name. Most movies are being watched with polish subs and I'm being exposed to the language most of the day through TV, stores, listening to phonecalls, people outside etc. So I hope that I will pick it up quickly! I feel like I am, I'm reading a few things now, looking at sentences and able to pick some apart and make a guestimate of what it means based on some particles, adjectives and nouns.
I've sent a C.V / Covering letter to 4-5 schools now or so, hope to send more and hope to hear back from some of them! It felt great to finally get some off after a slow start due to both my loves and my illnesses. I also have a profile up at info-praca, though I've no idea how to use it, or what any of it means (Thanks dear for setting it up though!)
My love is going back to work tommorow(today now?) and so again I will be back to having long days of cleaning, studying, looking for work, and sitting around like a lemon - pity I will be doing all of this while I'm completely ill. it's rather unfortunate I am 90% dependent on someone due to language, knowledge and finance, but to not have that dependent person when I'm the most vulnerable (new transition, terrible illness, etc) So not looking forward to surviving the next few days in pain, alone.
Not much else to report! Oh, all attempts at peaceful negotiation and initiation of mutual friendship with the not-so-domesticated moggy I share my home with has so far failed and resulted in my hands appearing reminiscent of one afflicted with leprosy. Hail!
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
13/10 Update
So not much has changed, still havn't got round to sending any more C.V's off which is disappointing as it lowers my chances of finding work and means I'm stuck in the home as a dependent for that much longer. I feel incredibly exhausted and weak - resultant of almost a week of very poor and frequently interrupted sleep.
So thought I'd write a few things about what I've learned so far:
1.) British social ettiquette is insufficient - one must learn to be rude to survive the lack of any sense of structure or order in terms of public services such as transport or queues.
2.) Polish people are absurdly tall, it makes for quite the emasculation when you need stilts to look into the eyes of 90% of the population
3.) Older people hate it when you speak English but appreciate trying Polish. Younger people hate it when you try and speak Polish and appreciate conversing in English.
4.) 99% of those who die under medical care, die en route;
5.) If you use public transportation, you will get groped in places you didn't even know you had!
So thought I'd write a few things about what I've learned so far:
1.) British social ettiquette is insufficient - one must learn to be rude to survive the lack of any sense of structure or order in terms of public services such as transport or queues.
2.) Polish people are absurdly tall, it makes for quite the emasculation when you need stilts to look into the eyes of 90% of the population
3.) Older people hate it when you speak English but appreciate trying Polish. Younger people hate it when you try and speak Polish and appreciate conversing in English.
4.) 99% of those who die under medical care, die en route;
5.) If you use public transportation, you will get groped in places you didn't even know you had!
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Week 1: The move and settling
My name is Jamie (Jay) Scott. I am 20 years old and I originate from Leicester, England. For the last 13 years I have been living on the South East coast in the iconic city of Brighton & Hove. Two months ago I made a joint decision to leave the UK behind and move to Poznań, Poland to be with my beautiful girlfriend. I had been to Poland twice before this; in May and August of this year, and these two visits certainly solidified my decision.
On October 5th, 2010. I departed the UK - train from Brighton to London, tube and overground to Stansted Airport, and then a plane to my new home!
The move itself was not very stressful. At home in Brighton I spent some time going through old boxes, and boxes, and ... boxes, however all that I brought with me was a 13.2kg suitcase containing clothes and a few books. My backpack with my precious EOS400D camera, and of course important documents - passport/birth certificate etc. So as you can imagine, unpacking in my new home took an astonishing 30 minutes (even then that's possibly an exaggeration)
So how goes it so far? I'm getting used to public transportation here in Poznan, I use only tram, and I am confident in finding my way to the major areas of the town - Stary Browar, Stary Rynek, Plaza + Pestka, Malta Lake, and I am becoming familiar with street names, tram station names etc. Language is a bit of a barrier - Mówie i rozumiem troche po polsku, ale niezbyt dobrze! I know enough to communicate basic things - costs, directions, introductions, asking what things are, asking to speak more slowly or to speak in english, etc etc, but I am not confident buying things and I feel very nervous everytime I am forced to utter a Polish word!
So am I missing any comforts? Banking is a challenge with an international account and only a visa debit but I am finding ways to overcome this. I do miss my cats back home, and I miss the freedom of being able to put on my headphones, get on my bike and cycle around my city - something that would probably get me killed, seriously injured, or fined if I attempted here :) To some extent I feel a little isolated and trapped, confined to only a few places. I know nobody here, and so when my girlfriend is working I feel quite lonely - hopefully this will change soon. I've made posts on the popular polishforums.com to see if anybody is interested in meeting up, and I've sent off C.V's to a few language schools in the hope of obtaining a position for a native-speaking English teacher.
Well, that's all I can think of for now! I will continue to make new posts as I progress with my transition of culture, lifestyle and language from that of the UK to Poland. With a major update once a week and possibly smaller minor posts inbetween if anything is of noteworthiness :)
Pozdrawiam!
On October 5th, 2010. I departed the UK - train from Brighton to London, tube and overground to Stansted Airport, and then a plane to my new home!
The move itself was not very stressful. At home in Brighton I spent some time going through old boxes, and boxes, and ... boxes, however all that I brought with me was a 13.2kg suitcase containing clothes and a few books. My backpack with my precious EOS400D camera, and of course important documents - passport/birth certificate etc. So as you can imagine, unpacking in my new home took an astonishing 30 minutes (even then that's possibly an exaggeration)
So how goes it so far? I'm getting used to public transportation here in Poznan, I use only tram, and I am confident in finding my way to the major areas of the town - Stary Browar, Stary Rynek, Plaza + Pestka, Malta Lake, and I am becoming familiar with street names, tram station names etc. Language is a bit of a barrier - Mówie i rozumiem troche po polsku, ale niezbyt dobrze! I know enough to communicate basic things - costs, directions, introductions, asking what things are, asking to speak more slowly or to speak in english, etc etc, but I am not confident buying things and I feel very nervous everytime I am forced to utter a Polish word!
So am I missing any comforts? Banking is a challenge with an international account and only a visa debit but I am finding ways to overcome this. I do miss my cats back home, and I miss the freedom of being able to put on my headphones, get on my bike and cycle around my city - something that would probably get me killed, seriously injured, or fined if I attempted here :) To some extent I feel a little isolated and trapped, confined to only a few places. I know nobody here, and so when my girlfriend is working I feel quite lonely - hopefully this will change soon. I've made posts on the popular polishforums.com to see if anybody is interested in meeting up, and I've sent off C.V's to a few language schools in the hope of obtaining a position for a native-speaking English teacher.
Well, that's all I can think of for now! I will continue to make new posts as I progress with my transition of culture, lifestyle and language from that of the UK to Poland. With a major update once a week and possibly smaller minor posts inbetween if anything is of noteworthiness :)
Pozdrawiam!
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