A Chapter Ends

An Aussie in Poland is coming to an end. After three years and nine months I am leaving Poland. It’s been an interesting three and three quarter years to say the least. The cold winters with white salty patches on my shoes have been frustrating. Although after I had decided to leave Poland, I discovered Górka Szczęśliwicka (Szczęśliwica Hill) located on the west side of Warsaw. If I had known of its existence and the fact that I could learn how to ski and snowboard there the winters would have been much more enjoyable. I have managed to head for the slope three times in the last month which have made me a tad more comfortable on skis. If the snow returns I might make a fourth attempt and hopefully plan a skiing holiday once a year or so to practice my new found skills.

I’ve met some interesting people who have enriched my life and I hope that we will stay in contact once I return to Australia. I’m not saying goodbye to Poland forever. I plan to return for annual holidays or at least every eighteen months or so to visit family. I’m not leaving on my own. I’m taking with me another person. My partner. He’s going to want to visit his family on a regular basis too. It’s going to be hard leaving and starting all over again. I love fresh starts but I’m worried about my partner who’s first goal will be to learn as much English as possible. Shocking I know that after three years together we’ve communicated in Polish ninety eight percent of the time and only sometimes thrown in a few English terms.

Poland has had its ups and downs as I have had mine over the past three years. I do like Poland, I could even go as far as saying I love Poland (at times anyway). Summer is fantastic especially when the sun is shining and its scorching – something that the locals don’t like. I love riding my bicycle along the streets and see poppies popping up in the fields or on the side of the streets. I like how the mood automatically changes from sombre to relaxed, and everyone shifts from wearing dull grey and black to clean whites and bright shades of green, blue, pink and yellow. It’s not just the flowers that start blooming but the people do to.

This blog will be changing too. I won’t be writing about my frustrations and experiences with Poland but about my journey through life, struggles and successes with language learning, travel encounters, studies and life in general regardless of my location. The name will be changing. The layout too. Once chapter ends, and another begins. Feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

I have four weeks remaining in this developing and growing city that has become an important city in the European Union. It’s future can be bright as long as the church and state start behaving like adults and putting its citizens first rather than their greedy pockets. But that’s another story. In the next few weeks I’ll try to post a few ramblings about Warsaw and what it has to offer. And if you’re interested you can check out my running journey at www.runningcandid.blogspot.com

Back on the Gold Coast

I love the Gold Coast. It's got to be one of the best places in the world. The sun shines, the people are friendly and it's such a relaxed atmostphere that there's no better place to be. I'm back. Back home in Australia and loving it. While for now it's only for a three week holiday, it's a much needed break. Two days in I'm already red and sun burnt. The weather is great and there's so much to do and see.

Already been out for a delicious pizza at Alto's in Broadbeach, yummy. And ice-cream at Baskin & Robbins. I've caught up with my best friend and relaxed on the beach. Three more weeks of sleeping in, swimming, sunbathing, eating delicious food, and having a great time - and hopefully coming up with article ideas. Gotta love holidays.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy. Busy. Busy. Now that's got to be the understatement of the month. I have no idea where November disappeared to. One thing I do know is that it has been a busy month with lots of things happening and even more getting done. At the beginning of the month I set off to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge and write 50,000 words in 30 days. Well I am pleased to say that I managed to reach this amount today. Just. I slacked off a little bit halfway through but managed to pick up the pace near the end of last week. While the story still has a little bit go before it's actually finished I plan to complete the rough draft by next week. It'll be a struggle but I'm willing to put in the effort.

This month has left me running around a lot. I'm going back to Australia next week for a long overdue holiday. I'm so excited. I haven't been back for two and a half years. Wow. I can't believe it. It feels like only a month ago that the plane touched down in Warsaw. My intended holiday turned into an indefinite stay. But it's been enjoyable and a huge learning experience. I'm not going alone. My partner is coming, and his younger cousin. It's going to be exciting for them both to discover a new country.

We've had to get passports sorted, visas, tickets and insurance. I have to say that organising the visa was easier than I imagined. It took ten minutes to complete the application on-line and seven hours later we had an emailed visa approval. Simple and free of any hassles.

Now that's all organised I've still got presents to purchase and last minute things to get done before we live. Even though we are only travelling for three weeks I am completely stressing out. Technically I am going home. Australia is my home. It'll always be my home. But I'm scared. I can't predict how I am going to react. It's bizarre but a part of me is a little bit afraid. While there are no expectations, there are definitely many things on the 'to do' and 'to see' list while we are over there.

Stress, tickets and holidays

Getting organised can sometimes prove to be rather difficult especially when it's cold and raining outside and the only thing you want to do is snuggle up in bed, read a good book and drink a cup of hot chocolate. A nice thought, but just because it's freezing doesn't mean work is going to stop.
Six more weeks until holiday time. I can't remember the last time I had a decent holiday, one that lasted more than four days anyway. Over two years ago at least. So this year I am taking three weeks of at Christmas to go to Australia to visit my parents and friends.

Buying tickets has caused me more stressed than I anticipated. I can't believe how much the tickets flactuate on a day to day basis. Seven thousand, ten thousand, sixteen thousand zloty and more for an economy class ticket. Each week I checked the price was going up, up and up again. At one point I thought my holiday was not going to happen.

Luckily last week I found normal priced tickets at 5000zloty per person return via Frankfurt. Unfortunately from Warsaw they cost a ridiculous amount more which is difficult to understand because a flight from Warsaw to Frankfurt return costs approximately 500 zloty per person.

Next time I will be better prepared and book the tickets far in advance in order to make the most of the savings available. It's very helpful to use an agent to organise the tickets but it might be even cheaper to get them online direct from the airlines. The best places to look for ticket prices is skyscanner.pl, individual airline websites and using search engines to type in what you're after if you're not sure of specific sites.

The holiday is long overdue. I can't wait to relax and bathe in the sun. It'll be a hot Christmas this year. Now with the tickets purchased I can stop worrying and start preparing for my trip.

An Indirect Uni Experience

Walking into the noisy hall my senses are bombarded with students voices – low, high pitched, in the midst of laughter or a yell. Everyone is talking over one another, but being in Poland, this should not come as a surprise. The commotion is due to the fact that it's the end of the school year, for some it's the end of a chapter in their lives that they are to dearly miss.

My partner is one of these people, he has just spent the past three months working on his dissertation. After 95 pages, and many late nights, it's finally done. We arrive in hope and anticipation that he can finally submit the professionally bounded document, be given a date to defend it – answer questions in front of a board – and feel a sense of relief that it's finished, that soon he will have his diploma and he can move on.

If only it was that simple.

First he has to stand in line, three actually, each crowded with thirty plus students there for the same thing. It's hot outside and I can feel sweat running down my spine, there's no air conditioning and outside it's close to 30 degrees. The multitude of bodies standing side by side, in front or behind each other is only intensifying the heat. The queue continues, pretty boys try to push in, thinking they are too good to stand in line, but no one dares to tell them to head back in line, it reminds me of the tuck shop line (school canteen) back in secondary school with students waiting and pushing in for their pies and sausage rolls.

We progress to the window forty minutes later only to be informed that there's even more paperwork to complete, documents to sign and stamp. Red tape. There's plenty of it here. Everything works against the citizen, student, patient, parent, employer, pupil, teacher. No one has discovered that if you help someone out and make their life easier, you are in fact also helping yourself.

I like to think that things will change. That future students and citizens are going to have it easier. More sweat trickles down my thigh as I stand in the queue for the cashiers desk while my partner rushes to the library to sign off that there's no overdue books (if there he might not get his diploma), and to sign off his practicals, even though they have little relation to his degree. I've come across this before, where psych graduates are working in accounting and handyman as bakers. I suppose everyone here goes for whatever they can get.

Two hours later we're back at home, sending emails to satisfy the schools requirements in relation to even more documents. He will have to go back and go through it all again. Stand in the lines, chase up his grades, paperwork and anything else that he needs in order to fulfil expectations, requirements, and graduate.

Two days later it's all submitted. I breath easier. I swear I've been stressing and worrying more than he has. I'm proud of him. After months of hard work it's all done, and now we can both relax.

I've been thinking about going to do a Masters degree in Warsaw as they offer courses in English, my Polish is advanced but not advanced enough to complete two years of university and pass. This experience, however, is making me rethink the issue. Unless I can find a university that is computer orientated, has organisational skills and is with the times, I will bypass the idea and wait till I return to Australia.