Monday, February 12, 2007

Circling The Airport Without Fuel

Well I am still here - Ironically I just can't seem to get the correct papers to get me up and going. Disturbing, disastrous and... I'm just over it....
I have some great students, all within the age range of 20 - 50 and they are all quite keen to learn. I have a house mate moving in about late February, he is a UK English teacher, so that is good, Obi will have someone to talk with.
Had lunch today with a real live Polish family!! - I knooow! AMAZING. One of my co workers invited me to see Polish family life. Had a lot of fun and laughs even though only one person could understand me. Chatted for a few hours and then got a taxi home, no way I am walking 35 mins in the snow from a place I have no idea how to get home from.
Next week I have a new challenge and I am looking forward to it, I have been bored out of my brain every day. I am only working a 10 hour week to start with and then when the new project starts next month I will be fully into it at 30 teaching hours a week. I'll have no time for anything (..tho I am doing nothing now anyway)
It's quite disturbing that people in the street now know who I am, I don't know them! Even more disturbing is that fact that I can go nowhere without someone knowing me, no more Mr Anonymous. From a city of 15 Million to a town of 29,000... eeesh.
I really want to get my visa sorted out, the storm is over and the dust is settling, but I am no closer to getting everything in order. I am finding Polish a hard language to even discern the different words is difficult. I think Russian is easier.
I will be teaching a student gratis as of next week, she works in the office and does so much for me as it is, so it is the least I can do. I hate asking anyone for help and I know I must rely on her and the others at school for so many simple and silly things, quite embarrassing really.
I went window shopping to buy a bed yesterday, lots of ideas but I won't buy a thing until I can lay down some roots and get some crucial papers.
So nerves are returning to normal and breathing and heartrate are becoming regular again... hope it stays that way.. Obiski - not obelisk

Monday, February 05, 2007

2 weeks

Well I am coming up to the 2 week mark and the pages of Bloggery have been silent... Sorry to all, I have just had too much to deal with on every level.
A special Mention to Peter the University student that helped me so much on the train ride from Berlin thru Poznan and to my new home.
It was the worst snow storm of the season and I was 30 minutes behind in my schedule with a 110% chance to miss my connecting train, who would have thought trains are late becasue of snow... anyway. Peter made a few calls and at the end of it all I my boss was waiting for me in a nice warm Ford focus!
I found myself in a large new echoing apartment with 2 bedrooms and no furniture except a bed, better than Moscow worse than a hostel... either way, a long day that started in South East Germany had ended.
It has been a week of work now and I am still adjusting, I am so off balance, so many other issues are destroying my sanity that I am having hard time focusing on the real day to day matters like eating properly and a regular sleeping pattern. I swear I have aged 5 years... Just one maybe but still...
I work in a small school in a small town, - I feel like breaking out in the chorus of a John Cougar Mellencamp song.. geez... anyway...
This place is rather unremarkable, and I can be sure that I will have NO McDonalds for a year ! aaawwwh! The staff are nice, typically composed of 20 year old girls that speak a little english and giggle a lot, don't get me wrong, it's sweet. I can just see taht it is gonna be a loooong winter.
My boss is a good man, even if he didnt get the correct visa for me, this is the reason I must dash off in the middle of the night and go to Berlin, arriving at 8am for the hours journey to the Polish embassy, near Potsdam Platz, for fans of The Bourne Supremacy, it is the tram stop with the protestors. I will take some snaps and daydream about being an internation man of mystery...
I live behind the small shopping centre and next to a castle tower, I have looked for Repunzel, but I know it is too cold for any hairy situations, but then, there is always the spring.
For easter I have been invited to a health retreat, quite cheap because it is in Lithuania. So we will see what cheap means after 3 massages daily and pina coladas.
I have a good workload this month - nothing too much, the real deal starts in March when a new teacher will come and perhaps bring me back from the edge of insanity. Then again...
To recap - the mission is off to Berlin for the day maybe the weekend and then back with the right visa and a new visa!
Wish me luck. Someone said I was vitriolic, nope I wasn't, I was murderous... Stick that in ya hat!
Obi Same Shit different dance step...
<BGSOUND SRC="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/sounds/farting.mp3" LOOP=0> <BGSOUND SRC="http://stormii.com/Wavs/3yrsold.vav" LOOP=0> <BGSOUND SRC="http://www.ibiblio.org/samneill/sounds/reilly/7-Gambit/moscow.vav" LOOP=0>
I - Obi...