saffiter | The more I stay here (Reply)

...the more I think the Poles are nuts!

More on that statement later.

So, Merry Chrismtas, Happy New Year, all that sort of stuff.

So, what did Sheena get up to on her Christmas break.

Quite a bit, actually. I went to the Netherlands (as I think I told you all) for Christmas and a couple of days afterwards. I left in the cold and the snow and have swung back towards hating Warsaw. Really hating Warsaw. It might be a weather thing, 'cause I was fine in teh Summer.

... I don't think the 4+ hour trip in a bus helps me very much. I hate busses. They're cramped and slow (Polish busses by law can't go above 60km/hr... when you have a 400km or so journey... yeah. Painful. I start twitching about the 3 1/2 hour mark). Time was passed by listening to music and playing games on my DS (Indiana Jones Lego FTW!!!).

I got this random lady come up to me when I got off the bus and start talking to me. I tried the "I'm sorry I don't speak Polish" route and she switched over to English. I got a fifteen minute talk on how I had to work in a hotel 'cause I spoke English and English speakers have good jobs in hotels dont'chaknow? Oh, you're an English teacher, then the hotels need people to teach their workers how to speak English so you should go and work in a hotel... *sigh*. Amusing, but only after the fact. At the time I was cold, tired, feeling decidedly grungy, and just wanting to get the hell out of there. It was also snowing.

It was wonderful to finally get to the hostel (I got lost and had to walk a couple of kilometers more than what I really wanted to), dump my bag, and eat something. Followed by a long, very, very hot shower. After that I mucked about on my laptop for a couple of hours waiting for my hair to dry (I made icons ^___^. btw, my icon journal has new ones up, plus some fic. I'll put the links at the end of this). I was asleep pretty early but didn't sleep very well (another girl came into the dorm kinda late and woke me up. I got revenge the next morning, though *grins evilly*)

My taxi driver was quite happy to have a lovely chat to me...despite the fact that I barely speak any Polish. He just kept trying and we actually had a decent-ish conversation (filled with much laughter when we just couldn't get what the other person was talking about). He dumped me at the airport and I checked in and then just wandered aimlessly for a couple of hours while I waited for them to call my flight.

I flew KLM. I know they've got budget airlines in Europe and lots of them, but have you actually tried to get a direct flight from Warsaw to Amsterdam on one of them. It's not going to happen. You've got to fly here, then there, then halfway around timbuktu before you get to where you want to go and by that time you've probably paid more than what the flight would cost you on KLM anyway so *shrugs I just save myself the headache.

The guy sitting next to me on the plane was pretty quite for most of the trip..until they bought out the sandwiches. Some sort of cheese and something, and tuna *pulls a face*. Not too fond of tuna so I left that sandwich. He waited for about half an hour, constantly eyeing off my abandoned sandwich, before asking me if I was going to eat it. I let him have it and I've never seen anyone look that happy before. He really, really liked tuna.

Can I just say that I love Amsterdam airport. Really, I do. It's clean (really, really, really clean), easy to navigate, and easy to get around the country from. I got off the plane (the landing was a real bone cruncher. I give it about a 3/10. I had to pull my spine out of my butt when I stood up). First port of call was to get some food. Half a sandwich does not a meal make. Burger King did it for me. It's always funny to eat stuff like McDonalds etc. in different countries. It's always different (for example: Polish KFC's do an amazing Cesear Salad. You just have to pick out the tomatoes).

After that I went to buy my ticket to my uncle's place. It's about 20 mintues outside of Amsterdam. I spent six days there lazing about and getting to know my Uncle and Aunt. I ate lots of different types of Dutch food (some of the stuff I'd never heard of before. Whitloaf? Andijve?) Uncle Jaap introduced me to these things called Oliebollen. They're made with doughnut mix. They're this ball deep fired and then sprinkled with icing sugar. Soooo good! Especially when they're hot enough to burn your fingers and tongue. I ended up eating one every day.

I was there until the 26th of December and then Uncle Jaap drove me into Amsterdam and dropped me off at the Centraal (no, I didn't spell that wrong) train station. I grabbed an Iamsterdam card (free entry into 26 museums, free train/metro/tram travel, discounts on a stack of stuff. Worth getting!) and made my way to the Stayokay Vondelpark hostel. It was in this old school (which looked amazing!) and right next to this old park. The room was pretty cold as they had huge windows (and you could feel the cold coming off the windows...kinda like what I'm feeling right now).

Lunch was a snack from FEBO (put in your money, open a window, and take out the food. Hamburgers for €2) and some McDonald's. I then went for a nice long walk around the Leidseplein. They had an open air ice-skating rink that I got pictures of (there was a girl sitting in a wicker chair getting pushed about) and three different food carts. One selling oliebollen, one selling waffles, and one selling Poffertjes. I was in dessert heaven *grins* Then it was time for dinner. Wok into Work (noodles).

Next morning I was up early to get a good breakfast. The hostel had free breakfast and it was one of the best free ones I've ever seen in a hostel! You practically had to roll me away from teh table.

After breakfast I hung around the lobby until 11:00 as there was a free walking tour going. It ended up going for about 4 hours! It was an amazing tour (just very cold. About 2C and lots of wind. At least it was sunny) and I made a friend. We went through the Dam, Red Light District, over canals, down side streets, into these little hidden areas that only locals know about. We finally finished at about 3:30pm at the Anne Frank House. I saw the outside but didn't go in.

Jaqui and I (Jaqui was the friend I made) wandered our way back to Leidseplein (after getting lost once) and ran around together for the rest of the day/evening. We went on a canal cruise and then went to dinner. Dinner was at this Sports bar/restaurant thing. I had the unlimited spare ribs and I could barely finish the bloody thing! It was sooo tasty, though! Dessert (for me) was Poffertjes (Dutch pancakes. They're these tiny little pancakes doused in butter, icing sugar, and, for me, chocolate sauce). I love poffertjes! I've been addicted to them for years. This was the first time I'd ever had them in Holland, though. We finished off the night by sitting in the hostel bar with a beer and nattered for a couple of hours (I got to try Belgian White Beer. It was interesting). Unfortunately I had to go to bed 'cause I was leaving for Warsaw the next morning.

I was sad to leave Amsterdam. It's probably my favourite European city (of the ones that I've been to). It's just so diverse and so much to do! (and easy to navigate once you actually know what you're doing which I do now). I haven't had one miscommunication problem at all and the people seem friendly.

It was depressing to land back in Warsaw. I spent the night in the same hostel I usually stay in (Nathan's Villa, it's good!). They offer a free breakfast but I didn't grab it the next morning. 'Free Breakfast' here is tea/coffee, bread (toaster supplied) and a variety of different spreads. I had a 4+ hour bus trip ahead of me. No way in hell would that keep me going. I hopped a tram and got a large breakfast meal from McDonalds. By the time I got back it was time to grab my bags and get a taxi to the western bus station.

About halfway through the trip I looked up from the Empire magazine I'd grabbed in Amsterdam Centraal (I is addicted to my Empire, I is) to notice that there was snow everywhere an the lakes were frozen over because people were walking on them!!! I holed myself up in the flat as soon as I got back there. Well, not quite 'as soon as' because I had to do some fridge re-stocking (reminds me. My fridge is empty again). I didn't really leave the flat again for a couple of days. Too cold. Ankle deep snow. Yeah... *shivers*

Now, let me tell you about the Poles and New Years. They sell fireworks in the supermarkets around this time and from the moment I got back (29th Dec) to today (5th Jan) there's been fireworks going off. New Years was noisy, very colourful, and there were fireworks going off for pretty much the entire day! I went outside for about half an hour when midnight hit to watch the pretty shinies. I got glomped by one of my ex-students while her brother set of firecrackers at my feet (the little bugger). I retreated back inside around 12:30 'cause I was starting to shiver.

I was a hermit for the rest of the week. I did go outside for a walk on Saturday (despite the fact that it was snowing. It ended up snowing for 18 hours straight!). I got pictures of people walking on the lake... even lak Czos has frozen over! Someone drove their car across it the other day (I didn't see it, but I saw the tracks).

Sunday I got a message from one of my students. He invited me out for a walk (The snow is currently somewhere above my ankles, and the stuff that's been shovelled off the footpath and pushed to the side is hip height). We ended up going all the way to Giżycko (I can't say that. I really, really can't. My tongue gets tied). There's this massive lake there. I got about four steps out onto the ice before chickening out and diving back for the peir (the mental image of the ice cracking and me falling through kept playing through my mind). We then went for a hot cup of tea and lunch in this little cafe. I had some sort of lithuanian potato pancake thing that I couldn't finish. They were stuffed with meat and I'm pretty sure tha the meat wasn't cooked. It was making me feel a little ill.

Today was work. *pulls a face*. I love teaching, but I'm getting a little sick of Poland.... okay, a lot sick. I'm constantly kicking myself for saying that I'd do a two year contract. 5 months. That's all I've got left. Less if you take out holidays.

Now, why do I think the Poles are crazy. Do you know what I saw two of them doing in Giżycko? Scuba Diving!!!! Please note that the temperature was about -12C at the time (The temperature got as cold as -24C last night). The lake was frozen over. They'd cut a hole in the ice so that they could get in and then went SCUBA DIVING!!!!!

The Polish are crazy, ice swimming, closet pyromaniacs!

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Oh, the weather's also warmed up. It's currently -15C

Wanna see what it looks like here right now? Here's a pic for you: