One Foot Out the Door

I've arrived safely in Mragowo. I'll write a proper report of what I've done a little later, this is just a quick message to let you know that I've arrived safely at my destination....and I hate Jetlag!

Oh, and I just got myself a paid account.

... I'm flying back to Poland tomorrow. I'll probably be out of contact for a couple of days. The hostel in Warsaw has free WiFi, so I'll try to send an email once I get there.

Also, I rule at packing! Just thought I'd let you know that *grins*. One port (weighing in at 21 1/2 kg), one backpack, one laptop case/backpack, and one sling over one shoulder bag holds the next nine months of my life.

...why? Because I cooked dinner.

Why would that make me proud (considering that I do it every night of the week)? Well, I cooked some kind of chicken dish. No, I don't know its' name as the packet directions are in Polish (and the only reason I picked it is because the picture looked tasty). I'm proud because the dish called for 500g of chicken fillets (well, I'm assuming it was chicken fillets. I know that Kurzcaka, or something like that, means chicken and that was one of the few words I could read on there).

Right. With me so far? 

Good.

I don't know how many of you know, but I just can't STAND handling raw meat. I'm fine when it's cooked, but raw *shudders*. I used do stuff like pull meat out of the bag with two forks and some careful manoeuvering just so I wouldn't have to touch it. Touching said meat would prompt explosions of "EW, EW, EW EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!!!" and me quickly running off to wash my hands.

(yeah, I REALLY don't like touching raw meat)

This is where my dilema comes in. I've been cooking the same sorts of things for months, now. To be honest I'm starting to get bored with them. I HAVE just bought myself a casserole dish, though, which I've been using to roast chicken legs, potatoes, carrots, and onion in on the weekends (YUMMY!!!! And my apartment smells like roast chicken for the rest of the night, too).

But back to the chicken fillets. I bought two (pointing and holding up fingers while the lady behind the counter rattles away seems to work just fine for me. It helps that they pretty much all know me now, save the newbies - who must get told pretty quickly 'There's a girl living somewhere near here that doesn't speak any Polish) fillets and the packet mix that was going to go with them...and some sour cream (which I learnt a few weeks back was Smeitana or something like that. I can recognise the word when it's written but don't as me to write it down) that the recipie called for.

So, I get the chicken home and realise something. The chook in the pictures was diced up prettily into squares...my fillets were whole..and there was no way I was going to be able to do my usual fork trick with them if I had to dice it.

I think my neighbours might think I'm a tad odd, I laugh out loud at the strangest times (*shrugs, I'm a night owl and I like reading funny stuff on the internet) and I let loose with a really loud EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prompt much swearing, 'EW'ing, and glaring at the fillets while I tried to figure out a way to dice them without actually dicing them. I came up blank so handling it was.

*shudder*

I decided that one fillet would be enough for my meal and dumped both of them out on the cutting board...then realised that I had to put one back INTO the packet again (prompt swearing, 'EW'ing and...well, you get the picture). So, with much face pulling and the like I manage to get my chicken fillet sliced and diced and thrown into the frypan *WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*!

Next was the onion...which I cut into and then promptly thew away. Onions shouldn't look like that. I checked the fridge for carrots and found that I was out of those, too. I had enough mushrooms, though. I threw on my outside shoes and ran across the road to the shops which were closed. Damn the sun setting later now, it confuses me. It was 8pm, but looked like 6pm. I had a quick think and decided to scurry down the road ten minutes to the 24hour bottle-O that was nearby. 

Turns out that the shop sells more than just grog. They had a small vegetable section, ice-cream AND books/paper/etc. I'd head back there to get some more books etc, but the lack of Polish is a bit of a road-block.

So, back in the apartment and I start dicing and slicing vegetables while the chicken slowly simmers on the stove. Then I throw in the vegetables. While the veges are cooking I mix the packet mix with water and sour cream. I decided about halfway through all of this that I could do with some rice or something to go with it. I had Kuskus in the cupboard, so on went a cup of that to boil *grins*

I pull out the casserole dish because, looking at what I had bubbling away on the stove, there was waaaaay too much to eat in one night. Leftovers. COOL!! I have lunch for tomorrow *grins* It beats frozen pizza or something like that.

So, yeah. Dinner was great. I have no idea what I ate was called though I do know what went into it, and I managed to handle raw meat! YAY!!! (still hate touching it, but I now know that I can do it if I have too. Will probably resort to the two fork method if I can get away with it though)

So, how do I follow directions when I can't actually READ the directions? *grins* Here's what I do. I know a few words (water, chicken, sour cream, cheese, mushroom, garlic, ginger, onion, water) and their numbers are the same as ours, so I look for the important bits. Plus, they usually have simple picture directions on the packet (remind me to take a photo of a packet to show you what I mean one day) that are really helpful for working out what step goes when.

Pictures are VERY helpful. The packet of whatever you're buying usually has a picture of what's in it on the front (or the back). A lot of it's educated guess work.. "So, that word means "Chicken" there's a picture of meat going into a fry pan...that word means this..the picture has something coloured white and a cup that says 200mL pouring into a bowl and then into a frypan...so that means I chuck the water and cream into a bowl, stir and then throw over the chicken"

*nods* Easy.

...in my case right now that's literally! *grin*

Did you know that Poland has a national Teacher's Day?

No?

Well, neither did I.  It took being chased by students down the hallways with roses to introduce me to the concept. I was kinda curious today when I saw some of the girls holding roses. Didn't quite know what for, but I figured that they had them for some reason or another. I didn't actually think they were going to give the bloody things to ME!!! *shrugs* I don't get given flowers very often.

And, yes, I did think it was rather weird when they started chasing me with roses LOL! So, I find out (after one of the girls wishes me a healthy and safe teachers day) that it was Teacher's day. I didn't realise that it was important until I was talking to Agnes. They make a big thing out of it here with school concerts and everything.

So, I'm now the proud owner of 7 roses. 5 of them peach coloured, and two of them red. I couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the afternoon. They're sitting on my coffee table now and I can smell them from here.

I LIKE Teacher's Day!

Central heating just turned on. Wheeeeeeee! 

The warmth, the WARMTH!!!!!!!

.....

Yeah. I'm mildly tipsy right now. Polish beer has a bit of a kick.

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Edit:

I've decided that I need an icon for when I'm feeling all WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Yeah, I'll shut up and eat my ice-cream now.


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