Pierwszy z fotografiami

Meaning, First One with Photos. I'm getting most of my translations from Google Translate, so don't go thinking I'm all smart or anything. Also don't go thinking I'm extra dumb, in case they're really wrong.

So, as you may have guessed, I have a few photos for you. That's how much I love you.



First of all, here is a picture of Georg and the eggs he made me. His eggs are much better than yours, Cameron. Sorry. Georg is a good friend of mine in Philadelphia. I like having layovers there because it means I can see him for a few hours. He took me to get some terrible coffee, and I found The Princess Bride for $4.99. (I couldn't find my copy before I left, and I can't go 3 months without having it at my disposal.)

If there had been dill, I would have been happy as a mongoose. Oh well.  

Now we have some apartment pictures.




This is the view from my balcony that greeted me on first arrival. Susan told me that this is the most snow they've had in Warsaw in something like 13 years. Fortunately, I left a rather frozen Tennessee, so I'm not suffering overmuch. Still, they're predicting the high tomorrow to be 12. Fahrenheit. !!!

Next is me and the view from the living room window.



My apartment is right by a 24h Tesco. Super convenience. One morning, I was walking there to meet Kaylin, so we could get our pictures taken for transport passes. All of a sudden, I saw a bear playfully romp out of a nearby apartment building.




You don't get a good sense of scale here. But it's a huge dog, and for a split-second I honestly thought it was a bear. Then I couldn't stand (bear?) how cute it was, so I wanted to take a picture. I boldly approached his owner, a gentleman in his 50s or 60s. "Dzień dobry," I said. Then I motioned towards my camera, and towards the dog. "Proszę?" It's such an odd feeling to be crippled by ignorance. But he let me take a couple of pictures. The dog ran towards me and I pet him and smiled. "He is black Russian terrier," the guy said, in an awesome deep voice. He could get a job playing a Russian crime lord; Americans couldn't tell the difference. "He's beautiful," I said. He replied, "Of course." "Dziękuję," and I hurried on. Dang, I love dogs.


Speaking of things I love, here are my two favorite things EVER: my cat Leia, and my ukulele. This is an old picture, but it was on the memory card that I brought to Poland, and she is a cute and I miss her.








Back on topic, here is some more snow near my apartment.




My building is the one at the end, with the two glowing lights in the roof.



Take a load off.



You know I am going to post as many birds as possible.


Here are the stairs up from my metro stop. In the original size, you can see the snow falling, which is the reason I took this picture. But I still think it's cool.












Remains of my first meal in Poland: soup Susan made from vegetables she canned herself.



Saturday, I think, Kaylin took me around on the metro to show me different places I might need to go. We ended up at Złote Terasy, a mall in the Centrum. It's right next to train, bus, and metro lines, so it will be easy to meet people there.




The mall is the one with the bubbly glass ceiling.



As a point of reference, here is a view of the Palace of Culture and Science from in front of the mall. I've posted photos of the PSC in previous years.



On Sunday, we met for home group around 4pm. It was my first one, and I really enjoyed it.




Here they are singing a Polish song. I sat out because I didn't want to show off.

After the meeting, Susan and Kaylin served us loaded baked potatoes. The other people in attendance that night were three Polish people and one girl from Malaysia, so they may have been initially hesitant to embrace the concept. But once they saw Susan's gloriously packed potato, I think they got it. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, not least of all myself.






Then it was time for games.




Here you observe the Americans sharing the tradition of pig passing.



Trotter and LEANING JOWLER 25 POINTS!!!!


Today, we tried to get our transport IDs sorted, but all the machines were down. So we ended up at another mall, Arkadia, where I bought everyone's favorite "Film Peter'a & Bobby'ego Farrelly" : Głupi i Głupszy, for 12.90 zł. That's currently $4.30. I watched it tonight. I didn't remember some of the dirty parts in it. Good job, Mom and Dad, for fast-forwarding through them for all those years.

Kaylin showed me how to set up topic sheets for discussion at English Club. If I can take over that responsibility, she can concentrate on other things, which will be a help to her. It's not hard at all, and I'm just about the right kind of nerd to do it, I think. We also talked a little about a video that Susan has been wanting to have made. I have some ideas for it... More on that later, I hope.

OK, that should do for now. I can hear people having fights in neighboring apartments. Well, I think so, anyway. If you read this, please leave me feedback as to whether you prefer inline images, or if you'd rather I post one link to a photo gallery. I've never done it this way before, so I'll only be a little hurt if you don't like it.

I'm still very, very happy to be here, despite the cold and snow and tiredness. I'm going to try to fall asleep before 3:30 a.m. tonight, so wish me luck.

A hot chocolate kind of love,

CLB