A new home, yet again.

So, as of one week and one day ago, I live in a city called Szczecin.  It's pronounced "Sh-ch-eh-chin" or "Sh-ch-eh-cheen," depending who you're talking to. Say it with me.  Again.  Faster.  Just kidding.  I know, it's ridiculous.  But it's home now.  Szczecin, for those who are interested, is in the Northwest corner of Poland, less than 15 kilometers ( that's about 9 miles) from the German border and about 70 kilometers (43 miles) to the Baltic Sea.  Basically, it's really far from the rest of Poland.  So how did I end up here?

Well, after I finished my CELTA, I started looking for work by picking a few really good schools and applying to the different branches, even if it wasn't in one of the cities I'd initially pictured myself in.  Then I wrote to other schools in the cities I'd had in mind.  Well, I got a few calls for interviews, and I talked to a few Directors, and at the end of the day, I chose a school that I could get behind, and a DOS I really wanted to work with.  It was actually an easier decision than I thought it'd be.  Yes, I wanted to move to Kraków or Gdańsk, but I didn't come to Poland just to look at beautiful buildings or to get drunk with people I met on CELTA.  I came here to change the miserable path I was on.  I came to teach, to learn Polish, to start a new life.  And I thought I could do that best with Bell, in Szczecin.

I spent about a week in Kraków before I came here, and it was wonderful.  I kind of fell in love.  It's a bit touristy, but for me, the city had so many beautiful places and, more importantly, such character that I never wanted to leave.  But I had to, so last Tuesday, I woke up early, bid adieu to my friends at the Mosquito Hostel (if you're ever in Kraków, stay there.), and got on a train to Szczecin.  For 10 hours.  Luckily, I had an excellent book with me (you'll find the link for that to your left), so I read for a good long stretch, and I napped for a while.  When the train stopped in Poznań, a lot of people got on.  Including the new love of my life.  A middle-aged man, blind drunk, came into my compartment and decided he wanted to have a seat right next to me, despite the fact that there were three empty seats to my right, and talk about an inch from my face with his 90-proof breath.  When he realized I was not Polish, it got really special.  He spoke to me the whole way to Szczecin, in a mixture of Polish and English, telling me how I was beautiful and should come stay with him and his wife.  He sang "Bad Boys" repeatedly for no apparent reason.  And he kissed my hand several times and even asked to see my breasts.  So romantic.  The younger (and handsomer) man in the compartment, to his credit, tried several tactics to distract Drunky, but in the end our new relationship could only be put to rest by the train reaching his stop.  I've never been so relieved to get to someone else's stop.

When I got of the train, the School Director, Zenon, was waiting to take me to my new flat.  It is right in the middle of what the locals call the "brand new old town," because large parts of it were destroyed in WWII and only very recently restored.  It's a nice flat, but it's big (for Europe), and I feel a bit like I should get a roommate or something, because it doesn't seem like I need all of this to myself.  I have a few photos:

kitchen

living room  

My first full day in town, I stopped by the school to say hello to Craig, the DOS, and to see what was there, I walked around Szczecin a bit, and I met up with a few teachers at this place:

Brama Jazz Cafe

This is a bar/cafe in one of the gates from the old city fortifications.  How they got the licensing to make this place a bar, I'll never know, but I love the idea of it.  There's also a lot of outdoor seating for nice sunny days.  Still, despite the city gate turned watering hole, the city did not immediately appeal to me, I'll admit.  I'm pretty sure it was a Kraków hangover.  That, and after having been in two Polish cities that were anchored by massive, beautiful ryneks (old market squares), I was missing the lack of one here pretty keenly.  However, Ken and Laura, who've been teaching here for 6 and 7 years, respectively, told me I should take a walk out to Park Kasprowicza, which is beyond the City Hall. So on Saturday, that's what I did.  So far it is, without a doubt, my favorite part of the city.  You walk around the City Hall and come out into the Jasne Błonia, a huge open green space lined by paths, trees, statues and fountains: 

Jasne Błonia

Then, if you keep walking, you head straight into a tangle of forest paths leading to a rose garden, a river/canal straddled by dainty pedestrian bridges, and if you keep going, even deeper into the forest.  It was Saturday and the weather was beautiful, so all of Szczecin was in the park with their children and their dogs, but it was still peaceful and there was so much room to roam around.  Here are a couple of my favorite parts:

peeping out onto the city

ducks under the bridge

Autumn reaching out
to meet me again.

After spending the day in the park, I felt refreshed and ready to start treating this city like my home.  On Sunday I was invited to Joasia's house (She is one of the Polish teachers) for a barbecue.  In Poland, pretty similarly to the States, that means you drink beer and cook sausages over an open flame.  There were also some home-baked pastries filled with rose jam made by Joasia's mother.  Yeah.  you heard me.  Rose jam. Made from rose petals. It was different, and delightful.   Pani Joasia was a wonderful hostess, and her animals (all rescued) are adorable.  

 On Monday, we (the three new teachers) got a tour of the city, and I saw even more of what's lovely about Szczecin.  Then we had drinks and listened to an insane pianist/lounge singer who seemed to read our minds (and did a pretty mean Louis Armstrong impression for a Polish guy). As for the rest of this week, it's been about easing into work. I'm training, getting to know my colleagues, taking some Survival Polish lessons, and observing some placement testing.  Next week (or maybe Friday), I'll start teaching.  I'll get my schedule tomorrow.  I'm nervous, but ready to jump in.  

This is getting absurdly long, so I'll just wrap it up by saying this:  I'm happy.  So far, I like my colleagues, my school, and my boss.  Szczecin's beauty is not as in your face as Kraków's, but it creeps up on you in quiet moments when you aren't paying attention.  It's home, and I'm glad.

The Good Land

Part One.

Oh, Milwaukee.  Why did I leave you?  You are full of good friends, fun times, fond memories, and cute babies I'm related to.  Obviously it was a well-spent weekend.  I saw a lot of people I love and I had more fun than I've had in quite a while.  For those of you who want the short version, I can sum my weekend up in the following photographs:

**Photo credit for the picture of me and Hudson goes to Natalie.

On top of all the fun, though, after the baseball game, I went out for ice cream with a group of friends.  Some of them the faithful familiars who are always up for a good time when I'm around, and others who haven't seen me in so long that they didn't even know I didn't live in Milwaukee anymore.  And there was no booze, no band playing, none of the usual social lubricant usually involved with seeing old friends.  But we all slipped so easily into hilarious stories, filthy jokes, and poking fun at one another that it felt like none of us had ever drifted apart at all.  And I realized that your real friends are your friends no matter what you've been doing or how old you get or where you live.  Looking back on younger years, it's easy to miss the carefree days, the ridiculous antics, and mostly, the old friends.  But it's cool to realize that the friends, at least, are still there.

Part Two.

So I've been thinking a lot about the distinctions between family and friends.  Often the really good friends feel just as much like family as the one you're born into.  But there are some very obvious differences.  Case in point: I've seen a lot of different reactions to my "big" life decisions the last few years, and I've been wondering why, when my family has known me for so much longer and in such closer quarters than my friends, they always seem more taken aback by my choices.  I always get the most questions, the most cautions, the most (what seems to me) reticence from those who supposedly know me best.  Why?

Here's why: family is full of hierarchies.  Parent, child.  Youngest, oldest, middle.  Brother, sister.  There's a lot of push and pull, give and take, responsibility and power.  Your family is structured to take care of one another.  So when you announce something like, "I'm going to move to Poland this summer and become an English teacher!" your family goes into protective mode.  I hope she's not going to get hurt.  Let's make sure she's thought of everything.  What if this doesn't work out?  Your family wants to try to prevent you from doing anything stupid, if possible.

Friends, on the other hand, generally view one another more or less as equals.  They've seen you pick yourself up off the floor after some big spills.  Hell, they probably got you drunk to numb the pain of the fall.  They've let you help them when they took a hit.  And if your relationship with your friends is anything like mine, they've definitely seen you do many stupider things than your family can ever hope to - and they've seen you live to tell (and laugh) about it.  So when you announce something like, "I think maybe I'd be ok with a life as crazy Auntie Rachel who is always flying in from random countries with ponchos and necklaces and exotic liquors for everybody!" your friends go into a completely different mode.  They're much more laissez-faire.  How can I help?  Let's have a huge farewell party!  I'm going to come on some of those trips with you!  Your friends not only don't want to prevent you from doing anything stupid, they kind of want you to do stupid things.  Just for the sake of doing them.  Because you can.

But you know what?  Both responses come from a good place.  They come from people caring about you.  So I guess I can stop obsessing about what it all means, and just remember that I'm awfully lucky to have people to care about me in all of these ways.

Oh!  And on a much less sappy note, read this blog. And die laughing.  Good work, Evie.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. First entry, coming up.  But I guess first thing's first: if you don't get why I'm looking for Maude, you'd better get your hands on a copy of the movie ASAP.  It's near-absolute perfection.  I do take minor exception with one particular plot point, but I'll forgive it as necessary to make the movie what it is.  And I still love Jamie Baird for introducing me to it back when I was 20. 

What did I do today?  I took a break from all of the worries about work visas, ESL training, housing, and money for my impending move to Poland(!!!), and I went to visit my grandparents.  Since I was headed out to their area, I thought I'd stop at St. Mary's in Fancher to stroll through the cemetery to look for my great great grandparents' grave.  Since I first thought about the possibility of moving to Poland, I've developed a fascination with finding out where I come from.  I'm hoping to trace my family back to the point where I can go visit the towns, cities and villages where
                                    my ancestors come from.

On this search, I've stumbled upon a bit of a mystery.  My family has always assumed that my great great grandfather, George Betro, was from Italy.  Someone who knew him told my grandmother that George grew up somewhere in the south of Italy, near the crossing to Sicily.  When I look him up on ancestry.com, I find that he (and his wife Pauline and several sons and daughters) are all recorded in several censuses.  But each one lists a different place of birth for him, and a different place of birth for his parents.  Wisconsin, Philadelphia, Italy, Syria, Prussia, France...I have no idea where he comes from!  I do, however, know where he's buried.  I thought that maybe the cemetery might give me clues.  Maybe his parent's names, a place of birth, something.

After wandering for ten or fifteen minutes, I finally found it:

Alas, it really offered me no information I didn't have already.  But it was pretty cool to stand there anyway, and to pay my respects to people who made their way over here (on ships!) to start a new life, and ended up creating my family.

Because it was a beautiful day, I was driving through the country, and I had my camera, I began seeing delicious photo ops everywhere I looked.  I firmly believe that, when you're holding a camera, everything starts to look more compelling. So I passed a lovely afternoon being enchanted by everything I saw.  Here's an abandoned farm house that caught my fancy:

Yes, those trees are really growing right out of the house.

Finally, since I was visiting long-gone family, I stopped by my Grandpa Irv's grave just to say hi on my way home.  The sun was shining, but as soon as I reached his grave, it started raining.  If you know me, you know I love rain.  Especially warm rain.  So I said thanks to Grandpa and went home, where I saw...

A double freaking rainbow!  Right over my house.  My mom says that means someone from the beyond is trying to contact you.  Hmm...