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.