Life takes you to the most incredible places in this world. It takes you through the most incredible and unimaginable emotions during your time. It also takes you to the places that you never thought of going or even wanted to go. It’s unpredictable no matter how hard you try to schedule it.

Most of the time we don’t know what is gonna happen next and that is the most beautiful part and the scariest  part of it all. The unanswered questions that can lead us anywhere or nowhere.

I didn’t think that I would ever end up living in Poland. It’s unimaginable. Most of my life my dream was to move to England, and yet I’ve had the opportunity but still I’ve chosen somewhere else. Twice! Maybe it’s the fear of not being satisfied with your dream if you do it, or maybe it’s the exciting part of going off the tracks.

I’ve been in Poland for ten months now and for the majority of the time I’m satisfied with how things are and with living in Warszawa, though I miss the quietness and emptiness of small towns most of the times. But it’s not something that plays a big part in my daily life. I’m also happy with the possibilities and activities in this town. Though I might not join in on much it’s nice to know, that it is actually here. But still I have days where I am close to packing my suit cases and just go home. Because sometimes I am still thinking “what the fuck am I doing here”.

I’ve been taking Polish classes for around half a year, however I’m not really making a huge progress. It feels fun to learn a new language, but it is not really fun. It’s like being a kid who has to learn to talk. And I must admit my patience has run out as I am not making the progress that I expected I would make. But learning to talk is so hard and that is also why I decided that I will no longer take Polish lessons. 

In October I went to see a Polish film called Wołyń. It was unbelievable tough and about a side of the Polish history that I have actually never heard of before. It was about the second world war, but not so much about Poland and Germany. But about the relationship/non-relationship between Poland and Ukraine. I am definitely going to buy it when it comes out and bring it back to my family in Denmark, because I want them to see it. 
I was told about this cinema where they show Polish films for foreigners once or twice a month. So that is where I went to see Wołyń. It’s only 16 zl for the ticket and add another 12-16 zl for popcorn + soda. Which means that you can basically go to the cinema for around 30 +/- zl. However it was the oldest cinema I had ever been at and you can even get sofa seat if you come with your loved one.

For the cinema click here.

I also went to see Inferno with a friend. Apparently, Cinema City sell tickets for 15 zl every Wednesday. To me this is crazy as I have always been a person who would go to the cinema max. 1 time per year as the whole experience with tickets and popcorn plus beverages easily cost you 100-130 zl in Denmark.

But of course the prices are lower because the salary in Poland is lower. But sometimes prices and salary doesn’t go hand in hand. Sometimes it’s unfair and other times it’s unbelievable!

Last week I was on a three-day course in Leading Individual and Teams and I think one of the best things that I learnt on that course was this quote: “Saying no to say yes”. To me it put things in a perspective, because saying no almost always identifies with something negative, when it can actually be looked upon as something really positive. You are actually just saying no so you can say yes to something else. Most people feel bad about saying no and good about saying yes, and saying yes is secretly saying no to something else. So basically, those two words have the same meaning.

And for every expat out there then we have all probably said no to say yes at some point in our move… and probably felt bad about it, because let’s face it, we said no!

Mikołaj Kopernik’s gingerbread town that will endure it all

View of Toruń: Recommended!

Toruń also referred to in German as Thorn lies on the Vistula River also called Wisła. It is one of Poland’s oldest cities. Stare Miejski is the birthplace of Mikołaj Kopernik known to the rest of the world as Nicolaus Copernicus. Our old pal Kopernik was known for his mathematic and astronomic skills including a model of the universe that places the sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the universe. In the Renaissance he was probably a cool dude, or more likely a weird fellow who kept himself busy with his observations and equations. Enough of that. In the Old Town of Toruń (Stare Miejski) rumours are that you don’t meet under the clockwork, like in so many cities, but around the statue of our clever pal Copernicus. I imagined a big statue, Statue of the Liberty-big (okay maybe not as big as Ms. Liberty). However, you gotta keep your eyes open if you don’t want to miss Pan Mikołaj Kopernik, because he is rather small. Just to give you some directions then he is standing on the corner of the Town Hall just in front of the Gingerbread shop. Talking about gingerbread the truth must be told. I absolutely love it. It is something you can only get in Denmark during Christmas time, so when I discovered that Toruń not only has a history with Mikołaj but also with Gingerbread I of course had to get some. I just bought some small chocolate covered hearts in the shop in front of the Copernicus statue and they where good, but honestly not as good as the ones I get in Denmark for Christmas.

In Toruń we stayed on the other side of the Vistula River on Camping Tramp (where there by the way weren’t any tramps). Just 10 minutes walk and you’d be standing in front of the many gates that surrounds Toruń’s old city. A wall was building around it just like in Warsaw, but the only different is that in Warsaw there is not much left of the wall. Toruń has many gates and entrances to the old town and once you enter the gates you find yourself surrounded by those pretty houses. Tall and very small with different colours and facades. The place is full of them and it is very charming.

 

 

 

Next to the Vistula River still inside the wall are the Ruins of the Teutonic Orders Castle. The town has been under German order and across the river is the ruins of a castle King Jagiełło built under his reign of Poland. The Old Town is amazing with all the colourful houses with different facades. I could probably spend hours just walking around taking pictures or staring at the houses. However one minus is all the annoying tourists (including myself of course) whom takes away some of the charm by drowning the place. Just like Warsaw’s Stare Miasto it is deeply impacted by the tourists ad touristy things. I imagine winter time will be magical if it gets snow-kissed and tourist-free. 

 

From the other side of the Wisła River the view of Toruń is amazing. Especially after dark. The walls are lit up and the lights illuminates the river. The medieval parts of the town really comes alive. I think I could sit and daydream about living in the medieval times for quite awhile. I will recommend Toruń to everyone who is a bit interested in the medieval times or if they just want to see something different.

My advise: just go!

 

I guess you can say I’ve been on hiatus. It’s been one and a half month since I posted anything in this blog. I’ve been totally uninspired despite the fact that I’ve actually done and seen a few things that should have inspired me to post.

My dad visited me in the end of April for four days and I think if he had spent a few more days in Warsaw I would have been able to write a book about the bakeries in Warsaw. My dad loves cake and I love cake and we ate a lot of it in just four days. I think if you like cake Poland can be quite the challenge as they all look so good and there are a lot of cake!

Personally my favourite chocolate cake (Gorzka Czekolada) is from in Cukiernia Truskawka on Wołoska 70. I fell in love when I took the first bite. So if you have nothing to do and you like chocolate cake go and try it out.

Gorzka Czekolada!

Other things me and my dad did apart from eating cakes was eating other kinds of food. We both like food a lot. So we tried some traditional Polish food. We tried żurek (a sour rye soup), which I must say didn’t really look that welcoming. And having a hardboiled egg floating around in my soup put me off a bit, I mean just the thought of it puts me off. HOWEVER, I did like the soup and I did like the floating egg in it and I will try it again. It was weird but it was good.

We also tried Bigos, which is a meat and cabbage stew. To me it seemed quite simple, however I am not sure I should yell that out loud since apparently it takes around two to four days to make it. I imagine this is a dish every grandmother is proud of making and that every Polish family has the best bigos recipe. I picture two friends talking. One says: “My grandmother makes the best bigos,” and the other one goes: “No my grandmother makes the best bigos”. I liked the bigos I had but I think I would like to try someone’s grandmother’s recipe.

Apart from that I’ve had pierogi as well, simple but alright. I’ve tried Gołąbki, which is one thing that I actually liked a lot. Also I’ve noticed that they eat a lot of potato pancakes (placek po zbojnicku), which I had never had before, but here in Poland I’ve tried it with goulash and it was good.

But my conclusion is that Polish food is not that creative and it can be quite boring as well. But I guess sometimes fancy can be too much as well. I recommend people who visit Poland to try some though. And I think if you can find a small local place it’s probably gonna taste even better, because sometimes big restaurants or tourist places cooks traditional food with a twist of non-traditional.

This was a lot about food.

What else have I done apart from eating?

I’ve been to Łazienki Królewskie, which is a park and I actually love it a lot. It’s full of people and quite at the same time. There are so many path to choose from, pretty buildings and water in the park. On a sunny day it is just pretty awesome. Actually a few Sundays ago I went there to listen to a guy play Frederic Chopin music. I think it’s an arrangement that is gonna take place for a while every Sunday. It was not my kind of music and the guy could have played the same number over and over again and I wouldn’t even notice. But it was nice to be doing something and I had a good time.

Łazienki Królewskie

Last Friday I went to The View, which turned out to be a pretty long night; as I didn’t return home before 0830 in the morning. But what a party. It was on the roof on one of Warsaw tallest buildings. 

The View

I also had a night out at Pub Zielona Gęś near Metro Pole Mokotówski, which was rather eventful as I ended up singing karaoke for the first time in my life. I'm not quite sure if I am actually welcome there anymore after that night. Honestly I was too drunk to read the text on the screen and apparently I haven't memorised the lyrics to Summer of 69.

In July my best friend is coming to visit me for a week and we will meet in Poznan and stay there a few days before going to Warsaw. I am looking forward to that. I guess that is it for this time.

I enjoy Poland more and more for each day that passes and I can’t imagine going back anytime soon.