Surprises

Today has been a day full of surprises, starting at 8am this morning.
I woke up to find Hugh (my placement partner) packing his bags and saying farewell to me for a weekend in Krakow (pronounced Krakov).

The second surprise of the day was finding a reasonably priced pair of shoes. It seems like life's essentials any where else are always either a pain to find, or impossible to pay for. Where's a good Target or Warehouse when you need one??? (Don't worry Mum and Dad, I actually did NEED the pair of shoes, I can feel the snow on my feet in the old ones.)

The best surprise of the day was arriving home and actually getting hot water through the taps! (I think the cold showers are what gave me the flu), but this was not long lived, as someone in the other lav also decided to take a hot shower! How rude!

The second best surprise is the phone call i just got off the line with. My host mum Iwana just rung me, and told me that I was being picked up a day early, which hopefully means only one more semi warm/cold shower.

As it is now nearly 7pm, I can confidently say that the last surprise of the day is that the computer in this dismal hostel is close to being able to be described as "working". Despite the 5 or so second delay in the type appearing on the screen, and the occasional glitch in the system that leaves me hanging on for five minutes, stressing that everything written so far will be lost, everything else seems to be in order.

Today I went to the American Embassy, it is all very impressive, but the amount of security is actually embarrassing. Take note that this is not a lack of security, but rather a waste of tax payer's dollars in the over indulgence of security in a country such as Poland. Especially when the personnel sitting behind the desks in Citizen Services aren't even American natives.

Now to address some of the comments left...

More than one person as requested that I go into detail about what is so different.

First off is the architecture. In both of the hostels that I have stayed in so far, and from what I can see, each apartment building is about three to four stories high. Each have a gate that is monitored by either an alarm system or a camera and watchman. There is a great courtyard with in each of the dismal grey walls, and each flat takes up a 1/4 of the whole floor.

Next is the weather. Yes, it is freezing, but I love it. While out at one of the other GAPpers 18th birthday, it started to snow at about 2am, and it was awesome to see the streets blanketed. Today it was not cold enough to snow, so it only sprinkled rain.

Third is the public transport. You can get to practically any part of the city by taking the metro, tram, and bus, or all three in accordance. A week ticket is 12,4pln, which is about $6.20usd, and this lets you on the metro, tram and bus. The best part about these is that they show up on time, and you know that they'll get you there fast because you have to hold on for dear life when they take off, especially if standing up.

Lastly is the people. As we were warned on our orientation day, the Polish are very non-emotional. It is very rare that you walk down the street and see a smiling Pole. I think that most of us have gotten used to it, and sometimes I even find myself walking down the street all zombie like. Maybe its a natural reaction so the bloody beggars leave you alone.

Well that is all for now, as I have to be off to sort out some tea.