Blogs from Lower Silesian, Poland, Europe - page 9

Decided I'd go ahead and turn 24 this year. I had a wonderful birthday week with lots of emails from friends and family, special outings with friends here in Poland and a great birthday party at a local pub, Salvador, on Saturday. A birthday to remember. (And no, I didn't follow the Polish tradition of buying everyone else drinks on MY birthday. I supplied the cake and awesome dance moves, which was worth more than any amount of booze.)... read more

Again, I arrived in the evening at the train station. I'm getting pretty sick of long train journeys especially since I can't do anything but sleep on them. I thought I could update my journal or something but all I get is a headache. Bleh. My host met me at the station but he didn't expect me to arrive so late (it was like 8pm) and had plans to see a movie with a friend. I'm not too into movies and I didn't really mind so I wandered around Wroclaw for a couple of hours before setting up shop in the Mc Donalds since it was the only thing open in the main square at the time. When my host was done, he got me and we went back to his place. His mom was super ... read more

Tis the season for some parties and snowy getaways. I attended my first Polish birthday party early in the month. Michal (Mee-how) turned 23 and hosted a great party. For a Polish birthday, the bday boy/girl is responsible for paying for everyone else's drinks at a bar. They also supply snacks and are to ensure all guests have a lovely time. So I announced that I would NOT be hosting a Polish birthday party. No way am I buying drinks for everyone else on my birthday. Poor Michal was stressed making sure everyone was having fun on HIS birthday. The Speed school held a teachers' weekend get away in snowy Szcyrk (please note the lack of vowels). The resort was about 7 hours away from Wroclaw and we picked up about 50 other teachers from the ... read more

Due to harassment from someone who will remain nameless (Bri Keeney), here is the much anticipated Polish Halloween/election installment of my travel blog. To answer a few questions: NO, the Poles don't celebrate Halloween. The Poles celebrate All Saints' Day on Nov. 1. The vast majority of Poles spend the day with family traveling to the cemeteries where relatives are buried. This also meant that all the stores and restaurants were closed all weekend, which would have been handy to know beforehand. NO, I didn't bring a costume with me to Poland so I didn't have one to wear on Halloween. I did not think it would be a prudent choice to pack a suitcase full of props, costumes and practical jokes. YES, the Poles were interested in the election and for the most part were ... read more

Wroclaw, home of 'the Red Baron' and lately over fifty gnomes are waiting for you to find them. This is my last stop in Poland. I'm in the German part of Poland and very few people speak English here. In fact, the international ticket agent at train station didn't speak English. Luckily a young customer understood that I was looking for day passes for trams and pointed me in direction of kiosks outside the building. I'm in a hostel with no washing machines, despite the fact that hostel-bookers advertised it as having free laundry. I couldn't get refund to move to another hostel, so that left me with the challenge of finding the one and only laundromat (not dry cleaner) in the city. Quite a feat. Hostel people said there were none, other hostel staff had ... read more