Pióro

Sometimes it’s inevitable that you attract attention to yourself. You’re in a town of 40 000 Poles. Czech is common “other language” because you’re right on the border. But when you and three other English teachers go into a bar, most of the place is staring at you.
This staring got quite unnerving for the first [...]

Really, we just have Turkey to blame. Ever since we visited that country in July 2002, we’ve been really into backgammon. There was a bit of a hiatus that spanned our departure from Turkey and Christmas of that year. But, since Santa got us a travel backgammon set, the games have pretty much been non-stop.
So, [...]

Family can be annoying. For example, your grandmother (Babcia) and her friend Nick arrange a month long stay in Poland which includes a stay at a sanatorium in Nowwheresville central Poland and then dental work (because such things are relatively cheap with the Canadian dollar) in Wherethehellisthat northern Poland. The glaring mistake in all these [...]

I often tell my students about my misadventures in Poland. My stories usually make for good listening exercises. They laugh at my follies and at the weird things I encounter. I tell them when things about their country just don’t make sense to me. Usually the same things don’t make sense to them either. In [...]

Martha’s family has this term in circulation called “framily.” It’s a fusion of “friends” and “family.” Last week, framily paid us a visit.
Martha’s cousins, Sue and Diane chose Poland for their first ever European trip. A brave choice for the unseasoned traveller. Jet-lagged and tried they were treated to a full-on Polish bus queue, which [...]