Pióro

Moving around Central and Eastern Europe is still a pain in the ass for Canadians. Martha and I are waiting with bated breath for EU accession in May. Hopefully we will be able to come and go through Poland and Czech with the same ease as Germany or France. At the moment, no one really [...]

Spring has been coming often to our part of Poland. It snows for a week, whitewashing everything and then it soars, sending all the white-stuff into the Bobrówka stream, which cuts through the middle of town. This Saturday, we caught the cycle on the upswing: the sun was out and slush lined the streets.
Four of [...]

It’s been snowing straight for the last four days, not a full on dump, but always a consistent dusting of flakes from the sky. It all makes us a little homesick.
We got the first serious dump of snow on 15 December. Poles, to a greater extent than Torontonians, seem to have a collective amnesia when [...]

What do two people do on Christmas Eve when they are far away from their family and friends in a cold cold Slavic country? They go to church, that’s what.
I have a range of emotions associated with church spanning awe to boredom. Since my grandmothers are not reading this site, I can say quite safely [...]

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Here’s my excuse for not blogging: we’ve been busy. New country, new language, new flat, new job—I’m sure you all understand. Yes, we do get around to playing piłkarziki (foozball) at least once a week. But other than that, it’s mostly school, school, school. Let me tell you a bit about it and how our [...]

God truely does love Poland. Not only has it been sunny and beautiful every weekend (pissy and cloudy in the work week), the beer is cheap, as is the vodka, and the fooz is free! That’s right, we have never felt more certain of our decision to come to this country to teach than when [...]

One week and counting and we are on our way to Poland. We finally know what town we’ll be living in. It’s Cieszyn (pronounced Cheh-shin). The website makes it look great. The only problem with the place is that we’re not allowed into a part of it: the Czech part. As I understand it, the [...]

One of Poland’s many charms is its idiosyncratic consular services. Martha and I are bound by geography to the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Toronto and because of numerous trips to the lovely Lakeshore West building, we feel like we really know the place. We have a long history with this mission, [...]

Here come a whack of pics. These photos cover the bulk of our stay in Poland, including school, and our second foray into Germany. Just click the Pics button to the right and pick Collection 5. And here’s a special Christmas treat for everyone—especially those on dial-up—all the of these images are Web optimised. I [...]