Acadia National Park 2018
6 years ago
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
So whazzup?
Ciao, Bon jour, Buon journo, Hallo, Dobry Dien, Dzien dobry, Czesc!
Ah, just a small sampling of the various greetings we had to use over the summer
So, how's everyone?
Jill and I are good. And here's a few things, in random order of course, that are happening on our end.
We're back full time in Warsaw. Jill's begun teaching her 2nd year at the American School in Warsaw, fulfilling the 2nd year of her 2 year contract (with the option to extend annually, afterwards). This time 'round she's teaching only 6th grade Math (thankfully!) and new this year...wait,...are you ready?...get this!...she's teaching ESL (English as a second language)! That's what I teach!? She's got a mixed grade class of only about 8 students or so, and fortunately they're not all total beginners. However, I think at least one of them is, and that'll be very challenging to work with. But, at least at her school, the kids are immersed in an English speaking environment, so the kid will pick it up way quicker than my adults tend to. Kudos to her-I have full faith that she will be a great ESL teacher, and will not let her ASW students suffer like it sounds like her poor Japanese students had several years back when she lived in Tokyo and didn't have a clue (or a care?) about teaching back then. So, she's fully back in the swing of things and asked me last night if our summer vacation even happened.
I told her no, it didn't.
So, on to me! Well, English First (EF) pissed me off quite a bit last week. When we were back here in July, I had set up at least one class to resume teaching on Wednesday, August 17 at 7:30 a.m. We returned to Waraw, I called and emailed my boss and got no response. I stopped by the school and it was closed (a holiday, apparently). Jill and I ran by the following morning and it was open, but she said we were too sweaty to stop in, so I'd do that later. Later-close again. Call, no answer. Call s'more, no answers or answering machines. Grr. Show up before 7 a.m. on Wednesday...no staff. 7:30, no Agata. 8, still no one. 8:20, Danuta, the owner, drives up in her Skoda. She's shocked to see me. She also speaks very, very little English (strange, yes, but she is learning).
"No Agata?"
"No"
"Dlaczego?" (Why?)
She shrugs her shoulders. I ask if she's still learning English...and she doesn't respond. Not a good answer. We go inside and she points to a calendar.
"Agata" while pointing to the 2nd or 3rd week of September.
Grr, my lack of Polish and her lack of English doesn't help here, as I still try to say in English, "why in the hell didn't anyone call or email me?"
"Nie rozumiem." (I don't understand) You hear this in Poland as much as you hear 'no problem', a truly world-wide, if not universal, phrase.
Grr. So I ask where Joanna is, my EF Director of Studies (DOS). "Holiday" In Europe it's 'holiday' in the states it's 'vacation'. Holidays to us are dates already printed on wall calendars, where everyone, except sales people, have off.
Ahh, and returning when? Pani Danutia points again to the calendar, sroda (Wednesday) the 24th. I ask again, why didn't anyone call or email me? Even send an SMS? No response. Further proof that I really need to take real Polish lessons this year.
So, I enquire about my other students: Renata (she shakes her head no-she not knowing that Renata's been emailing me all summer and has already asked to start lessons the next week(are they trying to tell me I'm fired?)), Kasia and Monika, my holy girls, as I like to call them, we spent almost a month talking about the Pope (dead) and Catholocism in Poland (she shakes her head again, this time saying, "Nie wiem" (I don't know (them)). Grr.
OK, well how 'bout conversation classes, FCE prep, EF general English classes...anything set up?
(deer in headlights)
OK, so on to bigger and better things...through much quickly found mayhem, I suddenly had an interview with a Brit, from Germany, in a Polish hotel in less than 1.5 hours downtown. Prof. Dr. David Jones (the IIIrd or IVth?) set me up to meet with one Patrick Gallery at the Sobieski Hotel, this ugly, pastel-painted hotel west of downtown. Not sure if there's a pic on my blog of this thing or not...and I didn't bring my camera to the 'view as I was a bit rushed, not having showered yet that morning. So, Sir Patrick's a total jack of all trades: an international business language company co-owner, a gourmet chef, and an online radio dj for KISS FM. You've probably heard of KISS, it's in most big cities in the world, and his show is played in some cities and multiple continents at the same time on European Friday nights.
His stage name is Kelly $tuart.
Really.
Anyhoo, he has this super, German-ized, streamlined business language company that seem ridiculously efficien and fully embracing technology...and is now trying to embrace Poland and other eastern Euro countries. It's a brand new gig, and he's looking hard and fast for new staff to equip his project in Polsa. He's hoping to have at least 3 branch offices in Poland-Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk. He's got Germany covered in Munchen (Munich), Frankfurt (his home), and Dusseldorf, and he wants a mirror image of his company in Poland, which would mean employing about 400 teachers, whom would teach up to 12 different languages, with English being in the most demand...as the companies he already works with are mostly German , or are heavily German-based: Mercedes, T-Mobile, Dunlop/Goodyear and several others I've forgotten about, but many of whom are entrenching themselves here in Poland...being wise and lucky to be so close to such a cheap labor/land market, getting a one-up on the rest of Europe.
Anyhoo, if all goes well, this company will be getting off the ground, through Polska's red tape by January or so. I (he) can guarantee that the pay will knock the socks off what I currently make (well, not currently, as currently I don't make a red cent, oops, sorry, wrong country, I dont' make a goldish (zloty-ish) grosz(e?/ik? oh, Polish confusing!). So, wish me luck on that one and I'll keep you posted on that front.
Next: world events: Kris, my super best friend in San Fran is living the rough life in Costa Rica with his girlfriend. Have fun and don't forget to send me a postcard!
Tim, my ex-roommate, sent me a horrific email. He went swinging out over a lake or river on a rope swing and came crashing down on a hidden rock underneath...and broke both of his feet!
OUCH!
He's in/just had? surgery this past week. If you know him, give him a cheer as he doesn't drink beer. Recover well, my friend!
Locally, Martin, my German friend here in Warsaw, is going for the Warsaw marathon next month. Jill and I are running again (didn't run a mile all summer) and we're not sure if we can join him on the run. I ran an hour and felt ok today. More likely, we'll go for the Poznan run in October (free!), or possibly the Budapest (very expensive, like up to 70 euro, each!?), but now Jill's thinking about going back to her dreamland/home...Italia! She's truly smitten by Italy, not that I blame her, it is a little jewel-landscape-wise, great language, architecture, history, etc. but the cuisine is lacking...believe it or not. Anyhoo, she found that there's a run in Florence! We've both been before, and the date is right around Thanksgiving weekend (USA, not Canada, and I'm not sure if any other country even has one) and that would, officially, give us enough time to fully train for the full length (murderous?) distance of 26.2 miles or 42.195 kilometers.
Ugh. How silly us humans are.
Anyhoo, gotta run. I have a million pics from the summer that I hope to put a few highlights up for y'all. I'm also applying for other jobs...and this weekend Jill and I are heading down to the Jura Krakowsaka-Czestochowa, where we'll do some rock climbing on very white rock (limestone) where I had helped with the 9th grade field trip last year...and where we'll be helping again in a few weeks...this time I'm at least getting paid for it-as I'm running the whole climbing porting with Jill since Rick and Carolyn Nelson have moved on to greener (wetter) pastures in Hawaii for this school year. Oh, hi to you two if you're reading this! Hope you had a great summer!
Oh, another update that I totally spaced...
Kelly, my Texas friend from Krakow (pic'd somewhere way below), came up for a visit for a few days the previous weekend, taking a rest after too much consumption with her fellow alcoholic British friends, both in Britain and Krakow. She came up mainly because her flight to her next English teaching gig was flying out of Warsaw. Earlier in the year, Jill and I were talking to her about where she wanted to head to next, and Mongolia was on her list (Jill was there in 2003!) and one of our friend's parents had helped run/start an English schoool in Ulan Batar, the capital. Well, she got in touch with the school but the new woman taking over the school wasn't providing much info for Kelly, so, instead of risking being deported for lack of visa, etc, she found another school online in Kyrgyzstan! They totally took care of her, answered all her questions immediately, and helped provide for her an 'ordinary' visa, whatever that is! (The consulate in Britain said there was no such thing!). Well, she was still lacking a bit of info but wanted to go for it anyway. She's been ready to leave Poland for awhile, as she's pretty fluent in German and Polish, and now she'll be taking up Russian and Kyrgy. If only she passed on some of her Polish to me first! She was pretty worried that she might be kidnapped or something, especially since there was a revolution there in May...but she's emailed since she landed and all is well and she's slowly moving into a dingy little flat, and hanging out with the few remaining teachers from last year...all of whom are leaving. So she's fresh meat, but will be ahead of the other incoming teachers (from all over the globe). Good luck to ya, Kel, and stay in touch!
Anyhoo, again, take care, keep in touch, and if you think you're up for a visit, get in touch ASAP, as we seem to have many more visitors coming this year than last (and there's no guarantee we'll be here the next year...so take advantage of us while you can! ;-)
Hopefully, by next post I'll have done SOME work SOMEWHERE?!
Czesc!
jr n jillio
Ah, just a small sampling of the various greetings we had to use over the summer
So, how's everyone?
Jill and I are good. And here's a few things, in random order of course, that are happening on our end.
We're back full time in Warsaw. Jill's begun teaching her 2nd year at the American School in Warsaw, fulfilling the 2nd year of her 2 year contract (with the option to extend annually, afterwards). This time 'round she's teaching only 6th grade Math (thankfully!) and new this year...wait,...are you ready?...get this!...she's teaching ESL (English as a second language)! That's what I teach!? She's got a mixed grade class of only about 8 students or so, and fortunately they're not all total beginners. However, I think at least one of them is, and that'll be very challenging to work with. But, at least at her school, the kids are immersed in an English speaking environment, so the kid will pick it up way quicker than my adults tend to. Kudos to her-I have full faith that she will be a great ESL teacher, and will not let her ASW students suffer like it sounds like her poor Japanese students had several years back when she lived in Tokyo and didn't have a clue (or a care?) about teaching back then. So, she's fully back in the swing of things and asked me last night if our summer vacation even happened.
I told her no, it didn't.
So, on to me! Well, English First (EF) pissed me off quite a bit last week. When we were back here in July, I had set up at least one class to resume teaching on Wednesday, August 17 at 7:30 a.m. We returned to Waraw, I called and emailed my boss and got no response. I stopped by the school and it was closed (a holiday, apparently). Jill and I ran by the following morning and it was open, but she said we were too sweaty to stop in, so I'd do that later. Later-close again. Call, no answer. Call s'more, no answers or answering machines. Grr. Show up before 7 a.m. on Wednesday...no staff. 7:30, no Agata. 8, still no one. 8:20, Danuta, the owner, drives up in her Skoda. She's shocked to see me. She also speaks very, very little English (strange, yes, but she is learning).
"No Agata?"
"No"
"Dlaczego?" (Why?)
She shrugs her shoulders. I ask if she's still learning English...and she doesn't respond. Not a good answer. We go inside and she points to a calendar.
"Agata" while pointing to the 2nd or 3rd week of September.
Grr, my lack of Polish and her lack of English doesn't help here, as I still try to say in English, "why in the hell didn't anyone call or email me?"
"Nie rozumiem." (I don't understand) You hear this in Poland as much as you hear 'no problem', a truly world-wide, if not universal, phrase.
Grr. So I ask where Joanna is, my EF Director of Studies (DOS). "Holiday" In Europe it's 'holiday' in the states it's 'vacation'. Holidays to us are dates already printed on wall calendars, where everyone, except sales people, have off.
Ahh, and returning when? Pani Danutia points again to the calendar, sroda (Wednesday) the 24th. I ask again, why didn't anyone call or email me? Even send an SMS? No response. Further proof that I really need to take real Polish lessons this year.
So, I enquire about my other students: Renata (she shakes her head no-she not knowing that Renata's been emailing me all summer and has already asked to start lessons the next week(are they trying to tell me I'm fired?)), Kasia and Monika, my holy girls, as I like to call them, we spent almost a month talking about the Pope (dead) and Catholocism in Poland (she shakes her head again, this time saying, "Nie wiem" (I don't know (them)). Grr.
OK, well how 'bout conversation classes, FCE prep, EF general English classes...anything set up?
(deer in headlights)
OK, so on to bigger and better things...through much quickly found mayhem, I suddenly had an interview with a Brit, from Germany, in a Polish hotel in less than 1.5 hours downtown. Prof. Dr. David Jones (the IIIrd or IVth?) set me up to meet with one Patrick Gallery at the Sobieski Hotel, this ugly, pastel-painted hotel west of downtown. Not sure if there's a pic on my blog of this thing or not...and I didn't bring my camera to the 'view as I was a bit rushed, not having showered yet that morning. So, Sir Patrick's a total jack of all trades: an international business language company co-owner, a gourmet chef, and an online radio dj for KISS FM. You've probably heard of KISS, it's in most big cities in the world, and his show is played in some cities and multiple continents at the same time on European Friday nights.
His stage name is Kelly $tuart.
Really.
Anyhoo, he has this super, German-ized, streamlined business language company that seem ridiculously efficien and fully embracing technology...and is now trying to embrace Poland and other eastern Euro countries. It's a brand new gig, and he's looking hard and fast for new staff to equip his project in Polsa. He's hoping to have at least 3 branch offices in Poland-Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk. He's got Germany covered in Munchen (Munich), Frankfurt (his home), and Dusseldorf, and he wants a mirror image of his company in Poland, which would mean employing about 400 teachers, whom would teach up to 12 different languages, with English being in the most demand...as the companies he already works with are mostly German , or are heavily German-based: Mercedes, T-Mobile, Dunlop/Goodyear and several others I've forgotten about, but many of whom are entrenching themselves here in Poland...being wise and lucky to be so close to such a cheap labor/land market, getting a one-up on the rest of Europe.
Anyhoo, if all goes well, this company will be getting off the ground, through Polska's red tape by January or so. I (he) can guarantee that the pay will knock the socks off what I currently make (well, not currently, as currently I don't make a red cent, oops, sorry, wrong country, I dont' make a goldish (zloty-ish) grosz(e?/ik? oh, Polish confusing!). So, wish me luck on that one and I'll keep you posted on that front.
Next: world events: Kris, my super best friend in San Fran is living the rough life in Costa Rica with his girlfriend. Have fun and don't forget to send me a postcard!
Tim, my ex-roommate, sent me a horrific email. He went swinging out over a lake or river on a rope swing and came crashing down on a hidden rock underneath...and broke both of his feet!
OUCH!
He's in/just had? surgery this past week. If you know him, give him a cheer as he doesn't drink beer. Recover well, my friend!
Locally, Martin, my German friend here in Warsaw, is going for the Warsaw marathon next month. Jill and I are running again (didn't run a mile all summer) and we're not sure if we can join him on the run. I ran an hour and felt ok today. More likely, we'll go for the Poznan run in October (free!), or possibly the Budapest (very expensive, like up to 70 euro, each!?), but now Jill's thinking about going back to her dreamland/home...Italia! She's truly smitten by Italy, not that I blame her, it is a little jewel-landscape-wise, great language, architecture, history, etc. but the cuisine is lacking...believe it or not. Anyhoo, she found that there's a run in Florence! We've both been before, and the date is right around Thanksgiving weekend (USA, not Canada, and I'm not sure if any other country even has one) and that would, officially, give us enough time to fully train for the full length (murderous?) distance of 26.2 miles or 42.195 kilometers.
Ugh. How silly us humans are.
Anyhoo, gotta run. I have a million pics from the summer that I hope to put a few highlights up for y'all. I'm also applying for other jobs...and this weekend Jill and I are heading down to the Jura Krakowsaka-Czestochowa, where we'll do some rock climbing on very white rock (limestone) where I had helped with the 9th grade field trip last year...and where we'll be helping again in a few weeks...this time I'm at least getting paid for it-as I'm running the whole climbing porting with Jill since Rick and Carolyn Nelson have moved on to greener (wetter) pastures in Hawaii for this school year. Oh, hi to you two if you're reading this! Hope you had a great summer!
Oh, another update that I totally spaced...
Kelly, my Texas friend from Krakow (pic'd somewhere way below), came up for a visit for a few days the previous weekend, taking a rest after too much consumption with her fellow alcoholic British friends, both in Britain and Krakow. She came up mainly because her flight to her next English teaching gig was flying out of Warsaw. Earlier in the year, Jill and I were talking to her about where she wanted to head to next, and Mongolia was on her list (Jill was there in 2003!) and one of our friend's parents had helped run/start an English schoool in Ulan Batar, the capital. Well, she got in touch with the school but the new woman taking over the school wasn't providing much info for Kelly, so, instead of risking being deported for lack of visa, etc, she found another school online in Kyrgyzstan! They totally took care of her, answered all her questions immediately, and helped provide for her an 'ordinary' visa, whatever that is! (The consulate in Britain said there was no such thing!). Well, she was still lacking a bit of info but wanted to go for it anyway. She's been ready to leave Poland for awhile, as she's pretty fluent in German and Polish, and now she'll be taking up Russian and Kyrgy. If only she passed on some of her Polish to me first! She was pretty worried that she might be kidnapped or something, especially since there was a revolution there in May...but she's emailed since she landed and all is well and she's slowly moving into a dingy little flat, and hanging out with the few remaining teachers from last year...all of whom are leaving. So she's fresh meat, but will be ahead of the other incoming teachers (from all over the globe). Good luck to ya, Kel, and stay in touch!
Anyhoo, again, take care, keep in touch, and if you think you're up for a visit, get in touch ASAP, as we seem to have many more visitors coming this year than last (and there's no guarantee we'll be here the next year...so take advantage of us while you can! ;-)
Hopefully, by next post I'll have done SOME work SOMEWHERE?!
Czesc!
jr n jillio
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Ciao, ciao, grazie, ciao!
Ciao! We àre in Canazei, Italy! just got cleaned up after spending 28.50 euro for a night of crowded european camping! (most expensive camping to date!) Done some nice climbs and via ferratas in the Cortina area. Our friend Tessa came up to join us, too. Now that we're squeaky clean, we're heading up to the mountains (higher ones) for some more alpine rock climbing in the Sella pass area. Should be fun.
Dolomitic rock is very, um, interesting and has taken some time to get used to. It's very slick or very sticky. It's very loose or it's sometimes solid. It doesn't take protection well, and the bolts and pitons are fairly spread apart. We did one big multi pitch climb that the first half was very loose and had no places for protection...for 3 full rope lengths! Yikes! The via ferratas (ironed ways) have been fun and entertaining-taking us through all sorts of WWI tunnels and barracks drilled into mountain sides and even on or just under some high mountain summits where the Italians duked it out with the Austrians. This was high altitude trench warfare and the journal entries of the soldiers placed around these outdoor museums is a bit scary to think of what they were going through-not to mention hiding out in the dead of winter at 3000m waiting for an enemy attack! Ack! ok, running out of time.
Ciao all y'all!
Dolomitic rock is very, um, interesting and has taken some time to get used to. It's very slick or very sticky. It's very loose or it's sometimes solid. It doesn't take protection well, and the bolts and pitons are fairly spread apart. We did one big multi pitch climb that the first half was very loose and had no places for protection...for 3 full rope lengths! Yikes! The via ferratas (ironed ways) have been fun and entertaining-taking us through all sorts of WWI tunnels and barracks drilled into mountain sides and even on or just under some high mountain summits where the Italians duked it out with the Austrians. This was high altitude trench warfare and the journal entries of the soldiers placed around these outdoor museums is a bit scary to think of what they were going through-not to mention hiding out in the dead of winter at 3000m waiting for an enemy attack! Ack! ok, running out of time.
Ciao all y'all!
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