Brrr...December in Warsaw

Hello!

So after returning from sunny, warm Cairo to Warsaw...Warsaw decided it was time for winter to start and in a big way! Today it is actually sunny which is VERY rare...the past two weeks have mostly been comprised of snow, snow, and more snow. Last week we had two snowstorms! The first one was a real doozy - it snowed for over 15 hours and left us with a good foot of snow. The rest of the week it flurried and was freezing cold. Wednesday's high was 3 degrees Fahrenheit...brrrrr.

I was even colder due to the fact that my new, warm coat complete with a furry hood (which was sent out to me from Deerfield over a month ago) did not reach me until 2 days ago! I had quite the saga with the Polish post office system...which is apparently comprised of lots of different post offices which have no discernible connection to one another - each post office appears to be in complete isolation. Needless to say, after visiting my local post office over 6 times, traveling 45 minutes to the "main" post office, and getting on a metro 2 times to go to the "other main" post office, I was in SHOCK when I received a call saying my package was at the "other main" post office, ready for me to pick up. I essentially sprinted to the post office out of fear that if I didn't get there immediately the package would disappear again to some far-away, unknown post office in the suburbs of Warsaw. I got there, went to the counter, and finally go my beautiful package! Well, the actual package looked like it had seen better days...there were scribbles in Polish all over the package...but the contents contained my coat, totally unharmed and VERY warm! Here's a pic of my coat, and below, the reason I need it :





So the last weeks have been chilly, but Warsaw sure loves Christmas, and all the decorations and lights make the cold worth venturing out into. And despite the cold weather that comes with it, the snow is very pretty and makes the city look beautiful.

Not a whole lot to report...I've been busily researching, handing my surveys on political attitudes out to various classes, and anxiously awaiting news from law schools! I'm home in 2.5 weeks, and VERY excited to see my family and Romeo and Sammy (our dogs).

Keep in touch, everyone!

Sending Holiday Joy,

Megan

Egypt (Cairo & Alexandria)!

Hello!

I just returned yesterday from Cairo and Alexandria! I was in Egypt for an entire week, and I had an absolutely incredible time. I have so many stories...I don't know where to start! I suppose I'll start with the beginning...

I arrived in Cairo at 3:30am (crazy flight time, I know) on Sunday morning...Ty was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, which was great because I'm not sure I could have navigated the cab system on my own. Probably would be best to explain "bakseesh" here...in Egypt there is a term, baksheesh, (I'm writing that as it sounds, I have no idea how to spell it correctly...and I don't know Arabic so I can't write it). So bakseesh is essentially a bribe, but I'm sure Egyptians would prefer it to be called a tip. In short, some Egyptians, being the enterprising people they are, spot a Westerner (we are pretty easy to spot), and instantly see the opportunity to make a couple extra bucks, so they will offer to show you the way to a tourist hotspot, carry your bag, let you ride a camel...you name it, they will offer it. Which sounds nice, but there is a catch. Once they are done "helping you out," all the while calling you "my brooottherrr, my brother" or "my siiisssterrr, my sister" and using all their charm, they will look at you and either say "Baksheesh," "give me a tip," or will stand there until you become uncomfortable and give them some money. This is rampant throughout Egypt, and Egyptians are pretty shameless about asking for money...

Here are two examples: One, when Ty and I were walking through the "Khan," or the market place (A sprawling scene of hundreds of tiny tent-shops filled with glassware, gold and silver jewelry, textiles, and touristy trinkets)we heard these various, enticing calls attempting to get us to enter a shop

"Come here, let me take your money quickly!"
"Lucky man, lucky man I will give you 5 camels for her" (her = me, lucky man = Ty)
"My brother! Everything is free today! Come into my shop!"
"Welcome in Alaska!" (I still haven't figured this one out)
"Come in here! I have everything you need! Right here!"

This is just a sampling of the colorful phrases we heard as searching for some gifts. I have to say, it kept us laughing all day. My next example was less amusing at the time..

The second day I was in Cairo, Ty took me to the Pyramids and Sphinx, which was incredibly excited about! The Pyramids! Also, I was excited because I had a hunch that I would perhaps be able to ride a camel, one of my goals for my stay in Egypt (who goes to Egypt and DOESN'T ride a camel?). So, we hop in a cab and head to Giza, which is right next to Cairo. The Pyramids are right outside of Giza, it goes city, city, city, PYRAMIDS. It's really incredible. So, once in the cab, I hear a banging on the trunk, look back and see a man sitting on the trunk of the car. I thought this was odd, but we were going pretty slow and thought perhaps he was just hitching a ride. Wrong. After a bit, we came to a complete stop, the guy on the back says something to the driver, and then GETS IN THE CAR. Ty and I were utterly perplexed and immediately asked this guy what he was doing. He explained that he was the only way we were going to get into the pyramids, offering us horses or camels. Ty and I found this quite odd, and unrealistic, so after about five minutes of harassment from this guy wearing a pink baseball cap who was apparently the sole means for seeing the pyramids, Ty and I decide we are close enough to walk, and get out of the cab.

Oh, but our adventure doesn't end there. After this, a guy approaches us, telling us the same thing, in broken English he seems to be saying something about the government regulations, no walking, and camels and horses. Again, we ignore him and press on. However, another guy approaches us, saying the same thing. What he was actually saying about the government and the pyramids is unclear. What was clear was that we needed to go with him, and that we couldn't walk to the pyramids, it was required that we ride a horse or a camel or get in a carriage. Well, we figured that three guys wouldn't make up this story (foreshadowing: they did.), so we go with this guy who takes us to his stables. After much talking and much insisting that "my brother my brother, money is no issues, you are like Egyptian, I want for your happiness," we decide we want to ride a camel and take the "short tour." Our "brother" says OK, and we get on the camels. Mistake. So we get on, hand him 250 Egyptian pounds, the agreed price for a short tour. He begins to walk, turns around, and begins to INSIST that we take the longest tour (there were 3 options)...we say no, we want the short tour (mostly because we just wanted to ride the camels, take a few pictures on them, then ditch our annoying new friend). He walks a few feet, turns around and again begins to insist on the longest tour...and I don't mean suggest, I mean insist. He whined, he begged, he got angry. All the while, time is a-wastin', and Ty and I are being held captive on camels. Ty keeps interjecting, telling this increasingly obnoxious man that we don't want to negotiate, we want the short tour. End of story. This goes on for at least twenty minutes. Finally, I suggest to Ty that we get off the camels and go. Ty is so delighted at this suggestion, that he LEAPS off of his camel (camels, for those of you who don't know, are pretty tall, and you need them to kneel down in order to get on). I, however, was not so brave, so Ty asks, forcefully, for this man to let me off of my camel. The man says "Fine. But your money is done." Meaning, we just lost 250 Egyptian pounds...at that point...getting away from this unbelievably annoying man was worth it.

So, we walked away, bought a ticket into the Pyramids, and walked right in. Yup, walked. No camels necessary. We shook off our annoyance and ended up having an incredible time at the pyramids. We spent a couple hours wandering from Pyramid to pyramid, there are 9 in total, 3 large ones, and 6 smaller ones. We took tons of pictures, and just took in the incredible view of the Sahara and the pyramids. I was really impressed by them, the biggest one was even bigger than I imagined, and with the brilliantly blue sky in the background, the whole thing is just breathtaking. The Sphinx is also in the same area, so we headed down there (a little walk). The Sphinx is much more damaged than I thought...the French really did a number on it when they used it as target-practice, sad, but true. You can barely see the facial features from the front anymore. Regardless, it is easy to see what an architectural feat the Sphinx is, and I was highly impressed.

Here are a few pictures:






We also spent countless hours exploring Cairo, doing our best to capture everything with my little digital camera, and eating and eating and eating! We ate tons of amazing food! I can now say I am an official pita & hummus junkie. Even though hummus isn't a traditional Egyptian food, they had it at most restaurants as an appetizer. Our favorite appetizer was 3 different "mezza" : Tahina (a cheesy hummus concoction), hummus, and fatoush (a salad with some sort of bread/croutons in it topped with an amazing sweet-ish sauce) and warm pita bread (but not the flat pita you are probably picturing, all the pitas were warm and filled with air, kind of like a pop-over).

We also went to Alexandria for one day (literally, I think we were there for less than 24 hours). Alexandria is a town by the sea, and Ty had heard from a co-worker that it was a great place to get away from Cairo for a few days, stay in a nice hotel, and relax. We figured that sounded nice, so we hopped on a train, rode for 2.5 hours, and got off in Alexandria. So, I was picturing a nice, small beach town. Wrong again...Alexandria is home to four million people! Huge! Not to mention it was a holiday in Egypt (the Eid, a week-long Islamic holiday), so, unanticipated by Ty and me, all of Cairo had the same idea as us and was in Alexandria. We were turned down by 2 hotels before we finally found a room...and then we walked down the street for a bite to eat. The streets were PACKED with people absolutely everywhere, making walking less than pleasant. The following morning, we woke up early intending to do tons of sightseeing, however, what some have said that, "Alexandria is the city with the most history, and nothing to show for it," is absolutely true. There is little to see in Alexandria, as most of it has been submerged underwater. So, Ty and I hung around until noon, and then headed back to Cairo.

I know this is long, but just one last thing! We also went to the Egyptian Museum which is unlike any museum I have ever been to...it is massive and packed with artifacts, and I mean packed. The amount of sarcophagi, jewelry, statues, monuments, and ancient Egyptian artifacts is absolutely overwhelming! You would literally need two or three days to see everything in there! I loved it though, and despite the massive crowd of people there, we had a great time wandering through four-thousand year old relics. Tutankhamen's tomb was especially impressive as it was mostly made of gold and crammed full of more gold items...bracelets, necklaces, rings...you name it, Tutankhamen had it!

Phew! That was long...hope you all enjoy reading it!

Tata for now!

MW

November!

So, once again, it's been awhile since I posted...whoops! I guess because I'm living here, and getting into a routine, I forget about my blog...I'll have to incorporate it into my routine!

So November in Warsaw...what I heard about the weather is proving to be true, it has rained pretty much everyday for the past week. It also gets dark around 4:30pm everyday! So the weather is a little doom & gloom, but I'm getting used to it. Other than the weather, I'm still really loving Poland. I'm taking 4 classes: Polish (language), The Structure of Polish Political Systems, Poland's Integration into the EU, and Polish Society & Politics. As you can see, tons on Poland!

So far, my favorite class is Polish Political Systems because there are only 6 of us total in the class, so it is less lecture-style (which my other classes are for the most part), and more seminar-style, which I prefer. The teacher is also incredibly interesting and has a lot of stories to tell...her father was an army official for the communist party during the Communist period in Poland, so hearing about that is always interesting. It feels like almost everyone here has an incredible back-story because of Poland's turbulent history. From being involved in communism, to resisting communism, to having relatives who survived WW II and the concentration camps, everyone has an interesting story to tell. Poles are also incredibly proud of all the progress they have made in the past 30 years (rightfully so!) so I also hear a lot about Poland's achievements from professors, students, and other people I speak with.

Last night we (Fulbrighters in Warsaw) were invited to a concert at the Royal Palace (which was rebuilt in the 50's & 60's -as was most of Warsaw- because it was destroyed during WWII) to celebrate the 150th Birthday of Jan Paderewski (a Polish Composer). The event was hosted by the US Embassy (the US Ambassador to Poland was there and he spoke)because Paderewski spent a lot of time performing (Piano) in the US, and was actually buried in the US at the Arlington National Cemetery per his request. He did not want his final resting place to be in Poland until Poland was a free country, so he was buried in Arlington until 1992 when President Walesa requested that his remains be moved back to Poland (which they were.) The concert was amazing! There were 4 sets of music played, the first with Piano and a Baritone singer, the second with just Piano, the third with Piano and a soprano (amazing) singer, and the finale was piano and violin. The finale was my favorite, the violinist was incredible!

Oh! Also, I've been doing a little bit of traveling, 2 weekends ago, I went to Poznan, Poland, and for Halloween weekend, which was a long weekend due to All Saint's Day, we went to Krakow. Both trips were really fun, and we stayed with Fulbrighters who are living in those cities while we were there, so it was nice to see them as well (we hadn't seen them since Orientation in September). Poznan is a smaller city, but much of it was not destroyed during WWII, so that was interesting to see. It is a beautiful town! Krakow is where we spent orientation, so we had seen most of it, but it was still nice to walk around, and one of the days we were there was about 65 and sunny, so that was amazing! And, one of the last nice days for awhile.

All Saint's Day (Nov. 1) is a big holiday here where everyone travels to their local cemetery to place candles on the graves of their loved ones. While it sounds like a depressing holiday, it really has a festive, celebratory feel to it. We (Me, Nicolette, Abi- Nicolette's roommate, and Sam - a boy from Oregon who is doing his study abroad here)went to the biggest cemetery in Warsaw (and maybe in all of Poland) to see all the candles. A lot of famous people are buried there, and their graves were covered with hundreds of candles! You could feel the heat from the candles when you got close - it was pretty incredible! I'm really glad we went! I'll post some pictures of that.

Ok, this is fairly long, so I'm going to sign off! I'm headed to Cairo next Saturday to visit Ty for a week, so look for a post about that!

Miss you all!!!

MW

Pictures:

More Warsaw Pictures...

October!

Hello all...

I know it's been awhile, I apologize...although I feel like I start every post with that same sentence. Oh well!

So, I am all moved in to my flat in Warsaw with Agata now :) It's a really cute place, and it is in an amazing location...we are within walking distance to one street called Nowy Swiat which is filled with restaurants/cafes/bars, and we can also walk to the part of town called Centrum...which is pretty self-explanatory. The mall which houses our grocery store is only 5 tram stops away, so all-in-all, we really couldn't have asked for a better location. Our apartment is 5 rooms in total: 2 bedrooms, a kitchen (TINY, but fully functional minus an oven), a bathroom, and a pretty sizeable (in terms of flats in Warsaw) living room. Here are some pictures:





Those are pictures (pretty obviously) of my bedroom and the living room...I forgot to take one of the kitchen, and I figured you could all imagine the bathroom well enough...the only thing about the bathroom is our tub...it is an old-fashioned (and fairly typical) tub which forces you to kind of take a bath every time you want to shower. There is a shower head, but it isn't up on the wall, it's just attached to the tub's faucet and you can't take a shower/bath without getting water everywhere in the bathroom unless you sit down in the tub, thus you pretty much take a bath every time you want to shower. Luckily, however, my gym has very nice showers, so I just shower there most days.

OK, enough on that subject. So far, I'm really loving Warsaw...the weather hasn't been too bad lately, it is chilly at night, but it's 45-50 during the day, which I don't mind too much. I've been told that November is miserable, though...so I'm just waiting for the snow/rain/cold to come. Luckily, I'm going to Cairo to see Ty for a week in November! I'm really excited for that, and I owe him a trip since he already came to visit me! He was here over a long weekend, and we had a blast...we explored Warsaw like true tourists, ate approximately every hour, and tried to fend off the cold. Ty wasn't quite prepared for the weather, as he is used to 95 and sunny everyday in Cairo...He left a couple days ago, so I am eagerly anticipating my journey to Cairo...he has told me to be prepared for culture-shock, so I'm sure I'll have a couple amusing "American trying to survive in Cairo" stories when I get back.

As Ty and I discovered by eating every hour...the food here is GREAT! There is every type of food you could imagine...I was picturing eating pierogi every day(and I do some days), but just next to my house there is a Mexican place, pizza delivery, chinese food, Mongolian food, and there is a bakery with verrrryyy tempting pastries and cakes on pretty much every block. There is one on the bottom floor of my apartment building...so I walk by it everyday...hard not to stop in multiple times a day. On the healthier side, there is also a fruit/veggie stand that sets up outside my building everyday. I imagine that will disappear once the snow sets in, so I'm enjoying it while I can. All in all, it's a good thing I joined a gym because I am indulging in all this delicious food on a regular basis!

I also started classes this week, and so far, so good. Polish is a difficult language, so I'm glad to be taking classes, even though I still sound like a kindergartner when I talk, I'm making slow but sure progress. So far, I can ask for coffee, a train ticket, order from a menu, ask where someone is from, tell you my name...and a couple other basic phrases. I'm determined to master this language, so I'm working hard! My pronunciation is really the biggest barrier, some of the letter combination are hard to wrap my head around, and once I think I've mastered them, I'll try out my newly acquired word and completely butcher it...my Polish always sounds so much better in my head...

I'm also taking 3 other classes...I might end up just taking 3 in total, but we shall see. I had one of them the other day, and the other two haven't started yet. Classes here don't work quite the same way as they do in universities in the states...there is a little less rigidity and less coordination between all the departments, so some classes start well into the term, and you have until a month into the term to sign up/drop classes!

So I already told you about Polish, and the other class I've been to is "Poland's Integration into the EU" the title is actually much longer, but my summary of the title describes the class pretty well. The class is in English...phew, and taught by a very nice, very opinionated older professor. It's a small class, but it is lecture-style, we mostly just listen to him animatedly talk about Poland, the EU, and the underlying importance of maintaining peace within the EU. I've only had that class once, it's only once a week, but I enjoyed the first class. My friend, Nicolette is also in the class, so it's nice to have a familiar face in class (she is here on a Fulbright, and plans to get her masters in International Relations at the University of Warsaw).

My other two classes are: "Politics and Culture in Poland," and "Introduction to Polish Culture." See a theme in my classes? I'm trying to get a basic understanding from a Polish perspective (rather than an outsider's perspective, which is what I feel I have at the moment)on what Polish politics and culture are like before I start my research more intensively. So far, my research has been reading and translating (because they are in Polish) newspaper articles on Politics in Poland and asking the few people I know here who are Polish and speak English what their opinions on politics are. However, I don't know very many Polish students yet, so I need to work on that. As I mentioned, however, I feel I need a more solid understanding of Polish politics before I proceed.

Phew...that was quite a long post! I will spare your eyes and write again soon!

Pictures!

Here are a few pictures from my trip so far...

Playing Catch-Up...

I've been slacking a little bit on the blog front...my apologies. We've been in Krakow since last Thursday, and we have been VERY busy! Here's a day-by-day account...

Day 1: We leave Warsaw at 8am on a bus (yikes) and head towards Krakow...after 5-ish hours on the bus, we finally arrived. After the bus struggled to make it up the incredibly steep hill to our hotel, we had a delicious lunch of soup, potatoes, pork, and cabbage (typical Polish cuisine). We then had a meeting explaining all the various all-group times during the year, and we were then divided up into different groups based on our ability to speak Polish. To do this, we each had to have a brief "interview" with one of the Polish teachers, explaining how well we speak Polish. I, not surprisingly, was placed in the beginner group. We then had a brief Polish class...which proved quite helpful - we learned how to say basic phrases like "may I have..." and "thank you" After Polish class, we had dinner, which is a lighter meal than lunch --really more of a snack-- and then we had some free-time, after which most of us retired as we had to be at breakfast by 7am the next morning.

Day 2: 6:15 am wake-up! We all sleepily wandered to breakfast...as most of you know, I'm not very functional until my coffee, so thank goodness there is always coffee available at our hotel. Also, thank goodness there were corn-flakes for breakfast...I have discovered that Polish breakfast of very runny eggs and hot dogs is not to my liking. I was also relieved that there was cold yogurt...I guess here it is typical to warm up milk for cereal, which I am not particularly a fan of. After breakfast, we all piled on to the bus and were driven to Jagiellonian (pronounced Yag-el-onion) University where the vice-rector, the Fulbright director, and a law professor all spoke about the Fulbright program and education in general. The room in which the lectures was given was called the Collegium Maius, and was very impressive with hand-carved wooden seats, portraits of former rectors adorning the wall, and elevated seats reserved for the rector and vice-rectors (there are 5). After, we were given a tour of the portion of the University we were in - which was one of the very oldest parts and is now a museum. The museum had a lot of historical scientific instruments, maps, and clocks.

After the tour, we took the public bus back to the bottom of the giant hill, hiked back up, and then had lunch at our hotel, which is called Przegorzaly. After lunch, we had a lecture by Professor Jan Lencznarowicz entitled "Highlights of Polish History" the lecture was broken up into 2 hour and a half sections and covered Poland's history from around 900-post WWII. While the topic doesn't sound particularly enthralling, the lecturer was incredibly knowledgeable and did manage to make the lecture not too painful. In the middle of the two lectures, we had a coffee break. I mention the coffee break, because when we are in lectures and Polish class, we have a coffee break every hour or so. We are all appreciative! After the second lecture, which ended around 6:30, we had a short break before dinner was served at 7. We all headed to sleep early once again because our departure time was designated at 7:45am the next morning.

Day 3: After breakfast, we left our hotel at 745am, headed down the hill, and boarded a public bus headed towards the center of Krakow. We then walked up to Wawel (pronounced as Vavel) Royal Castle. We had a wonderful tour guide who was able to provide us with a plethora of illuminating facts about the castle and its history. The tour lasted at least 2 hours, but passed by relatively quickly due to her extensive knowledge and engaging presentation style. I will post pictures of Wawel to paint a better picture of what it looked like, but I was surprised by the interior, it was decorated mostly with Italian-style architecture and furniture due to a Polish-Italian marriage during the early years of the castle's existence. After Wawel we were bused back to our hotel for a quick lunch, and then it was back on the bus. We took a bus about 45 minutes away to Wieliczka (Vel-eet-see-ah) Salt Mine. Ok, I realize a salt mine doesn't sound like a rockin' time, but it was actually incredible. After an initial moment of panic when I realized we were going several stories down in to a mine...I embraced our surroundings. The salt mine, which is actually still in use, was filled with beautiful salt sculptures (done mostly by miners, which I found very impressive) and even a cathedral decorated entirely out of salt crystals and adorned with sculptures in the wall of various biblical scenes - the most impressive one was the last-supper scene. There was even a light-show accompanied by orchestra music! The other notable portion of the tour was a room with a shallow pond which had - we were told - perfect acoustics. They dimmed the lights, and played a Chopin piece, which was incredible. It is the year of Chopin here in Poland - something we are reminded of often, the Poles are proud of their famous composer!

Day 4 (Sunday Sept. 19): Another early wake-up and this time a very chilly one! After my breakfast of cornflakes, yogurt, kiwi (yum!), and coffee (several cups...as we left at 7:40am...) we headed down to the old town portion of Krakow for a walking-tour. Brrrr! I was not prepared for the chilly weather that morning! It had been quite mild up until Sunday, and then the temperature took a drastic drop...we all shivered our way through an otherwise lovely walk. We walked through the Jewish quarter; saw several synagogues, and a building where a scene in Shindler's List was filmed. We were all relieved to get back on the heated bus after our chilly tour. After another slightly rushed lunch, we headed to Auschwitz-Birkenau (the infamous Nazi concentration camp). I don't really feel that words can describe the powerful emotions we all felt while walking in near-silence through the Auschwitz museum and the Birkenau camp. The camp has been preserved and somewhat reconstructed to allow visitors to see what conditions were like. The museum had incredibly disturbing facts about the period of 1940-45 during which the camp was open. Although I had mixed feelings about visiting Auschwitz before I went, because I felt strange about it being a touristy-attraction, I am now incredibly glad I went. I feel that experiencing the camp is an important reminder of a horrific period in our history, and hopefully with such a powerful reminder, we will not be destined to repeat that part of our history.

Sorry for the somber end to this post...but this is getting long! I will continue my update soon!

I miss you all!

MW