Nazywam się...

Quickly:
One of my goals in coming to Poland this year was to climb a little bit through my family tree. I'm not really sure what exactly I want to accomplish, but I at the very least want to see Kashubia and breathe the Northern Polish air.

I have been trying to get all my ducks in a row to try and prepare for a trip in late May. One of my contacts is a Kashubian guy who has been to Winona a number of times. He helps people like me reconnect with their Kashubian roots. Through his records, he has confirmed what I already knew from the Winona Polish Historical Society regarding some of my ancestors birthdates and birth places. But one thing he found out was that, in fact, my last name is spelled differently that I've been spelling it! Merchlewitcz, not Merchlewitz! (It sounds like "ch" at the end rather than "ts".) At long last, all the suspicions of skeptical Poles here and at home have been realized. :)

Viva Intellectualism!

I woke up with the intention to sit and read the paper all morning long with some tea or coffee. I turned on my computer and headed to the New York Times webpage. The first article I opened was from an ongoing discussion on French literary theory in America. (The hundreds of comments are funny too, expecially when I think about them in comparison to the comments usually posted on the Winona Daily News...) The original article was to review and support a new book with pretty much the same title as the NYT article. However, when I clicked in the link for the actual book, the first line in the description is:

"The must-read exposé of America’s love/hate affair with French theory."

Why do I find that so hilarious? "Exposé!" A "love/hate affair"! I know Bella would agree that lit theory is full of drama and excitement, but come on... Either way, I can't believe that deconstructionism interested me more and quarter past eight in the morning more than the Pennsylvania primary or the instability of the global food market.

But I like this stuff. I think I am ready to back to real school...

For the Ruds

Take that, Hotel Chopin!

When the Rudniks were here a few weeks, I joined them one morning for breakfast at their hotel, Hotel Chopin. Breakfast is included with each room and is served in the little restaurant right off the lobby. I came in that morning from Piast, walked right into the restaurant without having to talk to a host(ess) or anyone.

Breakfast was decent: a wide enough selection of average quality. Pastries, juice, coffee, yogurt, all the imaginables, AND kielbasa.

Given the ease at which a foreigner could simply walk in and eat their fill, the Rudniks and I decided that I should give it a try on another occasion. Today was that fateful day! Really, the Hotel Chopin is rather out-of-the-way, and why on earth would someone come all that way if they weren't staying in the hotel and therefore entitled to free breakfast. Well, me, for example.

Again, I just walked right in, sat down, and proceeded to have a lovely breakfast. Just to be on the safe side, I laid down the big, fat Lonely Planet guide to Eastern Europe at my seat to give me the appearance of a traveler. ;)

Of course I absconded with my backpack full of a couple treats for later, some local guide pamphlets, and a weekend edition of Rzeczpospolita newspaper. On top of all this, I realized that I didn't have my tram card with me, so I was praying that I wouldn't run into a controller along the way. How many ways did you break rules of accepted behavior before noon today?

A pair of concerts

I feel like I have been running non-stop for the last month. Budapest, Easter with the Ruds, the Half-Marathon, Paris, and then...

this past weekend, a concert with the Akademia Rolniczej choir. It was my first concert with the group (I already missed one while I was off gallivanting in France...), and what a debut. We sang for the X Małopolska Konkurs Chórów (10th Małopolska Regional Choir Competition). It took place in a castle complex just outside of Kraków. First of all, it was neat to perform with the group and secondly, to sing in a castle! I thought we sounded good, and I'm pretty sure we looked good too. Our concert dress is a satiny green wrap top and a black skirts. I, the domistically adept person that I am, forgot to iron my outfit, and so there I stood in the front row with a crease where the skirt had been folded on the hanger. I hope we didn't get docked points because of me...

Anyway, we sang a trio of contrasting pieces: "Hucełko Kseniu' (or something sounding like that in Ukrainian), "Totus Tuus" (a piece written for JPII's first papal pilgrimage to Poland), and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." The last piece was both a source of fun and embarrassment - fun because it was a groovy, old-school spiritual with a great solo line but embarrassing because guess who often had to sing in front of the whole choir by herself so everyone could hear how the pronunciation should be. I am not cut out to be a soloist...

After we sang, we got the chance to listen to some of the other choirs. I felt a slight pang of guilt when a Jagiellonian University group took the stage at my not being with them and instead being with the landscape and forestry students. But I got over it real fast.

Sometime soon we are going to sing in the Maryacki Basilika. Wow.

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Last night, a friend from my choir invited me to a concert of Jewish music in Kazimerz that her friend was performing in. I'm not exactly sure on the name of place where we were, but it clearly was (or maybe still is) a synagogue. The music was GREAT. All the guys were fabulous musicians, especially Dominika's friend, the accordionist, but I don't know if they quite gelled as an ensemble. Regardless it was moving and beautiful in the haunting way that Jewish and Balkan music is.

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Spring is here, and I feel like I have a reason to live again! Warm breezes, honest-to-goodness sunshine and the damp smell of flowers in the air. I think it's time to read Anna Karenina again. :)

So this time I was in Paris...

Before I write about my weekend in Paris, every one of you that reads this must PROMISE to watch the movie "Before Sunset." That's all I am going to say for now.

2 hours 5 minutes

I did it! I finished the Warsaw Halfmarathon! And when I crossed the finish line, I thought, "Is that it?" After a few months of training and running around Krakow in some of the most ridiculous weather conditions, it turns out I really was prepared enough to go 13 miles on a beautiful, sunny day. The two main goals I set for myself (to run -not walk- the entire race, and to come in under 2:30:00) were both met. I feel pretty good about it, and my legs didn't hurt as bad as I thought they would. I think the massage at the end of the race really helped on that account.

Like I mentioned, the weather was unbelievably nice. I may have even gotten a tad sunburned as I was running. But on Saturday, when I arrived, it was rainy and downright depressing. There I was, all prepared to take in the sights of Warsaw on foot, without an umbrella and three large bags (my backpack, a sleeping bag, and my race kit). I spent most of the day indoors having lunch and coffee. The famous mermaid statue in the Old Town square wasn't even up - it was gone for repairs... Thankfully I had brought along a good book passed on to me by Annie. By the time Saturday night rolled around, I was beginning to regret that I had come by myself. However, I spent some time in the Warsaw University library reading (which is a neat building), had my favorite tea from a Polish cafe chain, and got a surprise phone call from a friend, things were looking up.

Later, I made it to the sports hall where I was to sleep, and when I walked into the room with about 50 fellow athletes, no joke, I was the only girl! How could I have just assumed that there would be plenty of female runners at this place?? No matter, I rolled out my sleeping bag in a free spot against the wall and began chatting with the guy next to me. It was his first half marathon as well. I would keep running into him all throughout the next day, so it kind of felt like i had made a friend there. That was nice.

When Zbyszek (I think that was his name) went out to check the temperature in the morning, he said, in Polish of course, "Can I ask you a question? Why do you run?" I hadn't really thought much about this question in English let alone had an answer prepared in Polish. What I could say was that I like to run because it is something I can do by myself and I have total freedom. Freedom. Wolność. I think that is true.

I would do it again. Now I feel like there is a whole new world of competitive running open to me. At this race there were certainly a lot of people who did it like me, just to do it, but there were also some people, and some "big-name runners", who were really serious about it. I think I could become serious about distance running knowing that my mind and my body can take it. Now I have the goal of running a half marathon in under 2 hours. I think before too long I'll be doing a full marathon. ;)

Here are a couple of pictures that a hired photo agency took along the course: http://www.fotomaraton.pl/event.php?Lang=PL&Event=PWA08&ToFind=419. The building, one of the most famous in Warsaw and in all of Poland, affectionately known as "Stalin's penis" is in the background.