Wind, Weekend and the Kielbasa Flu

Dzien Dobry,

Hope all is well in KC. The weekend is coming to a close here and I am getting ready for a new week. Luckily we were asleep when the Jayhawks lost.

Probably the most exiting thing since we got back from Krakow was the weather. After some decent fall weather, the temps dropped and the wind started to howl.

Krakow, where we had just been three days earlier, received about a foot of snow. In Gdansk, no snow but tropical storm level winds with sustained gusts over 60 mph. Lisa mentioned in her blog how we lost power twice and had to communicate with our landlord (using sign language and Google translate) about the problems. He and his family were very, very helpful and nice. Each time we lost power, we also lost heat. We saw downed trees, an entire glass enclosed bus stops blown over and countless windows knocked out.

I was assured by the locals that this was very odd weather. In fact, I learned that the place to be that evening was at the beach. A student of mine said hundreds of curious people (like on a warm summer day) were on the beach watching the four to five meter waves crash into the shore and the pier. She said you could not even see the pier, as the water was covering it. Frankly, I would liked to see that myself and show the kids the true power of the sea. However, I think I would have been outvoted by a higher authority. The winds lasted about two days.

On Friday, things began to clear and we got back into fall weather again (mid-40s) with sunshine.

On Thursday, after a nice night out with the econ faculty (during the wind storm)- Lisa started to come down with something: high fever, cough, weakness, etc. She never left a certain spot on the couch for 30 plus hours. Now if I get a hangnail I will stay in bed for three days- but for Lisa to be bedridden, she must really be sick.

We had brought with us some medications from home (like cough medicine)- but it quickly ran out. I ran to the Apteka (Pharmacy) and purchased some Polish cough syrup. I spoke to the pharmacist, who helped me select it, even with her limited English (at least she spoke some). The ingredients and dosages were all in Polish, and they had no brands I recognized (like Robotussin or Nyquil). I translated the dosage (one teaspoon every three hours), and God knows what is in it. However, she started to feel better after 2.5 days and a single dose of the Polish cough syrup. She certainly had the symptoms of the flu, or even the Swine flu. However, the Swine flu has not really hit Poland yet (only a few cases)- so I am calling this the next best thing- the Kielbasa Flu. I hope the Kielbasa Flu does not spread to the rest of the family. But given our tight quarters.....

I had to teach this weekend (mornings). On Saturday afternoon I tried to get the kids out of the house. One they needed it, and I wanted to let Lisa rest without kids under foot. We had been wanting to go to this new mall which just opened a few months ago. It is called the Przymorze Mall. I kept asking all my colleagues about this mall- but no one knew what I was talking about. I was pronouncing the mall’s name as is it written Pryz-mor-ze; starting with the “P” sound (you try to pronounce it). I just got blank stares. After a day or so- I wrote it out for one of my students, and she laughed at me. Pryzmorze is pronounced Sha-more-sha. Finally, I started to ask people about “Sha-more-sha”, and they would quickly say, “nice place." Actually, I found that that Przymorze means- “by the sea”. See why Polish is so hard.

In the Pryzmorze Mall is a big store called Leclerc. It is the French version of a Super-Walmart. In fact, you feel you are in a super-Walmart. It is the first store we have been to in Poland that felt like the suburbs of Olathe. Lisa had given us a list and we spent a few hours purchasing all kinds of exciting stuff (like a big spoon), and we ate lunch. I got confused again in the milk aisle (recall the soap incident).

Milk is very different here. It comes in small boxes or little bottles (only one liter in size). It is kept at room temperature and on the regular store shelves (so are the eggs). Milk confuses me in the States- so add in all the new abnormalities of Polish milk and I will drink water.

Cereal is also odd. As opposed to the big boxes we get in the states, cereal comes in small bags. You still have all the sugary coco, peanut butter, marshmallowy kinds of cereal- but from a bag you maybe gets two or three bowls. So you are constantly buying bags of cereals and bottles/boxes of milk.

I ended up teaching three times this weekend, as our Dean (who teaches a class after mine) had to unexpectedly leave town. So I filled in with one of my classes. Other than the weekend times, I really enjoy the part-time Masters students that I teach. I have taught five weekend seminars since Oct 1. I only have three left (all in November). Then I am done with weekends.

Speaking of weekends, I purchased tickets and housing for our next big adventure: Berlin. We will go on November 10th and stay for five days. Recall that November 9th is the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. I remember watching that on TV in 1989. So we should get there for the tail end of those ceremonies. Looking forward to it. Berlin is a huge city with lots of stuff to do and see both inside and out, so I am not worried about what weather we get. We will have plenty of stuff to do either way. As Lisa speaks (some) German, she is really looking forward to the trip. We will also celebrate Natalie’s birthday there.

Have a great week and beware of the Kielbasa Flu.