so our shower’s broken again. we were woken to the sound of our neighbour knocking on our door, wanting to inform us that we’d flooded her bathroom again. when we went to investigate, we found that our shower wasn’t working and our toilet was making funny noises.
conclusion: we’re flooding our neighbour’s bathroom with water that we’re not even using…
and so i’d like to amend my previous conclusion re: showers.
a good one’s important, sure. but i’d settle for just having a working one at this point.
my job at the foundation’s getting more interesting and rewarding, but also more frustrating. in short, i’m happy i’ve had this experience, but relieved to be moving on. i’m on contract until mid-july. then i might be back for one more project sept-nov (if we get funding). and that’s it.
i want to go back to school. pedagogy. if anyone’s heard of any particularly interesting graduate programs, let me know. i’d like to combine the two fields: environmentalism and education… work somewhere within the nexus between the two.
a nexus sounds like a nice place to be, no? interesting. and cozy and warm.
i love a good campfire. (this one was last week; we were celebrating a friend's birthday.)
a couple friends and i spent last weekend at a cottage/cabin. it was great - there was a giant tire swing over a river; too bad it was cold. (i've been spending lots and lots of time with trees. hm.)
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
hop, skip, jump
instead of trying to catch up on every detail, i’m going to post some pictures with some captions and then pretend that you all know and get it and are caught up and love me anyway.
consider this entry the equivalent of that squiggly bit on the axis of a graph that lets you skip a whole bunch of increments and then proceed at your regular pace.
if any of you know what i’m referring to here, i’ll buy you a beer when i see you next; you’re great.
chatting up the forest rangers.
with bosses and 1000 trees we just planted.
one of the storks forgot his lines. a few minutes after running off the stage in tears, he returned for attempt #2 and nailed it.
romanian babushkas - spot the real deal.
beautiful monasteries. (n. romania)
example of a beautifully decorated home in rural romania. they got very intricate... reminiscent of lace.
the girl on the right - nicole - hosted us in suceava, romania. (she made me miss vanessa very much because she reminded me so much of her..)
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments
madness
the last couple of weekends have been swallowed up by trips – today i leave for romania for yet another. we’re only going for a few days so it’s a bit crazy given that the trip itself will eat up a lot of the time – but that’s also part of the fun. buses, trains, hitch-hiking.. the plan is to somehow get there, go hiking in the mountains, and somehow get back. through ukraine.
the eco-education project went well, and now we just have to do the accounting and write-up – and on to the next one..
i’ll write more when i get back. i know i’m extremely behind on e-mails, that will be rectified soon as well. march-may is tree-planting season so our workload is intense. that, combined with the beautiful weather, makes it difficult to sit in one place and write for an extended period of time..
my favourite class..
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
happy earth day!
tomorrow, that is.
today i bought trees! four apple trees, to be exact.
then my colleague and i had to take the public bus back into the city from the nursery.
naturally, given my luck, it was filled to capacity (and then some) with commuters and students.
i think everyone on that bus resented us for taking up so much space – and doubly incensed were those within branch-in-face vicinity.
tomorrow is the first of our earth day eco-education seminars for elementary school kids. that’s what the trees are for: we’re going to plant one in the yard of each school we visit.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
the importance of a good shower
…cannot be overstated.
we switched our shower head today and, i tell you people, i am born anew. bliss.
no longer do i have to rinse for eons and still have to deal with shampoo-hair. like kramer in the shower head episode of seinfeld.
life is good.
this past weekend was spent with family – easter.
i actually had a lot of fun; it was nice to get away, be a glutton, not have to work. it was probably the first time in my life that i relished the fact that i had no internet access.
my cousin’s birthday is one week before mine, so my aunts bought us a big cake and we celebrated.
piotr and i. and the massive cake... just look at that cake: it's at least as big as my head and i've got a massive head.
on the work front, my coworker and i found out two days ago that we’d been granted funding for our proposed eco-education project for elementary schools. all well and good, were it not for the fact that it’s got to be carrid out within an incredibly tight time window. the last two days have been spent working on the lesson/game plan, buying supplies, trying to get schools to agree to take us in… we have to visit four schools in different municipalities (well, the polish equivalent thereof), and do it all next week. so it’s been a bit crazy… luckily, schools have been pretty open to the idea of four ngo workers coming in and taking over for 5 hours. plus there are cookies thrown in to sweeten the deal.
also, i’m going to warsaw again, for the second time in my life – that i remember, anyhow. there’s a climate change workshop there this weekend, so i’ll be attending that. and then next weekend there’s a tree-planting event in a national park outside of poznan, so i’ve been inviting guests and managing media for that. mattel is funding the afforestation initiative of the newly acquired park land through the sale of this new eco-doll and dvd. it’s atrocious. see for yourself:
this photo does not do justice to the depressingly low quality of the toy. also, what the heck is up with these legs??
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
it’s all in the wrist
the author of this korean guide-to-everything knew the secret to comforting a cat — i mean, woman..
that's all there is to it.
you can find other useful excerpts here
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
spring in krakow
i was going to go for a bike ride along the wisla river tonight but it started pouring about a half hour ago, so i thought i’d take this opportunity to get some work done.
and so here i am, procrastinating.
🙂
we’ve had some beautiful weather over the last few days, so i guess we’re due for some rain. yesterday was spent hiking in the bieskidy mountains (pictures from that will go up when i get them) through knee-deep snow, even waist-deep at some points. literally. i was so tired when i got home. anyway, the point is that this is what krakow looked like yesterday:
spring!
the trek through snowdrifts took place only about 70 km outside of krakow; i’m really struck by the climate discrepancy!
here’s what about 90 km south looked like a week ago, while here we were getting rain and plus temperatures:
i haven’t had a chance to go skiing in poland yet, but apparently i have until may!
anyhow, back to the bike.
i borrowed it from a friend a couple of days ago so hopefully i’ll be able to explore a bit further out now. the good weather is really helping wake me out of my stupor. i’m realizing that poor krakow never had a shot; i approached my time here as temporary from the start and this resulted in utterly lackadaisical immersion efforts.
you’ll be happy to know this is not a complaint post: i really don’t regret any of it. i recognize my mistakes, but i’ve become better at absorbing them and staying mobile, flexible. maybe it’s all the desserts i’ve been eating here in poland; i’ve certainly developed some formidable shock absorbers.
😉
i hope all of you, wherever you find yourselves, are enjoying the spring. go for a bike ride. a walk. have a real weekend (especially you, hanae).
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments
assorted adventures
while out exploring on saturday, we came across a veritable stockpile of recycling bins. they look like big bubbles here.
the communal colourful bins are located every few blocks in the city. so everyone has to segregate the garbage in their home and then carry it over and dump it down the street – unsurprisingly, isn’t exactly wildly popular.
whoo
obviously, someone had to push the envelope and actually crawl into one. i restrained myself.
ta-da
from these photos, it’s very obvious i’m a mature 25 year old.
then we climbed a hill.
this is kopiec krakusa, ‘mound of krakus’… krakow has 5 of these mounds, but they’re fairly widespread throughout europe. they’re basically anthropogenic homages to events or people. they’re basically urban green spaces at present. on a clear day, you can get a great view of the city from the peak of one of these mounds. you’ll have to take my word for it though; i don’t have pictures.
then we ate.
i’m not quite sure what to call our concoction, exactly. we threw everything we had together – well, most like we layered it. cheese-rice-canned corn lasagna? loaf? doesn’t sound as appealing when i describe it but, trust me, it was delicious.
the cheese monster was there, but more subdued this time around.
good way to end a good day.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments
happy norouz!
the cheese monster lives...
i was able to post this one picture, but posting a second is apparently beyond the realm of present possibilities.
the tretdaun/sretdaun has let its limits be known.
i’ve spent the last few weeks writing kajillions of grant applications (okay, so more like 5). mostly to polish organizations and government bodies, but also one for a share of the norwegian stockpile.
i’m feeling somehow beholden to this foundation, so i’m staying until the start of july for certain. but then i think i’d like to move on. i’m open to ideas, but i have to confess that what i’d really love to do is spend the summer outside: work in a summer camp of sorts or a national park somewhere… one problem is that a lot of these outdoor jobs require some sort of first aid or swimming certification (understandably), which i do not possess. but i’m going to have to start seriously looking this weekend, now that the application furor has died down a bit.
in september/october i’m going to oktoberfest (if anyone wants to join me, consider this an invitation) to meet with some friends i met in mexico. after that, my calendar opens right up.. my boss has asked me to stay, but i definitely don’t want to do that. sometimes i’m tempted because i have a great deal of diverse responsibilities here and am learning a lot. but the work ethic and style of communication at the office are suboptimal; i’m constantly stressed and never certain of the boundaries of my responsibilities – which has extremely negative effects on the efficiency and quality of my work.
all right, enough complaining. i’m going for dinner.
and tomorrow i’m off to another workshop – this weekend i’m learning about project management. yay.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments
technical difficulties
for the last few days i’ve been trying and trying to post some pictures… but wordpress refuses to cooperate.
and so i’m done cajoling – next up: threatdown.
slavic style.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
.alekskela. 