After a wonderful dinner and conversation with freshman-year, college roommate, Jan (Poky) Pokonowsky Soenen, who met me at the Comfort Inn O'Hare (one of three, so it's tricky),--THANK YOU, JAN--I flew the next afternoon Chicago to Warsaw via LOT Airlines. Got an aisle seat, bulkhead. Was very pleased about that until the two babies and a 4-year-old big sister across the aisle began to wail for what was to be several hours. They did go to sleep though.
An uneventful flight. Seat belts barely fastened. Kids playing on the floor, babies crawling down the aisles. Only thing out of the ordinary was one broken bathroom on one side of the plane, hence the need to get to the other side of the plane, but difficult due to babes and small children sleeping on cross-plane aisle floors.
Got into Warsaw at 9:50 Saturday a.m. after a 9 1/2 hour flight and a 7 hour (from Midwest)time change. Got my Poland cell phone working & bought more Tak Tak time. Had planned to take Bus 175 to meet realtor/broker P.K. (Prabhat Kapil) in the Marriott lobby, but was tired and splurged on a taxi instead. This put me there earlier than we'd planned--and I'd insisted on more time than P.K. thought was necessary (I was wrong), so I waited.
Once P.K. arrived, he took me to see two apartments that matched my request: small, wifi, and near school. The first one was near the central train station and not far from where I lived 2008-2009. The second one is nearer to Old Town and a 7-day/week farmers' vegetable & fruit market. I took the first one because it was smaller, less expensive, and more convenient for walking to the train station just in case I decide to go somewhere. I don't hear any trains; they're too far underground here in the central city, I believe.
I got into the chosen apartment, where I am now, and P.K. showed me how to use this contraption called "Play Online," which is a flash-drive type thing that you put into your computer and then it finds a satellite and lets you get onto the Internet. I'm told that traditional wifi will be installed one day soon, but this works for now.
This apartment is brand new inside, in a building that looks as if it was build in the 1970s, newer than the one I had at Krucza 51. The elevator in this building is a major improvement over that in Krucza 51. Not only is the apartment newly remodelled, it's not finished. The handyman is coming tomorrow (the same one who came a few times to Krucza when I was there) to put together a new cabinet for the bedroom, after which I hope to put away my things. He's also bringing a sofa and two chairs, which will be nice because right now I just have a table and four table chairs.
And a bed. With a good mattress. I slept twelve hours last night and was most glad because I was TIRED. I was lonesome too upon first being alone in this apartment--and maybe a bit culture shocked. So before going to bed I went out for a walk around this neighborhood that I'm mostly unfamiliar with, found a Carrefore Express (grocery store) and bought toilet paper, musli, yogurt-milk, and laundry powder. Loaded it into a Trader Joe's bag that I'd brought with me and decided to cross the street for a nice dinner on the patio of Te Amo. Had poached sole wrapped around spinach leaves, and steamed vegetables. The exchange rate happens to be in my favor right now, so eating nice restaurant dinners is do-able, at least right now.
Got back from dinner around 10 p.m., and P.K. came over to assemble a plastic floor fan. I could have done it, but I was tired and cranky.
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Woke rested Sunday a.m. after a fine sleep, interrupted only once at 3:30 when the sun began to rise. Lazed around the apartment, made some instant Starbucks coffee--I need to get some ground tomorrow--put some things away, read the manual for the clothes washer (took me 15 minutes to find the pages in English. Read my e-mail.
About noon P.K. called to ask if I wanted to meet him and his wife, Krystyna, for lunch at Streets, about a 5 minute walk from my apartment. I'd never been there before; this is a new neighborhood for me. Streets is going to be a good thing! Had the best soup possible--a cold vegetable thing a bit like gazpacho, but with a beet borscht base rather than tomato. Also had a salmon salad. Then Krystyna order tiramisu with fresh strawberries (they're in season here now, with guys selling them on the sidewalks, especially near the train station). It was a great lunch and fun to catch up with Krystyna.
After lunch we took Krystyna to the (huge) Akadia mall, near the Jewish cemetery, and then P.K. and I went to his storage locker in a garage beneath an apartment building where I checked out the sofa and chairs that are being delivered here tomorrow.
Then home. But at lunch Krystyna mentioned that they had tickets to a Chopin concern tonight at the Opera Theater. I love that building; it's near Old Town, and it's beautiful. Restored by the Soviets after the war. This weekend was the "Chopin Open"--one of several Chopin musical events in Poland this year commemorating the 200th anniversary of his birth. We heard a beautiful symphony with a wonderful piano soloist.
SO: I've been here 36 hours and have gone from wondering whether it was a good idea to come back to being glad that I did. I'm going to try to keep up with this blog. I'm treating it as a personal journal mostly. So it may be boring to all but me. What I ate, for instance. But I want to remember these two months, and you can peek in only when you want....
Tomorrow: the handy man, my furniture, and a walk or bus ride to school. I think.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
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