Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

I hope that you all have a great Easter...I'd love to hear what goes on in Estonia for Easter, but for those of you in Poland, I hope you'll make an effort to be around Poles this holiday weekend. Since many Poles are Catholic, Easter is a pretty big deal. Enjoy!

I also wanted to point out an issue that is on the table at UNCG that you may be interested in. Have any of you lived in on-campus housing at UNCG? were you on the quad? The Board of Trustees is holding a meeting on April 16th (next week) to discuss a master plan for the quad. There is a link on the UNCG home page (Board of Trustees to Hold Quad Forum) to the Chancellor's web page for comments and suggestions. I thought that since you've now spent some time abroad and maybe had some reflections on what you've enjoyed at your host institutions and what you miss about UNCG, that you may have some productive suggestions about how UNCG could rebuild the quad to house more students and house them better!

At any, just a little news from home! Enjoy your holiday and then get ready for a great trip to Russia! As I get the final details, I'll be in touch again. I'm planning to arrive in Wroclaw on May 4 and then I'll head to Tartu on May 7th. I'll post my cell phone number (I think I have an Estonian number!) so that you can contact me if there are any last minute issues. I'll also be in contact with the International Offices in Wroclaw and Tartu.

Peace

Pickles, Cookies, and Flowers

In my last post, I described what a typical Estonian meal would be. They very much like the staple plan of pork, potatoes, and salad. Which, by the way, "salad" here does not mean a bed of lettuce adorned with tomatoes and veggies, it could pretty much be anything that you cut up into pieces and mix together. What I failed to mention, however, is the Estonian passive-aggressive love of pickles. No one ever talks about them or promotes them, but they are everywhere, yet in random places. It sounds like a conspiracy theory I know. But really, I've had pickles appear unsuspectingly in so many things that I order, everything from pizza to soup!

This past week we had in international food fest on our dorm hall. I have never eaten so much in my life, but I've never had so much fun eating either. All afternoon nations teamed up together to prepare something wonderful to unveil. In preparation for the event, we Americans spent quite a while thinking about what to make. We were challenged to come up with something that was feasible to make for a lot of people, feasible for us to make period, and wasn't already borrowed from another culture. We finally came up with chocolate chip cookies. Although a very good idea, I didn't have much faith in our simple and meager menu. To further my insecurity, every time someone would ask what America was making and I told them, they would just look at me. "Great," I would think, "they think it's lame". But the night finally came, and after much chopping of chocolate bars to serve as chocolate chips, and a work-out of mixing, our first batch was finally ready. They were so good. Just like a little handful of America. And apparently the rest of the international students approved, because no fresh batch lasted for more than 3 minutes on the plate. I finally figured out that when people looked at me strange for telling them what team America would be making, it was because they didn't know what chocolate chip cookies were! I was so proud that America could contribute a cultural element that went over just as well as the delicious authentic Greek salad and Italian pastas.

This past week I also had my first experience with a full language barrier. For the most part in Estonia, everyone either speaks English, or knows enough to get by. And if all else fails, you can just point to the menu or read the small digital screen telling you how much money to pay. When I made my first excursion to the small flower market in town, however, it was a little different. I walked up to one of the vendors to look at a specific type of flower he had. He saw me come and immediatly started to try to make a sale. I apologetically shook my head and explained I only spoke English. He was convinced I knew what he was saying anyway, however, and proceeded to make arrangements and quote prices. We finally both got so confused and flustered that he called over a nearby vendor that did speak English. She kindly explained to me what he had simply been trying to tell me all along. After she left, I paid, and he was putting my flowers in paper, he kept talking out loud in Estonian. All I understood was the word for English, and right then knew what it must feel like to come to America with little or no English. The situation didn't upset me, I left feeling a little amused at the whole thing actaully. But it did make me realize that I need to be more patient with people new to my environment at home.

Fire on the Odra

Spring time is here in Wroclaw, I think we can all concur on this. Last night there was a barbecue scheduled by the neighboring dorm called Kredka. My roommate Oktay and I went down to the river with some Kielbasa and some beer to find the barbecue. On the way down we met some other international students coming back towards Olowek who told us nothing was going on. We decided to go anyway. We took a left off the bridge. The trail took us through a bit of forest and down the river bank. After a little ways in you could see a lurid illumination in the distance of campfires, and the movement of many dark forms in the glow. The crowd turned out to be entirely Polish with nary an international anywhere. It was a bit difficult to approach, so instead we went to a small campfire on the perimeter of the area with three Polish people sitting by it. The fire was really just a board burning slowly atop a pile of ash and coals, but the board was large and the coals were hearty. The Poles could speak only a little English, but it was enough, and they were drunk enough that they werent too worried about it. After we sat for a time we learned that one of the Poles was an experienced and enthusiastic barista, very knowledgabel about all aspects of coffee. We then had a very long and in depth discussion on coffee forms and levels of caffeine in different types of coffee. For example, American coffee has the most caffeine, moka has quite a lot, and espresso the least of the major types. the conversation was interesting but very fractured. I think its nice though, attempting to talk about why different forms of coffee making are stronger than others, with a strong language barrier. Its kind of like a puzzle, how can this information be relayed when no one understands each other very well.
It was a good night, watching a board slowly burn up on the banks of the odra, drumming and guitar in the distance, and a sky full of stars.

Hey Gabriel, please copy the email to Robert

Hey Gabriel, please note that Gordon sent you both support documents-yours and Robert's. Robert just emailed me about this, so apparently he doesn't know that you have it. Yes, you will have to go to Warsaw to apply for the visa and it would be a really smart idea to check before you head out on Friday to see what the turnaround for a visa is. Perhaps Robert could submit your materials as well, giving you a better shot at getting to go on the trip. I really hope that the two of you will put some thought and effort into this as LIHC has invested quite a bit to include you (rooms in St. P's, bus ticket, visa support, tours and admissions) that we may not be able to recoup should you not be able to go. PLUS...we really want you to GO WITH! Go online to the Russian consulate page in Warsaw, ask a Polish friend for some advice (or Urszula in the international office) and see if Robert can help you out with getting the app in before the 20th.

Obama Obama Obama

It has been so cool hearing everyone talk about our President as he's been on this side of the world. Watching CNN and reading the articles on ABC, I get to go, "Hey! I've been there!" as Barak went through Prague, and "I'll be there soon!"as he entered the London-Stansted airport. Some friends of mine were saying how proud they were that he chose their country to go visit and speak at. It made little sunshine rays shoot from me from the inside out. To realize, finally, that you are living within history is a cool feeling. Me and 4 friends went for a day trip outside of Wroclaw yesterday to Opole. The town is not even in my Lonely Planet for Poland. The train tickets were cheap and we wanted to be able to say that we did something over Easter Break so we headed out early and planned to return in the evening. When we got there we walked around a bit, a bit more than we wanted because we recieved bad directions from the first woman we asked, but we made it to Opole's rynek. Because of the holiday, everything was closed or closing early. We jumped in a restaurant to grab some food then came back out and thought, well what do we do now? We went to the park, which was adorable and clean, and laid down. We just laid in the park for hours talking and listening to the radio. I got a good nap in. It was great not having an itinerary for museums and sites. We aquired a friend as a little girl about 4 years old came and scared my friend as she slept. She gave each of us flowers and one of my other friends tried to speak Polish with her but she just replied, "nah na nan nah." We walked around a bit more then hopped the train home. I add it up as a sucessful trip. Here in Poland, Easter Monday is known as Wet Monday. Appearently the locals throw water on each other to celebrate the day. It's mainly little kids attacking unsuspecting adults and guys getting girls when they least expect it. So I don't really plan on heading outside my room that day. :-P Things are so quiet in the streets below our dorm, and the dorm is almost empty. I have to say it's nice. I doubt there will be any other time when Plac Grunwaldzki will be this devoid of cars.

Can I get some preservatives, please?

I have never borne witness to food that expired so quickly.
Two days ago, I was assaulted by a moldy loaf of bread (I'm slightly terrified of mold). The bread was purchased by a friend less than a week prior, and when she went to the kitchen to fetch it, she returned with something that resembled one of those green styrofoam blocks you stick silk flowers in. I have seen moldy bread before, but this was a whole new class of expired. How could one week cause this much damage?! A carton of milk also managed to expire in under two days, even though it was refrigerated. And jam! This was something I had never seen before in my life. A jar of jam was moldy after no more than ten days. I have jam in my refrigerator at home that has been there for months and it is still good.
I even checked all the expiration dates to make sure I hadn't purchased old food by mistake. But all of the spoiled food was spoiled well before it was expected to expire. I am at a loss. Many more of my purchases have gone bad and I'm sure many more will. But this makes me much more wary of the food at home in the States. How many more chemicals are going into my food than I'm aware of? If food spoils this quickly, what on Earth am I putting into my body at home? Or is it just Poland? Does food just spoil unreasonably fast here for some reason? I would love to know the true factors that come into play in this situation.
I am enjoying the European trend of purchasing fresh food. It's nice not going to Walmart and purchasing bags of frozen vegetables and chicken. However, if I want to make a salad, I have to actually purchase a head of lettuce, a carrot, a jar of olives, an onion....you get the point. I don't really have the option of buying a bag of pre-mixed salad. I am beginning to miss the pre-packaged convenience of certain items, because if I buy a whole head of lettuce, it's going to go to waste. I can't eat a whole head of lettuce in one salad, and as I stated early, everything will be spoiled by the time I am ready to eat more. Even though it seems insignificant, it is actually quite a dilemma. We're on a limited "income," or stipend, here, and I really can't afford to be throwing food away, no matter the amount.
I'm really missing that UNCG meal plan right now....

Bus to St. P leaves at 10:45pm

Hallo group!

The tour service just notified me that we DO have the direct bus to Russia, so we leave at 10:45 pm and arrive at like 6:30 am (wow...that's early) The return bus is also an overnight, so we'll have the most of our days in St. Petersburg. Hope this helps you to finalize your plans!!