Fatale!

This was not a good day in Wroclaw. Nothing in particular, I was just hot and cranky and my roommate and I had a really late lunch break. Let me explain our meal plan. The organization we're working for paid in advance for three weeks of meals at the University dining hall. This means that for our lunch break, we have to commute back to the university to eat. Half an hour. Each way. On a crowded train. For pretty standard cafeteria food. Everyday for breakfast they give us turkey sandwiches. Turkey sandwiches? And for lunch, we have our choice of breaded fried chicken or breaded fried pork, rice or potatoes, and pickles or sauerkraut. I don't have a problem with any of these food individually, but that's all I've been eating for a week. Luckily, the dining hall closes for the summer in a three weeks, so they'll have to arrange something else for July.

This weekend, two of the other interns and I spent most of our time exploring Wroclaw by foot. Sunday, we woke up, left the dorm, and walked west. We came back to the dorm, took naps, and then walked east. Last night, my roommate Aydan suggested we go to a Pub for a drink after our walk. We couldn't decide on one, so we just bought some beer at the 24-hr market. Luckily, I know the words for "please", "four", "beer", and "small". And the brand of the beer was easy enough to pronounce, Tyskie. So I told the woman at the market: Please. Four. Beer. Tyskie. Small. And it actually worked.

The language barrier is not so difficult as I imagined it would be. Most people here at least understand English, if not speak it fairly well. And even those who don't are so impressed by my effort to say "Do you speak English?" in their native tongue, that they respond very helpfully to gestures and pointing even if they don't speak English. Today I had my second Polish lesson, and my instructor keeps asking me if I'm sure I actually want to learn Polish. She keeps reminding me how difficult it is and saying that only native speakers ever actually understand it. Not very encouraging. But I'm struggling through the workbook she gave me and I'm using my semi-functional Polish whenever possible. Like, for instance, to buy beer at the market. There's also something very different about speaking English when I'm with Aydan, whose native language is Turkish, than when I'm with Jackie, who is from Texas. I think that Jackie and I are ever-fearful of being labeled ignorant Americans, and we're far more reluctant to ask for help in English. Aydan, on the other hand, isn't afraid of approaching anybody. For her, I don't think that the locals are upset she's speaking English rather than Polish, when English is an obviously more useful language for her to learn. Most Polish-speakers are aware that only 40-million people in the world speak Polish and that it really is not the easiest or most useful language. The older people who we've encountered who don't speak any English are usually more helpful than the younger ones. Most people under 30 speak some English here, and those that don't, I think, seems almost resentful or embarrassed that they don't -- which usually results in sneers or hostility. But, I mean, I'm surviving here. And that's what matters.

Polish Phrases of the Day

Nazyvam sie . . . = My name is . . .
Pracuje na . . . = I work in . . .
Moja mama jest . . . = My mother is . . .
Jestem na . . . = I am from . . .