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[Nov. 17th, 2009|11:29 pm] |
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| |  Horrified | ] |
I'll never understand high school fashion trends.
Today I witnessed something that shall never be able to scrub from my brain.
In one of the classes that I observe, a boy was wearing his pants so low that I could see his legs. This may not seem too awful, but let me explain:
He was wearing bright purple boxers. His pants sagged so low that they were below the bottom of his boxers, so that I could see his legs underneath.
It looked like this:
I know that this was done on purpose because his pants stayed that way all through class, even after several students told him to quite mooning them. He was even wearing a belt!
...I don't think I'll ever recover. |
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| Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity |
[Oct. 16th, 2009|11:46 am] |
A wonderful lecture about the importance of looking at all kinds of intelligence within the education system.
If you don't want to sit through the whole twenty minutes, skip to the end. His discussion about Gillian Lynne sums it all up quite nicely.
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 14th, 2009|10:13 pm] |
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I still think that the "Black Knights" are a questionable mascot for an inner-city school. |
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| Taken from fmylife.com |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|06:56 pm] |
"Today, I was at the Polish border when I found my passport was gone. I contacted the last place I stayed at and the owner said he would handle it. I reluctantly agreed as I was being charged international rates. Apparently, "taking care of it" means telling the embassy I'm retarded. FML"
Bahahahaha!
This was posted yesterday, I came back from Poland the day before.
There is one boy in my study group who accidentally locked his passport in a hotel safe when he forgot the combination, misplaced his plane tickets to the US, completely lost all the information about his connecting flight, continually had to ask his family for more money because he'd spend everything irresponsibly throughout the trip ($170 t-shirts, anyone?) and is pretty much incompetent without Mommy doing everything for him.
I'm seriously wondering if this was him. If it was, serves the idiot right!
The only thing that makes me think it wasn't him is that this guy would never actually admit a mistake.
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 30th, 2009|06:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  listless | ] |
Flying is stressful enough.
Realizing that your plane is about to land in the middle of a huge lightening storm is not the best way to end a trip. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 26th, 2009|05:34 pm] |
Saw the Harry Potter movie on Friday!
Better than I thought it would be. I think that this is the first film that I've actually enjoyed.
I'm just a fan of the books instead. It's more enjoyable to picture your own version of the story and interpret it for yourself, rather than viewing the visions of the director. But this film didn't deviate (very) far from the novel, and I believe that it held the right sort of mood for the story.
And I got to see it opening night,
which probably wouldn't have been possible in the US.
And I got to read Polish subtitles!
I actually understood more words than I would have guessed. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 26th, 2009|06:19 am] |
Bishop Kominek
The entire point of one of my Polish classes is to write (and publish) a guidebook for Ostrow Tumski, the "Cathedral Island" of Wroclaw. After extensively touring and studying the area, we've decided upon the major point of interest, created a mapped route, photographed the points, and written short explanations of each.
The point that I've chosen is a statue of Bishop Kominek, the second archbishop of the city from 1972 - 1974. He is famous for writing a letter of reconciliation to the German bishops after WWII, stating: "We forgive and ask to be forgiven."
This man is responsible for finally acknowledging Poland's guilt against its German residents. Everyone before this time had thought of Poland as a passive victim. But this idea completely ignored the fact that constant changing borders disrupted the lives of thousands of people, including not only Poles but Germans and Soviets too. After signing the Yalta agreement, thousands of Breslau citizens were driven out of their homes and forced to relocate in the new German territory.
Why don't we study these things in U.S. schools?
This man single handedly stood against the Polish communist government, the people of Poland, and everyone who attended the Yalta Conference. The government never sent a letter of apology, so he is the one who forced the Church to take such a progressive stance. This is a huge deal. Bishop Kominek challenged their beliefs by actively recognizing Poland’s responsibility for atrocities against the German population. He as possibly the first person to recognize the tragedies of World War II and begin the process of reconciliation between Poland and Germany. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 25th, 2009|06:01 pm] |
Polish people a receipt-happy. They give you a receipt for everything.
Yes, even for donuts. The lady at the bakery gives me a receipt whenever I buy a roll or donut or anything from her. Come on: I'm only paying you 1.75 zlotys. That's not even $1 American! The paper and ink that you're giving me is worth more than the actual item I'm buying.
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 25th, 2009|05:39 am] |
Lately I've started to wonder about Poland's recycling system.
The majority of the population here does not drink tap water. While I've been told it's fine for showering, washing your hands, and cooking, it should never be drank straight from the faucet due to bacteria. It must always be boiled first. So this means that bottled water is a huge product here. It's possibly one of the most consumed items out of any grocery store. There are literally two full aisles dedicated to selling different types, brands, and flavors of bottled water, including gassed and non-gassed. Drinking bottled water is practically the law.
Yet I've never seen a recycling bin next to the trash. Is it simply an element that's incorporated in the sanitation system? Or has Poland not developed such a strong environmental movement (like we see in the United States)? Because I would feel guilty if all of my plastic bottles simply ended up in garbage dumps. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 22nd, 2009|05:50 pm] |
European drunks need to leave me alone.
I've had so many encounters this week, it's really not funny anymore.
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|06:15 pm] |
Graffiti is very prevalent around the city of Wroclaw. Just about every building you see has been tagged in some way. Most of the bridges, sidewalks, street columns, and signs have at least a touch of spraypaint. And no one bothers to paint over it. Leaving so much graffiti would pretty much be unheard of in the United States. (We've got Guiliani to thank for that.)
But that's because graffiti has an entirely different meaning here. It's a representation of free expression. These people remember so many years during the Communist rule when not even a word of political criticism could be spoken, let alone recorded in words. Whenever a building was tagged with political slogans or reactionary statements, the police would come in the night and tag over it. You may paint a peace symbol and see it disappear within hours. This left large splotches of badly matched paint on every building. See that white spot? You can bet there's a tag underneath it.
This didn't sit well with Major. Waldek Fydrych "Major" hated seeing these white splotches and decided to start filling this up with something that no one could object to. He started spray painting gnomes. Little gnomes, happily placed everywhere within the city. He'd get arrested from time to time, they'd get painted over, but the symbol caught on. Soon gnomes covered the entire city and far beyond. (For anyone interested in the Major, and you really should be!, I'll type up an entry about the Orange Alternative soon.)
With the new democratic system, the people see graffiti as a right to free speech and expression. It allows people to show their creativity and political opinions without harming anyone. No one condemns their actions, no one tries to shut them up, and their messages remain for everyone to see. In some ways, I find this beautiful. Of course there are simple tags along the walls that spell out names or English "bad words" like beer. But there are many others that are absolute works of art. One of the best I've seen is of a woman using a bag of golden coins as a pillow, while they fall out all around her while she sleeps. There are many others protesting the construction of upper class apartments or jewelery ads.
While this has not changed my mind about graffiti's legitimacy as an artform (I believe that it's presence as vandalism supersedes it's positive qualities), I can accept the cultural significance that it holds here.
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|02:52 am] |
Praise be.
I've finally figured out an easier way to share my photos with everyone.
My Public Picasa Page
More captions will come soon, when I actually have time to sit at my computer. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|06:10 am] |
Dzien dobry.
Made it to Wroclaw! Everything went perfectly. Smooth flights, no issues came up at all, which I'm happy about.
By the time we got into Wroclaw, it was about 7am our time, 1pm here. And I hadn't slept at all. So we stayed in the dorms for a few hours of down time before the Professor took us on a tour of the neighborhood. The dorms aren't too bad: we even have a balcony on the outside. It's a nice view if you look in one direction. You can see all the older housing. But if you look straight ahead, all you really see is a McDonalds.
I felt a lot better on Friday than I thought I would. I knew that I hadn't slept in about 26 hours, but the sun was up and I couldn't nap for more than an hour. So after unpacking and relazing for a little while, the Professor took us for a walk around the neighborhood. We wandered for a while and ended up eating dinner at a local pizzaria, where we each shared a pizza and tried some pierogie.
Then we all went to Ryal Square, the main city square. The Professor wanted to show us some of the buildings around there, so we walked the four blocks all around it. Afterwards we wanted to sit and relax for a while so we went inside the oldest pub in Europe (I'll have to look up the name again) and had a drink. The set up inside was amazing. All of us sat in a corner booth and looked at the cathedral ceilings and murals on the wall.
Saturday, the graduate student who helps with the program gave us a tour around the city so that we'd know how to get to our classes. She took us on a walk through Cathedral Island, down to the University, to some important cities around the city center, and brought us to one of the larger malls for lunch (I ate some really good falafel).
We had the afternoon free, so we came back to the room for a nap and planned to meet the graduate student and a few of her friends around 8. We went to one of the cafes nearby where I got to try some of the strongest coffee I've ever had. A few of us walked around for a little while after that, but I was still kind of jetlagged.
Photos can all be found at www.photobucket.com
Username: PolishKerry
Guest Password: studyabroad |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|04:16 pm] |
Warning: Przepraszam
For the next month, I will be studying abroad in Wroclaw, Poland.
My journal will (hopefully) be continually updated with my thoughts and adventures.
What I eat, where I go, who I meet, what I learn, etc.
And photos. Lots and lots of photos.
I know that a lot of people are excited about this and have instructed (nay, ordered) me to update as much as possible. So this apology mostly goes out to my friends list: I understand that not everyone wants to read about Polish street food. So I apologize in advance that your friends page may be flooded with this.
But to everyone else:
Ask me questions! Talk to me!
This is going to be a great experience that I want to share with all my friends, so don't be shy. If you'd like to get in touch with me, just comment on one of my posts and speak up! |
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