It's Almost September.

It's cold and rainy. It's fall. Now, I'm beginning to feel the start of the school year get closer and closer. Yikes. I'm not ready.

On Sunday Vickie went home to Canada. I'm jealous and sad. It was so great to have her here! She was such a good friend. I really hope we can stay in touch. Without Vickie, I never would've survived the second camp!

I'm packing this week. I'll be moving in with Agata whether I buy the apartment or not. I hate moving. It's a good cleansing exercise though, because I sure don't want to have to carry or unpack more than I have to!!! I should be moving in Friday or Saturday. I'm really happy I'm leaving the student flat. As I was going into my apt this afternoon I noticed once again how BADLY it smells! My neighbours smoke and drink and who knows what else, but it's the same odour wafting up your nose and soaking your clothes as the one that makes you nauseous standing next to a homeless person on a hot tram in July! Bla! I can almost taste it. NO MORE!
I went to Agata's place last night - Rich and I helped her put her IKEA furniture together. It's a really nice new building - security, elevator, large balcony. So, even if I don't get the place on Marsztalarska, my living conditions will be improved.

That's all. Love, B

The Light Brightens & Becky's Tour of Torun

Yesterday Rich called and said Marzena called. This was good news in itself. She's one of the sellers of the apartment and she hadn't returned our texts or calls in a couple days. I was worried. She said they had one other offer on the place but they would prefer to sell to someone they knew. Great. I still have to meet with her early this week and maybe write up an agreement.

Yesterday was girl time. I already mentioned Magda and Sofia - plus me and my friend Wendy and her Mom (visiting from the States) went on a day trip to Torun. I love this little town! We saw so many of the sights and shared many laughs. It was my 4th trip to Torun, so I acted as tour guide much of the time. I showed: Torun, the dark side. :) I showed them the statue commemorating the first incident of bird flu in Poland. This is what I'd been told the last time I was there. It turned out that it's actually to honor some Polish director, but that's just not as interesting! ;) Next, I took them to the place especially designated for dog crapping. They were rather sceptical, I can't understand why - BUT IT'S TRUE! We discovered none of us is really pure at the Leaning Tower. We climbed the tower in the City Hall - beautiful view! Worth the 10z's. We learned the ancient secret of making gingerbread at the gingerbread museum. But I can never tell or the Witch's curse will fall on me. We saw ruins and the prison :) we bought gingerbread and ice cream and drank fabulous coffees (and stopped 20 times so Magda could use the toilet). Got back around 9:30pm and we were all wiped!
Here are some pics. Come and visit me and I'll be sure to take you!
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n65/brjoslin/Torun/

On Vacation.

Everything went well at the bank, I'm simply waiting on the buyers and getting all my documents together, which I can't do until Monday. Soooo, yesterday I was on vacation. Really.
I did some shoe shopping, jean shopping - only bought the latter. I met Agata from church for coffee and we caught up. I hadn't seen her since before camps. It was really great to see her. I wish she wasn't marrying some stinkin' American and LEAVING ME!!!! Boo. Then I met Rich and Magda and Magda's friend Sofia who's German - A Canadian, American, Pole and German. Very international meeting. We went to the Lizard King restaurant. (http://www.lizardking.pl) It's cool. It's like a rock n' roll/blues place where you can buy ribs and wings - more North American food. Yummy. Last night there was a great rock band. Just a local group, but pretty good! I can't think of their name right now.

Oh well, ttyl, B

Wow. This is cool.

I went to Millenium Bank today. I had visited them before and they were the most friendly, the most helpful and the most HOPEful. :) I had a few questions and I had more detailed financial information, so I dropped in. AND! I easily qualified for the amount of money I need to buy the apartment. Now, this in no way guarantees I'll get the flat OR the loan. I have to apply, the form goes to Warsaw, they take a month to decide and write up an offer, etc. Also, I'm meeting the OTHER owner of the apartment tonight and finding out if she likes my offer and if she'll wait while the loan goes through, bla, bla, bla. Anywho, I'm happy for now.

To buy or not to buy...

Went to 2 banks yesterday. The first one said no way. The 2nd one said yes, 60% of the home value. Though better, coming up with 40% would not be possible.

So in the evening Rich and I went to the old market to meet his friend who's selling the apartment to get details and let him know I'm interested. Rich's other friend was there also, Kuba, who lives in London and is a Blue Man. So, yeah, I know a Blue Man. Hee, hee. The closest I'll come to fame, I guess.

This morning I got an email from the lady at the bank who said she took a closer look at her bank's policy papers and I CAN get a loan for 100% of the flat value. Yay! I think I'll still go to a few other banks and compare, but this lady's really helpful and nice.


Looks hopeful... :)

http://www.blueman.com/multimedia/video/

My First Home?

This will be quick. I'm going to the bank today to find out about getting a loan to buy an apartment. A friend has an apartment in the old market in Poznan - a beautiful place - and he needs to sell it quickly, so it's also a good price. I'd really like this place... It would be a good investment... But...
Please pray for wisdom as I make the decision of whether or not to go ahead with this, as I talk to the bank, etc.
Also, any advice or words of caution would be appreciated.

Cya

Catch up time ~ Summer 2006

The summer has come and gone. I feel, though, like it should just be
starting. I've worked for the past 6 weeks at 3 different children's
English camps here in Poland. And I'm pooped.

The first camp started the beginning of July and was by far the best.
The kids were kids - sometimes good, sometimes bad, but bearable; and
the other teachers and our team leader were superb.

The second camp not such a fairytale. The kids were amazing! No
complaints about them. They were kind and friendly. The other teachers
were really nice. One was a fellow Canadian, Vickie, and she and I
soon became good friends. But, our camp leader was a psycho!!! K- she was
rude, defensive, tempermental, argumentative and lazy. If you asked
what time the bus was picking us up for stg, you got your head bitten off.
When we stayed at a survival camp for a weekend and I
asked her if we could get sheets to cover the filthy matresses, she
said she wouldn't ask because the organisers would say no and 'What
are you? A French dog?!' (I later asked and had no problems getting
sheets.) So, yeah, I guess she'd been off her meds for a while.
Luckily I never (please, please, please) have to see her again.

The 3rd camp the teachers and camp leader were great, but the kids
were terrible. We have video they took of themselves pulling back the
mattress on a bed and jumping on the frame TRYING to break it. 2 beds
were destroyed, 2 windows, a large feather pillow, a toilet... There
were 4 older boys who thought it was fun to go into little boys rooms
at night dressed in ski masks and attack them - hit them, wrap them in
sheets and lock them in a wardrobe. The last day one boy's expensive
phone was stolen. His father finally insisted we call the police. We
did and they searched the bad kids' room first. They found it. Well,
you get the picture. Bad kids.

Now, I'm beginning my vacation. I have a little work to do on an EU
project for my school, but not much. Basically I have a month and a
half to recover.

I have a good contract for the coming year. Making good money, good
hours. No more travelling by train to a different city once a week!!!!
This is probably the most exciting part of it all. I'll be teaching my
Cultural Cooking Class. A Seatilite, Wendy, and I are in charge of
setting up a blog for our school to advertise school events and
promote student-school communication. I have a few private students as
well, which I've never had before - we'll see how that goes. I may be
doing a regular movie night as well. So, as far as work goes, I'm
quite content.

Plans outside of work...well, I was looking into buying land and
possibly buildng a house. I'm not sure how that will go, but I'd
definitely like to buy an apartment here as an investment. So, I think
I'll do that first and see about the house after. I'm most certainly
buying a dog, which will be really nice cause I love walking, but
really hate going alone. Need someone to talk to ;+) . Oh, and I'm
moving again. Changing apartments - seems to happen every new school
year. :) I really hate moving though, so I intend to do it very
gradually. A good friend of mine just bought a newly built apt close
to the centre and I'll share it with her. It'll be nice, cause now I'm
sharing with 4 students and I hate it. I saved a lot of money, but,
ugh! So, by staying with Agata I'll still save money, but I'll only be
living with one other person and she's NOT A STUDENT! :)

Well, that's Becky's life in a nutshell. I'll let you know what I plan
to do for holidays besides move. I'd like to go somewhere, but I'd
prefer to go WITH someone, ya know?

PA

So, I'm starting a blog...

Starting must be the worst part, right?
What to write? How to make a dramatic entrance?
I don't know, so I'll begin by explaining the title: Pigeon Spikes.
This may take a while... I'll do it in stages...
This is a kind of living metaphor for my life in Poland.
You see, my friend Rich is renting an apartment from our mutual boss, previously occupied by Daniel, who some of you know. The said apartment is on the top floor. There are ledges on the outside that lead from the windows to the edge of the roof under which the pigeons live, thus providing the perfect landing strip and perch for these fowl. Though I don't mind pigeons, these particular birds happen to be of a particularly low class flock, and, as you know, pigeons in general carry disease. Winged rats. There is birdy doo doo all over the windows and sills, feathers (and who knows what else) come into the kitchen and one pigeon actually flew into the living room.