Pictures!

The photo shop on Gruńwaldzka Street.
A school on Gruńwaldzka Street.

Skoła na ulica Gruńwaldzka
View of AGA (7-11 type store) from our kitchen window.

Joan in red-chekered shirt going into AGA.

Joan w czerwonej chekered koszuli idącej do AGY

Today was picture day for our residency papers. We took bus 69 to Szylinga stop and then walked south on Sylinga until it turned into Gruńwaldzka. Our photo place was at 15 so we walked a few blocks to get there. It's a small shop, very nice and it took only 15 minutes for the photos. The price was 40 zl for the 8 we needed. In America we would have paid 150zl. A good savings, I think. After the photos we decided to walk back to our flat instead of taking the bus so we walked down Gruńwaldzka, turned onto Marcelinska and walked to our flat. It was a gray day but no rain so the walk was nice. So many old, old buildings mixed in with the newer ones. An old, large house was turned into a school and the building was interesting so I took the picture of it.

When we got home we had a nice surprise. Joan went into the bathroom and noticed the heating rack on the wall was warm. I checked the other radiators and heat was coming out from them all. Hallelujah!!!! I guess the temps have been lower than normal so the central heating plant turned on the heat. We like it!!!! I went to the bakery and bought some bread, then to AGA for water and finally home. Finished installing all of my software programs into the laptop, including the translator program so now my cousins who only read Polish can read the blog.

Dzisiaj był dzień zdjęcia dla naszych papierów rezydencji. Wzięliśmy autobus 69 do Szylinga zatrzymują się i wtedy chodził na południe na Sylinga aż to zamieniło się w Gruńwaldzka. Nasze miejsce fotografii było o 15 tak chodziliśmy kilka bloków by dostać się tam. To jest mały sklep, bardzo miły i to zajęło tylko 15 minut dla fotografii. Cena była 40 zl dla 8 my potrzebni. W Ameryce, którą zapłacilibyśmy 150zl. Dobre oszczędności, ja myślę. Po fotografiach, które zdecydowaliśmy wrócić piechotą do naszego mieszkania zamiast brania autobusu tak zeszliśmy Gruńwaldzka, obrócony na Marcelinska i chodzeni do naszego mieszkania. To był dzień szarości ale żaden deszcz tak spacer był miły. Tak dużo starych, starych budynków mieszały się w z bardziej nowymi jednymi (budynków). Stary, duży dom był obrócony do szkoły i budowa interesowało tak zrobiłem zdjęcie tego.
Kiedy dostaliśmy się do domu mieliśmy miłą niespodziankę. Joan poszła do łazienki i zauważyła ogrzewająca się półka na ścianie była ciepła. Sprawdziłem inne grzejniki i ciepło wychodziło od nich wszystkich. Alleluja!!!! Domyślam się, że pomoce były niższe niż normalne tak roślina centralnego ogrzewania włączyła ciepło. Lubimy to!!!! Poszedłem do piekarni i kupiłem trochę chleba, wtedy do AGY dla wody i w końcu do domu. Skończony instalowanie wszystkich z moich programów oprogramowania do laptopa, włączając program tłumacza tak teraz moi kuzyni, którzy tylko czytało polski może przeczytać

Finished!!

The new shelves in the hallway.
Floor lamp with reading light attached.
New shelves and PC desk.


So now we are finally done setting up our flat with the additional shelves, pc desk, chair and lamp.

I needed a few additional wires so I walked in the chilly rain to the mall and bought them. I don't think the sun has been out in the last four days and the forecast is the same kind of weather. But it's good to have the flat done. Now for the next two day we're going to concentrate on getting our papers filed for the residency permits. We need to get get profile photos done for the cards, the ones we had extra made of for our passports won't do. They use left profile pictures for ID cards here so it's off to a photo studio tomorrow on Grunwaldzka street. About 20 blocks from here but I know the bus schedules well enough we can take a bus that will get us within 5 blocks.

Sunday Visit.

This is the flower shop of cousin Marcelina and Władek Kielar.






A Polish game, similar to checkers.

Sunday morning I spent putting together the shelves, PC desk and chair delivered Saturday night. In the afternoon we took two new bus routes to get to cousin Marcelina's house in Smochowice, a district north of where we live. We made the right connections and then walked the 8 blocks to her house. I haven't been there in four years but had no trouble recognizing the house. We were greeted at the gate by Pola, Marcelina and her husband Władek. We sat and talked for a while and then Marcelina and Pola went to church while we stayed home and played Domca, a kind of Polish checkers game. The figurines are wooden and painted like women. Pola calls the game "babushki". After we finished playing we walked the 6 or so blocks to the flower shop Marcelina opened about two years ago. It's a very nice place with a great selection of not only flowers but glass ware, small trees, candles, shrubs, some plates and other items. We met Pola and Marcelina there, they were making up a bouquet of roses. We drove back to the house and about 30 minutes later Władek drove us home. We're glad he did because it was pretty chilly outside and I didn't want to think about waiting for buses outside. Buying a car is becoming more and more real as the weather turns cold :-)

Cost of living in Poland.

Here's a rough idea of prices in Poland today.
milk (1.5gal)$.93
pasta (1 lb)$1.44
apples (1 lb)$1.08
mineral water (1/3 gal)$.90
chocolate $1.05
monthly rent of a flat (1 bedroom)$542
compact car (Ford Focus 1.6)$21,000
phone call to US (landline 5 min)$2.53
kindergarten (monthly)$108
gas (95) (1 gl)$5.90
dentist$36 visit
beer (0.5 l)$1.10-3.20
coffee $1.80-3.60
vodka (0.5 l)$10.80
bread $.72
cinema ticket $6.50
theatre ticket $11-72 depending on seating
ham (1.lb)$9
haircut $8-28
cheese (1.25lb)$7.20
Polish lesson (1 hour)$32
new apartment - per 1 sqm $1,400-3,400


1 USD=2,7753PLN

Hooray!!

Back to Ikea today to finish buying the shelving units, pc desk, chair and lamps we needed and they had everything this time so it wasn't a waisted trip. Best thing is they will deliver it tonight so tomorrow I can set it all up and that will complete our flat.

Still gray and cloudy all day with a little drizzle off and on but not enough to keep you inside.

Luka and Marek stopped by to drop off the last of our boxes we shipped just before we left. My two guitars were with this shipment so I was happy to get them here.

I included pics of our favorite store for buying veggies, two doors away, and a picture of the entrance to our flat complex.

Another amazing thing today, we were able to watch the Jon Stewart show on CNN in English. Now that's amazing! Joan was thrilled. The ads on TV are of course completely different, most of the time. You see travel ads to Majorca, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Germany.

Price differences.

Pictures of the Consulate and the King Cross mall.









I took my prescriptions to the local apteka to be filled. I was shocked, in disbelief at the difference in prices. In the U.S., without insurance, I paid a little over $300 dollars(850 zl) for a months supply. Today I bought a month's supply for for 89 zl(about $30 dollars). Is the medicine business ripping you off? You bet!!! I haven't started taking them yet so I can't say they are as good yet, but if they are, what a dfference of price. There is no co-pay with the health insurance we have when you see a doctor, most tests are covered but.........hospitalization get's no discount.

Before the apteka visit we went to the Consulate to meet the woman in charge and she directed us up the street to Plac Wolności where the Wielkopolski Urząd Wojewódzki, Wydzial Spraw Obywatelskich i Cudzoziemców(Office for Foreigners) is located where we got the package of papers to fill out for residency. We have 10 days to fill them out and apply. Once there are reviewed, it will be decided if we can stay and if I can apply for Polish citizenship.

We took a different bus (59) home because it stops right in front of King Cross where the apteka was. I took some pictures inside the mall for you to get an idea of what a newer mall in Poland looks like.

Good, but somewhat sad day.

Doctor visit day. Took tram 12 from Rondo Kaponiera to the Połjewska street stop and walked across the street to the Medicover office. The office is very new and modern, painted in subdued orange and cream colors. Very nice. The receptionist again told me I was not in the system yet and would have to pay again. This was not good and my blood began to boil. I told her I received an email from Warsaw today that if there was any problem here, they should call Warsaw. They did and 10 minutes later they apologized for the inconvenience, led me down the hall to room 14 where I waited to see the doctor. 10 minutes later he opened the door and asked me in. The difference between the U.S. system and polish is that there is no nurse. The doctor comes and gets his patients. They take no extensive health history, blood pressure, weight, height, etc. We spoke in English and he asked what I needed. He gave me the typical neuro exam and said except for the tremors I was in good shape. I told him I needed refills on my prescriptions and he proceeded to find the equivalent Polish drugs but one drug only comes in a strength 4 times what I need so I will have to cut it into quarters to take, if I can. Right now it’s kind of an experiment to see how the new drugs will work for me, a fact I’m not to thrilled about but we’ll see what happens. I told him to make sure he puts the ambulance number on the prescriptions, just in case J

We had a new kind of dinner tonight…Makrel Tusza, Pyzy and sałata ( smoked macarel, pyzy and salad). My mother use to buy this makeral a long time ago when I was young so I thought we would try it again. You have to be careful of the bones, tiny little ones, and it takes a while to get the meat of the fish but it’s good, just a little salty.

Joan did two washes, the sun came out in the afternoon, it warmed up and the clothes dried easily on the balcony rack. Ahhhhhhhhhhh….washing in Poland..what an experience.

Tomorrow it’s off to the American Consulate for our 10AM appt. about Polish Citizenship, then take the prescriptions to the local apteka(drug store) and find out what they will cost.

A good but somewhat sad day today. We heard of the passing of Luciano Pavoratti early this morning. It was sad to hear. He was one of our favorite performers and it made us reflect on the great performers we have seen or heard in our lifetime...Andres Segovia, Pablo Casals, Vladimir Horowitz, Luciano Pavoratti.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!

This is a special birthday card I just made for Sandy Kazmierczak, wife of our cousin Duane. I'm usually good at sending greetings for various occasions but unfortunately my list is in a box somewhere between the U.S. and Poland right now.

But Joan and I wanted to send this to you Sandy. We Love You

Robilismy zakupy!

Joan, at the "supermarket"

A call to the American Consulate this morning told us that we wouldn't be going there today. She was on 3 weeks vacation and is spending the day catching up. We have an appt. for Friday morning at 10AM.

So with that meetings postponed until Friday we decided it was a good day to do food shopping at the various stores we use. First we walked to King Cross mall to the large supermarket 3/4 of our food. Things like cereals, soup preps, sugar, salt, some veggies we can't find at the local veggie store and a few meats. After we came home and put those things away we walked to the meat store two doors away and bout kielbasa's, schab(pork chops), great ham and some bacon. We wanted 4 pork chops so the girl had to use a large meat cleaver to cu them up. It's looks almost like an axe...and dangerous. I think she enjoys it when we come in because of our language difference yet we always seem to communicate our needs. We walked two doors down what Joan calls the "purple store" because it is painted purple on the outside and that's where we buy dthe vegetables. We came back home, cooked up some fine little "Sląska" sausages and had lunch. We studied for about two hours, took a nap and went for a walk. The weather has gotten cool now, between 60-65 degrees and not to sunny for the last 5 days. Autumn's approaching quickly. I'm looking forward to see what colors the trees change to.

Internet Maps.

Joan, translating the junk mail.

Stary Rynek. Less tourists with the cooler weather.

I checked zumi.pl today before our trip to the doctors to get a map of how to get there. Zumi.pl is the Polish version of Mapquest and "about" as accurate. We took the bus at 11AM down Bukowska street to the Baltyk stop where you get off, then take the underground tunnel to the other side of a busy street to get to the tram we needed to get to Płac Wolności. From there we were suppose to go down Paderewskiego street to Stary Rynek and the clinic was suppose to be just north. We got to the designated location at 11:55 only to NOT find the clinic. I went into a little store and ask where it was and at that point I was told it was about a 20 minute walk, south of Stary Rynek. Internet maps are not always dependable. I called to the clinic, cancelled the appt. and made another one for 3:20, some 3 hours later. So we had a little time to kill and decided to walk to the clinic to be sure we had the right location. It only took 10 minutes to get there and the good thing about the walk is it gave me a better idea of how close Płac Wolności was to Stary Rynek, Stary Browar and the clinic. All within 10 minutes of the Płac.

At 3:00 we arrived at the clinic and thought we would have to fill out the usual health history info you go through in the States when you go to a new doctor. There wasn't anything to fill out. At 3:25 we were let into the doctors office, only to find out she spoke about 10 words of English and we were in trouble. Did you ever try to explain a medical condition to a doctor who doesn't speak your language? I finally got my point across that I needed refills for my prescriptions but it still didn't help and she called another doctor who spoke about 25 words of english. 10 minutes later they called a third doctor who did speak English and he advised that we come back on Thursday to see a new doctor who is fluent in both Polish and English. We agreed and will go back Thursday at 5:20PM for our appt.

When we signed up with Medicover, we thought all doctors would speak both languages because it is a private plan for Polish citizens but also for foreigners. We were wrong.

So we spent most of the day as I said and got home about 5PM. Ten minutes later cousin Pola arrived to retrieve her cell phone she left the day before and we talked for about two hours before she left.

Tomorrow we call the American Consulate and probably return to Paderewskiego street to talk with the representative.

Late Visitor.

Young cousin Pola Kielar

A knock on our door at 9PM. Who could it be? I looked through the peephole but couldn't tell who it was so I opened the door. It was cousin Pola coming for an impromtu visit. I like it when people just drop by to say hello. Pola is so full of energy and life. It was great spending time with her and hearing about how her life is now. We haven't seen each other since 2004 and there was a lot of catching up to do. Her father Władysław came to pick her up about 10PM and we had a few minutes to talk. We will go to their house on sunday for a longer visit but it was wonderful to see Pola again.

First month!

OK, we've been here one month now and I think we are doing well. We've found a flat, learned how to get around Poznań on public transportation, established a bank account, got medical coverage, furnished our flat about 90%, made two new friends, signed up for Polish lessons, visited cousins outside of Poznań, so I think it is all good.

Thirty days of a new life, new language, new culture and a change from everything we have known and doing good. I look at the old pictures of my grandfather and grandmother and wonder what they would say to me now that I have made this change in my life to move to Poland. Or my own mother, knowing I have moved to the birthplace of her parents, what would she say? So many thoughts come into my mind each day about what we have done. Is it good? Is it bad? Why did we do this? How could we do this? All I can say to that is that it is something I felt I should do and so I did it. The support of my wife Joan has made it all so easy to do. She has not "polish connection" and yet it was an easy decision for her and I will be always grateful to her for that. She may have given up more than me to make this move, with grandchildren in America, but she seems as happy as I that we did this. We have always been adventurous spirits, her and I, and so our life continues in that way. No dishwasher, no clothes dryer and yet she continues to tell me we have made a good decision and our life will be good in Poland. How can I not agree with her?

Joan's happy!

Today, our friend Zbignew took me to Tesco, near the Winogrady district to look at a VCR that is compatabile with both the American format and the European format for videos. When we lived in America we taped a lot of shows with our VCR and brought them with us to Poland but in Europe the format is different and they can't play. Today we were able to buy a VCR that plays both types and so now Joan can watch her MASH videos and that makes her happy so it makes me happy. It was very kind of our new friend Zbigniew to pick me up, take me to a electronic store where I could find a VCR that played both.

I was also to make an appointment with a doctor using our new Medicover health insurance for tomorrow. There is nothing wrong with me but with my Tremors I need prescription drugs and they are about ready to run out. I brought enough with me to last two months after we arrived and now that we have been here for over one month I need to get refills. So tomorrow I will have our first visit with a doctor in Poland, Małgorzata Suszka.

SundayVisitor

Zbignew Snietała

When we were in America, our Polish teacher introduced us, over the internet, to a friend of his who lived in Poznań. Today he came to visit and meet us in person. He is a teacher of English and a translator of documents from Polish into English. We spent about 2 1/2 hours together talking about everything and getting his advise on buying a car. As soon as he has time he is going to take us around to some car dealers to look at what's out there. We still haven't made up our minds about buying a car but are leaning more in favor than before.

Other pictures.

View from the Castle Walls.
Joan, with old church in backgound.
"Dziadek: :-)

2 Lessons!!

Stary Rynek(Old Market Square) in Poznań

A demonstration of the old Polish Calvary in the Square

A main street of Poznan Street Sw. Marcin heading toward the Square.
An old tram returning from Stary Rynek.View from inside the second car of our tram.
Stary Rynek.
Today was a fun day for us. We got up about 9:30AM, had breakfast (Musli cereal and kawa), watched a performance by Vladimir Horowitz in Moscow in 1986 on TV Kultura, got dressed and took the bus/tram to the national museum housed in the old castle on the hill overlooking Stary Rynek. In it were excellent pieces of furniture made in the 1600's with beautiful workmanship, glasswares, silverworks and an exhibition by Lalique, a premier glassworks company in Poland. After that we walked down Paderewskiego street to Stary Rynek and sat outside in one of the many cafes for lunch. Joan had apple pie with ice cream and vanilla sauce and kafe latte. I had sałatka niejska( a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, tuna and egg) and kafe latte. The price was about $14USD. The weather was great and we took our time eating and talking and watching people. There was a wedding group having pictures taken, a popular place for that.

Afterwards we took a tram back to the bus stop and I learned lesson number 1. ALWAYS hold on to the rail while you're punching your ticket. I didn't and when the tram made a turn while I was punching our tickets I went flying backwards and only the door stopped me from falling. There was a group of pre-teenagers standing there and they were laughing and said something to me. Not sure what they said but it seemed good-natured and they called me "dziadek"(grandfather) so I laughed with them.

Lesson 2 was that when you reach your bus stop and at standing at the door assuming the driver will see you in the mirror, make sure you press the button anyway for the door to open. I didn't and we ended up walking 6 blocks from the stop after ours to get back to our street.

So we had a good day today. Tomorrow we have our first non-relative guest coming, a friend of our American Polish teacher. We met him over the Internet, introduced by Tadeusz, and have emailed each other several times. Our flat is almost finished so we have invited relatives and acquaintances to come and visit.

I have more pictures but couldn't get them all on this one message.
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Norah Jones!

Last night on TV we stumbled across the live transmissioin of the Sopot Music Festival and were thrilled to find the coverage of Norah Jones, one of our favorite singers. Sopot is part of what is called the tri-cities north of Poznań on the Baltic seacoast. There's Sopot, Gydnia and Gdańsk. It's a place we want to visit for possible living after our first year is over in Poland. I also have cousins who live in Gdańsk and Grudziądz.
The TV is amazing us each time we look at the programs. They have a lot of programs from the U.S, voiced over in the Polish language like Nash Bridges, ER, Simpsons, Dharma and Gregg, 902133, and movies like Jerry McGuire, one of our favorites. The news we watch is CNN World, BBC World and Euro News. Also, they have three childrens channels including the Cartoon Network, a favorite of our grandchildren back in the States. They broadcast 5 German channels, 1 French and 1 Spanish in those languages. The rest of the 63 channels are either Polish or American shows voiced over.

Talked, again, with Citibank in Poland last night to see why our money wire isn't in our account yet only to find out it takes 2-5 days for it to show up being transferred from America to Poland. When I was looking at the American Citibank website it said a wire transfer takes place in the same business day and I assumed that was for a transfer anywhere but no, internationally it takes 2-5 days. If I was in the States I could have sent a certified check in regular mail and it would be here in 5 days. Doesn't seem right but that's the way it is.

We went to the Post Office yesterday to mail a letter to our friend Krystyna in the States. Kind of ironic, we Americans live in Poland and we send a letter to our Polish friend living in America :-)

I still haven't broken the habit of waking up early from the "work days" so I'm usually up at 6 or 6:30 checking emails and the Blog. Joan doesn't have that problem, she's been sleeping until about 8AM. Looks like today it will be partly sunny so I think a trip to Art Museum near Plac Wolności is in order, then maybe a short walk to Stary Rynek for obiad (lunch).

What did you say?

I think this will amaze you. Today, even though it's not cold, I thought I would turn on one of the heaters in our rooms to see how it worked. The turn button goes from 0-5 for the amount of heat you want. I turned it on to 3 and waited for it to heat up. And I waited..................and I waited but nothing happened. I looked for a switch to may turn it on and found none. So, I called the landlady and waited for her to call back. I told her I was just testing the system to make sure it worked before winter set in and she told me something very hard for American's (Joan and I, anyway) to understand. It is a policy in Poland that for apartment buildings, the heat is not turned on in any building until October 15th, unless there is a 3 day period where the temperature is 10 degrees celsius below normal. That's outrageous. Why the government should regulate the heat in a building where the tenent pays for the heat is beyond me. Maybe it's a left over rule from the old Communist system. I don't know but I don't understand why it continues.

Today was a non active day for us. It rained a little so we decided stay home. The bank issue still hasn't been cleared up, the money was wired out of our American but hasn't shown up yet in Poland. Hope it did't get lost :-)

Back to the bank!!

A fine Dinner!! Notice the fine placemats, papernapkins for now.

A well-fed man :-)

Yesterday was frustrating. Today I tried again to make the transfer and got further along in the process, up to the point where it said I had to call the U.S. for approval. As you all know, there are landlines(regular phones)and cell phones. We have cell phones here for most now. When you call a toll-free number in America from here on a cell phone you still pay the phone use of about 40 cents a minute. If you're put on hold, it doesn't take a long time for your cell to run out of time. So I had to go back to the bank and use their phone, which I did. I'm getting good at buying bus and tram tickets at the local store so I didn't mind going and the weather is great.

I found out by talking with the clerk that bus and tram tickets are the same. You buy a ticket by time, for the amount it will normally take to get from point a to point b. You can use that ticket on either vehicle. Tickets are sold in 10, 30 and 60 minute increments and when you get on the vehicle you stick your ticket in a machine that punches the time you started.

I got to the bank 30 minutes early for my appointment at 3PM so I sat down on a bench in Plac Wolności to watch the people go by. On a bench next to mine sat an old women with so many wrinkles on her face I wondered what kind of stories she could tell me of Poland when my grandparents lived there. I didn't ask her because my language skills aren't good enough yet, next year they will be much better.

At 3PM I went to see Piotr, our banker, and he helped me confirm the transfer. I won't really feel safe about it until I check our account online tomorrow and see it in writing. Just too many problems with this transfer so far so I'm a little gun shy.

I took a different tram home, a different route, to learn a little more about the city. It stopped where I wanted it to so that was nice :-)

I got home just as Joan was preparing kolacja (dinner) for later. Hmmm, boy, schabowy, kapusta, sałatka and ziemnaki. GREAT!!!!!! (pork roast, cabbage, salad and potatoes)

So another adventurous day. Have no specific plans for tomorrow, if I don't have to go back to the bank again :-) Maybe we'll take a tram and go to see a museum or art gallery or just go for a long walk among the many old, old buildings.

It's nice to be retired!!!