Friday, September 11, 2009

9/11 and cousin Jan.


Gray day, slept until 10AM, a first in a long time. Today, of course, was a day of remembrance of 9/11 but also of cousin Jan Szuma艅ski who lives in New York. After the towers came down, his construction crew was one of the first crews to start searching under the buildings for anyone that could be found. PBS(Public Broadcasting System) in New York made a special program about him and I have it on VHS tape. He was back in Golina for a visit last month but I didn't have the chance to see him.

In the afternoon we went to Praktiker to look for a floor lamp for the dining room. The overhead lights are just too bright so we thought a light in the corner would be better. We didn't find what we wanted to we'll try Ikea tomorrow.

At 4PM we met with Zbyszek for coffee and conversation. He brought up an interesting question about the English language I couldn't answer. Maybe you can. Why do we say "the Ukraine" or "the Sudan" but don't say "the Russia or the Germany or the France, etc."?

Dzie艅 szaro艣ci , spany a偶 do 10AM, pierwszego w d艂ugim czasie. Dzisiaj, oczywi艣cie, by艂a rocznica 9/11 ale te偶 kuzyna Jana Szuma艅ski, kt贸ry mieszka w Nowym Jorku. Gdy wie偶e obni偶y艂y si臋, jego za艂oga budowy by艂a jedna z pierwszych za艂贸g by zacz膮膰 badanie pod budynkami dla kogo艣, kt贸ry m贸g艂by by膰 znaleziony. PB(Publiczny Transmituj膮cy System) w Nowym Jorku zrobili specjalny program o nim i mam to na ta艣mie VHS. On by艂 z powrotem w Golina dla wizyty ubieg艂y miesi膮c ale nie mia艂em szansy by zobaczy膰 go.

Po po艂udniu poszli艣my do Praktiker by poszuka膰 lampy stoj膮cej dla jadalni. Og贸lne 艣wiat艂a s膮 w艂a艣nie zbyt jasno tak pomy艣leli艣my 艣wiat艂o w k膮cie by艂oby lepsze. Nie znale藕li艣my czego chcieli艣my do my spr贸bujemy jutro Ikea.

Przy 4PM spotkali艣my si臋 ze Zbyszek dla kawy i rozmowy. On wychowa艂 interesuj膮ce pytanie o j臋zyku angielskim nie m贸g艂bym odpowiedzie膰. By膰 mo偶e mo偶esz. Dlaczego m贸wimy" Ukrain臋" albo" Sudan" ale nie m贸wimy" Rosji albo Niemiec albo Francji, i tak dalej"?