Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Changes

Another cold day with no sun but............what's new about that?  Probably the biggest news from Pozna艅 this Tuesday is that in the last election, the President(Mayor) of Pozna艅 was defeated and lost his position after being the President for 16 years. Grobelny was controversial in some ways but there was a lot of improvement during his reign. I don't know anything about the newly elected President, Jaskowiak, so we'll just have to wait and see what he does. One idea I did hear that he has is to eliminate cars from driving into the center of the city and it will only be aeccessible using public transportation like busses and trams. Whether or not this idea passes with the common people and business people remains to be seen.  Cousin Andrzej also told me they elected a new Mayor in Golina.

A little of three weeks and it will be Christmas again, our 7th in Poland. Time does seem to go faster as you age. A good thing about it is that you have gained so many memories of Christmases in the past that are still recallable in your memory. Of course the meaning or reason for Christmas doesn't, or shouldn't change but I think the way you feel about it does. I would much rather to have a Christmas like when I was young, to be surrounded with cousins, aunts and uncles, to have the traditional Wigilia, one of the uncles or adult cousins dressed like Santa Claus knocking on the window to come in and hand out a present to each child. In today's world I think too many gifts are given to each child and they don't really appreciate them. It's more like how many do they get instead of enjoying just one or two.

Kolejny zimny dzie艅 bez s艂o艅ca, ale ............ co nowego na ten temat? Prawdopodobnie najwi臋ksz膮, wtorkow膮 wiadomo艣ci膮  Poznania jest to, 偶e w ostatnich wyborach, prezydent (burmistrz) Poznania zosta艂 pokonany i straci艂 stanowisko po 16. latach. Grobelny by艂 w pewnym sensie kontrowersyjny, ale w czasie jego rz膮d贸w wiele si臋 poprawi艂o. Nic nie wiem na temat nowo wybranego prezydenta, Ja艣kowiaka, wi臋c musimy po prostu poczeka膰 i zobaczy膰, co robi. Jednym z pomys艂贸w, o jakim s艂ysza艂am jest to, 偶e ma  wyeliminowa膰 wjazd samochod贸w do centrum miasta i dostanie si臋tam b臋dzie mo偶liwe tylko korzystaj膮c z transportu publicznego, takich jak autobusy i tramwaje. Czy ten pomys艂 przejdzie w艣r贸d ludzi i biznesmen贸w, to si臋 oka偶e. Kuzyn Andrzej powiedzia艂 mi r贸wnie偶, 偶e wybrali nowego burmistrza w Golina.

Za troch臋 wi臋cej ni偶  trzy tygodnie znowu b臋dzie  Bo偶e Narodzenie , nasze 7 w Polsce. Czas wydaje si臋 biec szybciej z wiekiem. Dobr膮 rzecz膮 jest to, 偶e zyskujesz tak wiele wspomnie艅 z minionych 艢wi膮t, kt贸re nadal przywo艂ywane s膮 z pami臋ci. Oczywi艣cie znaczenia lub powody 艢wi膮t  Bo偶ego Narodzenia nie zmieniaj膮 si臋 lub nie powinny zmienia膰, ale my艣l臋, 偶e spos贸b, w jaki je czujesz – zmienia si臋. Wola艂bym ch臋tniej mie膰 艣wi臋ta jak wtedy, gdy by艂em m艂ody otoczony kuzynami, ciociami i wujkami, mia艂em tradycyjn膮 Wigili臋 i kiedy jeden z wuj贸w  lub doros艂ych kuzyn贸w  ubranych jak Santa Claus, puka艂 w okno, aby wej艣膰 do 艣rodka i rozdawa艂 prezenty  ka偶demu dziecku.  My艣l臋, 偶e w dzisiejszym 艣wiecie, zbyt wiele prezent贸w daje si臋 ka偶demu dziecku i ono nie bardzo je ceni.