Visa trip to LA

In Poland, your permissions to live in the country are separate from your ability to work in the country. US citizens are allowed to stay in Poland for 90 days without a visa, but after that you must leave the Shengwen Zone (virtually all of Europe). I flew into Amsterdam before transferring to Krakow on October 7th, so that is the start to my 90 day countdown, and Cameron's clock started about two weeks earlier. We knew we would have to fly back to the US to deal with visas, but I assumed that we would push our 90 day limit rather than waiting hardly a month. Oh well!

With advisory from the Remitly lawyers, Cameron made an appointment at the Polish Consulate in LA for Tuesday, October 29th. We flew into LA the day before, and were flying to Seattle the day after. Our route took us from Krakow to Amsterdam to Seattle to LA and oh boy were we tired when we finally made it to California! We had been up for over 24 hours by the time we touched down for the last time that Monday, if you don't count the few hours of plane sleep. However, may I recommend Delta for your next international travel plans? As soon a it was safe to do so, the fight attendants delivered water bottles and menus to everyone. The menus listed out the schedule of meals and beverage services, which included free adult beverages and a warm cookie delivery! Since I love plane movies, I watched five of them (Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald, Yesterday, Water for Elephants, Space Jam, and Gone Girl). I bet you can guess which two Cameron chose.

It was one of those very large planes where there are two aisles and the seat arrangements are three-four-three. We were in the middle cluster of four seats, and Cameron had volunteered to sit next to a seat neighbor. He was Danish, and very much wanted to talk to Cameron about our travels, his travels, and his art. He insisted that he was a very famous artist, as was solidified by the fact that the King of Denmark had purchased one of his pieces. He thought that Cameron's long hair signified that he too was an artist which naturally extended to me being an artist as well. He complained a bit that the airplane wine was too dry and the font on the menus was too small. He had forgotten his reading glasses and kept asking us what the menu options were, but he insisted that we not read the menu to him, just interpret it. We also learned that he owned a hotel and that his children found his lack of technology skills laughable. Overall, he was quit the character; not unpleasant to be next to and talk to, but I was thankful that Cameron was there as a buffer.

Thanks to the Global Mobile Entry app we were the first through customs in Seattle; it was so quick that it felt like we had done something wrong. Once through, we had to re-enter security and then wait three hours for our plane to board. It was strange to be in Seattle but unable to step outside and interact with it. If we weren't planning on being back in two days I would have been quite sad.

I napped a little on the flight to LA but regardless my eyes were fatigued and bloodshot by the time we landed. It was another 20 minutes from the airport to our hotel, and if we weren't both starving we would have gone straight to bed. Instead, we walked across the street to a ramen restaurant and were able to delay our bedtime to about 7:30pm. I would have hoped that after the exhaustion of travel I would have slept for 12 hours and woken up at the right time for our new timezone, but instead I woke up multiple times in the night and by 4:50am I was up for good.

We doddled around the hotel a little waiting until 6am for the breakfast place I found on Yelp to open. With burritos in hand, we walked down to the beach for the sunrise. The Santa Monica Pier's Ferris wheel was lit up and welcoming, but we followed the shoreline in the opposite direction with the intention to keep walking until the sun was in our eyes. Since we were on the west coast, the run didn't rise over the water, but with smoke from a nearby wildfire in the air we still saw a beautiful display of reds and pinks in the sky and warm light hitting the buildings along Ocean Avenue.

The few other people who were on the beach were either 1) jogging, 2) taking Instagram photos of themselves, or 3) homeless and sleeping on the beach. As we walked back towards the pier we saw more people from category 2 and less from category 3. The pier was largely deserted, except for a few joggers, fishermen, and ride operators who were doing their morning checks before the park officially opened at noon. Down from the pier was Muscle Beach (which I kept assuming was "Mussel" Beach).

Cameron was keen to test our some of the exercise equipment there, but on the way down he spotted the contents of someones wallet left at a playground. There were some police officers nearby whom we hoped to deliver the stack of cards to, but they seemed preoccupied with someone else. We sat at a nearby bench for a little bit, rummaged through the cards, and tried to find the presumed owner on Facebook. While Cameron messaged him on Linked In, I learned that the owner went to a local university, had a few debit and credit cards, some punch cards to local fast food restaurants, and two drivers licenses with different birthdates. We finally were able to hand the cards to the police officers and explained where we found them, but I do like thinking about how the police will react to the poor kid's fake ID. With a job well done and needing to warm up from the cold morning, we walked back to our hotel to brainstorm how else to waste time until our afternoon appointment with the Polish Consulate.

Since we were scheduled to be at the Consulate at 12:45, we decided to walk through downtown Santa Monica and have lunch before taking the 15-minute Lyft ride. Downtown is mostly a few blocks of high-end shops and tourist-focused restaurants with a few fun dinosaur hedges as street decor. We didn't need anything and we didn't have room in our suitcases so we didn't go into any of the shops. We ate an early lunch at a trendy health-focused place and we loitered longer than the meal required just to waste time. Our Lyft driver was happy to complain to us about the ride-share scooters and we were happy to listen.

We were 30 minutes early for our appointment, so when the door to the Consulate was locked my first though was that they were out to lunch. Then I saw the camera and doorbell and were soon buzzed inside. It was a large pleasant lobby with a glass-enclosed receptionist in one corner, some cushioned benches to sit on, and a wall of large photographed portraits, presumably of famous Polish people. When we arrived there was a flamboyantly dressed woman talking in Polish to the receptionist, and it was somewhat comforting to hear the language and pick up on a few words. We looked at the photographs and took account of all of our documents while we waited our turn.

Cameron took charge at the window and handed over our applications, passports, two passport photos each, certified marriage certificate, and his work permit. The woman behind the glass checked to make sure all documents were original before she made black-and-white photocopies of them. She kept our passports and about $200 of visa application fees and sent us on our way. Relieved that it had gone well so far, I took a seat a bench and started to read a tourism book on Krakow. Cameron came and sat next to me and then asked if I was ready to go. I was surprised since I hadn't realized that we were already done with the full process; I had assumed that we still had a proper meeting to argue our case but it truly was as simple as passing off our documents and some money. Overall it's a surprisingly easy process, but it seems quite pointless to have flown so far to deliver some documents that could have been faxed or mailed.

Then next step is to wait. We paid for expedited processing but were given no indication of if our passports would be returned to us with visas in them. Cameron's visa is pretty much ensured since he has a work permit but my situation is far less stable. Since there is nothing that can be done, we just hope that everything shows up in Seattle as expected before our return trip to Poland on Sunday, November 10th. Otherwise this two-week trip might get extended indefinitely.

Our next Lyft driver was interested in Seattle and Poland, and afterwords Cameron and I both commented on how well-spoken he was. Back at the hotel, we changed into our swimsuits and got ready for round two at the beach. The road we took deposited us right back at Muscle Beach, and this time Cameron was ready. He did some monkey baring, rope climbing, and monkey swinging(?) whereas I only hung upside-down from a hanging bar. Once sufficiently warmed up (and after a little girl totally upstaged him on the rope climb) we walked down to the water.

There weren't very many other people out on the beach, which I attributed to it being a Tuesday afternoon outside of tourist-season, but once knee-deep in the water we realized it was also just straight-up cold. There were a few people who were fully enjoying the waves, but most of them were surfers that were in full-body wetsuits. The water was filled with fragments of seaweed and nothing about it seemed particularly inviting. After staying thigh-deep for about ten minutes, we decided to give up on swimming and instead sat on the beach to read our Kindles. Because we didn't have any beach towels we ended up sharing the rain-cover for Cameron's backpack as a seat. Even though there was full-sun, the ocean breeze was pretty cold and we hadn't brought sweaters down to the water with us. It didn't take long for us to give up on the beach.

Knowing there wasn't anything at the hotel room to entertain us, we walked back to the Santa Monica Pier to check out the rides now that they were operating. Cameron had never been on a Ferris wheel, but neither of us thought it was going to be worth the $24 ticket costs. We walked through the arcade and scoured the floor for an abandoned penny (for Cameron's pressed penny collection) but walked out unsuccessfully. I pined after a funnel cake but decided against that, too. A sign that I hadn't seen earlier that morning caught my eye, which led us to the $5 admittance into the Heal the Bay Aquarium underneath the Pier.

The Aquarium is very small, essentially just one large room with tanks around most of the perimeter, but we managed to spend at least an hour there reading all of the literature and taking time with each section. We saw seahorses, small sharks, jellyfish, and eels, among a variety of smaller fish, sea cucumbers, starfish, sea urchins, and shellfish. By far the most fascinating were the lobsters. There were three in a large rock-bedded tank and they moved about looking to terrorize each other and the other sea life stuck inside the glass with them. One started chasing and clawing at another, and on the whole looked like a monster dreamed up in a nightmare.

By the time we left, it seemed like we had spent a respectable amount of time out for the afternoon and had earned our showers and naps. I was tired, and could have fallen asleep but Cameron kept me from messing up my sleep schedule more than it already was. We left the room again around 5pm to re-peruse the downtown streets for a dinner spot, but after walking around we looped back to a Mexican restaurant across the street from the hotel. Since we had to leave the hotel at 5am the next day, we told ourselves that it was the flight-preparation that was sending us to bed so early rather than the jet lag from the previous day. We needed to be well-rested for our 12 day visa-wait in Seattle.

Heading to the beach, burrito in hand.

Good morning Santa Monica.

Santa Monica Pier amusement park.

Dinosaur hedges in downtown Santa Monica.

Locked doors to the Polish Consulate. 

I'm not sure what these are called–chain swinging? monkey vines?

Me flopping around upside down while a super buff girl is on the ropes next to me.

Cameron struggling to get up that rope.

Monster lobster stepping all over a poor unassuming sea cucumber. 

Weekends in Krakow

Although it seems like I've already been in Kraków for months looking back I've only spent three weekends here. That's just six days where it is acceptable for a healthy twenty-something to be aimlessly bopping about town rather than being at work. In Seattle, weekends were for socializing; they were the days to rotate between my non-work friends, go on hikes, meet Cole and Ella for Menchies, and running errands. Now all of my errands are done during the week, we can eat ice cream whenever we want (although I haven't seen any frozen yogurt), and we don't have any friends to socialize with. Although it might be corroding our relationship, Cameron is the only person I have to interact with so weekends are Aisha's-allowed-to-be-needy time.

Luckily for Cameron, with such a big beautiful city to explore we haven't had any trouble finding things to do together. We're slowly working our way down from the most touristy activities to more local's only spots.

Cameron works very close to HistoryLand. The exterior is a yellow stone building that would look grand if it weren't located right next to the shopping mall, however due to its surroundings it could easily blend in as a government hub or part of a satellite university campus. Cameron, however, had keyed in on the window ads promising to inform visitors of Poland's history via Legos, and as a Lego enthusiast he was keen to go. I assumed that the Lego history component was a rotating exhibit, but upon walking it it was clear that was the sole attraction. It was also clear, based on the other patrons and internal gift shop, that the museum was designed for kids and families. With only a modicum of shame, we paid for our tickets (about $10 each since we added the English audio guide) and crossed into the world of Lego.

Cameron was enthralled right from the first display. Had it not been for the length of the audio recording keeping us at the early-settlement model I would have kept walking after about 20 seconds, but in the minutes we spent at that first exhibit I started to see the little cheeky add-ins that Cameron loves so much about Legos. Outside of the settlement there were some Lego people swimming, someone was taking a nap on a partially-constructed roof, and a herd of cows were congregating in a way that seemed to displease their owner. The next display was the Battle of Grunwald, which had soldiers hanging out of trees and men who had fallen off of their horses. The battle was dramatized with a 360° video surrounding the battlefield.

We moved out of the Middle Ages to the 17th-19th centuries, represented by the construction of many still-standing iconic landmarks. There were battles by sea followed by battles by air. The final exhibits were recent history including World War II and a 1970s labor strike. Each display was accompanied by an interactive component, such as a Guitar Hero-style trumpet game and a virtual reality fly-by of a prominent cathedral. If I hadn't had to contend with all of the children I could have stayed and played Trumpet-Hero for hours! As an adult, I was amazed by the architectural intricacies and the coordination of the displays, light, and sounds to make all of the models come to life. It was great, especially if you are a 10- (or 27-) year-old Cameron.

The next day, we planned on going on a two-hour free walking tour. I had quite enjoyed the one I did of old town by myself, and would have happily done the same tour for Cameron's sake, but we elected going to Kazimierz, the historical Jewish district/ghetto. Probably because it was the weekend, this tour group was much bigger yet not as social. We tried making small talk with a few people in the group as we trekked along, but most conversations fizzled out pretty quickly. One exception was two Canadian women who also sampled some sulfur-tasting water that our tour guide informed us was the elixir of youth from Polish legends. I'm ok aging alongside everyone else to avoid drinking egg water, but it did lead us to swapping visa-woes and political concerns with the England-residing Canadians.

Our tour guide reinforced the wide-spread information that Kazimierz is the best place for night life, however he also paid respectful homage to the sad history of the district. A big part of the tour was focused around Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and comparing it's depiction of Mr. Schindler to the real Oskar Schindler. The film was all shot in Kazimierz (not a staged set) so our guide pointed out a few of the well-known backdrops and he identified which apartment Spielberg lived in during filming. He also pointed out the old residences of other famous people and about the real-life stories that influenced parts of the movie (like that the girl in the red coat was based on  Roman Polanski's cousin).

The tour ended at Ghetto Heroes Square, a concrete plaza filled with 60+ metal chairs memorializing the murdered former residents. To compliment the somber finale, our tour guide asked us to not disrespect memorials such as this one and Auschwitz by taking selfies or proposing marriage in a gas chamber. Our guide was available to recommend restaurants, transportation back to old town, and ways to continue our historical education, but we were set on heading home.

As the tour dwindled to an end we started talking to Paulo, who we learned had also just moved to Krakow at the start of October. Since he was walking back the same way as us, we had about 20 minutes to learn about his move to Brazil, the challenges he was having moving his two cats, and that he was worried about moving his wife and son up in December since neither of them have ever seen snow. Our route back was not very systematic, but it did take us over a bridge decorated with acrobatic sculptures at sunset and we peeked our heads into the Pinball Museum. I hoped our route might have taken us back to the Kazimierz square where they were selling huge baguette pizzas, but alas the fates were against that plan.

The next weekend we were graced once again with sunny weather, but we didn't have a ton of opportunity to enjoy it on Saturday since at 15:00 we had a handful of people (some of Cameron's coworkers, their significant others, and Paulo) coming over for a parapetówka–our housewarming (aka windowsill) party! True to form, I had over prepared food for the number of expected guests, and since Cameron could only find a 30cm pie dish he was baking a double-sized apple pie. We received some unexpected housewarming gifts, including some lemon tarts to add to the already excessive spread. Since we only had acquaintance-level relationships with everyone there, conversations were a little slow going, but between beer, me lightly ridiculing Cameron, and a round of fishbowl people seemed to loosen up and have a good time. In my opinion it was a very good warm-up party! Of course we had to send people home with leftovers, which they were reluctant to take until I insisted that we were leaving the country for two weeks and wouldn't have a chance to eat them ourselves.

After eating a breakfast of leftover pie and lemon tarts and packing our bags for our upcoming visa-trip to LA and Seattle we set out for another weekend adventure. Larry has been persistently asking Cameron about a kayak slalom course outside of town, so we thought we might be able to take the electric scooters there. Cameron knew the excursion was a little sketchy since we would be weaving in-and-out of the scooter-allowed zones and since the ability for the scooters' batteries to get there and back was questionable. Regardless, we downloaded the Bird app, found two working scooters, and scooted off.

Almost immediately I noticed the scooter slowing down mid-way across the bridge. I worried the scooter's battery was already dying or that the motor would turn off because we were entering a no-go zone. Before we had time to figure it out, the scooter started zooming up again and we were over the river! The river trail was frequented by pedestrians and bikers, but we didn't see anyone else out on scooters that day, which made me worry we were disobeying the rules. We would have a few minutes of speedy riding and then a minute or two when the speed would decrease so much that I had to assist it by pushing (like a real scooter- ugh!) We eventually gave up when my scooter started beeping obnoxiously and we couldn't figure out why. Thinking it was a zone restriction (even though Cameron's wasn't yelling at him) we got the scooter back to a safe space and decided on Plan B.

Now on foot, we set off to a lake that previously had been an old mining quarry. The 20 minute walk was surprisingly industrial, but we ended up down a residential street that spit out at an ice cream truck and colorful forest. Always one to judge, I was surprised by how well dressed people were; I saw skirts, ballet flats, and button down shirts. The loop around the lake is only about 2.5km and relatively flat, but I was still working up a sweat and would not have wanted to be wearing real clothes. The entirety of Zarkzówek Lake is surrounded by chainlink fence, yet very few people stuck to the designated trail. Cameron commented on what nice families we saw helping their children break through holes in the fence! There were also signs prohibiting swimming, although that rule was also being ignored. The vivid blue water was was very inviting and I would have also liked to jump in if I wasn't concerned about breaking laws in a foreign country.

By the time we got home we were both very hot and tired of our unexpectedly long walk. Despite it being late October, it has been very warm with temperatures in the 20°s, although the forecast was predicting the first snow to happen either November 1st or 2nd. We however, will miss it for an upcoming trip to LA and Seattle to deal with visas–huzzah!

The Battle of Grunwald dramatized with deathly flames in the background.

Lego constructions of a bell tower, monastery, and surrounding town.

Oskar Schindler lived on the third floor. His apartment is the middle one with the flowers on the balcony. 

A progressive Jewish temple. Our tour guide pointed out that it only had one main entrance because both the men and women attended the same service. 

Yiddish writing above the gate to another temple. 

A memorial for former residences of Kazimierz. Apparently it is customary to place a stone at a memorial or gravestone rather than flowers.

Some art encountered on our tour of the Jewish district. 

The bride with the hanging acrobatic figurines. 

A close up as we crossed the Vistula. 

Trying to be fancy for our housewarming party. 

Cameron's 30cm diameter applies pie. The recipe came from his old piano teacher. 

Scooting along the river. 

Chainlink fence around the lake with a sign saying no swimming and no cliff jumping. To jump from here would be at least a 30 foot fall.

Very tempting blue water at the filled-in quarry. 

Everything is Hard (in a good way!)

Today I saw the funniest thing: two trams and a load of cars were in a traffic jam caused by a horse-drawn carriage. I was quite pleased to be a pedestrian today as my moving pace was faster than the cars stuck in the back-up. In fact, everyday I enjoy walking around the city though that might change once the weather turns to freezing, wet, and smoggy. I've started to see the respiration masks I'd previously heard rumors of. In the meantime, I am very pleased that I made it to a thrift store and bought myself a big, long, puffy jacket for the frigid (but invigorating) mornings.

As my parents said, when you move to a foreign country everything is hard; it had taken me a few times walking past the thrift store to work up the courage to go in and figure it out. The setup was less organized than my formerly frequented Bellevue Goodwill, but I still found more things I wanted than what I could easily fit in my arms or the small shopping baskets they provided. After trying to look casual on my fourth circuit around the store I walked towards the curtained changing room. Based on my familiarity with thrift stores and the body language used, I could tell the two women manning the store were asking me if I wanted to use the changing room–"tak!"–and how many items I had. Rather than responding with "pięć," which I know is the word for "five," I just handed the woman my basket and had her count.

By the time I made it into the changing room my face was red and I was sweaty with embarrassment–not the best situation for trying on clothes. But in addition to the two jackets I had already tried on outside of the changing room, I also found two shirts that I liked. I didn't know the etiquette for returning unwanted clothes, so I delivered them back to the shelves they were pulled from. I felt okay going up to the cash register with my four items, partially because the two women had already been sympathetic towards my lack of Polish skills, but mostly because I had figured out the checking-out pattern at other stores: I say "dzień dobry" as the initial greeting, they ring me up and tell me the cost, I say "tak" in agreement, and then say "karta proszę." Sometimes they ask if I want a bag, but typically by having my reusable bag visible I'm able to avoid understating and responding to that question.

This time however, there was a kink–when I asked to pay with card they both knitted their eyebrows together as a way of communicating that they couldn't accept cards. In the few minutes that I have been holding onto these four things I had become attached to them all. I didn't know how to say "I only have 100 złoty in cash" but by showing them the bills, moving the two shirts to the side, and looking apologetic they got the message. Hot with embarrassment and trying to convey as apologetic of an expression as I could I fled the store with my goods and many repetitions of "dziękuję"–"thank you!" The whole walk home I was thankful I hadn't worked up the nerve to pay in cash at the cafe I was at the day before, otherwise I would have been really SOL!

On a typical day that interaction would have been more than enough of a challenge for me, but I had initially gone into the thrift store looking for a replacement of the brown clogs I had given up before moving. I took a detour from the thrift store back home in order to stop in two shoe stores. Before getting to the first one I found a park bench to pause at while I checked the size of my shoes: 41. In the first store, I found two pairs I wanted to try, brought them to the counter and asked "four-one, please." Presumably, she repeated my request but using the proper Polish words. I nodded my head and waited for her to return from the back room. She returned empty-handed and said something to me in Polish. Not understanding, I asked in Polish if she spoke English, after which she repeated that they didn't have either of the shoes in 41 but had one pair in size 40. After trying those on without success I thanked her, walked out the store, and hoped my sweating wasn't obvious to her.

At the second store, the store clerk was helping another woman but said something to me in Polish. I smiled and nodded even though I didn't know what he had said. I took a long time pursuing the shelves in order to give the other customer enough time to leave the store before I went up to the counter with three pairs. This time, I went ahead and started with "csz mówisz po angielsku?"–"do you speak English?"–and thankfully received an affirmative answer. I walked out of the store 15 minutes later with a great pair of shoes and a feeling of accomplishment.

After a successful day like that, my typical treat is to turn on TV when I get home. The real treat would be to turn on Netflix, but doing so gives me a strong sense of guilt and blobbiness so instead I've been watching Polish cable television. Nothing I've found has been particularly interesting (probably because it's mostly incomprehensible soap operas) but I tell myself that it is helping me learn. The commercials have already become mind-numbingly repetitive, but the repetition is probably good for my comprehension. In the combination of repetition and non-comprehension my mind wanders and I've come up with some realizations about commercials which I've never had the chance to experience in the US because we didn't have commercial television:

• Rarely do the visuals tell you anything useful about the product. Why do dancing cartoons make me want to drink juice? And how is an oversized stuffed catfish related to a banking? There are a few commercials that I still haven't figured out what is being advertised.
• A lot of international products use commercials where no one on screen is talking so the voices can more easily be replaced in different languages.
• Cartoons are preferred because the dubbing is less obvious.
• Commercials created by the Polish government always have someone in the bottom corner translating everything to sign language.  More than once I've wondered if I should try learning Polish sign language rather than verbal Polish.
• Cleaning commercials always have a distressed woman or an overly enthusiastic salesman.

Despite the abundance and variety of cleaning products advertised, buying cleaning supplies has been one of the biggest challenges. Window cleaner was relatively easy to find because of the photos on the spray bottle. I'm not positive I chose a good general cleaner but the naturalistic thumbprint pattern gives me some confidence. We had issues with clogged sinks and showers, but Drain-O isn't a thing here. After looking through multiple stores without success, we got a recommendation from Cameron's coworkers for Kret (literal translation: "mole"). However, despite more co-worker suggestions I have not been able to find a deodorizer for the freezer, which unfortunately stinks terribly of fish. I've resigned to vinegar and baking soda, but lack the enthusiasm the women on TV have–presumably since I don't have the right products. I'm also just not cutout for a life of a housewife. 

Luckily, my days as a housewife are numbered. We're leaving for the US on Monday (visa stuff) and returning to Krakow two weeks later. I'll have a few days in Krakow before we leave for London for a week (Cameron's work stuff). After that, I hopefully will be starting a new (hard) job! I don't want to share more until it becomes official (i.e. once visa stuff is ironed out) but I'll leave you with that happy note.

For those of you who were disappointed at my lack of photo evidence in the last post, I managed to snag a picture of some odd pants this week!

Really cool acrobatic sculptures suspended from a bridge.

Another of Krakow's 200+ churches.

More interesting architecture from an evening walk. 

The horse-led traffic backup mentioned at the start of today's blog post.

A good way to avoid housework: enjoy the crisp morning with hot tea and a good book.

Fitting In

For the last week (since Friday, October 11th) I have been going to #OMGKRK's office for a few hours each day to help with their marketing and preparation for Monday's upcoming Innovative Krakow Forum. My walk is about 35 minutes each way, and I try to find a new route each day. In addition to those strolls, I also have met Cameron at his office a few times (20 minutes away) and the two of us have crisscrossed through downtown looking for new streets. Essentially, I've done a lot of walking and a lot of people watching. Assimilation is the best way to show respect, but in order to fit in you must first know what is "in."

Here is a list of things I have noticed thus far:

1. Walking, biking, and electric scooters are all appropriate modes of transportation around the city. However, if you choose either of the wheeled vehicles mentioned, do not wear a helmet.
2. If you insist upon driving, you will have trouble finding parking, but you are welcome to park your car in any sliver of space that it might fit. If necessary, any number of wheels may rest on the sidewalk, and sometimes sidewalk parking is preferred over on-road parking.
3. Eat ice cream, regardless to the weather, time, or number of people in your group. Well, maybe time of day does matter–I don't think I've seen anyone with a breakfast ice cream, but plenty of people agree that it makes a good snack on your (walking) commute home.
4. Also eat obwarzaneks. These truly can be eaten any time of day, and seemingly anywhere. I've seen them being consumed in the mall, on a bus, and in the office.
5. Always carry a reusable shopping bag with you. It seems most people go grocery shopping every day or two (probably because the grocery stores are small and most people are walking or biking their purchases home so they don't want to carry too much) so you should always be prepared if something at the vegetable stand catches your eye on your way home. Also, you are less likely to be badgered by one of the city tour salesmen if you are carrying a bag of groceries.
6. Wear scarves.
7. If you are going to wear a dress, wear pantyhose or stockings. 
8. Wear impractical pants. Faux leather seem to be in fashion for women, and I've also seen multiple young men in capri-length tweed trousers. Another favorite was a very petit woman wearing jeans that were far too big on her so she hiked them up and essentially plaited them with a belt. 
9. Honestly, wear whatever you want, so long as it looks somewhat ridiculous (and therefore fashionable). A few pieces that have caught my eye include: Pomeranian-level fluffed-up fur coats, calf-length tweed jackets, all denim, fur sandals, tutus, a bike-chain style lock and key as a choker necklace, hexagonal shaped glasses, see-through shirts, and gray baggy sweatpants paired with a black blazer. 
10. If it seems like everything is too flashy, then you can always be a nun.

I've also learned I am a terrible housewife, and I hate sitting at home trying to busy myself with chores. I was very productive and motivated on day one stay-at-home life, and every day since I've become more and more lackluster. One day I even left a stack of dirty dishes on the counter for Cameron to deal with when he got home from work (I know, I'm terrible and Cameron is wonderful!) In one of the girl-positive historical fiction stories I read as a kid (thanks Mom!) I remember the protagonist complaining that women's work is only every noticed if it is done poorly. Every time I vacuum, or iron, or wipe down a counter I think about that, so I've started to move towards a "don't clean until it's messy enough that the difference will be noticed" approach. 

As mentioned, I'm only working (read: volunteering) for a few hours each day, but it's been enough to introduce me to a small group of really nice, young, English-speaking people. I'm currently trying to convince Cameron to let us have a housewarming party (mostly because I love the Polish term "parapetówka impreza" which literally translates to "windowsill party.") The remaining in-between times I fill with reading romance novels, applying for jobs, taking free walking tours of the city, watching Polish television, and trying to get comfortable spending Cameron's money. 

Here are a few additional tid-bits I've picked up from those activities:

1. My natural sleeping schedule seems to veer closer to ten hours of sleep a night (rather than the nine I used to shoot for before).
2. Romance novels are great. I even took a college course that focused heavily on romance novels, so I don't know why I didn't develop this appreciation years ago!
3. Applying for Polish jobs is much more involved than for American jobs. There is a good chance I will have to take a written math test and a language proficiency test as part of the hiring process.
4. Every hour on the hour there is a trumpeter that plays from the highest window of Saint Mary's church in the main square. The trumpeters are local firemen that rotate off after they complete a 24 hour shift. There is a prevailing factoid that the reason the tune is incomplete is in honor of a 13th century trumpeter who lost his life mid-toot when a Mongol arrow shot him in the throat, but in truth that was a lie made up by a 20th century tour guide and popularized by American journalist, Eric P. Kelly.
5. "Peppa Pig" is a terrible show. Peppa is a very spoiled little girl yet her family continues to indulge her. Any merits of learning Polish through this show are significantly undermined by the terrible snorting all of the pigs do.  
6. Eggs are not refrigerated in the grocery store, and there is a rating system printed on each egg which indicates if it is organic, free range, indoor, or caged (0 is best, 3 is worst).
7. Polish people are very dismissive of themselves. I've heard many people comment about less-than-perfect processes by saying "Welcome to Poland, that's how it's done around here." However, I think maybe everyone likes to talk that way about their government, regardless of country.
8. The city is very clean, especially for a city! There are horse-drawn carriage rides that shuttle tourists through town yet I haven't seen any horse poo. Everyone seems to smoke yet there are rarely butts littering the ground. I think I have only seen two people who looked like they might be homeless, but they seemed perfectly content with their lives from what I could tell. Even the pigeons seem plump, happy, and relatively unmaimed.
9. Food tends to be sweeter (like plain yogurt, pretzel sticks, and curry powder).
10. According to a tour guide, practically 100% of the Polish population is baptized, however it's hard to say what percentage of people are practicing Catholics. He said the older generations tend to be more religious, but he's also seeing a stronger religious pull in the younger generations, too. From his perspective, the least religious demographic are 25-40 year olds. 

At some point (probably over the next week) I'm hoping Cameron and I will do a walking tour together, probably through the former Jewish district which is now know as the best place to go for beers or out dancing. We'll probably also buy at ticket for HistoryLand, which is the Muzeum Karkowa's history through Legos exhibit. I have an interview to prepare for (ugh, more ironing!), a day-long networking-focused event to facilitate, and (hopefully) a windowsill party to host! I just finished my latest book and will have to find another one soon, especially since we leave for Los Angeles next week (visa stuff). I'll be sure to update you all as I discover more! 

...and sorry for not having any photos of the odd fashion choices I've seen.

My tour guide telling us a legend of two brothers engaged as the architects for the Saint Mary's Cathedral steeples. 

According to Chris, the tour guide, one steeple is taller than the other because the older jealous brother killed his younger brother and then committed suicide before the second steeple could be finished.

As with most buildings, the Juliusz Słowacki Theater had layers of architectural elements that correspond with the centuries of structural additions. 

Jagiellonian University, where Pope John Paul II attended, although his name was Karol Wojtyła at that time.

Wawel castle at night.

The dragon, Smok Wawelski, outside of his dragon den below the castle. The statue blows fire at random intervals, and it's said that it only goes off when a young virgin walks by (which is not often).

The moat and secret doors at Barbican gate. 

The First Weekend In KRK

Gosh it was a gorgeous weekend! There were plenty of chores that we knew we should do but the weather was too enticing so we decided to opt outside (as REI would say). Of course not having a car limited the number of places we could easily get to, but as everything is new it wasn't a problem that we had restricted choices. To find our hiking spot, we simply zoomed out on Google Maps and looked for large green spaces. The biggest is Bialańsko-Tyniecki Park/Wolski Forest, home to the Krakow Mounds and Krakow Zoo. Cameron had gone running in the forest one day on his first trip to Krakow (back in August) but he definitely hadn't see the full park.

I had assumed that we would walk there, since it would only take about an hour and we could be along the river for some of the time. Cameron, however, preferred the tram so we gave that a go, instead. It turns out it was quite easy, especially since we had already downloaded Krakow's public transportation app, Jakdojade. For just $0.80 each, we were able to get to the foot of the Park within five minutes, for virtually no stress at all! The nearest tram station is two blocks away from our apartment and the tram comes every ten minutes. It wasn't necessarily early Saturday morning (we had slept in until almost 10am-shock!) but there still weren't too many people out so we had no problems getting seats in our tram car.

At the final stop, we got off with another out-and-about family, and started our walk uphill through  a quiet, stone- and wood-heavy neighborhood. Even though it was clearly residential, we still passed by a restaurant; clearly everyone goes out to eat around here. When Cameron and I were first house hunting we saw a number of single-family homes for rent nestled into this park, and knowing how easy public transportation is I wish we had considered looking into some of them.

Just a few blocks up from the tram stop we transitioned from neighborhood into cemetery and then into full-on park. It seems everyone was out, and we saw representatives from every age group. Most people seemed to be out for a leisurely stroll, but there were also a few runners and bikers as well. I told Cameron that if we saw someone selling the unpronounceable Polish bagel-like treats (obwarzanek) that I would want to stop and buy one. The path was long and straight, so when we saw a stone staircase to our right we took it. At the top of the stairwell was a large brick fortress. As we walked around the structure we came into sight of the first mound- quite literally a large grassy hill that was fortified by a surrounding brick wall. I had never seen anything like it. Rather than paying the few złowty entrance fee to climb the mound, we elected to come back with our first US visitors but to continue on with our hike for the day.

We could have continued on the main, straight, paved path, but instead started to meander through a more woodsy dirt path. Perhaps Cameron had a destination in mind (he always has his GPS open) but I was happy to haphazardly choose each time we came to an intersection. There were lots of mountain bikers out and it definitely was a good trail system for them–not too rooty but with lots of roller coaster-type humps. Sporadically the trees would open up on our right and we would get views of some of the city, which Cameron kept referring to as "the Polish countryside." As we continued along, we tried to avoid the main path without dropping too much elevation, but eventually we had to start going down again. At the bottom of the hill we intersected a road and evaluated what we wanted to do next. We could turn around and go back the way we came, we could follow the road to a bus stop, or we could continue on to a second section of park. Naturally, we opted for option three.

Perhaps we could have continued on to the second mound, but once we hit another road (I think very near the zoo) we decided to sit on a bench, eat our packed lunch, and then make our way to a bus stop. It wasn't a far walk to the bus, and I very much toyed with the idea of getting one of the bagels from the vendor waiting at the stop, but since the bus was near I talked myself out of it. The bus was just as easy as the tram, and it took us just a few blocks away from our house. After swapping out our hiking gear for shopping gear, we returned to the bus stop and set out for IKEA.

IKEA is located in a shopping center-heavy section of the city, about 3km outside of where we live. In addition to a mall, there were some other large home decor and appliances stores clustered in the same space as IKEA.  Despite our apartment being furnished, it was only stocked with the bare essentials, and we need more than four forks and one oven mitt to support the cooking we do at home. It was the same experience as any other IKEA I had been in, where they lead you through a maze of cute, well-stocked showrooms. Along the way there are stockpiles of one small item found in the room: photo frame, shoe organizers, spice jars, etc. There are little shortcuts sprinkled throughout the space, but it seems like a fallacy to not follow the full path.

We had already done a pretty good job of filling our bag by the time we reached the halfway point, always identifiable by the cafeteria-style restaurant. Even though it was mid-afternoon and not that long since we had last eaten, we waited in line for a meal (later Cameron's coworker commented that it was a very Polish thing to do to go to IKEA to eat). I had a salmon filet with beets and buckwheat while Cameron ate Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy. We shared a fresh-squeezed strawberry juice as a special treat, but talked ourselves out of the various cake-like desserts available. Our combined meals probably cost about $12.

Once refueled, the assembly line took us downstairs to the real chaos where everything is for sale. Anything that we had admired upstairs was claimable in a pile somewhere down below, so we filled our cart with Tupperware, silverware, kitchen utensils, a cutting board, a pot set, a frying pan, napkins, coasters, place mats, and anything else that caught our fancy. We had to stick with small things we could bag up and bring back on the bus with us, however we already have plans to come back with the car (once it's shipped) for wardrobes, shelving, and rugs.

Disappointingly, we weren't able to find any king-sized sheets, even though I'm fairly certain our bed set origionally came from IKEA. I've scoured a few home decor shops in Krakow and only found one king-sized set: a boring all-white set at H&M's home section. It seems like king beds are virtually nonexistent, so I'm not sure how we ended up with one. We probably will have to buy sheets to bring back with us the next time we're in the US, since the only set we currently have seems to have been hand-made by one of the previous tenants.

We made it home to unload our haul and cooked some lentils and cauliflower in our new pots. Our favorite television station had a Polish singing show on where it seems like contestants sing songs to the original artist while he sings along as support. Of course I didn't understand anything, but I did pick up on the word for "breakfast" in one of the better-sung numbers. Each night after dinner Cameron and I have some sort of treat; right now it is some chocolate-covered hazelnut wafers. It's probably a bad habit to get into but it is a fun browsing the cookie aisle at the grocery store.

Sunday morning was pretty uninteresting. We lollygagged around the house since all of the stores are closed on Sundays, with a few exceptions for restaurants and single employee-run stores. I turned on the TV to see if there was any election coverage, but it was just mass on live-feed. I later learned that there is a media blackout the day before and the day of elections, and that you can get fined for even posting something on Facebook about a candidate. The intention is to avoid swaying the voter turnout. I attempted to make pancakes, but without milk or baking powder they were mostly just dense buttery dough blobs with Nutella.

By early afternoon I was restless and pervasive enough to talk Cameron into going for a walk somewhere. We made it down to the river (about 0.25km away) and then turned around to change. I was dressed for fall in long pants and a long sleeved shirt, but I swapped those for shorts, a tank top, and a sun hat before heading out again. Since I hadn't yet gone to the castle, that was our first stop, but it was crowded! It's a long flight of stairs to get up to the castle gates and the line was moving very slowly. Once on top, though, it opened up to a large courtyard with multiple gardens and restaurants. People are allowed to move around fairly freely from one courtyard to another, and as we explored the space it was clear that the castle operated as it's own small city for some time. There was a little bit of literature sprinkled throughout the grounds, however they strongly encourage you take one of the many tours offered which let you into different parts of the castle, cathedral, and "dragon's den." Given the crowds, we decided to put off a tour until another day.

We continued our exploration outside of the castle, looking for streets neither of us had been down, and for ice cream shops that were not swamped with mobs of people. We found a few of the  former but none of the later. There were a number of the obwarzanek vendors (the bagels) and we finally bought our first two: one that was multi-seeded and one with cheese. They were pretty tasty, and I could see myself eating those one a regular basis. As we continued to wander, we found a gelato place with only a few customers ahead of us, so we stopped in for a scoop each to satiate ourselves on the walk home.

Walking through the residential neighborhood to the start of our Saturday morning walk

A view of the mound surrounded by the brick fortress

What Cameron calls "the Polish countryside"

What I think more aptly is the Polish countryside

Enjoying a mid-afternoon meal at IKEA

The main plaza at the castle. I think this is the castle's primary cathedral.

A side plaza at the castle; apparently it is used commonly for wedding photos since it's all white.

Weekend crowds in Old Town

Introductions to a Working Community

Many people were privy to my complaints about feeling overworked at home, and therefore encouraged me to take this opportunity to be unemployed. Unfortunately, I am too much of a busy body to live in that fantasy world, and therefore from day one I have been going out and trying to integrate myself into the community. For me, that means having a place to go to every day where I can provide value while having a network to interact with. Also, the main thing I would want to do with my abundance of free time would be to travel and explore, but I would feel so guilty going out and having fun without Cameron, especially since it is his work that would be funding my escapades.

As mentioned in my previous post, I already met with a few individuals from the local auditing firm PRO Audit.  Through their connections, I have already emailed my resume to a director at PWC, which would be my preferred Big 4 company (mainly because they are the closest to my house...but don't tell them that), and have been asked to apply!

I also have a search running on LinkedIn for anything that mentions the words "audit," "auditor," "accountant," or "accounting" in the Krakow and Crakow areas (I don't yet know why the city has multiple spellings.  From what I can tell they can be used interchangeable). A few things have come up, but most have requirements for more experience than what I can currently provide.

The Krakow Expats Facebook group has been another great tool. It seems to be primarily used for selling furniture and starting sports groups but there are various English-speaking events posted there, too. That's how I found OpenCoffeeKRK. I got a little lost but was able to ask a student "Please, do you speak English?" and she was able to point me to the right direction. Without knowing too much what to expect, I showed up at today's 8am meeting, was given a name tag, and helped myself to a cup of coffee. Although the room was cramped (and apparently houses a bar in the evenings), the hosts assured us that this was not the usual meeting space.

Although the Meetup post emphasized that the meeting started at 8am sharp, people continued to trickle in for an additional half hour or so. There were enough chairs for about 25 people, but there were at least another five cramped near the door.  Essentially, people stood up to introduce themselves, what they do, what they were hoping to get out of Open Coffee, and how they could benefit others. The group is largely targeted at startups and entrepreneurs to share their projects, but I felt very welcome as a newcomer to the group sharing my skillset and desire to find a job and community.

After an hour of two-minute introductions (which still was not enough time for everyone to stand up given the size of the group) people were free to mingle and network until 10:00.  I talked to a number of very encouraging people and have a handful of English-speaking events that I would like to attend. Based on her presentation, I was already interested in registering for OMGKRK's Innovative Krakow Forum, but then talking to Kriti I agreed to come by the OMGKRK office to meet the team and do some pre-even volunteer work tomorrow. Mom has always said I can't say no to anything, but I especially feel I can be a "yes-man" since I have no other obligations to uphold–it's very thrilling!

It's all very exciting and encouraging, and I feel a lot more positivity and optimism compared to when I first moved to Seattle after college and typed "how do adults make friends" into Google.  Thank you, Krakow, for the wonderful first introductions, and I am looking forward to getting to know you even more!

Krakow- First Impressions

My last flight was from Amsterdam to Krakow. Peering over my neighbor’s shoulder, I see mostly clouds. At some point the clouds dissipate into a translucent haze and I wonder if I am getting my first glimpses of the Polish countryside. It’s 4:34pm and my flight is expected to land at 5:30, so it seems possible. There is a snake-like river surrounded by patches of agriculture land and presumably darker forest areas. I can just make out the reddish roofs of what I assume is a small village and some white poles which might be a wind farm. Out the other side of the plane a few billows of steam rise up from a distant energy plant of sorts. Nothing looks particularly unique or shimmery with the glow of optimism and a new life, so I elect to to believe I'm not yet looking at my new home.

Soon after that, the landscape disappears behind a smattering of clouds so I go back to my book until I feel the plane start to descend. When I look up again, the sun is giving off the warm golden-hour glow and the vista is beautiful.  The fields are the bold colors seen in modern-day impressionism: vivid green, deep purple, bronze, and blue. As the plane turns I can see what I believe is the Wawel Castle nestled beside the Vistula River. There is a good chance I am looking at my apartment building, despite not being able to identify it. I can't help but smile and there is a tightness in my chest that I attribute to awe. The city has put on its evening finest; it is best first impression I could have hoped for.

I texted my parents and Cameron when we landed, and as I waited to get off the plane I reviewed Cameron's instructions on buying a SIM card at the airport and taking an Uber home. Cameron texts back "How long do you think you'll be? I was trying to surprise you at the airport but I might have gotten the timing wrong." Oh what a great surprise! I was very willing to wait for Cameron, even though I didn't think it would be a wait since I still needed to be bussed to the main terminal, collect my three suitcases, and buy and set up a SIM card.  Cameron joined me just as I was looking for an earring to pop out my old SIM card with. Not only was it great to see him, but he also took charge of setting up my SIM card and getting an Uber. I know I could have gotten through everything on my own but I liked being able to depend on someone else.


My first impressions of the apartment were very positive. It's noticeably bigger than our Bellevue apartment, and despite some quirks it has everything that we need. It was already past 19:00 (yes, I'm going to start using a 24 hour clock) so I didn't look around long because we were both ready for dinner. The walk to Stare Miastro (Old Town) is less than ten minutes, but Cameron encouraged that I dress warmly; it was eight degrees Celsius (about 46 degrees Fahrenheit) and likely going to get colder by the time we were walking home. Cameron took me to an Italian restaurant he had already tired, La Grande Mamma, which was right on the edge of Old Town.  Although I would have loved to sit outside under one of the heat lamps and look out at the plaza, we chose to go inside; they took us through a maze of staircases and rooms before seating us in a well-lit brick-walled cellar.

Apparently it was clear that we were American because the waitress started off speaking to us in English. We shared some garlic flatbread as an appetizer, each ordered a pasta entree, and I paired mine with a glass of wine.  In total, the dinner came out to about $30, which we thought to be very reasonable for the quality of food we got. Cameron wanted to keep showing me around after dinner. I was too tiered to walk to the Castle but he still showed me "the head" statue downtown and we walked around the main plaza a little. If I had wanted to, we could have had chosen one of dozens of ice cream shops–I would have expected nothing less in a European city.

After 11 hours of sleep, I woke up very pleased to be in my new apartment and free of any jet lag.  Cameron took the day off to show me around, which I was very grateful for.  I had an 11:00 appointment with two men at Pro Audit, a firm I was connected with via CLA's Nexia partnership. That meant I had to shower and iron an outfit (a habit that I think I will have to get very used to as we must hang dry our clothes) before heading out for the 15 minute walk. Cameron walked with me, which introduced him to a new section of the city across the river. Along the way we passed by some street vendors selling fruit and some baked good that looks like the cross between a bagel and a pretzel. I believe they are called "obwarzanek krakowski" but I think it will take some practice before I feel confident ordering one.

Krzysztof and Mirek were very kind to take an hour out of their day to meet me. Although they did not have a position that would be suitable for an English-only employee, they wanted to learn about what I was looking for before reaching out to their network on my behalf. I have already been introduced to an audit manager at PWC thanks to their efforts. In addition to work, we also covered more general topics around what to do in Krakow, the upcoming Polish election, and my first impressions of the city. I have high hope for finding a job, and even higher hopes of navigating the city without being dependent on a GPS; I made it home from Pro Audit without having to look at my phone.

The other big to-do for the day was to get PESEL numbers, the personal identification numbers that would allow us to get bank accounts and other necessities of Polish living. We walked 20 minutes to Cameron's office to print out our applications, then another 20 minutes to the government building for PESEL processing.  Figuring out where in the building we had to go was a challenge, and when we finally got our queue number we realized there were 40 people ahead of us. Luckily they had two dozen processing windows so the wait wasn't too bad, maybe only 40 minutes. Everyone needs to interact with the government on occasions, so we saw a range of people, including young women who I sized up as potential friends to a gaggle of nuns and priests socializing amongst each other. Cameron said he was reassured seeing that everyone else seemed equally confused to how he felt.

When ticket 229 was finally called, we found ourselves facing a middle aged blond woman who could not speak English. We had to wait another few minutes for her English-speaking neighbor to finish up with her last client. She was direct and abrupt, but she got us what we needed. We registered our residency and got PESEL numbers! We had been out for a long time, and still needed to go grocery shopping, so Cameron opted out of getting bank accounts on the way home. We tried the Kocyk across the street from our apartment, which was small and cramped but had all of the grocery basics we need. I made potato soup for dinner, for which we had to use a mug in place of a label, and we watched some Polish TV in the background as we ate.

Today, Wednesday, was my first day by myself. Cameron woke me up so I could have breakfast with him before he left for work, but after that I was on my own. I had a few chores I wanted to do (like buy a ladle), first of which was checking out Rossman to buy some household cleaning and toiletry staples. It was a successful purchase, but I couldn't interact more than to say hello and then smile apologetically when the cashier asked me a question. That will surely be my modus operandi for the first few months. Next on my list were some household chores: figuring out how to use the washing machine, dish washer, and where to take out the trash. I feel relatively confident that my ability to interpret symbols (aided by my googling abilities) led to successfully running the appliances. I practiced saying "Excuse me, where is the trash?" a few times in the apartment before walking downstairs to the security guard. It probably was the bags of trash in my hands rather than my Polish language skills got the point across and a gesture pointed me in the right direction.

After lunch, Cameron and I met at a bank and went through the process of opening an account. They needed his PESEL, passport, and proof of employment to open an account. I wasn't allowed to be a card-holder on his account because I don't have any employment–humph! Instead of going straight home, I walked with Cameron back to his office and then continued on to the neighboring shopping mall. In addition to the standard mall stores and food court (H&M, Zara, McDonalds...) there was also a large electronics store and grocery store. In the electronics store I found some lightbulbs and an extension cord. I also stopped in a home goods store to buy towels, bathroom rugs, and some kitchen gear (but no ladle). Unfortunately it was raining for my 20 minute walk home, and the bags were heavy, but nonetheless I was pleased with my purchases.  I spent the rest of the day organizing the house while listening to Polish television in the background.

My first picture in Poland- a welcome to the Krakow airport

Out in Stare Miastro at night

One of the fun staircases inside La Grande Mamma

More nighttime plaza photos

Wawel Castle and the Vistula River

Drying clothes inside of the apartment

The Plaza during the daytime. I had forgotten how prominent pigeons are in cities.