Heaven Pier

When I was in Rzeszow, there was a river in front of my dorm, and I would keep making plans to go for a walk by it and get some exercise done, apart from exploring the place. But, despite only working for 3 hours a day, I didn't do it regularly as I should have as I'd wake up late and it'd be dark by the time I was free to do it and other stupid lazy reasons, because when I finally did, I stumbled across the most beautiful, most serene sights, that I can't and will never forget.

On our day off - I think it was a Friday, me and Donna were just lazying around the room when we decided to go downstairs to the Biedronka for a groceries run. I had not even showered yet, so I just put some pants on my pyjamas and wore my jacket. The best thing about the cold is that you can be braless and there's no way it can be obvious :P :D

I idly said that I should go for that walk I was planning to do as we were leaving, but I didn't think I'd actually do it as I wasn't dressed for walking and I would have needed to help Donna with the bags on the way back. I didn't carry anything with me, no phone, no camera, no music, just some cash in my pocket, and as we were leaving Biedronka, Donna was carrying the bags and she asked me if I was going, and I said no, walked for another 5 yards, and said "I'm going" and as she walked back towards the dorm, I finally headed towards that narrow path towards the river that I'd always look at longingly from the window 7 floors up and I didn't know it then, but it was the best walk I have ever had in my life. Phoneless and musicless is actually the way to do it and I am so happy I wasn't overpowered by my laziness and in my entire time in Poland, I went on the walk twice. Twice is still a sad number, but I aim to go back in a few years and do it more often then :) Happy wishful thinking!

There was a path by the river for walking and I had no idea where it would end and I had nothing else to do for the day, and I felt so relaxed, I had all the time, and so much freedom, all alone in the middle (technically south) of Poland, so I kept walking and walking till I reached the very end. On my way, I saw some lovely dogs and their owners, a few runners, some cyclists, and for a while I concentrated on walking on the white line that divides the cycling lane and walking lane but the sights were so good, that eventually I stopped bothering with doing that and just let myself be taken by them sights!

It was so peaceful, the river was so reflective, the clouds were perfect, the sky was the sky - vast, endless, blue. River on my right, a lone boat, families of birds and ducks and perfect little houses on my left. I passed a small play park for children and saw some little toddlers playing, young families, looking so simply content. There was so much beauty to soak in, so much quiet, the air was so good, so clean, and it wasn't too cold, my hands were snug in my jacket pockets and the breeze was just enough to feel pleasant.

Halfway there, on my right, I saw a lake, and a pier right in the middle. I was blown away. It was completely deserted, and fenced and there was sand like a beach from when you entered. Little benches lined by the fence, and the water was super still, so the sky was the lake and the lake the sky.

I couldn't believe I was here. This was the first time I had ever seen a pier in real life and what it was! I walked on it and reached the end. And I saw the words inscribed on the side in tiny very female writing "Heaven? this is here." And that just made it so much more overwhelming for me. I stood there at the end of the pier, deciding I have to come here again, come here everyday till I leave! stay here! never leave Rzeszow omg!

I sat at the bench then for a little bit, just basking in the silence, just relaxing, being still. I felt like if I sang, I would have to be quiet, I didn't want to disturb the quiet. I felt like I would have to whisper if I wasn't alone. So being really still and really quiet and in the moment just felt right.

Then I left and walked till the end, and the end was no longer a path; there was a little bridge diverging to the main road. There were 2 couples right at the end, saying their goodbyes and probably making plans for the next time they'd meet up and as I was heading towards them, I felt like a stalker lol. Luckily by the time I was close enough, they'd gone their own ways so I could enjoy the bridge in solitude and then I headed back.

I only realised then how long I had been walking and how far I went. Passing similar sights, watching, and almost tempted to help the man putting his boat back into his truck, seeing how the sun went down and how that changed the look of the place to quite a degree, as the lake looked now a formidable place, the play park empty, no more occupied benches, no more people around at all save for a couple of really fast cyclists.

I walked back to the warmth of then home and was relieved to finally sit on my bed, getting out of my pants so I was back in my pyjamas and could resume lazy mode for the rest of the day. Felt so good to have done the walk so impromptu, and to have got some exercise done after a long time. I must have been out for about 2 hours for sure. I felt so good, it did me so good that walk. It was needed, it was something I didn't realise I needed so I wasn't chasing it or seeking it actively. It's really amazing how much good a walk can do, how much mind clearing, how much peace giving, SO much.

I took Donna to see the pier and this time I carried my camera and went crazy. Took 58 photos and took some videos too. There was a tire swing, another first for me, and I recorded a video as I swung on it so you can see the sky. Just ask nicely and it will be shared :) I can share all the pictures now so here's the link : http://imgur.com/a/qDt6I#0

WAIT THERE'S MORE!

As I mentioned before about my dearest student Magda, she used to write a story in continuation of an assignment I gave her. I decided to put up her story in original form and unedited, and so yesterday I created a blog for her, posted the story and I want to share that also. Please read the story and also the very nice things she wrote about me hehe (no she wasn't forced to :P) and do pass it on! Here it is : www.anokheemagda.blogspot.com

Also, "anokhee" means "special" in Hindi, which she very much is. :)

Fruity Mind Basket

Until and unless you don't forgive yourself, nobody's forgiveness can redeem you. Your conscience is not bound to anyone else's. So even if you pass judgement or bitchy comments on someone's attitude, it will only affect the person to the extent of which his conscience is guilt ridden. If he's not guilty, anything you express will be as good as unheard, he will be indifferent, possibly even if you're hurting. But if he's guilty, the same words could pierce like daggers, the same words could cause a lot of tears. The idea is to redeem yourself in your own eyes before you seek for forgiveness, because even if forgiveness is granted completely, with a clean heart and it's as true a forgiveness as can be, the guilty person will not believe it, he will not accept it, and although your forgiveness might count for something, and it might help the person in his path to redemption, especially if you mean a lot to them, it will not do the job in it's entirety: he will still seek for absolution, he will still crave validation of that forgiveness, which he will only truly get when he forgives himself. And it's not something easily done at all. You can live your life and pretend other's forgiveness was enough, but you'll still have nightmares, the guilt could follow you till the very end. Never ignore your conscience, never pretend to be anything you're not when you look at yourself in the mirror. Always be true to yourself, your conscience is the strongest thing about you. Your conscience can make or break who you fundamentally are, not to mention is responsible for all of your major psychological changes, which as we know is a constant process, like the slow almost inaudible humming of the sound of silence.
Which leads me to thinking about other inaudible melodies that only our minds conspire when we're in dreamland, and whose reality is actually very questionable. Reality in itself is a very funny, very questionable thing. I feel like I've written a lot about this already, I feel like these thoughts have been puked onto paper countless times, over innumerable endless days long since past, long forgotten snippets of lives unlived, songs unsung, memories unmade, dreams unimagined, slowly, yet surely, unraveling themselves through the passage of time, spread over the rest of my life, waiting shyly in shadows for me to embrace them arms and heart wide open, while I'm completely unaware of the demons they might contain, the buckets of bountiful boobalicious boundless and beyond happiness (because obviously true happiness is boobalicious DUH), they might expose my naked and hopeful eyes to. Because, you know, it's all about what you see ultimately, which again brings me back to the whole reality-is-projection-is-it-really-real spiralling conundrum. Which is such a chewable word. Conundrum conununununununnndrummmmm.

Mo' Kotez Bit Chase

The thing about living in the past, what makes it okay, is if you're not alone. It's only when you're the only one when it becomes an issue. Lots of people hang on to what they had and live in the past, too afraid to embrace the realities of the present or face what the future holds.

Desire is half of life, indifference is half of death.

Politeness is organized indifference.

At the end of the day, words are just that, words.

You're good not because somebody is bad. You're good because of the goodness in you.

It's not about minimizing being dependent, it's about maximizing being independent.

Every person with whom you'll have a meaningful relationship with will be irreplaceable. If it ends, don't go looking for a replacement. Each experience is new, you can't get or give the same things from and to more than one person. That's because you as a person are constantly changing, so you shouldn't expect everything else to stay the same.

Until you get comfortable with being alone, you'll never know if you're choosing someone out of love or out of loneliness.

When you're trying to forget, don't bother trying, it will happen eventually over time. It is when you almost forget to think about it that you start making progress with the forgetting.

Some people are so poor, that they only have money.

Don't judge someone just because they sin differently than you.

Being still and doing nothing are two very different things.

If you're constantly fixated with the beauty of the sunset, sure you'll miss the darkness, but then morning come, you'll also miss the sunrise.

There's a big difference between it being good in a book, and it being good on paper.

When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.

You can love someone so much; but you can never love people as much as you can miss them.

I guess I never assumed that the vagueness meant there was no future, but I guess we can make a mental image of everything except zero.

Ceaseless wonder and careless wandering is what makes a life.

A-PAUL-ING

A lot of really strange (stranger than usual) things have been happening to me off late. Like I mentioned, the phase of really weird dreams every night is back, and for the first time, I'm being able to express them in half awake undecipherable drunkish typing ways and the other morning I woke up and I wrote this and I saw it later in the day and went "what?" multiple times and made my dear friend (and probably sole reader of this blog) read it and she said "appalling" in her witty, inimitable way and I instantly decided to post it on my blog.

It's the end of the world 100 people left all nameless limited resources only one person's name can be Paul. It can be anyone. When you claim your name to be Paul you get to eat and after 4 hours you have to die. Within 4 hours then some one else claims to be Paul so that he can eat and to save the first Paul. The mission is to save everyone. Nobody knows who the real Paul is, not even Paul himself.

Also, this is an unexpected dedication to my friend Paul, to whom I am going to link this and will hopefully get him smiling with a funnily full fondness for me feeling finitely flattered (as flattery should ideally be.)

OH, and also, a day after my crazy travelling, I was off on another trip, and I pretty much slept the entire journey in the car and at one point I recorded the words "hahaha" but sang them in a very very weird way which I will link here soon (if anyone gives a shit and reminds me to or I remember to do it) and named it "hahaha island" and I remember naming it that way thinking, in my drunkish sleep state, that I would remember what it meant when I was awake but I can't for the life of me figure out why! I am sure it was a kickass story idea relating to a dream I was having then and I hope maybe I dream it again and have an awesome deja vu moment on awakening.

Edit: I think I get why I named it island, maybe I dreamed of a place where everyone's name is forms of haha, all musically different, so you can have two children, one named haHA and one named HAha and on the island, the language is also pretty much musical versions of hahahahahaha.

List Series : Why Life Back Home Is Awesome

This list series is officially something that will be indefinitely ongoing as and when the inspiration or idea strikes. I should probably sort this blog into sections to make for organised viewing for the informed reader; sections like poems, stories, rants, travel posts, 'philosophical' posts, quotes, and other non classifiable miscellaneous shit like this. Maybe I'll do it later since I am jobless enough and I already have a hard copy of all my writing already organized that way so it should be easy enough.
I've been away from home and all that I knew and was so familiar with, and so took so easily for granted, for 70 days and I've been realising some of these things, some little, some pretty big ever since I got back home a week ago.
Anyway, let's start!

1. MY MOTHER! And her face, and her smile, and her eyes, and her cute walk, and her sweet voice, and everything about her!




2. THIS! I was so happy to see my pillows and my comforter and I've been getting amazing weird dreams filled sleep every night since I've been back!




3. The acoustics in the toilet! I forgot how amped and echoey and awesome my voice sounds in there and it's an absolute delight to sing in there. I literally have had and continue to have my best performances when I am on the pot, singing away, especially if it's really quiet.

4. The way I can cross the road! I'm no longer forced to wait for the walking light like a normal civilised person and it's so awesome to be able to cross HOWEVER you want, WHENEVER you want. Just show your hand, and move. I LOVE IT.

5. My laptop! I was so happy to use it again. I immediately changed all the settings (I had made it super easy for mom use in the lousy Windows 7 mode) and got back my Windows Classic theme and was so glad to see Chrome with all my bookmarks and all my files and folders.

6. Seeing some of my friends in touchable mode and being so psyched that I constantly stared and giggled randomly for joy every 10 minutes hehe.

7. Being able to pat my sa! I'm not going to explain this one. Hint : Sindhi used here. But seriously, it felt like one big relief, I could finally just be, without having to rush, without making plans, without being so constantly excited about what I'll get to see and experience. I feel so settled, and not to mention LAZY! hahahah I've gone from walking for hours a day to no walking at all. Going to put on all the weight I lost in a matter of days now!

8. Seeing all my other stuff! My cupboard and my drawers, and underwear I'd not taken with me, and tshirts and books and my guitar (can't wait to sit and play all day) and the view from my window!

9. THE FOOD! omg I don't know how this ended up being the last one on the list. Everything my mummy makes is so good and the tea! Aaah I really really really need to learn some cooking, I won't be able to live on my own this way!

English Bananas

You a'right?

Bananas (probably not) from London!

Leaving Rzeszow was not easy for me at all. I had to re-book my bus to Warsaw for an earlier one since the weather was really bad thanks to Hurricane Xavier and I was afraid that my original night bus would be delayed like the previous night's bus was and I couldn't take the chance considering I had a morning flight. So I woke up late, having slept late writing my last post on here and I had to rush like crazy, re-booking my bus and last minute packing of tidbits with lots of help from Donna. We'd originally planned to go to Market Square one last time but sadly it couldn't happen, well not for another few years!

So I reached Warsaw late that night and was supposed to stay with this wonderful girl I'd just met over Facebook but unfortunately she was in Krakow for the weekend so 2 of her boyfriend's male cousins were to host me instead. I was nervous because I'd never met them and it was the first time I had to live with boys - alone too! I got lost with my 30 kilo bag on my way to the house in the dark and cold and they came to pick me up and they were complete angels. So attentive, sweet and chivalrous! I didn't feel uncomfortable at all and we were up pretty much all night talking and eating and drinking and it was so much fun. At one point I painted their pinky fingernails too hehe.

The next morning, having left my bag in the safe confines of that amazing cafe looking house, we headed to Modlin and they didn't even let me pay for my ticket and I was force fed breakfast even though I can never get myself to eat in the mornings. Once I reached Modlin, I met a guy heading also to the airport and then had the feeling that for the next 9 days, I would barely get any female company and I was so right!
That's how I actually remember the whole experience - I got to spend so much time around boys I started to act and think the way they do a bit. I used to be really shy for no real reason before, but this trip brought about some much needed confidence and helped me understand quite a lot of things about boys, one mainly being that they're way simpler than originally thought and actually very easy to understand.
This was my first official long trip on my own as well (technically can't count Poland because I had Donna) so it was really quite an experience. I fell completely in love with the tube system and will keep forever with me the map I used to navigate around the multi-coloured lines to get from A to B as my phone is shit enough to not support the tube app lol, but I think I'd have used the physical map anyway because of how much more fun it is to figure routes out on your own.

So I landed in London on Sunday afternoon which was awesome because that meant that my old college friend, again a boy, could receive me at the station and we could hang out thereafter. I got my 7 day Oyster travelcard and after leaving my bag home we headed to Hyde Park Winter Wonderland which was soo amazing. Great music, and so Christmassy the whole feel of the place was. I was on a crazy tight budget so I couldn't go on any of the rides but I'm definitely going back in a few years to do all the rides! I just spent £150 for all the 9 days I was there, excluding airfare, and now that I think of it, that doesn't sound too tough considering I didn't have to pay for accommodation and I did take 14 meals worth of food with me from Poland, and, my friends were awesome enough to cook and treat me to dinners! After Hyde Park we headed to Picaddily Street and walked around lots and went to China Town, saw some street dancing and then headed home, a nice ice blended fruity Costa in hand.

I'd planned each day so I would be doing something so as to cover as much as possible in the time I had so on the next day I went to Victoria & Albert, Natural History, and the Science museums. I took sooo many pictures and walked so much as these museums are huge - especially NHM which I also liked best. The cutest little schoolchildren were there too, small blue or green eyed light haired little babies with their sweet English accents asking cute questions. The NHM was of the most entertainment value. I especially enjoyed the dinosaur and waste exhibits. V&A was nice too - it was the first one I went to and I absolutely loved the modern art section. By the time I got to the Science museum I was pretty worn out and thankfully it was the smallest one and I found it to be the most interactive and I played some games and saw this creepy Internet exhibit. After my very museumy day I went to Nandos with the same host/friend for the first time and loved it too.

The next day was the best day ever. I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and it was so GOOD! I was a bit let down by the smallness of most of the sets because in my head they were all HUGE but then it's even awesomer to think that cinematography (or whatever) is able to give us that larger than life impression. I must have taken like 500 pictures and at the very start when they showed us this HP video I actually cried with excitement! And also because it was such a great emotion inducing video (I'm not a sissy okay). I tried Butterbeer as well and liked it too. The best way I can describe it is - butterscotch ice-cream melted with soda. Then I went to the HP store and picked up some postcards, a pencil and a deathly hallows shaped key-chain for my sister without whom I wouldn't have gone for the tour at all. After a very long emotional and excitement filled day at the studio I was made to go to Arsenal to do a price check for a jersey and I didn't get to look at the stadium as it was pretty dark (and I honestly didn't bother) and deserted too.
I got home to my first proper meal so beautifully prepared in weeks - Thai chicken curry with rice and Sprite and I ate like such a hog. It was such a nice way to end a very nice day. My friend made such good company and we talked a lot about college days and it was so fun. We've both changed since then so it was nice to get to know each other better again. Also he made tea exactly like my mom does!

Wednesday, I headed for my first walking tour called Alternative London and I must recommend it to anyone who visits London and for those Londoners ignorant enough not to know what a stock-ful of amazing street art their city has. It was a fascinating tour, and the tour guide was an artist himself and I took so many pictures, I liked everything I saw! Even stuff he'd not bother talking about because they were apparently "shit." God I'd make the worst art dealer, so non critical and no eloquent taste to speak of I swear haha.

After my tour I headed to Barclays which took me forever to find to deposit the money for my ticket to London and I realised a few days later that this bank is pretty much super close to many of the tube stations. And then I went to the Museum of London which I honestly can't even remember what was like but that's probably cause other memories loom larger and it didn't really suck. Or maybe it sucked so bad it's forever forgotten till I happen to look through my pictures and stumble across one from there lol. And then I headed to the British Library which I absolutely loved. They had this center for budding business people and I went through the success stories and found such creative minds at work, it was so inspiring too. I might consider starting a business myself if my ideas are feasible enough! After the British Library I went to King's Cross solely for Platform 9 and 3/4, got my picture taken and happily went home after another long fulfilling touristy day. And then I took my friend for a meal at the always full Indian place super close to where we were staying and I was so happy to eat authentic Indian food after months of just cold cuts and bread and packets of ramen. Where we were staying was a very Indian area and I honestly didn't like it so much. Didn't feel very Londoney to me and I'm so glad that my friend will be moving out soon and it's just a one month thing. But the room was decent, I called dibs on the top bunk naturally and it was always so warm. Back in my dorm in Poland the radiator never worked and our window was broken so it was like living in a fridge so this room was such a blessing.

The next day, Thursday, I headed to Covent Garden where I saw the best street magic show ever and then to the Christmas market there where I picked up a bib with a pug's face on it - and wasn't judged even for a second when on asking I told the man selling it that it was for me! The entire stall was full of pug stuff - backpack, bag, t shirt, bibs (the cheapest rofl) and it was heaven! The other stalls were also so delightful. This entire day was all about window shopping and I did not do much else. After Covent Garden I went to St. Paul's (not to be confused with the cathedral) and sat for a while in the completely empty church and it was peaceful and quiet. And then I walked around a lot and reached Primark on Oxford Street somehow and ended spending around an hour just on the ground floor (which was HUGE) just deciding what I'd get in case I ended up saving any cash. And then I walked to the British Museum and to be honest by this point I'd had enough of museums so I wasn't really looking at the stuff. Just idling and walking around and glancing at things, but there were some things my saturated museumed mind did notice and so I did take a few pictures there as well. After this, I went to Camden town and was there for the rest of the day. It's so big and there's so much to see and the stuff you get there is exactly my kind of style (haha I apparently have a style now), very hip and colourful nice little articles and clothes and accessories. I also enjoyed the Horse market and met a friend with whom I went to a nice little cafe where the staff doubled as acoustic rockstars and entertained us so well. I got home to an amazingly cooked Indian meal of chili chicken with rice and Sprite again courtesy awesomest host ever. I hogged again as my only lunch was 2 little mandarins and a cup of minty hot chocolate at the cafe.

Friday was my most touristy day so far and I went on a 6 hour long Free Tours by Foot all in one walking tour which was so comprehensive and I just had the best time. I saw : Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Green Park, St. James Park, St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, London Eye, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, pause to breathe, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, River Thames, Tower Bridge, Tower of London and the Bank of England. Also saw some kick ass buildings like the Heron, Gherkin, Walkie Talkie, SHARD! Our guide was Canadian but you could tell how passionate she was about London as she was really good at guiding and knew loads. I made some new friends, fellow solo travelers like myself: one girl (finally) from Ukraine, one guy from the Netherlands and one guy from Canada. It was so fun! Friday was also the friend I was staying with's birthday so after this forever long tour I headed to Westfield (the biggest mall in Europe) to meet with him and hang before he took me and some of his other friends to an Indian place called Dishoom which imo was very British Indian, not as authentic as I'd hoped but a treat is a treat is a treat so no complaints! :P After dinner, we decided to go to a club called Picaddily Institute. It was to be my first ever club experience and I was so excited but when we got there I just wasn't into it anymore and didn't really enjoy the blaringly loud rather outdated music and even though I drank a bit, I couldn't get myself to enjoy it much. But it was still a cool experience and it's nice to think my first club was one in proper London town!

Saturday morning I left that house and my sweet host and went to stay for the rest of my trip with one of my oldest friends from school who's gay and lives with his partner. I was so happy to see him after all those long years, we used to be so close before, I'm actually on a group picture hanging on his wall!!! and for the first few hours all we did was talk talk and talk and he cooked some pasta. His house is so awesome it's like a dream and I would never ever go out if I were him. We were supposed to go to Cambridge but we ended up not going since by the time we'd reach the sun would set so there was no point. Luckily, I didn't really have more on my agenda for my trip that needed covering so we sat at home and played lots on his Wii, watched some Archer on his Netflix, played Cluedo and some card games, and then went out to Tower Bridge as I'd not crossed it the previous day and then he took me to a house party hosted by one of his closest work mates. It was a fun party, full of British Indians and just 3 white guys. The host, a Sri Lankan Brit woman was very warm towards me and fed me lots and made sure I was comfortable for all of the time, well till she got drunk lol.

I could only sleep at around 5 am so I woke up super late on Sunday and decided to just have a lazy day instead of the planned trip to the Cathedral to catch the Choral Evensong service. We just hung out all day playing golf on the Wii which is amazing fun btw and I used the laptop and ate a lot. Their living room is so cool - there's a rowing machine, a gaming computer den ish place, lots and lots of PC games, lots and lots of DVDs, books, massive TV, xbox, PS, Wii, iPad, laptop, EVERYTHING you can ever need to never go out again. Which is so important to have considering how crazy unpredictable London weather is. Sunday night my friend took me to an Indian place nearby and the food there was very nice, so authentic and I loved it. I had butter garlic naan after ages and I was all ear to ear grinning.

Monday, my very last day, was again a pretty lazy day. I wanted to wake up early and head to the National Gallery but again, I slept too much. I blame the air mattress! My first time on one too and soo comfortable. So I just walked to Liverpool Street Station for my bus to the airport and did some shopping at Lush (YAY!!!!) and sadly couldn't go to Primark because of time constraints. But no regrets, I have good reason to go back there now! :P Instead went to a pub called Dirty Dicks and had some coffee before taking the bus to Stansted and reaching Warsaw.

Warsaw was way colder than I anticipated and I was one coat short (I left my dad's over-sized waterproof with the second friend/host) so it really hit me. But me being me, I went and had a cold McDonald's chocolate milkshake with some lovely new Polish friends I made on the train from Modlin to the city center. Because I missed my normal timings' bus to the house, they helped me so nicely and I took a night bus and got home. I finally got to meet the girl I'd just spoken to over Facebook and who'd been such a life saver having given my big bag the warmth of storage in her house for those 9 days, and she was so nice too. Also, me being crazy, I went a little over the top excited seeing a bath tub and spent a good hour in there in super hot temperatures and here I am now, sick, coughing up blood with a lower respiratory tract infection. How awesome!

My trip back home was so shit because of being sick. For the first time I absolutely hated flying, I didn't watch a single thing on the inflight entertainment, couldn't taste the food, was over emotional and randomly crying or feeling bursts of joy, and my ears! Aah both times at landing I just wanted to DIE as the air pressure was so bad.

I had a great time in London and I'm so grateful to both my hosts and I wish I wasn't so tight with my budget, I definitely want to send them gifts when I'm better able to! Finally, I'm home now and it's my second night here and everything is as it should be. When I came, I was feeling so strange. I felt like I was seeing everything for the first time and couldn't stop examining my house or my mom, or my friend. And now in 3 hours I'm leaving Mumbai again to go to Shirdi for 2 days which is why I HAD to write everything and have it updated or after Shirdi I'd have forgotten or it'd seem further away. Stupid OCD. But I really am so jetlagged. I couldn't sleep till 6 AM last night but I should try tonight since car sleeping makes me so car sick. Ok bye.

Jestem Wanderer's Wandering Daughter

Dzien dobry!

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to leave Poland, how and where the past 2 months went, I wonder. It feels like only yesterday that this bed I'm sitting on felt new, this huge square pillow so uncomfortable and weird. It feels just like yesterday that I got on the plane all nerves and excitement, not knowing where I'll live, what this place'll really be like, not knowing so much.

There's so much to be said about how it's been, and so this is going to be a very long post. I should have been more actively blogging so I don't have to sit here now and think about 2 months' stock full of memories but here I am, sleep eludes me, so let's do this!

In my second week, after I'd settled in, after this, work did start, and I went to a school half an hour away from my dorm, teaching 2 classes of 1.5 hours each from Tuesday to Friday for 2 weeks. My first day there was interesting; me and Donna (my roommate and fellow Exchange Participant), didn't really have an idea of the specifics of what we needed to teach. Our project - AIESEC's Speak With Us was about having speaking exercises with highschoolers in preparation for their important Matura exam (kind of like boards in India or A levels.) So we walked into each of our classes after meeting the English teachers there - 2 lovely women, twin sisters actually, and I was actually confused about who was who for the first few days lol til the blaringly obvious difference in hairstyles was noticed. For the first day, we just introduced ourselves, and made the kids introduce themselves. I decided that since we were given the total freedom to do what we pleased in class so long as it encouraged them to speak: games, lots and lots of games would be fun apart from the prescribed 'describe the Matura flashcards' activity. Then on, for every class I played a game with my students, and continued a same pattern of games + grammar learning + flashcards + story writing + riddles for the rest of my classes. Which concluded yesterday. But enough of this serious teaching stuff.

On our 2nd weekend there, we went to AIESEC Rzeszow's Local Committee Conference (LCC) to Hadle Szkalrskie, a half an hour bus ride away from Rzeszow. We met the new EPs from another project when there for the first time - 2 girls from Egypt and 1 girl from Sri Lanka. This small village was so beautiful, I really don't have the words. We were staying in a wooden lodge and for the 2 days there, the AIESECers planned a lot of EP activities and presentations so we were indoors pretty much all day. I got to try Rosol for the first time there, and also black sugarless coffee and loved it! We made a lot of new friends and had a really lovely time. The little cottages were by a lake and the tallest pine trees and it was so breathtaking, my words would really never do it justice. I can see it now in my mind; so quiet and so serene. I also saw a horse! All in all, the LCC was pretty awesome, I danced a lot on our last night there, trying to ape the AIESEC jigs and one of the songs was a Bollywood one! I actually want to go back to Mumbai and join and be a proper active member now. We also played Boat Race, an awesome beer chugging game and my team made it to the finals too.

After the LCC, we EPs had united and how! We made a Facebook group entitled "EP Travels" and then on planned and went to Krakow and Prague.

The next weekend, we set off to Krakow, and it was a trip of mixed emotions. We stayed in a nice little hostel called Goodbye Lenin Revolution that took us such a long time to find from the bus station and once settled in, we went out to the Old Town Square and took pictures of the grand old buildings and went on a guided tour for it and neighbouring areas. This city is actually on the list of Top 25 best cities in the world. A lot of students live here as it's full of universities. So it's a very young, hip town, and ironically of a lot of historical importance. It was the original capital of Poland and a lot of Polish people still prefer Krakow to
Warsaw in a lot of ways. The next day, we set off on a day trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau. That day stands out in my memory of this entire experience so vividly. I will never forget the camps, the pictures of those long dead, and their intimate belongings (like HAIR) in the most horrifying exhibits I will ever see. If you ever really want to understand the extent of human suffering, if you ever really truly want to be able to believe, or rather be taken so totally aback by the cruelty, the absolute abject apathy of mankind, this place is the place for that revelation. At night, we went by the street called "Kupa"- meaning "shit" and tried Zapiekanka, and I got mine Hawaiin style! The next day we went on a Free Walking Tour of the Jewish Quarter, Old Town and got to see the Wawel Castle and Dragon! It was amazing. It was just our luck that a few hours before we had to leave, it started to rain.

Some weekends the Sri Lankan girl would come over for sleepovers and we'd stay up and watch horror movies, such fun, joining two of our single beds to make one big bed for us to all sleep in, and going on adventures in the day time.

On another weekend, we went to a nice little cafe at the Market Square and drank hot beer and wine and had a lot of laughs with a new friend we met at the LCC. It was a fun night and we were out till late and had to cab it home because buses here last ply around 11 PM. Another time, we met other friends and went to a pub for karaoke night. I got my freak on and sung some Shakira songs. That was also a fun night, really sweet and friendly people and so warm and easy to be around. I will miss them!

My students were all such dears too; I could not have dreamed or asked for a more attentive, eager to participate, and fun group of teenagers. I met some pretty phenomenal kids and I am definitely going to stay in touch with them for the rest of my life. I already have a favourite, and she's such a great girl. She's smart, mature, and so creative and sweet. She gave me an orange (my favourite fruit btw) and wrote on it the sweetest things. I don't know how I'll ever have the heart to eat it, but I have to, I'd rather eat it than see it rot. I actually cried for joy when she gave it to me so unexpectedly. I used to do this activity in my classes where I would give my students 5 random words and make them write a story, and this girl I'm talking about, Magda, started to write a full fledged story in continuation of the assignment/activity. I'm going to post the story in it's original form for y'all to read soon.

We went to Prague by our faithful dependable PolskiBus and we were only going to be there for 27 hours so we planned our itinerary down to the hour so no time would be wasted. We got into a bus on Thursday night to Warsaw, and another one and reached Prague Friday evening. I couldn't believe that we actually were in a different country in just a day's bus journey. Enroute we passed Wroclaw and Lodz and I fell in love with Wroclaw. I wish I had more time and money so I could go explore that city too. It looked also very old, much like Krakow, and I hope to go see it the next time I'm in Europe. Prague was lovely. Once we checked into Old Prague Hostel, not a very confusing path from the bus stop thankfully, and set off on a prowl, famished and ready to eat anything that was still for long enough. Luckily we found a nice Asian restaurant, and I finally got to try Sushi for the first time, and I actually liked it. I tried Wasabi too and I also liked it. Then we walked around the city, and you have to see Prague in the night, or there really is no point going there. The lights make everything look so much more amazing than in just daylight. We were so stunned by the beauty of some buildings, so much grandeur, it really felt then like we were in the heart of Europe. We walked into the night all the way to Charles Bridge and then reached the hostel exhausted. The next day we had an early start, we headed to shop for some souvenirs and then went for a free Sandeman's walking tour of the Old Town and Wenceslas Square, with a really animated and theatrical old Irish man as our guide before heading out on a river cruise. The city is so pretty and I think there're tourists all year round. Tourists everywhere we looked. After the cruise we walked to the Prague castle and I had some fun trying to grab the attention of this cute guard outside and tried to get him to smile to no avail but he apparently winked at me on our way out lol. Then we went to St. Nicholas Church and tried Langos and some hot wine again.

We then had to get back to the hostel, get our bags and head to the bus station and we reached Warsaw Sunday morning, and spent all day there, more walking around, in the Old Town there, I posed with some super complacent birds - one on my head and one on my hand, and I tried Burger King for the first time at Centrum mall, before taking the bus back home. Home. No longer my home. Can't believe this is my last night in this room.

Last night, me and Donna went to the next dorm building to hang with some friends and it started snowing so heavily for the first time. We got so excited we immediately got downstairs and decided to go to Tesco for some Spanish mandarins (that are so small and sweet, I'm taking 6 of them and my one special big orange along with lots of other food to London) at 1 AM. We were children again, having snowball fights in the middle of the road. The excitement in the air was contagious and it really felt like a dream considering earlier that day me and Donna were talking about how it should snow properly before I left so that we could make snow angels. And so I did, and we also made a little snow man. We got home around 4 AM and I could only sleep at 5 AM because I was still so psyched about the awesome snowfall.

Today we had a farewell party with all the EPs and main AIESEC managers. We had pizza (really spicy and nice after the longest time) and we were interviewed and I came on TV for the first time, SEE! and said our final goodbyes to everyone.

The wind is still so strong and it's very cold tonight and it's been snowing on and off today as well. This time tomorrow I will be on my way to Warsaw and staying up despite not having slept enough just so I can get the ice-cream that PolskiBus likes to give its passengers at 4 AM for some reason. I'm very excited for London. But right now I'm also a little blue. Having to say goodbye always sucks. I'm going to miss Rzeszow (I can finally say it right), I am going to miss Donna, I am going to miss all the lovely food - pierogi, kielbasa, goumki, rosol, I am going to miss the friends I made here, the quiet, the beauty of this place, the way the sky looks at all times, the way buses run so beautifully on time, PMS (Polish Man Smell) - even though 90% of it is the horrible kind, Filon freaks partying all the time, cooking (rather watching Donna cook) and using the awesome modern stove (kamna in Czech!), all our fun visits to Biedronka trying to figure out which new food to try - from flavoured yoghurt, to type of cheese and bread, to random impulse buys (mostly chocolate ;P), waiting for the green light while my toes froze before we would cross the road (how civilized lol), buying studenski tickets for everything as much as possible, walking to school, to Millenium Hall, going to Dara, meeting our manager, planning trips, budgeting plans that always failed at the sight of good food, and so many more memories.

I shall end this super long post here now and call it a night. I've been typing for an hour now I think. Longest time spent actually composing in this window as normally I type on my phone and then transfer to the laptop. I'll post pictures on this later. Or maybe I won't post pictures. Maybe a link to album when I am home.

I'm saving all my socks for London and so I'm having to wear my gloves as socks and this is what it looks like right now, which is so poetic because it looks like I am waving goodbye (albeit with my feet)

Goodbye Poland. :) :( :) And dziekuje for everything you've given me. See you soon!

"I'm lost and alone and I'm fair and I'm free

You am what you is and I are who I be

What I'm lacking in strength I make up for in smarts

You keep your stability I'll keep my heart
Hop the next bus and run for the border
I am the wander's wandering daughter
So long it's been good to know ya
I've got to be moving along"

SeaTs!

You know how low lying islands are being submerged regularly because of global warming melting ice caps right, so we should build this super durable structure, preferably transparent, starting from the ocean floor and reaching all the way above sea level so it's as tall as the Eiffel Tower and then it should stretch out to either side to form a T. And a city should be built on top, one that is sustainable enough to never need complete refurbishment(?). And the building should obviously be strong enough to support the plateau city on top. It should heavily secured and unbreakable, anti-earthquake and anti-tsunami. It should be transparent so that people can take the elevator and go all the way down to the ocean floor and be able to see the ruins of civilisations past and ofcourse sea animal life. But not everyone should be allowed to do it, otherwise terrorists need only figure out how to destroy the building to bring the whole SeaT down.
Get it? SeaTs = Cities = Seats
So cool!
Also since ^ is pretty flawed and won't work in real life, a more realistic SeaT would be to build one on good on land, and this actually would work in overpopulated cities. So there could be levels too. Like a Sea F or a huge Sea PI. And the richest people would be able to afford the highest levels and they'd have helipads there too where they can just fly around to different levels if need be, and so on.
SeaTs are the FUTURE!