Photo 1: Kevin leaves for Poland (again)
I am leaving for Poland (again). I did a sort of commentary blog during my first Poland sabbatical in 2012, and then a daily photo blog for the Fulbright in 2016-17. We will make this sort of an occasional photo-commentary this time around: some interesting pictures, with some culture, language, history, and sights.
This first picture was taken the day before I left. Yes, it is snowing (“śneig” – the accented s is a “sh” sound). The physical plant had to remove a snowbank so we could get up the base of the sign for this picture. Poland sees a LOT LESS snow, despite this being some 5 degrees higher latitude; there is presently no snow on the ground in northern Poland, though there is snow in the southern mountains. I think the warmer conditions in northern Poland is caused in part by the Atlantic Gulf Stream with some influence by the nearby Baltic Sea.
Photo 2: The Tram
Poland being a European city has a well-established tram system. In the first couple of days in Poland I quickly got familiar again with the routes around my apartment and office. By and large, I could probably move about the city easier by tram than by car.
Photo 3: Kevin’s work environment
This is my office (biuro). My fancier microscope from the Fulbright is now in Warsawa. There is a nearby table that will be generally full of volumes of Deep Sea Drilling literature. I have some three or four projects from the past sabbatical, at least one big new project to do and another to start. These papers can often take a long time. I recently assisted some Polish colleagues down the hall with a very nice igneous paper that took three years to do (I helped with the English, not the igneous geology).
Photo 4: Nearby grocery store.
This is the nearby grocery. Polish salaries are not very high by our standards, and so most Polish cook their own food to save money. People buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and the variety of meats is quite extensive. Also good cheese (ser). I stop here most mornings on my way to the office to buy yogurt and some fruit. Also at the grocery store, shovels are 18,99 ($5), next to this is antifreeze for 12,99 ($3.50).
Photo 5: Groceries
Here are my groceries the day. The food prices here are very inexpensive by our standards, but keep in mind salaries are low by about the same margins. What you see here – two 2-liter containers of very good fruit juice, two mid-sized containers of yogurt, a 1,4 liter bottle of “bitter-lemon” soda (very good), some high-quality cooking oil and a four-pack of beer (piwo), plus the bag (you pay for that) – cost me 31,22 złoty [yes, Poles use commas instead of decimal points]. That amounts to $8.34 American (the 4-pack of beer is $2, and this is better than most-any beer in Caribou that you can buy in a can).
Photo 6a: the Rotary Club
My first week in Poland is a lot about renewing acquaintances. On Wednesday I had dinner with the UniversityChinese Club – I was not yet in the habit of taking pictures. On Thursday, dinner at a local small (and locally historic) music hall with the Szczecin International Rotary Club. Some good conversation. The past president tells me about the Planet Head Day plans for the Interact Club…
Photo 6b: Rotary meal
My dinner at the Rotary meeting is a salad with some fried chicken (kurczak), some good bread … and very good Polish dark beer (served in a Guinness glass).
Photo 7: Dinner at Cutty Sark Pub
This is dinner on Friday at the Cutty Sark Pub with Cüneyt, a colleague from Turkey. We talk a lot about the international activities at our Oceanography program at Szczecin. (I have recently published a paper with another Turkish colleague). Cüneyt is leaving in two days for a stay at another program in southeastern Poland – the total opposite end of the country from Szczecin. He works to talk me into doing a talk at a phytoplankton conference there in May.
Photo 8a,b: Farmers Market
This is my first Saturday morning in Szczecin, so I revert to my old habit of buying eggs (jajka, in cartons of ten) from a guy who comes from a nearby village to sell at the farmers market. I also buy pears (gruszki) and a coat, as I only came with a light jacket.
Photo 9: Dinner with friends
On Saturday (sabota) evening I have dinner with old neighbors and good friends Angieszka Babska and Krystoff Babski (the end of the last name changes with gender) and their twin children Maja (left) and Jeremy (next to the right). They are 15 years old, and getting ready for high school, which in Poland is three years. Maya plans to study law and Jeremy chemical engineering; he has already had three years of chemistry (in middle school!). Krystoff does not come for dinner, but we all get together with another neighbor after dinner.