He came to me fully grown as a seven-year-old boy about to turn eight, so that’s how I always saw him, as the boy who lived below us in my building and was a year and a month younger than me. There were three of us on our side of the building, so that there…
Category: Long(er) Reads
Posts that cover a wide variety of topics you can really sink your teeth into.
The Author Contemplates a Childhood Friendship Lost
Meeting Ethnic Kin M. would kill me if she found out I was writing this. I can say this for sure because when I wrote a fun piece about our friendship and tracked her down to ok it, she took months to reply and then told me that the reason she did was she was…
10 Things No One Tells You About Poland
Poland can be many things to many people, depending on whom you ask. To the person seeking (more) info on their ancestors, it’s a treasure trove of information, facts and discoveries that lead to new explorations and also clarifications. To the Erasmus student it is a funfair that lasts as long as the exchange, with…
Finland’s Incessant Need for the Volunteer (always of foreign origin, never a Finn)
“We don’t really do volunteer work in Finland as such, because we get paid for charity work,” is what I heard many times when I inquired about volunteer work in Finland. And yet I really did keep hearing of people volunteering their time and expertise to a variety of causes. There were the retired folks…
The Cynical Non-Pole-With-Polish-Roots Observes Preparations for the Next Polish Event and Provides Her Opinion
It’s that time of the year again, where spring cleaning coincides with First Communion prep, embedded into attendance at church, last minute shopping and that final, mad desperate rush for presents. It’s not just about the family being together, it’s also about being seen – at church, in the neighborhood and perhaps most importantly at…
I Made a Salesman Cry Today at the Cattle Market ahem Job Fair – for real this time
cntd from previous post But the best part was the Robotics Club Extra as I’ll call it. Think of your own religion or one adjacent to you. Now think of the holy centers where they study that scripture that defines their religion. Think of the men (it’s always the men) who study there, their smooth…
I Made a Salesman Cry Today at the Cattle Market ahem Job Fair
Disclaimer. I had to split this into two parts, so this part has no crying. Just so you know, because this is not a ploy to get you to read more or click to read more so I can rake in the big bucks 😀 Finns are usually a traditional bunch, who (would) much prefer…
Road Trip to Silesia IV – on friendship(s) (and) final thoughts
Road Trip to Silesia IV – on friendship(s) (and) final thoughts There is an epilogue to all this, because there always is an epilogue to all this once you’ve come back, decompressed and attained the benefit of hindsight. It helps that you are not dependent on anyone or any circumstance in that particular situation. The…
Silesia III – The Spritzwasser of Clubs
It wasn’t the club scene that was holding us back. It was a feeling, a tingling sense that shouldn’t be ignored and that quite frankly got me out of trouble plenty of times in the past. Because truth is, I loved hanging out where there were people, and whether that was a cafe, a restaurant,…
On the Power of Saying Yes – Epiphany Rock
I’m not a big church goer, preferring my own interpretation of things, but there’s a beautiful chapel right behind where I live when I happen to hang out in Poland, and an even more beautiful church, so when I was invited to the carol singing for Epiphany, I decided why not. The original plan was…
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