I’ve never been a fan of the snow. When I was a kid I tolerated it in that I enjoyed it – more so if it happened to come down just before Christmas and then had the good grace to disappear by the end of January, or at the very latest, the very first week…
Tales of the Polish Relatives: my grandfather (and a little bit of my mother’s mother too)
My grandfather was a deeply religious man, who had one final semester left at the seminary before he met my grandmother and decided that what God really wanted for him was to create a family and a life with the beautiful blonde peasant girl he saw. This is according to my mother and I will…
Was tun wenn’s in Helsinki regnet
Anreise wegen Schnee, Abreise mit blühenden Wiesen. Ganz so ist es zwar nicht, aber wer zwecks Schnee nach Helsinki kommt, kann sehr schnell ein anderes Szenario vorfinden, als was man sich im Finnair bzw. Lufthansa Flug ausmalte. Dabei stellt sich recht schnell die Frage, was man denn überhaupt in Helsinki machen kann, wenn es kein…
On the Misleading Concept of Friendship – a post in honor of Finnish Friendship Day
Finns pride themselves on many things, and one of the things they will humblebrag on – alongside their claim to honesty, drinking capabilities and high tolerance of cold temperatures (due largely with the aid of the former) – is their concept of friendship. “A Finnish friend is a friend for life,” they will tell you….
Coffee, Crepes and Great Vibes on a Rainy Saturday in February
Crepe Cafe is one of those places in Warsaw’s Powisle district that you may or may not miss. Practically at the descent of PKP Powisle (the local train stop), it may or may not be easy to miss if it weren’t for the statue standing outside. The first time we ended up there was when…
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,…
Intro to Beauty, Skincare & Style with @nobordersforbeauty
Moving to a new country can be daunting enough without the added pressure of not knowing what might await your skin and hair in terms of pleasant or slightly less pleasant surprises. Add to this the uncertainty of how to manage dressing within your style in weather conditions you might not be that used to…
Silesia II – An Interlude on Relationship Dynamics
Then there was the issue of the club. She really wanted to go there because it spelled freedom for one night. That was the main reason she’d asked us along on this trip, more than chipping in for gas. Her husband was tending to their infant, which translated into frantic phone calls from home every…
The Avon Lady is Not The Only One Who Hates Me – a treatise on my relationship with conservative societies
We ran into the Avon Lady again the other day. As always in these cases, I was with her neighbor and – again as always in these cases – we saw her son first. He greeted his neighbor, looked a question at me as though he wasn’t quite sure whether to talk to me or…
talesfromyourlocalpubs 