As the bells toll and the fireworks are popping off, some people might dread that which is to come in a few hours. Namely, the Relative Fight Fest.That occasion when everyone gathers together, tensions mount and you begin to understand within seconds why it is that you normally don’t hang out, unless a “family occasion”…
Tag: patriarchal society
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…
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,…
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…
(Im)Perfection in Polish Beauty – the Avon Lady (and her partner)
Her (perceived) youth was her calling card and what kept her alive in society, because it helped her cement her place by showing that despite her divorce and teenage child, she was still able to snag and keep that other most desired commodity – the reason a perfect figure and beauty was needed in the first place – a man by her side, if not for real then at least for the optics.