do widzenia, moja milosc

Current mood:hopeful and expectant

i'm working my last day of work before i leave on wednesday. i'm excited and terrified and tired. i'm also remembering how planes make me feel claustrophobic. stuck in a metal box, unable to open a window. uck.

this is the man i am going to find out about. that is my mom at three years old. she looks as tough as she is. my uncle jacob, next to her, is dead now. so are my grandparents. i never knew my grandfather. in all the pictures i've seen of him he looks mean.

wish me luck. blow me kisses. buy me a drink when i get back in may.

Currently reading: Foucault's Pendulum By Umberto Eco Release date: 13 November, 1990

Moja glowa zadaje ból. Zadna krowa, sprawiac przyjemnosc

Current mood:strangely confusedd

two weeks from tomorrow i will be in warsaw, watching polish children do whatever polish children do on easter sunday. i really have very little clue what easter in poland consists of. i know it has something to do with eggs, gaily painted eggs. and church, lots and lots of church. i know what my endless parade of expatriate great aunts used to do on easter, and that mainly consisted of eating kielbasa with sharp knives. and all sorts of beef concoctions. and drinking wine. lots of wine.

which brings me to the reason for the whole trip: finding out where the fuck my family's been and what they're all about. primarily, my mom wants to find out more about her father, who was an interesting guy, to say the least. it also brings me to the greatest fear i have, as well, that lonely planet's assertion that vegetarians will not starve in poland is horribly, terribly wrong, and that i will find nothing to eat but the meals that plagued my childhood. shredded beef and sausage. yikes. at least i hear polish beer is strong. whether or not it's yummy is another matter. i am determined to not spend the ENTIRE time i'm there figuring that out. maybe most of it, though. mmm, foreign beer.

i guess i will know all about the food and beer and easter thing soon enough.

my mom and i have been planning this trip for about 5 years. maybe more, if you count the fact that my aunt sophie was supposed to bring me the summer after my junior year in high school. as usual, sophie didn't carry through on her promises. sigh. which is probably a good thing, since all she talked about was how i should be looking for a nice boy. i think she wanted to take me to hook me up with a future husband of her choosing. so, no loss.

now i get to go and have fun with my mom and offend people all over the country with my lack of a grasp of the language. every few years i start to try to learn some polish, only to ... well, stop trying. pretty quick. i'm doing better this time. over three weeks rushing around the country, and i'll probably be confused to hear english when i get back. wahoo.

(oh, yeah, and the first sentence in the subject, according to www.poltran.com, translates word for word to "My head assigns pain." oddly fitting.)

Currently reading: Teach Yourself Polish Complete Course (book + CD pack) (Teach Yourself . . . Complete Courses) By Nigel Gotteri Release date: 21 April, 2004