With the end of summer and the inevitable approach of fall, a young man’s fancy does surely turn to soup. … And one of the soups I fancy most is a soup I fell in love with during my three years of living in Poland. If I quizzed you on Polish soups, many would say…
Adjustments
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from My Canadian Eyesight) I am not going to share pictures of this, but over my four years abroad, I had discovered a Bohemian that was living inside me … and I had the attire, the long hair (yes) and the beard to prove it. Honestly, in the moment, it…
My Canadian Eyesight
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Panic Attacks) Home is a blur. I mean that in all manners: it was fast, sensory overload, a long-time ago, and it was disconcerting. I know that I experienced full-on culture shock. I remember walking Ben on the streets at dusk thinking that someone had quietly dropped a neutron…
Panic Attacks
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Export) Leaving Poland was surreal and it remains surreal in my memory. Once we returned from Turkey on October 20, we had but a week remaining to finalize our departure. The Bolesławiec had been shipped before we left for Turkey. After investigating all options for transport, I elected to…
Export
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Perspective) Returning to Canada also involved the assumed complication of setting up an export/import business. That is to say, we needed to figure out how we would get Benjamin back to Canada. To this day, when I introduce Ben or even the picture of Ben to anyone and they…
Perspective
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Decisions) Choosing to return required almost more preparation than it took to leave Canada four years earlier. When we left, we were new grads with little in the way of reasonability and what possessions we owned were mostly boxed and stored away in Andrea’s parents’ basement. In preparing to…
Decisions
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Super-Dog) The decision to return to Canada was in many ways obvious and necessary. That didn’t make the decision any easier, however. By the time we made the decision, we’d been gone more than three years and by the time we’d return, it would be over four years that…
Super-Dog
Chapter 2: A Polish Year (continued from Mikołajki) The next morning we sheepishly awoke, had Polish coffee (which is a fine coffee you place in the cup and cover with hot water then stir and wait till the grounds settle, and then drink between pursed lips), along with bread, cold cuts, and cheese … a…
Mikołajki
Chapter 2: A Polish Year (continued from Camping) We arrived in Mikołajki around mid-afternoon after a beautiful and scenic drive north. It was a rather unique experience, actually, because apart from the occasional lift around town offered by Magda and a few other friends, and other than the trip to to Łosice at New Years, we…
Camping
Chapter 2: A Polish Year (continued from Intermezzo) One of our last adventures in Poland proper would be a camping trip that summer in Masuria (pronounced much like the American state) which is the Polish equivalent of Britain’s “Lake District” because of the 2000 lakes the wind and connect through this northern part of Poland….