A questionably nice surprise

Two days ago, I met Asia and her friends in the tent to celebrate her birthday. My good mood, knowing I was about to meet some people I hadn't seen for quite a long time, and that I was about to enjoy a fun night out at the workplace, did not predict in any way the melodramatic and somewhat embarrassing outcome of the night.
The bomb exploded the minute I set foot in the tent. I wanted to turn around the very next minute, leave the bar without any further explanation and never come back. By some sort of magic, I managed to control my emotions. For a while.
There she was, sitting behind the bar, pretty, young, with her beautiful brown locks: the new bartender. It should've crossed my mind that with the new bar soon to be open for business, with me leaving Kato in two weeks, there would be someone new showing up, sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to be that soon, and I certainly didn't expect to find her there, without some kind of previous warning. So I did what any sane person would do. I sat down with Asia and her friends and kept staring at the new girl, while trying to run a decent conversation. Of course this only lasted for about half an hour, after which I was incapable of any kind of conversation, decent or not, smart or completely idiotic. There I was, having beers with some of our regulars, while the new girl was pouring us the beers. Well, not me, because whenever I wanted a refill, I'd make sure Magda took care of that. I was sad and disappointed and I couldn't hide it. The one place that had really felt at home, that gave me the feeling I was part of something and I belonged somewhere, in a city I disliked and had nothing in common with, had slapped me in the face so hard that my eyes filled up with tears almost instantly. For a while, I managed to hold them back. Unfortunately, a few hours and several beers later, having observed the new girl in the tiniest detail, I couldn't control my tears. The tent has witnessed a lot, but I somehow doubt it's seen any of its bartenders crying because of it. Which was very frustrating, in the end, for several reasons. First of all, Sanchez would have never ever cried in the Tapioca. Second of all, I'd rather be caught wearing no perfume than be seen crying in public. And third of all, I had no real reason, except my oversized ego which just couldn't tolerate the thought that I was replaceable. Not even replaced, just replaceable. The good part of the story is that most people in the tent are normal and nice and tolerant. Top of the list is Pan Janek, who in the end explained the whole situation, which was in fact a matter of the obvious (they really, really need new people), gave me a hug and sent me home, telling me he expects me to show up the next day and to train the new girl.
And that's exactly what I did. Having calmed down and with a more rational approach to the whole situation, I showed up at work yesterday. For two hours, I did nothing but talk to people, occasionally selling beer to my favourite clients, and let her do the rest of the work. By midnight, I was alone behind the bar and happier than ever before to be there.

My perfect weekend

On Friday, after being kicked out of the library, Asia and I decided it was time for some cultural delights. So we adventured to the northern part of Kato, ready to explore the workers' district and planning to visit the art museum. After a trip that seemed to take ages and to take us out of the city, we reached our destination. Like the neighbourhood itself, the art museum was deserted, so we practically had the naive art exhibition all to ourselves. And then we voted our favourite artist. There's a voting fever in the air, wherever I go, whereer I turn, I can vote for something. Not that I actually do it all the time, but I have this option. Unless spent somewhere by the sea, summer can really suck, so maybe that's why we spice it up with votes and charts and statistics.
The houses in Nikiszowiec look identical, and there's nothing but houses in the entire district, except for the market which has a post office and a church. It used to have a bar, too, but something really odd must have happened, since the bar was closed and it seemed to have been in that state for quite some time. So on our way back to Ligota we stopped for a beer at a very optimistic bar, one that wishes you "happy holidays" in the middle of July. I was hoping we'd get presents, too.








In the meantime, back at the tent, we're in business with the new bar. Well, almost, since it's still a few weeks to go until the grand opening, but the new tent is in our back yard, raising a lot of questions about the kinds of drinks we'll serve, the heating system, the inauguration party - questions we obviously answer with an evasive "you'll have to wait and see", as we also have to wait and see. I'd suggest putting bourbon on the menu. The new bar is quite controversial among the old bartenders: Titior claims he won't ever work there, Magda thinks the scond bar doesn't really fit in the backyard of the first bar, Jacek is wondering how we're going to split the shifts and Pan Janek is busy trying to keep everything under control. As for me, I'm quite happy and enthusiastic with our new baby, mostly because now I really feel I'm part of this from the very beginning. I've heard so many stories about how the tent began 10 years ago, but it is only now I am able to tell a story of my own, from the very beginning. So yes, if I'll be around, I'll work in the second bar, even though rumour has it this bar will be a non-smoking place, and my fellow workers keep teasing me about it.


Sunday morning I took myself to the movies. Nothing compares to having the whole cinema to yourself, so that you can fully enjoy the life of Mademoiselle Coco avant Chanel. I wore my mother's pearls and later on went shopping for shoes and boxes. As I started packing, I realized I was starting to say goodbye to the city. After almost a year, I'm not expecting anything more from Kato. If, however, something is going to happen, I'll consider it a nice surprise. But as far as I'm concerned, I have no expectations. And for the first time in my life, I have no idea what the future holds. And I'm sort of enjoying this freedom, for I know it won't last forever.

Voting time

As you may or may not know, but hopefully by now you do know, I'm learning Polish. So is Bilus. And since we love it so much, we have a blog where we share our learning experience and the wonders of Polish grammar. A few days ago, our blog has been nominated for the "Top 100 Language Blogs 2009" competition. Voting is now open and will close on July 27, leaving you enough time to follow this link and vote for us :)

Hearts and stars over Bucharest

Today I took the Internet out to lunch. Since we cannot hang out in my room anymore, we're meeting daily at the library, which is kinda cute because it reminds me of the days when I used to have an office and a schedule I needed to stick to. After four hours of bliss we were kicked out of the library, so we had to move to the pub. And finally, having taken care of all urgent matters, I give you Bucharest.

During the last days of my stay there, I understood what's so special about the city. Nothing. There's something special about us and the city. It's the perfect playground. Ever since college, we've been planning stuff, reading, writing about what we read, later on we started writing our own novels and short stories, and this whole time we felt there's still so many things to do, to discuss, to plan. We founded two magazines, one that died before we graduated and another one that's still alive and kicking and it pretty much resembles a display of our personal obsessions in terms of literature. Some of us got lost on the way, others are just temporarily unavailable, but something tells me in a few years we'll be back together, and something spectacular will come out of all our plans. There's no other explanation for the energy we have, for our power to reinvent ourselves and our world, to start over, fresh and enthusiastic. I used to think I need to take some time off and find inspiration in some faraway lands, when all it took was some time with my friends. In the city where it all began.
*
While Ana was trying to put together the last bits of a project, I was trying to put my passion for The Book and its author in a theoretical framework, reading stuff about Giddens, Calvino, intimacy and interpretation. Didn't draw the conclusions yet, however one thing's certain: this is a perfect example of over-interpretation, so maybe I should stop obsessing over it. Then again, it's probably a bit too late.
*
Before I left, she gave me the yet unpublished novel of a guy I vaguely knew, but from what I remember he was ok and so is the novel, too bad our publishing houses are acting strange and somehow seem to have an inclination for communism-related writings, so if you don't write about it you should be preapred to wait. A lot. So I got to thinking about my own book, about the options I have once I'm done writing. The good news is my book can be better defined as a salad at this stage, so there's still a lot of work before I seriously consider choosing a publisher.
*
And of course let's not forget the beers and the perfect lazy afternoon, on the roof of the National Theatre:
And the heat:
And the pile of stuff in our office, where I found a booklet that gave me a wonderful idea for a new column. And a few other ideas :)

Rehab

I have no Internet. And I won't have any, for the rest of my stay in Katowice, because apparently people don't need it in the akademik during summer holidays. However, down the corridor there's this small room, which I suspect used to be the detention room, lurid, damp and cold, which is called "sala komputerowa". There's six computers at our disposal, they look shiny and neat and they supposedly have Internet. I couldn't really tell, since I couldn't plug any of them in, as they have no wires. Luckily, the library is still open until the 16th of July and there's one pub downtown where you can connect to the Internet. Maybe I can move there.
This morning I woke up to discover we also have no electricity or hot water. It's probably one of the unwritten rules of the student dorms in Katowice: if you decide to spend your summer here, you're in for a spiritual experience, even though you didn't ask for one. Spending quality time with yourself, with no connection to the world, hearing the birds sing once your laptop is out of battery, drying you hair in the sun and staying away from the guilty pleasure of fresh made coffee in the morning- is there anything more I could wish for?
It's still a good thing nothing's changed in the tent, we have coffee and electricity, I have friends who live nearby, they have Internet, so somehow everything will be alright. The best part is I got a good dose of energy and enthusiasm back in Bucharest, and I can only hope it will last.

Coming up soon: the untold stories from Bucharest.

Tell me that you'll wait for me

This happened before the whole trip back home - Bucharest thing. Ligota said goodbye, in the most wonderful way possible. Since I've decided it's time to stop living in the future and start focusing on the present, no word about July and leaving Kato, Ligota and the tent for good. Even though I don't think anyone can really leave for good. They all come back. And somehow I feel this time I won't make an exception. But there's another time and another post for this. In the meantime, the pic was too pretty to keep to myself:

Back in Bucharest

Updates: the car was miraculously fixed, my Dad met Ligota, the tent and the wild boars, I managed to get some sleep  on the way back home, and it was quite refreshing (then again, I could've slept in the closet, on a hanger, I still would've felt refreshed, that's how exhausted I was) and we got home safe. Met Mom, had a good laugh and a long talk, and yesterday I was already on my way to Bucharest. What a wonderful feeling, when you can't hear yourself think because of all the cars & honks, when you can't cross the street without almost being run over by a bus, when it's so warm that you practically melt, when everything comes back to you in the most natural way possible. And even though there's things that still annoy me, I'm so, so happy to be back, and nothing can change my mood.

Not even an exam. I wrote it this morning and passed it with 9 points out of 10 *bragtime*. One step closer to my BA in Polish Philology.

I spent most of yesterday's evening with Asia, my Polish teacher (well, she was teaching in Bucharest, now she's going back home - to Kato / Ligota -  so whoopee! we'll finally meet in Poland, and have time for all the things we've been planning, like writing projects, organizing concerts and exhibitions and artsy-stuff) . I got back to Pupi's place way too late to revise anything for the exam. But now it doesn't really matter, turns out the year spent in Kato was enough of a revision.

Today I was supposed to do some writing, because my paper is still far from having a finite form. Instead, I met Pupi and we took a long walk in the center - there's way too many stories to be shared when you haven't seen your best friend for almost a year now - and on the way home she decided to impress me with her cooking skills (as if I still needed to be impressed. as if cooking could impress me. but we gave it a shot - actually she did, while I was drinking coffee and smoking. and of course in the meantime we were talking about the tent, art galleries, boys, learning Polish and tomatoes).

Artist at work:

Pupi's world famous pasta:

*note: they are world famous because her significant other also enjoyed them, and he's French. Since I'm 10% Polish and an elf, Pupi's pasta gained world recognition. 

The sunset, out on the balcony. Charging my batteries. There's no words to describe how much I missed this city. And how happy I am with our long distance relationship.It's best if our love keeps us apart, at least for the time being. 

Beyond my control

It's that time of the year when I have to cram everything in 24 hours. Not exactly an easy task. Things got a little bit out of hand when I found out that I have to be back in Bucharest on the 18th in order to sit the final exam and hopefully graduate. I was planning (booked ticket, scheduled my meetings and my coffees) to go back around the 20th, so imagine my surprise at hearing the news. Maybe I should've called the Uni earlier to figure these things out, but I've been so utterly busy being depressed and then pulling myself out of my misery, that it just slipped my mind. All the technical and administrative details are way beyond my comprehension, so I have my Dad to thank for having managed to survive in the University, putting my files together and registering me for the exams. Also, I have my Dad to thank for having decided to come pick me up from Poland - it's quite typical in our family: my last days in any given city (be it for a school thing, a work thing or just a trip with my friends) are with no exception more complicated than my entire stay in that place. And also with a very low budget, running out of time and paranoid. So I can hardly handle it, hence I make a phone call, freak out and push the accelerator. Somehow, I always manage to get a lot of people involved in my problems and the first candidates are, of course, ze parents. This time I hit the jackpot - I also involved an entire University and some of my local acquaintances, not to mention that I screwed up the work chart and the shifts in the tent.
Speaking of the tent, I recently discovered I still can't get along with children and I have very little tolerance of those small creatures running around, screaming and eating ice-cream while their parents have a beer or two. The afternoon shift may sometimes resemble a trip to the kindergarten and I become neurotic.
On the other hand, I have Ciechel to thank for a wonderful suggestion: using the verb bartenting instead of bartending. Bartenting, not yet to be found in dictionaries, is the art of bartending practiced in the tent, with its very own standards and code of behaviour. It's what we do best, and it's what I'll miss most after leaving Kato.
Yes, I'm quite nostalgic and even though this past week has been very, very rough (I'm quite pleased with myself, no nervous breakdown yet) I've had the tent to keep me going, and everybody's been extra nice. Szabot suggested I should stop wasting my nights studying and writing, take a break and get drunk for three days in a row. I considered it, but I was afraid it would only complicate things even more, so I'll have to pass the idea, at least for now. Three days is too much, one night was quite ok :)
Once this mess will be sorted out, I'll have time to write something more elaborate about these people and what a wonderful gift they were for me, all of them (all of the regular customers, that is).
For now, I have to focus on my paper - which, of course, is not yet complete.
Being under this much pressure, I've come up with an idea for the following few years, which involves fellowships, a PhD, translations and another blog (thank you Bilus for the hint, I didn't think I'd make it, yet somehow things worked out, later than expected but nevertheless they did) - it's such a gorgeous plan, now I know how the goose that laid the golden eggs must have felt.
Oh and one more thing: as to get my BA, I have to take an exam in Polish, which makes perfect sense. But that's not all. On the 23rd of June, I also have to take an exam in English. I did that a few years ago and I do have a BA in English Philology, but no one seems to care. So yes, I'll have to translate something to / from English and rephrase, fill in the gaps and prove I am capable of building a flawless "if-clause".

Update: There's something wrong with the car. Something very wrong, so it's highly possible Dad won't be showing up in Poland after all. I have three days and no money to get to Bucharest. The money part is easier - I'll do what I always do in such situations, even though the older I get, the more embarrassing it is, ask my parents for cash. Now time, that's a real problem. But the number of people involved in my complicated life keeps getting bigger and bigger - mechanics, cousins, aunts and uncles, friends of the mechanics, ex-husbands of distant relatives I have never met and the list is still open. Maybe I'll start a club: People who never want to deal with Rux again. And then I'll run for president of this club.

Sleep issues

Lately I've been having very elaborate dreams. They have plots, characters, dialogues and the worst part is... I remember them. First I thought it was an accident and I figured it can't be that damaging. But it is, mainly because I wake up very tired and try to put the pieces together. It all comes back to me bit by bit, during the day, long forgotten memories resurface, people from my past meet the people from my present in rather weird and unexpected settings, I have to deal with strange situations and awkward colour-schemes. Sometimes it's hilarious, some other times it's just odd, and my mornings were rough enough as they were, I didn't really need the company of my subconscious over coffee.
And I also have a dilemma. Is it possible to dream that you're having one drink too many and then wake up with a hangover? Because if it isn't, I have a problem.

June

After a very busy and intense May, which has dragged me through a mild depression, too many unproductive days spent in the library, a few sleepless nights, a birthday party, a break up, thoughtless spending and some life changing decisions (again) I entered June feeling lighter, not necessarily happier - then again, I'm wary of stating or even acknowledging my happiness. The bright part is I'm not confused anymore, and that is indeed a step forward.
But I'm exhausted. And I can bet I'll find other reasons to be confused by the end of this week. Hopefully, they'll only be related to grammar and the history of Polish literature, and these will be the only things on my mind at least in the foreseeable future.