It’s the second day of the December and I am now here, in Poland, for exactly two months, two days and some seconds. Finally, I was able to find some time to reflect the past two months and the following words are the narrative I have in mind now.
It’s a rainy day in September, all trains in parts of Northern Germany are cancelled and the wind is blowing through the woods. The landscape flying by outside is gray, everything seems to look the same and nobody is talking in the carriage. The Polish border arrives, it flies by, nobody cares. I take a photo.
Five hours later, I arrive at Warszawa Centralna. It is still raining, the wind is still blowing, but the landscape has changed. I feel like a small boy coming out of hole, climbing the escalator and stepping out of the main hall directly onto Times Square. The flourishing light is reflected by the many puddles and the whole street is shining bright in the night.
“Dzień dobry!” “Dzień dobry!” „Jedna bułka, proszę.“ „To wszystko?“ „Tak. Dziękuję! Do widzenia!“ „Do widzenia!” My first Polish conversation in a local bakery in Warsaw. I ordered a bread roll and something else I don’t remember anymore. It was quite tasty and the first time I tried Polish food. It was the start of my trying-as-much-Polish-food-as possible-marathon.
It’s a Saturday morning with bad weather and the train is delayed as always here in Poland. The train stops, the door opens and I step out. I am looking around for people who are waiting for us and indeed there are four persons approaching us. After another frightening lift experience at a Polish train station, we are taken to our new home. The warm welcome we received here definitely outweighed the bad weather.
We leave the apartment to meet a student from the school in Wojkowice who lives in a neighbouring block. It’s a suny, but cold Sunday afternoon. He starts to show us around the town, tells us a bit about what to do and answers some of the many questions. The tristesse of this place is unbelievable. The sun is soaked up by the gray buildings, the dirty air and the mood of the people.