Time to Party!

            Hahaha. So much for getting home by 17:30 today in order to do laundry! Bahahahaha. Seriously, it’s 22:15, and I just got home. What in the world changed my day so much as to, ya know, delay my arrival by nearly five hours? A lot.

            Let’s start with factor number one. Agata, from Michał called today, to ask me about my plans for our hair cut. Ya see, I was expecting it to be Friday, so that wouldn’t have been an issue, but unsurprisingly, Michał couldn’t take care of the kids then, and the hair stylist Agata was talking about only had Wednesday and Friday open. So she asked if I was busy Wednesday. Actually, I was. So I asked what time. And her idea of meeting up Wednesday was 15 minutes before my previous plans. What were my previous plans? Go to the Book of Mormon study at 18:00, and I had specifically told the Elders I would be there. I really don’t like not keeping my word. However, while listening to her, she sounded really sad that I really couldn’t get around it, and that it wouldn’t work out for me. Phrases like: “Oh, that’s unfortunate… that’s a shame…” stuff like that which really stab at the heart.

            Therefore, after hanging up, I decided to give it a shot and try to reschedule to meet with the Mormons another day. Aka, today. Meanwhile, in between this, I also got a phone call from the Zoological Convention I went to a few weeks ago, saying I was the runner up in the little guessing game I tried at while there. So I need to go pick up whatever that is from some place I haven’t been to. That’s going to be interesting cause I didn’t fully get all of what she was saying; the phone I have has a low volume on it, unfortunately… Anyways, back to the rescheduling. I called the Mormons twice, to no avail, and eventually, they called back whatever curious number kept calling. Elder Hooker answered (though I thought it was Elder Tribe, haha), and fortunately, they were free this afternoon! I was surprised whenever he kept talking in Polish when he found it was me, and then he finally was like, Uhhh… can we talk in English? xD Seriously, so surprised.

            So I managed to reschedule that. But I was also invited to the “end of her time at our company” party for Marta this afternoon at 17:30. My coworkers invited me. Like hell I was going to turn down that offer!

            Amongst all of this, I ended up meeting with my boss today as well! He again asked how things were going, and again, I said weakly, but that there was mild interest.

            So at around 16:30, I booked my way out of work so that I could quickly grab a zapiekanka on my way to the meeting due to my hunger. I arrived at the Mormon chapel about 5 minutes early, much to their joy and surprise. Oh, I read much of the Book of Mormon today while at work so that I could actually talk to them about it, and since I had nothing else to do. Originally, since I was going to meet with them tomorrow, I would’ve had today, my laundry day, to read it. So much spontaneity!

            It was Elder Roberts, Elder Hooker, and me. We sat down and they were impressed by the fact I had read so much of it. Let’s see here. Part of the Book of Jacob, Book of Enos through Words of Mormon, part of Book of Mosiah, and all of the Book of Moroni, I think. Sitting down and talking with them about it was nice, actually. I especially enjoyed Book of Jacob, and they were shocked when I said I read Jacob 5; it’s very long, and apparently difficult to completely analyze, but I think I got the basic point of it. We analyzed some other parts, read through some scriptures. It was enjoyable.

            Now, for your potential curiosity, as of yesterday, I’ve decided that I’m going to try and read the world’s major religious scripts and analyze them so that I may understand the beliefs of as many people as possible, as well as further develop my own spirituality, which is something I’ve frequently sought for and struggled through in my life, to be honest. Starting with the Book of Mormon is great, because I actually enjoyed reading some of the scripture, especially the parts that were more lesson-based as opposed to pure history. Though the history was interesting too… There were certain parts that really stuck out to me also, such as helping people with the riches you have through God’s help, and not judging others for their attire. Oh, the importance of men to respect women, essentially, and not have concubines or a few dozen wives. (Sam, if you want, I can chuck the scriptures I found interesting at you; just ask. I have a feeling you’ll enjoy geeking out.)

            After about 40 minutes, at around 17:30, Elder Hooker made sure I had nothing else to do, which I admitted I did, so we determined another 15 minutes would be enough. The awesome part of that? Time flew through all of our analysis and study. I truly enjoyed it. I think it’s the fact that I simply enjoy learning and thinking. All through summer, I haven’t really done much of that, and my job has been far from a challenge, so this is the first time in a while that I’m getting to delve into it and really analyze something.

Elder Hooker made some cool analogies today as well. Such as the example that if way back in the day, when it was believed our world was flat, if you managed to send a man up to space, and he saw that it was round, and came back and claimed it was round, well, that’s sort of like a prophet. Then there was also the “keystone” analogy. The Book of Mormon is the keystone in the arch for everything else, such as the Bible, Baptism, the Doctrines and Covenants, etc.

            Then we said our good byes as we ended our little meeting session. Elder Roberts commented how selfless I am in my prayers, and reminded me I can ask for help for myself too. I dunno, I guess I don’t feel lost nor feel like I need any help? Life’s pretty phenomenal, if you ask me. Ah, unfortunately, Elder Tribe was not there, and he’s transferring Friday morning, so I wished him my best via the two of them.

            Afterwards, I rushed out and tried to find the place we were supposed to meet with our coworkers for the mini celebration. It’s really good I asked Krzysiu to show me on a map where we were meeting, or else I would’ve been lost and given up and left. That, and it’s incredibly fortunate I saw Karol and Krzysiu, the two younger guy coworkers in my office room, walking towards the restaurant when I got there. I went in there with them, ordered myself some black currant juice… It was really funny, because I was thirty minutes late, but the main planners came in after us. Huzzah for European Standard Time! (Aka, it’s a-ok to be late.) However, when they got in there. Surprise surprise. A bucket of iced vodka was placed on our table, shot glasses, grapefruit juice, and some glasses of beer. … Yup. This part of the blog entry is where you’re going to get a lot of new cultural info, actually! :D

            It was really nice, actually, meeting up with everyone after work like that. Although, Aldona immediately warned me that Michał (she called him “wujek Michał” hahah) must not know of this meeting and the fact that there was alcohol, or else I wouldn’t be allowed to go to any more of them. Dead serious too. Little did she know that the first time I got to their house, that first evening they offered me some drinks, which is when they learned, oh wait. I don’t drink. Bahahaha. Oh gosh. I’m so used to having alcohol around me and not really partaking, even when offered. For the love of all that is good, when I first came to Poland in ‘05, when I was 13, people offered me drinks, and were surprised when I said no thank you. … Oh, no I mean seriously, too. However, they still poured me a shot of vodka, and for adventure’s sake, I tried it.

            Good lord, it is nasty. I honestly cannot understand how anyone can drink that. Of course when I said I don’t drink, they all sort of stared at me. Krzysiu immediately blamed the fact I’m from America, to which I retaliated saying, not quite… Considering my parents have wine for dinner every night, and the Polish community… I told them, ya know, I just don’t like alcohol, and Karol was like, “Hah! I don’t like vodka either! You just suck it up and down it!” … Oh boy. Hahahaha.

Although, it was really funny whenever Milena asked, “Wait… you’re from America?” Sweeeet! I’m not known as the American girl in the office!

Then, it got even better. Because when I said I don’t drink, Marta, the girl who is leaving the office, stated, “Oh, that’s all the better for you!”

Meanwhile, Milena tried to assure me, “But it’s not bad, you won’t feel bad, you’ll wake up just fine and alive tomorrow. It won’t affect you, because you have Polish blood!” Yuuuup, Polish blood. It was really funny hearing both of them trying to argue for the other side. Marta drank as well, but that doesn’t mean she can’t acknowledge it’s ok to not drink (based on the amount of negatives in there, that might not make sense; whoops).

I must say I was surprised with myself. Within three and a half hours, I managed to drink… half a shot of vodka. … I felt bad for letting it sit there when someone else could enjoy it instead; I know they don’t like wasting their alcohol. I took about 6 or 7 sips to get it down to half a shot, and I hated myself with every sip. I’m not kidding, after every sip, I downed what was essentially a shot of grapefruit juice or more to get rid of the nasty taste. Mind you, I rather dislike grapefruits and grapefruit juice, but after vodka, it was quite the heavenly taste. Oh, you must be wondering why the hell I drank even that much if I didn’t like it? Well, it was respectful… it was ya know, with toasts to people and what not. It wasn’t me getting dead-drunk off of it. And yes, Marta did notice, and she was very happy whenever I participated in the toasts, so yes, I think I did the right thing in that. I’d say differently if I actually chugged a shot every time, but I didn’t; it was just enough to be a part of a toast.

No, really, every time they tried to fill glasses up I was like noooo! Please no! I don’t like it. Dx Sometimes, when they didn’t hear the first time, they were shocked hearing me say that. What Polish person doesn’t like alcohol? … *raises hand slowly* I’d say that’s one flaw in my Polish-ness.

The people there were mainly all the workers, none of the bosses, haha. In fact, one of my coworkers made a little poster for Marta with one of the bosses face on it and some inappropriate joke. xD Guys, you have no clue how loose the work environment is there. Cussing pretty much through the day, occasional birdies, lots of birdies tonight, with far more cussing, hugs and kisses for all, laughing and good fun. It’s a really pleasant work environment, actually.

Ahhh, so tonight I tried a lot of things, actually. Such as tatar. Ohhhh boy. You guys actually have no clue what this is. I can almost guarantee you that. You wanna know how hardy we Poles are? Tatar is raw meat. … No, really, I’m not kidding. It’s raw beef, mixed with raw egg yolk, and in this case, with some onion, peppers, and pickles, and then you add salt and pepper to it. I think that’s a big fat birdie right there to Salmonella, to be honest. Therefore, if you ever feel bad about eating raw cookie dough, just think about us Polish people with our tatar, and all your guilt will float away! No, but really. It was an interesting taste. I’ll definitely order it for myself at some later time to try and fully enjoy it as opposed to just tasting it off of a coworker’s plate. That and to give me a better taste of it, because I just concluded that it’s interesting. The fact that it’s raw meat still bothered me too much, I think, haha.

Which reminds me! I really do love the closeness, and that lack of concern here. When it came to trying it, he just passed us his plate and fork, and we tried it using his fork. Same for some later things we tried. It’s very normal to not really worry about sharing your silverware; separate silverware is of course preferred, but if it’s inconvenient or unavailable, it’s not a big deal to share.

Now, onto something else. We also shared some jello tonight. No, not the sweet dessert. It’s savory. Some sort of meat put into gelatin, in this case, pork I think, and it also had some carrots and eggs, but I can’t remember anything else specific. That’s right. Savory jello with pieces of meat and other typical dinner foods in it. The jello was rather good, in taste. I just need to get over the texture, to be honest. But the taste definitely was good enough for me to split about 1/3 of it with Marta.

So we all sat around and talked and drank and ate. A lot of the time, people were outside smoking. I still hate smoking. I’ve been in Poland for over a month, and I still am unable to get over that horrid smell that comes with smoking, and it still bothers me. Yay hypersensitivity. It was rather sad how many of them were smoking, to be honest… But what can ya do?

Either way, fun times were most definitely had. Lots of new experiences, and I felt like I got to know some of my coworkers far better than before. I found out Karol is actually Protestant, pentacostal, I think, which blew me away. It was interesting listening to him talk about how Catholics really made up the idea to pray to the Virgin Mary, when nowhere in the Bible it says to do so, and how it seems to be missing the point of praying to God. Myszka (Monika, I think, actually, but everyone called her Myszka) and I chatted a bit about Wrocław and my feelings about it here, and me going to Krakow, and how Krakow is prettier, but that I felt better here. Ya know, just talking about my experiences in Poland, really. We also talked about the stadium and some of its events, and how she’s busy on Saturdays thanks to it. She was surprised when I told her I wanted to go to the Monster Jam, but I explained, childhood will do that.

Overall, it was most definitely a wonderful evening. So worth it, and I’m really glad they invited me along! I mostly talked with the people in my office space, but I talked a little to other people. In fact, even Kamil directly addressed me twice, and I’ve hardly ever seen him. Oh! They asked me what I think of Dynamicon, as a work place, and my first word was, “Funny,” and they immediately agreed. It is a fun and funny work environment. I also said not too stressful, but Karol corrected me: “Maybe for you.” Hahah, true story. I can tell when there’s a lot of stress going on in work, to be honest. I feel bad, cause I can’t really help out, too. So it can definitely get stressful at times.

Oh! So, one of Karol’s old school friends was passing by when he saw Karol in there, so he stopped by to say hi. In this stop, he ended up performing some magic tricks for us! Ya know, card drinks, the soft plush balls sort of thing, some sort of line of fabric, cigarettes. He was really fun. He went around the table for each of us there and asked: Cards, gadgets, or unusual objects. And you got to pick. He was really good; lively and spot on in timing. Although, his card tricks were on the weak side. BUT! One awesome trick he had was with the salt. He poured some salt into his fisted hand, and then opened his fist to show nothing was there, and nothing fell from his palm. Then he poured the salt from his re-fisted hand into a glass. Super cool! I definitely was not expecting a random magic show amidst all of this either; none of us were.

By the end of it, I think Marta had gotten a bit tipsy because she was yelling constantly to talk. Ah well, it’s normal, hahahaha. Unfortunately, I had to leave around 21:30, and Milena was sad. “Another one?” she asked when I declared I had to go.

But, I definitely made the right choice. Had I waited any longer, I might’ve been stuck with no bus to get as close as possible to my apartment. -_-; I mean, the trams are fine, but the buses are the issue when it comes to later night things. That and I just needed to go home to get some rest as well.

Speaking of which, it would be appropriate to go get some of that rest right about… ohhhh. Now. (: Haha, I hope you enjoyed this day’s entry. <3 I know it was quite the enjoyable day for me! :)

Note: Written yesterday. 
            P.S. Have I told you guys about running in Poland? No no no, not like, oh, let's get up and go for a run! Nah, I haven't seen too much of that, to be honest. When I mean running, I mean @#(*~! MY BUS/TRAM! It is far from unusual to see people booking it to get to their bus or tram in hopes that the driver will wait for them. Or crossing streets at red lights. *cough* Including me, ahah. Today, I had to book it for both my trams. They were across the street, light was red, no cars were coming, I ran. It's just... it's a very hope-shattering moment when you see your tram or bus drive away, and you just know with your luck, you're going to have to wait another twenty minutes for your next chance... Therefore. You book it. And life is good. (:
            Speaking of trams... last night I noticed the tram driver was texting while driving the tram... .... Super comforting, right? :D Hahaha. K, byes!