Serious shit.

So I'm again without job, "bezrobotna". I quit the cleaning job at the hostel and Sunday was my last day. Might be that it was the stupidest decision in a while. But seems that the older I get, the more short-tempered I get. At least when it comes to my happiness. So if I'm unhappy about something, I want to change it immediately. I guess in some things this could be good character, but maybe next time I could give it a few more days. Life is not always perfect and working is not always nice, but (almost) everyone has to do it.

Well anyway, my original idea was to work at the hostel not more than until December (when I will come to Finland for 10 days, jippiiii!) so the amount of money I "lost" is something like 200 euros. Of course now that I've been without a proper job for a while, all the money would be welcome. And the job was not soooo shitty (haha). And actually now I've realized that for this kind of job, I got good money. (Salaries are unbelievably low here.) But what's done is done, and it will not make it any better to cry over milk that's already spilled. I guess I could ask the job back, but I'm way too proud to do that.

For the last two months I've applied every job that I could possibly get, and even some of those that I will propably never get. I don't know if I have bad luck, bad application, bad CV or what, but I have not got any offers so far... Or actually I've had two calls, but the jobs would be in Katowice (170km from Wroclaw) and in Krakow (240km). First I thought that no way I'm moving, but now it starts to seem like it's either some other city here or Helsinki. I can give it couple of months more, but then I seriously need a job.

In the beginning I thought that if I will not get a job here 'till end of October, I could go back to Helsinki for some weeks to work as a waitress in these Pre-Christmas parties we love to have. But already after some days it was clear, that leaving is the very last and worst choice. Not that I would not like to live in Finland, but my home is where my love is and it would break my heart to leave.

The main thing getting a job is of course getting money for living, but I realized that being unemployed here has some other consequences also. After next May I will not have Finnish social security (public health insurance), but if I don't get a real job in here, I cannot get social security from Poland either. Also I'm starting to worry how it looks like for potential employers that I did not work in months...

So let's all keep our "peukut ja pottuvarpaat pystyssä", that I would here some good news soon.

Otherwise everything is perfect and there has not been even a minute when I would have regretted moving here. <3

And if there is some you that are in the same situation now, I found this encouraging writing. :)

Goodbye September, hello October.

Last weekend I saw my first Borussia Dortmund game live. I have propably mentioned before that my boyfriend is HUGE football fan, so he wanted to take me to Dortmund to see his favourite team. Trip was kinda crazy because of the travel schedules. We flew to Germany on Saturday morning and already on Saturday night we were on our way back to Poland. We reached Poznan at 8 on Sunday morning, had a small breakfast and continued to Wroclaw.




I think it was more interesting to see the game live, but next time I want to sleep in bed... (The train seats were not that bad, but anyway.) I also had some difficulties to see the first half because we got tickets for the standing zone. And I was afraid that someone will spill beer on me or fall into my neck. So next time: proper seats. :P Before the game we went to Borussia Dortmund's fan shop (and got out without buying anything!) and Borusseum, a museum about the team.

The result was satisfying.

When we arrived to Dortmund we had fantastic breakfast in Rigoletto. If you ever find yourself in Dortmund, go there! :)

Dortmund.

Art in Poznan.

Morning sun in Poznan.

 Today was a national holiday in Germany, Tag der Deutschen Einheit. Which means that they celebrate the reunification of West and East Germany that happened 3 of October 1990. For us it meant a day off from work, breakfast together and going for a cocktail party held in the consulate. The weather was perfect, sunny and 20 degrees (what autumn?!).

The adult costume.

To celebrate the possibly last day of summer we had a small Mölkky competition in the park near our home. We got some curious glances from the people passing by... During the game we got an idea to organize Mölkky championships for the CouchSurfers here in Wroclaw.

P.S. I won!

Bayerisch is stylisch.

Last weekend was for sure one of the best ones this year. (This year has had maybe 50 best weekends of my life in total.) Our "hitchhiker" turned out to be a really nice guy, who had been travelling a lot and spoke excellent English. So the first hours of the journey went quickly while chatting. Hopefully we will meet this guy again here in Wroclaw. Lately I have met quite a lot of people who have been hitchhiking and in general I would say it's more "normal" here than in Finland. I've never before thought about travelling by hitchhiking, but now I'm actually a bit curious to try that. So we have been playing with the idea with my boyfriend. We'll see if we will carry out this plan some day...

On Saturday my preconceptions about techno parties vanished like a fart in Sahara. People looked as normal as in any Saturday night party, they were drinking beer like in any other party and gathering on the dancefloor when they were drunk enough. :D No neon colors, no glow-in-the-dark items, no weird clothes with ropes and strings hanging, no hair like the Prodigy-guy.... Before I was wondering how on earth is it possible to dance techno music. But apparently it is! I just don't have any idea how I did it... I have to admit that I really enjoyed my time on the dancefloor, but it is still a long way for me to really like techno. (And it's also a long way for me to dance when I'm sober...) And I do still think that most of the techno songs sounds the same: first comes the bass, then the DJ takes the bass away and then the music gets louder and then the song reaches it's peak and then people are like "Yay!" and then the same bass comes back. And this repeats again and again and again.... :D (This is just my opinion, don't get mad.) Example can be found here.

On Saturday and Sunday we were playing Mölkky with some German friends, and now they are totally hooked. ;) Apparently German girls have natural talent in this game (unlike me)... I think I should get some kind of commission from the Mölkky company, because I'm making it known outside of Finland. Mölkky was one of the lovely surprises that my boyfriend have given me, he ordered it from Amazon (we could not find it from Poland...) and there it was waiting for us in Germany. <3

Sunday was also ice hockey day, and after a really exciting game, ERC won! The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing as always. ERC has propably the best fans in the world. ;) And everytime I feel more and more comfotable to be there with them (I even think I know couple of songs already). After the game we had dinner in Italian restaurant with my boyfriend's siblings and their boy- and girlfriends. I'm glad I've had so warm welcome in this family, even thou we sometimes don't have common language. And I'm really proud of my boyfriend's sister who is speaking much more English now than on the first times I met her. Also their grandma is really trying her best with English which is quite unbeliavable (she has studied English in school, 70 years ago). And now I feel guilty not trying more with my German.... Maybe someday.

Monday was Oktoberfest day. It was raining half of the day, but that did not bother us. We still got to go to rollercoaster and Ferris wheel and I got my beer. And we got to see the drunken tourists. :P So we had fun, but for next time I wish better weather and more time. :) (..and cheaper beer but I guess that ain't gonna happen.) And I got another super-cute surprise, Lebkuchenherz!

In the afternoon we'll start our long weekend in Germany. Plan is to drive to Bavaria today and be at my boyfriend's parent's place around eight or nine. So six long ass-killing hours ahead! :P But for me it's easy, I get to sleep or do whatever, because I don't have to drive. (I've always thought that I'm lucky not having driver's license.) We will be joined by a Polish guy, whom we never met. Hopefully he is nice (and quiet and hygienic and likes our music). :D

Oh and about the music, can someone give me a solution in our music problem? My boyfriend wants to listen techno and let's say that I don't "enjoy" that quite as much. I wanna listen melodic pop songs with lyrics about love and such things. Songs like Angus and Julia Stone's Big Jet Plane. But my boyfriend says it makes him sleepy, and that's dangerous of course. So should I just give up and listen (read suffer) techno the whole six hours...?! He is the driver after all. But I am a woman after all... (so I get what I want? :P)

Anyways back to business...The way to our destination is mostly not too interesting: first Polish motorway and then the German one. First time when we went to Germany by car in April, I was really nervous because they don't have speed limits on Germany's motorways. But actually you don't even notice you are going 140km/hour because everybody else does that too. Of course there is some crazy maniacs testing their cars' speed limits passing us by...

We have again quite packed schedule for the weekend, but it's alright. I'm just going where they are taking me, no stress, no planning, and I think in the best case I don't even have to worry about eating. :) This much I do know about our plan thou: Saturday we will meet my boyfriend's friends and I will attend my first ever techo-party (we'll see how long I can take it...), on Sunday is ice hockey game "Auf geht's blau weiße Jungs!" and family dinner. And on Monday is OKTOBERFEST! The real one! Geil! I've heard different kind of horror stories about the people (drunken tourists) there, but I don't care. In the best case (or worst) I will be one of those drunken tourists myself. :D 

onestep4ward.com

So let's hope I will have some photos of my own to show next week. :)

P.s. Have yourself a nice little weekend <3

So let's see...what did I promise to write about.

The parents meeting
Little over one week ago both mine and my boyfriend's parents visited us. They haven't met before, so at least my parents were a bit nervous. Maybe they would have been nervous anyway, but I think that the fact that they had speak English made it even more exciting. The first dinner together was ok, not anything special, just asking basic things and then akward silence. :P But already second night was better, and in the end I think the meeting was very "succesful". They invited each others to Finland and Germany next summer, so I guess that was the result I was looking for, haha.

It was nice to see my parents and show them where I live. I think now they feel more comfortable with the fact that I moved here. They liked the city, it's very different to Helsinki for example, with the Rynek and it's old, pretty buildings and dozens of old huge churches around the city. On the first day my dad said that beside the city center it looks more battered than he would have thought. Maybe I'm just use to it because I don't seem to notice that. And he was also wondering why they are building so many huge new buildings here.That I have been wondering too...
My parents were interested on different kind of cultural events here, and they will be back for sure. But maybe after winter. ;)

The job and the Polish course
For these two weeks that I have been working at the hostel, I've mostly liked it. I like to have something to do at work, for example the receptionist's job does not seem so interesting anymore, they are just sitting by the computer all day, not having too much to do. Of course cleaning poo from the toilets, changing sheets and taking trashes out is not my dream job. But while searching the dream job, this is ok. And I always wanted to work in a hostel, just to see how it is. One more dream accomplished! :)

The polish course has been fun. People there are relaxed, but mostly motivated and also my own motivation is very different than learning languages at school. I really want to make effort to learn the basics of this language. And 'till now it also has been quite easy. :)

Last week

Making soap bubbles.

The week was normal; work, Polish, coffee meeting at one Finnish family's place and Thursday meeting with other "international" people. On Friday we went to opera for the first time in our lifes. The opera was "Magic flute" by Mozart. I'm glad I read the story in advance, since I would have not understood anything about the German singing with Polish subtitles. But it was not too easy for my German speaking boyfriend either. ;) As a conclusion I would say, that it was worth trying but the next opera could be, let's say, in 20 years. :P Meanwhile I wanna see some musical and maybe even go to theatre.

Frankie's Juice Bar.

On Friday night I got a flu out from nowhere, at least it seems like that. Anyhow we had busy Saturday, I had to work, then we went for BBQ at my boyfriend's colleague's house and in the evening we had some friends coming over for drinks. Even I tried if vodka shot would help to cure the flu, I had to give up around eleven and go to bed. On sunday I had to work again, there was shortage of people this weekend at the hostel, and after that I felt completely dead. Fortunately I was able to get this Monday free, so now I'm trying to take it easy and hoping that tomorrow the flu will be gone. Because tomorrow is Oktoberfest here in Wroclaw! ;)

Fitting the traditional Bavarian clothes.

Picture vomit...

Because I am a very busy person (read lazy) I will just add punch of pictures from last weekend when my parents were here. Stories come later...maybe ;)

Sunday market

Plac Jana Pawla II

Modern time gnome.

Rynek

Boat trip

Hala Stulecia

Zoo

Angry tiger :O

The best toilet entertainment in Pierogarnia.

Wroclaw railway station

German consulate - the reason why I'm in here :P

Hala Targowa - market hall

University building

First night's dinner in Chopper

Gnome ate too much...

Multimedia fountain

Katedra Wroclawska

View from the tower of the cathedral

Ostrów Tumski

I have not been this busy since I don't even remember.

Where to start....

So not so long time ago I was complaining about not having a job. And now I do. :) I got lucky, I was sending applications to some hostels in Wroclaw, and got one answer the next day. And yesterday was my first day, so say hello to the new housekeeper of Grampa's Hostel!

 It's just few hours five days a week, so I will get only some small money from it. But one groszy is a start of a million zlotys, right? ;) And anyway I believe there can be some other things gained from this job than just money. But more about that later...

The other new thing is the Polish course I started yesterday. Hopefully I will be able to order my beers in Polish before Christmas. :D Anyway the course was kinda expensive so I guess my motivation will and should be different than on German and Swedish lessons in the middle school... And I get to take my new skills in use right away! But don't worry, I don't see this blog changing in Polish anytime soon. :P There is only three other persons on this course, so everyone will get enough attention from the teacher for sure. I already noticed that I'm not the only one having some problems with the pronunciation, it seems to be hard for the native English speakers too...

The third and the best thing on this busy week is that my parents are here! So I get show the little tourist guide inside me, yei!. Also my boyfriend's parents will come here tomorrow, so we will see what kind of soup comes when you put everything together (I don't think there is a saying like this in English, but in Finnish it would be "Aikamoinen soppa.") :D So we are planning to have three dinners together, we'll see how it goes. I will tell you later. :) I will also play tourist and see some new sights in Wroclaw; I want  to go to zoo, and for a cruise along the river Odra. And really I want to see view of Wroclaw from up, there is a tower in city center where it should be possible. So I guess there should be lots of pictures coming next week!