Thursday, August 7, 2008

Winding Down

(That last post I wrote last Monday while I was sick.)

Just to set the tone, the current music video involves a teenager leading dogs around with remote-control leashes. I'm not sure how to describe it, except crappy.

So, we had our test today and tomorrow is the last day of class and Saturday I'll spirit myself away to Warsaw, in the quiet early morning. School is all winding down and I'm trying to pump myself up for another 20 days in Europe.

What I really want is just to go home, as ungrateful as that sounds. This week has been crappy, as I've still been sick, and I'm searching for energy in all the remote corners of my pancreas and psyche, and I'm not finding it.

Granted, I'm surviving. With the test over and my laundry in the machine, life looks a great deal brighter. I think I'm going to dirty my clothes in joy at the sight of American machines, and then do some laundry. I might kiss the dryer too.

The test was a breeze. The teacher gave us a lot of answers. Her justification was that we're not here to be tested, we're here to learn Polish, so instead of taking a test it was kind of just a learning activity. I might say that she's really cool.

And I'm sure a lot of other worthwhile things happened this week, but I can't think of them. Oh, we had apple pancakes last night for dinner, and it was wonderful. Then they gave us cabbage pancakes for lunch today, and it was awful. As much as it puts me out to cook my own food, I cannot wait to get away from this cafeteria.

I suppose I should also mention that I'm experiencing cultural exhaustion. The music, the clothes, the butcher-shop men (they're all thugs) and the Barbie women are all too much for me. Also the napkins (tissue paper!). If you can't tell, I really miss America. Yes, you may call me a patriot.

I'm not alone, either. Most of our conversations this week have centered on how excited we are to go home. It's just so tiring.

So, I think it's goodbye for now. After all this work to excite myself about my impending tourism, I'm not going to be spending time writing blogs. Well, who knows. Maybe I shouldn't leave you with this great eruption of negative.

Well, I was going to search for something positive to end with, but Avril Lavigne just appeared on the screen. It's all too much. Enjoy your August!

2 comments:

Linda Ogden said...

I really hope life gets better day after tomorrow and that you enjoy your travelling. It is really true that being abroad makes you appreciate home more -- maybe that's the real benefit of this trip, in addition to the Polish language training. Dad's excited about your touring together -- I hope it turns out to be most enjoyable! Eating well will make a lot of difference, I'm sure!

Mark & Melanie said...

I'm tempted to call you a whiner because I'm your sister and I can, but instead I found these for you.

Lucille Ball said, "One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.

Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so. ~Edgar Allen Poe

James Russell Lowell:
Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.

Hope you enjoyed your dose of optimism. Any time you need a good "Buck Up!" or "You're a whiner" or "Shh. Just smile" you know where to come ;)
Love you, Mel