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November 09, 2004
My trip to Poland and the adventure that followed…
Despite my surging adrenaline of the past two hours, I will proceed with this tale chronologically. Not very excitingly, Friday morning was filled with laundry. Fortunately, since Roya and Jess were erstwhile occupied, I had all the laundry facilities to myself and managed to wash (and dry—the most important step!)…
[insert brief pause while I chat with the police and firemen at my door]
…all of my dirty clothes, for once escaping out of my chronic laundry deficit. Just as I was folding the last bunch of clothes, Jo arrived to pick me up. We had decided to spend the afternoon at Wayne's Coffee, discussing our thoughts on the upcoming thesis project. Afterwards, she was going to take me to the ferry, where I would meet the others on the trip.
There was a bit of a scramble to throw some clothes in a bag (Jo had arrived 15 minutes early), but we set off without too much trouble and had a lovely couple of hours at Wayne's. We ran into Lisa and her wife Liz, who was visiting from Boston for a couple days, and Mike—another classmate. Before I knew it, it was time to mosey over to the ferry.
[insert longer pause while I run to the bathroom to vomit]
At the ferry station, I met up with Renaud, Amity, Rene, and David and we boarded the most luxurious ferry I have ever seen. It was gigantic, with several restaurants, places to gamble, a movie theatre, and most importantly of all—a duty-free shop.
We went to get something to eat, and everything was going swimmingly until about 20 minutes after we departed, when I noticed that the ferry was rolling back and forth in an ominous way. I had brought—but neglected to take—Dramamine and it was quickly apparent that the drugs were of utmost priority. Now, I am prone to motion sickness, but the others on the trip will attest to the unusually wobbly nature of a ship so large.
Within 30 minutes I was back to my cheerful (if a little giddy) self. After a little wandering around the ferry, we went back to our cabin (a cheerful, tiny compartment with two bunk beds and just enough room between them for Rene to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor.
The rocking was bad enough that when I tried to lay on my side, I was gently rolled onto my stomach, and then to my back. Having taken yet more Dramamine, I was merely intrigued by this phenomenon and was able to get enough sleep so that I didn't want to kill myself when we docked at 7 a.m. the next morning.
After disembarking and making our way through passport control (I have 4 stamps from this trip alone!), we caught a taxi and drove the 20 km from Gdynia to Gdansk. We were dropped off at the train station, where we bid goodbye to Renaud, who was continuing on to Krakow. After withdrawing zlotys (Polish currency) from an ATM, we were ready to go. Rene and I were hungry for breakfast, so we walked up to a local bakery stand in the train station, only to be denied food because we didn't have any small bills. Apparently, 100 zlotys (the bill dispensed from the ATM) was equal to about $30, and the roll I wanted was only 1.5 zlotys. This was my introduction into the wonderful world of cheap, delicious Polish baked goods.
Still hungry, we walked a couple of blocks and found another bakery that let us buy rolls and a loaf of bread. Trailing breadcrumbs behind us, we walked another 10 minutes until we found our hostel. This being my first hostel experience, I wasn't sure what to expect. Aside from the stale-vomit smell in the entrance, it was lovely. There was a comfy living room that reminded me of a group house my friend David lived in during college. There was a tiny kitchen and refrigerator, along with free tea and coffee. Our room upstairs was remarkably similar to our room on the ferry, with two sets of bunk beds, but a little more cheerful, with bright orange curtains.
[insert pause to cut a piece of bread and add peanut butter]
The brilliant thing about the hostel was that it was only 120 zlotys for two nights ($40)! It had free internet and a stereo that played bizarre international music in the background.
Anyway, after we deposited our things in our room and checked out the bathroom (right next door) and shower (right next to the bathroom), we bundled up again (it was cold—we decided that this weekend marked the turning point of fall into winter) and set off to explore the town.
Gdansk is a beautiful old city, founded just before 1000 AD. It has a massive shipyard, and these ship workers founded the Solidarity Movement that eventually led to the transition from Poland as a Communist Nation to a democracy. They held Poland's first workers' strike and many were killed—today you can see a monument to the fallen ship workers of that period.
On the commercial side, Gdansk is noted for its collection on amber and silver jewelry. One of the streets we walked down (made up, of course, of tall buildings and cobblestone) had nearly to dozen amber shops within a single block. I was appalled by some of the gaudy pieces (think something Wilma from the Flintstones would have worn), but there was also some exquisite work to behold.
[insert pause to open up the windows in a futile attempt to get the smoky smell out]
After trekking about, we stopped in at a little place for lunch, where we were treated to heaping plates of shaslik, kebab, and pizza. Thus sated, we continued our walk around the city, stopping in at a couple of the old churches to look around. One in particular was undergoing renovation, and the restoration crew had discovered some original wall murals dating from the 1300s underneath the plaster. It was amazing to look at how the art and architecture had changed over 700 years. Overall, however, it was a bit desolate and creepy, and I was happy to get back outside and continue walking. We meandered back and forth, marveling at the structure of the town, which was built facing the harbor and begins with a solid row of houses, connected to a huge watchtower and heavily fortified mill.
We had planned to see an opera or ballet, but after negotiating the Polish electric train (basically a little tram that runs all over the city) we discovered that the box office was closed. Being so far our of our way, we then decided to do some shopping. Poland is supposed to have really cheap goods, and Rene and Amity had come with a list. At the tram station, a woman had explained that the shopping center called "mo-hatte" was our best bet, and so we started walking in the general direction she had pointed out. It was drizzling, and I was soaked by the time we finally located the "Manhatten" mall. It was depressingly "Westernized" and didn't even have super deals. It did, however, have a coffee shop when I partook of a latte macchiato that was horrendous until I added a few teaspoons of sugar. Amity and Rene had limited success, and we agreed that Poland malls are not for us.
Eventually, we ended up back at the hostel, where we took a quick breather before setting off to find diner. We had heard about a vegetarian restaurant a couple of blocks away, but we were treated rather shabbily and decided to find another place. We ended up back on the main street at a pierogi place. It's main décor revolved around stuffed animals (a little creepy) and we dined directly under a ferocious-looking boar's head attached to the wall. The food was strange and Polish—I got a plate of mini-pierogis filled with what seemed like pureed pork. Ick.
Having had a poor night's sleep, and having walked around all day, we were exhausted after dinner and declined invitations (from other hostel people we met at the restaurant) to join them for a night of clubbing. Instead, we hustled back to the hostel and called it a night.
Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up with a tummy ache (damn pureed pork!) and spent a couple hours being silently miserable. So when the rest of the group got up early, I stayed in bed and caught up on my sleep. By the time I was up, had breakfast, and did some reading, the group was back. We had plans to go see the Shipyard museum, but we dawdled too long. Instead, we walked around the town some more. The night was beautiful and the water was perfectly still, so the buildings stood out in perfect reflection. We stopped in at one of the amber stores on the waterfront, and Rene got a couple of gifts to take back home. I was tempted to get a silver necklace, but decided to sleep on it.
For dinner, we chose a pizza place on the main lane, and had great time chatting. Up until this trip, I didn't really know Amity, Rene, and David that well, and I am SO glad that I came along on this adventure. They are all bright, intelligent, funny, articulate, caring people—the best in the program.
[insert brief pause for warm fuzzy feeling]
Once again, we called it an early night. In the morning, I slept in while the others did some last minute shopping and took a walk near the shipyards. Bored, I did some shopping of my own and got a gorgeous silver necklace with two pendants. Pictures to follow…
The entire group rendezvoused back at the hostel and decided to take one last circle round the town. Around 5:30 p.m. we caught a taxi back to Gdynia and boarded the same ferry back to Karlskrona. Miraculously, there was almost no motion on the boat (even though I was heavily doped up on Dramamine) and we enjoyed a quiet evening back. I stopped in at the duty-free shop and bought a couple presents for my trip home this weekend, and was in bed by 11 p.m.
Once again, I awoke in the middle of the night with tummy trouble. Fortunately, we were nearly there, and I only spent an hour or two in the bathroom (oh the yuckiness of it all) before Amity, Rene, and David managed to get me through passport control and into the waiting area. Apparently, the vomiting and other-associated-symptoms-which-I-won't-describe had taken their toll, because I looked like death warmed over. This was far beyond a little motion sickness—more like a full on stomach flu. I could barely think straight, and bless Rene for calling Jo to come pick me up at the ferry terminal—there was no WAY I could have made it home on the bus (the original plan).
I made it home with no terrible incidents, and crawled into bed (well, crawled into bed and then jumped back out to go vomit in the bathroom) with Roya watching on in horror from her room. I have no idea how I spent the next few hours, but managed by 3 p.m. to once again make sense of the world around me. I made some tea and ate some crackers, only to have them come up again on short notice. Things progressed slowly (how strange it is to be grateful to visit the bathroom only once an hour!) until around 5 p.m. That's when my next adventure began…
I had written previously about the family upstairs who likes to yell. Well, shortly after 5 p.m. (still sweaty from throwing up and wearing only a t-shirt and sweatpants), I heard the two little girls screaming in the hallway. It was immediately apparent that they were screaming from terror, so I walked up the stairs and saw smoke billowing out of their apartments. The girls were running back and forth, screaming and crying, and the mother was dashing in and out of the apartment shrieking in Swedish. I peered around the corner of the apartment and could see the glow of flames coming from the living room. The mother was completely hysterical (it is clear to me now that she has severe social problem) and couldn't make up her mind on what to do. At this point, I picked up the littlest girl and grabbed the hand of the older one (they were maybe 3 and 6) and took them down the stairs as fast as we could go. The mother ran by us, trying to knock on one of the neighbor's doors, but when no one answered, she ran back upstairs. I decided she was a lost cause and continued out the door with the girls. They were both barefoot and didn't have coats, so we stayed in the entryway for a minute while I decided what to do. Fortunately, a man came down the stairs and hold me he had called the 112 (the Swedish 911) and that the firemen were on their way. At this point, the mother runs out the front door and I set down the little girl. The whole family turns to see their father coming up the driveway (coming from the bus, I guess) and runs to greet him. At this point, I am distracted by the arrival of 3 fire trucks, an ambulance, and several police cars. By now, passersby are swarming around, but most of the occupants of the building are still inside. While running down the steps with the girls, I had looked for a fire alarm but had been unable to find one. So as the firemen dashed up the stairs, they managed to get everyone out of their apartments. My neighbors took their sweet time and arrived outside with coats and hats on—and there I was in a t-shirt and sweatpants—no shoes, no coat, and violently fighting another wave of nausea.
After about 20 minutes of standing in the freezing weather, Benny and Pavan showed up from the bus stop. Benny gallantly offered me his coat, and Pavan led me up to his apartment to use his phone and get some water. I called Jess and Roya to let them know what had happened, and then went back outside. By then, the family had gone to the hospital (the mom was on oxygen—I suppose from the inhaled smoke), and someone had taken their dog and cat away (poor things, the cat looked ready to die in fright).
After another wait, we were finally allowed back inside. The stairwell was soaked from the fire hoses (they leak) and I trailed up the stairs with some trepidation. The smell of smoke was everywhere, but thankfully, I had the presence of mind to shut the door on the rampage out, so our apartment was largely unscathed. Aside from a smoky smell, and some water that will come through the roof in Jess's room, we are still in business.
The next hour was filled with firemen, policemen, and Karlskronahem security people wandering through the apartment to assess potential damage. Overall, people were quite nice and willing to translate into English. Apparently, the mother had set fire to their couch with a cigarette lighter, and the damage was contained in the living room. Still, their apartment is in shambles. Sigh…maybe they will move out. Too bad, since I was able to use my rudimentary Swedish to talk with the little girl, whose name is Kim.
So now I'm back in the apartment, with most of the activity done. It's taken me a LONG time to go through this entry, and I'm looking forward to a nice long sleep sans digestion or fire problems. Keeping my fingers crossed…
