Nostalgia

It's sort of surreal lookng back on the days when I first moved back here. I remember looking around and being practically over-whelmed by how physically different everything was. It was so different in fact that I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that people live in this country all thier lives and to them this was completely normal.

The crazy thing is that now, to me, this is somewhat normal. At the very least it isn't strange anymore. I've gotten used to wide streets and houses that are placed far apart. I've grown used to the hills (though my parents have informed me that this is flat compared to other places in the US). When I go into the suburbs and I can see the sky without looking almost straight up (because the buildings pilled high and in tight proximity) a sense of agoraphobia doesn't wash over me. And once I'm outside the suburbs I no longer feel saddened when I see trees rather than fields.

Hell, I'm used to seeing mailboxes!

Nevertheless, there is this one road that I can take to my house which I love to go on for two reasons: 1) few stoplights; 2) (and this is the main reason) at one point the trees thin and disappear for about a quarter of a mile. Suddenly on either side of me are fields which eventually give way to trees a hundred meters from the road. There is a dirt road which goes of the asphalt and squeezes between two of these fields. Then it disappears into the woods. That one quarter mile road looks so much like Poland that when I first traveled I felt my heart squeeze. Even now I look at those fields and pretend I'm in Poland. Then I can't help but feel sad when I soon find myself in anther typical American housing development.

I find that even though I've grown used to these once-strange surroundings...I'm still far more at home someplace else....

Seasons

Seasons in Poland have always been quite monotoned: In the summer it was warm, but never hot. Fall was practically nonexistant (It would last about a week. Suddenly all the leaves would be gone from the tree, no one had any idea where they went, and the weather began to bite). Winter rolled around which was always dark and cold. But oddly there was not that much snowfall despite what the name Poland would lead you to believe. Oh, sure, we got snow, but often times it would melt as it hit the ground, resulting in a very, very wet, muddy winter. Then spring came about a 100 years later, and it too would last for about a week. Suddenly it was warmer again, and there was a reason to live.

But even in summer there was rain. In fact I think I went two years straight without seeing a full week of sunshine. And I think I didn't have a white Christmas for four of the six Christmases I spent there. And even then the snow had become mud by midmorning.

But in America, wow, they really mix it up. Summer is hot and sweltering. In Autumn the leaves fall off trees and actually stay on the ground rather than fading from existance the moment they fall from the tree. Winter is cold, and very, very white. And spring is full of tulips and dandelions and rain. American seasons are exactly the way the pictures on calenders describe them to be! Each season has its own unique identity! Its rather amazing.

And throughout the year the days and night stay relatively in proportion. In Poland during winter the sun rose at 9am and set at 3pm. For six months out of the year the sun became a stranger because I was always stuck in school when it was up. Walking to and from school in the dark got very tiresome.

Whereas summer the sun rose at 5am and set at 9pm. I liked that pattern. If I couldn't remember what season it was because the weather of one barely differentiated from the next I could always count the hours of sun light to tell me what time of year it was ^_^

If You Visit Europe Bring Back an Accent

The one thing that I still regret about my life is that I've never fluently spoken any language other than my native English--nor do I see myself fluently speaking any language other than my native English any time soon. Despite living in Poland for six years and coming from Polish decent I've never spoken more than the basics: "Hello," "Goodbye," "Thank you," "You're welcome," "Excuse me," and "F*ck!" (of course).

But I never expected it would be such a disapointment for the Americans I've met too. When I tell the riveting tale of my life outside the USA the inevitable inquiry I get is, "What do they speak in Poland?" (Okay, maybe that one isn't inevitable but I still am asked it a lot more than I would expect of these Americans).

No, of course when I say the "inevitable question" I mean, "Do you speak Polish?"--or if they don't know that in Poland we speak Polish--"Do you speak what they speak there?" And I am always met with disappointment when I regretfully admit that no, I speak only English (though sometimes I stretch the truth to say I speak enough to get around, which is technically true as you don't really need much Polish to "get around" since most everybody can speak English).

What's worse is that I don't even have a friggin' accent. Something exotic like British! (apparently the only foreign dialect of English that comes to American's minds). My lack of an accent also leads to some confusion: "You come from Poland? You speak English very well, you can hardly tell it's not your native language."

Yep. I've got them all fooled. XD

After Thought

By the way, if anyone is good at web design or knows someone who is, get in touch with me, 'cos I'd love to do something with my layout, I just have no idea how to go about doing that.

Back From My Extended Hiatus

It has been a few months since the one year anniversary of my coming back to the Land of the Free (and it is a few weeks prior to the time this blog fizzled out in 2008). But never fear my poor depraved, ahem, brave, (jk) countrymen because I have returned--Though I doubt anyone will take note of it as even at its height this blog only had one regular reader (Hi, Ms. Kylie!). Nevertheless I decided it was hightime I started back up again. Because even after a year being back in my birth country I'm still floored by the backwards ways of Americans. So here we go once again. I present Coming Home Again: Take Two!

Corndog Virgin

Just one more of the many embarrasing things I need to admit to....

So I was at my friend's house and we were getting lunch. Her kitchen wasn't stalked with much so we pretty much only had a chouce between hamburgers, corndogs, and good ol' PB&J sandwiches. I had had sandwiches the day before so I didn't really feel like having that again. And I don't eat beef so hamburgers were immediatly out of the question. Well that just left corndogs. I've seen them in countless movies, and heard plenty of references to them, but I've never figured out exactly what they are. Cleary they're some type of hot dog, but i didn't know what corn had to do with that. Well, I didn't really want to set myself up for embarrasment, but I had to ask "Um...so what's a corndog exactly?" To which my friend simply gave me an incredulous look which I responded to with a sheepish grin. She just shook her head.

"Good Lord Anna, where have you been all your life?"
"Europe."
"Well yeah, but you must have seriously missed something from your childhood if you don't know what a corndog is."
"Well...corndogs are an American thing."
*she shakes her head* "You are so sad. A corndog is just a hotdog on a stick."
"Where does the corn come in?"
"It's the breading."

Wierd. Dogs on a stick with cornbread....I must have missed something from my childhood, because I don't really get it.....but it turns out we did have them for lunch. And they're not half bad I guess.....

Little Things with a Big Difference

So this is basically just a list of little details here and there that I have gathered in the past few months. These things don't really have a funny story that go along with them, but everytime i see them, they just keep reminding me that I'm in America.

1. Yellow lines in the middle of the road
2. Straws with a larger diameter
3. Thinner paper (I can't write on the back of the paper because even pencil bleeds through)
4. 3-ring binders (I'm used to 2 and 4 ring binders)
5. Plenty of lined paper, but graph paper is practically an endangered species (In Poland it was just the opposite)
6. Different McDonald's Menus (No joke! They actually serve different stuff here)
7. Squirrels. I've never seen so many squirrels in my whole life.
8. Larger parking spaces (I can actually open my car door all the way and not touch the car parked beside me)
9. 6 lane High-ways (In Poland, three lanes was big)
10. Lots of trees, not very many fields at all, like in Poland
11. The place is much more urbanized (But that might just be because I'm living in the suburbs. but in America the suburbs extend much farther away from the city.
12. American accents on the TV, instead of British. Although I speak like an American, I notice American accents more than I do British. British just seems more natural to me...

That seems to be about it. I keep noticing new stuff everyday. When I post this, I swear I'll want to add 2 more things...