Day One!

So I arrived yesterday evening, and it's been great so far!

I met everyone. They kept me awake through the evening... chatting, card games, dinner at a restaurant (great soup!), and dessert back at my temporary hosts' house (great cherry cobbler stuff!). I finally hit the hay between 9 and 10 here.

Today we had quite the productive day! My host took me to withdraw cash - the zloty (actually pronounced zwoti, with a w sound and a short i sound) is about a third of a dollar - then we checked on my documents that had been translated. They cost more than expected, but that's okay.   He shuttled me to Theresa's then.

She helped me apply online to language classes at the university, filled out a form for a bus/tram card, and made some copies.  We headed out on foot and she gave me my first lessons in how to use Poznan's public transportation. We bought a week's pass for it, and applied for a long-term pass which should be ready in two weeks.  I needed the equivalent of passport photos for a few documents, and we had those made. We went through this cool market that I'm sure I'll be taking pictures of very soon. The produce was bountiful! There she got me set up with a cell phone for local use that will be ready on Monday.

We may have made another stop or two... Oh! Postcards.  We stopped at the post office for postcards and stamps- about a dollar apiece. Also, stopped for shampoo somewhere in there. And then we had pizza. Yum! The feta on the salad was super tasty. Softer and a slightly different flavor than the feta I'm used to.  Theresa's favorite part was the garlic sauce for the pizza.  Such garlicky goodness....

Then we left to meet my hostess for some apartment hunting. The housing they'd scouted for me was mostly geared toward students. Rent a room or half a room, and have a common bathroom and kitchen. The first place we went to see, the guy made us wait half an hour, and didn't call or seem concerned that he wasn't keeping his commitment, so we left. We called a couple of other places, and then he phoned so we decided to swing back by. It turned out to be pretty thick with stale-smoke-smell and the room next to what would have been mine was possibly up for rent later, so anybody potentially could have moved in there, and I would have no control. We went to the second place and it was a huge improvement!  If I'm able to rent it we'll know Monday.  There are two sisters living there, the one we met doesn't speak much English, but she seemed very nice. She is defending a dissertation Monday. I'll be renting a room usually rented by two... So it will be relatively big, and still within budget.

Relatively big, though not as big as Jake's palace...... Shoutout to my furniture!!  Hope you like it, Jake, and again- really sorry I didn't have it totally squared away.  Thanks to my favorite bachelor pad for getting a bunch of things put in the attic,  I'm guessing.

We spent a few more phone calls deciding I'd agree to rent the place with the sisters and then spent a relaxed evening at home. My hostess had saved some chicken and rice for me (with a delicious, subtle spice involving garlic, onion, and curry), I read a little of James Michener's Poland, got my computer to connect to their wireless, and then they put on The Hunt for Red October. Which I wish I could have finished, but I was falling asleep on the couch. So I came down to my room, and now I'm really going to sleep in earnest.

Thanks, all, for praying! Pray that I don't have too much jet-lag... I was fine today, but right now I feel overly awake. Hope I can sleep well tonight. :)