This Post is going to be Legend... wait for it.......... Dary!

      Alright well her is my recap of the last three days! I can easily say it was one of the most informant, scary, fun, and tiring 3 days here!

Lady With Ermine

      Firstly Balthazaar and I went to several meuseums. I am extremely happy to say that my eyes have seen the famous Lady with an Ermine in Cracow by Leonardo Da Vinci. It is beautiful. It looks like a digital painting as you can barely see and painting strokes and the colors are beautifully blended... Until this Day I can honestly say that I have never truly appreciated or understood why he was famous, but after seeing his art I can totally understand why. On this trip we also saw Warsaws amazing collection of 18th and lower century paintings, and took a photo with the Royal throne that so many rich bums have sat in. The scary yet informant part of this day was the jewish ghetto that we went to. After an hour long film and displays Balthazaar and I left quite pale. the treatment and things that have happened to the Jewish and Polish communites is so much worse than you can understand- I mean school informs us alot about what happened in the war, but what we learned is so censored and when you really think about it almost fabled. I feel privlidged to have a broaden understanding of what has gone on.

Look it's good this time!

       The next day was fun. Gosia, Balthazaar and I went out for lunch, travelled the city and went to the Kings speech. It was t-t-t-t-t-t-terffic! I really liked it and it will get a nice 4 stars from me (Sloooow begginning). Then behold the night life! Yes Zak and his friends went bar hopping! All together we went to about 4 bars and 1 club (forgive me if i am off ;) ). Throughout this legendary night we drank lots of 1 dollar pints! (Well Canada and Belguim did at least! Cause Poland is a good girl. We took many funny photos that I believe will never be put on facebook, took pictures with a past out Polish man who's friends had him sitting perfectly upright, and danced away the night at a club to awesome beats! I also cannot forget the crude Polish Kareoke that I belted off with everyone at the tops of my lungs... wow... who would have thought that when you are drunk it because alot easier to speak the language- and no this is not a joke!

     At night I went back to Balthazaars place so that I would not disturb Kinga or Michael (as he had just gotten back from working several late shifts). I crashed hard and woke up the next day to only discover my Belguim friend had never seen the Hangover- but don't worry! I fixed him! The rest of my day was spent helping out Michael and Kinga set up their brand new TV. it is awesome! it is one of those 3-D ones and it seriously blows my mind. It was a good and quiet night for me and I took the time to plan out my next travels.

    That is all to report! Maybe there are a few things that will catch up to me and I will post a "one more thing" post. Or maybe not.

I am still having problems with the pictures but I hope to have them up soon! Thanks for reading!!!!

Zak

International Friends are awesome. Nuff Said.

Me And Statue

        Russia, Belguim, Poland, Canada. If that does not sound like a United nations meeting I do not know what does. Something magical happened when I took my headphones off yesteday (the 22nd). I made friends. Yes, I heard people speaking english and I ran to them and quickly begged them to let me tag along. I am so happy I did so! They were two girl, one from Russia and one from Warsaw. Both had to speak english to each other and they were great at it! FINALLY! Contact! haha. It was perfect because we have become good friends. We went to the meuzeum together and guess what I saw??? The famous remains of Lucy. Now for those of you who do not know who this is google it! She is the OLDEST fossil we have ever found of a human ancestor. Now I found this fascinating in Mr. Lake's biology class and I never though I would see it in person! I wish you were here Mr. Lake! It was fascinating!

Anastasia, Me, Gosia, Statue

      So my new found friends from Russia and Poland (Anastasia and Gosia) treated me to a great day in Warszawa. Especially when we went to the University of Warszawa! It is magestic! So much better then all of our U of S, C and A hahaha. Afterwards I met a man from Belgium name Balthazaar. He is really cool as well! All together we have decided to have a potluck on Monday and bring food from our home countries (like signature dishes) God knows I do not want to bring Poutine... any suggestions?? I know at least a few people are reading this blog!!! Come on Mom!!

        Today however is a different story. I met two other polish boys, both in the military and boy did they treat me. Let's just say that Canadian beer is nothing in comparison to Polish beer, it is great!! (Sorry Patriots!). Thse guys are great. I met them on a site called interpals and they drove out to show me around the city. Not only did they do that but they treated me to food, beers, and a muezum. Poland is awesome people! Awesome.
the stuff I have seen is great!

SO a quick bit of info, I have found out that Flicker or what ever I have been using for my photos is cheap and wants to start chargin me in a bit. So I will post more photos when I sort his out. So much to say! So little time!

Oh! and this photo to the left of me was kindly taken by a Citizen of Warszawa! He took it upside down, and managed to make it blurry as well! It is the Plac Kultury behind us. (Gosia, Me, Balthazaar). We will redo this as soon as possible!

And then my hostel burned down...

Nah! It didn't. But that would be pretty fun for me wouldn't it? The last two days have been great. On Sunday I went to a firehall and the guys treated me awesomely there and I got two fire patches. When I asked to get a picture with their crew (You can see the picture in my photo stream. It is the one with 3 guy and I) they all got up, shaved, and washed their face and were fixing their hair and all that. It was SUPER funny. The downside is that it was in Warsaw and i had to walk 2 hours to get home  :) as Kinga and her husband were both busy for work! it was an 8km walk, in converse!! Lucky today I was able to get some new shoes, they are alot better to walk in and my feet really appreciate it.

New patches to the collection!

           Today  Kinga dropped me off at the Main Polish Fire academy today. I got there around 9 and did not leave until 12:30. The guys there were absolutely great and were all intrigued about me. I think I was one of the most amazing things to happen to them because they had a captain show me around the school, take me out for lunch with a crew and I got a personal meeting with the Dean/head Chief who was super happy about my visit. It was all great. I got to try on all the Polish Fire fighter equipment and get into the trucks. I have to say I am so happy I have chosen this career - It is an international brotherhood. I barely know these guys but I would trust them with my life. I was able to get 2 more patches so that makes a total of 4 polish patches. I think that is enough for me. I do not know if you are reading this Martin, but I have traded 2 of your patches as well.

Me and Sabastian the Polski Fire Lt.

        I was also at the equivilant of West Ed in Warsaw. It was amazing, HUGE in fact. I had alot of fun wandering around their with my headphones. The little english I speak I am changing my accent and using a very small vocabulary. It is helping alot in communication but I am laughing at the thought of how bad my english will be when I get back. Kinga and Michael have also gotten me a cell phone that should work all over Europe. It is great and I am extremely greatful to be staying with them. Kinga is also an AMAZING cook. it is soo yummy and it makes me never want to leave. The meat market creeps me out a bit though hahaha.

        That is it for today I think :) Progressively I will be writing posts every 3 days I think, or if something absolutely amazing happens. Thanks for reading!

Zak

I can't understand anything. So I am just going to plug in my headphones and let Usher talk to me all day...

           The language barrier is big. Huge in fact. People around my age generally know what I am talking about and are quite fluent in the language. The problem is most of them are either unemployed, have better (than shop/resturant) jobs, or are in school. So like I said above I listened to Usher all day. He talked alot about some pretty girls that he seems he can never hook up with, not to mention Biggie small, Lady Gaga, Eminem and a few other people kept me company too. It is great to have famous friends. They think I am a great listener.


           Today was a walking day. It was great fun though. Warsaw seems to be a relatively small place when you cut out the residential area. I would have to say the main feature of the day was the Old Castle and town that had been restored. It is called old Warsaw and is the only place that has been rebuilt/restored to the pre-war era. It really is a blast from the past. I took alot of pictures that you need to check out! I think I added about 49? I took some amazing pictures of the castle but forgot to take a picture of the castle itself... Looks like I will need to go back for that one. I also met Kinga's husband today. He is really awesome! His stories are great and he loves fallout 3 and New Vegas! Bonus in my books! I also have some pictures of me violently playing with thier dog who was pleasently named Sanchez. The origins of the name are funny but politically incorrect. The dog is absolutely nuts but is alot of fun. When we leave the house it goes even crazier! Kinga and Michael said they brought it to a doggie counsellor and he said that Sanchez has abandonment issues! Talk about funny!

         I am unsure as to what I am doing tomorrow but their is a large Leonardo Da vinci gallary here and I think that would be great to check out! i do not think that I can take pictures though. Other then that I believe it is time to start scouring for fire patches. I am already making maps of the places I need to go.

Thanks for reading!



       

Warsaw is Beautiful. However I just found out that Poland does not have bagels...

         So I am officially in Warsaw. And to this point I have been up over 27 hours with no sleep! Also you will have to pardon any spelling mistakes. I do not have the internet password yet so I am on Kinga's laptop and it is telling me that everything I have written is wrong as it is Polish. Kinga picked me up at the air port and we cruised around for a bit. At the moment Warsaw is covered with a thin layer of ice and snow. It is really beautiful! Besides just driving around, Kinga has taken me to the Warsaw version of central park. It has an awesome Palace and beautiful scenery!!

Me standing outside the Lake Palace (Frozen Over)

        The Big thing we did today that was absolutely awesome was go to the Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego. It is an museum that is dedicated in honoring the Polish effort in pre-WW2 and post WW2. It had galleries that show cased old weapons used by the Nazi party or the Polish rebels. It also had a real used bomber on display that sadly you could not get into. Another cool presentation was that of a 3-D movie that showed Warsaw before and after the bombing, as well as statistics on deaths and destruction. It was a great history lesson and totally moved you. You don't realize the sacrifice that the Polish people gave until you experiance something  like this first hand.

       Kinga just asked me what I want for breakfast as she is going grocery shopping, and I said bagels would be great. Guess what... Poland does not have bagels and has never really heard of them... Talk about upsetting hahaha. But now I am going to try and go to bed. I am sleep starved and hopefully have a productive day ahead of me. Hopefully I have beaten jetleg hahaha.

I will have my photo's up and running soon so check those out!

Just Landed in Frankfurt, Dare I say Canada Air needs to step up it's Game.

It Absolutely looked alot better in person!

          As the title suggest, Canada Air and West jet REALLY need to step up thier game. This 8 and a bit hour flight was extremely comfortable! Great job Germany! Even the food was great. I also had two Tv's and unlimited movies (Good ones too, explosions and everything else we are too sensitive to use). Another surprise is the fact we had metal forks, spoons, and knives. When I took out the knife I expected to suddenly be hurled down by an air-marshal. The only downside is the fact I had to pay 4.95 Euros for this internet connection. I figure I can justify it though because I am on vacation and I am SUPER bored.... 2 hours waiting is not that fun. I managed to stay awake the whole flight. I am hoping to stay awake all day too to beat up the jetleg that is waiting around the corner.However, every attendant here is super... how do you put it.... In simple words they need to take a chill pill. Not because they are in my face or anything.... it is just by the gate it is such a serious atmosphere hahaha.

On the trip I sat next to 3 guys from Canmore, talk about a small world... We all watched several movies. Of the top of my head I can say I watched Megamind, Red, Any given Sunday and a few episodes of Rescue me... Fun stuff... I am heading off to Poland shortly so I am ending this now! Take care!

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The Upcoming Trip & A Little Background Info!

           So I suppose a little bit of background knowledge is needed. You know that period of time were you figure out what you want to do with your life? You know, the moment were you are super stoked and feel like you have it all laid down? Ready for action? Well I'll tell you what. I have known what I have wanted to do FOREVER. I want to be a Firefighter and a Medic. I set it up so that I would graduate early without short-handing myself in the future.

        The plan was that I would attend Lakeland College! After my application had gone through and a few harsh weeks passed I received an awnser via telephone and mail. I didn't get in! The reason being I am too young, and they want me to have more life experience. SO, instead of mourning and letting go of the dream I have decided to go to Europe. While there, I plan to gain life experience by Volunteering when and were I can, visiting local fire halls and academies, embracing culture and going on adventures! So that I can go again next year and tell them what I have done!

I am officially leaving on the 17th of February, 2011. I have a brand new backpack, and some extra gadgets. As soon as I sew on my Canadian flag I'll be ready to go!


First stop Warsaw Poland!