This morning we hit a bit of a rough patch. It was too late to go to Malbork and still have time to see things there by the time any decision was made, and my mom got emotional and it was tense until my sister came up with the idea to go to the park in Oliwa.
We walked there, because why not? It took us an hour and fifteen minutes. It started thundering around the one hour mark, and my mom really just wanted to take cover. We did take one picture, but it ended up being the only one. We went to the big greenhouse to look around for a few minutes before heading over to the cathedrale for the organ demonstration. It was very cool. When we went to the Mozartiana finale, I thought the horns and things on the organs might just be decorations for the event, and if not just decorations in general. But the horns move and the wheels spin and the hands ring the bells. Watching it was sweet, and the music was good as well.
It had been pouring for a few minutes while we were in there, but it was only sprinkling when we left. We ended up going to the museum there, which was my favorite museum by far. It wasn't just dark portraits and things for the 19th century. There were lots of contemporary pieces (though also some works from the 1800s) that were cool to look at it. Yeah. T'was nice.
When we left, it was really coming down. My mom got pissed when the umbrella I had was too small for both me and her and we couldn't find a taxi and she didn't want to walk around during a thunderstorm. Eventually, however, we circled back to in front of the cathedrale. My mom snapped at the guy using the pay phone after a few mintues of standing there, but he turned out to be very helpful despite her mood. He told us how to work the phone, and when we didn't have a phone card he used his mobile phone (it's cheaper to call Russia from the pay phone, did you know?) to call us an inexpensive taxi. My mom apologized for her rudeness and we made it home just fine.
At home, we ate dinner and the sat around for a few hours. Finally, at five, my mom and I went for a walk on the beach. My sister didn't want to come, as she was tired and had been having stomach issues all day. On the way there my mom apologized for her recent behavoir and explained it slightly. I told her the short version of what I'm about to tell you now.
I'm in Europe. Plain and simple, I. Am. In. Europe. I'm on an expensive vacation, trotting around foreign countries, sight-seeing and eating. I am lucky. I recognize that many people can't take vacations like this. Just the fact that I am here makes me happy. Sure, I have my complaints. But no matter how much I may miss having internet access 24/7, I'm just so lucky to have this opportunity, especially because this is my 3rd trip to the area. God forbid I don't have a good time.
Then my mom made some comments that sealed the deal of my Hufflepuff-ness, and we walked to the pier to use the internet.
My mom's now basically decided to give up on going to Malbork after the bus service website was being difficult. I'm sorry she made that decision, not because I was dying to go (I don't really know anything about it), but because she seemed to really want to go. She said it was a huge dissapointment, but she also said that she really wanted my sister and I to see it, like she wanted my brother and I to see it two years ago, and that she'll live. She said we're young and can come back. I said it could be incentive (insentive?) for her to come back, because she's said earlier in the trip that she'd probably never come back after this trip.
She made more comments that stamped me forever as a Hufflepuff.
We stopped at the supermarkter on the way back for toothpaste, of which we bought none, though I bought a generous amount of Prince Polos as it's time I begin to binge-buy candy to eat after I get home.
Then I studied some French and ate, and now I'm here.
Oh, so I finished Hour Game this morning. Like I've said, it was a very good book. I enjoyed reading it immensely, and I'm thinking about reading more books by the author. The reason that I'm thinking about it rather than planning to take action about it is because I'm a bit too easily made paranoid for murder mysteries. Last night I kept glancing over my shoulder in the basement shower, and got deep into thought about murder and death.
I don't really remember exactly what I wanted to say about death. I tried to get my mind off it afterwards so that I wouldn't be so paranoid. I know that I wanted to say that the idea of murder scares me. Like those stabbings that happen in the streets at night. Imagine walking, maybe with a friend, maybe alone, maybe drunk, maybe laughing, and then suddenly you're stabbed. Maybe you feel the knife slice through your skin...
I don't want to talk about it. It makes me queasy and paranoid and emotional. People have different opinions about death. There was the guy Alaska Young quoted in Looking For Alaska by John Green, the quote being, "Damn it! How will I ever get out of this labrynth?" They were somebody's last words, though I can remember whose. Alaska had her way, which was "straight and fast." But not everyone is trying to get out of the labrynth. Some are content to wander the halls, catching life's throws and juggling their destiny. Of course, they'll eventually find a way out. But choosing for someone? I know I don't want to get out straight and fast. I'm content to wander.
Of course, now I'm paranoid of everything I say, especially to the blog, thanks to Eddie Battle of Hour Game. It's weird how a few days ago I talked about how comfortable I am talking to my blog, and now I'm wondering if the things I say here could get me killed.
This is why I'm only thinking about reading more of David Baldacci's books, folks.
Anyway, while basically everything else in the book pleased me, the pacing was a bit irksome. It moved too quickly at first, and then when I got used to it it slowed right back down and had me flying through the pages for more. As paranoid and squeamish as I am, I began to anticipate the next move of the serial killer more than annything else in the story.
I think I'll head off to bed now.
PoKEMON StATS
...
Monday, August 29, 2011
Adorable Restaurant is Adorable - 8.23.2011
Firstly, a few things I forgot to say in yesterday's blog post.
1. While we were walking...was it to the beach? Was that yesterday? It seems like ages ago... Well, anyway, at one point I was walking behind a girl with shorts that literally only covered half of her butt. Have some class. Then she looked at bras in a little shop alongside the supermarket.
2. When we were getting on the tramway (as it turns out, it's spelled tramway, not trumway. Sorry, folks) to wherever it was we were going, I can't be bothered to think back to it, there was a guy lying on the side of the road. Someone was calling 999 (like 991) and another guy was holding his head so it wouldn't be on the pavement. We don't know if he was just drunk or if he'd had a seizure for something, but yeah.
3. That car we drove in to the house of my mom's cousin? Turns out it costs 200,000 Euros. An Audi 7 or something, maybe 8, what do I know about cars? Either way, I figured it was fancy and expensive, but not that fancy and expensive. The thing had every option you could put in it. Big GPS screen with built in telephone, touch pad to write out the number you're looking for, it stops itself if you aren't paying attention, it has boss temperature control, and was basically a srs bsnss car.
Right-e-o then, on to today.
After breakfast we rushed over to the downtown area to board the 10am pirate ship to Westerplatte, the place where World War II started. We just made it to the ship, and then settled in for the 45-minute-ish trip to the monument. Mainly, we just sailed through the shipyards, and some guy was saying things in Polish, English, and German over the intercom about where we were, but I couldn't understand the English portions well and then gave up and just took pictures of the massive boats.
We landed and then walked along a path with some historical foundations of buildings and little explanations of what they were, finally coming to the big monument at the end. It was cool to go there, especially because every time I've come to Poland I've gone to the beach and people point and say, "Look, there's Westerplatte; that's where World War II started." Cool story, bro. Can we go?
We had the times wrong for the ships, so we sat waiting for a while before getting on and heading back to Gdansk. On the way back, we listened to the live music we were promised. It was nice. The guy had two CDs, and my mom bought one for my sister, who then realized she wanted the other one, and it was just...
Neither of them seem to be having a very good time here. My mom keeps complaining about her mother and about how people are rude and about how my sister complains, while my sister complains about my mom pressuring her into things and rushing everywhere and how we have to meet family and sit around eating with them, and it's just stressful. I'm having a good time. I'm in freaking Europe, and as much as I miss my dear internet, I'd be happy no matter what we did. I just wish they could relax a bit and go with the flow. My mom is just as stressed out here as she is at home. So what's the point?
Well, anyway.
We ate at this adorable restaurant-place called Nalisnikowo. "Nalisniki" is the Polish word for crepes, so as you can guess, it was a creperie. I fell in love the moment we walked in. It's full of cheery pastel colors and the outside tableclothes have polka dots on them and the menus were pink and they had English versions and everyone was nice and no one fed me nuts. The food was also fantastic and surprisingly filling. I love that place.
Then we meant to rush home because we were going to meet my sister's godmother's mother in Sopot at four, but we swung by the amber museum gift shop so my sister could check something (where I bought something for a friend), and then we also swung by the amber-selling-street so I could buy the necklace I'd seen the other two times I was there (and my sister bought a necklace as well), and then while we were walking to the tramway stop I bought another little gift for a different friend.
Our luck had been good until today with tramways, and we had to wait a bit for the right one to come. We didn't get back until a little after four, so we called to apologized and then quickly got ready and took a taxi there.
We sat eating cake and tea for a bit. I kept myself amused by watching my sister's godmother's two sons playing. They're five and three--the first was a few weeks old when I first came to Poland. The six of us began to walk towards the pier in Sopot, but my sister's aunt's godmother and the two boys turned back before we got there. We checked it out, but didn't pay to go on. We then walked to the train station and took a train to where the Alfa Centrum is. We couldn't find a stop for the right bus or a tramway that would get us home for a while, and we'd walked roughly half the way there before coming across a bus stop. We took a bus home.
I didn't eat supper, because though it was just after nine I was totally beat and went straight to the shower. My feet kill. I'm probably forgetting things I wanted to say here. Like that the train "wasn't quite the Hogwarts Express" and that a guy at the monument was wearing a Harry Potter t-shirt and that I gave some money to some hilarious* breakdancers who were also good at breakdancing and the guy whose hat I put money into gave me a fistbump. :D
I'm close to done with Hour Game. I really do like it a lot. I'm saving all my final thoughts and musings about paranoia and death and Alaska Young and the labrynth (labrinth? Oh, I'm tired) for when I've finished.
PoKEMON StATS
Hush, I'm reading.
*I don't speak Polish, but what I could understand was hilarious and they just seemed like cool guys.
1. While we were walking...was it to the beach? Was that yesterday? It seems like ages ago... Well, anyway, at one point I was walking behind a girl with shorts that literally only covered half of her butt. Have some class. Then she looked at bras in a little shop alongside the supermarket.
2. When we were getting on the tramway (as it turns out, it's spelled tramway, not trumway. Sorry, folks) to wherever it was we were going, I can't be bothered to think back to it, there was a guy lying on the side of the road. Someone was calling 999 (like 991) and another guy was holding his head so it wouldn't be on the pavement. We don't know if he was just drunk or if he'd had a seizure for something, but yeah.
3. That car we drove in to the house of my mom's cousin? Turns out it costs 200,000 Euros. An Audi 7 or something, maybe 8, what do I know about cars? Either way, I figured it was fancy and expensive, but not that fancy and expensive. The thing had every option you could put in it. Big GPS screen with built in telephone, touch pad to write out the number you're looking for, it stops itself if you aren't paying attention, it has boss temperature control, and was basically a srs bsnss car.
Right-e-o then, on to today.
After breakfast we rushed over to the downtown area to board the 10am pirate ship to Westerplatte, the place where World War II started. We just made it to the ship, and then settled in for the 45-minute-ish trip to the monument. Mainly, we just sailed through the shipyards, and some guy was saying things in Polish, English, and German over the intercom about where we were, but I couldn't understand the English portions well and then gave up and just took pictures of the massive boats.
We landed and then walked along a path with some historical foundations of buildings and little explanations of what they were, finally coming to the big monument at the end. It was cool to go there, especially because every time I've come to Poland I've gone to the beach and people point and say, "Look, there's Westerplatte; that's where World War II started." Cool story, bro. Can we go?
We had the times wrong for the ships, so we sat waiting for a while before getting on and heading back to Gdansk. On the way back, we listened to the live music we were promised. It was nice. The guy had two CDs, and my mom bought one for my sister, who then realized she wanted the other one, and it was just...
Neither of them seem to be having a very good time here. My mom keeps complaining about her mother and about how people are rude and about how my sister complains, while my sister complains about my mom pressuring her into things and rushing everywhere and how we have to meet family and sit around eating with them, and it's just stressful. I'm having a good time. I'm in freaking Europe, and as much as I miss my dear internet, I'd be happy no matter what we did. I just wish they could relax a bit and go with the flow. My mom is just as stressed out here as she is at home. So what's the point?
Well, anyway.
We ate at this adorable restaurant-place called Nalisnikowo. "Nalisniki" is the Polish word for crepes, so as you can guess, it was a creperie. I fell in love the moment we walked in. It's full of cheery pastel colors and the outside tableclothes have polka dots on them and the menus were pink and they had English versions and everyone was nice and no one fed me nuts. The food was also fantastic and surprisingly filling. I love that place.
Then we meant to rush home because we were going to meet my sister's godmother's mother in Sopot at four, but we swung by the amber museum gift shop so my sister could check something (where I bought something for a friend), and then we also swung by the amber-selling-street so I could buy the necklace I'd seen the other two times I was there (and my sister bought a necklace as well), and then while we were walking to the tramway stop I bought another little gift for a different friend.
Our luck had been good until today with tramways, and we had to wait a bit for the right one to come. We didn't get back until a little after four, so we called to apologized and then quickly got ready and took a taxi there.
We sat eating cake and tea for a bit. I kept myself amused by watching my sister's godmother's two sons playing. They're five and three--the first was a few weeks old when I first came to Poland. The six of us began to walk towards the pier in Sopot, but my sister's aunt's godmother and the two boys turned back before we got there. We checked it out, but didn't pay to go on. We then walked to the train station and took a train to where the Alfa Centrum is. We couldn't find a stop for the right bus or a tramway that would get us home for a while, and we'd walked roughly half the way there before coming across a bus stop. We took a bus home.
I didn't eat supper, because though it was just after nine I was totally beat and went straight to the shower. My feet kill. I'm probably forgetting things I wanted to say here. Like that the train "wasn't quite the Hogwarts Express" and that a guy at the monument was wearing a Harry Potter t-shirt and that I gave some money to some hilarious* breakdancers who were also good at breakdancing and the guy whose hat I put money into gave me a fistbump. :D
I'm close to done with Hour Game. I really do like it a lot. I'm saving all my final thoughts and musings about paranoia and death and Alaska Young and the labrynth (labrinth? Oh, I'm tired) for when I've finished.
PoKEMON StATS
Hush, I'm reading.
*I don't speak Polish, but what I could understand was hilarious and they just seemed like cool guys.
I Almost Died - 8.22.2011
(Today's blog post contains some srs bsnss swear words. Remember, kids, that fuck is a bad word. ^-^)
Today, I almost died.
I was walking along the water in the downtown area of Gdansk when a man grabbed at my arm. I swiftly dealt a knee to his balls and twisted my arm out of his grip using a trip I learned from the two weeks of karate camp I attended in elementary school. He recovered quickly from the pain in his groin and slugged me in the stomach. I toppled over the railing, but quickly caught the bar with the backs of my knees and flipped back up...
As you've probably guessed, the story above is "faaaaake." Hush, troll, I know. I did almost die today, though. You'll hear about the story later on when I get to it.
We slept in today, which was nice. After breakfast we headed out for a walk on the beach. The weather was very nice, and we contemplated going back for bathing suits. In the end we resolved to feed the birds with the bread we'd brought and access the internet, then decide what to do. It was chilly and cloudy when my sister finished up on her laptop, so we decided to walk home for money and go to the Alfa Centrum to see if we could buy an adaptor plug for my sister.
So, of course, once we decided not to go to the beach, it was lovely beach weather all day.
According to the guy behind the counter at the electronics store we went to, you can only buy Europe-to-America adaptors here, and not the other way around. We walked around the mall, though, since my sister hadn't been there. We stopped by H&M, where I bought a hat and scarf because I have too much money and nothing to do with it.
We had taken a bus to the mall, but we walked back and ate at a restaurant by the beach. When my sister ordered a beer, they asked if she wanted juice with it, which apparently was funny.
Then we headed home to drop off our purchases and change clothes, then we took a trumway to Gdansk because we were meeting two of my mom's cousins at the Neptune fountain.
After walking around for a big with my two aunts, the five of us sat down in a restaurant to have coffee and desert.
So there I was, innocently eating the ice cream I'd ordered. After discovering it had raisins in it, I began to get a little wary. I carefully chewed the fruits, being relieved each time they were chewy. Then came one that looked suspicious. It should be mentioned that when I was tested for allergies when I was six, all the tree nuts but one were a five (the highest), and the last one was a four. I carefully touched my tooth to the thing, and found it to not be a raisin. I quickly spat out the bit of skin into my napkin and wiped my mouth furiously before asking my mom what it was.
A fucking hazelnut.
They put fucking nuts in my fucking ice cream even after we fucking told them that I have severe fucking allergies to the mother fuckers.
I hadn't eaten it, but I took a Benadryl pill just in case and shoved the ice cream away, sticking to my iced coffee. I have this problem where I sometimes scare myself into thinking I have allergy symptons. I just sat there, feeling like the walls were squishing me, staring up at the cathedrale I could see through the window and being scared. I told my mom I wanted to leave, but my uncle had just come, so my sister and I went for a walk. I felt much better outside. With my mind off it, I stopped scaring myself and acknowledged that nothing was going to happen.
But I kept shivering, and I nearly cried leaving the restaurant. I'm nearly crying now, but my mom and sister are in the room. I was just very shaken. This wasn't like when you almost get hit by a car or something. This is like, that little round nut could have closed off my windpipe and I would've stopped breathing and fucking died.
This is why I like routine. When I diverge from my routine, shit happens. The one time I wore mis-matched socks, my shoes fell off running the mile on the outdoor track in gym class and I had to finish it in just my socsk, getting them utterly filthy. I didn't go to church yesterday, and today I almost died. I'm usually not superstitious, but I like my routine, and fate likes it, too.
By the way, at the restaurant my mom ordered the most hardcore thing I've ever seen her drink (the previous being a few sips of wine at special occaions): a White Russian. Forty milliliters of Vodka Sobieski, twenty milliliters of Kahlua, and forty milliliters of milk.
As we were leaving the restaurant, my mom wanted to take a picture of us on the steps. Then she kindly asked a passer-by in Polish if he could take a picture, and she explained how to work her camera.
"Ok, I didn't understand a word of that, but I think I can do it."
Guy turned out to be from Montreal, lol. Totally made my day. After being all trembly and scared about the round little ball of death, it was just hilarious, and I mean, meeting a real live Canadian? If you're reading this, Evan, tell Rowan all about how I met an honest-to-God Canadian. I'm so cool, eh?
0D
We drove over to my younger aunt's condominium-house place in her husbands ridiculously fancy car. We met her son there, who was an interesting character. The place was a little cluttered, kind of ornamental. Lots of little pieces and wooden furniture and things. I was kind of tired and shaken and didn't really want to be there.
Now I'm home and just...
I dunno.
Hey, interent friends? I'd never leave without telling you guys. So if I drop off the face of the forum, then I've actually dropped off the face of the planet. Even if my parents took my computers and grounded me from the internet for the rest of my life, I'd hop on at school or ask a fried to log in for me to let you guys know.
Okay? Okay.
Night, y'all.
PoKEMON StATS
Still the same. I have no time to play teh Pokemons. DX
Today, I almost died.
I was walking along the water in the downtown area of Gdansk when a man grabbed at my arm. I swiftly dealt a knee to his balls and twisted my arm out of his grip using a trip I learned from the two weeks of karate camp I attended in elementary school. He recovered quickly from the pain in his groin and slugged me in the stomach. I toppled over the railing, but quickly caught the bar with the backs of my knees and flipped back up...
As you've probably guessed, the story above is "faaaaake." Hush, troll, I know. I did almost die today, though. You'll hear about the story later on when I get to it.
We slept in today, which was nice. After breakfast we headed out for a walk on the beach. The weather was very nice, and we contemplated going back for bathing suits. In the end we resolved to feed the birds with the bread we'd brought and access the internet, then decide what to do. It was chilly and cloudy when my sister finished up on her laptop, so we decided to walk home for money and go to the Alfa Centrum to see if we could buy an adaptor plug for my sister.
So, of course, once we decided not to go to the beach, it was lovely beach weather all day.
According to the guy behind the counter at the electronics store we went to, you can only buy Europe-to-America adaptors here, and not the other way around. We walked around the mall, though, since my sister hadn't been there. We stopped by H&M, where I bought a hat and scarf because I have too much money and nothing to do with it.
We had taken a bus to the mall, but we walked back and ate at a restaurant by the beach. When my sister ordered a beer, they asked if she wanted juice with it, which apparently was funny.
Then we headed home to drop off our purchases and change clothes, then we took a trumway to Gdansk because we were meeting two of my mom's cousins at the Neptune fountain.
After walking around for a big with my two aunts, the five of us sat down in a restaurant to have coffee and desert.
So there I was, innocently eating the ice cream I'd ordered. After discovering it had raisins in it, I began to get a little wary. I carefully chewed the fruits, being relieved each time they were chewy. Then came one that looked suspicious. It should be mentioned that when I was tested for allergies when I was six, all the tree nuts but one were a five (the highest), and the last one was a four. I carefully touched my tooth to the thing, and found it to not be a raisin. I quickly spat out the bit of skin into my napkin and wiped my mouth furiously before asking my mom what it was.
A fucking hazelnut.
They put fucking nuts in my fucking ice cream even after we fucking told them that I have severe fucking allergies to the mother fuckers.
I hadn't eaten it, but I took a Benadryl pill just in case and shoved the ice cream away, sticking to my iced coffee. I have this problem where I sometimes scare myself into thinking I have allergy symptons. I just sat there, feeling like the walls were squishing me, staring up at the cathedrale I could see through the window and being scared. I told my mom I wanted to leave, but my uncle had just come, so my sister and I went for a walk. I felt much better outside. With my mind off it, I stopped scaring myself and acknowledged that nothing was going to happen.
But I kept shivering, and I nearly cried leaving the restaurant. I'm nearly crying now, but my mom and sister are in the room. I was just very shaken. This wasn't like when you almost get hit by a car or something. This is like, that little round nut could have closed off my windpipe and I would've stopped breathing and fucking died.
This is why I like routine. When I diverge from my routine, shit happens. The one time I wore mis-matched socks, my shoes fell off running the mile on the outdoor track in gym class and I had to finish it in just my socsk, getting them utterly filthy. I didn't go to church yesterday, and today I almost died. I'm usually not superstitious, but I like my routine, and fate likes it, too.
By the way, at the restaurant my mom ordered the most hardcore thing I've ever seen her drink (the previous being a few sips of wine at special occaions): a White Russian. Forty milliliters of Vodka Sobieski, twenty milliliters of Kahlua, and forty milliliters of milk.
As we were leaving the restaurant, my mom wanted to take a picture of us on the steps. Then she kindly asked a passer-by in Polish if he could take a picture, and she explained how to work her camera.
"Ok, I didn't understand a word of that, but I think I can do it."
Guy turned out to be from Montreal, lol. Totally made my day. After being all trembly and scared about the round little ball of death, it was just hilarious, and I mean, meeting a real live Canadian? If you're reading this, Evan, tell Rowan all about how I met an honest-to-God Canadian. I'm so cool, eh?
0D
We drove over to my younger aunt's condominium-house place in her husbands ridiculously fancy car. We met her son there, who was an interesting character. The place was a little cluttered, kind of ornamental. Lots of little pieces and wooden furniture and things. I was kind of tired and shaken and didn't really want to be there.
Now I'm home and just...
I dunno.
Hey, interent friends? I'd never leave without telling you guys. So if I drop off the face of the forum, then I've actually dropped off the face of the planet. Even if my parents took my computers and grounded me from the internet for the rest of my life, I'd hop on at school or ask a fried to log in for me to let you guys know.
Okay? Okay.
Night, y'all.
PoKEMON StATS
Still the same. I have no time to play teh Pokemons. DX
Awkward Old Men - 8.21.2011
Today was a slow day in comparison to the past few days, but it wasn't as if we didn't do anything.
My mother got up wicked early to go to the 6:30am mass, without asking my sister and I to come. She claimed she was tired of our complaining. I felt bad, because when I was saying I didn't want to go to church it was late and I was tired and cold and worried about failing BEDA and being stupid.
After breakfast the three of us headed off to the beach. Once we walked to our usual spot (as proclaimed by my mom), my sister and I went back to the pier to use the free internet. :D At one point, my sister got up to see if she could get better connection a little farther down the pier. An old man sat down in her place on the bench, and at one point asked me a question in Polish.
"...I don't speak Polish."
"Tso?!"
"...I don't speak Polish."
That awkward moment when an old man sits down next to you and asks you a question in a language you don't understand.
And I'm fairly certain I spelled "tso" wrong up there. IT MEANS "WHAT", OKAY? XD
My head hurts a little...
A little under an hour of internet time later, we headed back to my mom and chilled on the beach for a while. Around 12:30 we left because the clouds had rolled in and one of my mom's aunts (her father's sister, I believe), was supposed to be by for coffee around four.
On the way back we bought some cake and cheese and frozen pierogis, and then walked in around one to find that our guest was already there. The next few hours were mainly spent, by me at least, eating and listening. Eventually I headed upstairs to read some more, and then at a time that I believe was around five, my sister and I walked over to visit our other grandparents.
Over there I mainly just read more, stopping to listen to some conversation and to eat pancakes. It's really my godmother who knows how to work the internet over there, so I didn't get on. I'm not complaining, though. Hour Game by David Baldacci is really very good. It isn't perfect, but I'll save my in-depth thoughts for when I've finished it.
We got back not long ago, and I showered and now I'm here. I thought of some flesh-out information of the alternate universe of my tentative NaNoWriMo novel (not The Perpetual Business of a Quality Fish Store, I'm afraid), so I think I'll skip off to write that down.
Kiss-kiss,
I miss Vivid. DX
PoKEMON StATS
They still haven't changed. :/
My mother got up wicked early to go to the 6:30am mass, without asking my sister and I to come. She claimed she was tired of our complaining. I felt bad, because when I was saying I didn't want to go to church it was late and I was tired and cold and worried about failing BEDA and being stupid.
After breakfast the three of us headed off to the beach. Once we walked to our usual spot (as proclaimed by my mom), my sister and I went back to the pier to use the free internet. :D At one point, my sister got up to see if she could get better connection a little farther down the pier. An old man sat down in her place on the bench, and at one point asked me a question in Polish.
"...I don't speak Polish."
"Tso?!"
"...I don't speak Polish."
That awkward moment when an old man sits down next to you and asks you a question in a language you don't understand.
And I'm fairly certain I spelled "tso" wrong up there. IT MEANS "WHAT", OKAY? XD
My head hurts a little...
A little under an hour of internet time later, we headed back to my mom and chilled on the beach for a while. Around 12:30 we left because the clouds had rolled in and one of my mom's aunts (her father's sister, I believe), was supposed to be by for coffee around four.
On the way back we bought some cake and cheese and frozen pierogis, and then walked in around one to find that our guest was already there. The next few hours were mainly spent, by me at least, eating and listening. Eventually I headed upstairs to read some more, and then at a time that I believe was around five, my sister and I walked over to visit our other grandparents.
Over there I mainly just read more, stopping to listen to some conversation and to eat pancakes. It's really my godmother who knows how to work the internet over there, so I didn't get on. I'm not complaining, though. Hour Game by David Baldacci is really very good. It isn't perfect, but I'll save my in-depth thoughts for when I've finished it.
We got back not long ago, and I showered and now I'm here. I thought of some flesh-out information of the alternate universe of my tentative NaNoWriMo novel (not The Perpetual Business of a Quality Fish Store, I'm afraid), so I think I'll skip off to write that down.
Kiss-kiss,
I miss Vivid. DX
PoKEMON StATS
They still haven't changed. :/
Sunday, August 21, 2011
THE FOOD. LET ME DEVOUR IT. - 8.20.2011
11:34 pm. But I was worried it would be midnight by the time we got home, so this is good.
Today I awoke after six hours of sleep at six in the morning. For two hours I lay around, trying yet failing to get back to sleep, but not being able to keep my eyes open if I wanted to. At eight, I admitted to myself that it was time to get up and get ready. We were supposed to be getting picked up at nine to head over to the farm where we have family members.
After getting dressed, I ate a crossaint and some grapes. We weren't sure if we were having breakfast over there as well, so we ate a little just in case.
The guy picking us up--my uncle--ended up being forty-five minutes late due to his work, so I did some reading while we were waiting for him. Then me, my mom, my sister, and my grandmother all piled into his car and we began the hour-long drive to the farm.
We took a detour on the way there to look at another cathedrale--Pelplin. We paid our way in and I assure you, it was totally worth it. The place is massive and positively gorgeous. It's true beauty couldn't be captured no matter how many pictures I took, but I tried my best. There was a crew setting up flowers and candles and things for a wedding there. I wonder how much it costs to get married there...
Food was served almost the moment we walked in the door. We were greeted by my mother's aunt. I wish I could talk to this woman. She just seems to upbeat and awesome. Like a gameshow host or a younger, foreign Betty White. Plus, ohmigosh, her cooking. That food tasted like falling in love. Everything was homemade, from the cakes to the sauces, straight down to the noodles in the chicken soup. They live on a farm, like I've said, so they grow a lot of what they eat. Anyway, the food was just fantastic. Like, MasterChef fantastic. Though I don't think she would qualify for MasterChef because in the winter, when the farm is inactive, she cooks for weddings. She cooked all the food for my parents' wedding. I want her to cook for my wedding. Did I mention that the food was phenomenal?
Also, they gave me wine. I know the legal drinking age here is 18, so I thought it was odd. The following conversation occured between my sister and I once she took a sip of her own drink:
"So, is it wine?"
"Yup. Guess they think you're old enough."
"I'm kind of scared to try it."
"Don't get wasted."
Eventually, I took a sip. I almost chickened out when the smell reached my nose, but I managed to take a little sip. Tasted about as good as it smelled: that is, like piss. Seriously, why do people drink wine? Excuse me while I go wash out my mouth.
So lately I've been meeting a lot of family members, and I'm starting to lose track. Below is a quick list of the family members I know of.
In America:
-mom
-dad
-sister
-sister
-brother
-godmother
-godfather
-uncle
-aunt
-three cousins
In Germany:
-uncle
-aunt
-two cousins
In Poland:
-mom's mother
-dad's parents
-mom's mother's two sisters--my great aunts
-uncle that lives with grandmother
- my uncle, Woytek, and his brothers--three sets of aunts and uncles
-four cousins from those three sets
-great aunt and uncle at farm
-three sets of aunts and uncles met at farm
-six cousins met at farm
And that isn't even including the parents of my aunt in America and my aunt and Germany, and everyone that they are related to. I was so used to having a neat little family that I could keep easy tabs on. Now my mind has been blown.
11:52pm.
We eventually left the farm, laden with gifts despite the fact that we were the ones visiting them and they had cooked us the fantastic meal and like, they didn't have to. A few minutes after we got back, we called a taxi and drove over to the Oliwa cathedrale for a concert my mother and sister really wanted to go to--the finale of the Mozart festival thigns, Mozartiana. There was a bit of a misconception, so we waited in the cold for a while before getting in and buying tickets. We met some guy with a son who lived in London and had a British accent. :D
Then we had a half hour to kill, so we went to the Oliwa cemetary where some family members are buried. My mom wanted to see the grave of her father. I don't really want to get into the family grave parts, because anything interesting related to it is really more my mom's story to tell, and I'm low on time to get into all the details of my day. There was one grave that was buried in bouquets of flowers, so we assume the funeral was today.
The concert was nice, though I spent the whole time focusing on not falling asleep. The place was packed and probably sold out. The music wasn't exactly my favorite--more the kind you play in the background at Christmas parties--but it sounded very good and was altogether an enoyable thing, I suppose.
We walked for a bit before finally finding a big post that said TAXI, and a taxi eventually came and took us home. Two minutes to midnight, so I'm signing off for tonight. I've probably missed something, but.
PoKEMON StATS
Same as yesterday, no time to copy and paste.
Today I awoke after six hours of sleep at six in the morning. For two hours I lay around, trying yet failing to get back to sleep, but not being able to keep my eyes open if I wanted to. At eight, I admitted to myself that it was time to get up and get ready. We were supposed to be getting picked up at nine to head over to the farm where we have family members.
After getting dressed, I ate a crossaint and some grapes. We weren't sure if we were having breakfast over there as well, so we ate a little just in case.
The guy picking us up--my uncle--ended up being forty-five minutes late due to his work, so I did some reading while we were waiting for him. Then me, my mom, my sister, and my grandmother all piled into his car and we began the hour-long drive to the farm.
We took a detour on the way there to look at another cathedrale--Pelplin. We paid our way in and I assure you, it was totally worth it. The place is massive and positively gorgeous. It's true beauty couldn't be captured no matter how many pictures I took, but I tried my best. There was a crew setting up flowers and candles and things for a wedding there. I wonder how much it costs to get married there...
Food was served almost the moment we walked in the door. We were greeted by my mother's aunt. I wish I could talk to this woman. She just seems to upbeat and awesome. Like a gameshow host or a younger, foreign Betty White. Plus, ohmigosh, her cooking. That food tasted like falling in love. Everything was homemade, from the cakes to the sauces, straight down to the noodles in the chicken soup. They live on a farm, like I've said, so they grow a lot of what they eat. Anyway, the food was just fantastic. Like, MasterChef fantastic. Though I don't think she would qualify for MasterChef because in the winter, when the farm is inactive, she cooks for weddings. She cooked all the food for my parents' wedding. I want her to cook for my wedding. Did I mention that the food was phenomenal?
Also, they gave me wine. I know the legal drinking age here is 18, so I thought it was odd. The following conversation occured between my sister and I once she took a sip of her own drink:
"So, is it wine?"
"Yup. Guess they think you're old enough."
"I'm kind of scared to try it."
"Don't get wasted."
Eventually, I took a sip. I almost chickened out when the smell reached my nose, but I managed to take a little sip. Tasted about as good as it smelled: that is, like piss. Seriously, why do people drink wine? Excuse me while I go wash out my mouth.
So lately I've been meeting a lot of family members, and I'm starting to lose track. Below is a quick list of the family members I know of.
In America:
-mom
-dad
-sister
-sister
-brother
-godmother
-godfather
-uncle
-aunt
-three cousins
In Germany:
-uncle
-aunt
-two cousins
In Poland:
-mom's mother
-dad's parents
-mom's mother's two sisters--my great aunts
-uncle that lives with grandmother
- my uncle, Woytek, and his brothers--three sets of aunts and uncles
-four cousins from those three sets
-great aunt and uncle at farm
-three sets of aunts and uncles met at farm
-six cousins met at farm
And that isn't even including the parents of my aunt in America and my aunt and Germany, and everyone that they are related to. I was so used to having a neat little family that I could keep easy tabs on. Now my mind has been blown.
11:52pm.
We eventually left the farm, laden with gifts despite the fact that we were the ones visiting them and they had cooked us the fantastic meal and like, they didn't have to. A few minutes after we got back, we called a taxi and drove over to the Oliwa cathedrale for a concert my mother and sister really wanted to go to--the finale of the Mozart festival thigns, Mozartiana. There was a bit of a misconception, so we waited in the cold for a while before getting in and buying tickets. We met some guy with a son who lived in London and had a British accent. :D
Then we had a half hour to kill, so we went to the Oliwa cemetary where some family members are buried. My mom wanted to see the grave of her father. I don't really want to get into the family grave parts, because anything interesting related to it is really more my mom's story to tell, and I'm low on time to get into all the details of my day. There was one grave that was buried in bouquets of flowers, so we assume the funeral was today.
The concert was nice, though I spent the whole time focusing on not falling asleep. The place was packed and probably sold out. The music wasn't exactly my favorite--more the kind you play in the background at Christmas parties--but it sounded very good and was altogether an enoyable thing, I suppose.
We walked for a bit before finally finding a big post that said TAXI, and a taxi eventually came and took us home. Two minutes to midnight, so I'm signing off for tonight. I've probably missed something, but.
PoKEMON StATS
Same as yesterday, no time to copy and paste.
GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL - 8.19.2011
Another long day. It's currently 11:28 pm, so it's a good thing I can type fast.
This morning I was worried we wouldn't go anywhere before the house we were invited to for dessert and supper, as it was thundering and there was lightning and it was raining pretty hard. However, the weather eased up and we woke up my sister, finally heading back downtown at 11am.
My mom really wanted to go to the National Museum of Poland. It's free on Fridays, and thank goodness it was. There really wasn't much to see, since they are working on exhibits that won't be open until at least partway through September. We did get to see the famous painting (a tri-something) of the road to heaven, purgatory, and hell that used to hang in St. Katherine's church that we visited yesterday. I believe it was actually still there when I first came here five years ago, because I remember seeing it and trying not to pay attention to it, because I had just turned nine and was still innocent.
We stopped by a few other churches, two of which didn't let you inside the church and you just had to look through a gate (St. Barbara and one other). The third was St. Peter and Paul's, which was beautiful, just like every other church here.
Originally, we thought we were going to be picked up at 4:30pm to go to dessert/supper (a time that was changed to 6pm), so we were under a bit of a time crunch. We walked down Mariacka Street, which is where all the amber jewelry shops are. The reputable ones, anyway. My sister wants to buy amber earrings, so we looked for a bit. I really like the ones with a sun that has an amber center, with silver sunbeams off of it. Fail description, but it's late.
When we got back, we had dinner. It was around 3:30 when we sat down to eat, because the potatoes needed to cook and the fish cakes needed to be heated up. Around four, we got a call saying we'd be picked up at six instead. We went to the little shop next door to the house to buy Calypso ice cream, which my mom grew up on. Then my sister and I grabbed our netbooks and headed with my mom to the pier to see if we could access the internet via the free wifi hotspot.
AND IT WORKED. :D
Unfortunately, it also began pouring rain like a boss, and we ended up speed-walking home and having roughly five minutes to get ready before my mom's cousin came to take us to his place in Gdynia.
Their condiminium-house deal is a sweet number. They have a brown-and-cream/white theme going on in the living and dining room floor. The furniture is wood-modern, and the floors are made up of different fancy tiles. Very nice. The rest of the house is just lovely as well, with a luxury bathroom and some awesome bedrooms. The view is also fantastic. The style of the neighborhood is kind of like northern California. I'd live there.
It's 11:43pm, and tomorrow morning at 9am a family member is picking us up to take us to the farm to spend the whole day. We send my old clothes there, but I'm not totally sure how we're all related. Either way, it was odd the last time to see the younger girls in clothes I remember from my childhood.
Quick story time! I have this unfairly attractive cousin who is my age, the daughter of the aunt and uncle we visited this evening. She attends a performing arts high school and wears awesome clothes and has a bedroom out of a catalog. Apparently when we had all those family members over on Sunday, it was like an outrage amongst my grandmother and her sisters because she wore make-up. It was nice to be liked on the grounds that I don't wear make-up. The fact that I couldn't talk to them probably helped. My grandmother gets ridiculously pleased when I say "dobranoc" or "nie wiem."
I want to talk Pokemon for a moment. I beat Ghestis this morning, once I bought some Revives and a few more Lemonades. I can't believe I was paying 700 for Super Potions when I could've been paying 200 for Fresh Waters that do the same thing. At first I was worried that all the trainers would have level 20-ish Pokemon, like on the route right after Nimbasa City on the right. It was lovely to encounter really experience trainers, as well as the story about the Seven Sages. All the old Pokemon (and some new ones), get me all excited and I just want to catch them all. regthreuhiurh
My only complaint is I swear the internet said that the White Forest had Pokemon in it. And like. Buh. If I bought White because of that, and it turns out to be untrue, then I'll be just a bit pissed. I really like Reshiram, and I love fire types to bits. Buhbuhbuh. But either way, White has been a really fantastic game. The difference between it and SoulSilver is phenomenal, and I've just really enjoyed playing it. I enjoyed SoulSilver, too, but it just...wasn't boring. it was fresh and innovative and just wicked cool. Thirty-five-plus-tax well spent.
I wore my watch necklace today, and people really like it. I really like it. :D
11:52. Going to record my Pokemon stats and hit the sack hard.
I though the wild Pokemon would be weak due to that first route, so I switched Sawsbuck for Drilbur because I think Excadrill is boss. I might keep it, just because it's so awesome. I'll compare them on serebii.net when I next get internet. Which will hopefully be when it isn't raining and blowing droplets onto my screen.
11:56. I borrowed Hour Game by David Baldacci from my godmother because I ran out of books to read. I was worried it would suck, but it's really quite good. It's a murder mystery, but not a terrifying one, which is good. I'm easily terrified. But what was with the random teenages having sex in the car? Couldn't making out of been fine?
PoKEMON StATS
Hours played: 36 hours and 59 minutes
Current team:
- Emboar, 62
- Zebstrika, 60
- Vanilluxe, 53
- Zekrom, 52
- Swanna, 46
- Excadrill, 44
Badges: 8
This morning I was worried we wouldn't go anywhere before the house we were invited to for dessert and supper, as it was thundering and there was lightning and it was raining pretty hard. However, the weather eased up and we woke up my sister, finally heading back downtown at 11am.
My mom really wanted to go to the National Museum of Poland. It's free on Fridays, and thank goodness it was. There really wasn't much to see, since they are working on exhibits that won't be open until at least partway through September. We did get to see the famous painting (a tri-something) of the road to heaven, purgatory, and hell that used to hang in St. Katherine's church that we visited yesterday. I believe it was actually still there when I first came here five years ago, because I remember seeing it and trying not to pay attention to it, because I had just turned nine and was still innocent.
We stopped by a few other churches, two of which didn't let you inside the church and you just had to look through a gate (St. Barbara and one other). The third was St. Peter and Paul's, which was beautiful, just like every other church here.
Originally, we thought we were going to be picked up at 4:30pm to go to dessert/supper (a time that was changed to 6pm), so we were under a bit of a time crunch. We walked down Mariacka Street, which is where all the amber jewelry shops are. The reputable ones, anyway. My sister wants to buy amber earrings, so we looked for a bit. I really like the ones with a sun that has an amber center, with silver sunbeams off of it. Fail description, but it's late.
When we got back, we had dinner. It was around 3:30 when we sat down to eat, because the potatoes needed to cook and the fish cakes needed to be heated up. Around four, we got a call saying we'd be picked up at six instead. We went to the little shop next door to the house to buy Calypso ice cream, which my mom grew up on. Then my sister and I grabbed our netbooks and headed with my mom to the pier to see if we could access the internet via the free wifi hotspot.
AND IT WORKED. :D
Unfortunately, it also began pouring rain like a boss, and we ended up speed-walking home and having roughly five minutes to get ready before my mom's cousin came to take us to his place in Gdynia.
Their condiminium-house deal is a sweet number. They have a brown-and-cream/white theme going on in the living and dining room floor. The furniture is wood-modern, and the floors are made up of different fancy tiles. Very nice. The rest of the house is just lovely as well, with a luxury bathroom and some awesome bedrooms. The view is also fantastic. The style of the neighborhood is kind of like northern California. I'd live there.
It's 11:43pm, and tomorrow morning at 9am a family member is picking us up to take us to the farm to spend the whole day. We send my old clothes there, but I'm not totally sure how we're all related. Either way, it was odd the last time to see the younger girls in clothes I remember from my childhood.
Quick story time! I have this unfairly attractive cousin who is my age, the daughter of the aunt and uncle we visited this evening. She attends a performing arts high school and wears awesome clothes and has a bedroom out of a catalog. Apparently when we had all those family members over on Sunday, it was like an outrage amongst my grandmother and her sisters because she wore make-up. It was nice to be liked on the grounds that I don't wear make-up. The fact that I couldn't talk to them probably helped. My grandmother gets ridiculously pleased when I say "dobranoc" or "nie wiem."
I want to talk Pokemon for a moment. I beat Ghestis this morning, once I bought some Revives and a few more Lemonades. I can't believe I was paying 700 for Super Potions when I could've been paying 200 for Fresh Waters that do the same thing. At first I was worried that all the trainers would have level 20-ish Pokemon, like on the route right after Nimbasa City on the right. It was lovely to encounter really experience trainers, as well as the story about the Seven Sages. All the old Pokemon (and some new ones), get me all excited and I just want to catch them all. regthreuhiurh
My only complaint is I swear the internet said that the White Forest had Pokemon in it. And like. Buh. If I bought White because of that, and it turns out to be untrue, then I'll be just a bit pissed. I really like Reshiram, and I love fire types to bits. Buhbuhbuh. But either way, White has been a really fantastic game. The difference between it and SoulSilver is phenomenal, and I've just really enjoyed playing it. I enjoyed SoulSilver, too, but it just...wasn't boring. it was fresh and innovative and just wicked cool. Thirty-five-plus-tax well spent.
I wore my watch necklace today, and people really like it. I really like it. :D
11:52. Going to record my Pokemon stats and hit the sack hard.
I though the wild Pokemon would be weak due to that first route, so I switched Sawsbuck for Drilbur because I think Excadrill is boss. I might keep it, just because it's so awesome. I'll compare them on serebii.net when I next get internet. Which will hopefully be when it isn't raining and blowing droplets onto my screen.
11:56. I borrowed Hour Game by David Baldacci from my godmother because I ran out of books to read. I was worried it would suck, but it's really quite good. It's a murder mystery, but not a terrifying one, which is good. I'm easily terrified. But what was with the random teenages having sex in the car? Couldn't making out of been fine?
PoKEMON StATS
Hours played: 36 hours and 59 minutes
Current team:
- Emboar, 62
- Zebstrika, 60
- Vanilluxe, 53
- Zekrom, 52
- Swanna, 46
- Excadrill, 44
Badges: 8
Today We Did Things and It Was Fun :D - 8.18.2011
Today was, in short, a good day.
We woke up and ate breakfast, and then quickly took off towards the trumway to go into downtown Gdansk. The trumway ride was cool, I guess. It wasn't that striking, really, other than the fact that it is the most hardcore roller coaster my mom will ever ride. More hardcore than the autoban and the ski lift to one of the castles we visited in Germany.
After a quick bit of walking (in which my mom gave money to a guy that reminded me of Mike Lombardo playing guitar because my dad used to do that. She likes giving money to musicians) , we went into a small chuch which I believe was St. Catherines church. It was pretty. A lot of things we saw today had things in Polish, English, and German, but the English translations weren't always that great. I could understand them, and it was nice that they did it at all, but you'd think they could've found someone to proofread their signs. "Book also available in English and Germany." And that doesn't have anything of the "Blef stek" at the restaurant we ate at.
(I'm such a hypocrite, because without internet I'm not spell-checking these, and foreign countries spell check in their own language on blogger.)
The St. Dominic's festival is currently going on. It's kind of like a flea market, or at least that's what people keep calling it. It's basically just tons of vendors selling stuff. I like it a lot, regardless of whether or not I can descibe it well. Anyway, we walked through some streets, taking a detour to visit the World's Holiest Store.
This place was just packed, and I mean up to the ceiling packed, with church-related things. Crucifixes, batisimal outfits, church wine, holiday trinkets, pope-related things, paintings having to do with church-y things, and even the goblets churches use to administer the church wine. I wasn't really sure why my mom wanted to go there--I guess it was there when she was growing up--but it smelled funny and I wasn't sad to see the exit.
After some more walking, we came to the amber museum. I don't know what it's actually called, which is why there are no capital letters. Just amber museum. XD Either way, at first it seemed to be mystical and kind of...mystical. There were showcases of amber and some fantasy-esque music playing from little videos relating to amber. Then it got to be kind of creepy, when you got in range on the museum it was a part of, which had to do with the war and weapons and torture. You could hear the screams from the actors-pretending-to-be-tortured on the screen they had, so that was. Yeah. The stairs were also extremely steep, which was a massive workout going up and a danger going down.
Side note: the top two floors of the amber museum were wicked cool. The place went from medival castle to modern loft, with marble floors and a central spiral staircase, also marble, with a shiny silver banister that led up to a circular balcony deal. I want to live in a place like that. ._.
More walking, and we decided to eat, as it was around one. We finally picked a restaurant that was apparently one of Poland's top 100. We figured it would be good, but forty-five minutes of waiting for our dishes later, we were beginning to have our doubts. We ended up asking another waiter what was going on, and the wait turned out to be like, insane. The other waiter probably took our orders and went on break. Pah. The food was pretty good, though. I ordered off the Kids Menu, since my strategy for ordering in Europe has basically been to find the dishes with french fries and order one of those with a Cola. My mom thinks I'm crazy, but hey, vacation. No one lets me eat like this at home.
While we were eating, two young guys sat outside the fancy outdoor area of the place and began to play guitar and sing. I thought one was kind of attractive, but like, I'm shy and awkward and with my mom and there's the language barrier. Besides, I couldn't understand a word they were singing, and he kind of looked like a prick. But then they sang PokerFace, and it was like, "ATTRACTIVE GUY WITH ATTRACTIVE ACCENT, WANT."
Then we left.
We walked more through the festival-flea market, making our way towards the St. Mary's church, which is the biggest brick church in Poland, if not the world. Our facts aren't totally straight, so don't hold me to that. I'd been there twice before, but it was still beautiful and, well, big. Despite having gone twice, I'd never climbed the tower to the top. The three of us paid to climb up, but near the top my mom was really feeling the air pressure and went back down. The woman behind her went with her, saying how they should warn people about that kind of thing. So that was nice.
Just over 400 (they were numbered) stairs later, my sister and I were at the top. The view was just gorgeous, though I was hanging on to my camera for dear life so I wouldn't drop it. I noticed that people dropped money onto a little ledge between two peaks in the roof. I had found one grosy (grozy? I don't know, Polish cents) on the way to the trumway, so I dug it out and followed suit. I wasn't sure if you were supposed to make a wish or not, but I did just in case. I figured since it was a big cathedrale that it should be an important wish, but it was kind of a silly thing to think was important. I don't want to say what it was, partly because I don't want to jinx it and partly out of embarrassment, but it wasn't like, to be successful or to get home safely to America or to live to retirement or anything. But important in it's own way, maybe.
Another 405-ish stairs later, we were at the bottom. After we had passed the part with the domes of the church ceiling and all, it was a tight spiral staircase to the bottom, just like when we had been going up. My legs were unhappy with this, and it was kind of uncomfortable going down. The stairs were pretty steep, too.
I'm tired, but I need to finish this post.
Once we left the church, we began to meander our way home. There was one stand a young girl, probably a college student, was running, the jewelry she sold was very cool, centered around watches and mechanisms and things. If she isn't an art student, she should be, because it was all very cool. I ended up spending 59 zloty ($20.70) on a bronzey-brass necklace with a pendant shaped like a teapot, that has a working watch on it. I can't describe it well, but I adore it.
Then we bought some things at a congregation of fruit and veggie stands, which was heaven for me. It just smelled divine and I wish we had something like that at home. We never go to the Farmer's Market anymore. D:
After dinner, we took a walk on the beach. It was postively gorgeous, with a pinky-orange-blue sky where there weren't clouds. The waves were a pretty color under the sky, crashing quickly and cold and very much unlike yesterday morning when the sea was hardly moving. My mom and sister were kind of complaining back and forth to each other, so it was nice to be next to the loud waves, not being able to hear them well. I want them both to be happy here. I'm happy and having fun. I want everyone to be happy and having fun.
Quick side notes before I skip off to bed.
1. The sand makes my legs really dry, and I didn't want to use my mom's lotion since it's with macadamia nut oil, and I'm allergic to macadamia nuts. We took the strawberry body lotion from the room that basically belongs to my cousin in Germany (the one with the wasps). This stuff appears dangerously edible. It looks like strawberry yogurt and smells like all your hopes and dreams just came true. I may have to take it home with me.
2. Is it me, or was the Elite 4 way harder this Generation? I didn't lose to any of them, and maybe I just wasn't used to difficult battles, but it felt way harder (lololol, that's what she said. I'm tired). Then I beat N just fine, and lost to Ghestis because I was low on supplies. Zekrom is cool. I like Reshiram better, to be honest, but I wanted the White Forest, so I got White. EDIT FROM THE 21ST: WHERE ARE THE POKEMON IN THE FOREST THAT I WAS PROMISED? DX
PoKEMON StATS
Hours played: 34 hours and 46 minutes
Current team:
- Emboar, 60
- Zebstrika, 58
- Vanilluxe, 51
- Zekrom, 50
- Swanna, 46
- Sawsbuck, 45
Badges: 8
We woke up and ate breakfast, and then quickly took off towards the trumway to go into downtown Gdansk. The trumway ride was cool, I guess. It wasn't that striking, really, other than the fact that it is the most hardcore roller coaster my mom will ever ride. More hardcore than the autoban and the ski lift to one of the castles we visited in Germany.
After a quick bit of walking (in which my mom gave money to a guy that reminded me of Mike Lombardo playing guitar because my dad used to do that. She likes giving money to musicians) , we went into a small chuch which I believe was St. Catherines church. It was pretty. A lot of things we saw today had things in Polish, English, and German, but the English translations weren't always that great. I could understand them, and it was nice that they did it at all, but you'd think they could've found someone to proofread their signs. "Book also available in English and Germany." And that doesn't have anything of the "Blef stek" at the restaurant we ate at.
(I'm such a hypocrite, because without internet I'm not spell-checking these, and foreign countries spell check in their own language on blogger.)
The St. Dominic's festival is currently going on. It's kind of like a flea market, or at least that's what people keep calling it. It's basically just tons of vendors selling stuff. I like it a lot, regardless of whether or not I can descibe it well. Anyway, we walked through some streets, taking a detour to visit the World's Holiest Store.
This place was just packed, and I mean up to the ceiling packed, with church-related things. Crucifixes, batisimal outfits, church wine, holiday trinkets, pope-related things, paintings having to do with church-y things, and even the goblets churches use to administer the church wine. I wasn't really sure why my mom wanted to go there--I guess it was there when she was growing up--but it smelled funny and I wasn't sad to see the exit.
After some more walking, we came to the amber museum. I don't know what it's actually called, which is why there are no capital letters. Just amber museum. XD Either way, at first it seemed to be mystical and kind of...mystical. There were showcases of amber and some fantasy-esque music playing from little videos relating to amber. Then it got to be kind of creepy, when you got in range on the museum it was a part of, which had to do with the war and weapons and torture. You could hear the screams from the actors-pretending-to-be-tortured on the screen they had, so that was. Yeah. The stairs were also extremely steep, which was a massive workout going up and a danger going down.
Side note: the top two floors of the amber museum were wicked cool. The place went from medival castle to modern loft, with marble floors and a central spiral staircase, also marble, with a shiny silver banister that led up to a circular balcony deal. I want to live in a place like that. ._.
More walking, and we decided to eat, as it was around one. We finally picked a restaurant that was apparently one of Poland's top 100. We figured it would be good, but forty-five minutes of waiting for our dishes later, we were beginning to have our doubts. We ended up asking another waiter what was going on, and the wait turned out to be like, insane. The other waiter probably took our orders and went on break. Pah. The food was pretty good, though. I ordered off the Kids Menu, since my strategy for ordering in Europe has basically been to find the dishes with french fries and order one of those with a Cola. My mom thinks I'm crazy, but hey, vacation. No one lets me eat like this at home.
While we were eating, two young guys sat outside the fancy outdoor area of the place and began to play guitar and sing. I thought one was kind of attractive, but like, I'm shy and awkward and with my mom and there's the language barrier. Besides, I couldn't understand a word they were singing, and he kind of looked like a prick. But then they sang PokerFace, and it was like, "ATTRACTIVE GUY WITH ATTRACTIVE ACCENT, WANT."
Then we left.
We walked more through the festival-flea market, making our way towards the St. Mary's church, which is the biggest brick church in Poland, if not the world. Our facts aren't totally straight, so don't hold me to that. I'd been there twice before, but it was still beautiful and, well, big. Despite having gone twice, I'd never climbed the tower to the top. The three of us paid to climb up, but near the top my mom was really feeling the air pressure and went back down. The woman behind her went with her, saying how they should warn people about that kind of thing. So that was nice.
Just over 400 (they were numbered) stairs later, my sister and I were at the top. The view was just gorgeous, though I was hanging on to my camera for dear life so I wouldn't drop it. I noticed that people dropped money onto a little ledge between two peaks in the roof. I had found one grosy (grozy? I don't know, Polish cents) on the way to the trumway, so I dug it out and followed suit. I wasn't sure if you were supposed to make a wish or not, but I did just in case. I figured since it was a big cathedrale that it should be an important wish, but it was kind of a silly thing to think was important. I don't want to say what it was, partly because I don't want to jinx it and partly out of embarrassment, but it wasn't like, to be successful or to get home safely to America or to live to retirement or anything. But important in it's own way, maybe.
Another 405-ish stairs later, we were at the bottom. After we had passed the part with the domes of the church ceiling and all, it was a tight spiral staircase to the bottom, just like when we had been going up. My legs were unhappy with this, and it was kind of uncomfortable going down. The stairs were pretty steep, too.
I'm tired, but I need to finish this post.
Once we left the church, we began to meander our way home. There was one stand a young girl, probably a college student, was running, the jewelry she sold was very cool, centered around watches and mechanisms and things. If she isn't an art student, she should be, because it was all very cool. I ended up spending 59 zloty ($20.70) on a bronzey-brass necklace with a pendant shaped like a teapot, that has a working watch on it. I can't describe it well, but I adore it.
Then we bought some things at a congregation of fruit and veggie stands, which was heaven for me. It just smelled divine and I wish we had something like that at home. We never go to the Farmer's Market anymore. D:
After dinner, we took a walk on the beach. It was postively gorgeous, with a pinky-orange-blue sky where there weren't clouds. The waves were a pretty color under the sky, crashing quickly and cold and very much unlike yesterday morning when the sea was hardly moving. My mom and sister were kind of complaining back and forth to each other, so it was nice to be next to the loud waves, not being able to hear them well. I want them both to be happy here. I'm happy and having fun. I want everyone to be happy and having fun.
Quick side notes before I skip off to bed.
1. The sand makes my legs really dry, and I didn't want to use my mom's lotion since it's with macadamia nut oil, and I'm allergic to macadamia nuts. We took the strawberry body lotion from the room that basically belongs to my cousin in Germany (the one with the wasps). This stuff appears dangerously edible. It looks like strawberry yogurt and smells like all your hopes and dreams just came true. I may have to take it home with me.
2. Is it me, or was the Elite 4 way harder this Generation? I didn't lose to any of them, and maybe I just wasn't used to difficult battles, but it felt way harder (lololol, that's what she said. I'm tired). Then I beat N just fine, and lost to Ghestis because I was low on supplies. Zekrom is cool. I like Reshiram better, to be honest, but I wanted the White Forest, so I got White. EDIT FROM THE 21ST: WHERE ARE THE POKEMON IN THE FOREST THAT I WAS PROMISED? DX
PoKEMON StATS
Hours played: 34 hours and 46 minutes
Current team:
- Emboar, 60
- Zebstrika, 58
- Vanilluxe, 51
- Zekrom, 50
- Swanna, 46
- Sawsbuck, 45
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