I’m supposedly about an hour from Kraków, but we spent a few minutes sitting for some reason. No one came on the radio to explain it, so I’ve really no idea how long we sat there.
So I made it through both flights without losing anything but my copy of Walden. I’d started reading the introduction on the flight to Zürich but I’d only made it through about ten pages. My main concerns were for naught — I didn’t have to check any of my carry-on items, and both my checked pieces made it fine. Of course I haven’t opened up the guitar case yet, so that might have to be refined a bit.
The flight from Zürich was perfect, though. There was hardly anyone on the plane (unlike that damned flight from DC) and I had a window seat on a beautiful, clear day. It was even sunny in Warszawa when we landed, much to my surprise. But back to the flight.
I knew immediately when we’d crossed over the border. The fields looked different. The random shapes of the other countries (I can’t remember which ones we flew over) were replaced with the long, narrow fields of Poland. Some of them can’t be any wider than ten feet, but that same ten-foot field might be five hundred feet long. Most seem to be about thirty to fifty feet wide, and maybe two hundred feet long. Robert explained it that this was because of the division of the land into cooperatives after the war, but it doesn’t explain their peculiar shape. When I looked out the window and saw those fields, I thought of Jason’s comment five years ago as we were flying from Frankfurt. I wonder if it’s what most people first notice about the land.
Gruby picked me up at the airport and drove me back to his apartment. He’d borrowed his dad’s car, so while he returned it and rode his own bike back, I showered and took a nap. Of course I hadn’t slept at all on the plane and I was utterly exhausted. When he got back, I eventually woke up and grudgingly played some chess with him. In the end, he informed me, we were three games each. I honestly wasn’t keeping track, but I was rather pleased with my last two games (both of which I won).
After a great dinner (roasted chicken with cabbage salad and potatoes), we went to a “students’ club” near the Pałac Kultur i Nauki. A “students’ club” to me brings to mind different things than what I encountered, which was basically a nightclub filled with university-age people. I chatted with a few of Gruby’s friends, drank some beer, and smoked a few cigarettes. We took a taxi home, and I collapsed.
Thus was my first day in Poland. As I lay in bed, around three this morning, I thought, “It’s midnight back in the States. My folks must be home by now.” Then it suddenly struck me — that was yesterday. Because I hadn’t really slept in plane, and because we lost six hours in the flight, two days were compacted into what seemed like one endless day. If I hadn’t stayed in Warszawa and instead took the Małopolska down to Kraków yesterday, it would have been an even more hellish journey. Counting the trip from Christiansburg to DC, it would have been about a twenty-four hour journey. I guess it still will be, but it was broken up with a short stay with Gruby.
So in about two and a half hours, I’ll be back in Lipnica. That means in about two and a half hours, I’ll be home. At least “home” for the next year. I’m still wondering whether or not this was such a brilliant idea. I keep thinking that it’ll be as good as I make it, though.
At the same time, I’m fairly sure that it will be much harder work than I’m letting myself believe. The last time I taught was in May, when I visited a few classes. It’s one thing to teach a couple of lessons in a couple of days; it’s something altogether different to teach lesson after lesson, day after day. Of course I’ve done it before, so I know I’m capable of it.
Enough for now.