One year anniversary

Today marks my first year in Poland. Hard to believe on the one hand, that it's been a whole year (and 14 months since I left the US, 18 since Katrina, and yes, those are the markers of my life now. Everything now is pre- or post-Katrina, pre- or post-Poland). On the other hand, when I think about what I knew when I arrived, and what I know now, I'm fairly impressed with myself. Hello (dzien dobry), please (prosze), and thank you (dziekuje, although I can't make the actual Polish letters), were all I had managed to learn from my little phrase book, purchased en route at London Stansted. The temp was 30 below Celsius, I had only a hastily bought hat and gloves, and no clue where I was or what to expect. Now I can order pizza over the phone (my finest accomplishment in Polish, and believe me, it's a big one), I have friends and business contacts, I'm certainly a better teacher, I have a regular poker game (always important wherever I live), clerks in the shops know me by sight and I have long underwear (not that I've needed to use it yet, there's still no snow that stays, though I'm told it's coming in a week or two).
I'm a legal resident, I'll have my own business in a couple weeks (looooooong story about Polish laws concerning American teachers), I have private students, contracts with two schools, and a great kebab shop that just opened up down the street from me, where they're very patient with me. And really good kebabs, bardzo pikantny (very spicy). So it's all good.
People here ask me all the time why I left, why I stay. This is what I tell them: I love my country, and certainly plan to return eventually (I promise, Mom), but I love how I can live my life here, that is, without a car. It's a 15 minute walk into the center of Sosnowiec, where my school is. I have within a block of my apartment a good market, several kiosks and convenience stores, my Internet provider, the post office, if need be though I haven't yet, a florist, a hairdresser (yeah, that'll be the day, but it's there), a library (only Polish, oh well), a bus stop that can get me most places I need to go, at least during the week, as well as the aforementioned kebab shop. Yes, I'm told that there's a lot of violence, muggings and so on here, but I haven't seen it and there aren't anywhere near as many guns in Poland as in the US. I feel much safer here than driving down almost any stretch of American highway. Ok, I think it's I70 through Kansas, and that's pretty safe, no road rage-filled traffic, or anything really, but anywhere else is a bit dodgy, as the Brits say.
I love Polish bread (not as good as the French, but damn tasty), Polish beer, Zywiec and Tyskie especially, kielbasa, Polish bacon, pierogi, still waiting for someone to make me bigos because I'm told stores and restaurants don't do it well, ciastka, etc.
I like the politeness, the hospitality of Poles, though taken to the extreme it becomes passive-aggressive and irritating. But certainly more pleasant to foreigners than the French, more interested than the Spanish and Italians, far less arrogant than the British (or Americans).
I like the traditions here: while eating donuts the Thursday before Lent is a sad contrast to the two weeks of parties and parades in my beloved New Orleans, spraying random strangers with water the day after Easter is fun, the solemnity of caring for your ancestors' graves on Day of the Dead is moving, the ritualism of eating twelve different dishes at Christmas for luck in each month of the new year is fascinating, there's a party 100 days before the Matura exams, Women's Day, men kissing women's hands when they meet them, fireworks at New Year's, and so on.
I could do without the interminable paperwork and the Polish fetish for ink stamps for everything. Some heat on the buses would be nice. Would like whisky to be more popular so I could get a bottle of decent bourbon at less than extortionate prices. We definitely need more Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Mexican and Indian restaurants. Coin-op pool tables and challenging for the table. A few more cafes in the French or Spanish tradition. And cheddar cheese.
But it's a been a good year, and I like it here. I don't drive and I don't need to. I don't have 50,000 choices of chips at the store and I don't miss them. There's no manic consumerist riot the day after Thanksgiving. Voting rates aren't any higher, but the Polish government isn't trying to impose its world-view on anybody else (though they have become the highest recipient of US military aid, edging out even Israel, due to their support for the Iraq war. Of course, we still refuse to grant even tourist visas to Poles, fearful as always that they'll steal good American jobs. Oh, horror!) I have unruly students, but no cause to fear them. Polish swear words are pleasing to the tongue. Oh yes, and Polish women are beautiful, let's never forget that.
One year I've been here; came by accident and necessity, stayed by choice. It's a good place, trying to be better. I'd like to see what happens.