Some days, I just don’t know how I manage to do it all and stay sane.

After a rambunctious group of kids managed to wear me down mentally, physically, and emotionally at the end of the day Wednesday, it’s just been a tumble since then.  Wednesdays and Thursdays are usually some of my hardest days, anyways.  I recently stopped teaching a Thursday morning taekwondo class to try and maintain my tenuous grip on the fraying edges of sanity.

Well, that’s not really true.  I’m not losing my mind or anything, but that last class got to me.  I felt like the kids let me down, but at the same time I let them down.  Though, in my defense, I’m still feeling it out.  Though it’s not going terribly, I feel like I might be going too fast for them, or doing too much.  I think I’ve been viewing it more as a college course than a middle school class.

Anyways, today was another, up at 5:45am and start working day.  It’s 10:30pm and I’m finally done.  After I squeezed in my 8 hours for the day, I did some grading and planning.  I did take a short break at lunch to buy some groceries, and over the past two days ran 3 loads of laundry and 2 loads of dishes.  Unfortunately I haven’t managed to clean the house in a few weeks.  I swept one room, but the broom is still in the corner, guarding a pile of dust, while new dirt and grit infiltrates the house.

Tomorrow I’ll be up early toswim, practice the trumpet, teach, then return home and work for 8 hours.  If I’m lucky, I’ll be finishing up right around 7pm.  But even then I can’t crack open a beer and relax, because I have taekwondo on Saturday morning.

My lesson plan for tomorrow  is very loose, but I’m confident that I have enough material.  I managed to get their assignments graded today, but nobody has turned in the assignment from last class, so I’m anticipating that none of them understood it, and I’m going to have to go over it in class.  I don’t want to be too lenient about them being able to push assignments off, but if nobody understood it, I’ll have to do just that.  At least we’ll be going over the assignment and the stuff they need to know for it.

After I review the homework and introduce a few new things using another method I’m going to try out on them, I’m planning to make up a study guide for them and then giving them a quiz at the end of the week.  Of course, that means more work for me, but I think it will pay off.  I need to get a measure of what they’ve managed to remember, and figure out how to drive home the stuff we’ve already covered while still introducing new stuff they’ll need to know.

Jess has also suggested making them take notes (pencil and paper style).  The computers tend to be more of a diversion than a tool in the classroom so far.  Even a guided exercise doesn’t get 2 steps before 3 kids are doing something not on the plan, and 2 more have technical problems.

I’m almost hoping they ask me to do this again next trimester, if for no other reason than so I can try to apply what I’ve learned and improve the class.  Sometimes I think I’m addicted to self-improvement to the point where it becomes self-destructive.  Isn’t that ironic?

Ok, well I’m going to throw myself into bed so I can be fully charged tomorrow for the kids. 

I’ve always been interested in the arts, and have a deep appreciation for both the form and function of things.  Whenever I see a work of art, I can’t help but be amazed at the talent involved.  And I know through playing music that the creation of art will always be a more intense experience than simply observing it. 

All that being said, I have decided to try my hand at painting (among various other things).  I enjoy drawing and sketching, but have never taken it very far.  Working with paints gives me an opportunity for something different, and more colorful. 

It also brings back some childhood memories of sitting at the table painting with watercolors, or drawing with crayons and markers.

One of my Christmas gifts was a watercoler-a-day calendar.  Unfortunately the calendar doesn’t offer much instruction, but it does drop some advice here and there.  Other than that it follows the "monkey see, monkey do" philosophy by showing a painting someone else did, then giving a plain line drawing for you to fill in.

So at this point, I’m still more or less painting by number, but through doing I’m learning a lot about how to mix the colors, how to use various amounts of water on the brush, and just how patient I really am.

So, without further ado, here are the three I’ve managed to finish so far.

Day 1: Reverting to childhood.  You can clearly see by the comparison: I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing.  After this, I was tempted to bust out the crayons again.

Day 2: Improvement!  I had a firmer grasp on the blending and how to better create different shades.  Also – this was more or less one color, so I couldn’t screw it up.  Score!

Day 3: Holy Cow this one was hard!  And it sure shows!  I’m struggling with the color blending, so I may concult my good friend, The Internet, for some advice.  Until then, though, I’ll just continue to stumble my way through this.

If you’d like to see any of these in a higher resolution (I would advise against it – these are best seen from afar) you can go to my photo gallery and check them out.

I’ve got some better brushes, and I picked up a stack of good paper.  So far, I’ve only been painting in the lines on the semi-thick calendar paper, so I’m going to shift some of the blame and say that has something to do with it.  Once I have a better grasp on some of the techniques involved, I’ll try something a little more freeform on the good papers. 

My next painting looks like it’s rated PG-13 for brief nudity, so it should be at least a little exciting.

This weekend, with temperatures dipping to -18°C and both Jess and I playing a symphony of coughing and sniffling noses, we thought we’d give the iTunes movie rental a whirl.  The way it works is pretty nice, though I think it should be cheaper – we won’t get into that right now.

The rental was $3.99 USD, and you get 28 days to start watching the movie.  After you start it, you have 24 hours before it’s deleted.  Not a bad deal, especially for something you’re not interested in watching more than once or twice.  Especially considering the purchase price of $14.99USD. 

We decided on Julie & Julia – A movie about a woman who had originally intended to become a writer and had previously abandoned a novel she was writing, who is now working a government job in New York City.  She’s tired of never finishing anything she really wants to acomplish and feels overshadowed by her friends’ successes while at the same time disgusted by the fact that they have become self-absorbed and distant due to those career successes. 

Already someone who enjoys cooking, and has achieved a moderate level of proficiency, she decides to assign herself the challenge of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook within one year (365 days), and blog about the experience.

The movie depicts the lives of the two women – the present day Julie, and Julia Child as she writes the book and deals with the challenges of establishing herself as a professional. 

I found that I related very closely to the main character.  I, too, had original aspirations towards being a writer, I enjoy cooking, and rarely finish anything I have started.  In fact – that was part of my inspiration to stick with Taekwondo for as long as I have – and I can’t say I regret it! 

So the movie spoke to me, personally, and has helped inspire me to revive both my writing efforts through this blog, and my dwindling efforts in the kitchen.  Before the movie, I had even talked about doing something very similar – cooking a different recipe from a cookbook every day – but never got around to doing it.

There are so many things in life that can easily distract us from living our lives.  Things that distract us from what’s really important, and from realizing who we are.  As a person with widely varied interests, my original intent with this blog was to chronicle my explorations down many different paths.  As the title of this blog implies: I have many interests, but few specialties.  I hope I can live up to my own expectations of trying more new things and sharing those experiences through this online journal. 

I also hope that, while doing so, I don’t lose sight what is most important, which is not so much just to have the experiences, as to share them.

Well, it’s a new year and time for new things.  Time to give myself the once over and tighten up all the loose screws. 

I tend to set goals for myself all the time, not strictly limiting myself to the Earth’s position around the sun.  But, seeing as how this time seems to coincide with tradition, I’ll share some of my intended self-improvements.

I’d like to say that I’m going to stop filling my schedule, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that that just ain’t gonna happen.  So instead, I’ve packed it full.

This year I’ll be filling in and teaching a web design class.  It only lasts until March, but I plan on making it as good as I can.  Which means doing some reading and planning.  My goal is to stay at least one week ahead in planning and hopefully lead a good class.

I’ve also decided to focus a bit more on my artistic side, making sure that I spend at least part of each day devoted to an art form of some sort.  Most mornings I’ll be practicing the trumpet, which I’ve just started playing.  And some evenings I’ll make some sketches or do some painting.  If I don’t feel too rushed, I’d also like to do some more writing.  Some of that will likely be done here, on my blog, and hopefully what I do write here is more engaging than some of my previous entries.

I’ll still be continuing to practice the martial arts as well, going to two or three taekwondo classes per week.  I’d like to do some tai chi if I could, but right now the schedule’s a bit too packed.

I’ll be continuing with my language studies as well, hopefully squeezing in 1 or 2 Polish lessons each week.

To help accomplish all of this, I’m more or less swearing off TV.  Not that I watch much now, but I’ll be limiting myself even more.  Instead, if I have the free time and I’m not working on some art project, I’d like to do more reading.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’d also like to do more local traveling, and spend more time with people – friends or strangers. 

The last change I plan on making is fixing my diet a bit.  I haven’t been eating well, mostly due to laziness when it comes to lunch, and I’ve noticed some signs of malnutrition in my fingernails that come and go, so I want to be more vigilant about that.  The main goal is to eat more fresh vegetables and ease up on the meats and dairy.

Those are my plans for the New Year.  Now all I have to do is get over this jet lag!

Nowadays, it’s hard not to take things for granted.  Everything responding at the speed of light has eroded our patience to the point where, for example, every 100ms (that’s, millisecond, as in 1/1000 of a second) increase in the time it took for amazon.com pages to load led to a 1% decrease in sales.

Additionally, with the convenience of modern living, it’s too easy to become complacent.  Procrastination becomes a way of life.  Our journeys have become shorter and less important – more of an obstacle than anything else – and we forget to enjoy and learn from them and instead focus on getting to our destination as quickly as possible.

And so, with that in mind, I’ve thought about my life, and what I’m thankful for.  On all levels, large and small, especially as it relates to life in the time Thanksgiving originated.  In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I would share some of the things I am most thankful for.

To begin with, I am thankful for all of the comforts of modern life.  A nice apartment, furniture, cooking utensils, the ability to buy nearly any food on earth at a local market any time of the year, electrical appliances, clean running water, the Internet, heating/cooling appliances, etc…  The list goes on.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember all of the effort that goes into producing these things.  It’s also easy to forget that the demand for these items has led to wasteful and/or harmful production procedures.  When it’s just an item on a supermarket shelf in a nice package, it’s easy to forget the sacrifice that went into it.  That being said, I am both thankful and remorseful for that sacrifice.  Thankful for the product, but ashamed for contributing to the process.  On that note, I am thankful of being made more aware of these things, and of the increasing effort to clean up and take responsibility for these practices.  

Which brings me to my next point.  I am very thankful for the increasing awareness and global sense of responsibility to the environment and ethics.  I wonder if it’s because all of us now becoming adults grew up with shows like Captain Planet…  Probably not, but whatever reason, it’s very refreshing to know that not only are people being more aware on all levels, but also more responsible.  It’s refreshing to see people using their power again and making efforts small and large to protect the environment and also to stand up for the ethical treatment of their fellow human beings.

In a time of economic failure and loss, it’s hard not to be thankful for employment, but I am especially thankful for my job.  Not only the fact that I still have one, but that after years of trial and error, I have made my way into a career that I enjoy, working with people that I like, and for a company I feel I can take some pride in.  What’s more is that I am able to work from wherever I am, allowing my wife to take an International job while still keeping mine.  The nature of my job allows this, but not many employers will allow it, and then only for a select group of trusted employees.  I am both deeply honored and thankful for this opportunity, as difficult as it sometimes seems, I wouldn’t trade it.  

On a short, related note, I am also thankful for the Internet.  I would be well and truly lost without it.  Whether it’s keeping in touch with friends and family, looking up directions, a recipe, a definition, figuring out where the heck I know that actor from, or playing a game.  It has become an entrenched part of my life.  There are many times I’d rather be living in the country somewhere completely cut off from technology, but when it comes down to it, I really likes me my Internets.

It is also worth mentioning that I am very thankful for my wife’s job.  Without this job I would never have had the opportunity to live abroad and travel to the places I have been (or will be).  I also would never have met any of our new friends here.

Having now traveled more than I had ever hoped to in my lifetime in just a year of living abroad, I have found myself thankful of a few related things.  First, I am thankful for the diversity of our world.  I love learning about different cultures and cuisines, the histories behind them, and the differences and similarities that connect us all.  On the same note, though I love learning new languages (or bits of languages), I am very thankful for the prevalence of the English language!  Additionally, I have a newfound respect for anyone living in a country without being able to speak the language, and will NEVER AGAIN make a comment such as "You live in America you should speak English!".  I’m also much less tolerant of similarly xenophobic statements.

Being in a new place always brings the opportunity for new friends, and new adventures.  I am boundlessly thankful for both!  Since moving here, I have desperately missed my family and friends that were left behind.  I had originally vowed to write letters (real letters!) but failed that for the reasons I mentioned in my opening statement (technology makes it so easy that you don’t feel bad putting things off, knowing it only takes seconds to do what might normally take an entire evening or longer).  This loneliness, combined with the isolation of working from home, has made me even more thankful than I might have normally been for the new friends I have made, and the easy acceptance into the fold.  It’s a great and supportive community at the school, and I’ve also had the opportunity to make friends outside of the sphere of the school through taekwondo and neighbors.  While I’m not as immersed in the culture as I thought, it is nice to be involved in even a small part of it.

And last, but definitely not least (since I have ALWAYS saved the best for last – especially foods.  Why not have your favorite taste be the one left after the meal?) I am most thankful for my friends and family back in the states and here with me.  I have made friends (and even family!) over the years, some more recent than others, but none less important, that have helped make my life richer and fuller than I could have ever imagined.  Looking back on my life and thinking about what makes a person who they are, I have decided that my friends and family are not just people in my life, but they are actually pieces of it, and of me.  Each person in my life is important to me, and I can’t think of one that I’m not eternally grateful for.  

Looking back to a time when your survival to the next year was a gamble (and not with very good odds), and when much more work went into what you had.  When even the chairs you sat on required a good deal of time, effort and care.  When seeing friends and family could mean a difficult journey of several days or longer.  When you think back to these times, a celebration of Thanks was more about stuffing yourself with as much factory farmed turkey as you could.  It was about being thankful for Life, and all it encompassed.  It was about finding joy and pride in the little things that is hard to come by these days.  And while I am thankful for all that we have gained, I am sometimes sad for what was lost along the way.

We had originally planned on taking a last minute trip to somewhere in Greece, but all of the flights we looked at were far too long.  One of the return flights would take a full 24 hours with all layovers included.  So, with only a few days set aside for travelling, we decided to change our destination and go instead to London.

We didn’t book a hotel in advance, thinking we’d be able to find something pretty easily.  So after our flight, we studied a map and tried to find a location central to what we wanted to do.  We started by strolling down to the London Bridge, then following along the river Thames towards the HMS Belfast.  At Hay’s galleria we stopped to eat and booked tickets for the Phantom of the Opera, and our day trip to Windsor castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.  We also grabbed a bite to eat and took a moment to check out the sculpture that looks like a steampunk version of some Willy Wanka pirate ship.  Cool and weird all at once.

Then we continued along the river, over the Tower Bridge to the Tower of London, where we rode the tube to Westminster.  We strolled along from there, pausing to take in some of the sights; Big Ben and Westminster Abby primarily.  At this point we hadn’t actually entered any of these sites yet, and only admired them from afar and took some photos.  Weather was stereotypically British as we searched for a hotel – overcast and drizzling, so we spent as much time indoors as possible.

We eventually found a somewhat sketchy place a short walk from Buckingham Palace, and booked a room for two nights, intending to find something nicer for our last night – though every other place we’d looked at so far was VERY expensive – over £100/night.

From there, we walked up to the palace and through the park nearby, making our way up to Piccadilly Circus.  The plan being to explore that area until it was time for the show.  We saw (but did not go into) the Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not museum, got some snacks and coffees at a cafe, and found a restaurant (The Mermaid’s Tail) that had gluten-free fish and chips, where we would be returning after the show for dinner.

All together we saw two shows and one movie while we were there: Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Up.  Phantom was really good, though not as good as when I saw it in Toronto.  I enjoyed Wicked, but not all of it.  Parts were really awesome, while I found others pretty bland.  We saw Up in 3D, and it was interesting.  The 3D effects weren’t all that necessary, but added some depth at a few exciting moments.  It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but it was still a good movie.

For our second day, we had booked a day long tour going to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, then Bath.

Windsor castle was awesome.  Especially for a guy like me who likes castles probably a little too much.  The town around was very nice looking, and the castle itself was spectacular.  I felt like royalty just walking through.  It felt more like a museum than a living space, though, I suppose that’s what it is now.  It would be really cool if it was possible to spend a night there.

Unfortunately photographs weren’t allowed inside, so I only have pictures of the outside.  I would have liked to have more time to visit the surrounding town, and also more information while touring the inside of the castle, but we were pressed for time.

Stonehenge was a lot farther away than I had thought, but definitely worth the drive.  As it turns out, we were one of the last groups to go out there before they reconfigured the roads.  They’re going to be moving the roads so none of them pass close to the ancient monument, and in the future visitors will need to park several kilometers away and walk there through the fields.

 I was interested to learn that they had found some grains under one of the stones that was dated at around 9,000 years old!  The entire monument is so incredibly interesting, mysterious and beautiful in a raw, natural way.  It reminded me a lot of when I went to chichen itza, but with more of a natural feel.  It’s hard to believe that it was constructed thousands of years ago without modern tools, and the stones were brought from a distant mountain range.

After spending far too little time getting rained on while admiring the stones in the middle of a green field dotted with burial mounds, we shipped out to our next ancient monument: the city of Bath.

Bath is a city built around a natural hot spring, which was captured by the Romans.  The Romans, who loved to bathe, harnessed the geothermal energy to create an elaborate and elegant ancient spa, spotted with tributes to the gods.  A prosperous town sprung up around the baths, which is now a picturesque sprawling city with a large tourist draw.

As we came out from the baths, the rain stopped and the sun came out full force, illuminating the emerald green landscape and throwing a rainbow across the sky.

We drove home through some very picturesque landscape, made even more beautiful by the appearance of the sun and rainbow.

After that, we spent our last day touring Westminster Abbey and wandering through town.  The Abbey was another beautiful structure, though it was similar to most other cathedrals I’ve seen so far – very similar layout with tombs everywhere.  The most impressive section for me was the Writer’s Corner, where many famous writers and poets are interred or honored. 

It was a great trip, but too short and rushed.  I’d love to go back again, and maybe with some more people.  I think it would be a very fun place to go with a small group of friends.  We’re also planning another trip later, hoping to stay at a small castle that runs a bed and breakfast out near Bath that we’d heard is relatively inexpensive.

This is a nice, simple recipe that goes great as a main course or a side dish.  This makes enough for 2 moderate servings.

• 1/2 cup quinoa (thoroughly rinsed in cold water)
• 1/2 cup rice (I like to use jasmine rice)
• 2 cups water + bullion cube OR broth/vegetable stock (we use gluten-free vegetable bullion cubes)
• 1 small onion (or half of a regular sized one)
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Bring the water to a boil and add the bullion cube.

At the same time:
Dice up the onion and cook it in the oil on medium heat until they begin to soften.
Add the rice to the oil and onion and stir it around.  Let it cook for a minute or two.
Add the quinoa to the onion and rice and stir it up.  Only let it cook for a few seconds (just long enough to stir it all up).

Add the water/broth and lower the heat.
Let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes (long enough for the liquid to evaporate and be absorbed).

Then it’s done!  Enjoy!

Though I had talked about it for a while and tossed around the idea, it was a fairly last minute decision for me to actually attend the Bavarian Beer Fest.

I booked a flight that ended up being about twice as expensive as when I first searched, several months earlier, but it was still a cheap (and short)  flight from Warsaw. 

Our first day was spent primarily at Oktoberfest.  We had a table reserved for 2 hours, during which time we had 250€ to spend on food and drinks.  We had a few rounds of Weißbier, and some food.  At first our tent was mostly empty and pretty quiet, but by the time we left the band had started and people were beginning to sing along and toast strangers with a lively "Prost!".

Afterwards, we made our way around the fairgrounds, trying to make our way through several tents.  Our most successful venture was the Nymphenburg Sekt (which we quickly renamed to the Nympho Sex tent).  Most of the other tents required that you sit at a table in order to be served, however that tent had servers walking around with crates of beer to sell.  It was still outside the tent, in the beergarten, and you needed a table to eat, but it was more than we got at most other tents.

Everywhere we went were jolly groups of drinkers, reciting folk songs or chanting some more modern tunes.  I was surprised at the lack of hostility, but security was pretty serious, so I imagine most offenders were quickly dragged off to where they couldn’t ruin the atmosphere for others.

Later that evening we found a niche for ourselves at another tent.  I can’t recall exactly which one (by that point, things were getting a bit fuzzy), but we managed to share a table with one of the bartenders and his wife, which meant some great service, and entertaining stories.  At what felt like 2am, but was really only around 10pm (or earlier), we returned to our hotel to sleep it off and prepare for the next day.

To avoid a day long drinking marathon, my friend, John, had planned an excursion to visit Neuschwanstein castle and invited me along.  I thought this was a great idea, so in the morning we headed out to meet with our tour group.

After about a 2 hour bus ride, we arrived at the ski lodge near the castle.  There we rode the alpine slide, had a good lunch (passed on the beers, though), and our tour guide performed some close-up magic.  After lunch, and before heading up to the castle, he offered to teach some of his tricks.  Having always been enamored with magic, and at one point trying to practice some tricks, I couldn’t pass up.  Of course it ended up he was selling DVDs, and of course I ended up buying them.  They were overpriced, sure, but I was compelled.

After all of that, we began hiking up the gorge that led to the castle.  A few people took the bus, but the rest opted for the hike.  The gorge was, well, gorgeous.  Though not as impressive, having lived in Ithaca, but still very impressive nonetheless. 

It was a foggy day, and we couldn’t see the castle from down below, so as we came out from the woods, the castle loomed over us.  Inside was covered with some pretty amazing artwork – the king’s bedroom was particularly impressive, having taken 14 woodworkers 4 years to complete it.  Unfortunately, though, only a small fraction of the room were ever finished, so there wasn’t much to see.  But what we saw was pretty spectacular.

The exterior of the castle was equally impressive, and was used in several movies (including Spaceballs, which we watched on the busride back) and was the inspiration for the castle at Disney.  It has tall, smooth towers and was clearly built more for appearance than defence.  Considering it was built in the mid 1800s, the age of the castle was pretty much over anyways.

After our tour of the castle, the bus dropped us off near the Oktoberfest fair grounds, along the route that was more travelled by the locals.  We got back and attempted to meet up with the rest of our group, finding only a few of them left (the others had been there since 10am, and it was around 7pm at that point).  We grabbed some great sausages from a stand outside of the tents, then went to find a place.  Eventually, we were able to sneek into one of the tents (Augustina I believe) later that night.  The area was immense and the people were so friendly and happy.

Among the songs everyone was singing was a Bavarian toast to happiness and well being.  I wasn’t able to tell what was being said, and I thought at first that they were saying "I’m Homesick".  I also heard "I’m Frozen" and "I’m Prosting", the second being the closest.  But the actual lyrics are:

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit.

Translation:
A toast, A toast, To happiness

We decided in the end, that if we were to go back, we would have to be sure to reserve a table in one of the larger tents.  Going without reservations is all right, but not something I’d want to do twice.  Unless of course, I was going to spend more time in the carnival part, riding rides and whatnot.  I’d also like to go back and tour more of the city, and the Bavarian area in general.  What we saw was all very nice, and it seems like it would be a great place to spend some time.

My sister and cousin were taking an extended vacation in Greece, making their way through Athens and a few of the islands.  Being so close, I could hardly pass up an opportunity to meet up with then, if only for a weekend.  To make it more worthwhile, I planned for a 4-day weekend.

I flew out on Thursday, arriving in the early evening.  After a perilous cab ride through the winding streets, narrowly avoiding several pedestrians and scooters, I arrived at the hotel.  The hotel is situated just off of the beach.  At first glance, it wasn’t what I expected, but once I got inside, I could see it was much nicer than my first impression.  It took a few laps around before I was able to find the girls’ room, and I only got there moments before they were about to leave.

The first night, we walked down the beach and found a nice restaurant.  The food was so good.  Just like home, but a little better.  I’m not sure if it was because I hadn’t eaten like that in a while, or if it was a side effect of the long travel, but it was great.  Getting to see Laura and Kristen added to it, too!  We had a lot to talk about and stayed there for a while, enjoying the good food and view of the beach.

The next day we hung out on the beach by the hotel: Platis Gialos.  That evening we found another restaurant that was advertising Greek night, complete with dancing and plate breaking.  We had a great time there, but eventually had to leave.  After that we went downtown and out to the clubs.  At first it wasn’t very fun, but things picked up when we found a place with a little more room.  We danced under some napkin confetti, got some overpriced light sticks, then caught a cab (after, of course, Kristen made sure that we rode with the one who had been waiting the longest). 

The next day, we wanted to take an excursion, so we bought tickets on the ferry around the island to a secluded little beach called "Super".  When we first rounded the corner into this small, secluded cove, the view was amazing.  Like much of the rest of the island, it was rocky and mountainous, sharply descending to the clear, blue waters.  The beach was nearly empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up.  More secluded than the beach by our hotel, there were more people here who went completely nude.  It was a bit of a shock at first, but we quickly got over it.  Though we didn’t stop cracking jokes until we left.

After returning from "Super", we headed back into town for dinner and some wandering through the shops.  I wanted to get something for Jess, but it was all very expensive and nothing caught my eye.  We stopped in to a small little bar to have some drinks before heading home.

The next morning Kristen and Laura left, and I had lunch overlooking the beach.  I tried reaching Jess, but my phone had run out of money and it was a long, frustrating evening trying to reach her.  I was eventually able to send an email from an Internet cafe, and she got money on my phone and I was able to reach her.  I had a lot of time on my hands, so I decided to walk from the hotel into town.   There was some nice scenery along the way, but nothing too spectacular.  For the most part, it was very barren and rocky.

After I got into the town, I wandered among the shops for a bit, then stopped for some coffee at a cafe looking out over the bay.  Unfortunately I was too worried about trying to get a message out to really enjoy myself, so I had to go walk around some more and look for a way to get a message out to Jess.  Along the way, I stopped for a glass of wine, but again got too restless.  Once I finally got the message out, it was close enough to time to go to the airport, so I caught a cab and sat to read my book.  I had a long layover in Athens afterwards, and then I was home. 

By the time I got home I was very travel weary and happy to be back, but it was a great trip, and I’m looking forward to another visit to Greece in October!

Ranking right up there in powerful experiences, was a recent visit to the former Gestapo headquarters.  Currently a remaining portion is preserved as a museum to honor the memory of those who resisted and suffered, as well as a painful reminder of the human capacity for evil and ignorance.

I had meant to write about this earlier, but I haven’t been good about keeping up with my writing.  I’m resolving to fix that.

The building is now occupied by the Ministry of Education, with the museum below in the underground section.

From 1939 to 1945, this building functioned as the headquarters for the Nazi secret police: The Gestapo.  Prisoners from Pawaik Prison were driven here twice per day to be brutally interrogated. 

The museum walks you through the rooms where prisoners were held in solitairy confinement, queued for questioning, and subsequently tortured.

The first rooms we saw, after an introductory, informational video, were the solitairy confinement cells.  These small, nearly empty cells held a single prisoner, who was bound by a chain, bolted to the center of the floor.  Aside from a small window, there was a single cot.  The rooms look to be between 6 and 10 feet square.  In some rooms, there were bullet holes along the back wall from when the Nazis would fire at them through the peephole.

Some of the prisoners had etched letters to family, poems, prayers, and vengeful promises into the walls of the cells.  Many of these have been subsequently painted over during reconstruction, but were preserved in photographs and rewritten in an easier to read format.

Beyond that is the main office, where the prisoners were tortured.  There was not much there, except for a plain desk, and a display case containing the various implements used to torture the prisoners.  The music from a radio in the hall could be heard.  This music was played loudly in order to drown out the screams of the prisoners.

Next to that was a row of holding rooms, each containing rows of small wooden chairs.  Prisoners had to wait here for their turn to be tortured.  They were not allowed to move, even a little bit.  If they did, they were beaten.

Food was also, not surpisingly, insufficient.  At the end of the hall is a repeating projection of a prisoner struggling to stand.

Around the bend are a series of monitors, each displaying a lot of different information.  Some had information about the prisoners that were held and tortured there, others showed the progression of executions throughout the course of the war.  All of the information was gut-wrenching and painful, but important nonetheless.  There were stories of hope and strength.

The prisoners were all so dedicated and determined that few, if any, ever revealed any information.  Though it was very saddening, almost to the point of physical illness, it was also inspiring knowing that despite that terrible torment, the Polish people still refused to surrender.

Find more information at the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team