If I Could Turn Back Time...
So rather than fill out a silly questionnaire about myself, I decided I would take topic and write about it. That subject is the last ten years.Where was I ten years ago? At that time, I was living in the ugliest district of Warsaw - Bemowo. I lived with an insane woman and her very odd husband. I was terrified of the drunks who seemed to camp out near the door of the flat and horrified every time I couldn't get the key to work and was locked out of the building. I rarely attended high school although I was at the University for a couple hours twice a week. Largely, I tried to avoid going home and spent most of my time wandering the city or sitting in a movie theater watching whatever stupid movie was playing - I saw Glimmer Man starring Steven Segal twice that year. If a movie came out in 1996-1997, I can almost guarantee I saw it in the theater. The central post office was always a stop in my daily activities. I rode the 507, 523 or E-2 bus everyday and I lived for 3 zl pizza (Mmm Hawajska) and Hit cookies. I was also an extremely depressed and scared teenager.
I learned to be more independent and very self-reliant. I learned that people will blame you and not help you. I learned that others have very little understanding of your feelings and desires even if you express them. I learned that in other countries there is no such thing as personal space. I learned to let people play with my hair without it bothering me. I also learned to just let things happen - this is where my need to never have firm plans came from. I learned that when you plan something, it won't happen so just go with the flow and everything will be much less frustrating.
Five years later I went back to Poland. How much better was my time spent there? 100 times better. I had learned and matured a lot in those five years. I worked extremely hard in my classes. Six hours a day of highly intensive language classes and a couple hours of homework each night is pretty stressful, but I always made time to spend with friends. The thing I learned? People still wanted to play with my hair.
After a couple months in Poland, I went to Hungary. It was an interesting social experiment for me. I was in a program with other Americans. All college students who were in their third year. These were people who'd been away from home and on their own for a while. Do you know I watched them go through the same learning curve I had gone through five years earlier? They were immature and incapable of dealing with anything on their own or handling the cultural differences between the US ans Hungary. I was in a program where that was very much appreciated. Hand-holding was important, independence was crushed. This was best exemplified by Josh's roommate Chip, the biggest tattler in the country. Someday, I'll regale you with tales of Chip and the things I did to drive him insane.
Josh and I hooked up largely because we rejected this dependent culture. Alas, the program director told others that I had led her best student astray. Ha! Better to have made your own way than to follow the herd like sheep. What would they do if they were separated?
So this was a long rambling entry with no real redeeming value except to offer more proof that people like to play with my hair. Next time I'll offer up some scintillating tale involving Dawn, LNP and some home movies.
posted by E @8:41 AM