I am sat blogging from the airport lounge while I wait for my first flight. I have bought a new watch as I left mine at home in Northallerton and I keep getting texted from friends that are either excited to see me, or amazed that I have gone so fast.
How wierd does this feel? Another airport, another flight. I was still in Canada this time last week and as of tomorrow I will be starting another job, still with no place to live, but that should come pretty quickly. My brain cannot process what is going on, but my stomach is doing a pretty good job. I don't think I have been able to eat since Tuesday afternoon, but that is Ok.
K and N will be waiting for me when my second plane lands in Warsaw at 7.55 this evening. After that is anybodys guess, there are people to meet, classrooms to set up and adjustments to be made. Luckily, J has already pencilled me in for Green Coffee on Saturday afternoon. I know that as soon as I am sat there with her everything will feel normal again. I never realised how much I had longed for Poland until this chance jumped up and grabbed me. So fast, so fast, I had to jump and grab it right back.
August 31, 2006
August 30, 2006
24
Imagine having 24 hours to pack up everything to move some-where hundreds of miles away. This job in Warsaw has all been so last minute that I am sitting surrounded by stuff that I think I might need when I am over there. I am at least ahead this time, I am not stocking up on stuff that I know I can get in Poland. I am not panicking about getting a new wintercoat, because I know I can get one there.
Ally and I chatted this morning about me going back and we talked about how long we usually spend packing up our flats and getting ready to go some-where new. For me, getting ready to go is all about emotions as well as having the stuff that you need. Going shopping, remembering socks and your toothpaste all make you feel prepared for being in a different place, a different job.
I need to remember that Warsaw is not the place it was when I left. Friends have moved on and new people have taken their place. Still, I can't wait to see J, walk down the corridors of that school again and see how many children are left from the first time around. I am so pleased too at having the chance to blog about Poland like I blogged about Paris. With my new camera, I can snap the Poland that I loved as well as the Paris that is so well known.
My flight leaves early tomorrow. More packing, more clothes, more things to do yet.
Ally and I chatted this morning about me going back and we talked about how long we usually spend packing up our flats and getting ready to go some-where new. For me, getting ready to go is all about emotions as well as having the stuff that you need. Going shopping, remembering socks and your toothpaste all make you feel prepared for being in a different place, a different job.
I need to remember that Warsaw is not the place it was when I left. Friends have moved on and new people have taken their place. Still, I can't wait to see J, walk down the corridors of that school again and see how many children are left from the first time around. I am so pleased too at having the chance to blog about Poland like I blogged about Paris. With my new camera, I can snap the Poland that I loved as well as the Paris that is so well known.
My flight leaves early tomorrow. More packing, more clothes, more things to do yet.
August 29, 2006
Warsaw to Paris and back to Warsaw
I came trudging downstairs this morning headed straight for the kettle and a hot cup of Earl Grey tea. Greeting me were voicemails from my boss at the school in Warsaw where I worked for two years. After some last minute problems with new staff, they were short for the start of the school year and have offered me a job.
Here I sit, a couple of hours later, back onto Warsaw to Paris, only now I need to change the title to Warsaw to Paris then back to Warsaw. I am waiting for more phonecalls, arrangements have to be made, and very quickly I might add. The cold plain fact is that I accepted and will be going back to Poland for at least a few months.
I feel sick to my stomach with the sheer speed of it all, but I was in love with Poland and I will be happy to go back there for a while. Looks like I will be back on this blog now.
Here I sit, a couple of hours later, back onto Warsaw to Paris, only now I need to change the title to Warsaw to Paris then back to Warsaw. I am waiting for more phonecalls, arrangements have to be made, and very quickly I might add. The cold plain fact is that I accepted and will be going back to Poland for at least a few months.
I feel sick to my stomach with the sheer speed of it all, but I was in love with Poland and I will be happy to go back there for a while. Looks like I will be back on this blog now.
July 05, 2006
Time and tan lines
I am working on my tan as I am now unemployed and seeking a job. This was not the premise that 'Warsaw to Paris' was started under and so I have started a new blog that I am transferring all my thoughts to.
I am going to keep this one open as a travel blog, but have no idea how often I will post here.
Come and follow the job trail and subsequent move somewhere new again on my new blog... www.lookingformeaningandpurpose.blogspot.com
Thanks to all my lovely readers for their kind words of support during my move from Paris. I will still be checking all of your blogs and writing lots about my latest adventure/kamikaze mission.
I am going to keep this one open as a travel blog, but have no idea how often I will post here.
Come and follow the job trail and subsequent move somewhere new again on my new blog... www.lookingformeaningandpurpose.blogspot.com
Thanks to all my lovely readers for their kind words of support during my move from Paris. I will still be checking all of your blogs and writing lots about my latest adventure/kamikaze mission.
June 30, 2006
Breathless - 24 hours in Paris
6.55 am - I wake up to my last day of school. I half-heartedly wipe over the kitchen sink in an effort to make sure that I get my deposit back. This deos not work, I vow to clean the apartment properly before 7.00 tomorrow morning, when I must leave to go to the airport.
8.05 - Arrive at school. Have conversation with deputy Head which indicates that I must clean my office and box up everything, which I thought I had managed to avoid.
8.35 - Coffee. Take shoes off, start boxing stuff up.
11.35 - After getting dust in my eye, have finished office cleanup. Go to Lower school for my exit interview.
1.00 pm - Reception and goodbyes for whole staff. I got a necklace. Managed to hide in the corner and not really get noticed. I ate 8 slices of melon, God it is hot.
3.55 - L and I finally escape, we take the 52 to Opera to go shopping.
6.35 - D meets us, is amazed by our great shopping. We walk down to the Palais Royal, where L has chosen for dinner.
8.00 - We exchange presents, eat amazing food, reminisce, feel sad, feel happy. Wonder what the next few months will bring for us all.
10.54 - Ds new boyfriend picks us up to take me home, but we end up on a night time tour of Paris. We watch the Eiffel sparkle, sing along to Jamie Cullum, hold hands and try not to think about the airport and the morning.
11.29 - I arrive home. I look at a large wad of dusty hair and start to wipe things again, thinking that I can do more cleaning in the morning.
12.44 am - C arrives, she has been out too and did not want me to leave without saying goodbye. She talks about the baby coming soon. We chat about how the time has gone so fast.
2.06 - Bed, I fall asleep.
5.55 - I wake up, exhausted. I have a shower. I pack.
6.55 - I realise that there is no time to clean and so I leave everything. There is small burn on the wood chest and the sink leaks. I realise that I will never get my deposit back, but don't care.
7.06 - I sit on the front steps to my apartment soaking with sweat. All my bags are at my feet and I smoke a ciggarette while I wait for the girls to show up. I don't know it now, but when I get to the airport I will cry when L gives me a card. My face will be covered with kisses and my leaving will knock the breath from my body. I will say goodbye to Paris with a heart that feels like it is going to hammer out from my chest.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
Boyd Palmer
8.05 - Arrive at school. Have conversation with deputy Head which indicates that I must clean my office and box up everything, which I thought I had managed to avoid.
8.35 - Coffee. Take shoes off, start boxing stuff up.
11.35 - After getting dust in my eye, have finished office cleanup. Go to Lower school for my exit interview.
1.00 pm - Reception and goodbyes for whole staff. I got a necklace. Managed to hide in the corner and not really get noticed. I ate 8 slices of melon, God it is hot.
3.55 - L and I finally escape, we take the 52 to Opera to go shopping.
6.35 - D meets us, is amazed by our great shopping. We walk down to the Palais Royal, where L has chosen for dinner.
8.00 - We exchange presents, eat amazing food, reminisce, feel sad, feel happy. Wonder what the next few months will bring for us all.
10.54 - Ds new boyfriend picks us up to take me home, but we end up on a night time tour of Paris. We watch the Eiffel sparkle, sing along to Jamie Cullum, hold hands and try not to think about the airport and the morning.
11.29 - I arrive home. I look at a large wad of dusty hair and start to wipe things again, thinking that I can do more cleaning in the morning.
12.44 am - C arrives, she has been out too and did not want me to leave without saying goodbye. She talks about the baby coming soon. We chat about how the time has gone so fast.
2.06 - Bed, I fall asleep.
5.55 - I wake up, exhausted. I have a shower. I pack.
6.55 - I realise that there is no time to clean and so I leave everything. There is small burn on the wood chest and the sink leaks. I realise that I will never get my deposit back, but don't care.
7.06 - I sit on the front steps to my apartment soaking with sweat. All my bags are at my feet and I smoke a ciggarette while I wait for the girls to show up. I don't know it now, but when I get to the airport I will cry when L gives me a card. My face will be covered with kisses and my leaving will knock the breath from my body. I will say goodbye to Paris with a heart that feels like it is going to hammer out from my chest.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
Boyd Palmer
June 29, 2006
The long and winding road....
Is there is one inch of dust from my office that has not found its way onto my cheek or into my hair then I have no idea where it is. Packing up, dusting off and there are a million things to do. I have been busier in the last two hours than I have all year. In the midst of this, everyone wants to say good-bye to me and I was never able to handle goodbyes.
You would think that I would be used to it by now, but I am not. Since those summers of weeping when I would leave my beloved German penpal in Lohmar, I have never liked goodbyes. I prefer to think that those that are important enough will just sort of stay with me and there will be no problems.
Today I am running on adrenalin. I am tired and edgy, there has been a life too full these last couple of weeks. In a few minutes I will leave to go to our lower school. After an exit interview there is a lunch reception to say goodbye to everyone. After that there is last minute shopping at Printemps to spend the vouchers that we get at the end of the year. After that there is dinner. After that there is cleaning and after that there is C and B. After that there may be a couple of hours sleep before some friends are kindly taking me to the airport.
What a strange feeling, not just to be busy, but to genuinely not have time to do everything. To be overwhelmed, to feel that the world is spinning. I can feel the time whistle as it passes my ears.
You would think that I would be used to it by now, but I am not. Since those summers of weeping when I would leave my beloved German penpal in Lohmar, I have never liked goodbyes. I prefer to think that those that are important enough will just sort of stay with me and there will be no problems.
Today I am running on adrenalin. I am tired and edgy, there has been a life too full these last couple of weeks. In a few minutes I will leave to go to our lower school. After an exit interview there is a lunch reception to say goodbye to everyone. After that there is last minute shopping at Printemps to spend the vouchers that we get at the end of the year. After that there is dinner. After that there is cleaning and after that there is C and B. After that there may be a couple of hours sleep before some friends are kindly taking me to the airport.
What a strange feeling, not just to be busy, but to genuinely not have time to do everything. To be overwhelmed, to feel that the world is spinning. I can feel the time whistle as it passes my ears.
June 28, 2006
Goodbye my lover
There has been only one constant in my life in Paris. One thing that was there from the first day, she has changed every season along with my moods. She has seen me warm, seen me cold and she has watched as everyone else has come and gone. I saw Spring in her arms and watched her hold those summer days close to her.
Last night, L and I left school to go and say au revoir to our coffees and the amazingly grumpy waiters that have characterised our Sundays. The Jardin du Luxembourg has changed over the year and so have we. I have a thousand memories of the place. I took every person that came and stayed with me there. I have pictures of picnics, chunky jumpers, hands being warmed with chocolat chaud and the bare to the green.
When I come back to visit Paris, I know that will be the first place that I head for. The Jardin will be the place that makes Paris feel like home again.
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