From Sydney to Gdansk

It has been my time to move for some time to the northern hemisphere. I have rather ambivalent approach to the fact that I move from one country to another like a yo-yo. To some it looks glamorous but to me it is what I just have to do. I even had a tendency to look at it negatively.  It was an unpleasant necessity. This year I have decided that I will take a different approach. I intend to enjoy my stay here, in Europe, from the day one. This means from today. This is the promise given to myself and I intend to keep it.

I am back to Gdansk, in the environment I know well. Not much has changed. Friends who stayed in the place added few towels to my possessions, at least temporarily; the grass in the garden is yellow rather than green, as I saw it last, but the rest seems to be as I left it. I am still taking stock. It is fun; I find things that I forgot about during the time I have been at home in Sydney. They are usually nice surprises. Except for one. I found a rotten fish in my defrosted freezer. My first chore was to dispose of the fish and clean the fridge very thoroughly. It has been a lot of airing in the kitchen but the smell sill lingers. I do not remember leaving the fish to rot; I did not turn the fridge off myself. It was my friend who was supposed to do it. And he did. I think I better leave the fish affair uninvestigated.   After all, it is a rotten business.

                               

The trip was long. It seems to be longer and longer every year as the layoffs are longer.   Strangely enough, I go through it better now than in the past. Knowing that it will take about 30 hours before I will breathe fresh air again, I resign myself to the fact. Arriving at the airport I step in into a travel bubble. For the next many hours things of my normal life will not require any action. I will be only reading, writing, watching films, eating and sleeping. Knowing that relaxes me. This time I was reading Knausgaard second book from the autobiographical series - My Struggle and an NLP book by Richard Bandler himself – Get the Life You Want. I watched three films – Cinderella, Focus and English Vinglish.

 It was so uncharacteristic of me to pick Cinderella to watch, a film  for children but I found it fun and I watched it with interest. One needs to feed the inner child sometimes.  The second film did not require a mental stretch either.  The film is about a con man played by Will Smith and his partner in crime, very pretty Margot Robbie. Interesting thing is that in both of the films, played two Australian actresses – Cate Blanchett as a wicket step mother and Margot Robbie as a skillful pocket thief. None of the actresses got particularly challenged by the roles but both looked fantastic.  

English Vinglish is an Indian film about a woman who is systematically put down by her well educated husband and her daughter because she can not speak English. As Shashi is clever and determined, while visiting her sister in New York, she goes to an English school. Learning the language fast and well in the span of four weeks she gains respect and admiration of her family and most importantly self-respect as well. It is a sweet, funny, uncomplicated film that makes one feel good. It was my definite favourite of the three.

Shashi and her international class

                                         

I traveled from Sydney with Singapore Airlines, absolutely fantastic. Later, I found out that it has been voted #2 in the world by passengers. Well deserved. Changing to Lufthansa was like swapping exclusive comfort and service for no fuss efficiency.

It has not been the first time I changed planes in Frankfurt. I knew that the distances between gates were exceptionally big. This time however I had technology to tell me more about it. My fitbit told me that during the day spent in the air and the Frankfurt airport I did 13,000 steps and walked 8.85 km!!! One can get fit in Frankfurt without leaving the airport. And I did not do any flaneuring at the airport, just walked the necessary distance.