Returning to blogging

I have had a long break in writing. When I look for excuses, I find some.

My readers had problems to leave their comments. I tried to change the situation but for a long while to no avail. I believe that it is now corrected but I am not sure if my new solution is not dependent on the technical internet setup of the reader.

Then I wanted to concentrate on my internet presence as a career transition coach. I considered blogging as a time consuming interruption in what is most important to me – coaching as an ability to help others to live better, happier, more fulfilling lives.

There was also another, perhaps the most important reason for not writing. I came back home to Sydney and my Polish inspirations disappeared. I still am not certain what I will be “observing” now. I feel like I need a theme. I had not intended to write about Poland when I started blogging but as I found myself in Poland and friends showed some interest in the country I started to see things I had not been aware of earlier and I wrote about them.

For years I considered myself 100% Australian, ignoring what I have been recently reminded of – my heavy foreign accent. The accent has become more pronounced after my sojourns in Poland. At the same time staying in Poland for extended periods of time made me re-discover the beauty and character of my home country.

I am reading Diaries of Judy Cassab. Famous Australian painter of Hungarian background. She writes about herself and migrants in general: “Without the familiar background no one is quite themselves, not in the eyes of the other or in their own. If one rebels too strongly one destroys one’s soul. If one gives in, one stops living. Is there a solution at all?”

This sounds very dramatic to me but still, I recognise some of my dilemmas in what she writes.

So what I intend to write about, what will be objects of my observations and musing? Not sure yet.

However, I promise myself to blog regularly from now on. I may find my theme in time.

Walesa - Man of Hope

Most of the world knows that Lech Walesa had a special role in turning over communism in Europe. I like to think that the demise of communism in all Eastern Block countries started from his heroic jump over the Gdansk shipyard fence. I am not going to write about Polish history of the 1980ies. I was not even in Poland then. I left the country 15 years earlier and all events of the times were as difficult to understand for me as for any other Australian. I went back to Poland in 2004. It was the day of Poland becoming a part European Union. One may say that I left a communistic country and returned to a true European one. It was a huge gap to fill in with the knowledge of the events and political and social transformation of Poland. I have not closed the gap yet and perhaps never will close it properly. When I came back to Poland I came to live in Gdansk, Walesa’s town. The town where most of the transformation events took place.







From my place I could see the cranes of the Gdansk shipyard. I did not like them at first, they are not that beautiful after all. I always liked old churches, castles and palaces for their beauty. Shipyard cranes? No, this was not what I would consider of any interest to me. But, this has changed with time and when I pass them now my heart jumps a bit. Jumps with gratitude and admiration for all the people who worked, fought there and even died. And this gratitude is directed to Lech Walesa above all others.
 
Walesa is recognised in the world and his Nobel price considered as well deserved. Not so in Poland. His position and reputation is not that of a hero. He is despised by big percentage of Poles and considered an enemy #1 by the current Solidarity. The same Solidarity Union he made famous in the world and the force he lead through the difficult days of strikes, deadly fights with militia, negotiations with the communistic government and finally to the victory. These days, at August anniversaries of Solidarity, he is a lonely man, coming early in the morning to lay flowers at the Three Crosses of Fallen Shipyard Workers. He would be abused if he tried to join official celebrations later on in the day. Lech Walesa co-founder and the first chairman of the “S” - Solidarity is now seen as the enemy of shipyard workers by a big percentage of Poles.

Three Crosses Monument in front of the main entrance to the Gdansk Shipyard

I still wonder how it is possible to ignore his past and twist facts around. Of course he is not a saint and he is very outspoken when expressing his views. His criticism of people and events, he does not approve of, is violent and his choice of words unmercifully hurtful. He has raffled many fathers of politicians with different views to his own. He is also an easy target to criticise as he is not a cultured man. He makes many, sometimes funny, mistakes in his speeches and interviews. But he is not a shy man and he voices his opinions loudly and provocatively. Having a week spot for him, even I find him at times embarrassing. But he is still my imperfect hero.
Walesa. Man of Hope a new film directed by Andrzej Wajda opened in Poland in September. I would very much like to see it and hope it will be screened in Australia some day or I must see it when in Poland. The film has been selected as an Oscar candidate for the best foreign-language film. I will keep my fingers crossed even if I do not give the film great chances. However The Guardian review is positive.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/11/walesa-london-film-festival-review-nobel-peace-prize

After a long break

I have been neglecting my blog very badly. There are some excuses I could make to feel better. One of them is technical problems I am not able to solve in spite of trying many different approaches. The long standing problem concerns some readers not being able to write comments to my posts. For me a big part of blogging fun and value is to exchange comments with those who are interested in what I write and what could be a common interest. Since I do not have any more ideas what could be changed or done to solve the problem I am considering switching to Wordpress. I know that this is a rather dramatic solution and I feel defeated by technology but this seems to be least time consuming solution.

Being in Australia I feel an Australian again and Polish subjects are not that close to my heart at the moment. For some time, however, I thought of writing about Lech Walesa. When leaving Poland from the airport named after the man and seeing his huge picture taking the whole wall I felt deep gratitude for him. In my opinion, he changed the history of Poland. I plan that my next post will be about Walesa.

Finding my feet

I have been back in Sydney four days. This was not such a joyous return as I imagined earlier. Not being able to use my right hand has a lot to do with my current mood. I am managing better and better but I am still very much restricted. Immobilised right wrist slows down all that I do and makes it difficult to keep negative thoughts away.

Paul Blythe in the recent post of his blog (beinginspiring.net) says “we need to be deliberate about the quality of our thoughts”. I am afraid that I need to work in this area a lot harder than I have done to improve quality of my thoughts. By the way, I find Paul’s blog really inspiring as its name indicates.

At the same time the Sydney weather is fantastic and maybe my luck will change soon so this is time to make happy plans for my Sydney life. Catching up with friends, re-establishing myself at home and making it my place again, making plans for home improvements, reading favourite books, progressing with my coaching plans, learning new things, this is all happy and uplifting. And this is what I will focus on.

Coming Home

It has been a while since I placed my last post. I guess I felt sorry for myself and was nursing my broken wrist plus elbow. I am still not back to normal but I discovered yesterday that I can use my right hand while working on my computer.This is worth celebrating with a short post.

My sojourn in Gdańsk will finish in few hours. I am going back to Sydney tomorrow morning and I am looking forward to going home. Very much really. As my friend Virginia says, another New Beginning. And this always brings new promises, new plans, fun and new hopes. Going back and see my friends is always a very good thing. There will be many occasions to catch up, have many meals together, long talks, long walks and healthy life style.

I planned to write about chestnut trees while in Poland. About flowering with their cream candelabras in Polish HSC exams time and dropping their rusty colour fruits down the parks alleys when students go back to school in September. Ach, this is a Polish romantic waking up in me... As it is, I will perhaps write about Polish health system which proved to be a big challenge to me and dampened my patriotic enthusiasm a bit. I guess my view on one of my two homelands gained a better balance and perspective

Slow in posting

Lately I placed my posts seldom and irregularly.First it was caused by not having access to internet when in Busko and now I have broke my right hand which makes it difficult to write but not impossible. I am writing my excuses hoping to get some sympathy. So many plans have to be changed now and I have to slow down, this is all depressing. I intend to use this time as well as I can, though. Any ideas?

Life in Polish Spa - Busko-Zdrój

 

Coat of arms of Busko-Zdrój - it has reputation of being a sunny place 

Busko-Zdrój is a Polish health resort. The health resorts are very different in Poland to what an Australian person may imagine, unless the person has read some novels about spa life in the XIX and beginning of XX century. Health resort here is about slow, non-sporty life. There are tennis courts but I have not seen anyone playing on them as yet. Mind you, I have been here only four days.

When I think about a spa I imagine ladies in flimsy dresses, hats with big rims carrying lacy umbrellas. In my imagination, they either take a walk down shady alleys protecting their complexion from unwanted sun, sipping their spa waters. They are surrounded by admirers or sit in coffee places smoking cigarettes in long cigarette holders, drinking their aperitifs. To me an old fashioned spa is flappers territory. I am not sure if my romantic imagination did not take me in a wrong direction, though. Spas were also places to cure people who were not well or at least thought they needed extra attention. Leaving my imagination populated by beautiful, flirty flappers aside, I will move on to my observations and experience of the last four days.

Current Europe, Poland included, is more egalitarian than in was in the period between the World Wars however there are two social categories of guests here. People who stay in elegant and expensive sanatoria and people who stay in rented rooms belonging to the locals. The first group eats in their canteens which are sometimes elegant and sometimes not so much. The second group has a choice where they want to go for their meals or they may want to prepare some of it themselves. However what two of the groups have in common are health treatments. All guests take sulphide or iodide-bromide baths, drink curative waters from natural springs, take inhalations, massages, compresses, water jets and similar. This needs to be supervised by a doctor, so the first day in a Polish spa starts with a visit to a doctor who chooses appropriate treatments. Typically people are prescribed 2-4 treatments per day. A day here starts early, my day today started with a massage at 7am, it was followed by a sulphide baths which is supposed to be good for one and cures many ailments then inhalations completed my today’s spa program. It all finished before 9.00 a.m. Obviously, I had a good planner organising my treatments.

I am here with my friend who has some health interest in this particular spa. I accompany her for fun mainly as I do not have problems Busko specialises in curing. Its waters and climate address different problems. However, I am here in a good company, having fun with my student friend and I was not about to miss out on the Busko routine while here. Just in case any of the readers think of curing some rheumatic or bone related problems, Busko-Zdrój is the place to do it.   You can have cure and fun for two weeks for less than $200. Plus accommodation and food which may vary a bit but averages $400 for a fortnight.

More exclusive sanatorium option is under $2000 per fortnight.

As I will be here for a while, I will continue with the spa subjects a bit more later. You may wonder what one does with the rest of the days here. There are walks, plenty of restaurants and coffee places to visit, dancing at night and chatting with neighbours or people met at various sanatoria. I expect that there is a degree of gossiping as holiday romances flourish.

Pleasures for older generation

And for the younger ones

I have not mentioned that, age average of the spa visitors is definitely 50+.