What a Small World - Part 4

On August 5th, I was wandering around aimlessly trying to fill the void in my life while I was waiting on Toni to arrive the next morning. It was a beautiful day, almost fall-like in temperature. The sun was shining, it was in the 70s and there was a steady wind blowing. As I walked toward Toni’s favorite Polish restaurant (Caffee Carmen) I saw a couple eyeing the menu board and looking to see if it was open yet. Then I heard the women say something in English so I said “the food is good”. So a conversation was started about them being on a tour and doing their own thing this Saturday. You see, they had Rick Steve’s book also so were off to have themselves a better tour. So, as I always do when I meet an American, I asked where they were from. Wasn’t I astounded to hear “outside of Memphis” to which I said “I am from Collierville” and they said “we too”. So, they next asked me what I was doing here and I told them that I was managing the training of 145 new customer service reps of IP. So they asked me if I knew Ann Costello, and I replied that I did. (They are good friends with Ann and her husband Paul.) Well, they were here because Ann has been here twice on business and had told them that they should visit. They next said that they were going to 5 p.m. Mass as they would be leaving early the next morning. So I asked what church they belonged to in Collierville and they said The Church of the Incarnation which happens to be mine also. So then we started to exchange names of parishioners to see if we had any friends in common. We hit upon two: Paul Galluzzi, who Don knew through the Knights of Columbus and me through Scouting and Jeff Salentine who Toni sold her previous car to.

After a good 10 minutes we traded names and parted. Vicky and Don Goodin off to walk along the Wistula River and me off to an antique sale. After they left I thought back to a story my parents told about an encounter they had in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. They were on one of those 3 week tours of Europe back in the 1980s. As they were milling about the square they ran into a couple from their parish, Holy Family in Hicksville. That couple was there on a different tour. So here it is 25 years later and I enjoyed a similar experience.

Yet another (number 4) example of how small the world has become. And also why cities want to attract large companies. The spillover effect is good for their coffers.

Brian's Second Language

I am taking Polish lessons and have been since February. As they say, when in Rome…or is that Krakow. Actually, one of the biggest disappointments to me of being here is that I cannot read anything. I just love to read … billboards, bumper stickers, sides of trams, shelves in stores, cereal boxes, etc. So my thought was to take lessons so that I could more easily get around. I asked around and my friend Ewa suggested her good friend Kinga as my tutor. In exchange for my lessons Kinga gets to practice her conversational English. Kinga is an architect at one of the top architectural firms in Krakow and is well-studied. For her English practice she brings articles about Slobodan Milošević, the Sadam Hussein trial, architectural styles, fabrics and cooking. (She seems to be a good cook.) My part of the evening finds me practicing my Polish colors and numbers.

As for my lessons we practice pronunciations, verb / noun / adjective agreement, and writing. Then I get homework, which I actually look forward to doing. (I can’t believe I am writing this.) My homework consists of exercises in the student’s book (reminds me of first grade) as well as a writing assignment. Yes, I am writing stories usually on an assigned topic. Last week it was using all of the colors I had learned to describe the courtyard where we meet for lessons. A previous week it was to describe a woman in a Chanel ad Kinga gave me. (She tries to make the lessons interesting.)

So by now you probably want to know how am doing. Others would say well. Often the wait servers comment that I speak Polish better than they speak English. But I never buy that as they can communicate and I can only speak. My biggest obstacle has been learning my numbers. They say this is the most difficult part of learning a language. And nouns have different endings based on the number that is attached to them. E.g. it is one piwo, two, three and four piwa, five through 10 piw. Then it repeats based on the last digit of the number. Age, as in number of years alive, has a different format. It is one rok, two, three and four lata, 5 through 21 lat, 22 through 24 lata, and then it repeats the lat and lata from there. Now, don’t get me wrong, English is a very difficult language to learn. But many Polak and Polka (male and female Poles) have told me that it is more difficult than English.

Overall, I have made progress in these 6 months as my pronunciation is often accurate and I do know my colors. Well, the ones in that Crayola 8 box for sure