The Warszawa Diaries

Life takes you to the most incredible places in this world. It takes you through the most incredible and unimaginable emotions during your time. It also takes you to the places that you never thought of going or even wanted to go. It’s unpredictable no matter how hard you try to schedule it.

Most of the time we don’t know what is gonna happen next and that is the most beautiful part and the scariest  part of it all. The unanswered questions that can lead us anywhere or nowhere.

I didn’t think that I would ever end up living in Poland. It’s unimaginable. Most of my life my dream was to move to England, and yet I’ve had the opportunity but still I’ve chosen somewhere else. Twice! Maybe it’s the fear of not being satisfied with your dream if you do it, or maybe it’s the exciting part of going off the tracks.

I’ve been in Poland for ten months now and for the majority of the time I’m satisfied with how things are and with living in Warszawa, though I miss the quietness and emptiness of small towns most of the times. But it’s not something that plays a big part in my daily life. I’m also happy with the possibilities and activities in this town. Though I might not join in on much it’s nice to know, that it is actually here. But still I have days where I am close to packing my suit cases and just go home. Because sometimes I am still thinking “what the fuck am I doing here”.

I’ve been taking Polish classes for around half a year, however I’m not really making a huge progress. It feels fun to learn a new language, but it is not really fun. It’s like being a kid who has to learn to talk. And I must admit my patience has run out as I am not making the progress that I expected I would make. But learning to talk is so hard and that is also why I decided that I will no longer take Polish lessons. 

In October I went to see a Polish film called Wołyń. It was unbelievable tough and about a side of the Polish history that I have actually never heard of before. It was about the second world war, but not so much about Poland and Germany. But about the relationship/non-relationship between Poland and Ukraine. I am definitely going to buy it when it comes out and bring it back to my family in Denmark, because I want them to see it. 
I was told about this cinema where they show Polish films for foreigners once or twice a month. So that is where I went to see Wołyń. It’s only 16 zl for the ticket and add another 12-16 zl for popcorn + soda. Which means that you can basically go to the cinema for around 30 +/- zl. However it was the oldest cinema I had ever been at and you can even get sofa seat if you come with your loved one.

For the cinema click here.

I also went to see Inferno with a friend. Apparently, Cinema City sell tickets for 15 zl every Wednesday. To me this is crazy as I have always been a person who would go to the cinema max. 1 time per year as the whole experience with tickets and popcorn plus beverages easily cost you 100-130 zl in Denmark.

But of course the prices are lower because the salary in Poland is lower. But sometimes prices and salary doesn’t go hand in hand. Sometimes it’s unfair and other times it’s unbelievable!

Last week I was on a three-day course in Leading Individual and Teams and I think one of the best things that I learnt on that course was this quote: “Saying no to say yes”. To me it put things in a perspective, because saying no almost always identifies with something negative, when it can actually be looked upon as something really positive. You are actually just saying no so you can say yes to something else. Most people feel bad about saying no and good about saying yes, and saying yes is secretly saying no to something else. So basically, those two words have the same meaning.

And for every expat out there then we have all probably said no to say yes at some point in our move… and probably felt bad about it, because let’s face it, we said no!