Poznań

Walking the beach at Half Moon Bay

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:46:21 GMT

Yesterday was a very pleasant day. Jos and I got picked up by Johan, Lisa, Hugo and Linus in their 7-seat SUV. Not sure how American you can get in about 10 days but with all of us in it, the kids seats and bags, trolley etc it didn't feel like that big of a car after all(!).

We headed out from SF towards Highway 1 and drove along the water towards Half Moon Bay. We had lunch in the sun and afterward we drove a little further to find a nice spot to walk along the beach. I was only supposed to be staying here for 8 days and didn't pack a lot of stuff, so this is the first time I've actually been walking on a beach in high heels (it was a little too cold to take them off unfortunately) and did that make me look like a stupid tourist or what! :)

Later on we found a cute little coffee place and sat to admire the huge waves rolling in, it was all completely gorgeous!

When the kids were starting to get sleepy we headed to Palo Alto where we had a home cooked meal (Lisa made us some really yummy sea food) and very relaxing evening. It was very cute how the kids were already starting to pick some English, Linus was walking around saying "Hewwo!" with a big smile and Hugo taught Jos how to count to 10.

After Linus and Hugo fell asleep (one on a pillow on the floor, the other on the couch) we started to exchange stories at the dinner table and it made me realize there are so many things going on in our lives that are close to impossible to keep track of when you've not been around much for 6 years. Even more impossible to catch up in just 1 evening, so I really hope we'll get more chances at that in the near future.

All in all it was a great family day, completely odd to experience that in California - guess there really is a first time for everything!

One of the last summery days

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:49:34 GMT

Stepped outside after eating apple pancakes for brunch, sun was shining and we took Snafu for a walk in the City Park area.

The air is several degrees colder than what I've gotten used to during the summer months. Still possible to wear sandals but it's a matter of days now before trees start turning yellow, orange, red or what ever the typical Poznan fall would look like. It's my first and I'm actually kinda looking forward to it.

Another sunny day in Poznan

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:11:46 GMT

Today is another sunny, lazy day in Poznan. Our office is closed today and I've been catching up on some sleep and generally just being slow. It feels great!

Some leaves have already started to turn yellow and for about a week or so there's been a chill in the air, making me think this is probably one of the last weekends we can still call summer.

Bumped into our favourite neighbour last night on my way back from work, he just got married and was away for the wedding and honey moon so we haven't seen them for almost 2 months now. Looking forward to catching up with them and getting to see some of those beautiful wedding pictures I'm sure they have.

Tonight there's this expat pub crawl happening, I'm very much looking forward to it!

I should really be doing some cleaning and grocery shopping, but I just feel too lazy, guess that's to be left for mañana.. :)

Out in the sunshine with Snafu

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:46:42 GMT

Talking Snafu for a walk in the City Park area, it ended up with us both lying in the sun enjoying life. Him spying on people and birds.

Me watching the beautiful blue sky through the tree tops.

Golden Gate Park with the SF team

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:32:49 GMT

Had a lot of fun today playing games with the Wikia-ians in the Golden Gate Park. We were lucky with the weather and the fog most of the day but towards the end it got too windy and foggy and it got cold. Back at the apartment I've been attempting to heat myself up again with a hot bath and a large cup of coffee. It feels better already!

Next up is sushi for dinner, really looking forward to it!

Sleepy in San Francisco

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:31:52 GMT

Really annoyed jetlag hits me on the way over to the US, most people manage just fine flying west. I manage just fine flying back to Europe again but that's not helping today.

Plan is to get some lunch and then take a nap, otherwise I will completely fail staying awake past 8 tonight and that's just pathetic.

Happy Friday!

regn, tråkigt och grått

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:57:47 GMT

Idag är en sån där dag man hade kunnat stanna i sängen lika gärna. Himlen är grå, det regnar oavbrutet och det är ju fredag trots allt!

Som tur är ska vi träffa grannarna ikväll och dricka vin i vinbaren tvärsöver gångvägen. Krypavstånd är bra, idag tar jag mig gärna ett extra glas!

First Segway I saw in Poznan

Mon, 18 May 2009 11:56:08 GMT

Saw my first segway in Poznan on my way to work this morning. I like it!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

PMXPO 2009

Thu, 14 May 2009 11:24:23 GMT

Right now looking forward to the PMXPO 2009 to get started, many interesting topics on the agenda.

• Agile Project Management for Extreme Projects: Getting a grip on chaos
• Rethinking Project Priorities During a Recession
• Making Successful Decisions: A PM's Path to Success
• Mind Mapping for Efficient PM
• Managing Projects to Deliver Maximum Business Value

I win!

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:08:11 GMT

Sitting in the grass outside our apartment, blue sky, 25 degrees, gorgeous sunshine. Opened up the weather app on my iPhone to compare the coming few days to Amsterdam. There is only one thing to be said. I win!

I'm so happy it almost hurts!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Flying LOT for the first time

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:14:55 GMT

Sitting at Warsaw airport waiting for my connacting flight. Disappointed I couldn't check in online I discovered LOT is now part of Star alliance, so I could at least use the SAS self service machines for a boarding card. Positively surprised by the leg space on board. :)

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

No satelite needed!

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:23:58 GMT

Any day now the amount of Swedish TV they broadcast over the Internet will actually be sufficient for a little globe hopper like myself to still stay up to date with what's new and what's hip back home.

http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=3130&a=882020

Gotta love the power of the webbings ;)

Ordered my first online pizza successfully!

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:05:04 GMT

Can't believe it's true, the delivery guy from the pizzeria actually found his way. I did go down stairs to warn our receptionist about us expecting a delivery, asking her to please give him directions, and the delivery guy did admit to first not finding the building but it did arrive! Haha! Victory!

Next time I will try out some of their pasta though, unfortunately the crust was way too thick for my liking. But hey, I'm still amazed we managed. Thanks to Pawel who recommended us netkelner.pl!

IKEA delivery successful

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:30:27 GMT

I'm very pleased the delivery we ordered for our IKEA purcases arrived safely an on time. The man called me twice, in English I must add, first to let me know they would arrive in 30 minutes and then a second time when they were at the door. And it was cheap too, 40 zloty for delivery the day after our purcase, and on a Sunday!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Yay for dance aerobics!

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:19:39 GMT

So this gym that I got recommended, only a few minutes walking from the office, turned to be great after all. Perhaps in all fairness I should mention that I didn't even try out their machines. The only qualifiers I look for in a gym is location and quality of the classes they teach, and maybe price.

Earlier this week I tried one of their classes but it was really too full, and the moves were too basic. I felt a bit bored stepping out of it but still thought I'd give it another try. Yesterday evening they had a "dance" class called MTV Moves that in the end turned out to be more like a dance aerobics, but it was great fun! Not too crowded and not too basic. Yay!

Tuesdays and Fridays there are dance-like classes for me so I think I will try this gym out for a month and see if I still like it. (http://magielfitness.pl/)

On a side note, the instructor spoke English and so did several of the girls in the class too. A definite bonus although the classes are taught in Polish, naturally.

Heating with coal!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:49:20 GMT

On my way back from lunch with the colleagues I just saw a man standing and shuffling a large pile of something black on the street, just outside of the main entrance of an old building. I was immediately thinking it was some kind of asphalt to fix a hole in the road but as I looked around I couldn't see any holes.. I asked one of my coworkers and apparently, it's coal that the man was filling into buckets (must assume after a delivery) to take inside and use to heat the building.

It's not common anymore I was explained, but there are still houses in the city center that use coal! Omg! ;)

Shopping at King Cross Mall

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:23:56 GMT

Funnily enough they have a shopping center here called King Cross. We went there to try it out today, being one out of 2 locations where they have a Mediamarkt in Poznan. We needed to buy a microwave for heating lunch boxes, defrosting etc.. guess we've just been getting used to having one, and the electronics store in the Old Brewery had only high end microwaves, which we thought was a bit overkill as we have a nice proper oven in the kitchen already.

Even though this shopping mall looks enormous from the outside it's actually not that large. We managed to buy a cheap microwave oven and I managed to find the contact lenses I like which was great. They also had a nice pet store with cute little rabbits and a lot of different cat toys which we ended up buying 4 different kinds of but apart from that I can't really say the shopping was very exciting.

Found out when riding the bus over there that there is a bicycle path along almost the entire road of Bukowska. As soon as the ice disappears from the ground I'm sure I'll go by bike instead of public transport, it's only 3 km away from our apartment after all.

Wintery days!

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:40:19 GMT

This past week after we got back from being out for Christmas and New Years to see family and friends in Brussels and Stockholm it's been really chilly in Poznan. Day before yesterday was about 16 degrees below zero, but I really don't mind. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and the air is fresh. What else can you wish for?

Angie is staying with us this week and last night we spent mainly slacking in the sauna drinking beer. Finally asked the life guard by the pool about the blue lamps they have above a heated sun bed, apparently it's a solarium and in one of the palm trees they have a pair of protective glasses hanging. Just to get started if you only know where to find the secret button to fire it up. Guess this is the answer to what I was just pointing out yesterday, I don't think I've ever been so pale in my life!

Life is hard..

Cycling in Poznan

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:02:52 GMT

Tried cycling to the Old Brewery from our apartment today just to realize the roads here are really not meant for nor friendly for bicyclists. The only little stretch of bicycle lane was past the closest entrance of our destination and headed toward an area we really couldn't park our bikes at anyway. Good start but not enough.

People are driving fast, one guy even honked at us when passing, and we were totally exposed to the traffic. Unfortunately the route we took was the shortest and as far as I could see there was no other way to safely cross the train tracks except going on that busy 3-lane bridge. Cycling on the side walk is not really an option either but it would be safer for us, not necessarily for the pedestrians though.

Will be interesting to see if I'm going to be brave enough to keep on cycling or if it gets too scary. Perhaps best done in daylight for now.

Wish me luck!

More adventures, how to make highlights in Polish

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:45:49 GMT

Still not dared going to a hairdresser in Poland out of fear it will be the same as when I started out in Amsterdam. They spoke "some" english but in the end I got out of the salon with a completely different result than expected. Cutting the hair never was a problem but dying it blonde, making highlights or a perm for curly hair always resulted in something completely different than the pictures I brought with or tried describing. To me it was always unacceptable, yellow/orange hair or poodle curls when I just wanted some waves.

After several years I found myself a native English speaker at Toni & Guy in Amsterdam and all was perfect again. I have attempted to find a Toni & Guy salon in Poznan but still not managed, most web pages are in Polish and I can't seem to find an address in Poznan.

Can't wait much longer so in pure desperation I bought myself a do it yourself kit from Schwarzkopf. In about 30 minutes I guess I will find out how urgent it is to find a good hairdresser, the instructions on how to mix and apply were ONLY in Polish. Tried finding them online in English and when that didn't work out I tried finding them in Polish so I could chuck them into an online translator but after wasting an hour searching it seems the instructions for this particular package of highlights doesn't exist online. I tried all languages I speak but the closest I got was pages telling me it was important to "read the instructions carefully".

Ha! So I typed in some sentences manually in to Google Translate but as Polish says not so much with many words I settled for about a quarter of the text, and here I am. Waiting to see what I have done to my hair. Any decent hairdresser would probably faint at my stupidity.

Getting settled in..

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:21:41 GMT

It's been a rather interesting first couple of weeks here in Poznań.

From an office point of view I couldn't wish for anything more, I have absolutely lovely coworkers and a lot of interesting things to work on.

From a climate point of view I couldn't be happier, two weeks and still didn't have to bring out my umbrella once. It's not windy either and most days the sky is blue.

From a language point of view I'm a little surprised not more people are comfortable using English, especially the ones in their twenties. Already been waving arms and legs to order lunch or buy tram tickets, seems to work but a I'm still slightly surprised.

From an administrative point of view this place is weird.. First of all, they love paper, not even applying for an Internet connection in your home can be done without heaps of paper (what, could it be done online you say?). For permits it's possibly even worse. Imagine they have a small office handling working permits for foreigners coming to work here. Imagine 2 counters with staff to handle the requests. Not only do they need to see about all documents you can possibly possess - and their uncle - they also require you bring the original and a copy (as they do not make any copies themselves) and they don't speak English! Go figure!

Got myself a sim card yesterday for my cell phone, and had to sign like a 10 page long contract in 2 versions, on every page.. So far getting a bank account number (with Nordea in Poland) was the only thing that required me to sign just 1 time and I could apply for online, funny how that works.

There is a lovely shopping mall in the center (and a few more around still for me to discover) and the city is just the right size, nothing takes too long to get too and the trams are on time when you need to go by public transport.

People go out to eat lunch here, I've missed that so much the years I spent in Amsterdam. Real food, quick and easy, with company.. lovely! No more bloody sandwiches with cheese or fried oily creations. Bliss!

Service in restaurants and shops is a little different from what I'm used to. There /is/ service, which makes it different from Amsterdam. But the funny thing about the service staff here is that they often tell me "no" when I try to order or buy something. Always with a motivation why they think I would prefer something else, but initially it comes across as slightly.. rude if anything.

Prices are nice and friendly so far, some things are just the same price as in Amsterdam. Most are a little bit cheaper, but the difference is not as large as one might imagine. Imported stuff is kinda expensive though, saw a package of stroopwafels for around 6 euros, when the equivalent would have been 2 euros in Amsterdam. I can see how that is though, so better stay with the local produce. Internet was expensive in comparison, no way I would shell out for a connection equivalent to what we had. I think they only have business solutions for that speed.. haha!

These are a few of my first impressions, all in all I really like it here so far. The differences are refreshing and still exciting to figure out! Now I just need to find a book on how to learn Polish.

Orange!

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:06:55 GMT

Today I'm like the orange who ran out of juice....

Arrived safely

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:49:52 GMT

After a really long drive we have arrived safely in Poznan and Jos' parents arrived safely back home as well after returning the moving truck.

A couple of coworkers helped us out with unloading the truck yesterday around lunch time and in the end I'm very happy and grateful to everybody who helped us on both sides with the move, it's been nothing but smooth. We've even gotten half our boxes unpacked, a lot remains to be done but all in all we are happy!

Countdown, 2 more nights in Amsterdam

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:26:49 GMT

Quick update, more or less the entire apartment is now in moving boxes, still need to pack my clothes, stuff from the bathroom cabinets and one last box of kitchen stuff. Then I need to clean out the freezer and the fridge, take apart the dining room chairs and table, same for the couch and last thing on Friday my computer.

Still think we need to file to move our address, stop paying for heating, water, electricity, phone and Internet and cross my fingers my new credit card will arrive on Friday before we move at the latest.

Seems we don't have so meny helpers on this side to load up the truck after all, really hope we will make it out on time before the traffic gets nasty. The girl who is moving in after us is starting to pack up her truck at 11 already on Friday, but I really don't think we can match her timing unfortunately.

Busy busy, sometimes I wish I was an octopus!

funny...

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:57:02 GMT

Sometimes I too have my bright moments.

Was calling with my bank today to check with them if it would be possible to get the bank account transferred to Poland as Jos had found out they also had a offices there. The man I spoke to said it wouldn't be possible to transfer the account as they are different legal entities but perhaps I wanted to make an appointment with my local bank office to hear more about their expat services. I was thinking, why not, it'll probably just take half an hour or so and there is a bank office nearby so he put me through so I could make the appointment.

A man is picking up the phone and I tell him good afternoon and that I would please like to make an appointment with them to hear more about their expat services. He then gets really annoyed with me (you should have heard his tone haha!) and said;

"Expat Services?! Maar mevrouw, Expat Services zijn voor buitenlanders die hier in Nederland komen werken!"

When I then calmly told him yes, I'm Swedish, I'm currently living in the Netherlands and I want to know how to treat my Dutch bank account when I'm shortly moving to Poland he went all quiet and then excused himself with "But your Dutch was so good...!"

What he told me on the phone while being all upset with my stupidity was something along the lines of "Expat Services?! But madam, don't you understand Expat Services are meant for foreigners that come to the Netherlands to work?!"

Funny huh? ;)

Mission accomplished, time to move.