Of mice and men

I got back from PQ, after weekend of work, showered, drank some calming and relaxing tea and I should be studying for my pathology exam next week but instead I am writing because it seems that when I am very tired the only thing I can do is write... on the blog... isn't that peculiar? The customers were quite normal this weekend, no major melodramas (I returned the "too soft 'soft boiled eggs' only once) - very suprising. I noticed a drop in tips and I am wondering if that has to do with the American economy. I think everybody is beginning to feel threatened by it. There is this air of uncertainty hanging above... Some of my co-workers left to work at other PQ locations but the new persons who started working at PQ are also very nice and the atmosphere is nice, when it comes to kitchen and server staff. Regarding the clear-cut server (or slave)-customer relationship, which I have mentioned a few times before, what struck me today (not only today but today with a greater force) is that we have a half-hour break during which we can eat but we have to eat in the basement, in the supply room, which is basically freezing cold in the winter. Meanwhile the owner, and the growing corporation, screams around the world on how he promotes organic and biodynamic farming and humane treatment of farmers and how he is working toward the betterment of future generations. It's incredible how once a place grows and becomes a corporation, it looses it's humane values and the only thing that starts to matter is the profit. The God of the corporate world - Monsieur Profit. I was thinking how in the times of yore (I don't know if still in existence) in Poland there was one table at a restaurant reserved for the employees and when there was time for their break, they would sit with their meal at that table and eat, like human beings, together with other people eating, not with rats running around in the basement. Rats and mice don't actually bother me - they are everywhere in NY, it's a rodent city (they are certainly more organic then the corporate management of PQ) - the basement is particularly their kingdom. And PQ is kind of not so bad. When I hear stories of my friends who work for other corporations, hair rises on my head. Two weeks ago I went to Greenpoint in Brooklyn (the Polish district) because I started missing Polish cooking, and I went to this Polish restaurant that looks like the one from days of yore and where the waiter eats with other people and where he once asked me when I left a potato on my plate: "And you really can't eat that one last potato?!" (so as not to waste food). And I timidly responded that I would try (feeling guilty myself) and I ate it... If I said this to customers at PQ they would get so traumatized they would have to visit a shrink once a week till the rest of their lives, and they would sue me for damages. And the management would skin me alive... Such a different reality... Manhattan and Brooklyn... I think I am getting ready to end my PQ experience... I learned my lessons there and I am ready to move on...

There have been some recent developments on Syrena website (www.syrenaart.com) - she's alive and smiling mysteriously. I'll have to sit with Grzegorz and finish the store up but the format is there.

OK, now I feel ready to drop so I'll go to bed. My mom comes to visit on Wednesday, about which soon. Good night.

Welcome New Year

I am looking forward to New Year. My mom says it will be smooth because there are no sharp edges in the 8. 2007 was rather rough for me but experience and wisdom comes from experiencing rough circumstances so I am grateful for them but it would be nice to experience some smoothness as well... The ending of the year was particularly rough because of the exams. We were all so stressed out that we couldn't sleep and eat. On our last day of comprehensive exams we all looked like zombies... Thank God for vacations...

I went to Barranquilla this time, closer to Tyrona Park. I spent three days on the beach but it rained most of the time. I met most of the friendly people I met there last time. It was very nice. I slept 12 hours every night and after three days of sleeping, swinging on the hammock and eating proper meals three times a day I felt somewhat rejuvenated. After that I went with Leiner, whom I befriended in August, south of Santa Marta to a beautiful colonial town of Mompox. It is located between two big rivers so it was a little difficult to get there but it was worth it. The city is not very touristy, it has a genuine colonial architecture and it is small enough to just walk around. The people were very friendly and eager to tell us about the city's history - Bolivar frequently visited it and the city is very proud of that fact. We spent the Christmas Eve in the patio of Dona Manuela hotel which prepared a special Christmas dinner with life music and dancing - in Colombia every holiday is an occasion to dance, Christmas Eve included. We set under a huge fig tree and enjoyed the atmosphere and after the festivities we sat around the swimming pool and enjoyed the coolness of the night air (during the day it is stiflingly hot there). The city is famous for goldsmiths who make filigree jewelery and I found one artist whom I particularly like and whose jewelery I'll be selling in Syrena. We left the city and after another complicated motorbike, boat and car ride arrived in Sincelejo. It was 25 December and the main square was full of lights and people celebrating Christmas. We stayed in the park a long time observing kids playing and being driven by older kids in plastic or wooden self-made cars around the square. In all cities there are people carrying thermoses with coffee (tinto - black and sweet sold in espresso-size cups) and "aromatica" (herbal tea) so we had several during the course of the evening. The next day we set out to Cartagena. I was there 2.5 years ago and the city has changed a little since then. It looks like a building site in many areas. Many new bed and breakfasts have been established and many new are being made in the renovated colonial houses. We stayed in one of the old run down hotels in the center which I like the most and I hope some of them will remain... Residencias Sienna was very run down but the people who run it were very nice and we had many nice conversations with them and I also played with the family dogs. I like hostels and small b&b because I like the atmosphere of being a guest in someone's house or being treated as part of the family. I went to visit a few big hotels which were converted to hotels from monasteries. The buildings are beautiful, the interior is extremely nicely designed and luxurious, the tiled swimming pools and plants in the patios are exquisite, etc., etc., but there is a clear division between guests and service and that I don't like. I ended up staying one night in a hotel like this in Barranguilla (the last night before returning to NY) because Barranquilla is one of these modern cities which don't have cozy and cheap b&b, only modern kind of luxurious hotels. The attention I got there was ambarassing to me, all pump and circumstance... I started talking to the manager of the hotel in the restaurant - he offered to bring me coffee - and I asked him to have a seat and he said he couldn't - me being guest, him being the staff - and we ended up talking for half an hour, him standing and me seating... In Residencias Sienna the owner or the cleaning lady would sit next to me with her broom and rag in her hand and we would talk for a while, naturally. I don't like the unnatural divisions... In one of the monasteries/luxurious hotels I asked if I could walk around and admire the architecture and the "bouncer" agreed and whispered into his collar "we have a guest walking around." I guess some people like this type of "security", pampering and attention where everything is "just perfect" and a bunch of people is at their service every way they move but to me it's excessive and I would feel weird in such a place. Cartagena is a beautiful city and it is still one of these places where you can sleep for $7/night (or probably $300 if you wish) and eat almuerzo (3 course lunch) for $2 (or $300) and I hope a portion of the town will remain accessible to ordinary travelers who enjoy simplicity. It is a really great place to spend the end of the year because the city organizes a lot of festivities around that time: open air concerts, dancing, various markets with crafts, etc. It is also a little cooler in the evening and at night than at other times of the year. During the day it is extremely hot and it is best to spend the midday hours lying down under the fan and drinking water. Leiner left earlier to join his family for the annual family reunion so I wondered around the city on my own. To escape the day heat I also went to Playa Blanca on one of the islands close to Cartagena but it was not as nice as the beaches in Tyrona because the islands are very touristy and there are lot's of tourists and boats so it's quite noisy.

I came back to NY 2 hours before midnight on 31 Dec. and greeted New Year with my neighbors Marzenka and Jarek and their friends and kids. The next day I met with Gosia and Rashid who moved to their new apartament in Brooklyn and later we walked with Gosia to Patrycja and Daniel's who live close. Another couple of friends joined us and we had a really nice time that 1 January. The next day I started school so here it is again... So far all the new teachers are nice. I am going to start assistantship at the acupuncture clinic so that will be very interesting. And I am actually going to be sticking needles into myself and the fellow students this semester. I will be soon writing more about the new subjects, also about the environmental medicine which I am going to study as part of the new biomedical pathology class.