Friday, March 13, 2009

House Renovation

Hi Steve! Nice to hear from you. Where should I start? The craziness in my life continues...

Maybe I will start with the latest. The latest is such. While I was away in Marocco the main water pipe in the house broke, hectolitres of water spilled into the basement/first floor and everything got wet and the parquet floor started swimming... Around the same time my mom got sick with the flu and then got a Bell's Palsy (paralysis of the face due to the facial nerve infection). I came back with my own infection but nonetheless pulled up my sleaves and got to work. First I did acupuncture for my mom (her face got back to normal and she also noticed that her facial wrinkles got smaller, as a side effect). Then I went to work on the house. And I am still working, after six weeks! Due to a wonderful coincidence (or God's finger, as I believe) my elementary school friend Michal, whom I haven't seen since I left the elementary school, came for a visit because he had an idea of a 25-year reunion of our class and I was on his list. So I asked him if he knew a plumber and he did and that's how I found Mr. Marian who turned out to be a plumber, and electrician, a painter, a floor fixer - in two words we called such a man "Mr. Gold Hand". So Mr. Marian also pulled his sleaves and together we have been fixing the house bottom to top. Today Mr. Marian came for the last time and the rest, such as fixing stuff outside like the roof, garden, etc., he will do when the snow finally thaws... because it is still cold in Poland although the spring is in the air. So the floor downstairs got replaced. We also had rats which most likely came from the stables which are close to the house so we got rid of them and had to replace some pipes which they chew, these nasty rats. Everything is fixed. Now I also have a heap of garbage in the backyard, an incredibly big heap of garbage, which was in the basement because my dad had the herding disorder which means he couldn't throw away anything and everything was collected somewhere in the house. I still have about 100 screwdrivers, lots and lots of bolts and nails of all impossible kinds, three lawn movers, different types of plastic garden chairs, miles of cables, tin, carpets, not to mention most likely a few cars in car parts stored in the garage and the garden. I also have a whole VW of 30 years which I decided to sell. I love the VW but it is a car that requires constant work and I don't think I can do it. So there's still more work to do but the worst part is done. At least the house became brighter and lighter and I made happy a lot of people with all the stuff that I donated and gave away. I still have to drive some stuff for the flee market, but when it gets warmer, and books to the library. Mr. Marian became part of the family and enjoyed home cooking of my mother and the espresso I made for him in the italian espresso machine. Mr. Marian drove 50 km every day, because he lives in a village outside of my hometown (25 km away), so I am espacially grateful for his services and that he agreed to help me with everything.

I take breaks from fixing the house and I go everyday for a long walk with Max and then with my friend Hania to the gym. We found a great place for spinning. It's called Magiel fitness. Magiel is the old device to press the loundry so we are pressing our bodies hard there. It is located in an old townhouse and all the beutiful ceiling fixings and the wooden floor have been kept so it's like spinning in a colonial house. The instructors are great. So we start a day with driving Hania's son Wojtek to school in the morning and then we speed to catch a class. We get energy for the whole day. Sometimes after that we go for a coffee to our version of Barnes and Nobles. And then Hania goes to her chores and I go to meet with Mr. Marian who is waiting in the house. On Sundays Mr. Marian had a day off and I had days off too to enjoy some theater and museum activities. I am really impressed how nice my hometown has became lately. So many nice cultural things are happening and so many nice coffee places flourished for conversations. It's really great.

I don't know if I mentioned earlier that I decided not to go back to Amsterdam and to study there. I decided to look for a different school. I found a school in Poland, 100 km away from my hometown, and I will ask if I can continue my education there. Classes start in September. I will look at this school and some other schools in Europe and in China. In any case, I am very glad the water pipe broke because I did what had to be done and what was waiting for me to be done since my father's death. After this part of my life is cleaned and fixed, I can move on to the next chapter, without worrying there are things waiting for me to finish. So until September I will most likely be here, at home, enjoying friends and nature. I started giving English lessons as a way of getting some money and I will most likely just do this so that I can be free in the summer to spend some time in Wiselka on the Baltic coast.

And now I can start writing on Marocco. I will do it in a new entry. I actually woke up with a cold today so I will take a break for rest and some linden tea and write some more soon. It seems I have been sick on and off this entire winter. Time to work on my immune system... I am sending you lots of hugs, my friends everywhere.