Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving


First, a bit about us. We are a couple who just moved to Poland, Izabela in July and I, Lilly-Marie, about five weeks ago. We moved here from California because Izabela, who is from Poland and grew up in the house we're living now, got a teaching job at Gdansk University, and we're hoping I can get a job, too, probably in teaching at first. It's been a major transition for us both, but we're settling in a little at a time. Izabela has spent most of her last four months preparing classes and doing things to improve the house - we'll tell you more about that later. As for me, I came here thinking I had a job, but, as it happens a lot in life, circumstances changed. So I am learning Polish and job searching at the same time. We both have a lot of hopes for our being here - Izabela plans to publish books in English, among other things, and I am attempting to carve out a full life for myself in this new setting. So far, our daily life has included a lot of adventures, and as more of these occur, we hope they'll make for interesting reading.

Vanity Press

This notebook is intended to be an experimental space for recording life events. Its form and content may vary. Just so you know, I dread the idea of writing a blog. I consider blogs a waste of time, and I hope never to succumb to an activity as dull as wasteful as that. Still, we plan to co-write this haphazard diary. A few days earlier, that is, at our Thanksgiving chocolate time in AnioĊ‚ Cafe in Gdynia, Lilly-Marie complained about "feeling invisible," which I promptly translated as the "lack of representation in the symbolic space." While I don't intend this writing to be a remedy, it can at least serve as a placebo. When we feel like talking more about art, this is what we will do. At other times, when one of us may be inclined to talk about trifles, we may do so as well.