14 April 2002

 

8 April – 6h30 – A sunny start today. Lets hope it stays that way.

 

According to the CBS Evening News:

·        Insurance is now hard to get for major structures that could be subject to terror attacks and businesses near them (Golden Gate Bridge, White House, sports stadiums, etc). When insurance can be found, it usually has a waiver that excludes acts of terror and the insurance companies are price gouging.

 

21h45 – BBC World’s Holiday program this week: Monaco, someplace in England I didn’t get the name of, Playa del Carmen – Mexico and Lanzorate – Canary Islands. The guy who presented the Mexico part is the guy in a wheelchair that presented Halifax last year.

 

I checked the exchange rates on the internet today and the $1 US = 4.08 zl and €1 = 3.60zl. I also walked past the currency exchange place and they are selling Euros at a rate of €1 = 3.62 and US dollars at a rate of $1 = 4.12. The Euro is almost at a “buy” point for me, but the US dollar still has a way to go.

 

8 April – 6h25 – A nice and sunny day!

 

6h30 – Darn. No CBS Evening News.

 

7h10 – According to Euro News, Iraq has decided to stop importing oil for a month to show support for the Palestinians. That doesn’t make a lot of sense as Iraq still has oil for food program, so logic would say that if they’re not exporting oil, they’re not able to buy food. So, what will probably happen is after the end of the 30 days, Saddam will accuse the embargo that’s placed against Iraq as killing more babies because he decided not to export oil. Or something like that.

 

11h – Michael J. Fox was on Larry King live talking about his new autobiography and Parkinson’s disease. The disease really is taking a toll on him. He has a lot of involuntary body movements, etc.

 

The Queen Mother’s funeral is today, but I won’t be able to watch it. I received a notice about a registered letter that was sent to me, but since I wasn’t home, I have to go across town to the post office to pick it up. Since I’m there, I’ll get the postage to mail a letter a friend in the USA also. I also have to do more photocopying for the FCE practise exam on Saturday as well as photocopying for my classes today.

 

21h30 – The weather on TVP2 just said that tomorrow will be 13°C, and Thursday and Friday will be 16°C. Great!!!! I’m beat.

 

I bought a few sheets of big brown wrapping paper to mail a few packages to the USA. The paper is very cheap, only costing 50 groszy (1 zloty = 100 groszy) per sheet (that’s about 12 cents US)!

 

21h38 – Time for bed.

 

10 April – 6h25 – Cloudy.

 

According to the CBS Evening News:

• There were pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Berkeley yesterday, which were countered by pro-Israeli demonstrators;
• Devastating affects of college drinking;
• Invasion of privacy by way of deceit on the internet;
• Mayor Bloomberg (the new Mayor of NYC) said that he had smoked pot last year and that he had enjoyed it. So, a group that wants to legalise marijuana used his photo in an ad in the NY Times for part of a pro-pot legalisation campaign.

 

9h02 – The cable went out right in the middle of Boston Public.

 

11 April – 6h27 – It’s cloudy again.

 

20h30 – Today turned out to be a nice day. It was partly sunny by midday and stayed that way for the rest of the day. The walk home from work was quite pleasant also, a but chilly, but not too bad. According to the weather on PULS, tonight will be 4°C, tomorrow will be 16°C, Saturday will be 14°C, Sunday will be 9°C and Monday will be 14°C

 

21h – In my G group today, one of the students (Karolina) told us she was going to Canada, Mexico and the USA this summer (she has relatives in Toronto). Then, another student, Luke, told us he was going to the USA (he has relatives in the Connecticut suburbs of NYC). Then, Asia told us she was going to Vancouver (she has relatives there)!

 

Luke told us that when he went to apply for his visa, his aunt that lives in the USA was visiting Poland and went with him. The person at the embassy, who was American, came into the room and said, “Dzien Dobry” in very bad Polish, so Luke said, “Hi.” The embassy person looked surprised and said, “You speak English?” Luke said, “Yes,” and they did the entire visa process, including the interview, in English. I was very happy to hear that, but it didn’t surprise me, as his English is quite good.

 

12 April – Another wonderfully sunny day!

 

According to the CBS Evening News:

• New photos of the American Taliban have been released from when he was being held on the ship, after being captured, but before being returned to the USA. He was tied to a stretcher naked, blindfold and his hands were bound. There are more photos with some of the US Special Forces soldiers posing next to him after they had written an obscenity on the blindfold. What a fool I was to believe that he was actually being held in humane conditions. The rest of the things that the public was told about the conditions he was held under (such as he waived his rights to an attorney) were probably lies also.
• The suicide note from Baxter, the Enron executive who killed himself, has been released. There is also a question now as to whether it was really suicide, or it was a murder.

 

7h10 – According to Sky News, a new immigration bill in the UK will require an English test, a crackdown on bogus marriages, an oath of allegiance and citizenship lessons.

 

Leaves are growing on the trees. Pretty soon the TV tower will be hidden by them.

 

23h – Saikat was attacked last night. As he was walking home from the supermarket, two guys got out of a van, pushed him to the ground, then kicked him for 4 or 5 minutes, then got back in the van and left. He’s okay, but still a bit sore. Lucja took him to the police station after work and he filed a report. Before work, we came to the conclusion that it had to have been racially motivated, as I walked that exact same route hundreds of times when I lived in the Grundwaldskie flat, and also because they didn’t try to mug him. They didn’t want his daypack, they didn’t go through his pockets looking for money, etc. They just wanted to hurt him. Idiots.

 

We were joined by Abay, Anu and Madga for pizza this evening. It was fun.

 

Daylight report: sunrise: 4h46, sunset 18h28.

 

13 April – 5h15 – FCE practise exam day. It’s cloudy and drizzling. Yuck.

 

According to CNN, The “towers of light” in NYC are being switched off tonight. They were only ever meant to be a temporary tribute.

 

Once again, I’ll say that CNN’s American Edition is complete garbage.

 

7h04 – Time to go. I have to make a few stops along the way.

 

15h45 – I’m home. The practise exam went well, however I had two no-shows (Klimek & Krystyna). That really burns me when things like that happen. After all, I give up most of my Saturday to administer it, not to mention the preparation time it takes.

 

18h15 – The weather has been dreary  - cold and cloudy with occasional rain - all day. It’s now raining again. Yuck!

 

18h30 – Inside Africa this week:

·        The march to peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo

·        The new trend of plastic surgery among some wealthy women in Nigeria

·        Oprah Winfrey’s launch of her O magazine in South Africa. 30% of the African edition of the magazine is devoted to African women.

 

19h31 – According to the weather on TVN, this evening will be 6, tomorrow will be 12, Monday will be 13, and Tuesday will be 17!!! Hooray!! However there will be a chance of rain tomorrow and Tuesday.

 

21h – I love watching the Jay Leno Show.

 

21h35 – There’s a movie called Red Corner on.

 

22h30 – That’s a great movie, but I’m too tired to stay up to watch the end of it.

 

14 April – 7h05 – Gray and cloudy again. It rained overnight.

 

7h11 – According to Sky News, minimum wage in Britain will rise to £4.20 an hour (approximately $ 6.30 US) in October.

 

8h31 – From the religious show today:

We are all responsible for bringing others to God. Here are five ways how:

1.     Invitational Evangelism – Invite people to church or to watch a broadcast or to a church event. John 4:28 – 29

2.     Relational Evangelism – Share your faith with your loved ones. Mark 5:18 – 20

3.     Confrontational Evangelism – Acts 2:22 – 24

4.     Intellectual Evangelism 0 Acts 17:1 – 4

5.     John 9:29 – 33

 

8h43 – It’s raining heavily now. I hate rain.

 

Two months until the last day of work.