30 September 2001
24 September – 21h – Computer problems have struck! My mouse (a touch mouse for a laptop) is freaking out. Luckily I bought a regular mouse this summer and can bypass the touch pad mouse by using the regular one (plugging in the external mouse disengages the touch pad mouse). I bought the mouse because I was starting to have problems with the touch pad one around the end of the school year last year. I had planned on getting it fixed this summer in the USA, but they would have had to send it away for 4 – 6 weeks. I was only there for four weeks and couldn’t chance not having it back before I left. I’ll have to do it next summer.
Lucja and Zdzislaw went to Olsztyn to buy books last Saturday. They also bought two sets of FCE practice tests and once set of CAE practice tests. We one book of practice tests for FCE, but it only has 8 tests and I’ll use them up before its time for the actual test, so I wanted more. We didn’t have any CAE practice tests.
25 September – 12h30 – BBC World appears to be back to normal programming now. Their internet show "Click Online" is on now. It’s dealing with technology and the tragedies in the USA (people using email and instant messaging instead of phone calls).
12h59 – Whatever gremlin was inhabiting my touch pad mouse is now gone. When I turned on the computer at 9am, it was the same as last night. Now it’s somehow fixed itself.
The leaves are turning colours here. I’ve been taking photos of a tree outside of my kitchen window to keep a "log" of autumn.
21h45 – The movie "Abduction of Innocence" is on.
It was quite cold when I left today for work. It was sunny, but colder than I thought it would be. The sun was deceiving. Then I remembered that most of the year, sunny in Poland means cold. I’m probably going to have to start wearing my winter coat soon.
26 September – 7h30 – What a brilliantly sunny day! Not a cloud in the sky! That probably means its quite cold outside.
NYC will start processing death certificates for the people lost and missing in the tragedies today.
8h32 – HAHAHAHAHA! BBC World has a financial reporter named Julia Caesar!
8h34 – Sabena airlines is a joint venture between Swissair and the Belgian government and has been around for 40 years. I just thought you might like to know.
27 September – 7h30 – Another beautiful sunny day!
20h45 – The movie "A Family Divided" is on. It’s quite good.
22h30 – What a great move that was! It was from 1995 and had Faye Dunaway in it.
28 September – 7h30 – Cloudy and cold. Normal.
8h21 – CNN’s showing a great special that they aired on 1 November 1996, just as the Taliban was taking over Afghanistan. It was just after the Taliban started banning things and prohibiting women from working. Interestingly enough, at that time, among other things, they had banned soccer and kite flying, but not volleyball.
9h33 – The official count of people in NYC is now 5960..they removed duplicates and non-USA people who were found to be in other parts of the USA. 305 are confirmed dead.
23h58 – I just got home. What a great night. After work, I went to the pizza shop that I’ve been going to on Friday nights for a few years now. My friend Kuba met me there and we had pizza and talked.
He’s leaving tomorrow to start university in Warsaw. He’s a bit apprehensive as he doesn’t know what to expect. He’s attending a very prestigious computer school and knows it’ll be a lot of hard work. To make it even more interesting, he scored so well on his English placement test that it was recommended that he take some of his courses in English! Go Kuba!
We talked about everything under the sun. He’s a good person. I wish him well at uni. We walked to my flat (it’s on the way to his house) and said good-bye. I know we’ll see eachother again when he’s home on break.
29 September – 17h44 – I went to Olsztyn today. I took the 8:20am bus there, arriving at 9h50. Once there, I got on the wrong bus (note to self, don’t take bus #1 in Olsztyn), got off at the first stop, walked back to the roundabout and then walked up to Globe Books. I went there to buy books for teaching my private students.
After that, I went to HIT to buy a few things. I was looking for winter gloves, but there weren’t any. I bought two thermometers, one for inside (6.99 zl) and one for outside (4.99 zl), four 400-gram bags of pasta (.89 zl each).
Then, I went to the post office, which is right next to the train/bus station and mailed a few letters. I don’t live anywhere near a post office, so it was easier to do it in Olsztyn. I mailed a letter to my friend Tomek in our town (I haven’t been able to get a hold of him and that was easier than trying to speak Polish with his parents), and letters to hostels in Warsaw, Krakow & Gdansk about reservations.
Finally, I had lunch in the café at the train/bus station came home. It was a good trip.
18h – Hooray! The "City Cabs" program is in Cape Town!!
18h39 – Inside Africa is on CNN. It’s another "special" show as the normal Inside Africa program is still on hiatus due to the problems in the USA. This one is showing how Africa is joining the fight on worldwide terrorism. It showed a Muslim march in Cape Town against the USA foreign policy, Nigerian war veterans mobilizing to join US soldiers if needed, information about the United Nations sanctions on Sudan being lifted (the USA abstained) and talked about the Johannesburg Stock Market and what’s going on with the South African Rand (their currency) falling, and Liberia’s opening of its border with Guinea and Sierra Leone.
It’s easy to tell when the real Inside Africa program isn’t on, as in their haste to put a show together, they don’t show the my favourite commercial.
I was thrilled to visit Africa last summer. I remember being on the ferry and seeing Africa for the first time. I asked someone about my age if that was Africa. He said that it was and, more specifically, it was his homeland of Morocco. He was excited to talk to a traveller who would visit for the first time. I can’t wait until my next visit to Africa.
W said something like, "If you’re not with us, you’re with the terrorists." I completely disagree. I support countries that don’t want to get involved 100%. It should be a country’s choice to get involved or not. They shouldn’t be subject to USA propaganda and intimidation.
21h06 – I’ve been doing better this week. I’ve been trying to stay away from news channels. However, I still don’t sleep well at night. However, that may be due to the fact that the bed I had in my previous flat was a lot better than the one I have in this flat. This one is good, but the other one was a lot better.
30 September – 7h32 – The temperature outside is 4° C. Inside it’s 25° C. It’s a wonderfully sunny, but windy day. If it stays like this, I’ll take a walk down by the lake later.
BBC World is really playing up the possible "American Bombing" of Afghanistan and the "American War" against Afghanistan. They seem to have forgotten that British troops are more than likely to be involved, as British SAS teams have already joined US Special Forces inside Afghanistan. Oh well, I guess they’re playing to what their British viewers want.
Both CNN World and BBC World have a few reporters in Afghanistan. BBC World used smugglers to get a few in, one of which was captured. There has been no word from her since. The other was John Simpson, host of a good show called Simpson’s World, where he interviews different people around the world about different issues, usually dealing with life in their country. I’m sure he’ll send back good reports. CNN World got their reporters in by a Northern Alliance (the resistance movement) helicopter.
9h02 – Yvonne Ridley, a British newspaper journalist, has been arrested in Afghanistan and charged with spying. Supposedly, she was there to report a report about refugees, however she was travelling without a passport and travel documents. My opinion is that she deserves what she gets for sneaking into that country and not having the proper documentation.
9h12 – My favourite commercial (South African Airways) was just on.
11h – Temperature is 12° C. I’m going out.
13h35 – I’m home now. It’s still a windy, but very sunny day. I took a walk down by the lake, sat on a bench, etc. It was nice.
13h50 – One of the Batman movies is on (the one with Michael Keaton as Batman). I don’t know which number it is, but it’s my favourite one. It has the Penguin in it and he’s always been my favourite Batman villain. I like his rubber ducky car also, but think that it would have been better if they had made it a penguin car. I loved the Penguin’s "Navy." Danny Devito was perfect for that role! He played it with just enough insanity!
15h30 – There’s a program on the Travel Channel that deals with motorcyclists crossing "America." It’s a good show and the person riding the lead bike, Nick Sanders, has done motorcycles trips like this before for the Travel Channel (one around the world and one around England). However, The "America" he’s crossing is North America (the USA and Canada), but he still keeps talking it about a trip across "America." He doesn’t say "North America" or "The Americas." Even in Canada, he keeps saying things like "The Americans we meet…" While I agree that Canada is part of North America, I don’t think that any Canadian would call themselves an "American."
17h47 – The movie "Trading Places," with Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy, is on a channel called PULS! It’s different (in a good way) since it takes place in Philadelphia and I now am very familiar with that city (I didn’t then). It sure has changed since this was made in 1983! The Liberty buildings aren’t in the skyline shots!! The indented, bulleted entries that follow are movie and Philadelphia specific. People in the area will know what I mean. Brad, Tracey can interpret them for you.
20h – I’m now watching a special on the Travel Channel about Kenya.
It’s been said that I do too much reporting of what is on TV in Poland. Well, I’ve just returned from travelling for three months and have no money. I get paid tomorrow, but it’s only for two weeks of work, so will only be half of my salary, which I will use for necessities for the month of October. I wont be doing any day trips or other travelling until at least November. However, I might not do any then either, due to the fact that I’ll be travelling around Christmas time, and am saving for a plane ticket to Spain for the end of January.
20h30 – Still no Jay Leno on MSNBC. They’re doing their "American On Alert" programming instead, where they cover what’s going on in the USA.
21h35 – EuroSport is having ceremony for the USA before the "MBNA Cal Ripkin Jr. 400" (auto race). Lee Greenwood is singing "Proud To Be an American" again. I’m sure he’s made a lot of Monday since 11 September singing his song all over the USA. My guess is that he’s not doing it for free. It’s odd that EuroSport is showing auto racing as they usually ignore it as much as they (always) ignore baseball.
21h45 – Just as I was about to go to bed "Millennium" came on channel TV4 (50 minutes late). It was a good one as it was more about Kathryn, the wife, than Frank, the main character.
22h38 – The temperature is 8° C. Time for bed. Goodnight.
