3 December, 2000
27 November – Lucja invited Mary and I to spend Christmas with them. I declined because I already have plans to be in Germany at that time. Mary said that she wasn’t sure yet, as she has had some offers from other friends.
There was an excellent movie on TV4 tonight called Heartaches. It was a drama and is from 1981.
29 November – I received a package from a relative in the USA. He sent a few articles from the Scranton Times as well as a copy of the Citypaper, a local Philadelphia paper. He also sent a few calendars, one of which has all of the USA holidays highlighted. That’s great, as that way I can inform my students when different holidays are and tell them about the meaning of them. Thanks for sending them. J
30 November – I’ve been wanting to open a bank account for quite a while. However, the banks require that you are here for a certain amount of time before they will open one for you. So, now that I have met the requirements, I will open one.
I met Lucja at one of the banks in town at 13h today. That is the bank she uses, so we thought it would be good for me. The only real requirement I had was that I wanted an ATM card. Her bank refuses to give one to a temporary resident, so we went to a different one. They said that with my temporary residence card and my work permit, we can open one and I can get an ATM card. We will do that on Monday.
1 December – General Pinochet, the general, has been charged with the death of 74 people during his dictatorship of Chile. There might be justice after all.
Today, in my "E" class, as part of a lesson, we were discussing basketball. One of the students said that to be a basketball player, one has to be a "nigger." Another said that the word should be "black." I told them that in the USA, the proper term is "African American," and that "black" can be considered to be offensive. I also told them that, as far as I know, "black" is acceptable in Europe. I also made a strong point to tell them that "nigger" should NEVER be used.
Today was "World AIDS Day." I wish I could say that I totally supported it and told my classes about it, but I can’t, as I forgot about it. I feel really bad about that, considering that I have friends who have died from AIDS related symptoms.
Charles M. is one of the above mentioned people. Charles, I want you to know that even though it’s been 5 years since you passed away, I still remember you and always will. You were, and always will be, a good friend. I hope you’ve been resting in peace. I’ll never forget you or the kind words you said to me.
2 December – YIPPEE!!! I have Christmas lights!!! I went to the open-air market that my town has and found exactly what I wanted (that’s rare for me). I found different color lights that flash. I had looked everywhere for affordable ones, but couldn’t find them (most flashing ones began at 30zl). I was going to buy single color non-flashing lights today (I really didn’t want them, but they were only 10zl), but found these instead for only 8zl. I don’t know how good they are, but they make me smile, so for as long as they last, they are worth it.
I love Christmas lights. I think that they make me smile because they add some life to cold, dark winter nights. The sun went down at 15h tonight and it is now 15h40. It’s still not pitch dark and it is killing me to have to wait for total darkness to turn them on. I don’t really have to wait, however they aren’t as effective when it’s not completely dark.
16h03 – Total darkness has occurred and the lights are now flashing. I love it. I looked out my window and no one else has lights up yet. In the USA, many people put lights and their tree up the day after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November) and have them up until New Year’s day. I was one of those people. I would usually have a tree decorating party and have everyone bring one ornament. I used to have friends over every Saturday night for Christmas parties.
A Christmas tree would be nice, however due to the cost, that probably won’t happen. If I wasn’t going to Warsaw in two weeks and them to Germany at the end of the month, I would buy one.
I have wonderful memories of putting the tree up. I remember when my father used to assemble the (artificial) tree and the kids would decorate it. There was always the "garland debate" as my father’s family used to put it vertically an my mother’s family used to put it horizontally (or vice versa...I’ve forgotten). I also remember when the kids were old enough to assemble the tree ourselves and my parent would just sit back and watch. Then, when I moved out, I remember buying my first tree (at a 2nd hand shop), placing where it could be seen out the front windows of my house, decorating it every year and turning off all the lights in the house to watching it while listening to Christmas carols. I looked forward to that every year. I know that I can’t go back in time, but I can continue doing it, no matter where I live. All I need now are Christmas carols and a tree. Maybe next year for the latter.
19h – 1/3 of the Christmas lights have stopped working. Typical of my luck. Why can’t anything ever work correctly for me? There should be no question in the mind of anyone who has read the previous journal and this journal as to why I gave up on cars in 1997, after 15 years of ownership. I guess that some people (myself included) were born to have bad luck.
18h – the latest third of the string of lights has stopped flashing (but is still lit).
20h – now the previously mentioned non-flashing section of the string now has started flashing. Go figure.
3 December – It’s cold, gray and VERY foggy today. I can barely see the church that is across from my flat!
16h – I turned the Christmas lights on and only the middle third worked. *sigh*
