The Winter Adventure Begins

Dzień dobry

Dzisiaj mamy śnieg!


Oh, did I learn Polish overnight? No, just discovered a good translator -- and that's part of whole different story sometime.

We have 3-4 inches of fresh snow this morning. This will probably stick around for a good long time, so the winter adventure begins.

One Step Towards a Great Adventure

Today I received the letter from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars which adminsters the Fulbright programs. I have been recommended for a Fulbright Lecturing Award in Hungary for the 2009-10 academic year. The next step is that my application now goes to the Hungarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange. Even if I make the cut in Hungary, it isn't a done deal, for as this letter advises: "the number of meritorious applicants routinely exceeds the number of available grants."

It does feel good, however, to be recommended.

Black Friday Adventure

Today while millions of people were shopping, about 200 people and me were at Unity Unitarian church observing the Frist Black Friday service. This is a new effort designed to help all deal with the cultural and spiritual aspects of a holiday that is somewhat out of control. We had magnificant music an acoustic group specializing in Southern US and Celtic music, a story by the magnificant Kevin Kling,and conversation with those near us in the sanctuary. Children 4-10 had their own discussion group, considering the question: Is it possible to get too many Christmas gifts? They seemed to consider more the consequences of too many gifts: One would have to take over all the houses in the neighborhood for storage.

Press photographers were there, too. The idea of celebrating the season with music and thought rather than shopping seems to be novel. Here's a link to the Minnesota Public Radio story:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/11/28/proff_vs_black_friday/

Later in the day-- our church made the news such as news is these days -- about 30 seconds -- as something that is new totally in the United States and something that may move to other faith-based communities next year.

Later yet: Here's the story on the KARE-11 web site: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=530638&catid=2

An Evening in Europe

No, not by Concord flight! Tonight I watched a new PBS program, The Rape of Europa. This is about the stealing of art during WWII and efforts undertaken to return the art to rightful owners. Find it on PBS. It's wonderful.

Another Trip to Central Europe

My church is one of three others-- another in the United States and one in the Netherlands-- that has a partnerships with a church in Transylvania -- a part of Romania now, separated from Hungary at the end of WWI. The persons in this area consider themselves Hungarian and speak Magyar as their first language. Today we honored that partnership. One of our church members is a member of Mila, a women's vocal ensemble which specializes in music from Central Europe.

However, we began with two Hungarian songs presented by the Children's Choir. In the service Mila presented music from Georgia and Bulgaria in addition to Hungarian songs. I understand none of these languages and enjoy them all.

Curious -- See more about Mila here: http://www.milavocalensemble.com/

Adventures in Poland

No,I'm not in Poland, but I've just spent 15 minutes in Poland via You Tube. It was such great fun to see some of the kids I've taught, another video with the camp director which whom I've worked, and others of Siedlce folks that I know. Curious, go to You Tube and search for Siedce, Reymontowka, or my very favorite, Ania speaks Hungarian.

Found it -- Adventure!

I had read in many guidebooks about the Milk Bars in Poland. These are getting hard to find. Thus I was glad to find this one in Torun and preserve it with a photo, knowing that perhaps the next time I'm there, it will not be there. This bar is near by park in my photo from two days ago. I noticed many stopped here for a snack that they ate as they crossed the park on their way to either a bus or tram.