So since the last past (which was far too long ago), I've been working a lot more and due to the chilly winter settling in I've had less outdoor adventures. A lot has happened, it's just piecing it all together which is the tricky part...
From the start of November, the weather got a lot colder. Getting down to -12C at times, but I hear we had similar temperatures in Poland and the UK. Early November also brought the first onset of snow. When it came, I was really excited about the snow's arrival, it's still quite a treat for an English person, but I was met with groans from the Poles about the snow, I think it even bores some people. There is a rumour that when the snow arrives ever year it still manages to suprise the authorities. Hence on the first day, many people were left freezing in bus shelters, trams were cancelled and many people were late for work. But, since then the weather has been slightly warmer. No beard freeze yet.
At the start of December, myself and my co-ordinator made plans to organise a presentation with one class about English and British Christmas traditions. We decided to look at four areas, being; Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', crackers, Christmas pudding and the carol 'I saw three Ships come sailing in'. Those first two weeks in December were spent making crackers, preparing ingredients, singing and reading practice. But more on that further down.
Friday 3rd December brought another exciting gig to the Bycze Oko. This time with a fine selection of some of the best Polish Punk and Hardcore bands at the moment, Wilczy Szaniec, Alert! Alert! and Miraż. Though the turnout was unusually low and the bands were delayed heavily, the gig was still great. Extatic to see Wilczy Szaniec after so long and was also great to meet Jasiek after our postal trades earlier in November. You can find more info about all these bands in my earlier posts, recommended! I am also getting together a Polish Punk and Hardcore scene report to be finished in June. The list of bands, contacts, venues and zines is growing all the time.
For a couple of lessons I was asked to prepare materials on countries and nationalities. I was able to make these lessons include the music of; Bob Marley, Run DMC, Manu Chao, Davy Graham and Shirley Collins (who the pupils thought were Chinese), Konono No.1 and Japanese Gagaku music. My regular English lessons with the teachers included an exercise on Gil Scott-Heron and 'The Revolution will not be Televised'. Lucky people!
The following week, on Friday 10th December, I made my way to Warsaw to catch Swans and James Blackshaw. I travelled alone, and annoyingly got quite lost on the way to the venue and missed Mr.Blackshaw. But, I saw the Swans and the journey was made all worthwhile. Easily one of the concerts of the year for me. I won't go into great detail, but their recent album 'My Father will guide me up a rope to the sky' is well worth a listen. Earlier in that day I made Christmas pudding with the pupils at school. Albeit not a traditional one, as it was made with a microwave. The recipe we used can be seen here. I couldn't try the pudding unfortunatley, as it was made with butter and eggs, but I was assured by the pupils that it was great, they especially loved Golden Syrup.
The following week, Monday 13th December, we had our Christmas presentation. Crackers were all hand made, including the jokes and paper hats, the song was learnt and sung well, many Puddings were baked and the readings went well. See the photos attached! Later that week, Thursday 16th December, I went to Berlin then onto Istanbul for a long weekend. I won't mention too much, as I can't include it as a venture in Polska. But, I had more transport problems, due to the snow I once loved.
After the return from the long and insane weekend, we had our last week of school before the Christmas holiday. Tuesday 21st December, I prepared materials for classes on New Year's traditions and resolutions from the UK, Spain and Japan. With one energetic and enthusiastic class, we made paper snowflakes, see photos. Wednesday 22nd December was the last day of school. With no real lessons, there was a dramatised modern nativity in the morning, unfortunatley I only understood half of the story, but it was well acted and funny. After this each class returns to their form room and piles of traditional food is laid out for everyone. Pupils, parents and teachers all prepare small dishes and are shared among everyone. There are also Christmas waffers given to everyone and you take a piece of their waffer and they take a piece of yours and make a wish, and wish them 'Wesołych Świąt'! 
My return home to Lancashire came on the 23rd December. A week back home to see family, friends, pets and loved ones. It was a strange, yet welcoming feeling to come back to England. But it did feel like I was looking at all I know so well through different eyes. My first encounter was with two scouse shop assistants, which took me a moment to realise I could still understand. 
On returning to Poland, on Wednesday 29th December, it was also a welcoming and warm feeling to be back in Łódź, maybe I have two homes now. Friday 31st December, I made a solo journey to the northern city of Iława for a New Year's party with some lovely Łódź friends and some new friends too. As mentioned in earlier posts, you have to be extra alert when travelling on trains in Poland. There were no delays, I just felt there really wasn't enough information about the journey. The board on the platform (peron) tells you one thing, then when you're on the train you realise it's slightly different. I did make it to Iława with no problems, but I just had to make sure at every stop that I checked where we were as there was no information! The theme of the party was Black Metal or Emo, so of course, me and two others decided to go for the Black Metal dress code. With a skillfull make up artist, we wore the mandatory corpse paint, along with garments of black and remembering to pull silly faces every 5 minutes. Upon the coming of midnight, people gathered in the street to watch and set off fireworks and wish them all a happy new year. End note
- An eagle eyed vegan friend in Łódź introduced me to Krówka Sojowa, a vegan version of the traditional and popular toffee-like sweets. They made me a very happy boy, sadly they're usually all gone in one day.
- I have been preparing material for upcoming noise and experimental shows. I played at Jazzga in Łódź this week with fellow noise dude, Tim Holehouse. More info on that in the next post. I am also playing a solo Left Hand Cuts off the Right set at Warsaw's Eufemia Squat on Wednesday 23rd February, along with Łódź noise group, Trauma Unit. I have also released new material and new releases are on their way.
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