Polish Man in New World

Looking at the words I put up there into the post title I begin to believe that science is getting closer and closer to me : ) but I do hope I will not lose my simplicity. Simple words are the best. I feel safe in their companion. It was suggestion of my great host to go along with him to Cowra for seminar on managing the vineyards. My vocabulary went bigger : ) Salinity is a concentration of salt ( NaCl that is sodium chloride) in something when sodicity is a term used to express detoriation of soil structure induced by excessive amount of sodium (Na). Why? What? Where from? Salt comes to the soil together with water from irrigation systems. Then it is up taken by roots and ends up in grapes. They say the Australian wines are on the top of the most-salty-wines-in-the-world list. Around 10% of them is not allowed to enter Europe because of too high chloride level :/ Not only my host but also my neighbours came up yesterday with ideas on having good time together. Just after returni...

Przygotowałem specjalnie dla Bartka i dla wszystkich zainteresowanych relacje z mojego programu wolontarskiego na farmie produkującej ekologiczne oliwki. Po łacinie Olea europea. To chyba pierwsza roślinka z której wyciśnięto olej (no bo skąd nazwa oleju?). Bardzo sympatyczne, dosyć małe drzewko. Jednym z ciekawych przystosowań jest zdolność obracania liści kantem do słońca aby zminimalizować parowanie. Zbiór zakończył się pół roku temu. Oliwki prosto z drzewa są mało smaczne. Gromadzi się je w wielkim kontenerze i tamże zalewa się je roztworem soli. Dojrzewają albo jak mówią lokalni leczą się (curing) przez pół roku. Jak upłynie te pół roku przyjeżdża dwuosobowa grupa robotników: Polak czyli ja i kuzyn Obamy z wysp Vanuatu Sael. Tutaj stoimy przy taśmie gdzie sortuje się oliwki. Z oliwek drugiej kategorii robi się pastę. Te najładniejsze ląduja w słoikach i zalewane są specjalnym roztworem. Tak wygląda produkt końcowy: No i jeszcze rzut oka na gaj oliwkowy: Gaj jest bardzo sympatyczny...

Richard came up to us yesterday smiling. He pointed at one place in the jar with olives he was holding in his hand. We started to feel bad. We couldn’t believe that our distraction reached size of big grass hopper : ) It turned out that the jar was filled up before Christmas that is at time we used to work with Cornerstone girls. We all agreed that talking with them was the reason for our shameful overlook (on the third olive from down): Next post goes to Poland to my friend Bartka. I am going to satisfy his curiosity on olive grow. Believe me, it is an exotic thing for someone who lives in cold European country and in addition he is a doctor :)

Not so long time ago I came to know the results. It seems that my first job interview in Australia went incredibly well. I still cant believe it but I am going to work soon at Macquarie University together with my sweet Estonian scientist : ) who brought me here. I am not going to have my own project, though. I believe that cosmos knows better and I agree fully with cosmos in that matter. I feel that I couldn’t start right away from leading some serious research in a far far away country with a very foreign flora. That is why I am going to be first a research assistant. Life is good. But there are bad news around it as well. It means that very soon I have to terminate my joyful stay in Rosnay farm. It means also a stress connected with finding new flat to live in. My professor gave me unlimited time to solve it out but probably I cant prolong my stay here until march or so, as I had planned before. He may start to think that I don’t care about the position I just won :). Anyway, all in...

I dedicate this story to the most unique girl in the world who got ticket today morning in Melbourne for parking a car in a wrong place : ) After a long, hard climb up the mountain, the spiritual seekers finally found themselves in front of the great teacher. Bowing deeply, they asked the question that had been burning inside them for so long: HOW DO WE BECOME WISE? There was a long pause until the teacher emerged from meditation. Finally the reply came: “Good choices.” “But teacher, how do we make good choices?” “From experience,” responded the wise one. “And how do we get experienced?” “Bad choices,” smiled the teacher :) By Roger Walsh (1999), page 239.

Today I took up a chance to take part in Australia Day in Canowindra (Some call it Invasion Day). All local VIPs gathered together here plus one famous Australian actress I didn’t hear before. And I always have problem with understanding what kind of meaning is hidden behind Australian flag. For me it looks like someone has drowned United Kingdom in the big amount of water : ) and the stars - they additionally emphasize that it happened somewhere far far away : ). Hej guys, why not to make a flag like most of the countries do – with pure simple colours on it? Here comes my idea. My Australian flag would look like this one here: - blue stands for an all embracing sky - black would be a dedication to indigenous People :) and placed in the center - red would symbolize soil. If i managed to change national flag of Australia, All Estonians would love me probably : ). The small Nordic country between Baltic Sea and Russia could start thinking of being related to big sunny one : ). They have ...

Today I was given an opportunity to present to Richard’s family something of Polish traditional cuisine. I chose Pierogi ruskie = Russian dumplings = Polish national meal. They used to be prepared on almost every week when I was a small boy. They were made in the same way by my mother and by my grandmothers who were probably taught by their mothers : ). I was kind of sure that I won’t have problems with preparing them in Australia since I was witnessing their creation for such a long time of my growing-up time. But unfortunately I was wrong. You can easily inherit things like colour of eyes, face features, height etc (together with the flow of genes) but you can’t posses cooking skills this way. You have to practice it : ) I kind of invented new recipe – my dumplings were unnaturally big and flat, with thick and remarkably raw cover and with relatively small filling. Thanks God Richards wife is an experienced woman and she rescued me. Florence put them on the pan and fried until they b...

Today I was left alone in the shade with hundreds of jars filled up with olive paste. Monotonous job it was to put a label on them and then to box them. Stefan was like always alone sitting in the office and dealing with all the problems connected with his business. But the evening has changed everything. One talented musician has visited Rosnay farm. After we put all the noise - making children to the bed we took off to the cosmos: Of course this talented musician is not me but the guy on my left with guitar. I was invited to join the local band and sing in Polish. I was a bit shy at the beginning but after guys said that it helps to your soul i took a stage : ) - this was my first singing performance in my life. And what more they have recorded it and promise to burn a CD : ) for me. I loved it: I regularly scream in the forest to release all the heaviness from my soul. But singing with those guys is much more efficient in that matter :) Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee .

I read somewhere lately that " Writing is and act of Ego" and i fully agree with that : ) My Ego grows when I read all those positive comments under my posts and into my email box : ). If I remember well Kylie is one of the Cornerstone girls I brought safely to Sydney one time. Now she is probably lost somewhere in right-side traffic around Zurich in Switzerland, am I right? It is a joy to create something nice out of Word. It is also a joy to throw up (yes, yes to vomit) all those thoughts out of my brain. They are drilling too deep my nerves and it brings a big relief after i get rid of them in here : ) Barrack Obama used to say that "Change we need" but i must add that change is the constant in life whether you need it or not : ). Suddenly, no Vanuatu guy, no people from Cornerstone community in Rosnay. Suddenly i dont bottle olives in a way I used to. Now I work with one well-built Australian guy on putting a thin olive paste into the small jars.

I have started to write this post on the train between all those people with attributes: 1. A magazine with plenty of pictures, most of them sexy babes : ) – but the guy holding it seems to be addicted to every possible thing – starting from the beer he drinks from paper bag 2. A guitar played silently in far front by a guy with skinny left arm and I do-not-care haircut (that is all what I can see :) 2. A thick book on World Art read by relaxed woman with red hair and red piercing in her nose accompanied by colourfully striped socks with whole in it. I am going to Lithgow where I change to the bus which takes me to Canowindra. A train struggle now with climbing the Blue Mountains. It seems that today day is a very important day. Besides the fact that I was born 29 years ago we took part in Barack Obama’s inauguration speech (today at 04am :) on the step of Capitol Hill in Washington. He is a relative of Seal – my friend from Vanuatu with whom I am going to bottle the olives again. And ...

Uch! Ach! It was excitedly tiring day. I couldn’t swallow nothing but coffee with some small snack during my lunch brake today : ). I was interviewed not only by Head of Department of Biological Sciences (1hour) but I was passed on and on across all the people there (8 guys and 30 min. each). I just finished my call to my family in Poland because I cant simply talk anymore today, every word is causing a physical pain. Typing in this case is very refreshing. My chances went up from “you might be perhaps eligible (from first email 2 months ago) to 50% (today) which is actually a good progress in my opinion. My understanding for science is also higher I think. After taking part in group discussion on the very heavy paper I realized how much effort I would still need to put in order to catch up with specific vocabulary and its specific Australian way of pronunciation. Another thing is getting used to air-condition. I couldn’t stand it for longer while – I love heat. I have just left cold c...

Trzymajcie kciuki! Yes, yes, there is a reason for that. Tomorrow I have my first meeting with my Professor. Tomorrow's day is a turning day. From tomorrow on I can become a famous scientist or just scientist : ) I feel like I haven’t read not enough of books on botany and ecology, I didn’t go deep enough into the topic we are going to discuss tomorrow but it might be also a good sign = an egg cant be wiser than a chicken : ) Anyway I am excited. After jogging today evening I laid down on the grass and I felt like history of my life is written up there thousand years ago : ) and there is nothing to be afraid of. My sister always tells me in such moments that Cosmos takes care of You -just follow the signs :) Cheers!

I go by bus pretty often. Bus connects Epping with Manly beach best. And this is an unique system: -Wave a hand to stop the bus otherwise it may pass you by. In Poland I would be seen as a freak, here it is a must. - Driver is a king. He’s got all the power to bring you to your destination. In case you behave inappropriately He will stop the bus and scream at you “Do you want to get off of the bus?”, “Are You going to pay for a ticket or not? Come back! - No signs on the bus stops. Let assume that I am drunk and I fell asleep on the bus. One harder bump wakes me up at a very random moment. And what? Of course I can’t guess where I am: UK, USA or maybe Australia. The streets in these countries look so similar. What more: every bus stop look the same and on the top of it no stop name. - Driver is not only a king but Guardian Angel as well. He has all the information you need, just ask Him. The passengers are always thankful to Him when he stops and opens the door at t...

Portal nasza-klasa.pl, muzyka w TV z lat 80-tych. Wszystko to przywodzi mi na myśl czasy minione. Czy to tęsknota? Czuję zapach powietrza nad stawami w Piaskach, widzę dowcipnego wujka Jeremiego nad starym magnetofonem i głośnik co wisi przymocowany do zewnętrznej ściany domu. Większość posiłków i rozmów miała miejsce pod kasztanem. To, co minione ma taki rozkosznie nieuchwytny smak, jak smak lodów śmietankowych w niedzielę w Piaskach po bolesnym odstaniu mszy świętej. Przemijamy. Wujek Jeremy ożenił się, schudł i zgorzkniał. Anastazja powiła dziecko i zrobiła się grubsza. Uśmiech na nowym zdjęciu jest o takim wymuszonym typie. Dlaczego się tak dzieje? Czy można jeszcze coś uratować? Wychowałem się w takich powściągliwych twarzach. Szczęście nie jest za bardzo na miejscu. Dobrze jest zazdrościć, bo wtedy można się schować w swojej drogiej małości. Ciekawe, czy jeszcze wrócę do mojego kraju? Z: http://www.kurierlubelski.pl/

Możecie mnie brać za heretyka, ale nie umiem przekonać siebie do tego, by spowrotem być czlowiekiem religijnym w polsko-katolickim rozumieniu. Oglądam zdjęcia z mojej parafii i widzę, że kazania ciągle hipnotyzują tlumy. Msza święta, spotkanie z papieżem ma dużo wspólnego z występem słynnego zespołu rockowego na stadionie w Chorzowie. Na koncercie w kościele dosyć łatwo jednak powstrzymywać się od wyskoków i ryków : ) Australia już weszła w erę pochrześcijanską. Ludzie po prostu obudzili się z hipnozy stadnej. Stawiają na kontakt z samym sobą bez pośrednika, na kontakt z Tajemnicą bez dyktatora. Ale uwielbiam nadal świątynie w staryn stylu. Zimna posadzka, stukot czyichś nóg, wielgaśne ściany przemawiają dużo głośniej niż kaznodzieja na mszy : ). Szkoda tylko, że tych starych światyń coraz mniej, a coraz więcej jakichś kwadratowych wytworów. Tak jakby gdzieś została nadwyżka plyty z ery Gierkowskiej i postanowili zrobić z niej użytek na potrzeby “Ludu Bożego”. Do tego kościoła poniżej ...

Few days ago I was invited for interview with my probable-to-be future supervisor. Professor Westoby together with invitation email has sent to me a scientific article (“Safety and efficiency conflicts in hydraulic architecture: scaling from tissues to trees “by J.S. Sperry, F.C. Meinzer & K. McCulloh) and suggested me to join a journal club where wise academic heads discuss the given topic. Why not? – I said to myself. It might me a good experience too. After first reading I didn’t get a thing. I decided to visit Macquarie University Library very next day. This was my strange morning. There was no one to hug to and no one to talk to. On the way to library I was probably looking like please-say-a-word-to-me : ) and so it happened. Just before entering the stairs to Epping station a girl wearing a green T-shirt asked me something. Of course I stopped and started to ask back the questions. She was a member of Wilderness Society. Her name was Clementine, studying law at the moment, he...

It was stuffy and hot today in Boronia Park. I decided to finish my book on British – Australian history out of my flat. At the time when Governor Phillip tried to introduce uniform to perfectly naked Australians Polish nation was conquered and divided between three European empires (Year 1795). At the time governor Macquarie was experimenting in turning local nomads into farmers Polish People started to fight against oppression (1831). Mrs Clendinnen has put it nicely in her epilogue: “Inquiry (badania) into our confused beginning suggests that the possibility of a decent co-existence between unlike groups must begin from the critical scrutiny (przestudiowanie) of our own assumptions (hipotezy) and values as they come under challenge. We might then be able to make informed decisions as to which uncomfortable difference we are prepared to tolerate and which we are not, rather than to attempt the wholesale reformation of what we identify as the defects of the other”. So I was sitting an...

So it happens again. Christina my “scientific” girl took off this midday for field works in Eastern Australia (From Sydney southward to Adelaide). She is going to be away for at least 5 weeks. There are two of them actually: Christina and Carla (Australian girl). They are looking for particular species of acacias (wattles). Let me warn all the people from the region located along their marsh route. Be careful! Especially if You enjoy in your garden one of the species of acacia listed below: 1. Acacia melanoxylon 2. Acacia saligna 3. Acacia cyclops 4. Acacia longifolia 5. Paraserianthes lophantha One day two small girls can get off of the big jeep car. A perfect cooperation. One will dig the roots out and second one simultaneously will cut down the branches of the prey tree. Only scientists are allowed to do such things - to destroy nature in order to protect nature : )

So often happens to me to go for a long walk across Lane Cove National Park. To reach its border it takes me about 30 minutes through Epping suburbs. And I must say this is the time I feel really like an Alien. I think no one has a habit to walk in between all those fancy, fairy-tale houses. They get on the car already in the garage and drive away quickly from there. Sometimes only I can see a group of children playing or casual workers working. At this point I start to understand the reasons for those never-ending terror attacks in Iraq. Only two facts of Australian economy makes me want to join those desperados as well : ) = price of petrol (which is almost 3 times cheaper in here than in Poland) together with the highest wages in the world (which are almost 3 times higher than in Poland). Petrol is key issue. It becomes obvious that lack of petrol is the biggest threat in car societies, bigger than few suicide bombers in Bagdad (who are paid in dollars anyway). So I leave suburban a...

IELTS, the International English Language Testing System. I am in this system from today on. I paid 280$ application fee and I was assigned to the exam on 18th April. It is time to study again. I got opportunity to experience this pre-exam thrill once again : ) Time to study. I bought one of ielts books developing listening skills because that is the part – I think – most difficult for me –to hear. Christina says that I should rather wash my ear well with proper thing than buying an expensive text book : ) but I believe that it was a good purchase. Candidates are tested in listening, reading, writing and speaking. I heard that it may take all day. To make a good use of the day I went to close-by Macquarie library. I took pile of books to my table. I managed to read only two chapters of one of them –but very good one. Not about listening but “On writing well” by William Zinsser. I realized that as a beginner I shouldn’t have problems with good writing. I don't express a large enough...

11.01.09 If to remove 01 from today date we will get bloody numbers of of 11.09 and maybe that is why I ve been moved today by politic – religious issues. I wanted to express here some of my very positive emotions about our last night-out to Sydney Festival with our new friends (another Estonian-Polish couple) but I wont do it. It is all because of Richard Dawkins and his today’s morning program on ABC TV. Why atheist has no place in Jerusalem and why we are doomed everyday by bloody news from Western Bank of Jordan and Gaza strip? They kill each other there as long as I remember. The topic itself irritates us for ages. And always when I start to find solution I realize that there is no solution and this fact drives me crazy. The key problem is the temple in the heart of Jerusalem: 1. It is most holy place for Jews – the believed place of First and Second Temple, 2. It is third holy place for Muslims (after Mecca and Medina) where Mohammed flew away to heaven from. Both parties want to...

Since English language is full of exceptions why not to create one more of them especially for my private purpose : ) ? I want honey to be written like honay because it fits to my play on words. Rosemary is a very specific, intensively smelling herb and once Florka sent me to pick it up from her little garden I got lost in between the plants – me, botanist and ecologist who graduated from 7 years long study on environment. First thing I learnt is that it is used to spice up meat meals, second thing I found on wikipedia: Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant evergreen needle-like leaves. It grows just on the right from the main door : ) Today I ate again olives from Rosnay farm – the ones I bottled myself there : ) and always in connection with the sensors on my tongue they work like time-machine. My thoughts fly back immediately to this shade where I used to work with Sael and girls. It is unique feeling, finally I know the story of what I eat in op...

Herzlich Willkommen besonders zu H. und E. :) Auch herzlich willkommen zu alle meine Freunden die auf Deutsch sprechen : ) Daunter habe ich ein Foto mit Marina anzugeklebt: Darling Harbour – der Platz wo wir ein Neujahr vor sieben Tagen gefeiert haben. Liebe Grüsse!

Juhei!!! Today’s day (05.01.09) news is = I am fully allowed to work full-time in Australia. Till today I was a bit confused by my unclear rights to work. Department of Immigration and Citizenship located next to Central Station in Lee street made my day : ) The sun - I was feeling like a sausage frying in a pan. The sky-scrapers – sometimes I wish a GIANT MAN could come across a city, step on the top of all of those tiring high buildings and stick them into the ground : ) and after this He could plant the forest above them. In times of good air-condition systems I think most of the office workers wouldn’t notice a difference. I even believe they would work more efficient. Under the constant impression of having a night-shift (dark soil behind the window) they could concentrate better on the work they have to do. But Please Giant do not touch Sydney Darling Harbour. It is an awesome place: Today I got also an unexpectedly long email from my old friends from Switzerland. they are aroun...

New Years Eve we began with going to Manly beach. Although it is usually pretty overcrowded it is still our favourite place to take a sunbath and swim. We became already master in body-surfing : ) – we know how to hit a wave and get floated away until sea edge were usually small children play. We start thinking about buying our first small surfboard :) Beneath Me and above Christina = some shots of our jumpy joy on the beach: ) We still suffer from tireness. Yes, yes, New Years Eve party surprised us very positively and brought a lot of good vibes. After coming back from the beach, we only managed to eat and change the make-up. We set out toward City. We didn’t know quite well where to get off to find good place to watch fireworks – this problem was solved by Australians :). Soon after we got on train to City we were “attacked” by three slightly drunk girls. Very funny ones, I was close to get tired from smiling and laughing. Out of sudden they handed us the tickets to Pacha nightclub ...

On the post from 31.12 I exploded in Polish. The explosive things and tensions are hard to put down in foreign language. It is like looking for good form within a limited number of words, so I exploded :) The movie Australia, the pressure of friends from nasza-klasa.pl social network site made me write in Polish last time : ) I think that once in a while I will mix my two languages in here - my overseas and my local one, inherited and taught one, intentionally and unintentionally possessed one. Mother language is like being at home, is like knowing the people from your neighbourhood, and is like walking the ways you know. It doesn’t ask you so much of attention as English does for me. Sometimes I think it is unfair and pointless to try to speak the language of other nations . It is like stepping into someone house without asking for permission on one hand and on the other hand it is like never ending struggling to understand and to be understood. Esperanto as an artificial language put...

Thank You Kate for this track to Australian Poem Writer with Polish roots. It is amazing how quickly – within one generation – we can change our language and stop to understand the culture of our parents. On Yesterday’s night or maybe I should say today’s morning? Anyway, at around 04.00AM of New Year’s Day we were returning from Darling Harbour Party by train. Trains were overcrowded and going very slowly and I had time to observe one older couple in her mid-50s. I wanted so much to catch any word from their talk. They look like a good example of Polish people of post-war generation. On 2009 we are going to have 20th anniversary of what happened in 1989 – my parents together with million of other exhausted and worn-out Polish people gathered together and started to change my country. We introduced to Eastern Europe a communism-free political system. Life under regime was hard but period of transformation asked for a lot of sacrifice too. Our standard diet consists of bread and flour-b...