And that's the way I'm feeling. Overwhelmed. But in a good way. Colloquially we might say: "Impression overload!"
When I was at Middlebury Russian School in the 80s, my fellow students and I loved to make fun of Michael Blake and the idiotic things he used to utter in our textbook -- his experience of Moscow ice cream, his commentaries on 1970s architecture ("In England we too now frequently build using concrete and glass!"), his visit to the barbershop where the barber spritzed his neck with cologne and gave him a little massage.
But I guess that's what life in a foreign country is: daily new impressions.
We are counting down our last days here in Warsaw, and we have many more things on our "to do" list -- places to see, walks to take, restaurants to try, even a few museums we've not yet managed to pop our heads into. It's exciting, and I once again have a fluttery feeling in my stomach.
After all, it has been quite a busy four months. We arrived on the 31st of January, and now it's June 1. We've learned to negotiate the city and the university bureaucracy; we've explored the Polish medical system and have bank accounts, bike rental accounts, library cards, transit cards. And of course, I have my TESCO card.
In fact, I've just reaped my first TESCO benefits -- I received coupons in the mail worth 12 PLN off my purchase, plus six more coupons of which I was able to use 4, for a total of almost 20 PLN discount on my groceries yesterday. I managed to use the coupons on the day they were due to expire, and though my surly check out clerk was unhappy, she had no choice but to ring them in.
I am imagining that she began her grocery career using an abacus, as they did in the Soviet Union during my first visit there 25 years ago. Coupons must still seem to her a moral outrage.
The new TESCO slogan: CIACH! ACH! is everywhere around town. We could loosely translate: "Yes! Snip!" as we watch the prices fall on everyday goods and products.
Or in non-commercial terms: Summertime, and the livin' is easy.
Indeed, we may have missed Memorial Day in the U.S., but our apartment complex appears to be having a barbeque next Saturday afternoon, perhaps specially planned to mark our departure. Should be fun.
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