From Russia with love . . .

Here are the pictures of the Speech and Debate Team's trip to Moscow, with a few archived pictures added for flavor:

К сожалению, я пока не говорю по-русски!

It's nice to be back in the tropical latitudes of Poland. This is a relative comparison to the frigid tundra of Russia, where I have spent the last four days. Mid-November and there was already a substantial accumulation of powder on the ground with a bone-chilling wind that seemed colder than anything I have experienced in northern Minnesota. Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but it made me glad I brought my long underwear.

Normally, I would steer clear of Moscow this time of year. Come to think of it, I don't think I would ever have made it to the Russian capital without the benefit of being the coach of the ASW Middle School Speech and Debate Team. I know what you're thinking, "How does one achieve such a distinguished position?". Well, I was the first one to answer the e-mail from the activities director once I heard where the tournament would be held.

Growing up during the height of the Cold War (i.e. the Carter and Reagan administrations), I never would have thought that it would be possible that I would someday travel to the center of the "Evil Empire". This was supposed to be forever forbidden, since the Soviets were purportedly hell-bent on completely destroying me, and my country, using nuclear weapons. The only way to avoid this, of course, was by hiding underneath my desk at St. Leo's Elementary. At least, that is what the emergency preparedness filmstrips would have me believe. You remember filmstrips don't you? Everyone would always clamor for the privilege of turning the knob on the projector at the sound of "BEEP!". Good memories indeed.

I think my childhood fear of being vaporized peaked after watching "The Day After", a made for TV movie about a nuclear attack on a small mid-western city. "But I live in a small mid-western city! This could happen to me!" I thought. Check out this clip to and put yourself in my shoes as an impressionable young boy. It scared the @$#% out of me.

But thanks to Rocky Balboa, the Cold War ended on Christmas Day in 1985. His victory over Ivan Drago and the impassioned speech that followed made me realize I wasn't going to die. Because in Rocky's words,
"If I can change . . . and you can change. . . . everyone can change!"

Thanks for reading! I will have pics from this trip up soon . . . Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

You just might learn something here.

The Kielbasa will retroactively chronicle a couple trips taken last month. It has been a slow couple of weeks since fall break but this should whet your appetite for a trip to Europe . . . my door is always open!

My friend from way back in the day, Brian a.k.a. Scrote, met me in Berlin for the weekend last month. What a great city . . . amazing art, a youthful vibe, great nightlife, and plenty to offer from the historical perspective. It is always great to catch up with such a great friend, even if it is just for a couple days. Check out some pics:

The next bunch of pics you will see is of Torun, birthplace of Mikołaj Kopernik. "Who the heck is that?" you might be asking. You might know him by his other name, Nicolaus Copernicus, the founder of heliocentric theory. Okay, now you might be really confused. Let's just say that one of the first things that every kid learns in science class is that the sun is the center of our solar system. It hasn't always been that way . . .

Before we gained the knowledge that we are only a miniscule part of the vast cosmos, Copernicus boldly challenged the notion that Earth was motionless and was the center of our universe. This was a pretty ballsy move way back then, since most scientific scholars were also men of the cloth. In the 16th century, any published research that went against church doctrine was met with utter disbelief and could result in house arrest or even death.

So I decided to take the 2 1/2 hour train ride from Warsaw to Torun and spend Saturday afternoon conjuring up the ghost of one of history's greatest scientists. Actually, it was a great excuse to get out of the city and spend the day with
"moj' kochanie", Luiza. Almost 6 hours in the same train compartment and she still returns my phone calls . . . I love this country!