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!

Fall break in Mazury

The Kielbasa is on holiday this week up in northern Poland, enjoying the explosion of fall color and solitude of a cabin in the woods. My friend Murph was generous enough to invite me along for a week-long retreat to the Mazury Lake District. The parents of one of his past students have given him anytime access to their private lake house for the last couple years.

I know Murph is one "helluva" kindergarten teacher but he must work some serious magic because this place is truly spectacular. The house (and stable for the horses) sits on a private lake surrounded by 80 acres of forest. Not a bad place to kick back, eat a lot of fried food and down some piwo.

As always, there was no shortage of unusual scenery in the rural Polish countryside. For fans of "The Food Bus" back in Warsaw (see January entry "Late Night Grub"), some enterprising purveyors of roadside homecooking bring you . . . The Food Jet! I am not kidding. On the way up here, we passed an old passenger jet converted into a fully operational cafe. It was closed on Sunday but I think a visit on the way back home must be done. I will keep you posted . . . thanks for reading.

To the polls for the Poles!

It's election day here in Poland. The "do-over" will become reality today as voters will try to elect a new parliament that will actually put this nation on a progressive course toward economic reform. For the last two years, the only thing that has been getting done is the ongoing witchhunt for former Communist informants in the current government. Oh yeah, and the occasional sex scandal and relentless crusade against homosexuality. Wow! It's just like being back home again! But I will leave "Toe-tappin' Larry" for another time.

There is a paranoia within the current administration, headed by the Kaczynski twins, Lech and Jaroslaw. The Prime Minister, Jaroslaw, will be gone tomorrow, we can only hope. Polling indicates a 17 point deficit so there will be a huge uproar if he isn't ousted. His brother, the President, will be around for a couple more years, but he doesn't wield as much power as our boy, George.

Enjoy this video that pokes fun at "the duck brothers". This moniker is derived from their last name, which is similar to kaczka, the Polish word for duck. We, here at the Chronicle, also think they look a bit like waterfowl with their protruding upper lip. Quack quack! On a related note, this year I introduced my cross country team to the phrase "I stepped on a duck".

Chicken Kiev!

One of the many perks of teaching overseas is the opportunity to travel internationally as part of my coaching duties. This is my second year coaching middle school cross country and it is such a refreshing change from the varsity level back in the States. The practices are only two days a week compared to six, and the season last for only 6 weeks. In Idaho, I would start coaching during the dog days of early August and complete the season around Halloween. Also, instead of traveling to a different city for meets every week, we culminate all of our hard work with a trip to a different international school.

This year, we were fortunate to take a trip to Kiev, Ukraine. Since declaring independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, this country has been divided. Those that live in the West want to forge a closer bond with Europe, and eventually obtain EU membership, and those that live in the East long for the days when they were one with Mother Russia. In fact, one of the most striking monuments in Kiev is the Mother Motherland Statue commemorating the Soviet loss of over 20 million people in World War II.

Kiev has also been called "the Rome of Orthodox Christianity" since this religion traces much of its early history to the churches built there. They certainly are impressive structures with multiple gilded domes dotting the city skyline. The brightly colored facades hint at the stunningly brilliant murals inside depicting the saintly deeds of the church founders.

But for me, what was most fascinating about Kiev was the ubiquitous presence of organized crime. Large black luxury cars and SUVs with tinted windows moved slowely up and down the main streets within the city. Upon parking, there would always be a cadre of burly, neckless thugs wearing earpieces that would surround the vehicle before the occupant exited. I'm not saying that just because you own an ultra-expensive car and have bodyguards, you are affiliated with the mob, but my tour guide informed me that 200 people control 90% of the wealth in Ukraine. It takes a lot of greased palms to acquire all that power in such a short time. And corruption breeds poverty while poverty, in turn, breeds resentment. I'm thinking that these guys need a lot of protection and also the status symbols that make the resentful impoverished people like me remember where my place is.

My colleague, Rachel, and I were lucky to get an up-close look at a couple of these cars outside the restaurant where the coaches' dinner was being held. The bodyguards were even kind enough to let us pose for a picture. Even the Ukrainian mafia is kind to tourists.

Politics is definitely a taboo topic of conversation in Ukraine. I tried to get some perspective on the state of the government from Mila, our tour guide. This woman has been living in Kiev since she was a little girl and has seen it all. Elections had only been held a few weeks before and she said that it was too soon for her to be commenting on them. However, I have a comment. I want to congratulate Ukraine on electing one of the most stunningly beautiful prime ministers in world history. At age 48, Yulia Tymoshenko shatters the mold of what a powerful woman should look like. I applaud the Ukrainian people for putting her in power even though she doesn't exude authority like the Thatchers and Merkels before her.

One of the stops on our tour was a walk through the park that sits across from the parliamentary building. Since 2004, political lobbyists have been camped inside tents on the park's lawn. The number of tents has fallen from a high of 20,000 in 2004, around the time of the pro-west Orange Revolution. Only a few dozen communist sympathizers have kept up their vigil near the capital. They really hold no allegiance to any of the 38 parties that hold offices, but instead are paid to "rabble-rouse" for the highest bidder, usually the shady oligarchs (Putin lovers) on the eastern side of the country.


The President, Victor Yushchenko, sends his kids to Pechersk International, the school that hosted the cross country meet. Apparently, he is married to a Ukrainian-American and they wanted a bilingual education. People I talked with at the school described how much of a distraction it can be to have armed guards outside their classrooms even though their is a sign clearly posted in front telling you to check your weapons at the gate. In case you've forgotten, Yushchenko was the guy that had his face disfigured from dioxin poisoning during the 2004 elections. They play by a different set of rules in the "Wild East".

Thanks for reading . . . only 8 more weeks until I am back on American soil! Check out some pics of the Motherland (Ukraine that is):

Run Warsaw!

Remember the movie Forrest Gump? One of my favorite parts is when he just kept running and running and running. After a few weeks, people start following Forrest as he crosses the country and then runs back to his home in Alabama. He is given credit for starting the jogging craze of the 70's, and launching the fitness boom, spawning our obsession with burning calories or limiting their intake.

Here in Poland, the quest for self-improvement has lagged behind a few decades. There just isn't that much of a need for exercise when people are concerned with getting ahead in the new economy, or, to be more succinct, just getting to and from work. This usually involves walking, a novel concept that most of America has long forgotten. Combine this with the lack of fast food and the average Pole stays relatively svelte without the need for self-imposed physical torture.

Corporate giant, Nike, a genius at forecasting and even manufacturing trends has decided that Poles need to get fit. The last few years, they have invested a significant chunk of the swoosh fund in putting on Run Warsaw, a 5k / 10 K road race.

The entry fee is only 25 zloty (about $9)and includes a sweet tech fabric T-shirt and a week long membership at a local fitness chain. This takes me back to the good old days in the early 90's when you could enter Grandma's Marathon for a mere $20. And I could usually count on my loving mother to pick up the tab. Now, I don't think you can find many road races back home that are under $25.

This brilliant marketing scheme has certainly paid dividends for Phil Knight and company. The race was filled to capacity with 20,000 participants eager to see if they could finish the 3.1 mile distance. Most decided to forego the 10k, as I'm sure this was a first-time road race for many.

Anyway . . . here are some pics. In the spirit of non-conformity, we decided to funk things up a bit and give our Nike shirts a bit of added flair. You have to do something to stand out among such a huge crowd.