I'm in Wroclaw with cousin Mirko...turned the motorcycle back to its owner today. Was sad to say goodbye to it; though the roads were not all that good...some literally one-lane with potholes big enough to swallow a Thanksgiving turkey, and plenty of road hazards to look out for, and Polish drivers who drive with abandon...the rule is, you pass whenever you can, and if there's a car (or motorcycle) coming from the other direction, its up to them to move over and let you by....
But it was a great chance to ride up into the hills (and mountains) south of Jelenia Gora, and then hike...I hiked a five-mile mountain trail up, then back down, into lovely alpine country.
I stayed two nights at a great hotel (Villa Nova) mentioned in a previous post....the owners have a son who ten years ago or so came to the U.S. as an exchange student. He went to Mcdonnell High in Chippewa Falls...talk about a small world! ....But his experience wasn't too good, because he was put into a very fundamentalist religious family who prayed over him day after day in hopes to convert him from Catholicism to Christianity. He had to move out...But I made close friends with his parents at the hotel.
I still have trouble remembering that the blog posts appear in the opposite order I put them up; so the pictures ahead of this post belong with it.
I was amazed the other night when on Polish TV they took ten-15 minutes for a special memorial commemorating the death of one of their famous philosophers, whose name I can't at the moment recall (Tadeus W...)it was a touching moment, quiet music with videos & interview clips...and I thought, do we in the US mark the passing of our philosophers? How many of us can even name famous living philosophers?
This moment was of course flavored by the circus which surrounded the death of Michael Jackson....
Headed north towards Augustow, near the Belarus border, tomorrow. About a 7-hour train ride. Only a bit more than a week left.
Take care,
Ken
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You know, I might have met that exchange student... I seem to remember something like that happening.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to your questions: We have philosophers? Who knew!?!?
Unfortunately, John, that story isn't unique...if you google on Polish exchange student, you'll find others just like it. I think some of the fundamentalist cults, including the Mormons, are using exchange student venues as conduits into their homes, so they can try to brainwash the students...
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