Poland 01 - Surreal'ja Vu

I never thought I’d find myself eating lunch at a Polish McDonalds. This was the point at which the trip felt surreal. There was also a tinge of deja vu. It must have been the McDonalds. I dubbed it surreal’ja vu. There were really two reasons for the feeling.

First, I nearly acted out a scene from Pulp Fiction with a person who had no idea that dialogue even exists. He’s never seen Pulp Fiction. Do you remember the scene in the beginning of the movie where Vincent (John Travolta) explains to Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) about his visit to a Paris McDonalds? It goes something like this:

Vincent: And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.

Here I am, at a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere in Poland, standing next to another American. We looked over the menu to see the differences and similarities, and, before thinking, he said, “It doesn’t look like they have Quarter Pounders.”

Me: They do and they don’t. They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Poland
Him: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Me: No. They got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what a Quarter Pounder is.
Him: Then what do they call it?
Me: They call it a Royale with cheese

Wow. Surrealville. I never thought I’d be in Poland. And I certainly wouldn’t have imagined quoting Pulp Fiction in a perfectly organic, natural conversation. Weird.

I was invited to go to Poland with the pastor of my church. He was invited by a pastor there to speak at several locations and conferences around the country. My job was to videotape the sessions for them to keep as future resources.

Now I am in McDonalds, amazed that I am even in Poland. We will start from square one in future blogs.