Ode to a Jilted Lover 02 - Dylan Style

According to many, Bob Dylan is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. I don't dislike most Bob Dylan songs, but in all honesty, I'm not so impressed that I think he's one of the greatest. Maybe I haven't given the songs much chance. Maybe I haven't analyzed them enough. Maybe his songs are the musical version of Citizen Kane, a movie that many credit as one of the greatest of all time because it was the first to break into a new cinematography style. I wasn't impressed.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Bob Dylan. At any rate, one of Dylan's songs is my next topic in the Ode to a Jilted Lover song series. The song is Simple Twist of Fate and was released in 1975 on his landmark album Blood on the Tracks. Like most Dylan songs, a gazillion people have covered it, starting with Joan Baez in the same year Dylan released it. Covers of the song continue with one already done in 2012. Amazingly enough, I've never heard Dylan sing it. I guess there's no reason to start now. In fact, the only person I've heard sing it is Tim Curry. According to many (and especially my wife) this is a double curse. But aren't most Dylan songs best when Dylan doesn't sing it?

In a cursory look at what some think about the meaning of this song, I ran across one commenter who saw striking similarities between this song and a poem by 19th century French writer Paul Verlaine. The similarity is even more relevant because Dyan mentions Verlaine in another song from the same album. The poem, Colloque Sentimental, is about a couple walking in a park together. As they go along, they discuss a romance that they once had. We find out, however, that the romance was very one sided. One remembers with a heart full of fondness. The other blows it all off, stating that there was really never any love, at least from his or her point of view. Ye olde tyme jilted love. Here's the original poem, translated into English by Gertrude Hall:

In the deserted park, silent and vast,
Erewhile two shadowy glimmering figures passed.

Their lips were colorless, and dead their eyes;
Their words were scarce more audible than sighs.

In the deserted park, silent and vast,
Two spectres conjured up the buried past.

“Our ancient ecstasy, do you recall?”
“Why, pray, should I remember it at all?”

“Does still your heart at mention of me glow?
Do still you see my soul in slumber?” 

“No!”

“Ah, blessed, blissful days when our lips met!
You loved me so!” 

“Quite likely,—I forget.”

“How sweet was hope, the sky how blue and fair!”
“The sky grew black, the hope became despair.”

Thus walked they ’mid the frozen weeds, these dead,
And Night alone o’erheard the things they said.

Now compare that to Dylan's song. Here, a young man falls in love, but the lady never reciprocates. He can't shake it out of his mind. She, on the other hand, shows no feeling at all in walking away. A key line here is "She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate, and forgot about a simple twist of fate." Also notice that the song switches to first person in the last stanza.

They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark,
She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones.
'Twas then he felt alone and wished that he'd gone straight
And watched out for a simple twist of fate.

They walked along by the old canal
A little confused, I remember well
And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burnin' bright.
He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train
Moving with a simple twist of fate.

A saxophone someplace far off played
As she was walkin' by the arcade.
As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin' up,
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
And forgot about a simple twist of fate.

He woke up, the room was bare
He didn't see her anywhere.
He told himself he didn't care, pushed the window open wide,
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate.

He hears the ticking of the clocks
And walks along with a parrot that talks,
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailers all come in.
Maybe she'll pick him out again, how long must he wait
Once more for a simple twist of fate.

People tell me it's a sin
To know and feel too much within.
I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring.
She was born in spring, but I was born too late
Blame it on a simple twist of fate.

Poland 05 - The Poles of Poland

Polish people are called Poles. They call themselves Poles when speaking about themselves in English. Ok, I've poorly set the stage for a bad joke I made on the third day of our trip. I saw a cat in the backyard and told my traveling companions, "Look! It's an authentic Pole cat!"

Ok, once you stop doubling over in pain from all the laughter, resume reading.  I'll wait.

An amazing truth that I learned from the trip to Poland is that while it is wonderful to see lands different than my own, and it is surreal to visit distant places you've only heard about, to find and make new friends is one of most satisfying and memorable experiences you can have.

I had been told that the best traveling occurs when you aren't purely a tourist and are connected to local people. I don't know how that occurs if you don't know anyone in a country you want to visit, but I can attest to the fact that spending your time with people who are simply ordinary natives of the land is the best way to truly experience a nation.

Our contact in Poland was Przemek Bartczak, the pastor of the church in Ciechanow. He is also the associate director of the food bank in their area of Poland. Przemek was our host and really the one who took responsibility for our well-being. And we certainly needed someone to do that. It's easy to lose your bearings in a land where you don't understand the language, culture, and social norms. Paul Simon lyrics often drifted through my head during those first few days.


A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man


You can call me Al. Or Albercie, if you prefer to use Polish.

While Przemek did share with us some touristy things, and I'm glad he did, it was really spending time with him, his family, and the people that told us what Poland was all about.

Przemek & his friend Tomek

Many people in Poland grew up under a communist regime, which lasted from 1945 to 1989. That experience seems to have really shaped the personality of the generations who grew up during those years. The government, a product of Russian supported liberation after World War II, was oppressive and left the people of the post-war nation with little of their own. The communists provided minimum infrastructure, but money to buy sufficient food and provide one's family with the necessities of life was  a scratch-and-claw kind of existence.

And to oppose the government in any shape or form, including to speak against it, was often met with consequences that no one wanted. We heard from several people that in the quiet seclusion of their own homes, Polish people often taught their children that the way they were treated was not right. This was a risk for the parents for if any of the children mentioned their conversations in school, for example, there could be retribution. Yet most parents wanted their children who did not know true freedom to know the longing for it that resided in their hearts.

The result of that environment is a people who are often unexpressive and stoic. That is how they were accustomed to being around others, and it has become a part of their national identity. Michael, who spent the two weeks speaking to groups of people, was often confused at the lack of responsiveness from those whom he addressed. There were no signs of agreement or disagreement. He eventually said that the Polish people would make the best poker players.

Michael asked Przemek how you can tell whether or not the crowd agrees with and likes what you are saying. Przemek responded, "If they don't rebuke you afterward, they liked it." Someone else told us, "If they don't say anything or give any indication of liking you or what you said, that is a compliment."

Our host, Przemek fit the Polish mold well. We had a hard time reading Przemek at first. He was friendly enough, but it was difficult getting to know him. I like to joke a lot, but I hope I know or am at least learning to know when it's appropriate and when it is not. So around people I do not know, I am often more reserved until I have a better feel of the situation. I guess we are all that way. But if you want to play social chicken with a Pole you'll lose every time.

So for a while, it was a game of observation, analyzation, and drawing conclusions. It's just that in Poland, the game is a little more difficult. Fortunately, I can tell you my eventual conclusions were good ones. I will blog next about some of the specific people we got to know. And I'll share soon what kind of person our friend Przemek turned out to be.

One story about communist leftovers before I go. Przemek often shared with us that as he grew up his parents taught him to never waste food. To get enough to eat every day in communist Poland was not easy. We stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch one day. Yeah, KFC. We informed Przemek that we'd be able to tell him if it was authentic or not. We ordered a bucket of hot wings to share among the four of us. We went around eating the wings until we were pretty stuffed, and yet four wings remained. We decided that each of us should eat one and finish it off. Unfortunately, Michael didn't want to eat his wing. Now here's a guy who doesn't know how to finish a job! Michael walked away to call his wife, and Joseph, Przemek, and I each ate a wing, leaving just one. Przemek said, "Well someone has to eat it!" I laughed, thinking it was a joke. But the longer I looked at his face, I became unsure if it was a joke or not. I looked at Przemek. I looked at the wing. I looked at Przemek. I picked up the wing and ate it. Wow. He wasn't joking.

How'd I Lost a Hunert Pounds OR From Flab to Fab!

****Please note, I have not reached my goal weight yet, and I planned on writing this article then. I reached a milestone of a hundred pounds lost, however, and I reckon this information is just as valid now as it will be when I reach my goal. I hope it helps someone.

Carrying a Heavy Load

Last week I transported two bags of goat feed from my garage to our humble goat barn not too far behind my house. The bags weighed fifty pounds each. As I hoisted one up and onto my shoulder and walked a short distance to a waiting cart, I could hardly imagine actually carrying that much weight all the time. I hoisted the second one up and took it to the cart. The two bags together equal the amount of weight I've lost since October 1st, 2011. It's insanely crazy to think of a hundred pounds of fat hanging on my frame day in, day out. If you put a bag of feed on each shoulder, your body would immediately feel the oppression of its weight and, in no time, start to tire from the added load. A hundred pounds! Good grief! That's heavy! 

The Things That Scare Me Most

I knew I needed to lose weight. I helped a co-worker carry a heavy item a short distance, and, once we put the object down, I was out of breath. Then it took forever for me to recover. My co-worker, who really isn't in shape either, kept looking at me and asking, "Are you going to be OK?" What a wake up call! If I am getting this way now, how will it be 10, 20, 30 years from now? What will I want to do that I will not be able to do? I could already see it in my life. I was not doing many of the activities that I used to because I was out of shape and lazy.

And the health risks of being overweight are undeniable. First there are heart problems, which run on my mom's side of the family anyway. I wasn't just overweight. My heart and lungs were not conditioned because of my sedentary lifestyle. The heart becomes weak due to its lack of inactivity, and its condition deteriorates. Just like any muscle, a lack of use will eventually render it useless.

Another health factor that really gave me the heebie jeebies was diabetes. I don't mean to minimize or make light of the disease, but it really is a frightening thing to have. Not only is it closely linked to cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and strokes, it is a disease that, if it fully runs its course, causes one to basically slow rot. Diabetes ultimately damages small blood vessels as well as the nervous system. Ultimately, these two combine and many diabetics lose their eyes and limbs due to the slow decay of these body parts. If a heart attack or stroke don't get ya, its a slow, miserable death.

Over 11% of the U.S. population 20 years and older have diabetes. About 27% of people 65 and over have it. And the numbers continue to grow! In my state alone, the percentage of those diagnosed with diabetes grew from less than 1% in 1958 to almost 3% in 1985 to over 11% in 2010. Guess what other percentages grew as well? Obesity was a little over 10% in 1985 and up to over 31% in 2010! Now just because those two things happened concurrently does not mean they are related. Please don't be duped by junk science. But the correlation between the most cases of diabetes and obesity and inactivity are well established and documented. 

So what does it all mean? The risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and a host of other problems are greatly reduced by maintaining a healthy body weight and exercise. Yup, you can prevent most of these woes! Not only that, many of them can be reversed. Many with diabetes who lost weight and developed an active lifestyle actually reversed their disease to the point that it simply disappeared.

So What's Our Problem?

If such terrible, physical maladies are, for the most part, preventable, why aren't we doing anything about it? The problem is instant versus delayed gratification. There is a saying that goes like this: hard work pays off in the future, but procrastination pays off now! When it comes to our health, it appears many of us hold fast to this motto. Eating large amounts of bad-for-you food and inactivity is enjoyable.  If it weren't, the national trends would be headed the other way. And the pleasure that comes from these things is immediate, just like we want it. 

Eating healthy and exercise don't appear to have an immediate pay off. In fact, they feel like self-denial. Exercise brings the sweat and an expense of energy, and that huge hamburger or extra piece of chocolate pie sure seem more satisfying than that diety food. Plus being in good, physical condition may pay off in the future. It reduces the risks of disease, but it doesn't elimate them. We're all going to die anyway, right? 

Let's think about this logically for a moment. You are going to die. There is no doubt about it. But imagine you are presented with these two options: 1. You choose a lifestyle that will provide you with some immediate gratifications, but your overall quality of life will be lowered, you will eventually not be able to do all the other activities you enjoy, your risk for a slow, decaying death is increased, and you die early OR 2. You maintain a high quality of life until death, able to enjoy many different activities without serious health complications, all the while feeling your best. Seriously, which would you choose?

My lack of desire and inability to do things I enjoyed coupled with the real possibility of grave physical problems woke me up. I had tried to lose weight many times before. You may be familiar with that ten pounds that you lose only to have it move back in within a month. Yeah, I've been there, done that. But this time, I wanted that ten pounds and about ten of his buddies to move out for good. I didn't make up any excuses, and I urge you not to either. Most of your reasons to not do anything are not reasons, they are excuses. Call them as they are. Honesty with yourself and your situation are crucial on this journey.

So, How'd You Do It?

Every time I see someone who has not seen me in a while, and they notice the weight loss, the question is always the same: how'd you do it?  My daughter jokingly suggested I answer with the Shake Weight. 

I think the question is, in some ways, the wrong question. Normally a person is asking me how I lost weight. I cannot approach my life changes simply from the one avenue of just losing weight. Granted that is how I started, but that is not where I am today. I have not just lost weight. I've decreased my risk for disease, increased my physical capacity and endurance, increased my energy and quality of life, and I've enhanced all other life activities. 

Why do I make this distinction? Because simply losing weight as a goal is short-sighted. Sure, the number on the scale is the main figure I use to gauge the overall progress in these areas. But if I make just weight loss the goal, I will feel that my job is done once I get to where I want to be. I've seen it happen many, many times. A person goes on some sort of diet in order to lose weight. They are met with a measure of success, and, once they feel satisfied with how much they've lost, they go back to normal, only to gain it all back. They met their goal, so why keep going?

The problem is that weight maintenance, a decreased risk for disease, increased energy, and increased quality of life don't just happen for the rest of your life. They must be pursued. If you are like me, however, you will want to pursue these things because you've come to realize the quality of these benefits.

It's All About the Calories

For long term success, you have to view food first and foremost as a fuel. Let's make an analogy. Think of your body as a 1987 Dodge Ram Pickup with a 318 engine (the best truck engine ever made, or so I've been told), and you want to drive from Paducah to St. Louis. The truck will use a certain amount of energy to get there, and that will come from the conversion of gasoline into usable energy. You go to the gas station thinking it will take about one full tank to get you there. You fill the tank up, leave, and sure enough pull up to your destination in St. Louis with no excess fuel to spare.

The same holds true for your body. Your trip is from the time you get up in the morning until the time you wake up the next day. You need a certain amount of fuel to get that done. We don't measure our fuel in miles per gallon, but we can measure it in calories. Calories tell us how much energy we can expect from the food we eat. For instance, an average medium peach will give you about 50 calories. That's 50 units of energy you need for body function and the activities you set about during your day. The conversion of food into energy measured by calories is amazingly accurate. It has been around since the 1800s and is very reliable. 

So how many calories do you need? It varies depending on age, sex, and height. A man my age and height who has a moderately active lifestyle needs roughly 2000 calories per day in order to maintain my goal weight. Any less, and I'll lose weight, any more I'll gain. It's just that simple. I will give some links at the bottom of this article that will allow you to figure the calories needed for your situation. 

Let's get you back into being a truck. If you don't give it enough energy (gasoline), you ain't gonna make it to where you want to go. This is not usually a problem for Americans and their calorie intake. The body is amazing in that if you take in more fuel (calories) than you need, it sets it aside for later use in the form of fat. Unfortunately, our storehouses are full, and we are being crushed by stored energy we'll never use.

If I filled the truck bed up with gas tanks stacked up to the sky, and, once the main tank was full at the gas pump, I one by one filled the extra gas tanks, the truck would soon become weighted down under the burden of the extra gas. Imagine I drove around all the time, filling the main gas tank daily, but never using the ones stacked in the truck bed. In fact, I'd occasionally add more tanks to the pile. Eventually the truck would experience problems in the suspension, brakes, premature engine wear, and so on.

See the analogy? How's your suspension doing?

How Do You Track Your Calories?

The science of figuring calories and measuring calories in food has been around for quite sometime. There is hardly any food you stick in your gullet that cannot be measured. Packaged food comes with nutritional informal printed right on the label. The calorie content is normally at the top of the information listed. 

If you look at the example, you will notice that the first information you see tells you about the serving size. Don't assume that the number on the calorie line represents how many calories are in the package you are holding. The second line under the heading Nutrition Facts tells you how many servings are in the package you are holding. In the case of our example, there are two servings per package. So, if there are 2 servings per package, and a serving is 170 calories, then the entire package of food is 340 calories. 

The nutrition facts also tell you how to determine a correct portion size. In our example, you can do it one of two ways. You can weigh the food, and 1 oz. (28g), which represents one serving, is 170 calories. Since this particular food comes in pieces of equal size, you can also determine a serving by counting out 21 pieces. 

I started out tracking calories by simply writing them down on a piece of paper everyday. If I ate the whole package of whatever food is represented here, then I would write down 340 calories consumed for that day. When I hit my limit, I could not consume anymore food that day. 

I do suggest buying a food scale, which is not that expensive, and available in many department stores. Some foods such as various meats, vegetables, etc. have to be measured out by weight because packaging is often not uniform and the nutrition facts for your particular package may be a bit vague. A great resource for finding calorie information is the USDA Nutrient Database, which you can find here. Many fitness tracking websites have calorie information, but beware if it is input by the website's users. I have found some entries to be inaccurate.

If you eat out at a restaurant, take a look at their website before you go. Many list nutritional information for their meals. A personal preference for me is Subway. They have several low-calorie choices that are good, satisfying meals. Many other restaurants such as Applebees and IHOP have added a bigger variety of lower calorie entrees.

What About Exercise?

Exercise is a way to burn stored energy (fat). The upside to exercise is that it does allow you to eat more calories per day. Here's how it breaks down: a pound of body fat is equal to about 3500 calories. You will naturally burn a certain amount of calories by just being alive. Physical activity burns calories. For example, a 185 pound person will burn 66 calories an hour simply by watching TV. That same person will burn 410 calories an hour weeding a garden. See how just getting up and out will help burn fat? 

So let's say that at your level of daily activity, you need 2000 calories to maintain your weight. Now eat only 1500 a day. In 7 days, you will have used 3500 more calories than you took in. Thus, your body tapped into the stored energy supply (fat) and used a pound of it. Increase your activity level, and your calorie needs increase. 

But exercise is not just about earning calories, although that is a good benefit. There are many normal-weight people who are in bad shape because their bodies have little capacity for stress, and they have little endurance. Exercise increases your overall energy, your capacity (ability), and gives you better endurance. What does all that mean? You can do what you love to do longer, better, and with renewed energy. Now I will admit that when you first start exercising, you may not feel that way. Your body may say, "Hey, hey, hey champ! Hold up there. I don't know what you think you're doing, but let's hold up for a bit." All I can say is keep going. Keep pushing. I don't mean ignoring an injury or health problem that prevents exercise, of course, but push through the desire to stop because it's pushing you more than you're used to. Exercise is also known as physical conditioning. You have to condition your body to hold up under the exercise and increase its capacity for more.

The end is worth it. My energy level soars compared to what I used to be. I am at the point now that if I don't exercise, I feel lethargic and run down. Normally my energy levels spike after I've exercised. And you don't have to start out big. The first day I walked about a mile. That's it. I simply walked. I tried to do it at a decent pace, and I thought it was going to kill me. But I continued, day in and day out until my body met the mile walk challenge with no problem. Now I exercise at least one hour a day. I encourage a minimum of thirty minutes. If you hear words like "just ten minutes a day" coupled with exercise, run. Sure, some is better than none, but there is no way you will fully increase your physical capacity and endurance by cheating yourself. The research bears it out. Look it up.

Isn't There an Easier Way?

There are so many weight loss plans out there, you can easily get lost in the sea of information. Most center around what foods to avoid and what foods to eat. They say you can eat all of the good foods you want, and you'll still shed the pounds! Let me just say this off the bat: there are no foods that will make you fat or foods that will cause you to lose weight. Anything you stick in your mouth to eat or drink is converted to energy to be used by your body. If you eat more than you need, it will be converted to stored fat no matter what it is.

I've known plenty of people who were on such diets that did lose weight. And those who tout such plans will look and say, "See, it obviously works!" The problem is, like I mentioned before, faulty or junk science. They claim a correlation between their diet and weight loss without mentioning other factors that come into play that may be the actual reason people are losing weight.

A friend of mine went on such a diet and dropped a considerable amount of weight. When questioned about his dietary changes, I discovered that in his approach to what foods were good and what foods were bad, he had drastically dropped his daily calorie count. He wasn't tracking his calorie count, but it was lowered by the food choices he made. This is a person who would regularly visit a sports bar/grill and, according to our calculations, consume nearly 3000 calories during the course of a televised sports event.

When he started his diet, he stopped consuming the 3000 calorie meals. The diet restricted his foods greatly, and limited the types of foods he could eat. Because the diet was one regarding which foods are good and which food are bad, and he lost weight, it is easy to attribute his success to the particular diet. What is missed, however, is what else was taking place. His calorie count dropped dramatically as well.  You cannot say for sure one thing causes another if there are other factors that may actually be bringing about the result. 

I don't want to argue over the different diet types as it seems to open the proverbial can 'o worms with some people, but the truth of the matter is that if you eat more calories than you need, you will gain weight. If you are on the Atkins Diet, for example, and you adhere to it strictly and eat only the best and leanest meats, you will gain weight if you take in more energy than you expend. 

The science behind calories and how your body uses energy is well established. For some reason, that is the very thing that causes many to be suspicious. They look at it as if it is archaic and outdated. After all, haven't we learned so much more since that was the way to lose weight? Just because it is old knowledge doesn't make it wrong.

So I Can Eat Whatever I Want?

Yes! Eat whatever you want! Just stay within the daily limit you set so that you can lose weight. You will learn quickly which foods provide the most bang for your buck calorie-wise. So naturally you will start to gravitate toward foods that aren't as high in calories so that you don't spend all your calorie bucks in one place. And, if you do have some of the foods that are higher in calories, you will probably eat them more sparingly. Your sugar intake will probably drop because sugary foods are higher in calories. Does that mean you can't eat any sugary dessert or treat ever? No! Just do it wisely.

Don't go to extremes! I did when I started. I wanted only really, really low calorie foods, so I ate low cal veggies and salads, mostly. It wasn't long before all my energy was gone, and I couldn't figure out why it took all that was within me just to get through the day. My wife asked me if I had been eating much protein. When I tracked a day's worth of typical food, I realized I was getting hardly any! I incorporated meats back into my daily intake, and my energy went back up. Plus, proteins helped me feel full longer. So don't go into a ditch on either side. Don't live off lettuce, and don't get all your daily calories from a 2/3lb Monster Thickburger at Hardees. 

Remember, it's about balance and moderation. And it is a lifelong journey. One of the problems with food-restrictive and fad diets is that once most people lose some weight, they stop the diet and gain the weight back. They really haven't learned a lifestyle change and were just doing what they had to do in order to reach a goal. Most of those diets are not realistic from the point of living on them the rest of your life. 

No Excuses

There is so much I can say about this journey, but this article is already very long. I hope it is an encouragement to you. Others who took this path before me encouraged me to get going and stay going. Remember, most of the reasons we give for why we don't do what is best for our bodies are really just excuses that mask our laziness, gluttonous cravings, etc. Call them as they are.

A friend of mine once pointed out that we will always do what we want to within our power. Your actions follow your will all of the time. His example is that of a man robbing you at gunpoint. He asks for all of your money. You really don't want to give him your money, but your will bends and gives it to him because you value your life. Your will wants to live more than keep your money.

So when it comes to your will, what do you want the most? Do you want the menial, fleeting pleasure that comes from eating too much and being sedentary, or do you want the long-term rewards that come from a healthy weight and an active and conditioned body? The latter will touch nearly every area of your life and spread throughout everything you do in ways you can't imagine.

** A great resource for your journey is myfitnesspal.com, which I use to track my daily calorie intake, exercise, and weight loss on the web and on my smartphone.

*** I have to give Billy and Shellie Blanks and all the folks at team Tae Bo a shout out. I have used their DVDs and the series PT24/7 for much of my exercise routine throughout this journey. They don't have a clue who I am, but they sure have helped me a great deal. I have really enjoyed the workouts, and they've given me a great, overall workout that's provided results in nearly every part of my body.

****I also thank my wife who has done this with me. Wow, honey, we're getting there! And you look amazing!

*****Lastly, thanks to our friend Missy who started her journey before we did. She has been very inspirational and a means of encouragement for us

Poland 04 - It's Pronounced Chi-hon-off

Ciechanow, Polska

I wondered what it would feel like to be in another country. Oddly enough, I didn't feel any different. Sure, the scenery was not the same, but I was the same person there as I am at home. I don't know what I expected, but nothing really happened. It was kind of like you've seen in the movies. The character goes through a time warp for the first time, and, when they get through to the other side, they give themselves a pat down in order to make sure all the bits came through. I woke up in Ciechanów all present and accounted for.

Ciechanów is s city of about 46,000 people. While that is a good number of people, the city is not that large. Amazingly, it is a little over half the land size of Paducah, and yet has almost twice as many people in the city limits. The difference is in how people live. Most Polish people live in large apartment or condo complexes in what they call flats. Very European, ain’t it? So the population is much more concentrated. Ciechanów is no exception. There are plenty of houses, however, but most are not large, they are built close to one another, and there is little to speak of in regards to having a yard. Many of the houses are duplexes.

Home

I was blessed to stay in a house. The first and second floors were divided into two seperate living areas. As you entered the house through the side door (the only door I knew of), you either went right into the downstairs living area or upstairs. A simple curtain was the only barrier between the bottom of the stairs and the home of Sylwia (Sylvia) and Emilia Przybylska, a mother and daughter who rented the downstairs. We stayed upstairs, which was vacant at the time. The length of the home had a wide hallway, three bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen, and a little living room area just off one of the bedrooms. This was a simple, yet roomy Polish home.

And simple is the key word here. Americans in general are more affluent that Poles. Yet Poland is financially better off than most European nations. The average Pole is not destitute, yet their lives are not full of many of the frills we enjoy. The home we stayed in reflected that. The stove and refrigerator in the kitchen were small and the dishwasher is you and a rag. There was a tiny front load washing machine in the bathroom and no dryer. I did not see a clothes dryer the whole time I was in Poland. Space is a luxury, and therefore a dryer is too. Laundry is dried on outdoor lines, rigs mounted above bathtubs, or anywhere clothes can hang or lay. Most of the larger flat buildings have small outdoor patios with a short railing. I saw everything from clothes to comforters hanging from the rails. 

Air-conditioning is also absent from homes, but Poland does sit at a higher latitude than the U.S., so summers are not as oppressive as those in the American South. Heating a home is of much more importance. Many of the standalone and duplex houses are heated with coal. The home we stayed in used a radiator system that was kept warm by a coal burning furnace in the lowest part of the house. Only the rooms are heated, thus doors to all rooms are normally kept closed, and the hallways remain fairly cool. Hot water was also provided through coal heat. 

In general, there are three main times during the day that the coal furnaces are fired: first thing in the morning, when returning home in the evening, and before going to bed. The first round in the morning is of importance if you want to take a warm bath. The afternoon/evening time provides a warm-up after the cooling during the day, and the bedtime stoking gets you through the night. I often went to bed rather warm and woke up a little cool. The main problem with burning coal is the city air quality. I would suppose what I experienced was smog. The air gets very thick, especially in the early evening. Some homes have black smoke pouring out, and in places, it is difficult to breathe outdoors. At first, I thought people were burning trash. Turns out it was mostly coal burning. Amazingly, some homes seemed to burn it more efficiently than others. I never noticed black smoke at our home. But we did have warm baths.

Speaking of warm baths, I will close with the bathing situation in Poland. Most homes have a bathtub with a length of hose and a shower head, but the head is not mounted to be used as a shower. It simply rests above the hot and cold faucets. There are also no shower curtains. I guess most people take baths, or as I grew accustomed to, sit down showers. It took some getting used to at first, but after a while, it was no big deal. I did miss regular showers, however. It really wouldn’t take much to have a regular shower in most homes. A simple install of a shower curtain and a clip to hold the head would suffice. But this is not what the Polish are accustomed to, so the bathing situation will likely remain the same. After all, if you stood up to bathe, you’d lose valuable real estate. In some of the homes I visited, families used that area to dry laundry.

Stay tuned for posts about food, language, and more!

Ode to a Jilted Lover

I've been listening to a lot of the Fruit Bats lately, and one of their songs that I have just adored from day one is Singing Joy to the World. The title is pretty intriguing, but even more interesting is the story the song tells.

Now I am a sucker for a good story song, but lately I have come to appreciate the stories of jilted lovers. I do choose my words carefully in saying jilted lovers. There are plenty of done-somebody-wrong songs (thanks B.J. Thomas) as well as Alanis Morissette/Carly Simon you-ticked-me-off cause-You're-So-Vain type songs.

The jilted lover song is one that tells the story of a rejected, good-hearted person who, for whatever reason (usually no fault of their own) is cast off. There is often a bittersweet quality to these songs whereas other love-gone-wrong songs are just bitter. The main character is often a sympathetic figure with an exposed humanity that we feel too.

Paul Simon is good at writing these types of songs, and when I heard the Fruit Bats sing Singing Joy to the World, I sensed the songwriting aura of Paul. Perhaps I will start a short series on songs dedicated to the jilted lover. You'll find the lyrics to Singing Joy to the World below along with the song on Youtube. The key line in the song for me is she never loved him back; it wasn't even close.

He got lonely every time the cantina lights came up on the Indian Casino Queen

Cause he'd loved her from the time she'd been the waitress at the Mexican place where he'd left his keys

She'd been there smiling at the lost and found

Then he took her to see Three Dog Night

They were playing at the fair grounds

Holding hands singing "Joy to the World"

She was way too young but he did not care

He was all right with cashing in

a few fine moments before his broken heart kicked in

He died a little bit each time the night came in

And the stars fell over Michigan

'Cause he'd loved her at the bar when he saw her dancing to

"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"

Then he'd come over to his usual spot

Soon they were making out at 3AM in the empty parking lot

They lay together under the burnt out stars

She never loved him back

It wasn't even close

But he was fine to just pretend

That it was never gonna end

And it was worth it just to know

A little warmth before the snow

Anti-Bullying Promos

I had the honor of producing two anti-bully PSAs for local use. Bullying is an age-old problem, but it seems that it has gotten more serious and deadly in recent years. It is a subject that has been largely ignored in our cultural conversation, and we can no longer ignore it. We cannot find any answers if we cannot first talk about it. I am grateful to have a part in these two spots:

Poland 03 - Jet Lag is Sleep Deprevation

I pulled into Nazareth, was feeling 'bout half past dead.

I just need some place where I can lay my head.

"Hey, Mister, can you tell me, where a man might find a bed?"

He just grinned and shook my hand, "No" was all he said.

Those lines from the song The Weight by The Band kept running through my mind as we came into Warsaw, Poland. They are 7 hours ahead of the Central time zone. At the time of my trip, they were only 6 hours ahead because they had not gone to daylight savings time. We swapped over the day before we left Paducah. Oddly enough, we sprung forward again two weeks later, the day before we left Poland. I've never done that twice in the same year.

The longest flight was from Chicago to London, and if I slept during the almost 9 hour flight, then I would have had a normal, Polish night's rest. Idyllic, eh? Yeah, that didn't happen. I had planned on it, but sleeping outside of the confines of my bed at home seems to be almost impossible. One of my biggest concerns about the trip was my inability to sleep.

I saw plenty of happy people on the plane, delightfully unconscious in sleep-induced comas as the plane roared through the night. How could they do it? How could they sleep sitting up in that roaring plane, with a tiny United Airlines pillow that probably wouldn't even pass for an airbag in Barbie's dream car?

Amazingly enough, when we arrived in Warsaw, I wasn't that tired. Przemek, the pastor of the church that contacted us and arranged our meetings picked us up at the airport. We drove an hour and a half to Ciechanów (pronounced Chi-hon-off) where we would be for the first week. We then attended a prayer meeting that evening. By the time I got to bed, I had been up for 31 hours. Oddly enough, it took a couple more hours to go to sleep, and I only slept about 4 hours last night. I told you I can't sleep away from home.

At any rate, I felt fine the next day as we started to explore Ciechanów. As the saying goes, sleep is overrated. In the next blog entry, we will explore the city of Ciechanow.

By the way, do you see the bald guy with the headphones in the image above? That dude rocked out during the entire flight from Chicago to London. Yeah, glad I wasn't sitting by him as he head-banged for almost nine hours.