Damsels in distress

Flat. Tire.

Driving to Koz today with Eva and Gosia (my Friday Polish friends/colleagues) we had to pull over due to a spontaneous flat tire on the oh-so-trusty company car. So we pulled over in the middle of the middle of nowhere, Poland. LUCKILY we were able to do so in one of the few clearings there are on the tree-lined roads leading to Kozieniece. We also happened to be across from a petrol station...if you can even call it that. The three of us get out of the car, waving our cell phones around, desparately trying to get reception. As soon as Gosia does, she calls one of the bosses to let her know the situation. Our boss has to teach and her husband is at the mechanic himself, so she sends one of her friends who lives nearby to check out the situation. In the mean time, three (very well-built and macho-looking) men - ahem, perfect numbers, anyone? - walk over to assess the damage. They hear me speaking English and ask the girls if I am on vacation/what I am doing here. I tell them (in Polish) that I am a teacher and I'm Canadian. The rest was all Greek to me, but according to the girls, I amused them. Meanwhile, the school in Koz was alerted to our late arrival. The men thought we should cancel all our classes and grab drinks with them. Anyways, our boss' friend comes by and sees that all is well and these other now three plus one men have got it under control. They're laughing and joking and doing all the dirty work as the three of us watch. The spare tire we had in the trunk actually doesn't match the other three tires - swell eh? - and the others haven't been changed in years. Really nice and helpful guys and overall a hilarious experience. We were only an hour late to work. Would it be funny on our ride home?? Totally not.

I've started a new game that I like to play. I don't have a name for it, but it involves me and the hairdresser women who work in the same building as the Radom school. You see, they like to smoke INSIDE the building. It's disgusting. Whenever I see them in the act, I glare and cough and stomp my feet as I walk by. This week, I haven't seen them, but I have seen the plastic cup filled with water and cigarette butts just sitting inside. So, when I arrive at the building, I put the cup outside. It has been SO mild out. There is no reason for them to smoke inside. There is no reason for them to smoke inside regardless. I had to run an errand on Tuesday and when I got back to the school building, the cup was back inside. So I moved it out again. Wednesday, the same. Thursday, the cup was nowhere to be found. Coincidence? Probably. Even so, I felt good.

My Wednesday 8-year-olds were in the mood for dancing. I told them that if they finished the activity then we could do the Macarena together. We did. And I sang.

Other musical highlights from this week include the Cure's Friday I'm in Love, Abba's Dancing Queen, and the Beatles' Yellow Submarine.

Forgot to mention the mountain that was climbed trying to order pizza over the phone last weekend...I called and the people on the line kept passing me off to speak to someone new. No one wanted to speak to the anglo! There was hysterical laughing on both ends. So ridiculous.

Like I said to Heather the other day, I am just waiting for someone to jump out of nowhere and say, "Gotcha!" This experience just seems so nutty at times...Ok. I think that's enough out of me for now!