Gdansk'ing with Ourselves

Ahoy!

2005-09-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Who knew pirates were greeting one another in Czech?

Grady's post only skims the iceberg of how incredible Gdansk was. I couldn't have said it better myself. Now that I'm traveling, I miss our work there, but I'm also getting a chance to absorb what it meant. I'll have more profound things to say when I return.

What can I say about Prague? The air is thick with history and life and beauty and whispers of millions of lives that have run through this city. It's been great going through the progression of Gdansk, Krakow, Prague. Each city is bigger than the previous. They each have different personalities and unique facets.

Prague feels like NYC or Paris and is almost overwhelming being so modern and cosmopolitan. The previous cities were post-tourist season, but this one is teaming. Locals say it can be even more packed... hard to imagine. I've spent the past two days walking around and just absorbing.

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to the airport, but not for home just yet. It's up to Finland. I don't know what Helsinki will hold, but I only have two days there and then back to reality. I have no guidebooks, no people to meet and no expectations other than some good seafood.

If there's one thing I want to preserve from this experience, it's the sense of adventure and the openess to whatever the journey ahead brings. You don't need to travel to live that way. There's plenty of unexplored territory in our own backyards, in the history of friends, coworkers and strangers.

I'm looking forward to coming back to work (yes, I'm serious). I've missed my life at CBI and want tell all of you about the many memories I've been so busy creating these past three weeks.

Dobar Dan

2005-09-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

Howdy from Dubrovnik, Croatia. Its official - I'm not a reliable blogger when I'm traveling. Been havin too much darn fun to sit down for very long!

Where was I... Ah, yes, Warsaw. After meeting up with Stephen (Web master and all around nice guy) we headed to Gdansk, our home for the next two weeks. The experience would turn out to be more impactful than I could have ever imagined. Spending most waking moments with others for 13 days brings people together in interesting ways. Add the fact that we were working for Habitat to try to improve the lives of some less fortunate in Poland made for an amazing experience.

This, it turns out, was no vacation. After being charged with installing the drywall in each of the 5 units awaiting families, we began. Through some frustration and serious laughter, we got the hang of it. We each had our different tasks - from ˝glueing˝ drywall to the cement walls to installing ceiling anchors and filling in cracks with putty, we brought these units one step closer to being homes. That motivation made us bust some serious butt each day. I think many of us realized how much of a welcome change it was to work with our hands - to get tangible results each day - results we could see. Results measured by a level and the eye. Don't get too much of that sitting at a desk in front of a computer. But I digress..

Each day, we gathered at our hotel in Gdansk at 8 AM. We traveled together to the build site (Kaprowicka St. #17 in Pruscz Gdansk if youre curious) and started cranking - each in our own new specialty. Mine was hanging drywall. Not quite professional work, but dang did we have some fun trying. With my new buddy Andy Nelsen from Troy, NY, I spent 8 hours each day mudding, cutting and leveling. If only the same methods were used in the states.. Turns out, its done completely differently in the US.. More useless skills gained!

One welcome respite from each days work was lunch. At 12 each day, we'd gather for traditional Polish foods - from fried cod to borscht and all sorts of crazy meats and treats in between. Turns out that the Polish are not huge fans of produce. Except for cabbage..

Evenings were spent sightseeing in town, playing ping-pong and hula-hooping in the garden at the hotel (you go, Cristen) and enjoying dinners together at just about every traditional Polish joint in the city. There was no lack of grubbing on this trip. 60 miles of running a week and I still managed to gain weight. No joke. Me likes the Polish cuisine. Too bad fat likes it too. I think my stomach's in for some culture shock when it gets back to California Cuisine country. Veggie what? Give me some damn meat and cheese!!

Hasta for now.

Change of plans

2005-09-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Instead of hopping around the Baltics, I decided to join Grady and some other people from the build and travel South.

Krakow is so gorgeous it's unreal. The city was spared all of the bombing that affected so many European cities in WWII. I'm so glad I came down South.

Grady stayed today and takes off tonight for 16 hours of train and bus pain. It's Jody's birthday, so we're going to dinner with Collin and Andy and Grady. Yesterday, we spent the majority of the day at Auschitz. It has to be felt and seen, as descriptions would fail to capture it. Last night we met some Canadians and today was just wandering around the castle, the old town and Jewish quarter.

Jody and I are leaving for Prague tomorrow on an overnight train. We'll hang out with Grady's friend there (who was in Krakow for the day before yesterday). I haven't been to the Czech Republic since 1994. It's a bit sad, as I've fallen in love with Poland.

How come Mondays when you're on vacation feel so different from Mondays in office? I'll be back to the grindstone in just a week's time. See you a week from Tuesday!

Better late than ezra..

2005-09-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Clif Barfarians and others in the know. I just flew in from San Francisco and boy are my arms tired... Okay, that's a joke. I got to Poland 12 days ago. But have had such incredible jet lag that I was incapable of stringing enough clever words together to post on this here blog thing. That and Stephen just smacked me upside the head. And I'm lazy. But I'm all better now. Hope you are too.

Where to begin..? Oh, I know. Let me set the stage. Three weeks ago, my life was replaced with craziness. Multiple states, multiple countries and very little sleep in that time. The only constant has been my running. With that...

Nineteen days ago, I found myself putting in a few miles at 8AM at 3800' on a white silt playa in the desert 100 miles outside of Reno, NV. Otherwise known as Black Rock City - site of Burning Man and all things freaky deaky. Once I entered my mental running "zone", it was like any other run. I almost forgot where I was. Until the silhouette running toward me came into focus. Like any other runner, he was chugging along, waterbottle in hand, smile on his face. Only difference was that he was naked. Completely without clothing. We exchanged the standard runner pleasantry ("good morning" and a head nod) and continued on. I quickly remembered where I was.

Two days later, I was back home in San Francisco, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, running from Sausalito to the Mission and all points between. My familiar stomping ground - miles I've run hundreds of times, past other runners and sites I've probably seen just as often. I stuffed as many miles into my days as possible as I knew the following three weeks might put a damper on my marathon training. Who knew what the adventures that lay ahead would bring.

Twelve days ago, I arrived in Warsaw, Poland. This country, I would learn, is different from both Black Rock City and San Francisco. After throwing down my bags at a hostel, I decided to hit the road. What better way to suckerpunch my body into getting over that whole circadian rhythm jet lag thing? I quickly learned that 14 hours of flight and 3 hours sleep over 48 does things to you. Things that aren't conducive to running.

While I covered some serious ground and got a really great grasp of this incredible city, I also bonked. (Pardon the PowerBar coined term.) I ran through various parts of downtown, 90% of which had been destroyed during WWII. I ran through old town, the only section to rebuilt in the old cobblestone and red brick style (the rest is now sorta utilitarian and less than visually charming), along the Vistula river, past the momument to the Ghetto Uprising (google that..) and past a lot of Polish people (did I mention I was in Poland?) with all sort of quizzical looks on their mugs.

Polish people, I would learn, do not run. They walk, they drink beer and vodka, they eat various meats covered in oddly seasoned sauces, they smoke cigarettes and they ride bikes. But they do not run. Unless something's on fire. So, I stood out like a sore American. Short shorts, long shaggy hair (no hippies here either) and funny looking socks. Pretty sure they loved me. Or thought I'd just robbed something.

After taking in the sites and fighting through the urge to sleep with some sprints, I decided to get lost. That's right. Let's get off the plane with next to no sleep in a foreign country with a super bizarre language and street signs I can't understand and get lost shall we? Perfect... Oh, and while we're at it, let's not bring any water - or money to buy water - either. SMRT.

After recognizing one of the few English words I'd seen on a street sign and a few gulps of some not-so-potable water from a dirty sink tap, I limped home. I've never been so happy that we decided to start making Shot Electrolyte Drink. And that I decided to bring some. Thank you, Chris Randall. You are a God.

I'll continue this rant at a later time. Did I mention I came here to build houses? Well, I did. And I have. More on that soon.

Czesc (Polish for "bye").
Grady

one more day

2005-09-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday and our next to last day of building has ended. Today was just a half day. Tomorrow will be the end... and the beginning of a week of traveling.

Finally, I posted on the work blog today. You can read about it there. Grady and Cristen just haven't gotten around to it. Our internet situation has been less than ideal, as I've said. We're just not near a good connection. Town is about 2km away.

The one thing I can say, this trip hasn't been like anything I expected.

The people I'm working with are amazing: Grady and Cristen, the other group members, Edward and Monika from Gdansk and the families we've met or worked with.

Building a house is big-time labor. It's tremendously rewarding, physically exhausting, and something completely different from sitting at a desk all day.

You can't do something like this and be impacted. And I'm not just talking about the bruises and dirt under my fingernails.

Happy Birthday, Becky!

2005-09-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

It's my beloved little sister's 30th birthday, and I'm thousands of miles away in Poland wishing I could surprise her. Alas, the commute to Philadelphia would be a bit long and I don't think I'd get back to the build site in time for work on Monday.

However, one of the biggest surprises of my life happened yesterday. As I'm finishing up my shower, I hear Grady chatting in our room with someone. I wasn't sure if it was Cristen or Jody (a super cool Canadian), or perhaps he was on the phone (to whom in Poland, I'm not sure). I listen, quickly pull on my underwear and bust out of the door, screaming as I recoginze Jennifer Snyder's voice!

She joined the three of us for dinner at Jacek and Dorota's home (actually, her parents' tiny three-room apartment (bedroom, kitchen and living room - where the couple sleeps with their two children, Antony and Martina). We discussed Habitat, life in Poland, America, politics, and art. Dorota is an art teacher for children at a community center and Jacek is an engineer for 3M.

After delicious kasha, potatoes, beets and meatball/rolls (not for me and Snyder), we drank Polish beer and ate homemade apple cake, pretzels and potato chips. We returned to the hotel and hung out with Jody, the hula hoop and more Polish beer.

Today is the halfway point of the trip and we worked at the house. Tomorrow is our second day off. We'll be going to the Solidarity Museum and seeing more of the area. So far, we've only seen the old city of Gdansk on a walking tour and a nearby resort town Sopot where we enjoyed fried fish. Speaking of which, fried fish, cabbage and salt figure in almost every meal in Poland. The food is wonderful, but one begins to appreciate the variety of vegetables and cuisines available to us in the Bay Area.

That's all for now. My head is jammed packed full of ideas to write you, but there's so little down time. I'll try to be more frequent. Our internet at the hotel is spotty, often crashing, and Cristen hasn't been able to sign on yet. You should hear from Grady soon. This trip has been an incredible experience to say the least.

Rise and shine!

2005-09-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

It's 6:42 in the morning. Grady's out on a 10 mile run. Cristen is still up in her room. And, I'm in the free Internet in a tiny room off of the breakfast room as our morning meal is being prepared and other Habitat people are wait for the computer.

All three of us arrived safe and sound. Cristen's luggage took a few extra days to get here, but now she happily has all of her toiletries, cute shoes and face lotion. Grady and I took the train up from Warsaw to Gdansk on Sunday morning. I, of course, showed up late and we only had minutes to spare, but we got here.

Sunday evening we met the rest of our group and went out to eat in Old Town Gdansk, which is gorgeous. I can't wait to see more of the City. The restaurant wasn't as fabulous, more of a Middle Easter-meets-TGI Friday's chain. I'll write more on the food later.

Yesterday was our first day of the build on the job site. We're finishing interiors. I'm putting up steel framing and door frames, drilling into concrete, sawing and using metal shears. Grady was in the room next to me glueing/plastering sheetrock to bare concrete walls. Cristen was upstairs taping and spackling allready affixed drywall. It's amazing how quickly we went from timidly moving supplies in the morning to old pro's by the afternoon, proud of our jobs.

Needless to say, it's work. Hard, use-your-entire-body labor. And it's wonderful.

We met three of the families who will be living in the 6-unit, three story building at dinner last night. The travel hula hoop that Cristen brought was a big hit with the kids. Connecting with people a across an language barrier in this kind of context is truly a gift to experience.

There's so much more to say, but I have to let others on the computer. I hope life in the States is treating you well.

t-minus 23 hours

2005-09-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

By this time tomorrow, I'll be on a plane to Warsaw, Poland to join Cristen (who's in Rome with her husband) and Grady (who's flying earlier on Friday) for our Project 2080 International adventure.

There's so much to get done between now and then, like wrapping up work, packing, figuring out how to get to the hotel from the airport. There's no time for freaking out. I just gotta get there!

I want to thank everyone from Clif Bar for allowing Grady, Cristen and me to represent our amazing company and take part in the great work of Habitat for Humanity. We'll be carrying the love and smiles of our CLIF family with us the entire time we're over there.

A special thank you to Gary and Kit for creating such a generous company that allows us to give back to others. And, a few more:

To David, for coming up with the Project 2080 idea.
To Thao and Jennifer for managing the international project.
To Heidi, my inspiration to apply.

I'll do my darndest to write frequently. I'll miss you all, but we'll be back before you know it.