Photos of the day # 42-47 / Zdjęcie dni # 42-47

So instead of make a different post for each day I missed last week here is last week all in one post :)

Monday-Poniadziałek.
So, I am not sure if you catch the same thing I did in this photo or not, but it says 20 years (20 lat) yet the first year on the list is 1995.  Nice to know I am not the only one bad at math :) Even I know that 20 years ago was 1991 i mean 92 or 93, anyway just not 1995 haha.

Tuesday-Wtorek 

Last week I finished a book that was written by a guy who survived WWII mainly because he was fluent in Yiddish, Polish, and German.  He would trick each group into thinking he was one of them.  Later in life this he battled with problems with who he was after the war.  He met his wife in a bomb shelter one night and it reminded me that there is remnants of a bomb shelter just a few blocks from my apartment.  Below you find the picture.  I could not imagine spending hours or days in this, but I know that people did.  It is also strange to think that this guy met his wife in one as well. 

Wednesday-środa

Below is a picture of one of the largest (not THE largest) monuments to the Ghetto uprising in Warsaw.  This monument is outside of where the new History of Polish Jews museum which will be open later this year.  It will be the largest Jewish Museum in Central Europe when it is completed.  

Thursday- Czwartek 

Not too far from the previous monument is another monument to the Uprising. It is a mound on top of where members of the Uprising would meet together to form plans to fight the Germans.  On top of the mound there is stone that tells more information about this group and their fates.  I am not so sure making a snowman on top of this mound is respectful or not? But, I took a picture of it.    I did not make the snowman by the way it was already there. 

Friday- Piątek

Below you will find a picture of the man whose birthday it was on Friday.  The picture was actually taken on Monday when we were playing tennis, but I post the the picture as the photo of the day for his birthday.

Saturday- Sobota

One important thing that happened last week is the current Pope announced he was stepping down because of his sickness.  Many of my friends commented on this to me and there were pictures on facebook of this Pope and the Polish pope that pasted away in 2005, John Paul II.  The photo read something along the lines of the fact that Germans work until retirement and Polish people work until death.  I had some interesting conversations with people about this and I bought a magazine that has an article on it too. I also took a photo last week of one of the many monuments to JP II in Warsaw.  The monument below actually does not mention the former Pope by name it is simply the date and time of his death.  It is on Avenue of John Paul II (a very busy street in Warsaw)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope this week I will be better about posting, but cannot make promises haha

Photo of the Day # 41 / Zdjęcie dnia # 41

One of my running friends Olga, in the middle of the picture, reserved a place for a group of us to sing Karaoke Saturday night.  Standing next to her is our new friend we met there and tried to convince running is not boring, Łukasz. We had about 20 people from our group at the place and we enjoyed singing karaoke in Polish, English, Russian, and there was even a French song or two.  I tried my hand at some of the Polish songs and it was fun.  I even had a guy that cheered for me each time I joined a group to sing.  It was quite funny.  

Photo of the Day # 40 / Zdjęcie dnia # 40

One of our local English tourist magazines did a feature on what they consider the best burger places in Warsaw.  Saturday after our English Conversations at a Culture House, a co-worker and I went to check out this place.  Even after eating there I am not sure what Slow Fast Food means, but it was definitely an interesting place and good burgers.  I wanted to take a picture of the sign at the door, but I don't think it would have come out cause it was small and dark.  But the sign said all in Polish "It is cold.  Close the doors, they are not automatic." I for some reason found this funny because the doors did not look automatic, but maybe people were not closing them :) Anyway, if you want a good burger in Warsaw here is one of the recommendations.  It is just before Saint Anne's Church in Old Town. 

Photo of the Day # 39 / Zdjęcie dnia # 39

So here is the same view from Tuesday (http://bmwages.blogspot.com/2013/02/photo-of-day-36-zdjecie-dnia-36.html) taken on Friday.  It is crazy how different just a couple of days makes.  I told people that we went a week without snow and then we got almost a week's worth of snow in one day.  I am thankful we are not getting as much as the NE USA, but we still have a good amount.  However, something about the white makes for peaceful pictures and peaceful attitudes :) 

Photo of the Day # 38 / Zdjęcie dnia # 38

And as promised earlier some of the snow from this evening...The snow has returned.  Here is some of the build up of snow on my balcony.  As cold as winter is there is something peaceful about snow :) 

Photo of the Day # 37 / Zdjęcie dnia # 37

I have been helping out with a Children's Program at a Elementary School this week in Praga (more in Monday's post).  Each day prizes are given to the best behaved or participant in each group.  Here are the children from Wednesday that were the best.  Today I was back at another Winter Break program in Otwock with some great children there, but tomorrow will be the last day of winter break and I will be back in the school in Praga. Will try to get a good picture or two from there.  

Photo of the Day # 36 / Zdjęcie dnia # 36

Here are two views from my balcony without the snow.  Snow was gone for about a week, but as you will see later it has now returned.  The first picture is the view I have of downtown and the second picture is the view of the National Stadium that I have.  It is lit up at night and it never fails when people visit they enjoy my views and ask if the stadium is lit up every night to which I say "Of course, I see it every night." :) 

Photo of the Day # 35 / Zdjęcie dnia # 35

This week I am helping out at a Children's Event at a Elementary School for children who are having their winter break.  I am helping out a group named "Kids Games" and their motto is "Więcej niż sport" which means in American English "More than Sports".  The goal of the week is to play games with children, but also tell them that life is more than sports and being successful in life.  It has been great so far.  Oh and the above picture is my weak arm that shows autographs from some of the children.  We went around the room signing each other's arms to show that each person is unique and special :) 

Photo of the Day # 34 / Zdjęcie dnia # 34

Sunday's Photo of the day...I learned a new word: Uszkodzona which I found out means damaged.  Winda is the elevator (or as the crazy British call it "lift").  So, yeah the other day the Elevator in my building was damaged.  I knew the word for not working, but did not know the word for damaged until I saw this.  It was fixed later in the day though so all is good now. 

Photo of the Day # 33 / Zdjęcie dnia # 33

A rather empty look at my favorite method of transportation in the city:  Szybka Kolej Miejska w Warszawie, SKM or the Fast Train in Warsaw.  Sadly you can not ride this everywhere you go or I would.  But, for the places I do ride it to it is the best in my opinion.  It has been only opened since 2005 and currently there are 4 lines (S1, S2, S3, and S9) and 46 stations.  I took this picture at a non-busy time, but normally they are quite crowded both day and night.  I think having good transportation in your city is definitely a help to have peace with where you are :) 

Photo of the Day # 32 / Zdjęcie dnia # 32

Our Friday group minus Megan and Michał. Photo of the Day taken by the famous Marciej aka Potbelly.  We met at my place this past week.  It was of course great :)