2007.03.29 | it's over a month now

so, i've been here for over a month. and i still love it here. the language gap is getting smaller and i'm very much getting used to life in europe. the quality of life is soo much better here even though this is a backward country by european standards. for instance, you can't buy processed cheese here (at least i don't think so) and the cheese that you do buy is freshly sliced for you (so you don't buy blocks of cheese). also, almost all the cheeses here have holes in them. i'm not sure if you can equate that to quality, but it just seems right.

i went to the muzeum wojska polska (polish army museum) yesterday. some really amazing stuff there. this time the museum actually had 70 percent of the display explained in english, so i took photos of them as well. unfortunately i wasn't allowed to take photos inside... and there was some really cool stuff there. the history went as far back as men in suits of armour (the year escapes me) (with armour for their horses as well). some of the early muskets and swords had really amazing details. the quality of the work done (considering when it was made) is amazing. also the fact that most of the weapons on display had probably killed (or at least inflicted severe wounds to many people) really added to the interest. there were also a further two engima machines in this museum, bringing polands total up to three (which i'm sure is quite high for any one country [i stand to be corrected though]). there were also displays of uniforms and pins. if only they weren't so anal, i could have taken some photos. the early machine guns on display actually used material cloth to join the bullets together and feed them into the gun. anyway, if you're ever in poland it's definitely worth visiting.

oh, and i went to another job interview today. this time it was actually at the company that would employ me. the company is called outbox and they do a lot of work for &tp (or telekomunikacja polska, the major landline company). this will be programming work that has nothing to do with engineering tho. it'll be work that involves peoplesoft, coded in peoplecode. apparently &tp uses peoplesoft quite extensively for their systems. anyway, i'll hear if they are interested by next week, but i'm still holding my thumbs for the verifone job instead.

since poland joined the eu, there have been many improvements in the city. our flat, for instance, is run by the government and because of this it is currently being renovated. it turns out that poland is on the list of poor countries on the eu, and therefore the government is given money for various projects (subject to approval first). some of you have mentioned the complete lack of pictures of my house (and polish women), and the renovations are the reason. i'm waiting till they finish before i post any photos of the flat. the roads however, really do need some work. their condition is quite bad. but they might get to fixing them eventually.

i'm been noticing something odd on the trams recently. not odd in the sense that is shouldn't be happening, but odd in that i don't think i've ever seen it happen is south africa. young people get up of their seats and let older people sit down. not only young people, but a lot of youngish people (compared to the old person) are getting up as well. even old men get up for old women. and i thought chivalry was dead.

seems my cousin does need his psp anymore so he has said that i can have it. :). i'll ask him again just to make to sure this weekend, but he seems earnest in his offer. but this thing is awesome either way. i've managed to get several emulators installed so i'm currently playing all my favorite classics from my early days of gaming, as well as the modern hi res games available (to me) today. if it wasn't so big, it would be an awesome mp3 player. and the fact that it plays videos, games and has wifi with a internet browser makes it so cool. i can't seem to put it down these past few days. the appeal will wear off eventually but not for a while :).

anyway, check out the new pictures. not only are there the museum ones, but i've added some new albums and added some pics to the old albums as well.

muzeum wojska polskiego (polish army museum)