Winter has arrived!! I seem to be the only person who is remotely excited about horrendously cold weather. But I have learnt to keep me mouth shut on topics such as this as it's easy to feel like an outsider at the best of times. I just have an inward delight at the thought of oncoming snow.

Spare a thought for me here in Poland when you are getting pestered by kids trick or treating, and the phrase 'it's all so darn commercial' springs into your mind as you hand over that 50p to a child/beggar whose idea of a costume is to hide one hand up their sleeve – here in the more central realms of Europe away from the glare of the big smoke and (almost) untouched by global consumerism we celebrate Halloween in a different kind of way. That's right we celebrate it properly by visiting cemeteries and lighting a candle for our dearly departed and getting REALLY spooked out. They've even got a name for it, it's called All Saints. I don't think it'll catch on. And, just to make it even better it's a national holiday, so no school or work for 2 days!! In fact, some people even make it a whole week of holiday.

I've become tired of Italian music channels and so have resorted to reading, and reading and, well...reading. There isn't a lot of lessons this week owing to above mentioned holiday, so I have even decided that being bored is an option. Yesterday I managed to play at least 60 games of Hearts.
I think the boredom threshold in places like this is high or if not then it is numbed by vodka and beer abuse.

I have actually seen another town though. Three mornings a week I go and teach people who work in a bank. So at least I get out and about. But not enough..... expect me to go crazy before Christmas. It's different here than in Russia – in Russia people were so proud of their heritage and their country that they revelled in showing foreigners (that's me) the customs and even if sometimes they didn't actually take you there themselves they would talk about it until you couldn't bear it any longer. Here nobody seems to have any suggestions as to what a foreigner can do to pass the time. They're a lot more laid back.

You know how I mentioned stale bread? Well I made a sandwich last night and after taking two mouthfuls realised that it was actually stale - with mould and everything. I like preservatives and additives and things that keep your bread from going green. They should have them here, it would make sense.

The weather has turned grey and stormy and as a consequence I have no pictures to show you yet. I did however brave the rain to take a look around the town and discovered the supermarket which, to my delight, requires no communication with the shop assistants at all. One may even purchase mars bars and coke.... not that I did that, obviously, as I am here to sample the Polish food and drink.

So far I have sampled the beer, the vodka, the potato pancakes and the perogi (which are in fact Russian) the forest mushroom soup and the bread (no preservatives – tastes stale). What next? I am lacking a Polish companion to lead me in the right direction and to show me the side of Poland that isn't drinking vodka and eating lard on bread. They appear to be a clique bunch and I'm not really sure what an outsider has to do to be allowed into the in crowd. I fear it may be something like drinking and eating my own body weight in vodka and lard. Still, I have BBC world and a fine selection of Italian music channels on my tv to keep me occupied.

It's been a pretty slow start to my life in Poland. The teaching is minimal, the majority of my time is spent in my little flat reading, and in the evening I get taken to different drinking establishments. People here like to go out and drink and unlike Russia, they prefer the relaxed environment of a pub to a flashy expensive cocktail bar, which suits me fine. Last night I was taken to the local live music venue, although no live music on a Thursday night, I am promised that at the weekend it's the place to get down with the rock and roll vibe. From the look of people who drink there, it's a bit of a CLASSIC ROCK bar. Folks wearing Metallica tshirts and fashioning the goatee and long hair look (that was just the women!). I look forward to a night of live Polish metal!

My Polish is coming on a treat and I have extended my vocabulary by about 2 words a day. My pronunciation of these words, however, may be completely wrong. Luckily everybody I meet seems to speak a level of English that enables us to converse coherently.

No lessons at the weekend, so hopefully I'll get to see some more of the town over the next couple of days and I will take some pictures and post them here for you all to marvel at.

Day 3. I have now experienced Polish food and Polish beer, the factors in any culture that determines it's validity as a Nation to Compete with the British and I must admit it's going well so far. Of course, there are flaws, but they may be overlooked in time or at least compensated for in other areas such as the fact that BBC World is available in my flat, or even the fact that the school I'm working for is a proper language school where I can get free Russian lessons. (Yeah – I know it's a bit late)

So, I based my previous blog on my cynical observations on my experience in Russia, which was partly fuelled by my fellow native English speaking friends similar disdain for the country and it's inhabitants (which obviously masked our true feelings of enthusiasm for the place). But here in Mikolow everybody is so happy. Maybe it's something they put in the beer. Which in turn makes this writing of a blog all the harder because nobody wants to hear the good stuff. You friends of mine don't want to hear what a great time I'm having; I know you enjoy my misery, my tales of woe, my lonely outbursts....

If it's any consolation, I took a walk around the town and it took me about 10 minutes. Once the snow sets in I predict that life here will take on elements of a Steven King novel.

And obviously the question on everybody's lips – what music do they listen to out here? Well, it's pretty much similar to the playlist on a cheesy local radio station's afternoon show. Plenty of hits from the 80's, forgotten tracks from the 90's and tripe like James Blunt from more recent times.

Welcome to small-town Poland. It's so cute!
From the window of my flat I have a view of a church that rings it's bells every hour and a cobbly street that leads to the market square.
I live above a restaurant, my flat has a TV with sky, and the school I'm working in is a well-run well-equipped language school that employs people to teach not only English but Italian, French and Russian.
I haven't really had much chance to explore yet but I will do, and when I do I shall let you all know what it's like.

Well here we are again...I invite you to come with me once more on my journey into the unknown. With my suitcase almost packed and my dictionary ready at hand, I'm off to a new country and who knows what delights I will be lucky enough to sample.

Join me here, next week, when I will be able to tell you all about... POLAND!

*is it strange to you that I keep going to places that are renound for their vodka?