solidarity conference with cuba, venezuela and bolivia

on 30th september i went to see what is chavez, castro and morales all about. me and two friends of mine - jesús, the venezuelan and fraser, the canadian - went to this "solidarity conference with venezuela, cuba and bolivia". it was series of workshops and speeches on those three countries whose leaders, as we all know, oppose the idea of american capitalism and imperialism. in fact, it was a communistic gathering. so people wore buttons saying: "bush is a terrorist", "us/uk out of afghanistan", "che guevara: hasta victoria siempre" etc. etc. very red around, you know what i mean, right?

please, don't get scared and note: i went there with my liberal-central-but-slightly-left political opinions and so i stepped out of the conference. though, i must admit, it was captivating. the speakers, their ideas, even the examples. it was captivating and more than interesting to hear something good about cuba, for instance. because we only know the american perspective on cuba we acquire only american pint of views.

jesús is a communist-idealist, who fully believe in the beautiful set of ideas set by marx and tested by lenin. hmm... he was one of the reasons why did i break my principles and started discussing politics again (can you believe i had such principle?!) seeing his enthusiasm about a system which ruined my country.

i also observed some sort of weird tendency of latin and eastern european societies of shifting from one to another extreme. right now poland is having a nationalistic and conservative government which build their ideas around anti-communistic slogans. and society believes, just because they asociate communists with evils. in latin america, especially venezuela (chávez) and bolivia (morales) it is exactly the opposite. the suppression many the countries in that region suffered throughout 20th century was mainly due to conservative, right-wing regimes. what is happening in the mind of the crowd?

"the system Z didn't work and suppressed us"
"oh, that candidate seems to oppose it"
"ok, let's try that one"

they forget that between the far right and far left there's also the middle, center, a straight-way, damn it! why do people have to turn either left or right, why can't they just go straight on?

on one of the tok lectures back in red cross nordic, aseem (philosophy teacher from india) spoke of both extremes of political axis - capitalism and communism - as follows:

in capitalism it is a man who abuses another man
in communism it is just other way around

bitter? yes. but to me true.

also what interested me very much is wheather in cuba would it be possible to organize a conference in support of brave american soldiers fighting for freedom of the iraqi people. jesús immediately responded along the lines: "but who would like to support war and terror and that it would be not moral etc. etc." perhaps. yet that so much depends on your point of view and where your ass is. let us leave the morality aside and ask ourselves: is it possible to organize communistic gathering in a capitalistic democracy? yes. has it ever been possible to organize a capitalisitic or democratic demonstration in, say, eastern european or african socialst or rather pseudo-socialist state? budapest 1956, prague 1968, gdańsk 1980... few examples of the communists shooting at the crowd.

now, please don't get me wrong. i am not trying to defend capitalism, because i feel terribly disgusted towards it and generally i don't feel well in such egocentric oriented society. a society that is chasing its tail in an artificial money pursuit and running over every other society that stands in front of them. no, i am definetely not defending capitalism. indeed, i am against any sort of extreme.

socialistic ideas of brotherhood and equality really captivate me. i have lived couple of times in such small societies where a pure state of communism was possible for a short period of time and it was beautiful. however, i am really afraid of something that happened in russia after the bolshevik revolution and what happened in eastern europe after the wwII and in china in 1949, and in north korea and across africa: turning those beautiful ideas into a bloody one-party dictatorship. jesús would reply "but itany of the mentioned were a pure socialist state" right, but they were meant to be, weren't they? and then what happened? there was a cunning individual emerging from chaos and taking over the power and its benefits stumping over the beutiful ideas. every time. and here comes paulo coehlo and a quote from the alchemist:

Everything that happens only once might never occur again; but things that has happened twice are bound to occur the third time.

this is why i am so skeptic about the communist-enthusiasts.

even though, damn it, i have to hand it to them, their ideas are beautiful... people are too stupid to acquire them. and also they could work only and only if they had exactly 100% of the global population support. and is that possible? no. as human we differ. we differ in cultural background, in world's perception and we differ in political visions as well. i believe in the freedom of choice - forcing mexico to sign the free trade agreement with the usa is to me just as bad as "convincing" the crowds in budapest in 1956 about the righteousness of the communistic ideology. in politics, like in every other domain of life, one should seek the balanace and tranquility.

concluding, i would like to urge the nations to learn from the scandinavians. their "social democracy" systems work just right. the state protectionism is at the very high level, yet there's freedom of speech and choice. i had lived in norway for two years, i saw and experienced it.

ps. uff. sorry, for being very confusing, but i was trying to capture all my thoughts and impressions down on this blog.

a quote from the psychology textbook

it has been said that each of us is:

(1) what all humans are,

(2) what some other humans are, and

(3) what no other humans in the history of the world has been, is, or will be.

(kluckhohn&murray, whoever they are)

one thing that makes me...

one thing that makes me...

• laugh

the slogan of white spot restaurant that is "legendary taste since 1928". [note: anything that is older than 3 decades here is considered 'old', anything that is from before wwII is 'legendary'. mhm. i assume that anything from 19th century is 'ancient' or even 'prehistorical']

• annoyed

the candy machines that accept only loonies and toonies while most of the stuff in there is 1,25$.

• confused

communication lectures by dr roman o. that prof is honestly too smart for us. maybe even he is too smart for himself?

• disgusted

seeing people eating hamburgers and potatoes for breakfast. especially while i am having some good, nutritious musli and a banana.

• happy

ana's smile on mondays and people leaving comments upon the posts. do that more often! it makes me really happy.

• impressed

the speed and efficiency of all the communal transport in greater vancouver, including the sky train and all the buses. at most of the stops downtown there's no need for a bus schedule, because the buses (or troleybuses) run so often, like every 2-5 minutes. furthemore, the bus drivers are actually nice! learn something from them, poles!

• sad

the "pure orange juice from concentrate" or the "natural artificial apple juice". those are taken directly from juice (?) containers. really. i shall comment no further.

hurry, hurry! hurry!

you wake up early (the earlier the better), take a quick shower and get your breakfast "on-the-go" in a plastic cup or a doggy bag. you take a bus to school reading something in between the stops. you go to lectures, tutorials, activities, club meetings, varsity games etc. etc. etc. everything in the speed of light without a single thought: why?

but: hurry, hurry, hurry! thinking is not the case here. eat faster, sleep faster, run faster, fuck faster... to save more time, to earn more time, to have more time. time is money after all, ain't it? and here, in north america it really is money. so hurry, read this note faster, i bet you have an appointment or a meeting. save your fucking 25%. forgot to breath? oh, yes. the whole society did. everyone is sucked into the vicious circle of capitalism. streams of people flooding through corridors and street, breathless, craving for some time they could just sweetly waste, gasping for an intake of air that does not lead to another pursuit. and if everyone is doing so, why would one bother opposing the crowd? oh, they're already gone in a hurry for something else, someone else.

very few take their time, just like me this morning, and sit out of this whole capitalistic pursuit of one's own tail for a little while. very few take their time, just like me this morning, and have their cup of italian coffee, not because it pumps caffeine up the brain, but for its splendid taste. very few take their time, just like me this morning, and simply observe. i still value things extrinsicly. and if i stop, if i ever stop, wherever i am just find me and kick my ass (i will cover your plane ticket) telling me: "you are part of that". hopefully that is never going to happen and i will preserve what i have so deeply believed in. i deeply desire so.

finishing touch has been already written by polish priest and poet jan twardowski:

"Let us hurry to love people; they depart so quickly"

and you? go further, hurry, get what you want, keep chasing your tail... or drop by for a cup of tea this evening...

(twisted) sizes

the concept of seizing seems weird to me in this country (or shall i say the continent?).

1) back in europe i always wore 'xl', whatever it was - a shirt, t-shirt, pants, socks, cap, whatever really. sometimes even those were too small for me. here i ordered a 'xl' t-shirt and it literally reached my knees. so i changed it to 'l'. better, but still baggy. now, i am wearing 'm' t-shirts and they fit perfectly fine.

2) food. the seizes of food packs are enormous. they sell nutella and peanut butter in such massive jars that they could easily be, not just a bowl for a fish, but an aquarium. same goes for chips, pizza, coca-cola (what else, eh?) etc. etc.

3) that wouldn't be such a bad thing if the canucks were consistent in seizing. it's extremely hard to find beer in a bottle which exceeds 341 ml. it exists, but ain't common. not mentioning the cigaretts - the king size is about the same in length as a normal cigarette in any country i have so far visited. normal size so, so, so short! you would never believe how short it is.

perhaps i am trapped within the saying that "our way is the normal way", but come on! any rational thinker would agree with me that it is the beer bottles that one should super-size not coca-cola ones!

ron heath

ron heath. it is obviously the gentleman on my left smiling genuinly. he is the one who enabled me and many, many uwciers to attend the sfu. no one has ever counted how many uwciers has graduated from sfu since 1994 when accidently they gave out the firt uwc scholarship.

now, ron is retiring and hence we had a small uwc gathering (at least 30 people showed up! that means that there's at least 50 of us currently attending the sfu) with pizza, salad informal speeches and ceremony. ron got so emotional that it honestly moved me. it is a pity that he is not going to continue his "scout search" among all 12 uwcies around the world. but the legacy he is leaving for his succesor is enormous. how much time has he commited to the idea of enriching sfu community with uwc graduates? probably he doesn't know himself. but what makes his devotion so beautiful is that it comes straight out of the heart and love for what he has done.

thank you ron for bringing me here and for letting me know you. and everything else...

polonia sausage house

well, once upon a time i get this melancholic feelings about poland. i understand now why the biggest polish patriots and national heroes lived on immigration. because they could long for something, and their longing enhanced the feelings of patriotism, love, attachment, cultural identity etc.



couple of days ago i came across this shop on east hastings st. i got one of that melancholic moments. so i bursted in and bought some good polish "kiełbasa" (sausage) and "kabanosy" (something like long pepperoni sausages) and polish chocolate and polish tea. and i spoke polish to the cashier, and i saw this poster with a polish band having a concert in vancouver in a week or so (they play crap music, though). and it even smelled like home...

so, you can imagine, i was very very happy for that little while.

communication 110 - first assignment

i decided to publish one of my very first university assignments on this blog. not because i'd like to show off or something like that, but because i haven't really introduced myself as a blogger. the task was:

write a statement about you serving as an introduction or a “publishable
thumbnail” or bio. it should contain something about your past, about what you
think you’d like to get out of this course or why you’ve enrolled in it, and
something of what you hope awaits you in the future.

here is what i have managed to write within the recquired 150 words:

Grzegorz (preferably: Grzesiek [jeshi’ek]) Więcław was born in Gliwice, Poland
during the years which were to bring down the communistic governments across
Eastern Europe. As a result of his parents’ violent divorce, Grzesiek grew mature faster than most of his mates – to forget the hell of home, he was always involved into academic, social and athletic activities.

Regardless all the difficulties, in 2004 he was selected to represented Poland in one of the United World Colleges in Norway where he lived and studied with people from
over 90 countries. There he learnt of Simon Fraser University where he got in on
an international SHRUM scholarship this year.

Currently he hopes to pursue the study of the biggest interest of his – people, but he is not certain what will he major in. He thinks (and lives) along the lines of Jerzy
Grotowski’s theories: There is no standing still, only evolution or involution.

busy?

are you a uwc student? a second year? do you feel busy, pressured with deadlines (ee, tok other ias) and massive amounts of reading?

if you answer yes to all of these question and you plan to go on and study and college/university, you might reconsider your current business...

personally i have never felt so busy in my entire life as i do now. and yet this is just the begining of the university challenge!

imagine that first thing that psychology profesor announced, having introduced himself, obviously, on the lecture was that the exam, which was coming in 2 weeks. i am not kidding you, the very first thing.

the amount of courses one takes varies from 3 to 6. it is commonly acknowledged, however, that for each hour spent with a professor one needs to put 3 times as much of one's own time!

now, i have 12 hours of lectures and tutorials a week in total. multiply by 3 and you get 36 hours of just studying a week! i had never put that much effort back in uwc.

keep also in mind, that unlike norway, in north america you have to deal with all the things, which concerns you by yourself - including buying and washing your linens, equipping yourself with books and learning materials, taking care of your room etc.

transit takes time if you want to go downtown and buy anything. the queues to any student services are enormous, so yes you can obtain help if you need thatm but it takes time too. anything takes time! and time is money, or isn't it?

where is the time for tea!? where is the time for sleep!? where is the time for people!? where is the time for some work-out!? i shall not even mention the energy!

i think i need to take a loan... quite a loan.

note: even if that post might not sound like it but i am actually enjoying myself a lot in this whole fuss of life, i am in the center of action, i have no time to waste and this, except i am on caffeine all the time, is not such a bad thing...

the international boat cruise

just like in the holiwood movies we were partying on the deck of the boat cruising around the english bay. loud music, cold drinks and a lot, a lot of fun. well, just check the pictures!


me (drinking heineken) and jesus (drinking molson canadian). jesus is a venezuelan graduate from adriatic uwc. imagine that we paid 6$ per can!


the dome, if you wondered, is the 'science world'. that is were they had expo 1986. currently it is the museum of science.

vancouver downtown. a picture taken from the boat.

damla (turkey, waterford uwc), judit (hungary, lpcuwc) and peter (calgary, alberta).

me and jessica. there is always someone who was born on 31st January...!

the first week of classes

wow. that's been quite a busy week... i shall compile the thoughts about it in this short post:

i started my classes on tuesday and even though i hadn't had tutorials i feel like the busiest person in the world. (i know, everyone does) so after couple of changes i made in my schedule i am taking four courses: spanish ab initio, philosophy: knowledge and reality, intro to communications and intro to pyschology. i have had all of them already and i think i shall stick to them, at least thru' the first term.

the professors are really fine. i have a mexican spanish teacher (un alumna, chica bonita!), but the rest of the professors are canadian (or canadianized). all are quite all right, except i didn't get much of the first communication course. i hope it'll improve, cause i have to obtain a cosmic gpa in order to maintain my scholarship. well, i have no doubt it's worth it - they pay me humongeous amounts of money just for me being here.

only the books are bloody expensive - one psychology (watch: used, yes used) book costed me 80$. a new one costs like 130$. crazy. on the other hand i bought an excellent oxford thesaurus for 15$. where's the logic?

i reckon, i am busy not yet to academics. well, at least not in a large extent. i repeat: yet. it's mostly settling down issues. damn, here i have to do everything by myself! i have to apply for insurance, i have to go thru' the whole wide vancouver to pay it, i have to open my bank account, get the laundry card etc. etc. etc. god bless norwegian social democracy which had kindly protected my polish ass for last 2 years.

another issue - food. as i have mentioned before i am on the dinning plan. it means that i get a card with a certain amount of money and i can use it whenever i am hungry. the food is not bad, it's just a little expensive to me. of course, most of the canadians complain to the food in the dinning hall. whenever i hear a complain i tell them scary stories about fiskekake and carrot mush, but they don't seem to believe. anyhow, the choice is between 3-5$ hamburgers and french fries and 10$ nice chicken dish with salad and everything. so as they advertise - you've got a choice, indeed.

now my first real weeken at the residence is coming; i wonder how will i spend it...

jessica's party

i shall not comment the pictures. however, can you imagine that they actually drink alcohol out of plastic cups!? just like in the cheap holiwood college movies! incredible!

glossary

a canuck - a canadian. see also: the canucks (vancouver hockey team)

loonie - 1$ coin. its name comes from the loon (a bird similar to duck) which appears on the back of it.

toonie - 2$ coin. no one knows where does the name come from. there's a polar bear on the tail of the coin.

safeway - a network of grocery stores where i usually shop. i have got a membership card there so i can save like 2$ each time i am there. wicked, innit?

wal-mart - a network of stores where you can buy anything for nothing or almost nothing. the labour-rights defenders, the green party members, the environmentalists and certainly other groups condemn wal-mart for various crimes like labour abuses, killing the local enterprises or promoting unhealthy life-style. whenever i shop there, i try to be quick and sneaky.

eh? - a typical question tag which is added to all stating sentences.

liquor stores - unlike norway in canada you can actually buy alcohol in a reasonable price. there are government controlled liquor stores all around. honestly, they are everywhere. i haven't been to a mall where they didn't a

stephanie greaves - this lovely and helpful women work (among others, i assume) for us, the uwciers at sfu.

ron heath - this is another person who ables me to be here. he is the one who offered the scholarship and encouraged to accept that offer. very energetic gentelman. unfortunatelly he's retiring this october, so we're haveing a uwc pizza party as all uwciers are ron's kids.

how's it going. - notice a dot instead of a question mark. that means in canadian english "hello"

soccer - football.

ikea - the only place i have been to in a radius of 20 km where i actually feel european.

ca - this stands for 'community advisor'. each floor has one in the residence buildings of towers. they're usually older students who get better (means more spacious) rooms, closer to lounge rooms and washrooms for the sake of taking care of the rest of us. my ca is called justin.

burnaby - a city around 20 km from vancouver downtown where i am currently living. well, i am actually living on the burnaby mountain, which is over the town.

greater vancouver - vancouver downtown plus 7 other cities which basically blended into one huge aglomaration. burnaby is just one of them.

skytrain - a very popular and convienient transportation means, which could take you anywhere you want in the area of greater vancouver. it's very fast and there is no driver! pretty scarry if someone gets stuck in between the door...

maple syroup - for those of you who doesn't know what maple is: it is a tree species with a very charachteristic leaves. so charachteristic that the canadians decided to put one of those in their flag. i haven't tasted this canadian delicacy yet, however i heard many good (and sweet) things about it. you could pour it over you waffels or pancakes.

pitch - field.

the second part of the glossary to come...!