Polish Rabat

I will try to explain this post but it may be only funny for people who speak Polish.

I found some hilarious names of the restaurants/cafes/bars in Rabat. They seemed totally Polish. I was always planning to take a pic of them but never actually did it. Luckily, during my last night in Rabat, we were coming back from my 3rd bye bye party at Houda's villa in Hay Riad and we passed one of the places. I told my friends in the car that I had been always planning to take a photo of the sign above the entrance but it had always remained unrealized. Right after that, Christopher just silently grabbed his camera and took a shot of "Sandwichs Renata" (should be of course "sandwiches"). Renata is a Polish name that I associate with women in their thirties, fourties or fifties who already have children. I totally don't know why I have these associations. Moreover, I've never heard anyone non-Polish whose name was Renata so it seems only Polish. Renata sells her sandwichs (no "e") between Agdal and Centre-Ville just in front of the roundabout near the stadium of Ibn Issina.
















I also found "Café Glacier Halinka". Halinka is a nickname of Halina (the same relation as John-Johny) and I have the same associations as with Renata. You can have a coffee chez Halinka in the Centre-Ville when you go from le Septième Art towards the train station and take the first left towards Hassan. Halinka will be on your left.

There is also "Taki Chicken" (meaning literally "that kind of chicken" / "that chicken"). It's also in the Centre-Ville on the Mohammed V Avenue near Hotel Balima. If you stand back to Balima and face to the Parliament, you will see "Taki Chicken" on your right.

I just have pics of Renata but I promise I will take the other ones (hoping to still find them there) once I'm back in Rabat. Or maybe someone can take the pics for me and facebook them?

what I really miss

You might be surprised after reading that but I did enjoy myself last Friday when I went out with my friends in Sopot. Yes, I'm admitting that I had a fabulous night in Poland.

Now, you should know what happened and what is more important which factors made me feel so great.

My Moroccan friend (Tima from AIESEC in Morocco working for Reuters in Gdynia; we met last June in Rabat and 2 months later she went on an internship to Poland) who lives in Poland invited me over to Gdynia (a city where I used to live for 1,5 year before going to Morocco) so that we could go to party in Sopot (one of the best city in Poland to party; the city where I study). We did some clubbing in Sopot partying in 69 and Mandarynka with her friends (from Portugal, Ecuador, Russia, Venezuela, China, South Africa/Poland, Finland and some more that I didn't even have chance to talk to). The music and the atmosphere were just fantastic.

I felt awesome. Why? Because for a while, I had the impression that I was back in Rabat. It was not the fact I was in Poland that made me feel so good. And it was not the fact that I was in the country of Morocco that I enjoyed partying there so much. To be honest, I never fully enjoyed a Moroccan party - a wedding, a baby party or a normal disco with Moroccan or Arabic music. A party only with Moroccans would not be a good idea either (although I miss Morocco a lot I still remember how not understanding Arabic and at the same time having to listen it pisses me off). I only enjoyed parties in Rabat because they were full of great and interesting people (mostly expats but always some very cool Moroccans too), good music and amazing atmosphere.

I may surprise you but there is not that much about the country itself (e.g. like Moroccan mentality of the majority, the working culture, the cuisine) that I really miss. When I say I really miss Morocco I rather mean my lifestyle there, the parties, the conversations and of course certain people.

I also didn't enjoy the Friday party because it had something to do with Poland. I didn't have a lot if anything. It just reminded me about the lifestyle I used to have and than I will hopefully have soon.

What I really miss are the things and people that type I can find in many places all over the world. Not only in Morocco. They are usually much more easy accessible to expats. And I'm not an expat in Poland so that's why I feel so happy abroad. The amount of unbelievable people I met or things I did when I was spending one year in Morocco is just so much bigger than here in Poland ever before during 23 years I had spent here. I want to live abroad not because Poland really sucks. It does suck but every single country sucks in its own way. Morocco was never perfect for me. And probably none of the places will ever be. However, I still think living abroad is more fun for me. Only because, I have some expectations that can be more easily fulfilled overseas.

This is so weird but when I'm abroad I love when I look like a local person but at the same time I love the fact that I am not local. And when these two things are combined it's just perfect.

I bitch a lot about Poland but what really annoys me is mostly generated inside me. It's the comparison of what I want and what I see around. It's extremely subjective (there are really few things that are objective). And that's funny but I always tend to blame the place where I am for my ups and downs. I would always say "I hate this country (speaking about Morocco) - wtf am I doing here?" or "I love Morocco - I am so lucky that I am in Morocco!" depending on my mood. I would always use the term "Morocco" when I was up and "this country" when I was down. I often laughed at myself saying that I wake up pissed off and go to bed happy. My mood was changing within one day from very sad to very happy.

I also express my highly negative feelings about my stay here because:
-I'm back in my hometown that I like when I'm not here or when I'm no longer than 2 days in a row; and I have to be here 10 weeks so don't expect me to be happy,
-I have a shitty job here for these few weeks,
-none of my friends is here,
-I'm broke so even traveling or partying elsewhere is not that easy,
-I need to write my thesis instead of doing something more exciting,
Well, you can say that I shouldn't have come here but done something else. I rethought it many times before and the result was: "Kamil, the best solution for your poor financial situation and your studies is to be here with your parents and spend your summer here." It's the kind of things that we know we will not enjoy but we feel we have to do and are smart or the best in this certain moment.

To be honest, I guess I luckily feel better than when I came back. I accepted (that's the best word) the fact that I'm here. But I'm so looking forward to being in Brussels and no question about it!

C'est la fucking vie or rather c'est le fucking moi! :)

Rabat, Morocco

don't get me down, svp

I find it really sad that some people seem to be annoyed or even offended by the fact that I'm not having an easy time being back here. I hope I am wrong but I just feel that some of them expect me to get it over or not to express it loud or just be ok while I am not.

I simply miss the life I had in Morocco and the one I have now in Poland is not that cool. I know I will leave soon but until that day I will not be super happy here.

Maybe, instead of judging me, think for a while why I feel like this and if you really wanna help try to come up with an idea how this can be done more efficiently. Or simply don't do/say anything.

Some people just make me feel even worse.

PS I hope it's just my imagination and I misinterpret things.

I am not myself... but you are not yourself

"des amis et de martini - la seule façon de survivre Pologne"
This is the title of one of my Facebook albums pubilshed just after I got back to Poland and it means "friends and martini - the only way to survive Poland". The alcohol part is to some extent a joke (only to some extent:) of course but the friends no. Or at least I hoped so.

One of my friend who left Morocco for Poland a few weeks before me (having been there for slightly less than me) said she had lost most of her Polish friends when she came back to the country. It scared me because I didn't want to go thru the same. Hopefully, I'm not going to such an extent. However, I have noticed that it's not the same anymore. It's not the same as it used to be in the pre-Moroccan era.

I came back and I'm different than a year ago. I can't handle the country (it's better now though). Few people (or maybe no one?) here can really understand what I went thru even if they read my blog or heard the news directly from me. You must have just been there to know it. And my friends have probably changed in some ways as well. Or even if they haven't, they seem different to me probably because I look at them in a different way usually comparing with people I met in Morocco. And they have to deal with the different me which I won't be able to understand as well probably. It's not the case with all the people... hamdullah

Sometimes, I simply don't care but I wish I did...

And I really don't know what I should do...

Moroccan nostalgy comeback

Too many thougths on the fabulous past and on the shitty presence, too many photos seen on facebook, too many cool messages and e-mails received, too many blogs of people who are still there read, too many people left and voilà, here I go again. I have a harsh comeback of Moroccan nostalgy. It's been [only/already] 3 weeks and I have kind of accepted that I am not there anymore but I can't be as happy as I used to be there. I was deeply involved in all the stuff that I need to do here before going to Brussels and trying not to think but it's simply impossible.

Especially when you get messages like this:

"I wish you were still here though your ghost still floats around Rabat."
"All is well here, but the echo around the town and around the Kingdom is that you are sadly missed."
"You are lucky my love, you are remembered and loved by so many here..."

I am still in Rabat but not anymore there... and I really doubt anyone (at least here in this country called Poland) can understand me.


















My house was just a few steps left from the minaret (the tower of the mosque) ...

I belong in Dublin?

I found this funny quiz on line. Which European city do you belong in? My result is Dublin. I was rather surprised. I have never been there though so I can't judge whether it's right or not.

Nothing left to say but "kocham Cię jak Irlandię" (sorry for Polish - you can translate it here)

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

you fade to gray

Poland is less and less exciting for me than ever. You must have figured it out from my previous post. I'm sure about that. I will give you a few examples though.

When I came back to Poland I spent my first 2 days in Krakow. I thought that choosing the most beautiful Polish city for first interactions with my motherland would make it more bearable. It wasn't. I was wandering within the historical downtown of Krakow and I wasn't excited anymore. I had some feelings when I was in the suburbs seeing huge blocks of flats. But these were not positive feelings as you may guess.

Then on Monday, I went to Sopot and Gdansk. When I was 17 I was crazy about these places. I so wanted to get there whenever I could. I went to study there at the age of 19. At that point it was slightly less exciting than 2 years before but I still liked it. On Monday and yesterday, it was only saddening and depressing. When I got off the suburban train (SKM) in Sopot and saw the most beautiful street there (the street of the Heros of Monte Cassino) I thought "wow! that's not that bad. I would love to take some of my international friends there and show them around". But then I realized that most of the cities I saw within last year (Paris, Madrid, Rabat, Lisbon, Istanbul etc) have downtowns comprised of such streets and in Sopot there is just one. I don't feel like going there anymore unless to see my friends.

Luckily, my Polish friends (although much different than Rabati ones) are still fabulous:)