But...What's all this green stuff?

The big news this week has got to be- temperatures in Stralsund have moved into the positive numbers!

During our time in Dresden (we stopped overnight on our way back from Poland, to break up the journey, and take lots of photos, as it really is one of the prettiest cities in Germany) we had experienced pavements that weren't covered in ice, and on the train we had even seen some greenery, but as we headed northwards, the snow was all firmly in place, the greenery disappeared, and it even started snowing, just in case we weren't completely sure that the winter had no intentions of stopping any time soon.

At least it meant my lesson -finishing the work on snowmen we'd started before the holidays- wasn't out of date, but I'd really thought the snow might have gone away by the end of the holidays.

However, despite new snow on Monday and Tuesday, there really have been signs that we might finally be heading towards spring. The temperatures are rising, the snow is starting to melt, and I've seen real grass in Stralsund! It really shouldn't be so exciting to report that, but everything has been white for nearly three months, and after so long, the grass actually looks almost artificial, and unnecessarily bright and green. It was also exciting when it started raining- yes, rain, not snow!

The other positive sign is the longer hours of daylight. It's now nearly light when I wake up on some days, which makes me happy, and though it might have a damaging effect on my lie ins, I'm willing for that to be the case, if it makes getting up before 6am more bearable.

Even the Germans are sick of the snow, and on the radio the reporters are clearly excited whenever they can report a lack of snow, and positive temperatures. They even played a fake trailer, that announced 'SPRING-Coming soon to Mecklenburg Vorpommern'. I'm looking forward to it.

Our Polish Adventure

On our way to Krakow, we were joined in our carriage by a chatty elderly man, who spoke both German and Polish, and seemed amazed that we were
a) English (and kept telling all the ticket inspectors when they came past)
b) travelling to Poland and
c) doing so alone.
I’m sure he was only trying to take an interest, but the conversation we had with him was slightly worrying:
Him: ‘You’re travelling to Krakow? How come you’re going there?’
Us: ‘Just for a visit’
Him: ‘I see… Do you speak Polish?’
Us: ‘No’
Him: ‘Hmm… Do you know anyone there?’
Us: ‘No’
Him: ‘Hmm….Well, aren’t you brave. I’m sure you’ll be able to get around…’ (whilst looking unconvinced)

I’m sure he’d be happy to know that not only did we successfully make it around Krakow, but it turns out we appear naturally Polish- I lost count of the time we were approached and asked directions in Polish, or spoken to in Polish in restaurants and so on. The people giving out tourism leaflets didn’t bother us at all, though it did mean we kept having to go through the same process- someone would say something in Polish to us, we’d look at each other, there’d be a moment of awkward silence, and then one of us would have to say ‘I’m sorry… we don’t speak Polish’. Luckily, this was usually met by some awkward laughter, or even an apology, but I would have felt better if we could have at least apologised in Polish.

I'm not even sure what it was that makes us look Polish. Our thoroughly practical coats are clearly German, and there doesn't seem to be any unifying characteristic between us and the Polish people we saw. I'm also not sure whether to take it as a compliment or not.

I never thought I'd be so happy to get back to Germany and hear German. At least now, compared to complete and utter inability to understand or communicate in Poland, I feel a bit more confident in German, and that's got to be a good thing.

...and the day we did.

As travelling to Warsaw had proved practically impossible, we decided to head straight to Krakow, where we had planned to go after Warsaw. Stralsund to Krakow is a long journey. The alarm went off just after 4.30am, we were on a train by 6.15, we changed at Berlin at 9.30, and then we were on the same train from Berlin to Krakow from then until nearly 8pm. I thought I’d built up a resistance to long journeys since being here, but I am not planning on doing another 13 hour journey any time soon, especially not one that involves ten hours on the same train. At least I was able to read, Georgina gets travel sick, and had to do the whole journey just listening to music and looking out of the window. Due to a problem with one of the carriages, we were moved to sit in first class, which probably made it a bit more bearable. Though sitting on any seat for 10 hours causes numbness, regardless of whether it’s made of leather and can recline.

I don't think I've ever been happier to finally get off a train.

The day we didn't go to Poland...

After Stockholm, and a night out in Rostock, we had the weekend to recover, and then Georgina and I planned to travel to Poland on Monday. However, due to the snow, Georgina’s train from Rostock was delayed, and I was left standing at the station, watching the train we should have been on pulling away without us. It’s such a helpless feeling, and so annoying. Sometimes the trains will wait for each other, especially when they don’t come very often, and are going in different directions, so I wasn’t too worried about missing it, until it actually left. As the trains only came every two hours, the next train would have got us to Sczcecin at 5pm, which wasn’t that helpful as our train from there to Warsaw left at 4pm. We went back to mine and researched every possible option, and decided to try getting an overnight train, and get to Poland at about 6am. We got the first train, but then as we waited for the second train, it suddenly disappeared from the platform sign and the departures board. Noone actually said it was cancelled, but we didn’t want to have to figure that out for ourselves, by still being stood on the freezing cold platform at 4am, so we got the last train back to Stralsund. Needless to say, I was not impressed by the snow, or by Deutsche Bahn, and I was disappointed not to be in Poland.Trains and the weather, my two favourite topics… I might as well bring food, or rather, breakfast, into it, and say we consoled ourselves about not being in Poland by going for Frühstück the next morning, and, as it was Pancake Day, we were able to celebrate it with lots of pancakes in the evening.

Sweden

German schools in Mecklenburg Vorpommern are blessed with a two week ‘Winter Holiday’ in February. While I’m sure two weeks in Stralsund without school would have been fun (or at least, manageable), I didn’t stick around to find out, and instead I went to Stockholm, with five of the other Mecklenburg teaching assistants. Going further north to get away from the German winter probably wasn’t the best plan, but it was the best offer Ryanair had, and it was on the list of places to visit, seeing as we are living so close to Scandinavia at the moment. So, with our coats, hats, scarves, boots, mittens, tights to be worn under trousers, arm warmers (yes, they do exist) and so on, we set off, and despite Ryanair’s version of Stockholm airport being over an hours drive outside of Stockholm, we made it to the hostel eventually.
Although the most popular phrase of the holiday was probably ‘This is good now, but I bet it would be amazing in the summer’ it was a good trip. We saw Scandinavian animals, ate Swedish food, visited the palace and saw the changing of the guards, went to museums (they were inside, which meant not having to walk around in the cold) and played a lot of card games in the evenings.
I can’t help feeling if we’d come straight from England, the amount of snow in Sweden would have been impressive, but it wasn’t actually that much more or less than what we’ve had in Germany, so it didn’t really get much more than a second glance.Before this becomes an advert that the Swedish tourist board could use- I could quite happily go on about how great Stockholm is, and what a good time I had- I’m going to finish here, but if you do get the opportunity to go, it is a nice place. Though maybe head there when the temperatures are above freezing point…