Vor Polen

So I thought I would write a little before I left for Poland. Yesterday, obviously wasn't a very good day. It started off not so bad. I woke up just after 9am and and it was snowing really hard. I got pretty excited about that so I decided to get up and maybe take some pictures. By the time I got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and came it had stopped snowing. That left me with a pretty long morning...which was fine with me because I had a lot to do anyway. I got a bunch of things done, like emails, and research, and got caught up on the news. The first piece of bad news came when I learned that Mike Huckabee didn't win his primaries and had dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination. Now it's time for me to decided which of the three democratic candidates I like better.
More bad news for yesterday was that the BVG (the company that owns and operates the subways, the buses, and the trams for the city) went on an unlimited strike for at least until March 14. There is also what is known as the S-Bahns. This is another subway system that is owned by the State company Deutsche Bahn. These were running, but they have limited trains within the city, and sometimes just takes longer to get to their station then to walk where I need to go. It toook me about 40 minutes to walk to German class. I got to the building early to read the newspaper and get some work done. While reading the newspaper, I discovered the next piece of bad information. According the paper, the S-Bahn personnel are going on strike starting Monday next week. That means, that there will be absolutely NO public transportation next week, and it may affect our train for the return trip to Poland.
After reading that bad piece of info, I learned that Blake had a hockey accident and was in the hospital. This definitely topped it off. After talking to Chris and Mom, I experienced home sickness for the first time since arriving in Berlin. I have realized however, that it could be a lot worse and that there is really nothing I can do from here, nor can I go back home right now, so I'm just going to continue living and enjoy Poland as best I can.
Today was really cold, but we had an awesome tour in Treptower Park. There is a huge Soviet Memorial and had a very interesting story. I'm going to go back when it is nicer our and take pictures. Today was our last day of German class, and for our sake, we met in Treptow so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way back to the other side of the city for class. Our German teacher is amazing and she took us to a Museum, then we went out to a cafe and had some pretty good discussions. She wished us all the best of luck, and gave us all hugs and hoped that we stay in touch. It was a pretty long walk home. But now its time to pack and get a good nights sleep.

I'm still not sure if I will be able to communicate to the outside world while in Poland, but hopefully. If not, then I will talk to everyone when I get back. I will be sure to post on the blog, post my pictures, and call home. I wish my brother all the best in recovery and I will be thinking about him.

Tschuss