Motorbike driving license

After criss-crossing Nepal and Thailand on motorbikes we decided to legalize our motor biking status and signed up for driving school. We liked the feeling of riding a motorbike so much that basically it was just a question when we could do it.

We have a couple of favourite destinations where we want to ride the bike and doing it with a driving license made more sense. Especially from the safety point of view (getting a driving license should have in theory helped). Anyway we have Brazil as one of our favourites. There is no question that we are going to do it again in Nepal. India is also quite tempting but I am not sure we are ready for that. The highlight in that region could be though Bhutan. I have just read in a German motorbike magazine about tours there. This could probably me the highlight !!!

As to the driving license - obviously it costs one fifth of what we would need to pay in Germany or anywhere west from Polnad. We are more than half way through and we finally understood why people in Poland drive like crazy. I would dare to say that they basically have no idea what proper driving is supposed to look like since nobody ever taught them about it.

The theory lessons instead of at least 10 hours took us around four hours and to large extent had nothing to do with riding a motorbike. Rita had to sit there though she did not understand a word - nobody was concerned - most important thing was the fact that she was physically there. Our practice lessons are of the same quality. We are told what we need to do during the state exam and basically left alone to practice. We have never heard the word technique or safety. It is seriously a joke. It costs next to nothing but also provides you with nothing. As Rita summed it up - we have learned more in Nepal during our half a day course with a Dutch instructor than during the month of the "Polish" driving course.

If everything goes well we will have our motorbike driving license by the end of September - in terms of skills however we will stay where we were. Unfortunately. Some things seem not to change in this country...

The Resident

The resident moved in with us. For now being only 4 cm's does not takes much space. It does like to eat lots and likes to dance whenever we decide to peep in. The bears sleep during the winter and the resident decided that for Rita it is already winter time. Considering the awesome Polish summer this year (rains everyday) it is a good choice. The resident will most likely get bored and decide to join the outside world some time during the acquarius period...

Back to business

Back to business - this short phrase explains why it is so hard even to write the blog. In the meantime in order to deprive ourselves of free time we moved to Szczecin in the north western part of Poland. It took us ages to find an apartment and in the end we made sort of a mistake with our choice. Since there is no way out of it for the next 12 months I guess we have to live with the choice. It will make us appreciate the next flat better.

About business - Rita has her own company www.asvanyi-plci.com and in that sense became independent. I think she likes it. Suddenly buying things became cheaper as we get VAT etc. back but suddenly all we own is kind of company property.

My life on the other hand is confronted with the absurdity of Polish law. Starting a new manufacturing plant made me understand why for 20 years it is impossible to build highways in this country even if the government has money for it. Talking about all sorts of permits makes me feel like in the good communist comedy from the eighties (I guess only people from the former communist block will understand what I am talking about). The rest are lucky not to know and should feel chosen not to have this pleasure. It is in general kind of schizofrenic experience because you have shopping malls and on the other hand places which survived 20 years without any changes (visit hotel Brda in Bydgoszcz where we went for Macy Gray concert?!)


Alternatively check some former communist companies that still exist - I suggest Famabud in Szczecin or one of the shipyards perhaps...We might even start a travel agency offering such tours. I find it fascinating. Below the beauty we found in our room at Hotel Brda...Classic...


As absurd as things are in Poland one has to say that things are also quite comic in some other places. I had a chance to visit Amsterdam a couple of days ago and noticed that in coffeeshops you can still smoke joints but only without tobacco. If you want to smoke with tobacco or cigarettes you have to step out onto the street :))) - this is what you call real civilization.


A fringe benefit of moving to the north of Poland is the fact that we are one hour drive from the seaside. Things did change there during the last 20 years - but still finding a decent place to relax is quite difficult. If you feel like having a good coffee in a place with nice ambience - well Polish seaside is still not the place to go (we found only one and we have visited already around 10 different villages/towns around here. If you feel like going for cheap holidays then you found the place. Most of the huts serving food even upgraded the plastic chairs to wooden ones :)) And the fish is great!!!

Spring in Poland

Although we live only a 1000 km North from my home town, I am quite stunned by the turns the weather makes around here. Until the mid of March I was kind of desperate for some sun and signs of spring - without any hope. It was rainy with a constant overcast sky, and cold. When finally the sun entertained us with some of its rays, I said now it is coming! The warm days with breakfast on the veranda are not so far. And the following morning we woke up to enjoy a winter scenery quite like the ones in the Alps - with about 40 cm snow covering everything with white fur sitting on the trees. Not that it was not stunningly beautiful, it just crashed my hopes. But not for so long - this week it was over 20 C plus! With sunshine, birds singing, flowers blooming in our garden, so heaven on earth :)

But before one could think that I have no better business than observing the weather I have to say our lives also took unexpected turns... We are again on the move, in a way it was almost becoming boring - staying in the same place for 3 months is not so typical of us anyway :) As of April the 1st Tomek is back to working life for an 18 months project - and it is not a joke, as it ought to be on this day. We are organizing our new, temporary home in a place called Szczecin, about 600 km to the NE from Warsaw; one can say the possible furthest point in Poland from the capital.... Not that we would have looked forward to this move, but since we anyway planned to spend a year or two in this country, it does not particularly matter where. It is in a way a good location - right next to the see, 150 km from Berlin with a highway and boat connections to Scandinavia. You can even fly in and out with Ryanair!

Thanks to this change we already had the opportunity to see more of this country: on Monday we went first time in our lives to Szczecin, Tuesday and Wednesday we spent in Wroclaw, Thursday and Friday again in Szczecin, and now we are back to Warsaw again. To be specific, all these destinations are in the far most corners of this country, each of them on average 600 km from each other in a triangle. Considering the laxed days of the past few weeks suddenly it became fairly eventful - and the near future does not look much different either... But all these places are like if they were in a different country. Wroclaw, as Tomek puts it is like if you were abroad; I really recommend it for those who like Krakow or Prague - without their touristy feel it is a pretty town with a very lively cultural life, particularly interesting for those fond of the experimental kind of theatre - see more about Grotowski. Szczecin on the other hand looks more stuck in the previous era - though with a great potential. It has impressive historical buildings and an underutilized old town over the delta of the Odra (Oder) river, but if I wanted to be rather naughty I would assume what is pretty in the town is mostly thanks to its German history, which is unfair, but the Soviet "art noveau" surely did not contribute to its grandness :) And Warsaw - I know most locals despise it - due to the same reason above, but I find something fascinating about its vibe. It is not the rebuilt old town you should look for - though pretty. It is the 21st century skyscrapers next to Stalin's sister, the Palace of Culture, the absolutely interactive museum of the Warsaw Uprising, the crazy-decadent parties and Park Lazienki with its friendly squirrels, posing peacocks and the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted thanks to the Wedel Cukiernia.

And we will have almost white nights - at least compared to the Hungarian standards; now the sun sets around 8 pm, but it will go as far as 10-10.30 pm!