Gdynia to Gdansk

Sleep is good. However this is a working vacation in more ways than one. I love those students that are emailing me their homework assignments this week. Keep up the good work Westlake! This morning, before the run, sitting in Gdynia, Poland, I graded about 50 homework assignments from Waldorf, Maryland. Isn't the world a connected place! It seems as though any problem should be able to be solved because we have got the world communication system in place. What could possibly be holding us back? Yeah, I hear you making a list now....

The run this morning was interesting. I started in a planned community of nice middle class homes built near what we would call an industrial park. I ran next to a gated community of white brick McMansions and then into the town of Gdynia. Small narrow streets of almost row houses. It is definitely an industrial town. It may have been healthier to stay inside rather than subject my virgin lungs to the coal burning, diesel spewing, and smokey odors I was inhaling.

Monika was up and in a hurry to get to her office in Gdansk. So fast breakfast, fast shower, fast packing and stuff the car full of people and luggage! Then the terror starts... Monika is a poster child for how not to drive and talk on the cell phone! Oh yeah, it's a manual transmission as well. It's a good thing she didn't have a drink and a cigarette - then I know we would have crashed! I think we set some landspeed records between Gdynia and Gdansk! My knees are still shaking! :)

We arrived safely at the Solidarity office building and got a peak at her office. This is the place where the union began its push against the Soviets in the 70s and 80s. Over the next few days we will hear some of their stories and be amazed!

Our next hotel is very comfortable - Gryf Hotel. I unpacked for the next few days as the Civic Voices conference begins tomorrow! Larry and I took the recommendation of the hotel staff to go to a restaurant on the way to the old part of town- Swojski Smak. The city has a history of going back and forth between being German, Polish, Russian, and even a free city on its own! Lots of history here, even before the Soviets leave.

Larry and I checked out the old part of town. The architecture is amazing almost matching some cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen and other Baltic sites. We hit a cafe for dessert and hot drinks because it has been gray all day and the rain has steadily strengthened. Since it gets dark at 3:30 in the afternoon, it seems as the whole day is like a long evening!

Tomorrow our conference starts. 25 Polish teachers are coming to be trained for Civic Voices. Each will learn how to train their students to find civic activists from the 70s and 80s, interview them with video cameras, and upload the video and transcript to the Civic Voices Website. This will create (over the next few years) an International Democracy Memory Bank to be enjoyed, researched, and used by all those in the future who have a stake in democratic principles! I think the project is so special and profound. Deep implications lie here!