Meeting Our Client

With so much anticipation over the past few months, all of the suspense of "what will be our project", "who will be our team", and just meeting our client over the phone for the first time just last week, the day before departing for Poland, the moment had finally arrived to meet our client.

It had only been 3 days since we landed in Poland, and just 2 days in Lublin, but our team had already experienced the spirit of Lublin, "the city of inspiration".



 The kickoff meeting went well, it was exciting to finally meet our clients and IBM Poland Team, and start discussing our projects.

 After the meeting, getting acquainted, and tour of the offices, we visited a few of the favorite local establishments.  The team here is pictured at "Stop 2" where we enjoyed some delicious cider.

 Pictured at left at "Stop 3" is Seta Galareta, or set jelly.  This is a dish traditionally served with Vodka poured over the top. 

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A local favorite is  Żołądkowa Gorzka, which translates to "bitter vodka for the stomach".

Traditional Jewish Dinner

To end the day Sunday, I had the pleasure of joining my teammate Simon, who is Orthodox Jewish, for a dinner at Hotel IIlan. 

Simon had called ahead for his Kosher dinner.  I started with Matzah balls soup.  Delicious!

My main course was lamb stew with lentils and pickle and onion salad.  Excellent!

We chatted a bit about our religious upbringings and beliefs over dinner, and the interesting blend of the two of us (he Jewish decent and me German decent) on this team for this project with the significant historical events that happened in Poland during World War II, just 70 years ago. 

Then it was on to talking about the CSC project and looking forward to meeting the client the next day. 

My View, the Cemetery and the Lublin Castle

 Pictured right and below are the views from the balcony in my room.  What floor am I on you ask, well that's a good question.  It depends.

I would say I am on the 3rd floor, however in Poland the ground floor is 0, and what the US refers to 2nd floor is actually 1st floor in Poland.  So if I were in the US I would be on the 3rd floor, however in Poland I am on the 2nd floor.  Regardless of the floor, its a great view!




Sunday morning, though I am not Catholic, I attended church at St John the Baptist Catholic Church with one of my IBM teammates, Angela.  The service of course was all in Polish, but I was able to follow along in the English version of the service with some help from my guide.

 The images of the church exterior above and interior to the right are compliments of the internet.  Unfortunately the pictures do not capture the magnificence.

Lunch was at a buffet style restaurant.  I ordered the chicken and chicken liver with potatoes (two wallops) spinach and tomato soup. Very good.
And I can see after just 2 days I will need to continue to document all the good  food I am eating so I have plenty of evidence why I am 20 lbs heavier when I return home.

After lunch we headed out for a much needed walk.  We headed toward a large cemetery not far from our hotel. 

We came upon these large tombstones and large helmet looking monument below.  The tombstones were surprisingly bare compared to the smattering of flowers and candles on nearly every other tombstone in the cemetery. 

Upon closer look these were the tombstones of Russian soldiers who fought in World War II.

Then it was on to the Old City and to see the castle.  I will not leave you waiting, the picture below is the spectacular view from the top of the 3 story Romanesque donjon.

 The original castle was built out of wood in the 12th century.  In around the 14th century the brick donjon was constructed.  In the 1820s the front of the castle was constructed in a Neo -Gothic style and the castle was turned into a prison for the next 128 years.  During World War II a Nazi prison was located at the Castle.

View of the donjon from the castle courtyard

The steps leading to the top of the Tower

Hey Will, some of the rooms in the Tower reminded me of some of the rooms I have seen you explore in Minecraft.

Spectactular 360 degree views from the top of the Tower

Arriving in Lublin

 The Team's hotel in Lublin is the Grand Hotel Lublinanka, which has quite a storied history dating back to 1899, first constructed as the Bank of Lublin Industrialists.  During World War II the Germans transformed the building into the Deutsches Haus (German House), and then it became Lublinanka hotel after the war. The hotel is located witin walking distance of the Old Town Market
 Square.

Pictured at right is the plaza that is 2 minutes walking from the hotel and leads to the Old City.  There are several bars and restaurants along this stretch. 


And below is the City Mayor's Office. 
(Hey Ethan, maybe you'll have an office like this one day)

Lublin City Mayor's Office

Entering the Old City

 The IBM Team entering the Old City on our way to late lunch.  I couldn't think of a more fitting way to get to know the city of Lublin than to visit one of its restaurants and hear the stories the locals have to tell.

The IBM Team - Local host Jerzy Schindler is at the head of the table

Of course, the stories come easier with some beer.  Perla beer is a local favorite.  And now one of mine too!  There are 6 different Perla beers;  the one we had with lunch was the Niepasteryzowana (Non-pasteurized). I ordered traditional Polish Pork and dumplings.  I always thought that the Polish were known for sausage;  they do eat sausage, however it was interesting to learn that Pork is the more traditional favorite.  The meal was fantastic!!






After lunch we went back to the hotel to finish unpacking and unwind from the trip from Warsaw.  The city of Lublin is beautiful and we can see there is lots to explore. Later in the evening a small group of us visited a local Pub (the Old Pub) and ordered a beer tube for the night cap.  What an incredible first day in Lublin!

 

Bus Ride to Lublin

After breakfast at the hotel the Team loaded up the bus for the road trip to Lublin.  From Warsaw, the distance to Lublin is about 169km or 2.5 hours drive.

Going over the bridge leaving Warsaw

The trip went by fast for two reasons, 1) lots of new sites to see and 2) Teammate Alex shared with us a road game.

  A guessing game where a leader writes a specific topic on cards for each playing member, however 3 players"undercover" receive a card with a generic topic. In each round, each player must provide a clue of the topic; after which a vote is taken with the goal to determine the undercover players.  To make it interesting, players can lie about their topic during the first 3 rounds.

 Gas prices along the way were 4.85zl (zlotty) per liter.    For those who like math lets do some conversions to US $ per gallon.  For those who do not like math, (and to check my math)  scroll to the end of the post for the answer: 

• there are 3.785 liters per gallon
• there are currently roughly 3.71zl per 1 US $

4.85zl per liter x 3.785 liters per gallon = 18.36zl per gallon

18.36zl per gallon / 3.71zl per 1 US $

keep scrolling down for answer

Local farmer driving along the highway

The countryside was beautiful

.......... And the answer is.... $4.95 per gallon.

A Night in Warsaw

After being awake for almost 24 hours, minus about 1 hour of sleep on the plane, I arrived at the hotel in Warsaw around 1pm Friday.  The plan was to meet the rest of the team for dinner later in the day, which allowed me to check in to my room and get a quick nap.  I didn't get my coat off before I fell asleep.

IBMer Anna Jawor (Poland) arranged a fabulous team dinner to kickoff the experience in Poland!

Calixto, Rafael, Jakub (IBM Poland), Alex,
Crystal (IBM Poland), Patricio, and Monica (IBM Poland)

Latika, Samuel, Thierry, Anna (IBM Poland),Calixto (again), Amit, Laura (Pyxera Global, Angela, Daria (IBM Poland), Urmi

 After dinner, Jakub and Daria guided some of the team on a walking tour to take in some of the sites in Warsaw.  Below is a picture of the team in front of the Palace of Culture and Science.  This building was a gift from USSR to the people of Warsaw "to the spirit of invention and social progress" after World War II.  Today it still the tallest building (30 stories) in Warsaw despite the construction of many new skyscrapers in the city.

 

From left: Rafael, Alex, Amit, Jakub (IBM Poland), Daria (IBM Poland), Calixto, Patricio, me, Crystal (IBM Poland)

Another interesting site was a single palm tree that grew right in the middle of a main road in Warsaw. It remains unknown how the tree is able to survive the harsh climate of Poland winters.

This night also happened to be Jakub's birthday (one of our local hosts).  Contrary to the tradition I am used to in the US where the team would treat Jakub to a birthday shot, in this case, reportedly by Jakub to be Polish tradition, Jakub treated the team to birthday shots at one of Warsaw's 24x7 "shot bars".  I was unable to confirm with other locals if this was in fact is the Polish tradition.

Line em up... lemon vodka shots on the left  and hazelnut vodka shots on the right.

Wszystkiego najlepszego (Happy Birthday) Jakub!

And now you too can sing along in Polish!

Wow!  What an incredible first night in Poland, now back to the Hotel Mercure.

Arrival in Poland

Packing for the trip was a challenge... what to bring for 30 days in Poland, especially when the world meteorology appears to be backwards.  The week before the trip Virginia experienced extreme cold, and even broke a 100 year record low one day.  Poland, on the other hand, which is supposed to be cold, very cold, this time of year is experiencing unusually warm weather (in the 40's F).  Nonetheless, I packed for colder weather, just in case.

I got to walk the dog (Lola) one last time before the trip, since my flight was delayed three times due to the weather. But finally got off the ground around 7pm on Thursday.

Below is my first official meal of the trip.  I had to post this as I had the feeling this would be my last bad meal for at least 30 days.

View of the approach arriving in Warsaw.

Pulled into the gate around noon on Friday.