My Polish Boyfriend

Hey Everyone,

 

I've had a great weekend so far with Marcin, but it just occurred to me that when I mentioned him in my last post, many of you probably had no idea who I was talking about.  So let's see; it all started on a cool winter evening just after New Year's in 2007.  I was originally traveling in East Germany with my best friend Carsten and we decided to go to Prague next.  The day after we arrived, Carsten made plans to meet a guy so I made plans to meet Marcin, someone I had been chatting with online.  Marcin is Polish and was attending university in Germany, but was living in Prague for a year as part of an exchange program through school.  We decided to meet at a church near his flat, then we went to a quiet bar for a drink and to chat.  We ended up going to a club afterward and by the time I returned to the hostel later that evening, I had a "Dear John" note from Carsten saying he had received some bad news and decided to go back home to Germany.  Yeah, he actually took the car and left me in Prague!  I understood what was going on and it really was no big deal since, now that I was traveling alone, I could spend as much time as I wanted with Marcin.  But I still tease Carsten today about leaving me stranded in a foreign country. 

 

Anyway, Marcin and I had almost a week to get to know each other in Prague before I had to leave to meet Carsten again in Germany.  We had an amazing time together and when we were saying goodbye at the train station, the reality that we live on two different continents finally set in and made for a sad and difficult goodbye.  Nevertheless, we kept in touch and met again in Cancun in February 2008.  Marcin was traveling to Mexico and Guatemala then and since San Diego is right next door to Mexico, I decided to fly down and meet him and enjoy a nice winter vacation.  Sean actually joined me on that trip and the three of us had a good time.  Then I saw Marcin again later the same year when we went to Europe this past September 2008.  Sean and I caught up with Marcin in Berlin, although Sean ended up spending more time with Marcin in Berlin than I did; I had other objectives in my favorite city.  But Marcin and I did take a side trip to Poland for four days while Sean stayed in Berlin.  Poland was awesome and traveling with someone who actually speaks the language allowed me to get so much more out of the trip than I otherwise would have. 

 

After returning from Europe, Sean and I obviously left to start our around the world trip a few weeks later.  When Marcin decided he wanted to take a month-long trip to South America, we coordinated dates and plans to be able to meet up together here in Brazil.  The main reason why I really wanted to coordinate is because after I finally return home from this trip, who knows how long it will be before I can make it to Europe again, and since the US makes it quite difficult for people from Poland to visit the States, we figured this would be the last chance to see each other for a long while.  So here we are, together in Sao Paulo. 

 

Marcin is very special to me and we've grown very close over the last two years so I'm very happy to have some one-on-one time with him.  The funny thing we were talking about yesterday is that, for all the time we've spent together, we've never seen where each other lives.  Marcin has never been to the States and while I have been to many cities in Germany, I have never been to Hannover where he lives.  It's kind of fun to always meet and spend time together in foreign cities.  It kind of makes me feel like some kind of James Bond, jet setter with an international love affair... without the money and lavish lifestyle, of course.

 

So that's the story of my Polish boyfriend.  I'll write more about our time here in Sao Paulo later. 

 

Cheers,

Ozell