Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hey guys! Today I just wanted to tell a quick story about
something that happened to my boyfriend and I when we were living in Cracow.
So, when we lived in Cracow we were kind of far away from places that we could go
to do our grocery shopping. Most of the time we would go to the mall to do our food
shopping because they had a grocery store there.
It would take us like 10 minutes to walk to the tram stop,
and then it was like a 15-20 minute tram ride
and then like another 5 minute walk to get to the mall.
Grocery shopping would take us like 2 hours, and it just sucked, especially if we had to get
get a lot of stuff because then we had to carry it back and ride with it on the tram.
We had a Tesco that was actually relatively
close to our apartment. If you took the tram
it was just two stops and you were there.
And if you walked, it took like an hour to walk there.
So, it kind of sucked either way because, either you're walking for an hour
or you have to pay money
to ride two stops on the tram. and the smallest ticket that you can get
for the tram is 20 minutes, and it was like 3 zloty or something like that.
So we have our little plan: We're gunna get on, and pretend that we're looking for
change
to pay for the ticket, because you have to use change to buy your ticket in the machine,
and act like we don't have any
and just sort of wait. and if the controller comes, we'll be like,
"Hey, we didn't have money for a ticket, but we were already on, and the bus was moving
or the tram was moving, so we were gunna get off.
Lo and behold! The controller comes on.
And there we are, sitting right next to the machine, and he's like, "Do you guys have tickets?"
and my boyfriend answers, he's like, "No,"
like tells him what we were gunna tell him, "we don't have any money for them, we were just about to get off
at the next stop."
So he says, "Come with me."
And we have like three big bags of groceries with us,
and we have to get off of the tram, and lucky for whoever else was on the tram
and didn't have a ticket, because they didn't get checked! We get off, and he asks for our IDs.
So my boyfriend gives him his driver's license or whatever and I give him my
passport
and he's like, "ooooh, America wow!"
And my boyfriend and I were not having any of it.
Like... it's fine. Like, "yeah I'm from America!"
Great! but I know you're about to give me a fine.
I'm not gunna be like, excited to talk to you. But we were trying to be nice
because we thought maybe we could get out of the fine, and my boyfriend is telling him,
"She's a student, we just got to Cracow,
she doesn't speak Polish." I'm just like "eee", cause at that time I really hardly spoke any Polish.
"You know, we just-- we have one more stop to go.
We were just gunna get off, you know, we ran out of money to pay for the tickets."
And he's like, "Fine fine fine, haha, whatever.
Go get money, you need to pay for this fine." and he actually ended up only fining
my boyfriend and not me and I think it's because he like, didn't know how to
how to process my passport. So we got one fine
which was 120 zloty, which comes out to be
40 dollars, but in Poland,
In Poland, one zloty is like one dollar, because of
how much people earn and everything. So it's like having a $120 fine
for riding one stop on the tram without a card-- or, without a ticket. And he's telling my boyfriend, like
"Go, go to the ATM, get money."
And he's like, "I don't think I have 120 zloty in my account.
I'm unemployed, I'm a student, you know." He's like, "Well maybe
"Well maybe your American friend can pay from her account." WHAT?!
Maybe I can pay from my account because I'm from a rich country? Is that what
you're trying to imply?
My boyfriend was just like, "Absolutely not."
So, he's like, "Okay, let's go to the ATM." and I think we actually got
on the tram again and went to the stop that we were gunna get off anyway.
And my boyfriend is finally like,
"You know what, can you just write me a ticket to pay this fine? Can I pay it online or something?"
Can I pay it online or something?"
and the guy was like, "Sure." Because, we're not just gunna
give 120 bucks to some guy on the street!
Who's to say that he's actually gunna file our ticket, you know?
He's like, still trying to chat with us, like, "Oh my daughter studied in London. She also speaks English.
She also speaks English. Wow."
We didn't care at this point. We're just like, "oh. hmm, nice."
And, so he writes out the ticket,
gives it to my boyfriend, and, cherry on top of the cake,
cherry on top of the cake of the whole situation -- it's raining, by the way.
it's like March or April
snow on the ground and it's raining,
we still have three bags of groceries and our ticket in hand,
and he goes... "Witamy w Polsce."
WELCOME TO POLAND.
what. the. heck.
and I, you know, I was just kind of smiling.
like, "okaaayy. alright. I have no idea what you're talking about."
He goes, "Tell her, tell her." and my boyfriend turns to me,
and just like shakes his head and
when we were walking away he told me that this man welcomed me to Poland.
"Witamy w Polsce! Here's a fine for 120 zloty!
Have fun walking home in the rain with your groceries."
Hashtag: Polish Lifestyle.