Falling Down

If you are keen on movies, most probably you will remember that the title of this post is exactly the same as the title of a thriller from the early 90s. It tells a story about a guy, whose nickname is D-FENS. Michael Douglas' character begins to crack and starts to fight back against the everyday "injustices" he encounters on his journey home. When I refer injustices, I mean everyday situations that people do not bother until they crack. In this movie, D-Fens start to collapses at a normal day journey to work, stuck in a traffic jam, with temperatures over 35 degrees, in LA (fortunately I do not have to put up with traffic jams anymore coz I know what it means). During the movie, everyday situation such as buying a burger which do not looks like with the pictures of the advertisements, gang territorial wars (this reminds me the typical approach of gangs in Portugal - Comeh sócio, orienta aí 100 paus), people going through you without apologizing, etc. I really recommend you this movie.

My state of mind at this moment is exactly the same as D-Fens. Life in Poland is not as easy as people might thing. Situations capable of cracking a person happen every single day. I know that there are many cultural differences between western and eastern European countries, but please, there is a middle term. I think the breakeven point happened two weeks ago when my friends were beaten up by those who I nicknamed as White Apes (Poland can be considered as the last living natural resort of the White Ape race aka Polish Men). From that they on I started to crack easily during my daily tasks. As I told you before, not only could I write a book about english in polish version but I could have an encyclopedia about these strange situations...

You know what you have to do to have a VISA credit card in Poland with a plafond of 10.000 PLN? It is easy... according to the bank they block in our bank account 12.000 PLN and then we can start using it. LOGICAL??? DO THEY KNOW THE MEANING OF VISA?

Have you ever tried to go to a doctor in Poland? Well, if you do not even speak a little bit of polish... forget it. I truly recommend you that you trust on your pills at home that your mother gave you before leaving your family´s nest. Actually, I have never seen a country with such burocratical processes. Probably most of patients die on their way to the doctor because of the several check points where they must show that they have abonament card for the private medical care service and identification card (I do not even want to imagine what is going in the public service).

I am the kind of guy that always leave a tip at a restaurant, taxi or club. What I hate the most is being cheated or having a note written in english on the bill stating that the service is not included. More even, asking me to pay before I even got the food on the table just because the waiter is finishing the shift.

I could go on and on... The fact is I am cracking but I do not want to take the same path as D-Fens took in the movie...

It is because I am foreigner or it is just me?