Taking care of the essentials in Gdansk

After finally arriving at the Gdansk airport at around noon Saturday, my adventures were just beginning.
Interestingly, one of those adventures was neither customs nor passport control, since those did not seem to exist at the airport. There were a few men in yellow vests standing around in the hallway as the group from our plane left, but they didn't seem to be much concerned about anyone entering the country. It was hard for the American in me to grasp this!
The taxi ride, on the other hand, was a full-on adventure. The poor man spoke no English and didn't know the street I had in my instructions. That didn't stop him from peeling away from the airport and racing off to... somewhere? (This madman style of taxi driving seems to be the norm, as I gathered over the next couple days.)

Luckily the driver was able to call a friend who told him something that made our destination clear. Or so I gathered. The fact that I couldn't respond to any of his comments did not stop him from muttering at me in Polish the whole ride. I think he was just as happy to see me get out of his cab as I was to have arrived in one piece at the apartment!
After I took a much-needed shower and got myself together a bit, I headed out for the Galeria Bałtycka - the biggest shopping center in Gdansk and about a 10 minute walk from the apartment. My two goals before I let myself sleep for the day were to get groceries and a SIM card, and I had been told I could do both there. Luckily we had zoomed by the shopping center in the taxi, so I was able to retrace the route and get there easily.

The Galeria Bałtycka is pretty cool inside: it's just like a regular mall but with some dinosaurs in it.

I was able to find a shop that sold SIM cards, but the girl was not too pleased to be helping me. Or maybe it was the fact that she had to speak in English. Whatever it was, I ended up having to go to a second store that sold Apple products and ask if they would let me borrow a SIM card tool. Luckily, the guy there seemed happy (or maybe just amused) to help me, and gave me a paperclip to pop open the slot. He also proudly told me I could keep it! =)

A second nice young Polish man saved me again at the grocery store. Unbeknownst to me, you are supposed to bag, weigh, and price your own produce. I had just put some fruit in my basket and the nice guy chased after me to correct me. He seemed a bit disappointed after he realized I couldn't understand anything he was saying, and then he seemed to fully regret his decision to help when it became clear that he was going to have to pantomime his point. But we got there in the end and I was grateful that he helped; I certainly wouldn't have understood what was happening once I was trying to pay at the registers!
After I got my groceries, I decided not to press my luck anymore. I headed back to the apartment and set a goal to stay awake until 8. I made it to 7:30 and then called it a successful first day in Poland!

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