Moving Ahead

So it has been over a week now since my last blog entry. Here’s what has happened: I went to stay at a home in the territory of another less-studied wolf pack here in southern Poland. It was nice to stay somewhere new and explore some different mountain areas. Unfortunately I didn’t have any access to the internet or even to a payphone, so I had to entertain myself for the whole 9 days. Hiking occupied a lot of my time. I did a few big hikes, mostly along the Slovakian border. However, I didn’t find nearly as many scats as I was hoping for, so I wasn’t too pleased about that, since there are supposed to be 6 wolves in this pack. Oh, I did find a brown bear track though! A picture should be around here somewhere. It is a big deal since there are only 6 of them in this area. It was only about a day ahead of me on this trail.

Once cool thing that I found out is that I am the first American to stay in this village, at least for the last 20 years. A lady had to come and document my staying here, and she explained this all to me (through an interpreter, of course). That is pretty cool in my opinion. Maybe I made a name for myself. Speaking of which, the weather was really nice for a few days and I decided to do some running. During my first run I received a lot of strange looks, like maybe these people had never seen someone who actually likes to run for fun. It was a little weird. Well, the second run I went on couldn’t have helped. The weather was so nice and the sun was out, so I decided to go for a run shirtless! Needless to say (and I am not bragging here), the number of strange stares I received multiplied drastically. I couldn’t help but to laugh. The funniest look I received was from a construction worker who saw me hike by at 8 in the morning wearing all my hiking gear and my backpack. He then saw me 10 hours later, running by in just some shorts and a hat! I wonder what he thought. Running is definitely a nice form of therapy for me. After endless miles of slogging up and down mountains with a heavy pack on, it feels awesome to just get out and get the legs moving again and get the adrenaline pumping.

Now it is my turn to play the part of, in the words of the wise Derek Zoolander, the “philosophizer.” Today’s subject is about hope. Isn’t it ironic how hope can keep a person alive and make it much easier to go on when life is down and times are hard, yet it can also prevent a person from moving on with his or her life by holding on rather than letting go? What a fine line that is!

Okay, I think that is enough for today. My brain hurts from all this philosophizing and such! A hiking trip to the Tatra Mts. awaits, so I will post another entry after returning. Take care everyone!