A Walk in Poland

All my preconceived notions of a first day at work have been smashed. On my first day at Play there was no policy book to read (yet). There was no quiet stream of pleasantries coming from new workmates welcoming me. Instead, there was a heavy tube filled with mysterious blueprints, a backpack overfilled with think cards and studying material and a very tall blonde dude with whom I was catching a flight to Warsaw, Poland. That’s a first day on the job.

I believe that serendipity presents itself to us often, and that we just need to be tuned in to it. So when I met Andy for coffee almost 6 months ago not looking for a job, I walked away knowing that things for me were about to change. My story… great job at a great agency. Not looking for change. Had been there for eight plus years. Everything primed and ready for my future. A wife, two kids and a dog. Meatloaf on Wednesdays. And then I was inspired.

A whirlwind of events followed and next thing I know I’m in Warsaw. I thought it was a little cliché actually, heading to a city that had been destroyed during WWII and was now building itself back up. But, what the hell. I’ll go with it.

So here’s the nutshell of my first Play experience. Barry, Patty and I were staying at the Marriott in a worn out part of Warsaw.

(click here to check out the photo show)


After a good nights sleep (and after I ate French Toast covered in corn flakes… another story entirely), we met downstairs to scout our surroundings for the following day’s workshop. Fodor’s recommended a visit to New Town/Old Town which was about a mile away. So we coffee-ed up and hit the street.

Our trek took us past dirty store fronts, un-cared for street corners, stenciled graffiti in places that would seem sacrilegious here in the states. I mean right on the fricking side of nice buildings! In general, people seemed stuck in their own worlds, focused on getting from point A to Point B as fast as they could.

But the thing that hit me the most was that the farther we walked, the more I realized I was in control of nothing. With more than eight years of a previous job now just a memory, I was suddenly seeking “place” and productivity… in a different part of the world no less.

After ducking a brief rain shower under the entrance of a Western Union, we left the dinginess behind for a tree-lined park. Weedy patches of grass flanked our path to a massive fountain bordered by red and purple pansies. The transition from dingy Warsaw to clean Warsaw was subtle, but eye opening.

Our crossing guard to the “new” was a peaceful older woman reading a paper on a bench close by. Her presence felt like a relic of the past – a reminder of the hardship that Poland has been through. A quick exchange of smiles and we walked past heading to the tomb of the unknown soldiers. We stop to observe a group of children with teachers visiting the memorial. It was refreshing in a weird way. Children are the same no matter where you are. They reveled more in the excitement of the moment, mimicking the changing of the guard, rather than the gravity of the monument to Poland’s past. They were laughing. We were laughing.

Then we moved on.

We reached New Town/Old Town a few minutes later and digested "an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century" (according to Wikipedia and two very heavy travel books we were carrying around). Masons were laying new cobblestone on the streets as we walked, adding to the quiet energy from pedestrians. People were chatting, looking, intermingling. The whole stretch invited exploration.

And thus began the shift in my mood that I had been waiting for. My equal sign that day came in the form of “what’s next.” Embrace the past, build the future. Who knows what’s coming. But if every day includes walks with the gifted colleagues that I am now lucky to be connected to, then it’s sure as hell going to be a fantastic ride. Not bad for a first day at work.

Dziekuje.