Friday, October 28, 2016

Wywiady Klubu Polki: Rozmowa z Magdą Fou

Dzisiaj rozpoczynamy cykl, którego celem jest przybliżenie Czytelnikom Polek mieszkających w różnych krajach świata, blogerek należących do internetowego Klubu Polki na Obczyźnie.

W pierwszym z tej serii poście przedstawiamy wywiad z Magdą Fou - pomysłodawczynią i założycielką Klubu Polki.

Twoje miejsce w Polsce - kraje Twojej emigracji.

Pochodzę z Czechowic-Dziedzic, ale nie mieszkam tam od wielu lat. Po ukończeniu szkoły średniej wyjechałam na rok do Anglii, a po powrocie zaczęłam studia w Warszawie, najpierw na SGH, a później drugi kierunek na UW. Po studiach pracowałam przez kilka lat w centrali jednego z banków, aż do ślubu i wyjazdu do Włoch styczniu 2012 r. Przez 4 lata mieszkałam w Rzymie, ponieważ mój mąż przebywał tam na placówce dyplomatycznej, a od kilku miesięcy mieszkamy w jego rodzinnym kraju, czyli w Egipcie. Do moich rodzinnych Czechowic jednak uwielbiam wracać, kiedy tylko mam do tego okazję. Tam są moi bliscy, za którymi tęsknię z obczyzny, tam jest nasz piękny mały, biały domek z ogrodem, kwiatami i drzewami... Bywam też od czasu to czasu w Zurychu, gdzie mieszka moja mama.

Czym zajmujesz sie na co dzień - Twoje hobby - Z czego jestes dumna?

Praca w banku, oprócz tego, że nauczyła mnie wielu ciekawych rzeczy, przede wszystkim dała mi pewność, że korporacja to nie miejsce dla mnie. W Rzymie najpierw hobbistycznie zajęłam się rękodziełem, później nawet otworzyłam własną działalność gospodarczą i sprzedawałam swoje wyroby - głównie czapki, szaliki oraz artykuły niemowlęce. W tym samym mniej więcej czasie założyłam Klub Polki na Obczyźnie, który chyba jak dotąd jest moją największą dumą. Dzięki niemu poznałam wiele wspaniałych Polek i Polaka rozsianych po świecie, ale także jest on dla mnie nieustanną inspiracją do tworzenia nowych projektów - od wydawania książek (w tym roku wydałyśmy Kalendarz Polki na 2017 r., a obecnie pracujemy nad wspólną książką) po prowadzenie bloga, który jest dość wymagający i ciągle zmusza do uczenia się nowych rzeczy.

Kiedy zaczęłaś pisać bloga - jak powstał Klub Polki na Obczyźnie?

Bloga zaczęłam pisać niedługo po wyjeździe do Włoch. Jest na nim więcej zdjęć niż opisów, bo fotografia to moja pasja od dawna, a piszę zwykle krótko i na temat. Na razie dominują jeszcze Włochy, ale może z czasem zacznę pisać więcej o Egipcie. To dzięki blogowi poznałam inne Polki mieszkające za granicą, które zainspirowały mnie do stworzenia Klubu. Najpierw było to kilka osób, dziś, po dokładnie 4 latach jest nas 300 i można powiedzieć, że tworzymy nie tylko wyjątkową społeczność, ale swego rodzaju "rodzinę". Klubowe spotkania (a jest ich mnóstwo i w najróżniejszych zakątkach świata) dają wrażenie, jakbyśmy się znali od dawna.


Co jeszcze chciałabyś nam powiedzieć o sobie?

Po przeprowadzce do Kairu skupiam się raczej na przystosowaniu się do życia tutaj i moja wena do pisania bloga nieco osłabła, ale mam nadzieję, że wróci, bo życie w Egipcie dostarcza niezwykłych wrażeń i zdziwień - to pełna gama najróżniejszych emocji. Mimo że nie pracuję zawodowo, mam mnóstwo zajęć i pracuję nad wieloma własnymi projektami, głównie związanymi z Klubem Polki, ale nie tylko. Próbuję się również uczyć języka arabskiego, ale to temat na oddzielny wywiad.

MAGDA FOU / KAIR 
Blog Magdy: POLKA NA OBCZYŹNIE 

Serdecznie dziękuję Magdo za podzielenie się z nami informacjami dotyczącymi Twojej osoby i za to, że dzięki temu możemy Cię bliżej poznać. Zapraszam do odwiedzenia bloga prowadzonego przez Magdę.

Nie zapomnijcie sprawdzić, co nowego na stronach Klubu Polki na Obczyźnie: klubpolek.pl.
Publikacja nowych postów na blogu klubowym w każdy poniedziałek i czwartek!

World & Stamps - Twins Drawer Collection: Schmallenberg - Germany

World & Stamps - Twins Drawer Collection: Schmallenberg - Germany: Country: Germany City: Schmallenberg From: Polish Ladies Abroad Club Year: 2016 Schmallenberg is a health resort town in ...


Cklick on the above link to see the card. :-)



Thursday, October 20, 2016

My Cosmetic Side: Hair


Clean, neat hair and hairstyle can make the look. And the opposite. Greasy and untidy hair spoils it totally - unwashed and neglected hair says more than any fancy attire. At least, I think so.

My hair has always been straight and rather fine - it has never been thick at all. When I was in my teens, it also was more on the greasy side. Therefore, in my senior year, I had it permed (slightly) by my mom. My permed hair looked thicker and fluffier. The perm made it drier too so I was not bothered with the 'greasy again' problem.

When I got older, at some point, I started coloring my hair and I always did it at home. At first, I used some shades by L'Oreal only. Later I switched to Wella and Londa, which became my favorite brands as well.

When I moved to Texas, I was trying to find a similar hair dye shade which I used in Poland.
Unfortunately, neither Wella nor Londa coloring products are available in the local stores. For that reason, it took me almost two years to discover which brand and color would be the best for me and my hair. During that time, I experimented a lot - trying to get what I needed, I was buying a different hair dye every month. At the beginning, most of the time, the results were poor. Firstly, it was a grayish shade on my head - despite dying the hair with a blond, not gray hair color. The gray hair made me look older and feel bad/frustrated.

To make matters worse, after a few months, the hair endings felt as if they had been made of rubber. Of course, I knew it was bad, so I tried to treat my hair with some conditioners to improve its appearance and shape. From time to time, I also had my hair shortened and then, the bad endings were gone. Till the next hair coloring time, more or less.

I used two hair color brands once only and I knew I would never put those products on my hair  again. They either stung and burned my scalp horribly or caused my hair much thinner. I am not going to give the name of those items/brands here because I am aware, they may work perfectly well for somebody else.

Anyway, one day, about a week after using a certain hair dye, I needed to call a plumber to have the bathtub drained. When he came to fix the problem, it appeared the pipe had been blocked with bunches of my hair. Needless to say, I also noticed a dramatic change in the thickness of my hair. Disaster! I got scared but it also reminded me the time in my life, when due to totally different reasons, I lost a lot of hair as well. To stop the hair loss, many years ago, I used to make a mixture of raw egg yolk, grated onion, and castor oil. I cannot recall what the proportions of those ingredients were, but I do remember I put the mixture on my scalp, then I covered it with a piece of foil, and fixed a towel on my head/over it all. I did that twice a week for a few months. Every time, I kept the 'conditioner' on my head for about 15 to 20 minutes, then I shampooed the hair twice. It was a necessity because the onion smell was quite strong + the castor oil made the hair extra greasy as well. It was all a kind of nasty, but it did warm up my scalp and, somehow it worked. My hair grew back. It was nice to feel the new growing hairs, which were so soft and seemed like fluff when I brushed my hair with my fingers. I continued the treatment and my hair regular thickness got back. There was no more bold spaces/clearance on my scalp. Not to mention I was much happier too.

Nevertheless, that was why I thought about castor oil again. I looked for it in local stores but I was unsuccessful - no pure castor oil was available. Luckily, I found conditioners which had castor oil as one of their components. And I did apply such a  product on my hair two or three times a week, before hair washing time. Besides that, to strengthen my hair, I was also taking a vitamin supplement once a day.

My scalp saver :-)

I think I should have used the conditioner longer but, inconveniently, castor oil causes slight hair discoloration (it was eating my hair color), so I stopped that part of the treatment.

Well, in the meantime, I finally came across the right hair color taht makes my hair look and feel good. It is the L'Oreal Excellence series which I am content with. What I like about it is that, besides the coloring kit and regular conditioner, every LE box also contains hair endings protector, and it is to be applied 5 minutes before the hair dying itself.

All in all, my hair is in a much a better shape now. More over, despite using a hair color from time to time, the rubber-like endings have not come back.

Regular hair care & styling



1. Shampoos and conditioners
The ones which are best for my strands are meant for fine and colored hair or very gentle ones - for babies. I have been told by a dermatologist that it is not good to use the same kind of hair care products for a long time (it can be compared to a monotonous or one-sided diet), that is why I change them now and then.

2. The hair dryer with a diffuser which helps to dry the hair faster and, at the same time, protects it from overheating. After washing my hair and drying it gently with a towel, I use the hair dryer for a few minutes only. I stop when the hair is slightly damp.

3. The hot air brush is great for styling shorter and medium length hair. The styling works better if the hair is not totally dry. In the case of the long hair, the hot air brush is good only to style the hair endings - it can get stuck in the strands when you try to use it similarly to a curling iron.

Having been advised by a hairstylist, I also used a hair volumizing product while doing it. However, I noticed that it made the strands of my heavier which resulted in an increase of hair loss, comparing to the time when I did not use that volumizer. So I quit applying it. Moreover, to let my scalp 'breath', I stopped treating it with hair spray as well. Without it all, my hair is soft and seems so light and it does feel really good. And it looks natural too - no 'crash helmet' effect anymore!

Take good care of your scalp and hair, and do not make the mistakes I did. :-)

PS
L'Oreal Excellence is for (originally) dark hair.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Our Cats & Friend: Kimchi

Read about Ania's kitten here: Kimchi

Movies Monthly: September


By the end of September, we reached no. 692. Which means that during the past 2016 months, we had watched that many movies - various ones.

Detective stories 

New (to us) series started:
Besides, Father Brown came back in September too.

Dramas

Poldark II (BBC) and Indian Summers II (BBC again) began.

Comedy shows

We enjoyed more jokes by Yakov Smirnoff:

605. Yakov Smirnoff - Just of the Boat


Most interesting movies of September

606. The Truman Show - 1998 (drama, SF) - with J. Carrey - directed by Peter Weir

608. The Bounty - 1984 (drama), with Mel Gibson - directed by Roger Donaldson

610. Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship of the Ring - 2001 (fantasy) - directed by Peter Jackson

636. Unforgiven - 1992 (western) - with C. Eastwood and G. Hackman - directed by C. Eastwood

638. The Secret Garden - 1993 (drama, family) - directed by Agnieszka Holland - In our opinion, it is the best movie version of the novel.

649. The Forger - 2015 (drama), with J. Travolta - directed by P. D'Ovidio

654. The Strip - 1951 (crime) - directed by Laszlo Kardos

662. Trail of the Pink Panther - 1982 (comedy) - directed by Blake Edwards.
The outfits worn by A. Hepburn in the movie were made by de Givenchy. Most quite wonderful, except the white one + the white hat, showed at the very beginning of the movie.

671. K-19 The Widowmaker - 2002 (drama, biography), with H. Ford - directed by Kathryn Bigelow

674. The Conversation - 1974 (thriller) - with G. Hackman - directed by F. F. Coppola

679.A Song to Remember - 1945 (drama, music) - directed by Charles Vidor
It is not a biography - the Chopin's life story pictured in the movie was not true, just made up by the filmmakers. But the music was real and only because of the compositions by Chopin I found the movie interesting.

Radio Pictures

669. Wide Open - 1930 (comedy)
670. The Roar of the Dragon - 1932 (adventure), directed by Wesley Ruggles
688. Gunga Din - 1939 (adventure) - directed by George Stevens - based on the poem by R. Kipling.

We had watched quite a few movies by Radio Picture/Radio Pictures - all of them were exquisite or really good. That is why, whenever we see at the beginning of the film, that it is a Radio Pictures production, we can expect it should be an interesting show. Considering the three movies listed above, we were not disappointed either. We especially Gunga Din, both the story and the character of that name as well.


World & Stamps - Twins Drawer Collection: Saint Petersburg - Russia

World & Stamps - Twins Drawer Collection: Saint Petersburg - Russia: Country : Russia Place: Saint Petersburg Year: 2016 From: Penpal exchange Saint Petersburg / Sankt Petersburg is the second largest...