Kyle in Poland: Days 71-74

Multiple workouts, Laundry day, Fascinating Polish sunlight hours, and more, Photos throughout story and at the end

June 9, just like many of the previous days, began with a ridiculous sleeping schedule.

Still groggy and tired when I woke up, I had to make myself get out of bed to start the day.

Once I was finally up and around, I made sandwiches for lunch. Then, I proceeded to spend most of the day thoroughly editing a story.

Later on, I took a break, stretched, and rode a bike to the gym.

Throughout the last month, out of an abundance of caution with my shoulder, I did not do any upper body workouts. Now that I was starting to feel better, I was excited to get back to it.

At long last, I was able to do my “day two” workout which consisted of curls, triceps extension, shrugs, lat pulldown, dumbbell row, dumbbell bench, IYT’s, and 200 abs.  

I completed my workout and rode to the grocery store immediately after. There, I bought bread, sub style bread, two jars of peanut butter, three jars of jelly, Nutella, kielbasa, and two boxes of chicken wings for $24.

I left the store and rode back to the apartment, which was not fun with my groceries weighing me down.

Back in my room, I unpacked and took out the trash. For the next couple hours, I hung out until I got hungry and made wings for dinner.

After I ate, I cleaned up, showered, and got to work writing. I ended up completing an entire story and began working on another until I grew tired and fell asleep.

The next day, I forced myself to wake up earlier, but it did not last very long.

I woke up, read through emails, and before I knew it, I was dozing off again. Eventually, I quit fighting it and took a nap.

When I awoke again, I got up and made sandwiches. Once lunch was finished, I completed my final edits and published. Still on a roll, I ended up completely writing another story as well.

I then decided to take a break from my laptop and went through my daily stretches before riding a bike to the baseball field.

Along the way, I coincidentally ran into Masa, who was on the other bike. We briefly greeted one another and were both curious as to what the other was doing out and about. Funny enough, we were headed in the same direction but had completely different plans, with Masa going to one of the grocery stores and me to the baseball field.

We chatted for a small moment and then went about our days.

I arrived at the field a few minutes later and sat down to catch my breath. When I was ready to begin my mini-individual practice, I stretched, and then played catch by myself.

After I completed my throwing, I did some light arm recovery, and rode back.

I sat around and waited for the most anticipated part of my day, the Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan. Although both teams were incredible, City were definitely the heavy favorites and rightfully so, they were a super team.

Finally, around 9 p.m., the game started. After a solid first half, I seized the right opportunity during halftime to cook dinner.

I made four kielbasa hot dogs and ate throughout the second half.

Unlike some of the other finals I have discussed, there was no need for extra time nor penalty kicks in this one. In the 68^th minute, Rodri hit a laser of a shot to give Man City the lead, and they never looked back, defeating Inter 1-0 and capturing their first ever Champions League trophy.

The rest of the night, I talked to Jocelyn, showered, and edited until I became tired and went to sleep.

The next day, June 11, began a lot like the previous one; I woke up early, stayed awake for a while, and then napped.

One thing I must mention is that the sun’s schedule is quite remarkable here.

Lately, I have learned the sun begins to rise around 3 a.m. and does not fully go down until well after 10 p.m. It is incredible how much sunlight there is, but it also heavily interferes with my sleeping schedule, which can explain why my patterns have been so off-the-wall.

For context, here is the sun beginning to rise at 3 a.m:

When I woke up again, I got ready for the day and ate sandwiches for lunch.

Afterward, I watched Ada Southwest church of Christ’s worship service via Facebook Live. As soon as it was over, I packed up my laundry and walked a couple miles to Pralkomat Break & Wash, the same public laundry service I used a couple months ago.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at the gas station, both washers and dryers were being used. Not sure what to do, I left.

Since I still wanted to clean my clothes that day, I decided to go to Bistro Pizza to wait it out. While I was there, I ordered a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. Surprisingly, the jalapenos were red and a bit spicier than I had remembered.

I took my time eating and once I finished, walked back to the gas station. Noticing that a washer was available, I jumped at the opportunity and threw all my clothes in.

For the next hour and fifteen minutes, I sat on a nearby bench and watched tv shows on HBO Max to pass the time. Thankfully, this kept me preoccupied so it went by quicker.

After my clothes were finished drying, I left Pralkomat and walked back to the apartment. Part of what made it possible to wait so long to do my laundry was the fact the sun went down very late, a good byproduct of the many hours of sunlight.

When I arrived at the apartment, it was around 9:40 p.m., and the sun still provided plenty of light to walk around comfortably.

Here is what it looked like at that time:

Back in my room, I continued being productive, vacuuming the floors and later showering. Afterward, I edited a story and wrote before going to sleep.

I woke up late the following morning but was happy I slept through the entire night.

As I am sure you could guess by now, the routine was similar to most days.

I got ready, ate sandwiches for lunch, finished a story, and published. I know it may sound boring, but it was good to get a routine going.

Once I was done writing, I stretched and then rode to the field. I threw by myself again and was somewhat shocked with how my arm felt. For the first time in quite a while, I felt solid. It finally seemed like real progress had been made.

After I finished throwing, I rode back.

Learning from my past experiences, I opted to walk to the gym instead of riding the bike. I knew the ride back after leg day would have been brutal, so I switched it up.

For this session, I did my “day three” workout which consisted of goblet squat, dumbbell split squat, front lunge, dumbbell RDL, calf raises, and 300 abs.

On the walk back, I took more pictures to demonstrate how, even at night, there was still some sunlight available.

These pictures were taken around 10:10 p.m:

Upon my return to the apartment, I made wings for dinner. Then, for a little late-night snack, I had crackers and Nutella.

Right after I finished eating, Jocelyn called, and I ended up helping her with homework for a while.

Once we were done with that, I showered and wrote for most of the night.

Still awake during the wee hours of the morning, I watched most of the decisive game five NBA Finals win for the Denver Nuggets. It was great watching the team, especially Nikola Jokic, win their first ever title, but since it was so incredibly late, I had to make myself go to sleep as soon as the game concluded.