Rebirth of the Phoenix from Ashes

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Hippo isn't always nipping, it's Phoenix! He has learned NOT to trust her so he nips her back now. No Hippo is just super grumpy and aggressive! Even the way he picks his toys up, he like raises them and boxes at the same time lol as I said, Im surprised hes neutered!!! I've learned to love his grumpiness though.... They are marathons! I don't mind though, since last night they seem to be behaving each other!

Morgan, if you go to make cabbage rolls go to google.pl and type in "przepis na golabki" and then click translate... it will give you a polish link that way you know they're going to be the real deal!!
Please knock their heads together for me! Sometimes, they're a little much but they're so much better than they were that I'm happy :)
 
I thought thats what they were called!

I'm glad they seemed to be getting along last night. I wonder why Hippo is so grumpy all the time? He sounds like Ellie with the bringing stuff up in the air and boxing it. She does that with her toys and if I put something in front of her like a paper towel she will box the hell out of it! haha. She's so crazy. Truth be told, I think they're all a little touched in the head.
 
You lived in Poland for a year?? That's so neat. Were you studying abroad, or just traveling? I just mentioned this on Chris' blog, but Luke and I had a month-long Europe trip and stopped in Warsaw and Krakow for a week. We met up with his dad, stepmom, brother, and grandma who was born in Poland. They did have delicious food there, though like you mentioned, it was faaaatty! I'm pretty sure Luke ate pierogi every day. Also once we went into a shop to buy some pierogi for breakfast (he really likes pierogi) and the lady spoke zero English. Luke was trying to get meat pierogi, so he pretended to be a cow. I think we ended up with an assortment of different kinds, hahaha.

There was also this really awkward situation while we were there.. So Luke's grandma hadn't been back to Warsaw since moving to Paris during the war when she was maybe 6. The reason we all went to Poland was because she recently received a letter from a cousin she hadn't heard from since being a child. She said she told her we were coming, and we should go visit her apartment. Of course, we show up, and they had no idea we were coming. But they were really excited, as much as I could guess because everyone just spoke Polish, and we were invited in. We were there for maybe an hour, Luke's family and the grandma's elderly cousin and her daughter. Those of us that just spoke English felt really awkward, and the elderly cousin clearly kept kind of forgetting why we were there. Then somehow the cousin's daughter ended up tagging along with us after we left, I guess to show us some stuff, but lots of Polish was getting thrown around and most of us were completely lost!
 
You lived in Poland for a year?? That's so neat. Were you studying abroad, or just traveling? I just mentioned this on Chris' blog, but Luke and I had a month-long Europe trip and stopped in Warsaw and Krakow for a week. We met up with his dad, stepmom, brother, and grandma who was born in Poland. They did have delicious food there, though like you mentioned, it was faaaatty! I'm pretty sure Luke ate pierogi every day. Also once we went into a shop to buy some pierogi for breakfast (he really likes pierogi) and the lady spoke zero English. Luke was trying to get meat pierogi, so he pretended to be a cow. I think we ended up with an assortment of different kinds, hahaha.

There was also this really awkward situation while we were there.. So Luke's grandma hadn't been back to Warsaw since moving to Paris during the war when she was maybe 6. The reason we all went to Poland was because she recently received a letter from a cousin she hadn't heard from since being a child. She said she told her we were coming, and we should go visit her apartment. Of course, we show up, and they had no idea we were coming. But they were really excited, as much as I could guess because everyone just spoke Polish, and we were invited in. We were there for maybe an hour, Luke's family and the grandma's elderly cousin and her daughter. Those of us that just spoke English felt really awkward, and the elderly cousin clearly kept kind of forgetting why we were there. Then somehow the cousin's daughter ended up tagging along with us after we left, I guess to show us some stuff, but lots of Polish was getting thrown around and most of us were completely lost!

Yes, I did live in Poland, most of my family is there and my dad has lived there for the last 10 years or so, he just moved back a few days ago.
I speak fluent Polish so that's not an issue for me but my dad lived in Warsaw and I also lived with him in Krakow before. It's the most beautiful city I've ever seen!!! Luke and I have a plan, if we can, we retire in Krakow.... I don't know how much of this plan he's agreed to but I've set it out for us LOL.... Luke's family also lives in Poland but his parents are now living in Sweden (hahaha, his mother HATES living there). They're really lived all over the map though, I believe they also lived in Germany and Belgium and well they lived here for a while too. They all seem to be very keen on Belgium so who knows if they'll move back.

The food is super fatty! I actually GAINED 30 lbs!!!! I'm a HUGE emotional eater and since I was isolated from my life back here, I took comfort in all the delicious Polish food and desserts! I hate desserts but the ones there are less sweet and more flavorful! I couldn't believe how much weight I had gained though, I was so depressed that when I came back I shed it ALL off within 7 months and now I'm in the best shape I've ever been in :)

I used to live 2 streets from the centre market square in Krakow, there was everything there, but I was anti-social at the time. :/ Go figure.

That's such a sweet story that she found her cousin! That's so cool! Luke's grandfather spent 10 years or something in hiding in his friends basement while the war was going on... not sure why, he's not Jewish but I think he just wanted to avoid the war altogether. Speaking of the war though, I actually booked a tour of all 3 concentration camps, it was 6 hours and it was the most depressing thing I've ever seen in my life! Obviously I wasn't allowed any recording or pictures but my god if you saw these conditions. The sad part was there were these display cases where they kept the human hair that was cut off of the people, then another one where they kept all the shoes and clothing, then another one where their luggage was kept and it was so sad that these people thhought they were going on vacation and had happy slogans and dates written on their luggage! The other really sad part was going down the hallways and seeing all the framed pictures of people with their serial numbers (this system was invented by non other than IBM, one of the worlds largest corporations, yuuuup), their names, birthplace, date of birth as well as I believe finger prints. There were THOUSANDS of these lining the hallways... it was disgusting!

If anyone ever has a chance to tour any of the concentration camps I highly suggest it, it was such an awakening. I'd learned all about the war but it wasn't really a reality until I went on this tour!
 
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I would love to tour the camps! I have always been so fascinated with WW2. Its so sad and terrible. One of the things that bothered me the most about the people getting off the trains was them pulling their gold teeth out. Ugh. That had to be the worst pain, mouth pain is the worst. But I guess they did go to the gas showers so hopefully they didn't feel the pain for long.

I did read this really sad story that I'm going to share and don't hate me! There was an officer who was in charge of checking all the bodies in the chamber to make sure they had died from the gas. He found a girl in the bottom of the pile who had managed to survive because of a puddle in the floor. He pulled her out and the other officers came and put a blanket around her. They gave her soup and water, they gave checked her pulse and when they realized that she wasn't going to die on her own and she was recovering from the gas, they made the officer that found her...kill her. The officer protested and said that they had just saved her, why did they have to do it? Why couldn't they make her work or something, find something for her to do? They said no, she was weakened by the gas and she had to die. So they made him do it. How f-ing terrible. That story scarred me for life.

And now that I've shared such a terrible story, I'm going to get off your blog Michelle, before I'm compelled to share something else terrible! haha.
 
Yeah they did some pretty bad things, I've heard stories like that. When you actually go into where the incinerators were, you could see people scratched their names into the iron.... it was really really sad :(
 
I´m sure visiting these camps changes you for life. It´s just so difficult to imagine the scale of the things that happened here. I´ve only seen footage and survivors talking of their experiences and that´s pretty harrowing.
 
Last nights bunny date was a little dissappointing. I mean there's nothing new really going on with them the same old lunge/nip move and Hippogryff seems to be more aggressive towards Phoenix since the whole mounti date fiasco.... I'm going to try maybe putting a clear divider on the bars ofthecage so she can't nip him at all and i hope that helps!! That and i need to date them more regularly
 
It is sometimes a slow process Michelle so don´t lose heart. They´ll have good and bad days and you can see they want to be together but can´t quite put all their differences aside. Mine are sometimes like that. They can be looking really happy together and then they´ll have a little nip but now I don´t actually have to intervene. If I shout to them, they actually stop and walk away from each other...these buns are so smart... a bit like young kids who get over excited and play a bit too hard.

Still difficult to read sometimes and very wearing but perservere.
 
Love your blog, your story of how you came to find Phoenix but lose Peter was very touching. My nose is blocked now because i couldn't stop crying. >.< I laughed when i read about Phoenix humping Hippo's head, reminded me of my darling little Jean-luc who passed and how he used to do that to Pip who used to be his bunk mate. Bunnies are funny little things.
 
Haha Awh thank you. Yes these bunnies are like children!!

So I actually was too lazy to set up their play pen upstairs to date them so I decided to date them in the downstairs washroom again. Perhaps I should keep at it because it was a 100% improvement! Not a single nip (although I cant say they didn't try ;)) and Phoenix was 100% more affectionate. They lasted 15 min and it was amazing! At one point they were snuggling cheek to cheek for a few minutes but I think it was accidental, since im pretty sure Phoenix wanted to pull fur but I stopped her :p

Also not sure if anyone saw my thread about the flooring driving me crazy but since I couldn't find a cheap stall mat I've found a temporary solution at least until I start working again, I took all the bitten edges of the pieces and moved them to the edges of the x pen and replaced the mats that couldn't be salvaged with new ones. Then I took clear duct tape and taped all the seams :) I got the idea because I saw a picture of someone's rabbit and i saw the same mats and they had them taped. Plus I also made them more toys. I took a brown bag and stuffed it with hay and put treats in there. Hopefully this will keep them occupied!
 
First of all, you hate desserts?? Hahaha. Come to think of it, I don't remember eating many desserts in Poland. Mostly lots of pierogi and some potato pancake with this beef goulash on top, which Luke also had to have daily for some reason. One day I was just like, I can't do it anymore, I need a salad. That's so crazy that you gained 30 pounds!! I can eat emotionally too, or just when I'm BORED, so I rarely buy snacky foods for my apartment. I remember thinking I'd lose some weight on the trip because of all the walking involved with traveling, but I basically stayed the same as all the food and drink canceled out my walking. :p I guess staying the same is way better than gaining though, so I didn't complain!

That's so awesome that you and Luke have family there and throughout Europe! All of my relatives on both sides are in the US, and mostly in California! Luke's family is all in Canada except for his immediate family and his brother's family, but no one is in Europe anymore. He doesn't speak Polish, but his dad does. Did you learn from your family as a child? I always wish I spoke Japanese - I'm half Japanese-American from my mom's side, but my grandparents didn't teach their kids how to speak Japanese.

We actually took a tour of Auschwitz while we were in Krakow. Luke's grandma didn't come, she had lost a childhood friend to that camp. Exactly as you said, it was one of the most harrowing and emotional things I've ever witnessed, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is every traveling there. We've all seen movies like Schindler's List and been exposed to the general idea, but actually being there is something else. I remember all the displays you mentioned too, I couldn't believe the things like the braids they cut off people, and another display case filled with clothing and shoes from all the women and children they immediately killed upon arrival really got to me - I had to step back into the hall. And the display cases were HUGE, not like a normal museum, but along the entire wall of the room and way deep in the back. I remember us all piling into the van afterward and not even really knowing what to feel.

Anyway, back to buns, it sounds like your dates are going well! Do you have any "next steps" in mind? I haven't gotten to neutral area dates yet, we're still in "observing each other's play time" mode. I guess I'm waiting for all signs of hostility to stop, though they've definitely improved. I think we've definitely plateaued - the first week or so of their new set up and being close during play time had Rory going completely nuts all the time, and now she's been pretty much the same for the past few weeks. I'm not sure if this means I should try something new, or still wait for her to be as neutral as he is towards her?
 
Sorry, I will answer back to your posts I have read them but I have a super early day tomorrow and need to get rest. Just thought I'd vent here about our bunny date tonight.

I had Phoenix and Hippogryff in the washroom for a date. All went somewhat well except Phoenix was hopping around Hipster and I guess he's used to her nipping him and so he just like lunged at her and nipped her VERY hard. I feel so bad for her! All she does is lick him and groom him excessively to the point where his head is all wet. She just wants some love back. They snuggled for about 10 minutes with Phoenix constantly grooming Hippo and she wanted SO bad for him to groom her back. I hoped to god for at least the tiniest nibble on her nose, but nothing, all he did was lower and lower his head. I actually SAW the spark in her eyes disappear as she closed them and just gave in knowing that she can expect nothing in return... Poor little angel, I love her so much and snuggled her so much after the date! I felt terrible for her!

I don't know I hope one day he will reciprocate in the slightest! At least their date lasted about 20 minutes, I didn't want to push it but both were almost sleeping they were so calm I didn't want to rouse them!

I actually took some great pictures of Hippogryff this morning and I love them he looks amazing (but he's EVIL!!) I will most definitely post them tomorrow after my first day of work!!! :)

I'm sooooo nervous about my first day at the dealership.
 
Good luck at the dealership! YAY! Hopefully soon, you'll be selling a huge number of cars and rolling around in those commissions! haha.

I hope that Hippo comes around and starts to love her more. Its so sad and my heart aches for Phoenix. Poor little girl! It sounds like its getting better, but Hippo is such a grump. Maybe one day he'll just groom her and it will be great! haha.
 
Yes, good luck at the dealership!

I wish Hippogryph would just groom back! I feel so bad for Phoenix all she wants is some love. Hopefully Hippogryph will groom her one day.

Can't wait to see the pictures!
 
Michelle, poor little Phoenix, she just wants some love from him. Don´t despair, Houdini and Snowy were always grooming Bandy and he never groomed back even though they would lower their heads. Then one day, I suddenly spotted him grooming Houdini and I was so amazed so they can suddenly start when you least expect it and now he´s a little expert and gives equally. I can´t wait for his first groom, it will come some day.
 
Well if only one of my rabbits would groom the other one it would be a breakthrough. So be great full of that much. Sadly though there are some relationships that are always one sided. Still, sound like all is progressing well.
 
I am convinced that, in the end, they will groom. Bandy took like 8-9 months before he would groom the others but now he´s doing it all the time so it does happen. Don´t know if they don´t know how or they just don´t want to at first for some reason but it happened with him so it could happen with yours.
 

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