In A Big Country

Sadly, the weather today was not of the same quality as yesterday's. :( It was gray and cold and a bit wet outside. I decided it was another indoor activity kind of day. First, I headed to a museum in Stare Miasto (Old Town) and found out it is closed on Saturdays. :-/ Maybe tomorrow I will see it. :-P After that, the weather was so gross that I decided to just go to the movies. This meant going to the Multikino at Zlote Tarasy (yuck) since I did not see the main movie I was interested in seeing available at another cinema; the mall was busy as usual (maybe even more since it is Saturday and a bad weather-day). The movie theatre prices are probably close to prices of some American ones, except maybe a bit less than in big city multiplexes (so actually cheaper and there are not just child, but student, discounts). There are different prices depending on day/time and age; I tried to ask for a student price, but the girl at the box office gave me some issues about my student card's date (I think? I had told her I don't speak Polish well and ordered in Polish and then she said something about my card was bad that I did not understand) - which I think was just her not reading it correctly, but I don't know how to argue in Polish well enough, so I just paid normal price since I understood that part of what she said. I saw "The Adjustment Bureau," which was pretty good. The movie theatre is big and nice with a large screen and comfy seats with cup holders. The place is multi-level and even has bars and clubs inside, so it is very large. At this cinema, you are actually assigned seats - which I don't think ever happens in the US for films... - which remided me of seating being done on an airplane. Because of this, I actually was surrounded by people rather than using the "one stall" rule in America that always has people giving each other space in terms of seating in bathrooms or theaters - we Americans like our space and tend to give each other courtesy room. ;) My thoughts on the movie include: good chemistry between Damon and Blunt (she is lucky with all of her Boston Boys); YAY JOHN SLATTERY (wish he were used as much toward the end as in the beginning); and interesting characters (especially the agent who "watches" Damon's character). It was interesting just watching the movie and glancing at the subtitles to see words I knew or to try and learn new ones. The previews were better when showing English-language films because they were not dubbed, whereas everything from Poland did not have English sub-titles, of course. ;) :-P I headed back after the movie to a slippery, moist-aired city with light rain. I saw some dumb tween/teen girls on a tram who had beer and seemed drunk or just stupid; one fell down stairs by a Metro stop and another kept swearing before leaving the tram. Plans for tomorrow include museum visits and not sure what else.

In The Sun

Today's Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60142466@N03/sets/72157626070086061/

Today I caught up on some sleep a bit. :-P I did have enough energy to eventually make it outside! This was great because the weather was the best yet; "warm" and sunny. I was not sure where to go, so I ended up using a map Gosia gave us again, which was made by locals of "hot spots" in the city. First, I went to check out the hotel my parents and Babcia/grandma are staying at in May called Ibis:
http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-3714-ibis-warszawa-stare-miasto-old-town/location.shtml
I had actually walked across from the place before. :-P I looked quickly around the area immediately surrounding it and went inside. I tried to look in a room a woman was cleaning, but she had the bathroom door open and I could not see anything. :-/ So, I just walked around one floor and the ground floor. I saw around the lobby and into the restaurant. It seems nice and I even scored some visitor and Warsaw travel booklets. :)

After that, I headed to a few spots off the map. These included some walls of the Warsaw Ghetto that are being preserved. It was so crazy to see that I had to touch the walls. Something in me really wanted to make it more than about looking and picture-taking. Some people had left rocks and candles. I also saw that there is a small museum there open on Sundays, so maybe I will head back sometime. I ended up going quickly to the mall to pick up a couple of items (sweet potatoes at Zlote Tarasy are probably the best and almost cheapest) - too bad this mall is super busy since it is downtown and near the train station, which makes it crowded, even by people with luggage. :-/ I went by the Contemporary Art Museum, but I think I will just go back another time.

Weekend plans include maybe seeing a movie ("The Adjustment Bureau" or "The Figher" are a couple of options), hitting more museums (choices include Warsaw History Museum and Literature Museum among others), and seeing more hot-spots out of the guidebook and maps I have collected. I might even make it to the other side of the river eventually! :-P Or even check out more malls and other shopping places - IKEA might be a bit far, but we'll see. ;) I also have a bit of homework, but luckily not too much. Maybe I will look into theatre productions - I saw an ad for "Rocky Horror" coming. :-P

Dancing On My Own

Today I was a bit tired when I woke up, but the shining sun was enough for me to take a shower and head outdoors. The weather was fantastic. :) Spring really is coming.

I went to Zacheta (http://www.zacheta.art.pl/en/), which is an art museum here that is free to go to on Thursdays. The art depends on the exhibit of the moment; the one I saw was "3 Women" about three different female Polish artists; the artwork was mainly from the 1960s and 1970s. All of it was... interesting with a lot of naked and sexual imagery for some reason. :-P On the way to the museum, saw a bit more begging/homelessness/gypsies than I had before. The trams are the places people tend to go on and play music for money or just beg - using instruments and children are common.

After the museum visit, I ended up walking around outside since the weather was reminiscent of spring - fairly "warm" and sunny. I went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier again and to the park near it; I walked around some of Centrum and Nowy Swiat Street areas (more exploration!). I walked by a couple of recommended places for paczki - since it is Paczki Day/Tlusty Czwartek/Fat Thursday here in Poland. The lines were crazy-long at both, especially since there were none when I went by these places the day before. My adventure to find a good place for a paczek did not work out - I want the best to offer in this country if I have one at all. ;) I gave up when I had to go to class near 3PM. I may try one on Fat Tuesday, when Americans celebrate Paczki Day. :-P Other than seeing a lot of paczki action, I also saw some cute GQ mofos. ;) I guess downtown is good for that.

Today's pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60142466@N03/sets/72157626188943562/

:)

My Babcia is coming to Poland again! This makes me SO happy. :) Especially since I have felt a bit weird, tired, and sad sometimes.

Last night was a celebration for a belated birthday of one of the people in my group. It included cake (the one eaten by some of us was a small, pretty one that the Polish buddies brought - I saw chocolate and cherries, thought I smelled rum, but one girl on the program brought one that was saved for later since the buddy cake looked more "birthday" and the buddies had proper birthday candles) and alcholol (different beers - one being a hemp beer - and vodka and tequila) sometimes with juice (apple or grapefruit). We began in one of the common kitchens in the dorm and afterwards most of the group (not me) went to the student club PARK. Today the sun is shining and I may head out soon and see what I can accomplish before class at 3:20.

Weekend begins soon. :)

Lost In The World

Not sure if I should say much about the last post. Bad news is never easy.

Yesterday my final two classes were pretty interesting - Literature class included neat discussions and pictures, while Jews in Poland class involved a nice documentary film about people who had lived with several Jews before so many of them were exterminated during WWII. After that class, our CIEE group had dinner at this colorful Mexican restaurant nearby our dorm, Blue Cactus (http://www.bluecactus.pl/cactus-menu1.php). We all shared appetizers - I tried some salsa on chips and had a couple quesadilla slices - and I had a salad with grilled chicken, arugula, cherry tomatoes, onions, pumpkin seeds, and dressing. It was pretty good, except we had to wait a while since we were a large group. I am not big into Tex-Mex and margaritas, so it was all just okay to me.

So, today the weather was actually almost "nice." :-P It was sunny and probably the warmest it has been since I arrived. This morning I went outside and was pleasantly surprised by the temperature. :) After an informative Polish lesson, I picked up a package (yay, new magazines from home!) and had lunch in my room before heading out for a few hours to enjoy the good weather. I went to Hala Mirowska (http://www.spottedbylocals.com/warsaw/hala-mirowska/) first. Hmm, not sure how to explain this indoor/outdoor market. :-P I guess it is a combination of a farmer's market, a street market, a mall/grocery store, and the Windmill in Upstate NY. There is a bit Pike Place Market of Seattle in it and other places I have been and I am uncertain where they were - maybe Italy or Florida or ..., but more European. It is an experience to see. ;) I am not sure this would exist exactly the same in the US. If it did, the place would be different in terms of meat displays and meat handling in particular. I saw buckets of mostly bones with some raw meat and people handling meat with their bare hands as it was sitting out without a fridge or anything. However, there was a lot of fish and NONE of it smelled (good sign) and there were a lot of nice baked goods and commercial products and pretty flowers. I am not too comfortable yet with my Polish speaking - and not sure I needed or wanted anything being sold right now - to buy anything, so maybe another time. I also heard haggling is done there; I can somewhat try to converse in Polish, but I assume that younger people and tourist-y areas would give me more luck with people being able to talk to me if I had to use some English. :-P This place seems to be more used by locals. The fruits and vegetables and flowers might be the items I would hessitantly check out to buy.

After HM, I went by tram around the city. I walked around near Nowy Swiat Street, including checking out a highly recommended bakery for paczki (in case I want one for Fat Thursday/Tlusty Czwartek/Paczki Day tomorrow). I walked around some since the weather was nice. When the sun started to head down in the sky, I decided to go pick up some quick groceries at the Carrefour in Galeria Mokotow before heading to the dorm. Now I have some reading and homework to complete. Just one class tomorrow afternoon and it's the weekend. :) Some plans for the next few days include more museums (Zacheta Art Museum free tomorrow) and going to the genealogy department at the Jewish Historical Institute. Maybe even do more outdoors-oriented activities if the weather stays nice.

Today's photos (last time I tried adding directly to the blog I was told I have too many photos, so I began a Flickr account):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60142466@N03/sets/72157626182153368/

All Dogs Go To Heaven :)

:(

All Of The Lights

So, yesterday after I had Polish class, I went back to my room to hear that my roommate was not feeling well. I wanted to give her space to sleep, so I decided to go out for lunch instead of making something in the room. Luckily, the weather has been nice yesterday and today with sunshine and only somewhat chilly. Maybe Spring is coming. :)

I went to a place I had on my list of places to see; it's called "Jumbo Salad." It is not the easiest place to find, but worth it. The location is within an apartment complex neighborhood that looked really nice (expensive :-P ). The place itself was very cute inside - very bright with neat photographs of people eating fruits and vegetables. I decided to order (in mixed Polish and English) a salad with crab, lettuce, corn, peaches, red and green peppers, cucumbers, sprouts, and vinaigrette dressing.
http://www.jumbosalad.com/

Jumbo Salad

Outside

The salad was great and the price was, too. I would like to go again and would recommend this place to lovers of salads and smoothies. Even going to see the area is cool. After eating, I decided to do some sightseeing since the sun was shining. I headed towards the center of the city.

Winnie the Pooh Street ;)

Dedicated to Pooh

Street sign

One of the Chopin benches; they play music when you hit a button and have a map of important parts of Warsaw for Chopin

This bench is by the Holy Cross Church - here is the bench inscription in English

Candles - I put in 2 zloty

Closer - I saw 2 candles come on after I put in the coins :)

Chopin's heart

HEART

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from a distance; I have been to it before, but took a picture now since I was nearby

A menu for another salad place I want to try near the Palace of Culture and Science (called Salad House I believe?)

This was at the Church, so I took one

Inside (blurry and in Polish)

I decided to go to the amazing church and did not take too many pictures to avoid being noisy. I put in some money for certain Polish friends and family, such as the ones who had an important day of anniversaries the day before I went. I think it was really neat how much trouble Chopin went through to have his heart smuggled back into Poland by his sister. He is Polish almost the way I am - Polish Mother, non-Polish [in his case French] Father - but he was born and lived a lot in Poland. He is buried in Paris, but his heart is in Warsaw. I see it as a bit romantic how he chose to celebrate the places he loved and his different heritages by having literal pieces of himself in more than one city. He had to be buried in France, but wanted to leave something in his homeland.

I headed back after seeing the church and had two more classes before we students of the Jews in Poland class were dismissed early to join our CIEE group at to the National Opera to see the Mazowsze performance: http://en.mazowsze.waw.pl/ It was great! There were colorful costumes and impressive singing. It was fun. :) Tonight the group is going out to dinner together at Blue Cactus: http://www.bluecactus.pl/cactus-obecnezalozenia.php after I have two more classes this afternoon. The plans for this week include going to some more museums and doing extra sightseeing. The tours will include the zoo, parks, and gardens once it is a bit warmer. :) I have started all five of my classes - the fifth to begin started this morning - and everything is going well. The teachers are nice, well-educated, and have wonderful commands of the English language (my buddy's friend Iga mentioned taking a class at SGH in English where the professor was not so great at speaking English, unfortunately). I am glad to not have a lot of work, which free up my time to explore. The weather is nice, so I will head out again soon since I try to go out a lot in daylight hours if the sun is shining.