Boy, today is THE day of bad weather! Around noon, heavy rain started falling. Then I heard huge booms of thunder, saw flashes of lightning, and heard hail against the window. An all-out thunderstorm is in process right now, cancelling any plans I had of leaving the house today. It's really bad out there, so I'm going to stay home yet again (two days of being at home- a record!), rest, maybe watch "L.A. Story" and just stay DRY.

Edit: Well, the weather got a bit better around 2:00, so I've ventured out for a bit. Walked around the plaza- they were having a sort of neighborhood fair, with neat art projects for kids, techno music, strawberries, flowers... pretty cool. I'm now in W Biegu for a bit. Going to drink some lemon tea, eat focaccia and read a Murakami book.

Well... looks like the computer is *still* having issues. It now stays connected to the electric outlet and runs... but there is no sound. I put in a DVD and no sound came out at all. Before I took it in, I managed to watch a 2 minute anime video on the computer and there was *definitely* sound, so it must be something they did. I have NO idea what to do. I've checked the control panel, the VLC controls, everything. It will work if i plug my speakers into the headphones outlet, but that's the only way I get sound now. It's as if the laptop speakers just don't work anymore. They said the main board was broken when they diagnosed it.... I wonder if they accidentally tweaked the sound settings or did something to the inside speakers? This is just driving me NUTS. WHY can nothing go right here??? I guess I'll have to take it *back* in.... *sigh*. Any advice or help??

What a week! There has been soooo much going on. Had a lot to do at work- meetings, ideas to try out, etc. On Monday night, the TV guy came over and gave me his thoughts on that. On Tuesday, I picked up the computer after work, then did some necessary household and grocery shopping. On Wednesday,I had to take something to the embassy to have it notarized (what a process!), and Wednesday evening was mostly cleaning and getting my apt. in order, and on Thursday, I had a polish class, the post office, and more shopping. Friday, I had some friends over for dessert and wine in the evening- that was absolutely wonderful! There were about 7 of us, and we just hung out in my kitchen, chatted, ate tons of delicious, sugary cakes and cookies, and had some lovely Argentinian, Italian and Romanian wine. Couldn't have been a better end to a long, tiring, rather exhausting week!

But I managed to get the paper I needed notarized, and at the post office, I was able to buy envelopes for that and another package, packing tape, stamps AND send them both off registered priority, all in Polish. And I just tested out the repaired computer... and it works! It's running on AC power, no problems so far, looks good! So this means I can keep this one at home and just use the little one for travels. And the party went well and I have leftovers and I got to sleep in today (sooooooooo needed that!) and woke up to pounding rain on the window.

So I'm just going to curl up in my chair, wrapped in a very soft blanket, drinking tea, and I'm going to watch "The Devil Wears Prada". Talk to you later!

The TV/internet/phone company here, Aster, is driving me *nuts*. I've had TV problems with them a LOT since I arrived. Now it's a problem with the sound. For the past couple weeks, I've had no sound on a film channel I receive when I select "Original Language". I only get sound when I select "Polish", and that's annoying, because it's a Polish man's voice dubbed over the English dialogue- very distracting, and doesn't really help me learn the language any further.

For the first couple of months, I DID get English language on this channel- this problem's only happened in the last couple of weeks. A technician visited today to investigate the problem, but he spoke only Polish, so I really don't know what he said. I *think* he said that there was nothing wrong with my decoder box, that it was just this channel that got no sound in English- figures! This is the one with good movies, Monk, Pushing Daisies, etc. I tried to understand what he was saying, but I only caught a few words here and there- not good enough to get the whole conversation. I really wish this individual language class I'm in would teach me how to understand things like this instead of "My name is..." or "I'm an American". *sigh*

I really am trying to learn more Polish- I pay attention every time my colleagues talk, I look up things I see and hear around the city, I'm taking a class, and I try to pick up as much as I can. But it's really not something I want to throw every ounce of free time into. When I come home from a long, tiring, brain-frying day at work, I don't want to spend my evenings learning a brand new language. What I *want* to do is watch something on TV in English, decompress, then continue learning Spanish or Japanese, two languages I'm already fairly decent at that I don't want to lose. I don't want to come out of here having lost those- I've already spent a ton of time and effort on them.

And of course, all the English-speaking consultants were unavailable when I called their office. I don't know why this is so difficult. I feel deceived by this company- their sheet distinctly *says* this channel is available in both Polish and Original Language, and I got that service for about 2 months. So why is it failing now? I'm irritated about this because I'm paying good money for these channels and the decoder box and I'm not receiving the service they said they'd give me. And I'm frustrated that I can't communicate sufficiently with the company or the service techs.

Thank goodness I get to pick up the big laptop tomorrow. Hopefully, they will have fixed it (though, probably not, considering my luck) and I can watch the DVDs I brought, including ones in Japanese.

I'm just tired of all this crap. I'm primarily here to do a job; I don't want to spend my free time dealing with things like this. THIS is the downside to actually living in a foreign country vs. just visiting there- things people never tell you.

All things considered, today has been an excellent day. I slept in, then woke up and listened to the rain inconsistently pound against the window. Did a load of laundry, ate some breakfast, watched Polish MTV and British Top 40 videos for a while. Then I got dressed and went to a soccer game- KSP Polonia vs. Lech Poznań.

I was a little late because the traffic getting there was horrendous, and the line for tickets was long. But I stood in it with everyone else and watched bits of the game through the fence. I finally got to the counter, all prepared to pay my 20 złoty, and asked for one ticket. The woman asked if it was for me, I warily said yes, and she said, "Oh! Women get in free today. Just go to the gate." Well! *That* was a nice surprise. Sure enough, the gate attendants just let me in for free. I staked out a good standing spot at the top of the Galeria Kammiena and watched the game from there.

Pretty exciting! No scoring for about 30 minutes in the first half, then all of a sudden, this one Polonia player, Filip Ivanovski (#8), scored a *beautiful* goal. His playing style reminds me a lot of the Sharks's #8, Joe Pavelski- they're both fast, accurate, and *always* seem to be in exactly the right spot to make a great assist or goal. Must be something about that number. In this case, Jarosław Lato brought the ball all the way down the sideline, then passed it over to Mariusz Zasada. He passed it to Ivanovski who put it straight into the goal. Just glorious! Daniel Mąka scored a second goal about 5 minutes later, leaving the score 2-0 before halftime.

They didn't do so well in the second half. Poznań scored a couple of really easy goals that should NOT have gotten through. But toward the end of the half, Ivanovski scored his second goal of the game, from a perfect spot *right* by the left goalpost. Poznań's goaltender never saw it coming. Poznań scored their third goal about 5 minutes before the game ended, and the final score was a 3-3 tie. Pretty good game!

I had a beer in a nice place down the road called Karafka- I think I've *finally* found a comfy, non-trendy and reasonably-priced place to drink beer! Nice interior, good energy- reminded me of the pub back home. After that, I took the bus down to Nowy Świat and picked up more coffee at Starbucks. Before I left, a sweet friend had kindly given me a huge bag of Christmas Blend, my favorite, which I took with me. I've got about one more mug left, then it'll be gone- sad! But I picked up a bag of Sumatra, and they even ground it for my French press.

Bought a strawberry turnover from a little patisserie called Vincent for later, then came home, picked up milk and water, and am now about to put on my Kelly Clarkson and Behemoth cds and do some MAJOR cleaning.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

I had a really good weekend. Went out for dinner after work with a friend. We just sat there on a sidewalk patio, ate delicious food, had some wine, chatted for hours.... really nice way to spend the evening.

Had a great PT appointment the next morning. The therapist gave me some final exercises to strengthen my lower back and told me I'd lost weight in the hips- very flattering of her. I picked up strawberries from a market on the way home, then did some cleaning and laundry before taking a little nap. Around 7, I headed out to Łazienki Królewskie for a concert. It was raining pretty hard earlier, so I thought about not going, but decided to risk it. Fortunately, the rain let up just as I got there.

Saturday night was really cool. Once a year, Warsaw hosts what it calls "Noc Museów" or "Night of Museums". From 7pm until 1am (and in some cases, 3am), 141 museums and cultural institutions in the city open their doors to the public for free. Thousands of people turn out for this event, and it's a lot of fun. A friend and I went to a concert sponsored by the Chopin Loves Rock! project in the park by his monument at Łazienki Królewskie and it was great. We got there just in time to snag some folding chairs and a good spot on the grass not too far from the stage.

The concert opened with an excellent pianist performing some of Chopin's pieces- a waltz in A maj., the Fantasie Impromptu, Ballade no. 2, and a couple others. A jazzy vocalist sang on one of the pieces, very cool. The second part of the concert featured VERY avant-garde interpretations of more pieces on solo piano by a guy who looked a lot like Bono. I recognized a few of the pieces, but for the most part, they were really interesting versions of Chopin's music. The concert ended with a rock group (and occasionally the female jazz singer and a tenor from the National Opera) interpreting about 8 or 9 of his works. Really spiffy show, with a smoke machine, lights, a great rock group... and dancers.

Now, *they* were really funny- made me feel like I was back in 1986. They really reminded me of that part in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure where Bill and Ted land in the future and there's all the spacey music and the dancers in grey and silver. The costumes (all red and white), choreography, flags and visual presentation were, like, totally from the 80s, you know? ;) But it was a lot of fun to watch and a really fun way to spend an evening. I'll have to return to the park some other time and see the rest of it. Looks gorgeous in the guidebooks.

After the concert, my friend headed back home to her warm quilt and I decided to explore this whole Museum Night thing. I walked up Aleje Ujazdowskie and caught a bus to the bottom of Nowy Świat. Walked up toward the university, considered going in the Academy of Science, but kept going. Decided that something near the Hotel Bristol looked interesting- turned out to be a museum of central agriculture. They were displaying exhibits on traditional Polish folk magic and how peasants would use paper and wood cutouts, signs, symbols, and small animal figures made of beeswax to ward off evil and protect their homes. I found it interesting that many of the photographs and displays showed altars that contained artifacts from both these folk traditions and Christianity. It was a neat museum- I just wish there had been translations of the signs. Must learn more Polish!

Walked around the area for a while and found myself at the Royal Castle on Plac Zamkowy. I hadn't been in there yet, so I figured, "why not?" Gorgeous building- the interior was mostly 18th century, with a few pieces from the surrounding centuries. Not quite my era of preference, but a very ornate palace. What really interested me, though, were the furniture (lovely grandfather clocks, ornate chests of drawers with beautiful paintings on them, unusual chairs, good upholstery) and the floors. The floors were just fantastic- one room had a repeating pattern of small squares inside a bigger one. If the square had sides ABCD, adjacent to each other in a clockwise direction, the pattern would be a stripe of light pine wood on A & B. Then inside that, a thicker, grained stripe of darker oak on A & B, lending it depth. Inside that, a small square of solid black ebony. This gives one the illusion of looking down into a very narrow cone. Really fantastic! The other rooms had equally beautiful wooden patterns- I must return some time and look at them in more detail. The guards looked both confused and amused- I can imagine they're used to people looking at the paintings on the walls, and here's this odd person looking down at the ground! ^__^

After the Royal Castle, I wandered around through Old Town, out to Plac Bankowy, figured I'd head home. But a building *right* near the bus stop looked kind of interesting, with flames projected on it, good house music going, clearly the place to be... and the bus ran until 3. So I went in. Turned out to be some sort of cool museum on visual art and moving images. I peeked into several of the rooms and found myself fascinated by a video of sounds. There were four panels in a row on the screen and every second, they'd change. They showed very brief, one-second clips from real life, films, commercials, everything. And as they changed, the sound they emphasized changed too, moving from drums to screeching noises to violins to the blues to jazzy tunes, etc. Really neat. Turns out it was commissioned by the SF MOMA- not surprised.

After that, I *did* head home- I'd had enough for one night. But I picked up a booklet that listed all the open galleries, museums, etc.- so many cool things to see! I'll have to do it again next year, for sure.

I came home, got ready for bed, and randomly decided to see if the TV was working again (every time I put it on "English" or "Originalny", the sound disappears altogether- annoying!). And it was- I caught something in Japanese, then English, in SF's Chinatown. So I figured I'd watch it- wasn't *too* tired yet. Turned out to be a Jet Li movie called War. Pretty good. I think I understood a good bit of the Japanese, too (no subtitles here).

Happily fell asleep around 3.... and woke up to the telephone ringing at 6:30am. Uggghh.... I would have been more upset at this had the caller not been a good friend from home. He was calling with excellent news- a letter I sent him had successfully arrived!!! I took it to the post office at 8pm here the previous Monday, and when he called, it was Saturday night there. So it got there, via priority mail, in about 5-6 days. I have now figured out how to mail things! I was very glad to hear this. We chatted about a number of things for quite a while, then I went back to sleep. Yay for *finally* figuring out the post office! I just hope those other things I mailed arrive someday.

Joined a group of friends Sunday afternoon for a tour of Warsaw's Old and New Towns. One of them is taking exams to be a tour guide in the city and she needed some practice. So we had a MOST delightful afternoon walking around, listening to historical and anecdotal accounts of Warsaw history, people, buildings, legends.... one of the best afternoons I've ever had. She has a great tour style- mixes fact with fun stories, really captivates her listeners. I think she'll do great. I learned so much about the city, including two stories about the mermaid (symbol of Warsaw) and how the city got its name. We concluded the afternoon with coffee at a quirky art gallery-turned-coffee bar. Very nice day, indeed.

Had a delicious dinner of Indian food at Namaste with one of my friends, then took the leftovers home and just vegged for the rest of the night.

This really was a great weekend. I hope everyone else had one as well!

This is *not* an uplifting year for news.... every time I read the paper, The Economist, or online articles, it's all so depressing. The world in an economic crisis, America headed for depression, houses unable to sell, swine flu spreading rapidly, earthquakes in So. Cal., and the terribly broken fiscal state of California as a whole. I hope things take a turn for the better *soon*!!

Wow, THAT was good timing! I went shopping for some essentials after work and made it home by 9:30. Just as I walked in and started putting away groceries, I heard a HUGE rumble of thunder, saw a bright flash of lightning, and rain started pouring down. Now we're in the middle of a raging spring thunderstorm.

I've decided to eat some fruit for dinner, listen to Enya, and help a friend with a blog project. Yay for stormy nights!

A tale of two concerts- part two

Last Thursday, I trekked out to Klub Progrecja with a couple friends to see a punk show. The area was packed- some other group was having an open-air concert next to the club and there were a bunch of people wandering around and eating tasty food. The guards letting us in asked me for ID- the guys I went with said it was because they thought I was under 18. At my age, that's kinda flattering!

It was a good show- small club, kind of reminded me of the Box out at India Basin. Four bands, two from the US, two from somewhere else- I really liked the one from CA, Nations Afire. Really good, solid stuff. The one from Boston, Death Before Dishonor, was a bit less to my taste- I could tell they were the favorites, though. They got the crowd pretty riled up. Altogether, it was a great night, good show, and now I know where I'm going to see Flogging Molly next month.

Friday and Saturday were just.... off. Just, nothing going on, everything in the world felt kind of dishwater black and scrunched up. I'm gonna blame the full moon on Friday night.

Sunday was a lot better. Joined a few friends at the Fine Arts Dept. of the University to wander through their monthly art sale. Lots of neat pieces, and it was fun to get out with a group. I picked up a very nice rendition of Alphonse Mucha's "Music", my favorite of his pieces. This one is a watercolor, and in all the colors of my apartment. After selecting art, we all went for a coffee on the main street. Very nice way to spend a late morning, just chatting.

Returned home about 2, dropped off my stuff, and was about to head out to the pharmacy when I got an unexpected phone call from someone I haven't talked to in about two months. I don't have an answering machine at home, so we nearly missed each other. Had a great chat, though, about a little bit of everything, then I let him go to sleep and I took a little nap myself. A fierce spring storm had come in, so it was raining when I woke up.

That seemed to clear away all the ickiness, though, and I felt happy and refreshed. Took a book to one of my favorite cafes and read all night over some delicious African tea. Came home and promptly fell into a restful sleep.

This week has just been a lot of work and I haven't felt much like getting online since the weekend. I've been watching some TV. Caught episodes of "The Minimalist" and "Pushing Daisies" and watched most of a fairly strange but pretty interesting film called "Youth Without Youth", starring Tim Roth. Reminded me in a way of "Somewhere in Time".

Hope everyone is doing well!

A tale of two concerts- part one

Ventured out into the cold and rain on Wednesday evening to hear a most amazing concert in St. John's Cathedral in the Stare Miasto. From the altar of this grand church that houses Polish presidents, princes and pianists in its crypts, the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek layered improvisational jazz licks on top of the purely eerie vocals of the Hilliard Ensemble. Sitting under the pipe organ in the cathedral's balcony, I closed my eyes and listened to the oddly perfect juxtaposition of the single sax melody and those four pure male voices that echoed in a hollow, yet solid, way.

A lone group of monks slowly rose from stone chambers in the dark of the medieval dawn, intoning their morning prayers in major fourths, occasionally deviating with a blue slide up to a fifth. As they ventured out to their fields to work, their tone lightened as the sun emerged from the heavy rains, bringing with it a long, languid, brassy melody. The harmonies played around together as the day brightened then headed west to the smokey cafes of the New York poets in the 50s, shifting into short, syncopated bursts of melody, full of deep meaning and unexpressed anger, justifying the social cause of the day. They modulated into a smooth zen state after a while, mellowing and accepting destiny, dipping back into the fourth dimension to rise high out of the mists of the holy Himalayas, floating eerily over the dark green valleys and lush mountains, winding in and out of consciousness and spirituality on the path of a harmonic minor.

Abandoning Eastern lands, then, they forged a path to the north, the pure soprano sliding smoothly down the translucent teal of the Norwegian fjords, interrupted by lightning-quick runs of the golden sun, splashing down into a bottomless lake of minimalist despair, a dark and lonely existence in this desolate land of endless farms and black wooden houses. Plunging down, down, down... until they forced their way up through a rusty sewer grate into the gritty and glamorous City of Angels, ca. 1943. An abandoned starlet wails plaintively over lost love in a divey motel as a police siren screams down Sunset, and the university crowd swings to the big bands in a Westwood club, all youthful energy and wild abandon... and somewhere in Pasadena, a retired professor drinks his evening sherry in a plush armchair, listening to a modern recording of an established madrigal group.

This is a good idea, the harmonies think, so they bend time once more to drop into the middle of Renaissance Firenze, jauntily coordinating their different voices to sweetly sing the stories of shepherds and roses, love lost then found, fields and flowers, lads and lasses... until they remember that the Americans did this, too, and shyly modulate to a softer, hazier sound, reminiscent of a Copeland melody, all lazy and languid on a warm Iowa afternoon, ending with a proud tribute to Our Town America on the bandstand at dusk. The harmonies decide then that they've had enough for one day, so they meander their way back through tentative intervals and nervous arpeggios to land solidly back on their major fourth feet under candlelit brick arches and stained glass windows, unaware(?) of the effect they've had on their unsuspecting audience.

Quote for today, snagged from a colleague:

"Life is just what happens when you don't have time to play hockey."


Too true!

Today was pretty basic. Woke up around noon when the noise from outside and upstairs got to be too much. Couldn't fall asleep last night- too much on my mind. After a couple chats with a friend, I think I finally fell asleep around 4:30 am. Good thing today was Sunday.

Ate some cereal, drank some coffee, and watched the old Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie on TV, with Gene Wilder. For some reason, I've never liked the Oompa Loompas in either film OR the book. It was interesting, though.

Threw on running clothes after that and headed out toward the river to get some exercise. Ended up walking through the old town a bit, bought some water, then walked on the path along the river until it ended, just past Most Gdanska. Discovered a bunch of shortcuts through Old Town that I didn't know about and a huge park. I'll leave that for another day, though. Since the buses were taking strange routes (a good chunk of downtown was closed for the farmers' market and other holiday stuff), I ended up pretty much walking home. The pedometer kept resetting itself somehow, so I'm not exactly sure how far I walked, but I'm going to estimate about 7 miles at least.

Now I'm clean and comfy and drinking coffee at w Biegu until it closes at 9. Everything closes early on holidays.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Yesterday wasn't too great- nothing was open, so there wasn't a lot to do. Slept in too long in a really warm and stuffy apartment, woke up to the sounds of protesters marching around. Wanted milk for cereal, but no groceries were open. Ended up just vacuuming the living room for a while and doing a load of laundry. Vacuuming here takes *forever* because the canister vac requires you to bend over a lot to really use it, and you have to work at the rug for a while until the dirt comes up. Not good for my back, so I've been waiting until the rug *really* needs it to vacuum. Back home, I'd routinely vacuum everything about once a week.

Eventually wandered out and saw a movie (New In Town). Not too bad, kinda cute- I do like Harry Connick, Jr. And Minnesota accents are something else!

Came back, had some coffee in w Biegu, chatted online for a bit but unfairly took out my grumpiness and boredom on my mom and best friend. Eventually decided that yesterday was *done* and just went to bed.


Woke up a bit earlier today, got milk before the stores closed at 2, then just wandered out. Everyone's begging me for photos now, so I have to do something about it. Decided to start at the soccer stadium and just go from there. Of course, the batteries decided to die after about only five photos, so I made a detour into Old Town for more.

Spent about 2 hours slowly wandering through the old town, taking photos, getting sun, watching the tourists. Saw four separate weddings happening in those two hours, within only about four blocks. I guess it's wedding season, especially in this quaint area of the city. There were tons of people out and about, mostly tourists. This entire area changes when the weather turns sunny. Patios with umbrellas and extra outdoor seating appear from nowhere and the squares fill with small tables and stalls selling absolutely everything- jewelry, scarves, kitschy souvenirs, paintings, wood carvings, etc. In the wintertime, re-enactors practice their swordplay on the fortress walls- today, a vendor selling "traditional Polish folk carving" occupies those niches. It feels a bit like the beginning of "Notting Hill" where Will is describing the change in his otherwise-normal part of London. Two totally different neighborhoods, depending on the season.

I got some soft ice cream and ate it on a sunny bench, watching the tourists eat their overpriced lunches. I discovered a literary museum that's open every day except Saturday, so I'll return to that later. Found a Dom Kultury that I *think* hosts theater, poetry and music clubs- took a booklet, will work on translating it further at home. Heard "Besame Mucho" about five times as I walked around- that seems to be THE favorite song to play here for some reason.

Turned the corner and found a breakdancing performance in process at the base of one of the statues in the square by the castle. There were about 6 young teenagers totally rocking out to some older-sounding hip-hop, and they were actually pretty good. It was cute to watch them for a while- how did that craze ever start in the first place, anyway?

Didn't have the attention span for a tour of the royal castle today, so instead, I paid 4 zloty to go up to a Viewing Terrace. It's right next to St. Anna's church, and from the top, you can see absolutely *everything*. It stayed up there for a quite a while, just enjoying the view and fresh air. It's a good spot to know about, I think.

Decided to have a late lunch/early dinner when I came down from the tower and had pizza at the restaurant right next to the church. Tastiest pizza I've had in Warsaw so far, and all the proceeds go to support this Catholic foundation that helps the poor, takes kids on cultural outings, runs orphanages, etc. Also a good place to know about!

Kept wandering down Krakowskie Przedmiescie, (and spotted three more weddings!), I discovered that there was some sort of local farmers' market happening. I noticed bread, pickles, honey, beer, cream, meat, sausage and sweets, as well as a variety of artistic creations. Everything looked really yummy, though I just browsed today. Maybe next time I'll get something. But I've already got bread, milk and beer at home and it's not good to start collecting food. I did find a cute gift for a friend, though, and something that looked like round rice krispie treats made of puffed brown rice.

After that, I looked at an open-air photo exhibit that will be up through the end of May, called Warszawa z Wysoka (Warsaw from Above). An historian had discovered a cache of aerial photos from WWII in the NARA 2 facilities at College Park MD, and done some research. With grants, the photos have been reproduced and hang on silk screens in the middle of a park. It's pretty grim subject matter- everything was totally destroyed in the war, and the Nazis were
very systematic about it. I recognized most of the areas depicted and even found my building on a couple. Warsaw looked a lot different back then!

Felt the need to wash my hands after a long day of wandering around, so I'm now in Costa Coffee, drinking a huge bowl of Americano. I like this cafe- it has good coffee, comfy chairs and couches, and good music.