Things are perking up, I think. The last three days have been really good. Though, the weather still bites- really cold; extremely windy; and it can be sunny one moment but instantly pouring rain the next. I feel like it's winter already. Like, an hour ago, it was sunny- now it's cloudy and overcast.

Anyway.... the yukky weekend sort of carried over into the week- just more icky, poisoned feelings the first half of the week. I hate feeling like that, so I tried to work through it as quickly as I could. Had a good chat w/my mom on Tuesday, which really helped, then just sort of got over everything on Wed. evening. Best friends are awesome for that. Decided to go out and have fun that night, so I met up with a group of ex-pats here for some beer and conversation. Nice night- ended up meeting and talking to a couple fun girls and three promising guys- one of them works for a Polish brewing company! I got free beer from him. ^_^ Altogether, it was a really nice night, and I went home feeling a lot better, like I hadn't quite "lost my groove", and slept well for the first time in about a week.

Wed. and Thu. were spent at a management training session for work. Usually I hate these things, but this one was truly outstanding. The instructor was fantastic, and I learned *so* much. I think I can apply everything I learned there to both work and life situations. So I'm very glad I went to that. On Thursday, there was an exercise that involved showing groups of people how to do something and getting feedback, that sort of thing. So I taught about 5 people how to introduce themselves in Japanese. They all told me later that they really loved the mini-lesson, and that I was a very good teacher. Maybe this is a hidden talent that I don't know about? I'll have to think about that. It was a lot of fun, though, and at the same time, got me even more excited about going next year with S. I *will* get to Japan soon, darn it! ^_^

Had a very good Polish class on Thursday evening after the training- things seem to be sinking in to this dense brain of mine. I really like the teacher, too- she's very patient and clear in her instruction.

After class, I went home, realized I was hungry, but it was about 8pm and all the shops were closed. So I decided to head out for dinner- pizza at the Catholic place sounded good- they really do have the best pizza in Warsaw! The bus took a strange detour, though, so I got off near Plac Bankowy and looked around. There were throngs of people walking toward the old town area, tons of people out in general. I suddenly realized that it was June 4, Poland's Independence Day. So there were a lot of celebratory events happening. I just sort of wandered around a bit, followed the crowd, got a book about the Independence movement, then finally ended up at pizza. Had a yummy dinner, good ginger tea, read "A Shinagawa Monkey" by Murakami.

The sky this time of year is *odd*. I waited for the bus, and my clock said 8:30pm... but the sky didn't look any darker than maybe 5:00. It says light *really* late these days- until about 9 or so. Then it gets darker. It's kind of disconcerting and cool at the same time. Then it also gets light really early- it was bright and sunny at 5am today.

Took the bus home around 11 and crawled in under my warm down comforter. I should NOT need that in JUNE, but.... I'm glad I have it.

Friday was one of the best days I've ever had. Woke up early, went in for a meeting, then started a true day of vacation. Trekked out to pick up the computer- it was all ready and fixed! Had thought I'd have time to go back home and drop it off first, but I didn't. So I'm glad I grabbed a sweater before I left the house.

Met a friend downtown around noon and together, we took the bus out to the National Library near Pole Mokotowskie. That's a huge park here with pubs, dogs, kids, families- really nifty place to just hang out and people-watch. We wanted to see an exhibit of lithographs in the Japanese style at the library. I'd seen an advertisement for it a while back and I love printing and Japan, so I thought I'd check it out. It was a very small exhibit, but really cool. A professor of printing at Tama Art University sort of discovered a new technique for lithography. Instead of creating the design on stone as usual, he did it on wood- this is called "mukelito". It ended up lending a unique depth and tone to the pieces- they had qualities of both woodcuts and lithographs. And a few looked like photographic collages. We looked at everything and really enjoyed it.

We then checked out the Iluzja film theater- they show older films from all over the world and have very low prices. I'll have to go see one sometime!

We walked through the rest of the library and looked at everything. I looked at the huge card catalogs, the reading rooms, the call number systems, the forms you fill out to request books, the online catalog. Very nice library. My friend speaks Polish, so she talked to the woman at the information desk and I got some very detailed information about how to use the library, how to look up and request books, etc. We then went to the registration desk where I got a library card valid for 2 years- perfect! So I'll be able to come back anytime and enjoy the nice books and films.

We then decided that lunch would be good, so we took the bus out to a fun book-cafe called Kafka, out near the University Library. There are several of these throughout the city- they serve good food and coffee, have events and readings, and here, you can take in books you no longer want and buy new ones for 10zl/kilo! We had a very nice lunch- I had delicious cream of tomato soup and a crepe with ham and bell peppers. It was such a neat, cozy place! I really must go back there.

We walked around the neighborhood and looked at two other similar cafes- Tarabuk and the Gentle Barbarian. I found myself wishing I lived in this part of the city- I guess I can't help being attracted to the university life and culture. I'll just have to return often. We just walked around and chatted, talked about life, books, all sorts of things- such a nice day!

Around 5, she went off to run an errand, and I went to the University Library. SUCH a gorgeous building!!! I soooooooo want to work there. They have a cloakroom, several cafes and restaurants, a little general store, a couple bookstores, and a travel agency. I dumped my stuff off in the cloakroom, went in to the library proper... and managed, in Polish, to get a 2-year university library card all by myself. I felt pretty happy- small steps, right?

This library is indescribably beautiful. Stone walls, metal staircases, all-glass ceiling. This is the place with the garden on top, so people wandering through the garden can look down and see students studying. It is THE most open, spacious, warm, elegant and welcoming place I've been in for ages. I really need to go back and see if they could use any sort of free weekend intern or something. The use the LC system, so that makes things easier- the Nat. Lib. used some sort of accession number system.

After that, we hiked up a hill back to the center of town (I found a shortcut!) and went to Empik for a while. I picked up a couple of new books, then we met another friend for sushi. We just had a delicious dinner and a fun conversation for a few hours- very relaxing! Then we all parted ways, and I came home and went to bed- it had been a long day!

But I'd had a perfect vacation day, just getting out, seeing the city, hanging with friends, being a book nerd. I need more of those days.

I thought about trying to get my hair done today, but that takes a while, and I don't want to be rushed right now. So I think I'll do it after I return from Prague. I've just done a load of laundry, so I think that now, it's time for lunch and a video on my newly-fixed computer!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!