Dzien Dobry!

Wow, this has been an eventful two days! Or was it three days? Or was it one day plus 41 hours? Maybe it was a Tuesday/Wednesday hybrid, plus Thursday.

It all started with me saying goodbye to my mommy at the Houston airport and boarding the Lufthansa flight to Frankfort, sans any legroom at all. It was a nine-and-a-half hour flight and I managed to sleep though none of it...despite the fact that I had slept for four hours the night before and had taken a Dramamine. The redeeming things about the flight were Bob and Michael... the people who sat in my row. Bob is a 16 year old kid who was with a school program headed to France and England... he's a nice kid. Unfortunately, I think that the program leaders are going to keep the whole group on a pretty tight leash while they are on their trip. Bob reminded me of what it was like to be a 16-year-old. It was a decent year but hey, I am not particularly dissappionted that I am past it. I suppose that that happens at every age... you can look back and say "Hey, I was really stupid when I was 16 (or 20, or 35, or 42, etc.). Michael was about 35ish and it was pretty clear that he had not been on a short leash...ever. He is really into taking risks and doing crazy things. He is a "why not?-er" rather than a "why-er". I like that in people... although I would be worried to do some of the things he has done. It was neat to talk to them and get their takes on things. I think that that was the most I have ever talked to the people sitting beside me on the plane. They were great. We had a good time...except for the legroom thing.

I landed in Frankfort and decided to walk around a bit because I had a seven hour layover. Not too eventful...I looked in all of the little shops and tried to figure out a way around the airport, but that wasn't easy... the airport there is crazy! Anyway, I had a fairly relaxing time and then I went to the gate to meet up with Andrew, another teacher in the program. He is my age and is from San Francisco. We talked for a good, long time and then toured the terminal a bit. Later, Agatha from Boston came and met up with us. She has a bit of an advantage on the trip because she speaks Polish. :)

Then, we got on the plane to Krakow, arrived in Krakow, took a bus to the train station. This was eventful because the train didn't come to our bus stop at that time of day so we were told in Polish that we had to take another bus to another train stop. Agatha stepped in. Good thing, too. I am pretty sure that Andrew and I had dumbfounded looks an our faced when he came up and started speaking in Polish.

Sooo eventually the three of us got to the hostel (very lovely, by the way), went out and got a doner kebab (yay!!!), and then met up with Anna and the other 14 in the group.

That was the Tuesday/Wednesday hybrid.

Thursday began with me waking up at 5:00 AM. Go figure. :/ I guess it was my body trying to tell me that I had it all wrong. It was 10:00PM in Texas and I was supposed to be awake! I couldn't go back to sleep so I decided that I would go out and get some breakfast. It was beautiful weather today, so that made for a nice walk. In the process of getting my salami sandwich from the little grocery store down the street, I learned two things.
1. Study the English/Polish phrasebook. Motions and facial expressions don't always get the message across.
2. It is okay to let the cars get close to you while you walk across the sidewalk. They will not squish you. Just look for the pedestrian signals and follow them. Patience is not a vurtue of Polish drivers.

Later, the whole group got together and went to the park. We talked a little bit about Learning Enterprises (the program we are with) and ideas for teaching the kids, even if you don't know Polish. It was helpful in easing my nerves!

We then went for lunch and met back up for a 2-hour walking tour of Krakow. It was interesting, although there are a lot of facts I don't remember. One important thing is that Krakow was not destroyed in WWII, some of the buildings inside of the original town wall are hundreds and hunders of years old. Krakow is a really beautiful city. ( Pictures to follow)

We finished there, walked around for a bit and ate some perogi (it was great!), and headed back to the city center where the "man on the wooden horse" came out. He looked really funny with that horse costume attached to him. It is a once-a-year-thing and is kindof a big deal , so the odds of us being there on the right day were crazy! Legend has it that if the man touched you with his gavel looking thing, the you will have good luck for the next year. I donated a zwola, and touched the gavel, so I have high expectations for the coming year. I may just have to enter in the lottery and cash in on my good luck. ;)

The final event for the night was a pub crawl. For just about 7 or 8 bucks each, a guide takes you around to three pubs and one club, all characteristic of Krakow. Cory, our tour guide was great and told us all about the nightlife and what is popular in Krakow, etc. I think that I was most impressed with how each pub/club was decorated. They were all underground and had a unique theme. I particularly liked one that had stone walls, red lights, and played Polish reggae. (I didn't know that that existed, either.) The final stop, the club, was fantastic! It was called club "Cien." It's Anna's favorite club and is a big deal, accoring to some of the other people in the group. It has a really cool look on the inside and has one dance floor for hip-hop and one for house music. It had two bars and and really cool lights. ( I suppose the lights are a must.) That was a fantastic end to a great day in Krakow.

Stay tuned! Friday, we will be going to Auschwitz. That is going to be insane. I have been very interested in going for a long time, but it will simply be insane. I don't really know how I am going to feel about it when I get there. I went to Buchenwald a couple of years ago and it was really eery, but there is so much more left of Auschwitz. On a lighter note, Saturday there is a festival in Krakow, and Lenny Kravitz will be playing! Yay!