Thursday, June 14, 2007

I failed....I planned on learning a new word everyday; however, I was brain dead yesterday. I tried "you're welcome" but have already forgot it!! I'll try harder today.

Craig and I were walking along the Odra River yesterday when I saw a young woman wearing black combat-type boots with a very large snake wrapped around her neck. I chose to move a bit further away. I'm guessing that isn't something common even in Poland!!! Speaking of pets...for all the dogs I see I've yet to see dog droppings anywhere! No one seems to carry plastic bags so I can only assume the dogs are very well trained!!

I found another language school yesterday. I will check into them on the internet because their office was closed when I got there yesterday. Naomi and I also found a street with nothing but art shops on it. It is apparent the country is very religious - primarily Catholic - because angels are very prevalent in works of art. I've seen some great, contemporary angel pieces in everything from glass work to pottery. I'll try to bring some pieces home with me.

Observations from yesterday:

I am reading the book "Middlesex" that comments you can tell where someone is from based on their shoes. Oh my gosh...that is a very true statement! Shoe styles are probably one to two years behind the US. I sometimes wonder how people know I am an American without me speaking a word. I'm now convinced it is because of my shoes!!! I'm definitely a little more fashion forward than what I've seen. The same goes - albeit to a lesser degree - with clothes. The only madras prints I've seen here were the walking shorts I wore yesterday. What is trendy in the US has not quite made it here (and let's face it... Minnesota is not exactly the fashion mecca of the US either)!

We ate at the equivalent of a five-star restaurant in the Minneapolis area yesterday. Craig had garlic cream soup, stuffed veal with pirogies and I had a pancake (very much like a crepe) stuffed with fresh mozzarella, vegetables and cheese with a main course of chicken fillet stuffed with sheep cheese served on a bed of wonderful homemade noodles and vegetables. Along with drinks the cost was roughly $50 American dollars. Wow...!!!

Speaking of food. I've yet to see an overweight child or anything approaching an obese young adult here. Polish food is very heavy on carbohydrates, potatoes and meat yet the population remains on the thin to normal range. What a sad statement when you look at Americans.

Below are two links to the resort area we are heading to this weekend. Just cut and paste to your browser since it doesn't appear to bring you to the site autmoatically. One of the sites is written in Polish. Take a look at that and maybe you will understand why my head spins here!!!

Talk to you all later!

http://karkonosze.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karkonosze