Weekend Update

Another weekend under our belt. It doesn't seem possible but we have been in Wroclaw one month already! I'm tired of not getting any mail so I ordered a book from Amazon to have delivered here for me! International mail costs $12.95 and will ensure my package arrives "within 6 - 20 days"!! How's that for committing to a delivery date?? I never thought I would miss junk mail but it is a bit disheartening to open the box everyday and find nothing there! For just 90 cents you can send a letter or card from the US. Any takers? I promise to respond with a postcard from Wroclaw!!!

Craig is heading to the UK this week for meetings. Funny, what used to be a nine hour flight will be a quick two hours. The roundtrip cost is about $150. Now that we are settling in a little bit more I've been charged with researching trips around Europe. I really want to include a train trip somewhere. I've never been on a train (ok the Minnesota Zephyer dinner train doesn't count) so it is something I have to do. As you recall during my tram misadventure I discovered the train station so we are ready to rock!!

Next weekend I want to venture out to Boleslawiec to purchase pottery. It looks to be about an hour west of Wroclaw. It's time to start thinking about Christmas presents. If anyone wants me to bring back something special let me know. Here is a link to their website: www.ceramicboleslawiec.com.pl.

Friday night we ventured into town for dinner. Although there are a lot of restaurants in town none of them are very large so we are finding reservations are necessary. We ended up having a great dinner before meandering to an Irish Pub for some music. I find it interesting to hear bands perform in English and then talk to the crowd in Polish! The pub was packed -many of them were English-speaking so it was somewhat like being at home. Across Europe there is an interesting bachelor party tradition where the future groom dresses up in costume and all his "mates" take him bar to bar. Wroclaw is becoming a desirable bachelor party location because of its central European location and inexpensive costs. While at the Irish Pub a bachelor party of 17 from Ireland joined in the festivities. The groom was dressed in a bear costume and his friends ensured him a whopping hang-over based on the drinks they were ordering! I never thought Craig and I would ever become a Polish translator but our position at the bar made us ripe for the job. I guess knowing piwo (beer), duzy (big) and maly (small) was really all that mattered - but we felt so smart! One interesting shot variation...raspberry syrup, a shot of vodka and a bit of tabsaco sauce. The guy ordering it babbled something to me about how the vodka taste is masked. Between the Irish accent and amount of alcohol he had consumed I'm not quite sure if he really knew what he was ordering! To make a long story short...we left the pub at about 10:30 and the bachelor bear was well into his long winter nap!!! I hope he found it all worth it in the morning!

The grocery store continues to be my greatest source of entertainment. In the US the "sample ladies" are typically woman working for Bingo money but in Poland the sample ladies are girls who are dressed in costumes representing their samples. I guess if you can't read Polish you can always tell what they are sampling by their attire. Yesterday there was a magician entertaining shoppers at the grocery store! It was hard manuvering our cart (buggy) around the throngs of people. Weird...especially since his props looked like he had just pulled them out of the "How to be a Magician" book and package.

Oh...one last thing I keep forgetting about. There is a guy who sets up outside the grocery store on the Square and belts out Sinatra songs rain or shine! He has a little boom box for background music. Funny to hear "New York, New York" in the middle of Poland. Not sure what his real job is but I doubt he is raking in the kind of money Frank did. I wonder if the Sinatra estate is getting residuals!!!

On tap for this week:

1) Oliver goes to the vet for a rabies shot and his pet passport.
2) Cindy is going to the Polish National museum.
3) Cindy better start working on holiday cards and gifts.