Berlin

Evidently Christmas markets began in Germany. Since there's a Berlin-Warsaw express, it was easy enough to mosey over to Berlin. Lola and I ate at a delicious Greek food restaurant right around the corner from our ritzy hostel.

The next, freezing day, we shivered our way over to the Checkpoint Charlie museum. It was a very subpar museum. There were even parts of the museum with ruined exhibits - a candle in the shape of Lenin that was actually in the shape of melted wax. The best part of the museum - in which I was not allowed to take photographs - was the Reagan room. A room. Devoted. To Reagan. God bless America.

You'll notice. In the lower righthand corner. There is Ronald Reagan's chainsaw and! Wait for it. A fence post from Reagan's California ranch.

The rest of the day, we explored the museums. I went to the German history museum. It was pretty awesome.  Only, I didn't have enough time to really explore.

The market below is one of the most popular. It was wonderful. Large portions of it were even indoors!

There was a man dressed up like a Christmas tree! He sprinkled snow on a little child.

The next morning, Lola and I journeyed through the freezing temperatures to the east side gallery after grabbing brunch at an average place known as the Artist's Meeting Place or something like that. It's in the guidebooks, I believe. The east side gallery is pretty sweet. Lots of pictures on the largest existing stretch of the Berlin wall.

Lola and I then made our way downtown. We walked along the major tourist points. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reich building, and the holocaust memorial.

The best part of the Brandenburg Gate square was the Americanness of it all. For example. Not only was there a Starbucks - where I got a delicious peppermint mocha - but there was also the Museum of the Kennedys. AND the American Embassy was on that stretch.

The American embassy is great. Because they have a Berlin bear that looks like the Statue of Liberty. There are other Berlin bears. Everywhere.

Lola and I headed to the opera after this. It was the weirdest rendition of Carmen I have ever seen. I tend to like things done in a traditional way. This was -  not modern - but not traditional. And it was almost entirely in German. Except for really odd times when it wasn't. And there was this guy with a terrible American accent.

After this, we headed directly to the Christmas market by the zoo because we were going to meet with Ashley. Unfortunately, Ashley and Gus weren't able to make it after all. So Lola and I quickly headed back by ourselves. But we did go through the Christmas market first.

Christmas in Warsaw

When Christmas arrived in Warsaw, it brought lights with it to decorate the streets. One evening, Lola and I met up with Billy and Amanda for dinner. I took photos of some of the lights on Nowy Swiat as we wandered, looking for a delicious dinner spot. 

Presidential Palace

At dinner that night, the owner of the restaurant became good friends with us. After I ordered a beer, he proceeded to ask if I was above 18. When I told him I was 22, he then proceeded to ask for ID. As a joke. But it took me a while.

He talked to us for a long time. In Polish. So sometimes I understood him and sometimes we all relied on Amanda for translation. After ordering after dinner coffee drinks (one with Krupnik), I asked him what to do with the Krupnik I have at home. After all, I wasn't positive what to use as a mixer. He told me to invite him over.

That evening, Lola and I waited for the bus that would take us from the restaurant to Polskie Radio where we would catch another bus to our apartment. As the bus pulled up, we said our goodbyes. I turned to get on the bus, and the doors shut in my face. I was at the front of the bus, so the door I was in front of was right next to the driver. He didn't open the doors again. There was no button to press to get the door to open. Lola and I had to take the metro home after that, and we left with confusion clouding our countenances.

Weirdness on Buses at Warsaw

So, buses in Poland are basically full of weird things happening. They're rarely on time when you're at the bus stop waiting. They're always on time if you're running to catch the bus.

So, this morning, I ran out of time getting ready, so I sprinted to the bus stop only for the bus to be late. There are two buses that go past this bus stop. An old man was walking his dog and sat down behind me as I waited for the 174. The 210 goes by, so I assume the old man is waiting for the 174 with me. He says something in Polish, so I tell him that I don't speak Polish. Then I lean down and pet his dog, saying "oh pretty dog" (In Polish, but it was probably grammatically inaccurate and more like "Oh. Pretty the dog."). Anyway, he tells me that his dog is 12 years old. He asks me where I'm going this morning. I tell him I'm a teacher and that I teach on Sundays. He asks me if I teach English. I tell him yes, and he tells me that someone he knows is learning English. Then he tells me that the bus is here, so I get up and start walking towards the stop. However, the old man does not come with me. He just sits at the bus stop. So I say, "goodbye." So while I had an awesome Polish interaction, I'm still not sure why the old man was there!

So, on the way home (after a long day teaching in which my office was filled with candy that looked amazing but wasn't for my consumption and my American students tried to teach my Polish cuss words), I sat at the window of the bus. I was enjoying the view. A girl gets on next to me. Her boyfriend is standing in the aisle, holding her hand while she sits next to me. He keeps gazing at her with that creepy look guys give girls when they're whipped. THEN he leans down and over. And they start making out. NEXT TO ME. On the bus. Way too close for comfort. Thus, I've decided that buses prompt strange interactions in Poland.

The Mid-Year Meeting

So, Thursday Ashley came into town for our mid year Fulbright meeting. We spent Thursday night at Charlotte - the best French-ish cafe ever. I was starving by the time we got there, and we arrived late enough that tit seemed as if everyone had just sat down at their tables. We waited a good 25 minutes for an open space and then we had to relocate a couple times. Very frustrating. But totally worth it.

Friday was the meeting. It was short and not very exciting, but it was followed by a delicious, two-hour lunch at a nearby restaurant. Lunch was fairly delicious. It was really nice to see all the Fulbrighters again. Not everyone made it to the meeting, but some really interesting, fun characters did. Maybe it was just the joy of being surrounded by Americans again.

So, after lunch, Aniela, Ashley, and I went to the train station. I finally exchanged my Bulgarian Leva - I had over 100 zloty worth! Let this be a lesson to me. After the train station, we saw both the Christmas markets by the Palace of Science and Culture and the Christmas markets in Old Town. All the lights are up down Nowy Swiat and in Old Town, so it's super gorgeous. Unfortunately, between the three of us, no one remembered a camera. We got some mulled wine at the Christmas market and did a little shopping.

After that, we went to Saffron for some delicious Indian food near Plac Konstytucji. Of course, after our Indian food, we then decided that we needed to... RETURN TO CHARLOTTE. At this point, we were with Barry and Sarah, too. Billy joined us after a while. It was a really fun time and is definitely one of the best places in Warsaw. Or maybe the best place in Warsaw. Then again, any place where I am is a great place, right? ;)

Belgium (finally)

These are the important things in Belgium. The first was Manneken Pis, of course. This was taken on December 1, so he's all dressed up. If I understood correctly, they dress him up each month. December 1 was also the student's celebration of St. Nicholas. So they were drinking in the streets with big semi trucks that were blaring music. They wore silly hats that they get after hazing and lab coats.

These are two of the most important things in Belgium. Beer and Fries.

At night, in the beautiful Old Town square, there's a light show for Christmas. It's amazing.

Then there was Bruges. It's beautiful, but there isn't much to do. After we got back from Bruges, we watched In Bruges. Fittingly.

The last day, we went to the Atomium. It was built for a World's Fair. We saw Mini Europe, but we didn't get to go in because it was too late. We met up with some of Caroline's friends after and spent a night out on the town. Everyone was super friendly and appeared to love Americans! They were all so nice!

Experimental Singing

I'm going to go out of order in my blogging (gasp!). So instead of telling you about my five crazy days in Belgium, I'm going to tell you about my week in Warszawa.

So, I got back really late on Monday, and I had to teach on Tuesday. I did interview questions with my third years, who aren't certain if there's a career center at school or not. It quickly devolved into "chat with Amanda" time. I didn't really mind because we talked about some interesting things, including Christmas traditions in Poland - which, surprise surprise, include watching Home Alone? I much prefer the carp in the bathtub tradition, but I guess I won't be experiencing any of those because I AM GOING HOME!!!

Anyway, my first years bribed me into letting them skip class with a Christmas bell filled with chocolate as a St. Nicholas Day gift. They didn't even know it was my name day! (My third years found out and told me that I should've brought them candy! Psh.) Anyway, I was going to spend a good hour of class giving them a writing assignment, so I let them do it at home instead - warning them that I'd be grading it more harshly. This is a pretty good class. The girl who I thought I was going to have to fail has stopped coming to class. So I'll definitely fail her now, but I highly suspect that she dropped out on her own. I have no real way of knowing.

I still haven't graded papers - which I plan on doing tomorrow to some extent. But I did go coat shopping. I found a lovely white/black/semi-houndstooth one, but it was probably closer to 70 dollars and wouldn't look good with most of my scarfs (maybe all). So I'll live to look another day. I meant to look at the Christmas markets at Centrum, but I forgot. Hopefully Ashley will want to see Christmas markets so we can go this weekend. Ashley is coming in for the Fulbright meeting, which should be a blast.

Anyway, today I participated in a very strange experiment in theater. Well, it was a Polish actress reading poems (that seemed fairly awesome) by this Polish guy who made up words to express his Polish poetry self. Well, it makes more sense if you know Polish to get that making up words is way more logical. He wasn't Seuss. He was creating words from words, and they added new meaning. If that makes sense. He created one from the word "dzisaij" which means "today" and it was something like "the way I am today; my being in this day, etc" So, Dara and I did some sort of weird humming in the background while Polish girl read in a very dramatic way and Erin played the harp. I hope to have interesting recordings of this soon for everyone's enjoyment.