A Place I've Never Been

It was a weekend of firsts: my first adventure gone askew (well, in a comical way), my first ethnic dance party, and my first theatre performance in a foreign language.

On Friday night, Prayanka asked me to spend the evening with her and a few of the other Chemistry Masters students. They were going to meet with some of the Polish seniors from their department for a few beers and then Prayanka, Rollie, and Satif wanted to go to an "Indian party organized by Polish." So, we met up with the other students at a pub where Prayanka and I attempted to race one another through our beers. It was sort of a half-hearted match, but fun all the same.

In the end, I think she won...but I'm not really sure. And yes dad, we're drinking beer with a straw. It's girlie beer--they mix flavored syrup with the draw.

Pop proudly displays his empty juice glass:Anyway, at 9:00 one of the Polish students walked Prayanka, Rollie, Satif, Pop, the girl from Thailand, and I to were the "Indian Party" was supposedly being held. It was this huge old building by the Opera House with huge pillars holding up the roof of the front porch. Even from the outside, it looked sort of sketchy. We went in, and we could hear a huge clamor coming from the second floor; people were shouting and clapping and there was music blaring. The banisters were lined with little candles like the ones used for Jack-O-Lanterns in the US. We finally reached the ball room to find that this wasn't an Indian dance party; instead, we found a troupe of belly dancers performing to Indian music. The Polish student and Pop immediately said "See-ya" and retreated out the door. The three Indians were perplexed--this wasn't even an Indian dance. We ended up staying for over an hour so that Prayanka and Rollie could half-dance in the back aisle while the troup performed. As we walked home, the three discussed possible reverberations for their friend who told them about that "party."

Saturday night, I again ventured our with Prayanka and Rollie. This time, I was assured that there would be an actually and "Indain Party organized by Indians." Both wore their traditional garb and explained to me just how unsuited it was for the Polish climate as we walked to the tram station. To make a tedious story short, this "Indain Party" was the most fun evening I've had in Wroclaw. They played only Indian music and we danced all night (or until 1:30 am). Now, because you all seem to be very visual people, here's some very unflattering pictures of the party. Please keep in mind that the temperature in that pub was equivalent to the Indian climate--I think we all sweated out half our body weight.

Anyway, here I am with the crazy French girls, Claire and Carolinda (they fell asleep on a couch at the club in Prague, and one of the custodians woke them up at 7:00am to make them leave); they're a lot of fun:

Some Indian girl I'd never met before, Prayanka, Diana from Bulgaria, Rollie, and I:

Prayanka and I at the end of the evening:

Sunday night, I went with a large group of women (Katie, Stephanie, and Louise from the USA, and Nina, Iris, and Stephanie from Germany) to see "Amerykanski Blues" at the Wroclawski Teatre Wspolczesny (Wroclaw Repatory Theatre). The show was a series of three one acts written by American authors, but each was performed in Polish. We saw Am I Blue by Beth Henley, The Problem by A.R. Gurney, and Tone Clusters by Joyce Carol Oates. Before the show, Louise insisted that we visit Chococoffee, a little shop just outside the Rynek that specializes in chocolate. As I have said before, hot chocolate in the country is basically melted chocolate in a cup. Well, this shop boasts the city's finest "drinkable candy bar." I had chococoffee, which was half hot chocolate, half coffee. It was delicious. And to answer Lindsay's question, Poland is the place for anyone with a sweet tooth. The chocolate is excellent, as is any baked good. Everything seems to have some sort of a sweetness to it: the ketchup, the spagetti sause, that stuff they put on my sandwhich...Anyway, the play was wonderful. It was held in the "Theatre in the Attic," so we had to climb four flights of stairs to get to this laboratory theatre. It was like the black blox at Wesleyan, but with a dome-shaped roof. All the house lights were covered with red chinese paper laterns, and the stage design was very minimal. There was a small bar stage right, and a projection screen hanging center stage. As we walked in, a woman and her three back-up singers were performing Billie Holiday songs along with a band consisting of a cello, guitar, and piano. They finished their number, and the plays began. The first was very lively--there was lots of physical movement, water throwning, and one character spit on the other. I had found a synopsis of each of the plays before hand, so I could sort of follow the story. All and all, I think I got the jist. After this show, the musicians returned for more Billie Holiday while the cast re-arranged the set. The second was just as lively and enjoyable, but the third was more of a pyschological play, which I would normally really enjoy. But this time, there were no words to keep me in tune with the story. I tried to follow as best I could (I could tell the old woman in this play was clearly the best actress of the evening), but I admit that I spaced out a little during this portion of the play. Making myself focus was extremely difficult. All and all it was a great expirience, and as Nina and I discussed and enjoyable way to improve one's Polish vocabulary. I am definately going back to see "Baal" by Brecht (just to make Jay jealous, if nothing else) and also to see "The Merchant of Venice" and "Romeo and Juliet."

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in Wroclaw. Andrea and I walked to class without our coats on, which was wonderful after of month of being bundled up. I went to a class that I have intention of taking simply because the History of Poland since 1945 class doesn't start until next week. I let Nina talk me into taking a class about the History of Art and Culture in Europe (specifically Wroclaw). Then, we went and bought Cebulki (like mini Polish pizza) and ate our lunch by the Odra River. There are only so many benches, so we had to try and compete with all the little old ladies that take whole benches for themselves. But, we finally claimed one of our own.

After our park bench snatching extravaganza, we went to Polish Literature class, which was in a room (I swear they put the Erasmus students in the rooms that are the hardest to find, just so they can watch us be confused) next to this little lounge area.

I specifically put this picture in to make Lacey jealous. Perhaps, if I lure her with unique architecture and shiny objects, she'll hurry up and come to this continent. I'll keep you all updated on how that works out...

PS Alicia is now updating her blog-ya'll should read it.