warsaw is like cleveland

so not too too much more happened in prague. i extended my stay since i liked the people there. and the 7 germans bought weapons so that they could become even more scarier. switchblades, brass knuckles, a wand thing, masks that covered their whole faces except the eyes. the other people in my room didnt like it either. after prague, i went to olomouc, czech republic for a few days based upon the recomendations of a guy i met in amsterdam. it was really nice except that i got sick. i didnt do too much except go eat with an aussie a lot. i also tried cherry beer. and i think that beer cannot be beer with fruit in it (sorry jess). it was gross. the couple that ran the hostel were really friendly and were in absolute love with their city. and the hostel felt like a home. so, naturally, i feel rather bad that i didnt do anything except eat a little bit.

warsaw is cool because it really reminds me of cleveland. well, actuallly the park by my aunt dorothy's that is a bit raised from street level and has a lot of trees and a playground that i used to play in. but the trees shed yellow leaves in the fall and there are heaps of trees, but no low branches to run into. warsaw is like that. although with in about seven seconds of being intown, i went the wrong way on the bus and ended up at the airport. so i took a taxi since i didnt even know where the buses parked. the taxi driver didnt speak any english. but after he dropped me off, i was about to go the wrong way to get to the entrance (it was in the back of the building), and he stopped me from getting lost again. poles are friendly. the second day that i was in town, i decided to walk to the polish poster museum. bad idea. i should never again attempt to walk to a place that is nearly off my map. i didnt make it and took the bus that i should have taken there, home. i also noticed that many many many places were closed that day. i had absolutely no idea why. when i got off the bus, i was hungry from all the walking. so i stopped at the only place open, a bar and had tea and made new friends from all over the world. americans, canadians, albanians, british... one woman worked at the us embassay and absolutely loved me. she claimed that because of me, there is hope in america's future. which, actually, i seem to be getting a lot. havent quite figured out why though... i also learned that it was all saints day and the next was all souls day. which were the days that all the poles dont go to work and light candles on family members graves and remember them. so the next day, on my way to the poster museum, i happened to stop at a cemetary. and people were still doing it. in front of the cemetary, there were vendors selling candles and flowers. and inside the cemetary, there were little old ladies in their sunday best. and so many candles! with all the candles, you kind of feel bad for the ones with only a handful of candles on their graves. the polish poster museum was a little disappointing though because the exhibit was on japanese designers. which is all and good, but i was really excited to see polish designs. oh well.

in krakow, i ran into a guy that i had met in berlin. i walked in, and was like, HEY! I KNOW YOU! apparently, after berlin, he came to krakow, and never left... it's been two weeks. i slept in though this morning and just barely made breakfast. i started to talking to some irish blokes, they seemed nice and asked if i wanted to go "girl carting"... which i eventually figured out that i misunderstood and they were going go carting. sounds more pleasant than girl carting for sure. so i agreed, only to learn that it was a stag party. so there were 20 irish blokes and myself. definiatley fun, just a wee bit intimidating. i was the "young lass". and i couldnt touch the pedals of the go cart, which was annoying because the silly thing kept going out of control for me around the curves.