Unibrow

I think I will nonchalantly leave a pair of tweezers in a conspicuous place around the house. You get the idea, no?

All in all, not a bad day today. Got to sleep in, bubble bath, wonderful food, good company, and even got to help in the kitchen (sort of - I kind of stood and watched while Kinga did all the work). I spent some time with the neighbors and have started casually helping them learn English, although it's a little scary for them I think. Very gratifying for me though. It wasn't as warm as I had hoped it would be today, but weekends are nice regardless of the weather. I was hoping to get a lesson plan done so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow, but laziness took the front seat today. It's okay because I always have a back-up plan that consists of having everyone in the class do an art project and lots of games. Candy is also a sure-fire life saver.

Tomorrow I am to tour around Tarnow with Marek's former English teacher. I'm not sure how to spell her name but the English equivalent would be Mary Jane. It never made sense to me that a person's name could change depending on the language and culture. I mean, my name is Page, and it's Page in English, and it's Page in Portuguese, and French, and Polski, and any other language. My name is Page and it stays the same regardless of whichever culture I'm visiting. I was talking with the neighbors and Asia was telling me about a scenario at school in which a teacher had trouble pronouncing names, so he began calling the students by their English name equivalent. I would be so offended if I were in that position!

When I was in Krakow, one of the girls in the group who had familial ties to Poland and its culture was showing off some Polish music to me and a few others. There was an artist name Doda and we watched her music video. I was so extremely flabbergasted and offended by the material that I saw that I could not be polite, and had to make a comment in hopes of drawing attention to the serious problems with her music video. It opened with Doda dressed in girlish pajamas, messy pigtails, and thick-rimmed nerdy glasses. She wakes up and eats her cereal but spills it everywhere, walks around her apartment clumsily, and when she goes to her office wearing a frumpy outfit all the attractive secretaries giggle at her. Then her life is transformed when she gets a new style that includes no glasses, blond hair, more makeup and brand new clothes (think thigh-high leather boots, cotton-spandex blends, scant clothing). She gets the job, is longingly stared at by her secretary peers, and exudes general happiness in all other scenes. Now here's the kicker: the theme of the song is that she doesn't care what people think, and the title roughly translates to "it doesn't matter". I told my friend how offended I was at this and she didn't have much to say, nor did anyone else in the group. I was a little relieved when I was talking with the neighbor girls, aged 14 and 15, about Doda and her music. They said they thought it was stupid, but the sad part is that many younger girls in Poland are wild about her music. They had asked me what it meant to call something low brow (Lady Gaga uses the phrase "pop music will never be low brow") and I used Doda as a perfect example. Lesson learned, I hope.

In other news, I am really enjoying this old city; it's a unique experience because everything in the states is so young and new. I do feel a little overwhelmed at times by the sheer amount of glory this city has to offer. There are dozens of castles here and I know I'll see at least a few tomorrow. What I'd really like to do is visit a market square or flea market so I can get trinkets for all you folks (which is code for buying things for myself in the guise of gift-giving). It will be nice to have a solid conversation in English though, and I'm looking forward to discovering new parts of the city and hopefully coming home with good stories for all you lurkers out there.

Here I must interject: I really need ideas for 4th of July lesson plans. Gina, Heahter, Mom, anyone else with ideas... now is time for a call to action! Summon the troops! Sound the alarm! If I can't think of anything cool, these poor Polish kids will be stuck learning about body parts and playing Simon Says. You don't want to be responsible for that, do you?

Today was also a good day because I got to talk with some very important people in my life. Katie, Mom, Megan, Amanda... I love you gals. You make my world go round. Looking forward to a powwow with each of you when I return.

Yesterday I met a cool chick who's around my age. Her name is Gosia and she studied in England, so her English comes out with a really great British accent and it's adorable. She offered to take me to Krakow (yes please! love that city) to do some shopping and perhaps find a cinema. She said the theaters there use the much more preferred subtitles instead of dubbing. She also warned me about going to clubs in Tarnow so I'm glad to have met her and learned that before making any mistakes. Hopefully our friendship will blossom and we'll be able to enjoy the company of one another throughout my stay.

I must report to you readers that I've fallen in love while abroad. Yes, I know it's fast, and yes, I know you probably won't believe me. But here are the facts: Her name is Rusia. She's gorgeous, and her slender body is always soft and warm. She keeps herself clean with frequent baths, and kneads me with her tender palms when she knows I'm sad and need it most. At night she sits at my door and cries for me longingly. She and I could sit for hours together birdwatching from the living room window. No other romance can compare to our tryst. She adores my massages and if I catch her in the right mood, she'll really start purring for me.

I also like to call her Beeping Cat. Her meows are short: quick and punctuated and staccato-like. Sometimes I can get her to give me several quick meows in a row and I wouldn't be surprised if it were confused with some sort of Morse code. Is anyone else imagining ridiculous scenarios involving Schutzstaffel cats right now? And yes, I did have to look that word up because I didn't know how to spell it and didn't want to be a hypocrite per my Blogger profile.

Did you guys read that Blogger has now partnered with Amazon? One can supposedly make money by linking to Amazon items in your blog. I guess I'm not surprised...the new direction of web 2.0. Here's a big Ha Ha! to all you suckers who have Facebook.

And now I bid you all goodnight, my lovlies.

Au revoir! Adieu! Do widzenia!