Getting into the Swing of things

It is once again cold and snowy in Kraków. I'm incredibly disappointed. I cannot wait until spring so I can stop wearing forty layers all the time.

This week was the kick-off of a Polish Exchange night that the students studying Polish studies will be hosting at a bar on the Rynek every week. This particular bar has a private room in the back which is set up like a lounge and has a piano. The idea is that every week students from all levels can convene and practice Polish by participating in various activities. The theme of the evening will change every week. This week it was sherades. It was a hilarious experience. We were split into three groups that represented a mix of levels and rules were explained. The categories were nouns, film, and idioms. Nouns were pretty straight forward and not worth many points. Film was a little more difficult because there were Polish and American films and the American film titles were translated into Polish, so I didn't always recognize them. You were allowed to guess the title in English if it was an American film, but then you only received a fraction of the points. Idioms were very difficult. We actually studied some common Polish idioms in class this week and they were quite amusing because they are so different in English. Here are some we learned:

Cheap as barszcz

Dumb as a left boot

Healthy as a fish

Ugly as night

Pale as a wall

Old as the world

It's like he has a snake in his pockets (someone who is miserly and never wants to reach for their money)

No one did very well with the idiom category. Only the advanced kids know the longer idioms and even they had trouble guessing. My team was really good at guessing quickly. We got second place. I got to act out 'Titanic' and 'Bambi.' I thought Bambi was going to be a challenge, but I tam guess it in under 30 seconds. 

Afterwards we all hungout for awhile and the various pianists in the group played some tunes. There are some really talented musicians at the school. After that, Karaoke started in the main bar so we all headed over and did some singing. After Karaoke we stopped by a club on the way home and danced a little before catching the night tram.

On Thursday, my classmate, Nati, arranged for our class to all have lunch together at an authentic Mexican restaurant. I was super psyched because I have been missing Mexican food like you wouldn't believe and the Mexican restaurants in Kraków are unpalatable. It was delicious. I walked into the restaurant and it smelled like the Garcia's kitchen. There was music playing and the waiters spoke very little Polish, and they had all the food I've been missing. It was so hard to decide what to order on the menu. I will definitely be back for more.