American Beauty is playing on the wall sized projector big screen as I type this. I seem to be the only American in this, the Stranger Hostel, though walking the streets of Krakow today I have seen quite a few beauties...
I chatted with this 24 year-old engaged French mec (guy)who's a translator, Mathieu, for the entire plane flight from Beauvais to Katowice. He's a grad student in Polish in the university here in Krakow, the 2nd oldest university in Central Europe after Prague's, and which claims Copernicus among others as alumni.
We got in to Krakow at 10 pm, ate Georgian Kebabs (we're not talking ATL where the playas play), and he offered me a place to crash for the night, given the fact that I had no idea where my hostel was. As for his place, let me just say that he has a coal-powered heater... literally, he was shoveling in charcoal bits to try to warm the room. I'll put up some pictures when I get back. Also of note, the apartment had been owned by a Jew, up until the Holocaust, and then after the war until 1968, when the climate for Jews here again became unhospitable and the tiny remainder fled to Israel and the US. What Mathieu discovered behind a painting on the wall above the doorway was two Hebrew words immaculately written in red paint. Now Mathieu, although he is the most devout young Catholic I have met so far in rather athiest France (he is Parisian with Polish parents and technically I did meet him in France tho Im now in Krakow), he has a surprising interest, knowledge, and admiration of Judaism. He took a course in Hebrew and another in Yiddish, and even has a yarmulke in his apartment, though ironically he bought it from a Palestinian.
But he could not figure out what the words on the foyer meant tho he could read most of the letters. Together, we've decided that it is: Shalom Aleichem, which is common in songs and prayers. Sadly Im not 100% sure what the phrase as a whole means.
This morning, after oatmeal, nescafe, and cookies, he helped me locate my hostel...
Since, I have spent the day wandering the streets of the Stare Miasto, the old town, Wawel Castle, the church and cathedral where the current Pope John Paul cut his teeth as a young priest, bishop, etc.
I then went to Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, had pierogi at the quaintest lil place (pictures to come), and then a kawa (coffee) at this world-themed cafe, recommended highly by Ethan, on accounts of its global bend, and more importantly for him, the incredibly cute girl who he remembered worked there.
That gets me to my next topic on this post. Ethan, a born huckster, entrepreneur, and regular gadabout, is working on his own plans for world domination, tentatively titled the Global Scene, which echoes my own vague notions of Travels Unraveled. We'll see what develops...
The First World Kawa
Oxidized and occidentalized,
Krakow has rusted a bit less than the rest,
And is on alert to advertize.
Passé are jokes that disparage Polish mental size,
Though the miscarriage has yet to be borne under by abortion's rise.
Carved out between St. Petersberlin's prying eyes,
Heavy-handedly I've dealt with our foremost Iraq allies.
"Alexander [Shuvnesky] of Poland, I'm outclassed and I apologize,
But you've been thoroughly Americanized."
"[Jankouyay], the prez replies, "but whoever relies on 'ize' rhymes
and inversing tenses and times, his own mouth should be cauterized
Before he can speak, let alone patronize."
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