(no subject)
Day: 18
Tal is: in Poland
Linda Says: Poland? Ewww... Ca ca.
Warsaw is stuck somewhere deep, deep, in the worst parts of 1991. We left Tokyo on the 16th of March and flew to Frankfurt, amid internal farewells to the land of cuteness and unique quirky style. As soon as we landed at the German airport, I did little rejoicing whoops inside my head at the fact that we had decided to fly straight through to Poland. Germany stinks. Granted, we only saw two hours' worth of what was on offer at the airport, but that was more than enough for me. Lesbian airport inspectors who felt my boobs way too heartily when they searched me; abrupt blond McDonald's staff that wouldn't crack a smile in her stern ceramic face(and the worst McFlurry I've ever tasted); and just a general rudeness and lack of warmth when compared to the hospitable, giggling culture of Japan.
Landing in Warsaw and catching the bus to our hostel, my spirits lifted somewhat as I stared out the window into wintry trees, old buildings and an overall European-ness (but only after the tiny little bulldog man at passport control gave me a hard time for no particular reason.... I'm sure he probably just needed his hourly assertion of manhood, being about 4 foot tall). We navigated the labyrinth to our hostel, the "Garden Villa", and climbed the steps with our mouths agape in wonder. SUCH a beautiful place! The building is on a compound of about three or four other buildings that all look like really old schoolhouses. Every room is painted a different pretty colour (ours is purple - excellent), and the doors and windowframes are all made of ornate and heavy wood. A cosy shower and a cosy bed made for a grand first night.
By daylight everything changed. Warsaw SUCKS. We were woken by this weird, loony, out of tune singing, and promptly figured out that one of the buildings next door is a psychiatric hospital (though this was actually pretty funny at 6am.) There is no soul to this city, no style, no flair, no life, and all the old buildings 'reek of wartime' as Crisps put it. It's so easy to imagine block after block of apartment after apartment being invaded and then occupied by evil soldiers. Crisps has felt weird about wearing his anti-Nazi badge, but fuck it. These guys are shit and I don't care if they think he's being antagonistic. The cold, which in New York I hug close to my chest and find so endearing, is simply sterile here - it seems to emanate from the bones of the stale and bored citizens and work its way into our displeasure.
On the second night we decided that the Polski Addams family who run the Garden Villa are going to kill us, a la Tarantino's 'Hostel'. They keep leaving tempting Polish dishes on the windowsill in the kitchen, surely to lure Crisps into eating the poisoned bait, then capturing us both while my protector is paralysed. This raised the question inside my head of how long it would take for you guys to find out if we were dead... Morbid. Just keep checking in on us. And if we disappear, track down the Garden Villa.
I CAN FEEL THEIR EYES!!!
The most curious part about being here is the amount we get stared at. I really don't understand what it's about and it has the both of us perplexed. It's completely blatant and it happens everywhere we go. On the bus, old ladies turn around to look at us. In the street, young people stare and stare and stare. At cafes, dirty Polish eyeballs follow us. Our hypotheses on why we are being stared at are:
1. Because they are all wearing parkas and are stuck in the early 90s, they think we are slick robots from the future.
2. We look so good that they think we are movie stars - and they are trying to figure out where they have seen us.
3. Mixed race couples don't fly in Warsaw.
4. They can smell my Judaism.
We were supposed to stay another 8 days, but we are going to leave the swine behind the day after tomorrow and drive down to Krakow. I think the only reason either of us wanted to come to Poland was to see the camps, so we're going to do that and then get the fuck out of here.
Excuse the mucho cursing, crappy cities make me angry.
Best Thing That Happened Today: I bought some chocolate?
Dumbest Thing That Happened Today: Being in Warsaw.