Our friend, the blonde girl.

Nights around here generally progress in this order:

1. Get home from work and all disappear into our rooms for an hour - check our mail, empty our kidneys, wash our faces, and lay down to relax for a little bit

2. Skype each other and all agree that we should go out

3. Traverse the 3 km Piotroswka Street and discover all of it's nooks and crannies. Cafes, discotheques, clothes stores with fabulous sales, the English book section of various book stores, Tourist information, just about every taxi stand, just about every ice cream stand (for Courtney), and Lodz Kaliska

Along the way, at Kaliska, we met a very nice girl named Kasha who became an instant friend. Her initial attractive characteristic, to us, was her AMAZING ability to speak English - and well. But now we just love her because she's completely sweet to us every time she sees us. And she got us amazing shirts from Lodz!

Thank goodness for the people who make me feel connected to this place.

We now have our own favorite restaurants, places to hang out, and waitresses who will let us be silly.

And when we aren't making everyone hyper aware of the fact that we speak English, or are from America, we kind of blend in. IN FACT it was very exciting, because the other day someone stopped us on the street to ask for directions. A lady caught Courtney by the arm and started spouting off in Polish.. pointing and asking some kind of question that we couldn't answer.. but we thrilled that she asked anyways... just because it meant we looked kind of normal around here.

But then again, they use "witch's brooms" to clean the streets every day...



... so maybe my sense of normal is a bit skewed.



I found a United States Marine Corps hat in a random store underground and HAD to have a picture with it.



And we did find the land of many bras....

But probably the best part of my day yesterday was making a new friend. Courtney and I were sitting on the stone steps in the lobby of our dorm, waiting for the two other girls to get ready and come downstairs for a "family trip" to the Real - the huge supermarket - when we noticed a guy having trouble with the vending machine. I was just kind of watching him with bored amusement when Kristin showed up, and we started randomly singing the Beatles "Let It Be." Maybe that was some kind of European code that we don't know about that states "We promise, we're not threatening." but he came over to talk to us and ask for some change for a $10 zloty bill. He ended up being named Alex and he was from Lichtenstein,... a tiny little country that I once visited for a day... and got a really cool stamp from in my old passport.

ANYWAY... we made quick acquaintances. As Kristin likes to say (and I won't stop teasing her about) "We're aggressively friendly," and we invited him to come to the supermarket with us since it was his second day in town. Thus started the bus adventure with the seven mile loop to nowhere. I, in an act that would have made my mother very ashamed of my sense of direction, herded everyone onto the right bus.. but going the wrong way. Tada! Which means we had a lovely adventure filled with an abundance of B.O., a bridge (gasp), and lots of time to get to know Alex, our new friend.

Which, obviously, didn't discourage us too much.

The anti-climatic end to our bus route was a parking lot on the outskirt of the gray city... where we had to wait for ten minutes and everyone yelled at me. Okay maybe not yelled, but I really did feel bad... we did make it to the Real eventually that day, and came back loaded with food to make a chicken and tortellini dinner prepared Miss Ellis herself. The common room was much to hot to eat in, so we all (including Alex) piled into the hallway right next to the main office and ate our food in the way of everyone. Lyon even joined us toward the end. It was ... the perfect ending to the day.

And Ashlie, darling... I made Courtney take this picture just for you. I'm sure you understand why. MWAH!