things are calming down but only for the moment

I apologize for not writing more lately, but the last week and some days have been a whirlwind – but a productive one that managed clear up a lot of loose ends.

I am pretty much done with my course. I taught my last lesson today and handed in my last assignment on Monday so all I have left is to show up for the next 3 days and I passed. Hooray!

I went to Poland this past weekend and Krakow is beautiful and I have a weird sort of luck lately that seems to put me at the center of all the biggest festivals. In Zilina, Slovakia there was Nove Mesto to celebrate the town and in Krakow there was a celebration of the summer solstice so the streets were covered in people late at night and the banks of the river, all levels of the castle, and a large barge in the water where covered with people. Jamiroqui played – a band from Great Britain who you might not know, but if you’ve seen Napoleon Dynamite – it’s the band that does the song for the famous dance seen. Nice concert that finished with fireworks.

I know I don’t put up many pictures, but google Krakow and take a look – its nice.

Also, I went to Auschwitz. It probably saved this trip from being one of the worst ever. I can’t tell you how many things went wrong this weekend, but its really worth remembering so I can tell you the whole story sometime.

Anyhow – it didn’t save the trip because it was so wonderful, but for all of the miserable traveling, the hot weather, sore feet on a long walk, and starving from having no food Saturday when I went to the camp – my problems were all quite small. Although the complaints crossed my mind, what I was seeing grossly overshadowed my minor discomforts. I was very disappointed in those who I heard express those things in a way that seemed to ask for sympathy – that was not the place to get it.

I walked by a wall of pictures with information about a number of the people who had been there. Without even thinking, simple math enabled me to figure out the number of weeks or months that most of them survived there. Think hard before you choose to visit a place like this, because for many, those who would rather not think about this for a long time and accept the effect that it will/should certainly have on them – the history channel will do.

Sorry for the depressing notes, but I promise that the horrible things make me appreciate the seemingly mundane ones far more.

I move to my new flat this weekend and I am very excited. The people there are some late twenty Czech guys and they’re very nice and incredibly interesting. I’ll tell you all more of that when I know. July is going to fly by and I am gone almost the whole time, but I will be sure to keep you all updated.

Hope all is well at home and the rain hasn’t put anyone reading this out of home.