Krakow: First Impressions

So, one week under our belts -- my how time flies.

Some things that have caught my attention (in no particular order):

1. Krakow is now much more Western European than 10 years ago (duh!) Nice for us.
2. Playground behavior is much more well-behaved and much less aggressive than in St. Petersburg. Hmmm, kinda like comparing Poland and Russia in general?!?!
3. Krakow is more relaxed than we remember Warsaw being...I'm enjoying it.
   
4. More people seem to speak English (and keep offering me assistance) -- which does not help my lethargy in signing up for Polish lessons.
   
5. The whole "hate Russia, Russians and the Russian language" thing is not as prevalent down here as it was in Warsaw. So if a Russian word creeps in we don't get the hairy eyeball.
6. Jeff and I are getting old. We are not snapping back from jetlag as quickly as we used to.

And totally unrelated...one of my oldest buds, Jim (now Father Jordan) from U of M is actually in town to do research for his dissertation and work on his Polish language skills. We've gotten together once -- how fun to see him again in person after so many years.

Also, one evening before we had the AFN box we were flipping through the local Polish channels. We hit a show that had three well-dressed men (one older than the others) in a conference room with fashion shots on the walls. There seemed to be some drama involved. I said, "Hey, this must be the Polish version of 'Betty La Fea' aka 'Ugly Betty.'" Jeff replies, "They do have that." And I wouldn't let him switch the channel until we found out the show title...and it was indeed 'Ugly Betty' po Polsku. All those years of watching telenovelas pays off!

Still looking for the camera cord...