Okay, enough excuses. There have been a few cultural experiences in the last couple weeks that I feel I need to share. The first highlight would have to be the long-awaited (for Varsovians, anyway) grand opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in Warsaw. Through a well-connected vasectomized (is that a word?) colleague, I was able to get into the glitzy VIP opening last weekend. This was quite a high-profile event complete with red-carpet, famous (in Poland) rock stars, and free eats and drinks (woohoo!). All I needed to gain entry was to pretend to be a big-shot architect from Texas, who also happens to be the father of one of my students. Piece of cake.
The night was filled with hob-knobbing and schmoozing. And that was just with the "Jim Beam girls."
One of the more interesting characters I met was a man who seemed quite enthused about showing off the fact that he has two thumbs. Yes, I know, we all have two thumbs, but how many of you have two thumbs on one hand? Pretty damn cool if you ask me. He could not tell me enough how important it was to the Polish music scene to finally have the Hard Rock Cafe open in his nation. Ummmmm . . . part of me felt a sense of wonderment when he made this statement and the other part of me wanted to buy him one of those cheesy Hard Rock t-shirts that every American tourist has in his wardrobe. No, none of you are getting one, so don't even ask. 
Another of the more colorful revelers I met was the "Guerilla Traveler." This guy helped me realize the importance that having a real eye-catching business card can have in striking up a conversation. The right card can make quite the first impression when forced upon the unsuspecting fellow American ex-pat. Everybody has a story to tell about how they ended up in Poland. This guy has even wrote a book about his travels complete with a website that is infinitely snazzier than any hackneyed effort I can put on MySpace. Check it out, there's even a video promoting his book. http://www.guerillatraveler.com/
Anyway, try the ribs at Hard Rock when you're in town. They're delicious when served with a side of free cigarettes (yes, girls with free cancer sticks on silver trays, what a country!) and aging Polish rockers.
I told my good friend Chicky that I would post a photo of my badge of honor from rugby practice. They used to tell me back in college that I needed to stop tackling people with my face. Some would say it's a play for sympathy from the ladies. Others would say it's a remarkable improvement on my normal ugly mug.
What happens when you mix classic 80's hard-rock ballads, a couple hundred Poles, and a woefully undersized hockey rink? You have yourself the makings of a good time at Torwar open skating. There are a number of places to go in this city where I know I'll be the only non-Polish person there. Last night was certainly no exception and it had more chills, thrills, and spills than the Saturday night stock car races at the St. Louis County Fairgrounds (that one's for the folks back home). I wish I had brought my camera for this. Seeing so many people crammed into such a small space, skating in circles to REO Speedwagon and Rush was quite the experience.
This also served to remind me once again why I hung up the ice skates after 6th grade in favor of the less expensive but more revealing Speedo.
One of the odder things I saw this past week were these four guys prowling the streets of Warsaw looking for little children to abduct. Their cover story was that they were promoting the launch of Microsoft Vista in Poland. Yeah, right, like I'm supposed to believe that a giant Vietnamese villager, a moon man, a saggy-assed giraffe, and an eight legged martian have anything to do with a computer operating system.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Sorry for the delay in posting! Oh yeah, here's a picture of the new mall in downtown Warsaw that I helped design.
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