Madness

This past month has been complete madness. The Edinburgh Fringe festival is the world's largest arts festival. The streets have literally exploded. literally the shows go all night, the latest show starting at 1 am, ending at 5. bars close at 5am new ones open at 6am. food venues open 24-7.

In the past 21 days I have seen over 25 standup comedians, dance groups, plays and sketch comedy shows. I have seen a play about a South African with JRA, a pirate musical, a woman who asked the audience to throw raw meat on her, beatboxers with djs who perform in sync with acrobats, tv stars, bands, comedy in caves, men juggeling knives blinfolded on unicycles...I mean you name it, I have seen it here.

My days have looked something like this...I wake up around 11, eat...breakfast? make it to town around two. find a few shows-- my friend alison has been really good about making me see new things. watch shows and street performers until like 6 or so...eat, regroup and start going out with friends at about 9 or so. normally there is some falafel, kebab meal thing around 4 am and then i crawl home :)

this has been such a fun month!

Homeish

That was the most uneventful border crossing of all time. "Jolene, what do you do?" "I'm a dance teacher." "Great. Enjoy your holiday." That was it, I got bus fair and headed out.
I stayed over the weekend with a friend here and then Monday, I got to Lauren and Alex's place.
I am really happy to be settled again. I do really love it here.
I have been drinking heaps of tea and buying heaps of clothes, because, well the shopping is just better here. They have rain boots with horses.
The fringe festival starts here in about a week and runs the whole month of august bringing in people from everywhere. It's the largest arts festival in Europe and has fireworks, a military tattoo, free comedy, dance and theatre...i'm pumped.

Oh, Edinburgh

Well here I am again. Heading back to Scotland. In preperation this time I have a ticket out, that was something they didn't like last time...the one way ticket. I have a bank statement, all sorts of things. But, I am still really scared they aren't going to let me back in. But, yes with any luck, the next post will be from Edinburgh again.
I will be there for festival taking over Lauren and Alex's place while they are back in the good ole U.S. of A. Stay until September when my mother--she has her ticket so it is def happening--is coming to Edinburgh and together we are going to Paris and Rome.
I am looking into trips to Egypt, found some pretty cheap just need to make sure I can get immunized over here and that will take me through mid October.
I don't know why I publish these plans. They are sure to change. But today...
Anyway, wish me luck getting back in to the UK.

Australians

When I got off the train in Bratislava, I was walking with no particular sense of where I was going. I heard some Australian guys talking and asked them to which hostel they were headed. I myself, had yet to book one figuring I would just get one when I arrived. So they told me to go to their hostel and see if it had an openings first. When we got there, it didn't though. The guys suggested an extra bed in their room, like a cot, which was really nice so I didn't have to wonder around town.
The first night in Bratislava we wondered all over town playing new drinking games at each pub. They ate every possible combo of late night/drunk food. Kebab. Pizza. Hot Dogs. You name it, at least one of them had it.
The next night they said they wanted to go to a place that hadn't been open the night before, a club with a slide. But, it was still closed so we smoked shisha and drank mojitos, all night.
Today we went to a pool and a movie and walked all over town together.
These guys were so polite, always looking out for me. Made sure that I walked through door ways first and holding the door open for me. They were very generous, buying rounds and not keeping track and just being lovely. They made Bratislava so fun for me.

Fuck Ukraine

I was on a train, heading for Ukraine and I started talking to some girls on the train with me, telling them what I was doing and where I was going next. One of the girls asked me who I was going to see my boyfriend or family and when I told here that I was just traveling by myself the look on her was as if I had just slapped her. She and three other people in the train cabin spent the next twenty minutes telling me how I would be robbed, raped and then brutally murdered if I went to Ukraine by myself. I was sufficiently scared. Enough that I got off the train and spent the next two days in Poland's equivalent of Richwood, Ohio.
Anywho, I am back in Krakow now. I have a private room for some regrouping time and with any luck will be heading to Bratislava, Slovakia tomorrow.

Auchwitz

I went to Auschwitz today. Death place of over 1 million Poles, Jews, Gypsies, Gays and Children.
I don't even know what to say about it except that it was a completely sobering and very profound visit.
I was worried about some sort of exploitation of the victims but was told that the camp was opened and even completely maintained at first by the victims. I imagine that they don't ever want people to forget what happened to them.
The most personal thing on display was hair. Both on arrival and after being executed, the prisoners hair was cut and sold to make textile products. After the camp was liberated 7 tons (14,000 lbs) were discovered and 2 tons were on display.

Poland=The New America

Poland is more like America than any other country I have been to in Europe.
There is more farm ground here than the rest of the EU.
The people only speak one language.
Potatoes are a main ingredient in everything.
The malls here have Sephora, which I have yet to see anywhere else in the EU. Actually, I went to the mall today here and it looks exactly like a brand new mall back home. They also have a lot of American products here not carried anywhere else.

I am in Krakow now. So far it looks nice. The couchsurfer I am staying with left a key for me and is coming in sometime tomorrow. It's nice to have a little free time. My last host bought me some chocolate and I discovered that all chocolate in Poland tastes mildly of coffee but is also extremely wonderful.
I have also learned how to buy salami here, which makes me very happy.

And finally, I think they tried to kick me off the train today. The contoller kept shaking his head at me and made me go talk to someone else, who also didn't speak english. I just kept shaking my head back saying, "I'm sorry. English?" Someone in Wraclow told me I could get through all of Eastern Europe for free by crying, showing an empty wallet and pretending like I have no idea what's going on...haha, no in the end they just let me sit down again. I think I bought a ticket for a fast train and got on a slow one.