Poland

Hello world, been a week or so. I am writing today because today I am going to go to a store that everyone here in Warsaw keeps calling the French Walmart. This is odd to me because I dislike Walmart. Being from Arkansas, Walmart isn't special, and I generally hear all the shitty stuff they do to their customers and employees. So, when people keep saying its Walmart, but a French Company, I have to hold my tongue because I want to ask does that mean I will be buying cheap crap from china whilst being insulted, or does that mean just buying cheap stuff from a company that was able to open up in the European market because Walmart had so sullied its name through its business practices that no self respecting European nation would allow a Walton withing 50 feet of its business community?

That said, Warsaw is odd. I like it, the weather is great, the people generally are nice. Every now and again I just kind of get shy and let all the people in line go ahead of me because at most stores and markets you don't get the things from the shelves, they are all behind counters, so because I only speak English, I just kind of play the point and nod game with store keepers. This would aggravate the shit out of me in America if I was stuck behind someone who was doing this while I was in a hurry, so I try to let people go ahead of me so that I don't waste their time. This must be a somewhat common practice for people that don't speak polish in this area, since by the time I get to the counter the person working it starts with English every time, and then we play the point and nod game. The tram/bus/metro system here is cool, although yesterday I realized my compass was broken, and I have been using it to find North, which it doesn't, and therefore getting on the wrong directing about 50% of the time. That was kind of fun, but all in all, I like riding trams and other forms of public transport, because its calming. I might do it tomorrow while I try to finish a paper.

In other news, I went to a couple bars last night, trying to go to one in particular that I couldn't find, but saw a great crowd at these others, and figured that this was where I was meant to be. While in them, when I try to open on a girl or two, once they realize I am American, it is kind of funny. Some want to ask all kinds of inane questions, but most give me responses that make me feel they don't want me bothering them. The more things are different, the more they are the same, huh.