Our culture night was a hilarious disaster, which Whiteley says, is how culture nights usually are. I never found out what a milk bar is because it was closed. Ola blames Stumpf, she says he cursed the milk bar because the same thing happened when she tried to take the missionaries to the milk bar last year, when he was last serving in Wrocław. Funny thing is, she might be right, because the milk bar opens again the day Stumpf leaves Wrocław... We also didn't end up going to the oldest restaurant in Europe, because we ran out of time and it apparently takes a long time to be served there. We were going to meet Ola again, to ride bikes to the Japanese gardens, so our time was limited...
So instead we went to Pizza Hut... It was really good, but as far as Polish culture is concerned, it's pretty lame... By the time we were done at pizza hut, and Ola had showed up, it was raining, so riding bikes wasn't really an option, also, food took longer than we thought it would, so the Japanese Gardens were closed. In the end we decided just to take a tramwaj to a fountain show Stumpf had talked about, and call it a day. The rain stopped soon after we had made this decision. Unfortunately, we got off on the wrong stop and so, arrived at the water show 5 minutes before it ended... It was pretty while we were there though.
There were lots of little fountains around the big one, the kind that shoot water up out of the ground. Some kids were playing in it, so of course Ola decided she wanted to run through it, and convinced Whiteley to come with her. At first Whiteley just ran between the water so she wouldn't get wet. As Ola was trying to convince her to just run right through the water, Stumpf casually strolled over there and just shoved her in. It was hilarious! she got really wet, but it wasn't a big deal in the end because about 5 minutes later it started raining again and so we were all soaked.
So yeah, that was our culture night. It was disastrous, but also really fun. On Tuesday we went and got sushi with Prezydent Cielański. He wanted to take the Kowalskis (our senior couple) out to lunch because they are going home this week. The White Elders didn't come because they had a lesson, and the Brown Elders didn't want sushi, so they got kebabs and then joined us for the company, after they had eaten them. I was starving, because I forgot to eat breakfast, so I was toying with the idea of ordering one of the 30 piece dishes. Cielański told me that if I got it, and ate the whole thing, he'd pay for my meal... so I did :) It actually ended up only being 28 pieces, but still, I ate the whole thing.
On Wednesday Whiteley and I ate a the hipster place again (I found out the name too, it's called "Bułka z Masłem", which literally translates to "Roll with Butter"). It was the most awkward experience of my life, Whiteley and I could not stop laughing, it was so funny! We waited for about 40 minutes before they even brought us menus, no joke! And that place is so weird we couldn't tell who worked there and who didn't. As we were sitting there I suddenly had a vision, of a Portlandia skit, where they are waiting for menus at a restaurant a really long time, and finally a waitress comes over and tells them that they are sitting in the "no menu seats". Waitress - "We don't give menus to people who sit in these seats" Customer - "Well then, how are we supposed to order" Waitress - "You just kind of feel it out... and then you send your good vibes to the waiters, and they just know!" Customer - "But, we can't tell who works here, who are the waiters?" Waitress - "the customers are the waiters, and the waiters are the customers" After about 30 minutes into our waiting, we came up with three possible options... 1) Continue to sit there in total awkwardness. 2) Awkwardly get up and move to a new seats and keep our fingers crossed that they wouldn't be "no menu seats" as well. 3) Awkwardly get up and leave the restaurant, eat somewhere else, and never tell the Elders about our experience, because they would take the mickey out of us if they knew.
Notice how all three of those options had "awkward" in there, that's because there was no comfortable solution. We ended up accidentally falling into option 1, because we sat there for long enough, trying to decide what to do and laughing our heads off, that finally someone who we assume must have been a waitress, finally noticed us and brought us menus. I seriously love that place, it is so weird!
Not a ton happened the rest of the week, until Saturday, when we had our branch grill. Whiteley and I made a cake for it (mostly Whiteley... OK, all Whiteley, I washed out the pan and then pathetically sat there and watched her make it...). It was loads of fun, but it was bright and hot, and just about everyone got burnt. We had kelbasa, and yummy snacks, the Kowlaski's had games for the little kids, and a pinata. They didn't have a stick to beat the pinata with, so Cynthia Call stole one of Prezydent Cielański's crutches, and they used that... Then Starszy Fotu broke it, not irreparably so, but the rubber thing on the end went flying off when the pinata broke, and they had to search through the bushes to find it.
I had a cool moment right at the beginning of the grill, when Mariusz introduced me to the people who would be playing music for us (yes, we had a band). I had heard a few weeks before that it is customary in Poland for a man to wait for a woman to extend her hand for a handshake, the woman gets to decided if she is going to allow the man to have the honor of shaking her hand, but I'd never really seen it in action until I met the violinist. He was a really cool old guy with a huge beard and long grey hair. When I said hello to him he hesitated and just stood there with his hands at his side, waiting for me to decide if I was going to shake his hand or not. When I realised what he was doing, of course I stuck my hand out. It was kind of cool though.
Also, speaking of the band, they totally played the "Candy Mountain" song that is in "Charlie the Unicorn" it was hilarious, but now I want to know what that song is originally from. We spent a lot of the time playing a boardgame Starszy Owens made on the computer. It is called "Thud" and it is apparently from a Terry Pratchett book. He's been teaching all the members how to play it and they love it. I beat him both times I played it against him though and now he owes me 2 White Lion candy bars, and a White Twix, ha ha! Cindy Call played against him as well, she was losing horribly both times, but right before the end I got Owens to close his eyes and helped Cindy cheat but placing all of her captured pieces back onto the board in the perfect formation to destroy Owens at his own game. it was hilarious! I count it as a solid win, and so does Prezydent Cielański. Therefore, it is condoned by the church :)
Yesterday I taught Relief Society, all by my lonesome! First lesson I've ever taught in church and is wasn't in English. It was super easy though because the ladies in our Relief Society can yarn for hours! All I had to do was ask 3 three questions and they answered them for 45 minutes! I realised right before the close that I hadn't prepared how I was going to close the meeting, and I had missed most of what they had said during the meeting... so I awkwardly just said "Miłości bliźniego jest ważny... i dobre... śpiewamy?!" which directly translates to "Charity is important... and good... we sing?!" Then we sang and prayed and it was over. They all know I'm a greenie though, so I'm sure they expected nothing more or less from me :)
Well, that was basically everything cool that happened this week. All our lessons fell through/had to be re-scheduled so I don't have any cool teaching experiences or anything like that. It my birthday tomorrow though! Wooo! Whiteley has decided we are having Birthday week! Which means that I get to do whatever I want in the name of birthday week! I'm so excited! And I get to open my presents tomorrow! The ones mom sent me in the MTC (I did not open them, I didn't even peek) and some games that I bought myself, though Whiteley has taken them away and insists I didn't buy anything for my birthday, she's going to wrap them and give them to me tomorrow :) Laney, I know you will be interested to know what games they are. I got Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. All together they were about 45 dollars! Awesome, right!
Today is Stumpf's last P-day in Wrocław, second to last ever. So we are going to be doing whatever he wants to do today. It sounds like we are going to get burgers and then ride bikes (if it doesn't rain again) to Magnolia Park (a really nice, nearby mall) and go shopping, I assume. Ola and Cindy Call are coming too. It should be loads of fun! I love you all family, I'm super jelous that you are at San Clemente, but it's OK, cuz I have Coke here... and hipster resturaunts... and birthday video games I can't play... and it's only going to start getting colder... :( lol, just kidding, I'm having a great time :) Have a good time!
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