Hard at work in Krakow

Hi everyone :)

I've updated my online album at http://photobucket.com/albums/e220/photos4jeffrey/ . Its ordered in reverse chronological order so the newest are on the first page. If you want to start at the end and work forward it will make more sense :) I changed some of the captions too.

So yes my wallet was stolen the first night here, I'm pretty sure it was taken while we were having a drink waiting for a reservation at a different restaurant and my coat was hanging on the coat tree with everyone else's. Paul remembers seeing a guy taking awhile to get his coat before he left... I've been living on the generosity of my coworkers until my new card arrives. I lost a few hundred dollars, but nothing too terrible. My Visa company caught the first attempt to withdraw money and blocked it and by the time I called to cancel they were already on it. I'm sure I will recover just fine and I've learned my lesson. I feel like I have a big red arrow over my head that says "Stupid American Tourist, Please Take Advantage of Me". Thankfully I kept much better care of my passport.

Yesterday Paul planned to take us on a short hike in the woods, but it turned out to be a much longer trip due to a mix up with the bus schedule and we seemed to have terrible luck with public transportation that day. On the way to the bus station we got going the wrong way on the tram. We took a taxi to the bus station. Once there our original plan to go see some ruins turned into a hike by the Zoo when we learned that particular bus line didn't run on Sunday. So we hopped another tram to a connecting bus stop and not knowing we were cutting it so close we missed the bus while I was taking pictures. So we waited for the next one and finally got out to the park about an hour later than planned. It was a nice walk through the woods, but it was very hard packed and slick snow on the trails. Daryl took a fall at one of the steep points. We wondered around and got a little bit lost at one point and ended up near some University buildings. From there we followed the access road back to the main road, just in time to miss the bus back to the city. After an additional 45 minute wait in the snow we hopped the next bus back into town.
We had lunch in a little cafe bookstore in old town and met a nice English girl, named Kate, who was studying to be a guide at Auschwitz. We were exhausted when we finally got back to the hotel and I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room relaxing and getting ready for Monday. I had dinner at the hotel that night, ran into Tom, who I talked with about work, business, finance, politics and life in general. Its really good to be here and having a chance to get to know the execs outside of work. Paul is a great host and seems like would be a great person to work for. I think I will enjoy being the technical liaison between our two companies.

Yes, Dariusz and Artur are Polish developers who came over to Eugene for about 3 weeks. They flew back with us from Eugene to Denver, to Washington D.C., to Munich, and finally to Krakow. We didn't have any problems with connections or delays or baggage or customs, although Dariusz's bag was torn a bit when he got home. He had bad luck when he got to Eugene too, his bags took an extra day to get there.

As for the Polish girls... it is like there is a fashion model convention going on all over town all the time. It seems that all of them have learned to walk in the ice and snow in high heeled boots. And it must be the lack of cars and all the walking you have to do that keeps everyone so thin here. Its really very bizarre. And did I mention how cold it is? Brrrrr

I heard the guys are planning a pub crawl for me tonight, I'm going to try to act surprised and reluctant "What me? oh no I couldn't do that. I'm really not much of a drinker. Oh, okay if you guys insist. Na Zdrowie!". I've got a Polish phrase book and I'm working on the basics like yes, no, please, thank you, sorry, good morning, bathroom, bank, "can I buy you a drink, beautiful?", that sort of thing. I don't have something similar for India, that would have been a good idea.

The plan is to stay here through Friday, fly out early Saturday morning the 4th I believe, and go through Vienna, Dubai, and finally land in Chennai (Madras) on the 5th. I'm there until the next Sunday the 12th and then I fly home.

Until next time. Do widzenia.