Up before the alarm at 7:30am to be ready for our 8:30 departure. We were to get over toward the US Embassy and have breakfast nearby to be ready for our 10:30am appointment with the Cultural Attaché and his aides. Joanna picked out an excellent place. Got some really good apple pancakes. Most of the others had variations on egg dishes.
Had a delicious breakfast before visiting the Cultural Attaché.
We got to the Embassy early in order to make it through the security screening. Had to leave my laptop and all of my cameras. Tried to leave the rest of my bag as it was useless without the electronics, but they wouldn’t take it. Once inside we had to turn over our passports in exchange for visitor badges. We were then escorted into a conference room. On the way, I noticed a rack where cell phones had to left and an emergency station with ampoules to combat a certain kind of nerve agent. I started to get creeped out. The Cultural Attaché and his staff introduced themselves before we went around the room and talked about ourselves. The Attaché went on to describe some of the projects the Embassy had undertaken. One recent highlight was to get Africa Bambatta to do a lecture about the history of hip-hop while he was in Warszawa on tour. They also helped Joanna out in April when mourning the Pope’s death disrupted the theater schedule. He also talked at length about Fulbright Scholars and had an article in a Polish news magazine that listed all of the Poles who had come to the US on scholarships. As our meeting was breaking up, Asia skimmed through the article and found that although it did mention Fulbright Scholarships, the focus was really on uncovering the past of politicians and what sort of things they did during communist times to get where they currently were.
Our next stop was at Ujazdów Castle, which houses the Centre for Contemporary Art. We met with the director and he gave us an introduction in English that was interspersed with a great many painful bouts of stammering while he searched for the right words. We looked around at the exhibits for an hour. I spent most of the time looking around a temporary show entitled Polka, which was about the different way that women are portrayed.
Ujazdów Castle, home of the Centre for Contemporary Art. The group got a little lost on the way over. Outside and in. (There are film screenings in the courtyard.) The director.
It had started to rain while we were listening to the director talk, so we were all quite happy that our meeting with Komuna Oswock was to take place in one of the conference rooms at the museum. The leader of the group gave a rather disjointed talk about the history of the group. He showed a bunch of clips from performances over their 15 year history.
The head of Komuna Oswock.
Bussed back to Teatr Rampa to get ready for the evening. We rendezvoused with the Komuna Oswock director at a pub called the Bald Penguin. The place was really nicely appointed and the food, although slow in coming, was delicious. We hiked over to a nearby theater to take in a condensed version of Hamlet. The Komuna Oswock director had recommended a second beer as a way to ease the pain of the performance. Although I could not follow the text at all and it was sweltering in the space once again, I enjoyed the movement of the piece and the minimalist costuming and staging.
At the Bald Penguin, the hangout in the Praga district.
Koby and Laura had decided to throw a party in their room. We gathered up drink and snacks after the show, getting into a grocery store just before they closed. Asia had wanted to put the entire amount on her credit card and get reimbursed. Her plan failed, as they did not take plastic, so I fronted the cash. This I found to be quite ironic because earlier in the evening we had discussed letting the others organize their party and not stepping up to make sure it was on track. Somehow we also ended up waiting for a cab with all of the groceries. There was terrible congestion elsewhere in the city and the radio taxi that had been called could not get to us. Sheila eventually hailed a cab and we arrived back at Teatr Rampa right when the rest of the group came up. Snacks and drink were dispensed and I found an amp to plug my laptop into. Margaret made a lovely spread of fruit and cookies. I DJed an impromptu set and Asia eventually coaxed almost everyone to dance. We finally wrapped up around 1:30am.
Puttin' on a party ... bringin' the snacks ... rockin' the house ... toastin' ... and cuttin' some rug.
Had a delicious breakfast before visiting the Cultural Attaché.
We got to the Embassy early in order to make it through the security screening. Had to leave my laptop and all of my cameras. Tried to leave the rest of my bag as it was useless without the electronics, but they wouldn’t take it. Once inside we had to turn over our passports in exchange for visitor badges. We were then escorted into a conference room. On the way, I noticed a rack where cell phones had to left and an emergency station with ampoules to combat a certain kind of nerve agent. I started to get creeped out. The Cultural Attaché and his staff introduced themselves before we went around the room and talked about ourselves. The Attaché went on to describe some of the projects the Embassy had undertaken. One recent highlight was to get Africa Bambatta to do a lecture about the history of hip-hop while he was in Warszawa on tour. They also helped Joanna out in April when mourning the Pope’s death disrupted the theater schedule. He also talked at length about Fulbright Scholars and had an article in a Polish news magazine that listed all of the Poles who had come to the US on scholarships. As our meeting was breaking up, Asia skimmed through the article and found that although it did mention Fulbright Scholarships, the focus was really on uncovering the past of politicians and what sort of things they did during communist times to get where they currently were.
Our next stop was at Ujazdów Castle, which houses the Centre for Contemporary Art. We met with the director and he gave us an introduction in English that was interspersed with a great many painful bouts of stammering while he searched for the right words. We looked around at the exhibits for an hour. I spent most of the time looking around a temporary show entitled Polka, which was about the different way that women are portrayed.
Ujazdów Castle, home of the Centre for Contemporary Art. The group got a little lost on the way over. Outside and in. (There are film screenings in the courtyard.) The director.
It had started to rain while we were listening to the director talk, so we were all quite happy that our meeting with Komuna Oswock was to take place in one of the conference rooms at the museum. The leader of the group gave a rather disjointed talk about the history of the group. He showed a bunch of clips from performances over their 15 year history.
The head of Komuna Oswock.
Bussed back to Teatr Rampa to get ready for the evening. We rendezvoused with the Komuna Oswock director at a pub called the Bald Penguin. The place was really nicely appointed and the food, although slow in coming, was delicious. We hiked over to a nearby theater to take in a condensed version of Hamlet. The Komuna Oswock director had recommended a second beer as a way to ease the pain of the performance. Although I could not follow the text at all and it was sweltering in the space once again, I enjoyed the movement of the piece and the minimalist costuming and staging.
At the Bald Penguin, the hangout in the Praga district.
Koby and Laura had decided to throw a party in their room. We gathered up drink and snacks after the show, getting into a grocery store just before they closed. Asia had wanted to put the entire amount on her credit card and get reimbursed. Her plan failed, as they did not take plastic, so I fronted the cash. This I found to be quite ironic because earlier in the evening we had discussed letting the others organize their party and not stepping up to make sure it was on track. Somehow we also ended up waiting for a cab with all of the groceries. There was terrible congestion elsewhere in the city and the radio taxi that had been called could not get to us. Sheila eventually hailed a cab and we arrived back at Teatr Rampa right when the rest of the group came up. Snacks and drink were dispensed and I found an amp to plug my laptop into. Margaret made a lovely spread of fruit and cookies. I DJed an impromptu set and Asia eventually coaxed almost everyone to dance. We finally wrapped up around 1:30am.
Puttin' on a party ... bringin' the snacks ... rockin' the house ... toastin' ... and cuttin' some rug.
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