Learning Polish

If I can, and the Dragunowicz family agrees, I plan to visit Wroclaw, Poland, where Asha was born and grew up.  I know of two fluent speakers of Polish who could go with me, and most people in that town seem to speak English, but I want to be able to communicate in Polish a little with the family and make my way around.  Problem: there is no college anywhere in the Bay area that teaches an Intro to Polish, so I may have to engage a private tutor.  Online lessons are okay, but I really need to be able to pronounce things correctly and have no experience at all with Slavic languages.

Wroclaw seems to be an amazing city, and perhaps I can go other places (Krakow, especially) but I do plan to visit Auschwitz also (this makes for maybe not the most uplifting trip, but some of my writing life seems to be devoted to trying to understand evil, and also to understand what really happened to Poland and its Jewish population during the German occupation). There's possibilities in life for going to other fun places overseas, but this is part of research, and I want to understand how Asha lived.

By the way, Wicked was wonderful!  I am glad I gave that gift to myself, and tonight is Bal Anat at the Rio--the first time I have been to the Rio without the person in question, which is sad, but I am going to try and not let it make me too sad tonight.  Bal Anat is a show depicting the different types of Middle Eastern dance, and how this has been adapted in the United States.  When I saw this in 2003, I was just beginning to dance and to work with my current troupe--amazing I have been with it for eleven years, and bellydancing for twelve!

Must get some laundry done, and choose an outfit for the show.