strange customs

Yesterday I went in search of a store that will sell a crystal vase, because my grandmother wired me some money, and so I'm going to buy her what she wants, and she wants "Polish Crystal."  What i found was that if i am chewing on a hangnail while i walk through the square, a man will ask me if my finger tastes good.  and if i grin and blithely say "yep", as i walk past, he will respond "can i taste, too?"

AH HA HA HA HA HHHAAAA HAAAAHHHAAAAA creepy!

NO.

Also while i was walking down the road my RD told me to look for ("this is the weirdest and best question any student has ever asked me."  he says.  My goal in life, people.  Weirdest and best.  Whaddup.) i saw a shope with really cool-looking antiques in the window, so i went to step in.  3 older men all turned to look at me, and the clerk behind the counter stared confused.  I looked around at all of them, crowded but also not moving away from the door, and only had time to say "wh-" before one of the men said, very firmly "This is man's shop."

to which i burst out laughing, apologized, and stepped right back out.

I now consider my trip a failure because I didn't think to say "I am man", very firmly, back.

I SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT.  MY SOUL IS SO SAD.

But yeah, apparently there are shops where women are definitely not welcome.  Probably doing ritual animal sacrifice.

...Bitches.

Anyway, instead of a crystal shop, I found a very cool differenter antique shoppe, and they had a lot of really pretty/neat things, and I tallked to the main lady and she told me that they didn't have any polish crystal yet, but that i should come back tomorrow, and they they'd have some.

So i came back today and they still didn't have any. i go back tomorrow.

but another thing i did was find my favoritest spot in all of Krakow.  Massolit bookstore.  It's an american-run bookstore and there are couches and chairs and all of the books are in english and it's one of those places where there's only one of each book and there are just piles and pile and you can only file by genre and it smells like old books and  *dreamy sigh*.

let me just.

and can i.

do you see?

oh this is so sudden.  i.  i've never had a bookstore talk dirty to me.

and on the way back, we stopped into a church.  we couldn't actually go in because they were holding mass, but look how beautiful.

TUNE IN TOMORROW TO SEE WHAT I'VE GOTTEN INTO NEXT.