This is so Ghetto!

It's sad, but we've started thinking about my going back home.  I will be flying on Friday.  Since we've both been out of the country for an extended period of time now, we wonder what reverse culture shock we're going to experience.  Last night, we talked about what will be strange to us: lightswitches?  prices?  driving a car?  having a yard?  Maybe most of all, the weather!  Although it's cool and dreary here, at least there's rain.

Let's not forget that we will also be able to communicate problem-free with just about anyone.  Last night at the English language meeting, Andy and I were talking with some Poles about learning English and learning Polish.  Both groups had some funny stories about what was hard about the others' language.  It was a great time for my last language club meeting.

Yesterday, I also made a trek to a new part of town.  I was on my way to visit the Oskar Schindler Factory museum, which is in the old Jewish ghetto.  Not the best part of town, but not too scary in daylight.   My tram stop was at one of the memorials I had read about.  The empty chairs represent those Jews who just "disappeared" during the Nazi occupation:

Puffer wanted to sit on one.

The way to the factory from here looks sketchy, but I just had to keep going and following the signs, and I found it pretty quickly. 

Unfortunately, I came all that way but wasn't able to visit the factory.  Why?  Because they only sell a finite number of tickets for entry each day, and they were sold out.  I was very disappointed.  This is a phenomenon I am not used to.  In the U.S., the vast majority of museums just keep letting people in throughout the day.  Unless it is a special exhibition where you buy a ticket for a particular entry time, there are no ticket limits.  Apparently it's different here.  This is the second time a museum has turned me/us away because they were sold out.  Granted, yesterday was also a "free admission" day at the Schindler Factory, but they sell a limited number of tickets no matter what day it is.  I bought a ticket for today, and I'm looking forward to actually seeing the museum later.