Yesterday morning, a misty fog was hanging low to the ground, over the leafless trees, the trams, and the church spires–the first such fog I’ve seen since coming here. The fog thinned a bit, and isn’t so low now, but the cloud layer hasn’t gone away. The skies are gray and the air is uncomfortably cold. It is no longer pleasant to be outside. This is, I think, the beginning of the real Polish winter, and the end of the blue sky, for the present.

But I don’t mind. Really. I’ve had a wonderful couple of days. I’ve been working on a shiny new Polish theater article (more on that very soon), I conducted an interview with a very, very interesting director on Wednesday, my Polish class is going well, and I’ve been doing much better about socializing with the other Fulbrighters. I’ve been making laptop work dates to go places and get stuff done. It’s been good; lots of writing has happened. Writing is always a lonely occupation, but sometimes you can be more effectively lonely in the company of other simultaneously lonely writers.

Tomorrow, a friend of mine whose field here is Jewish studies and history is going to go with me to services at the synagogue. These aren’t my first Jewish services in Poland–I’ve been in Wroclaw, two years ago, with T.–but it will be my first time in Warsaw. There’s also a Jewish Film Festival this weekend, and we’re going to try to see some of the screenings.

In addition to all this, I have a nice weekend of Extreme Theatregoing coming up:

Saturday: NOSFERATU @ Teatr Narodowy
Sunday: NASZA KLASA @ Teatr Na Woli
Monday: Two more performances of NOSFERATU (the same play, twice, in the same day!)
Tuesday: Chór Kobiet’s MAGNIFICAT @ Instytut Teatralny

The only way in which the extreme future could be better would be if I had definite plans to return to Łódź to see CHOREA again. This company–another one of the ones with historic connections to Grotowski–has a wonderful sense of humor in addition to the typical sense of gravity that I have found in a number of Polish theaters. It’s not that they’re not serious. They are extremely serious. But their work explicitly engages with humor as well. I really loved what I saw of them, and am eager to see more. Soon, I hope.