Yesterday, ran some post-office and shopping errands in the morning, and then went with my roommate M. and her friend A. to see a screening of the Albanian film “Amnesty,” directed by Buyar Alimani, at the Warsaw Film Festival. It was at the Kinoteka, in the Pałac Kultury i Nauki. I really enjoyed the visual language of the film–it’s about people dealing with a lack of opportunity in their society–unemployment, too many people in prison, etc.–and oftentimes the film would be silent and still when there was nothing to say. Very graceful movement, very slowly unfolding. Lovely.

Afterwards we went for hummus and Shiraz in the Teatr Dramatyczny-lobby adjacent cafe in the Pałac and had the longest in-Polish conversation I have managed to sustain thus far.

And then M. and I ate dinner at home and defrosted the freezer in her seventies-era Russian-made refrigerator. Just another Saturday night in Warsaw. I introduced her to the idea (American, energy-wasteful) of using a hair dryer to expedite the process.

As much as I miss having rehearsals to actively participate in at the moment, it is important to point out to myself that when I do have such rehearsals, I can’t take place in such luxuriously extended socializing–I can’t just let one thing unfold into the next without being aware of “wasted” time. I need to enjoy this period of relative quiet, because one thing that’s certain, knowing me, is that there will–soon enough–be another period of relative whirlwindiness.