I can't believe this is my last day here. The week flew by. On Thursday I talked to all kinds of kids; elementary, middle and high school. I was going to take a picture of the high school students, but then I got to talking with them and I forgot. Duh.

( Fear not, however. I took plenty of other photos. )

Wednesday is a half-day at the American School in Warsaw. My morning was filled with 7th graders and my afternoon with rain and history.

( What an amazing day! )

I am already at the half-way point of this trip. I hate how time speeds up when you're having fun.

Trust me, friends. I am having a blast. This is me frolicing in front of the Summer Palace. (Your mission, if you choose to accept it: use the word "frolic" in a sentance today.)

( Polish cafeteria food and more! )

I stayed up much too late watching the international coverage of the horror in Virginia. I can't even begin to understand this.

And I feel sort of weird feeling chipper and talking about something else, like my experience here. The shootings were the topic of every conversation last night. While I was working out in the hotel gym, Poles kept staring at the TV screen to catch the latest and walking away shaking their heads.

( Maybe by working harder to connect with each other, we can stop the madness. )

I made it to Poland! And I am having a blast – this is an AMAZING city and country.

Mostly, I have only good news to tell you. But there is one piece of bad news: the Internet connection at my hotel costs $1/minute. Yep. So I’m going to keep this short: the highlights of the last two days.

After a long and crowded flight and getting lost in the maze they call Heathrow airport, I was very happy to see this sign.

( The adventure continues….”> <a href= )

A literary giant, disguised as a bushy-haired man with big eyes, has moved on to other worlds. Kurt Vonnegut is dead. If you haven't read his books, then do yourself a favor and get one today. The man could write, really, really write. He is one of my favorites. (photo credit Jill Krementz)

The weather is suitably funereal - slashing ice pellets against the windows, the wind howling off the lake. Good weather for being somewhat blue and restless, which is certainly where I am today.

It is Packing Day because tomorrow I fly to Poland, via Chicago and London. The kind people at the American School of Warsaw invited me to come and talk to their students about books and writing.

The last time I headed on my own, to a country where I didn't speak the language, I was a 16-year-old exchange student boarding a plane for Denmark. That experience worked out well. I know this one will, too. In fact, I am totally stoked. I can't wait to see the country, hear Polish, meet the people, and see what kinds of kids are at the school. I imagine they have a million bazillion stories of their own.

I've been reading up on Poland's history (which is astounding) and trying to get my mouth around some of the sounds of the language. I am sure I will ask the taxi driver about the color of his underwear instead of the cost of a trip to the airport. Oh, well. To travel, one must be willing to make mistakes. Przepraszam means "I'm sorry."

I'll arrive there, probably jet-lagged, around lunchtime on Saturday. I plan to spent the weekend wandering Warsaw and embarrassing myself to taxi drivers. Monday - Friday I'll be speaking at the school. The kids have Wednesday afternoons off and one of the administrators has kindly offered to show me some of the sights of the city.

I wish I could take some extra days after my time at the school to bum around and visit the countryside or Krakow, but this spring is jam-packed with work for me and I have to get home.

Because of British restrictions (a reaction to terrorists), I can only take one, one, carry-on bag with me on the plane. Obviously, I have to take my laptop, because it holds my computer which I need for my presentations. Today I have to figure out exactly how much stuff my laptop bag will hold. I have to bring Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw, too, because that's what I'll be reading on the plane.

I hope I will be able to blog from Warsaw, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to navigate the Internet. I promise I will take loads of pictures and share them when I get home. If I don't get a chance to talk to you, have a great week, read some Vonnegut, and above all: be kind.