Pope Benedict is in Warsaw today… visiting the Polish peeps and trying to prove that he can be as good a pope as the beloved John Paul 2. Really - it’s the only thing on TV and in the papers. I was tempted to buy a “pope flag” (the Vatican national flag) on the street yesterday since they were selling them… but I refrained.

Now I might regret that since they probably won’t be available tomorrow. I’m stuck home at my cousin’s house (in the suburbs of Warsaw .) This isn’t a bad thing since he and his wife have a beautiful home in a reall beautiful neighborhood. This neighborhood/town is called Milanowek - my understanding of Polish would lead me to believe that this is in fact a diminutive name for Milan… but I doubt that’s the case. Either way, this use to be a summer resort/villa community for the wealthy Warsaw-dwellers. Once mass-transit and whatnot got all popular, it became a nice upscale suburb… and it’s really gorgeous. I will try to post pictures of some of the houses when I get back and can hook up my digital camera. They’re small, but really picturesque - European.

Why am I stuck home? I’m sick. I don’t know if it was airplane food or what. We got off the plane and I was just really really tired, so when my cousin’s wife picked us up from the airport and took us to her office (she’s a muckity muck at the Polish Press Agency - kind of like the Associated Press back in the States) I took her up on an offer of some tea.

My father and sister and I then walked around Warsaw a little and stopped at a cute restaurant called “Pierogarnia.” It’s a pierogi restaurant. Cute and tasty. But I could barely finish my order of potato and cheese pierogi and looking at my father’s dessert blintz started making me feel icky. We took a train to my cousin’s house (since he was flying in from Helsinki and his wife would be picking him up from the airport) and the moment my sister and I walked in the house, we went straight to the couches in the living room, each took one, and fell asleep.

I awoke about 2 hours later, shivering and in pain. I asked my father to find some blankets for me and he did… I was covered in my coat and about 4 layers of blankets and still freezing. I realized that I needed to throw up and went to the bathroom and did so. I felt a little better after that, as often happens, but still not 100%. My cousin and his wife got back and we did the greeting thing and they put together a light late supper of fresh bread, coldcuts, vegetables, and wine. I had some bread with butter and some chamomile tea… that was all I could handle.

Then I slept until about 9:30 this morning. When I woke up, my neck and back and stomach and sides were sore, and I felt extremely tired and weak. I had a small but civil argument with my father about not feeling well enough to walk around Warsaw today and he and my sister went without me. I’ve spent the time since then (it’s 3:36pm here) going to the bathroom every 15 minutes with a nice case of Montezuma’s revenge, and dozing on the couch since it’s close to the bathroom. I’ve had some tea and a banana and toast… and still have no appetite.

In short, I feel like crap.

But I am glad I’m taking today “off” so to speak, since this will not be an option in Tunisia, especially when we take a 2-day trip into the Sahara. I’ve been advised by my cousin’s wife to bring SPF 60 (yes, they have it here) and use that for the first couple of days, then bring it down to a 45 and then a 30 to get a nice tan, but not third degree burns all over my body. The temperature in Tunisia right now is something like 105 degrees. We leave for Tunisia tomorrow.

I get back to Poland on June 2 and only have 3 days to spend with my family in Lodz before I fly back to the US. I thought we were spending less time in Tunisia and more time in Poland, but so be it. I’ll spend that whole time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins there… and maybe go shopping with my cousin and sister since that way I can get souvenirs and spend time with family.

This headache will not quit. I think I have some Motrin in my suitcase… so I’m going to take a few.

Chances are I will NOT have internet access in Tunisia, but I will perhaps have a chance to report back when I return to Warsaw on June 2.