When I was almost a Polish TV star



I walked outside on Saturday, about noon, just like any normal weekend day (ok, I'll admit, usually I'm still in bed at noon on a weekend day). Anyway, I was headed to the PwC office picnic, and I thought about bringing my camera in case I wanted to take some pictures. I decided not to, because what exciting things could possibly be seen at the PwC office picnic???  Plus, I could always take some pics with my Blackberry if I needed to (on a side note, the picnic ended up being a lot of fun, with many photo opps).

I opened the front door of my apartment building to see a bunch of antique cars and people dressed in old clothes. I wondered if it was some holiday where people dress up, because that kind of thing doesn't surprise me here anymore.  There was an elderly man riding a rickety bicycle, wearing an old fedora, a woman pulling a wagon of vegetables, and a guy that looked like a German WWII soldier.  Strange, but not too strange, right? 

Wait a minute, a German WWII soldier?  I had just watched the complete series of "Band of Brothers", and my imagination went wild for about 2 seconds.  What's going on??? Is this real life?

I thought to myself "I should have brought my camera", and like any good Japanese tourist, I quickly pulled out my BB to take a picture of the scene in front of me.

But dangit, I kept messing up my password!

That's when I noticed that everyone stopped what they were doing and started staring at me, including the soldier, who was carrying a luger (a very scary gun). Startled, I turned and looked down the street and saw a huge crowd of people.  I wondered "what are those regular-dressed people looking at? And what are those video cameras for"?

Then a man yelled at me 'Halo! Szybko, szybko!' (Hurry!), clearly upset, waving a walkie talkie in the air.

That's when it hit me: I'm standing in the middle of their film set, and I came outside into the middle of their filming. I tried to smile and wave at the camera, but a sense of shock and embarrassment prevented me. After a few seconds of not knowing what to do (did I still have time to take a picture???), I decided I probably shouldn't just stand there anymore, looking like an idiot.  So I ran down the street, past the cameras, past the crowd, and pretended nothing happened. I didn't take a picture because clearly they weren't happy with me.  And that guy had a luger. 

I guess they didn't want an Asian wearing jeans and a t-shirt in their show.

Later, I asked my neighbor Ania about it.  She had taken a few pictures from her window, and told me it was filming for a Polish TV show called "Czas Honoru" (Time of Honor), about WWII.  I guess that explains the German soldier (whew). 

Just another abnormal day in Warsaw

If you saw this guy walking down the street, you'd be nervous too, right? (Or have I been watching too many WWII movies?)