One of the things I love and I want my kids to love is the visits to the library. I assume that every city has a public library and so I found out about the public library in White Plains.
The building seems to be built in 60’s which means it is really ugly (my opinion).

But like in many other things it is the inside that counts. Inside is ok. It is for sure not the most beautiful library but it works fine. The trick here was though that even if living in White plains we couldn’t register in this library but we had to go to another town to which our community belongs to and register as members. Means unless you know exactly to which library you need to go, check it up before going to one, or do like us. Drive her and forth to get a library member ship.
The thing that it is for free in the land where everything costs a fortune was motivating.
They have very nice exhibition of different things that schoolers have done which I find very nice of the city to show as proper art. It has a very big children area with toys as well as very nice books which is what I essentially need.

Jedna od stvarih koje volim i koju hoću da mi djeca zavole su posjete u magični svijet biblioteke. Pretpostavila sam da svaki grad ima neku gradsku biblioteku i tako sam pronašla jednu i u White plains. Zgrada je napravljena u nekim 60- ili 70-im što znači da je izrazito ružna (moje mišljenje).
Ali kao u dosta stvari računa se unutrašnji dio i tu je ok. Nije sigurno najljepša biblioteka koju sam vidjela ali haj, ispunjava svoju funkciju.
Naravno nije bilo samo ući i prijaviti se kao član nego su skontali da pod našom adresom pripadamo nekom drugom gradu tako da sam maksuz otišla u drugi grad da nabavim bibliotetsku karticu… Samim tim ako ikad dođete živjeti ovdje onda se preispitajte kojoj biblioteci pripadate jer u današnjenjem visokotehničkom dobu sa internetom i tako to ne možeš da se registruješ bilo gdje nego samo tu gdje pripadaš:P
U državi gdje sve košta jedno bogatstvo osim članstva u biblioteci (džabe) to me onda malo motivisalo da se vozikam tamo vamo.
U biblioteci imaju lijepe izložbe od raznih stvari od raznih školaraca što mi se baš svidjelo jer prikazuju školsku kulturu na lijep način.
Dalje ima velik odjel za djecu gdje imaju čak igračke i dobre knjige (što je u biti zbog čega smo došli). Slabi su sa “internacionalnim gradivom” što me dovodi do zaključka da ovdje naših ili ne postoje ili ne čitaju. Ali ne vrijedi samo za naše nego i za švede ako ćemo biti korektni.

During the day they have some activities for kids which is nice when you have no where to put your youngest kid.
One thing though is their café which is also nice but they serve everything in paper mugs or plastic.
I do not like to eat soups from a paper mug unless I really really have to. But in a “everyday healthy” café with “organic coffee” I don’t see the point of using paper mugs, plates and plastic cutlery. It just looks very cheap!
Another thing is the soup doesn’t cool down so I asked for a porcelain plate for my son and they didn’t have one single normal plate in the whole café. I was asking in three different ways about the plate thinking they hadn’t understood me…then an old lady proudly (?) tells me that is American “culture”. I was looking at her and swallowed and fought with myself for a moment.
I wanted to tell her lady ” ballet, opera, wonderful art are culture. Culture is something positive for the environment. Drinking coffee in a paper/plastic mug is NOT culture it is actually LACK of culture! Maybe it turns culture the day all the Michelin star restaurants start serving their food on paper plates and plastic mugs… but until then… it is for sure not “culture”!
Then I remembered I was here to learn about new “cultures” , to open MY mind not someoneelses mind. So I took my kids out to the kids area and let them choose some books. These are the first books they borrowed in an American library 🙂

U toku dana drže se aktivnosti za djecu koje su super kad nemaš gdje ostaviti najmlađe dijete.
Imaju i kafić! Everyday health (Svaki dan zdravo? ili kako to da prevedem). Ono fazon ekologija sa ekološkom kafom i hranom…koja se servira u papirnim tanjirima sa plastičnim escajgom? Nisam skontala to korištenje papirnih tanjira, plastičnih čaša i to. Meni to samo izgleda jeftino a da ne pričam o promjeni ukusa kafe, hrane itd.  ili zagađivanju prirode.
A onda nastane problem da se supa neće da ohladi i hem tako ti ja odem pitati imaju li oni “prave” tanjire…ali me nisu skontale. Pa sam na više načina probala da objasnim da hoću porculanski tanjir… tu mi se onda jedna starija žena ponosno (?) obrati i reče da je to “američka kultura”. Nekoliko sam je momenata posmatrala i borila sama sa sobom. Htjela sam joj reći “ gospođo, balet, opera, divno slikanje su kultura. Kultura je nešto pozitivno za okoliš. Piti kafu u papirnim /plastičnim šoljama NIJE kultura to je, ako ćemo pravo, NEDOSTATAK kulture! Možda postane kultura tog dana kad Michelin restorani počnu servirati na papirnim tanjirima i plastičnim čašama…ali do tad… ovo sigurno nije “kultura”.
I onda sam se podsjetila da sam JA ta što sam došla da se učim o novim kulturama i običajima, da otvorim svoj um a ne tuđi. Tako da sam se (kiselo) nasmijala i djecu pozvala i otišli smo u magični svijet knjiga. A ovo su prve knjige koje su izabrali u jednoj američkoj biblioteci 🙂