Where to begin?

It's crazy to think that I've now been in Poland for over 6 weeks - time flies! 

I spent three weeks of July as an assistant music teacher at an Arts-Enriched English Camp at Nadwarciański Gród. The park, located in Załęcze Wielkie (in the south western corner of Poland), was absolutely beautiful. And the students and staff alike were wonderful! Afterward, the American staff spent a week in Krakow, which is an amazing city. More details to come on that if I get a chance, but right now I'm working on updating a separate blog specific to the camp, so check that out at: http://teipartsnews.blogspot.com/

Since our tour in Krakow ended, I met up with my Dziadzi and brother to start the third phase of my Pierogi Pilgrimidge - meeting some of my maternal grandparents' family members in their various villages and cities.

First up on our list? We made a quick stop at Dziadzi's sister Ciocia Irka's house to drop off some luggage, and then headed over to their brother Edek's farm in a village called Cupel. We were particularly excited to see Cupel because it was the birthplace and first home of my grandfather, and his brother kept the land and has continued to farm it with his family all these years.

Upon our arrival in Cupel, we were first greeted by the dogs there. One was particularly apprehensive about the unfamiliar visitors to his home, but he eventually warmed up to Dziadzi (or perhaps vice versa). Similarly, Dziadzi had plenty of time to hang out with the cows here, because it turns out that Wujek Edek has a dairy farm and owns about 60 cows, in addition to a few chickens. Here's a few farm photos:  

Having been on a farm for several days, Ryan and I were eager to try our hand at various farming activities. For Ry, that meant climbing up a tractor - particularly Wujek Edek and his son Gregor's enormous yellow one - every chance he got. For me, it meant attempting to milk a cow since we were on a dairy farm! Back in the day, they used to have to milk whatever cows they had by hand. But now, they have a full barn full of stalls. The cows file in (and even know to get to their own stall!) and are clipped to a pole for safety's sake. Then, one by one, each are now milked by a machine. The whole family goes out twice a day to help milk the 30-something cows that they milk - including Wujek Edek's very pregnant daughter-in-law Marta!

I also was particularly eager to use the traditional Polish well contraption on Wujek's farm, a little model of which I played with as a child at my grandparent's house. However, it turns out that I was doing it incorrectly all these years! Rather than using the pole like a lever to raise and lower the bucket into the well, it's used as a counterbalance as you stand over the well and lower the bucket in. The family thought it was obvious that you would stand near the bucket, but it wasn't obvious for this "city" girl! 

Also of note: during our Sunday in Cupel, we went to mass at the church where Dziadzi used to go when he was growing up. Because it was located about 5 or 6 kilometers away from his house, Dziadzi and his family generally walked to church. He previously described it as not being nearly as decorative as the church where they got married, but it also was very tall and beautiful.

Even more kilometers away was the area that Dziadzi and his family used to sell cows every once in a while. In order to do so, they had to leave the previous night and walk the cow all night in order to make it to the market on time the next morning. I snapped a shot of the area as we drove by. If nothing else, it shows how towns have really become developed in the past few decades.

So now, a word about the family. Wujek Edek and his wife Danuta live with their son Gregor and his wife Marta. They have one four-year-old daughter, Emilia, and another child on the way. Though shy at first, Emilia soon warmed up to me. In no time, she followed me around and requested that I play with Barbie dolls, hula-hoop, or examine her rock collection with her. She was so eager to play with me that on the last night, when her mom told her I needed to go to bed (aka pack my suitcase), she sighed and said something to the effect of, "All right, if she HAS to." Anyways, the family in general was very nice to us. Cioicia Danka was a great cook - she made the best apple cake that I've ever had! Also, the family obviously works very hard to maintain their land. In addition to huge fields of hay and several cows, they also keep a large garden (complete with cucumbers and tomatoes just like my grandparents grow in their garden back home) and some beautiful flower bushes. It was obvious that Dziadzi was happy to see his brother was doing well for himself and enjoyed walking around the yard.

Long story short: we enjoyed our stay with Dziadzi's brother Edek. To the right is a picture of his son Gregor and his granddaughter Emilia.
Below is a pic of the entire family and their visitors in front of their house, and to the left, a picture of their land from the road leading up to it:

Before I address the rest of our week with Babci and Dziadzi's families, I'd like to backtrack for just a second. On our way to Cupel, we stopped by the church where my Babci and Dziadzi got married. We had both good and bad timing - good, because we arrived there just as a wedding was starting and it was cool to see a wedding while visiting the place my grandparents got married over 50 years ago, bad because that meant we didn't have the opportunity to explore much inside. Regardless, it was a beautiful big church - much larger than I, having heard about the fact that my grandparents grew up in pretty small villages, ever anticipated.






After spending some time exploring as much of the church as possible without interrupting the wedding, we headed across the street to the nearby parish cemetery where Babci's relatives were buried. 


It was a pretty large cemetery located on a nice hill. Again, you can tell that Poles generally care about their family, because they certainly take good care of their loved ones' graves.























We had to laugh and get a picture on the way back to the church as Dziadzi admired his favorite thing: the bushes along the road. 


Then, we headed for Babci's childhood home. Just like with Dziadzi's house in Cupel, the original house is no longer there - since my grandparents left, they have rebuilt homes on the properties. But in Babci's house, they kept some of the same barns up. No one was home when we stopped by, but nonetheless we decided to take a quick peek from the front yard. It was good to see that the property is well-maintained and that they too keep a huge garden. To the left is a pic of said garden and barns.
Also, they kept the cross up in front of the house that Dziadzi believes may have been there when Babci lived at the house. Though it was a little crooked, it was very cool to see (it's pictured above). 



I must say, the roads around this area were some of the narrowest dirt roads yet. I took a shot of one of them through the back window of Wujek Edek's car. Talk about off-roading!






Anyway, after visiting Cupel for a few days, we made our way up to Gdansk to visit some of Babci's brothers  there. On the first night, we stopped by her brother Jozef's office where he works as a parking attendant. He invited us over the next day for obiad. Next, we went to her brother Genek's son Waldek's house, where Genek was looking over the house because his son was on vacation. We picked up Genek and returned to his apartment in Gdansk. He and his wife Janina were so hospitable - they took us in and arranged places for us to sleep for the night. My aunt was so sweet and particularly eager to make sure that we were comfortable - I loved her. She was even spotted waving to us as we were leaving the parking lot.


The next day, we went to Babci's brother Jozef and his wife Hildegada's house for obiad. His niece/ adoptive daughter Ania came over with her son. She was very friendly and we talked to her son a little because he, like all kids in Poland, learn English in school. Although he was 2 years younger than Ryan, he was the same height! See left for the proof.

Up next was Babci's brother Edek, also from Gdansk. His family was also very nice. His two sons Lukasz and Jakub, both around my age, spoke English very well and talked to us for a while.

After all those visits, we headed back to Dziadzi's sister Ciocia Irka's house late that night. All in all, it was wonderful to see Ciocia Irka, who visited us in the U.S. twice in the past few years, again. She is so sweet and was amongst the most hospitable people of the entire trip. She was so concerned about giving us the best accommodations, she herself insisted on giving up her room for me. And she made sure we had a ton of food at every meal - perhaps the most interesting dish of which was a soup made of chunks of pig's head (since they did, in fact, raise some pigs.) Speaking of pigs, they eat - a lot. So by the end of the week, Ryan was helping the uncles shovel up the grain they harvested (for the pigs to eat) into a pile in the barn. All the Wujeks got a kick out of the fact that the American kid was doing their farm work for them, but for Ryan, it was no big deal. Or should I say, no "pig" deal?

And now, a word about Ciocia Irka's family. She has three sons (Krzysztof, Andzej, and Edward) and two daughters (Elzbieta and Ewa), all grown and most married with kids. I was so impressed by how close all her family is. Most of her grandchildren live a few miles away from her house, but they often bike over to hang out on the farm. I was glad to see all the cousins hang out with each other - they generally act more like siblings than anything. The oldest, Karolina, spoke to me for a while. She's eager to visit the U.S. - I just requested that she calls me up when she does so we can go to New York or Washington D.C.! 

Meanwhile, Ryan spent some of his time hanging out with the littlest grandchild, Oliwier. He was so funny. He always wanted to play soccer with Ryan and often asked Ryan why he didn't understand or wasn't responding (which in and of itself Ryan didn't understand because it was all in Polish). Overall, I absolutely loved hanging out with Ciocia Irka's family and of course, loved her food. At one point, I commented that I liked the pierogi she served, and she responded that she would just have to make them for me the next time she visited the states.

Before heading back to Warsaw, we met with one other set of relatives: Dziadzi's late brother Ryszaud's wife Elzbieta, daughter Ania, and son-in-law. They were very excited to meet me and see Dziadzi and Ryan again (since they had met them earlier before I joined them). His daughter, Ania, was also very pregnant and so adorable! She said that I should stay with her for a few years and eventually I'd improve my Polish and she'd work on her English.

Okay, that's all for now. More to come about our whirlwind cross-country tour of Poland, which so far has been great!
Pokój,
Rach

I was too tired from birthday partying - more like birthday packing - to write what deserved to be written last night, so here goes nothing:


980 photos, 450ish megabytes of wireless internet, 14 mostly-rainy days, 10 or so willing and able English-speaking cousins, 9 churches, 6 nights/ early mornings spent packing, 5 homes, 3 lattes, 2 lovely grandparents, 1 quick splash in the Baltic, 0 pounds gained by some miracle, and countless family and friends (and food) later, this is it.


After a whirlwind 2 weeks, I said goodbye to my grandparents a few hours ago to meet my group from the Kosciuszko Foundation's Teaching English in Poland Arts-Enriched English Camp at the airport in Warsaw. Although I am absolutely SO very excited to start my time at the camp, I was sad to say goodbye to touring the Northern half of the country and meeting tons of extended family with my lovely grandparents. But as they say, time flies when you're having fun, so here's a recap of the last few days in Parczew:





First and foremost, it was indeed my birthday yesterday - thanks for kind words and wishes, friends!
Well, the day started with Babciu waking me up early to tell me she'd let me sleep in for my birthday. So needless to say, I got out of bed early:) It was a pretty low-key birthday - we walked to the main shopping street in Parczew, where my grandmother and Ciocia Halina shopped for a while. (Okay okay, I'll admit it - I shopped too. I did buy a notebook and some nail polish for myself.) My poor Dziadziu, being subjected to all that shopping. As he says, he's used to it, what with having lived with my Babcia for some 49 years now:) Here's the sight we were greeted with after having exited a shop: 

All morning, my Ciocia called local bakeries to locate a chocolate cake for my birthday. The fact that I knew this demonstrates that my comprehension of the Polish language has improved over the past few weeks. Anyway, while out in the town, we went to pick up my cake. It was absolutely beautiful! Rest assured, there was no way I was going to stave here on my birthday.


While we ladies were getting the cake, my grandfather ducked into a local florist shop and bought me beautiful roses. Thanks Dziadz! 

Below is a birthday shot of my Babcia, me, my flowers and cake, Wujek Tadeusz and Ciocia Halina.

Later, we went back to my Ciocia Halina and Wujek Tadeusz Bronikowski's house, where we've been staying. After dinner, Ciocia called her neighbor over to have some cake with us. Turns out she was Dziadziu's first girlfriend when he was in "preschool"! Haha, how funny is that? 
Even better is the fact that her mother is now 101 years old, so singing the traditional "Sto Lat" song (which involves something of a wish that the birthday boy or girl lives to see 100) no longer even applies to her, she's so exceptional! What better company than that to have on my birthday?
To the right is a picture of her, her daughter (aka Dziadziu's first girlfriend), my Babciu, and Ciocia Halina.

The older of the two women was good friends with my great-grandmother, who lived nearby until my Dziadziu was about 10 years old. We drove by the village where he lived as a child. There's currently nothing left of the house where he lived, but he was certain of its location after all these years. How? He recognized the bush that used to border the road on his old property. Here's a pic of said bush. It's surrounded by lovely open fields that I would have loved to have pranced around in had the weather been nicer. However, as we were driving, it cleared up a little and the sky was absolutely gorgeous:

While in town, we stopped by the church were Dziadziu was baptized. Even in the smaller villages, the churches, while not huge in the sense of fitting lots of people, are all very tall and pretty lavishly-decorated with gold trim, pretty paintings, etc. Here's a pic of my grandfather pausing to pray at his old parish:










Also, back in Parczew, there's a huge Neo-Gothic basilica - St. John the Baptist. Again, it's only a town of about 11,000 people, but the church is absolutely huge. The town itself was founded in 1401, but the church was built in the early 1900s. That being said, a picture of Mary and Jesus in the main alter is apparently from the 16th century. SO MUCH HISTORY.











In other news, we visited Ciocia and Wujek's son Pawel where he has a house near Lublin. Like I told him, I remember him when he visited the states when I was a kid for having always been on the computer or playing the piano. He and his wife were both very nice and have a lovely new house, in which I'm convinced Dziadziu wants to move with them. And they have three lovely daughters that were willing to speak/listen to English:) Upon my arrival the youngest daughter, Ania, handed me an awesome card, complete with a map of my flight path (which I'm convinced is accurate, considering how long my flight was) and the Polish and American flag. Thanks for the lovely card (which can be viewed below)! I told the girls (pictured at the right) that I wanted to take them back to the U.S. with me - they'd fit right in with my dear cousins back home.

Funny story of the week: We stopped by a small local grocery store to pick up some supplies on my birthday (My grandfather: "On your birthday, we drink our wine!" haha - got to love that logic). My grandma was looking around over in the deli meat section when she suddenly called us over. Lo and behold, she discovered something the three of us hadn't seen before - Glogowska kielbasa. Naturally, she had to get some to try but I was disappointed because this was the one time I left my camera at home because I couldn't imagine seeing anything photo-worthy at the grocery store!

So when we returned home, I grabbed my camera and ran back to the store on my own to get a quick shot of the sign. Although the same employee was behind the counter, she was utterly confused as to why I wanted a picture of the sign. Without a clue as to how to explain myself, I apologized, shot a quick photo, and bade her goodbye. Oh well, mission accomplished - I got a photo for the blog! 

Upon my arrival in Poland a few weeks back, I quickly learned that "przepraszam," which functions both as "I'm sorry" and 

"Excuse me," is a crucial Polish phrase to know. 

Another: "Uwaga." It basically means "warning" or "attention" and I've seen it used in a variety of contexts, including on the self-explanatory sign at right. (However, I've learned that lots of Poles cry wolf with similar signs posted on their gate - most dogs I've met here are fairly friendly or ancient. (Disclaimer: Don't take my word for it. I haven't met every dog in Poland.)

Another thing that I've become pretty adept at: packing.

But last night was a rough one because I was forced to rework all my luggage to prep for the move to the camp. Dziadziu literally was cracking up at the sight of me buried in my own things and grabbed the camera.

Here's the before:

And the after:

(See? I did it!)


One last word before I venture off to meet my group again. I said bye  to my grandparents and Wujek (thanks for driving me, by the way) and immediately ducked into a coffee shop to grab a cup and set up shop with my computer. After waiting in line for several minutes, I took a quick look behind me and lo and behold, my grandfather was standing there waiting to pay for one last thing before he left! Haha, thanks again Dziadz!

Okay, onwards and upwards!
Thanks Babciu and Dziadziu, new family and friends, and loyal blog readers:)
Rach

[Side note: If you, like one of my Babcia's dear cousins Danusia, happen to notice any mistakes (especially with spelling) in my blog, please let me know! I don't like errors in my work, but these Polish spellings are giving me a run for my money!]

Mission Accomplished

Important update: At long last, I've finally had pierogi in Poland. The irony of still not having had pierogi several days into my pierogi pilgrimage, which originally was pointed out to me by my Babci back home, was finally too much to handle so we ordered some while eating out at a restaurant somewhere near Brodnica. They did not disappoint, especially since I was in danger of having to switch the blog name to Czarnina Caravan or something. Mission accomplished!

 

Here's the restaurant. While I usually don't get excited enough about restaurants to consider chronicling them, this one had the largest horses I've ever seen and a ton of pretty flowers outside. (Mom, you'll have to tell me what of kwiaty they are because we couldn't decide.)

Anyway, we've been staying in Brodnica for the past few days with one of Babciu's favorite first cousins (her dad's bro's son) Kazik and his wife Gizela. They have a pretty home and lots of land that used to be a pig farm a few years back. Here's a pic of their son Kuba, me, Babciu, Cioicia Gizela, and Wujek Kazik. 

 
Wujek Kazik spent a lot of time taking us around town over the past few days. One place I was particularly excited to see? Jabonowo - the place where Babciu was born and lived as a child - and Nowa Wies - the place where Dziadziu lived as a teen and the location of their first house together before they moved to the U.S.

First, we went to the village of Jabonowo. We walked around the small street of shops there for a little while and visited the cemetery of where my great-grandparents on my Babciu's side are buried (and then later for my Glogowski great-grandparents and great-great-grandmother). And then we went over to the plot of land where Babciu's house used to be. There's a newer house in its place right now, but they still have the old barn. The yard was so beautiful - they kept one of the largest flower gardens that I've ever seen. We knocked on the door to see if we could take a look around, and lo and behold, the people there were SO nice. They had us come in for coffee and some of the best tea I've ever had and sat with us for at least 20 minutes. They even kept a picture of Babciu from the last time she stopped by for a visit several years ago! Of course, I had to have Babciu reenact the photo:

While in Jabonowo, we stopped by the church where Babciu and Dziadziu got married! It was so cool to see it, especially considering next year is their 50th anniversary:

Afterwards, we went to Nowa Wies, the small village down the street from Jabonowo where Dziadziu moved   when he was around 10 years old. It's also where Babciu and Dziadziu (and therefore my Ciocia Yola and Dad) lived before they moved to the U.S. My grandparents tell me it was the most beautiful house in the area when my Dziadziu helped his grandfather build it in part of bricks from a nearby old home. Unfortunately, it no  longer belongs to family and has fallen into hands that don't care properly for it, which was sad to see. However, at least I got an idea of how they lived - they had a nice kitchen and about 3 bedrooms/sitting rooms. And I did get a shot of the date above the front stop, which was cool. 

While still in town, we walked down the street to a nearby hotel/banquet hall that hosts many a wedding. It was pretty and all, but the best part of our stopping there was that an old friend of Babciu and Dziadziu's spotted and recognized Babciu after all these years! Turns out Rysiek's about 11 years younger than Dziadziu so he was apparently a teenager when he used to come over and visit them. He also remembers playing with my Ciocia Yola and Dad when they were babies. How cool is that?

We spent a lot of time visiting various relatives this leg of the trip - so many, in fact, that I had to make a cheat sheet after Brodnica so as to remember everyone by the time I get home. 

One of my favorite couples of the trip was Dziadziu’s cousin Halina and her husband Jurek, both retired teachers. I absolutely loved Ciocia Halina, she's adorable! She loves traveling and told me in addition to visiting nearly all of the countries in Europe, she's also been to every Canadian province and has stepped in all of the great lakes (which made me laugh, considering how crazy I was about setting foot in the Baltic:) While we were there, she pulled out a few very detailed scrapbooks - she records everything! When I posed for a pic with her, she told me to be sure to write about her in my blog, and she'd write about me in her scrapbook and the next time we see each other, we'd compare:)

Also on our list of people to see - Babciu’s cousin (father’s sister’s son) Zenek and wife Ela. Apparently they jokingly refer to him as mały Zenek - the small cousin. But for such a small guy, he's full of lots of laughs.

His wife Ela is one of the more gifted handcrafters I've ever seen. She embroiders and makes tons of  paper flowers and origami animals out of tiny triangles of paper, including the ducks we're proudly holding in this pic [of me, Babciu, Zenek, Gizela, Kazik, and Ela]. What a great souvenir! 

Speaking of Zeneks, we also made a brief trip to see Babciu's other cousin Zenek and his wife Teresa. I had met their daughter Danusia earlier back home in the states when she was there for a visit. She's very sweet, and her parents were very hospitable for the short time we were there. Fun fact: Ciocia Teresa regularly rides her bike to church. I found this out when she was complaining about having wind-blown hair, but rest assured folks, it looked just fine:)

Also noteworthy: My cousin Kuba and I walked around Brodnica for a few hours. We walked through the city's square, a park (where he insisted that I never forget that Chopin is from Poland, not France:) and later to the lake in town, but my favorite part was a large old tower, remnants from a castle from the late 1300s or early 1400s when the Teutonic Knights inhabited the area. We climbed at least a few hundred stairs to where I believe those dark holes under where the tower narrows are near the top of the tower. The view of the area was awesome!

All righty, that's all I have for now, loyal readers. So far having a good time here in Parczew, although I'm having a particularly difficult time remembering how to spell this town's name. But details will have to wait until I post again:)
Dobranoc,

Rach