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!]