I'm a little stunned that it's already June, which means that winter and spring are officially over, though you wouldn't know that by the weather we've had lately. Today I stepped out of the flat wearing a scarf and the sweet Afghani hat that Aunt Noreen was kind enough to buy me when I was in Turkey. Admittedly, my wearing the hat had a little to do with the weather and more to do with the fact that I just wanted to wear it.
Unfortunately, here in Poland June does not signify a month of recovery from the school year or time at the beach or even temporary employment and the ENDI. I'm gearing up for exams, and a semester full of taking it easy may be catching up to me. Which means my blog posts from Turkey and Berlin are put on hold, for at least a little while.
But be not afraid, my loyal readers, because Poland been making headlines in the US news media as of late. While I'm sure there have been some articles about President Bush's upcoming visit following the G8 Summit, that seems a bit dry. So instead, I share with you an article from the NyTimes about Krakow as one of the new centers of young, hip culture in (Central-Eastern) Europe. I spent 4 weeks in Krakow last summer, and absolutely loved it. I've heard different opinions about whether Prague or Krakow is a nice city to visit, and while I'm not objective enough to share my own opinion on that, I think that Krakow is certainly in the same league. It's exciting to see that others are getting the same impression. Last semester, when I told people I was stuyding in Poland, I got a lot of "...Poland, huh? That's...interesting. Why?" Which is silly because Poland is cool!
My friend Alex was kind enough to share this second article with me. It's a pretty crazy story, sort of like the film Goodbye Lenin. Worth the read.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
All around the world
I've apparently dropped off the face of the internet during the last month, for which I have no legitimate excuse. But perhaps my whirl wind travel schedule is at least an explaination.
To start from the beginning, Ellen came to Warsaw the week before Easter and stayed for the holiday. It was great to see her and to show her Warsaw. I think she liked it, which fills me with all sorts of Polish pride. We had one day in Warsaw before we went to Babcia's for Easter and then one more day right after Easter, so we really had to pack everything in, and I'm afraid that in my enthusiasm to show Ellen all the pretty and interesting places in the city I had an overly ambitious itinerary. Which we managed to accomplish with appropriate levels of exhaustion at the end of both days. I'm still not totally adept at using the trams and so there was A LOT of walking.
And now I bring you the Wonderful World of Warsaw, according to Ellen and Christina:
(most of these photos are Ellen's because my camera batteries weren't charged)
Here are some dashing young men in uniform dutifully guarding the tomb of the unkown soldier. Ellen has a thing for guys in uniform, so I'm pretty sure she has 45 other versions of this photo on her computer, but you get the idea. During the changing of the guards, the soldiers march down a large concrete square (which I should know the name of), and their shoes make an impressive tapping noise.
After that, we wandered into the old town, and on our way we thought we stopped the pope! But, Poland has more than one religious authority and so we made the acquaintance of this lovely cardinal.
Warsaw's Old Town (Stary Miasto) can't really compare to that of Krakow, because most of it was destoryed during WWII and rebuilt after the war. So, none of the buildings are more than 70 years old. The archictects were strict about rebuilding the city as accurately as possible though, so it's still a cool place.
We also czeched out the Warsaw University Library which I think is one of the most beautiful spots in Warsaw. It's a relatively new building and definitely tries to bring the outdoors inside as much as possible. There are lots of skylights, high cielings, and plants inside, and on the roof of the building there is a beautiful garden. As much as I pine for the Woodruff Library, I think the Warsaw University Library might give it a run for its money. Here's Ellen on our way up to the roof.
Instead of going back to my flat to collapse from exhaustion, at this point we rushed back, quickly packed, had a slight panic attack about missing our train, and headed to the main station for the 6 hour ride to Babcia's. While I was still in the midst of my panic attack my friend Patrycja from school saw us in the station, and as luck would have it was taking the same train to Olsztyn, a town on the way to Ketrzyn. Not only did Patrycja confirm that we were in fact about to board the correct train, but she also made a great travelling pal, and my panic attack subsided.
Once at Babcias, we changed our shoes for kapchi, donned our aprons and settled in for a long weekend of cooking at eating. I'm not sure it's possible to express exactly how much food we ate, because i would have previously thought this much food to be impossible. As an example, Babcia bought 6 cakes (not to mention a lot of candy) for the 2 of us to eat over 3 days. So we each essentially ate a cake a day...after really big meals.
The weather was quite ugly and Babcia predicted snow...and who would think it but the lady was right! On Easter Sunday and Monday we woke up to a winter wonderland. Bizarre, but beautiful. It warmed my cold Michiganian heart.
All of this alone makes for a pretty exciting week, but the fun just kept being had! On Thursday, Ellen and I packed our bags again and headed off to the beautiful city of Prague. For some reason, I thought the train ride was going to take 7 hours, but it definitely took 9, which was disappointing. On the train, Elle and I met a friendly French man (crazy!) who lived in Prague and told us some cool places to go to. However, despite our best note taking and navigating, it seems as though those places didn't exist. Which meant that we were in Prague, without a map, or having looked at a guide book, or anything like that. We decided to invest in a map that had lovely pictures and descriptions of the main tourist attractions, though that wasn't the end of our navigating troubles.
Getting lost in Prague isn't too much of a problem, though, because it's beautiful!
Since we were there right after Easter, the old market square was decked out for the season. I wish we had Easter trees in the States, too!
We took a tour of the Jewish quarter of Prague, which was fun, although our tour guide kind of hated women. We also made the brilliant decision to take the tour on Saturday, when everything was closed. The plus side was that we avoided the crowds, and we still managed to meet Kafka:
To start from the beginning, Ellen came to Warsaw the week before Easter and stayed for the holiday. It was great to see her and to show her Warsaw. I think she liked it, which fills me with all sorts of Polish pride. We had one day in Warsaw before we went to Babcia's for Easter and then one more day right after Easter, so we really had to pack everything in, and I'm afraid that in my enthusiasm to show Ellen all the pretty and interesting places in the city I had an overly ambitious itinerary. Which we managed to accomplish with appropriate levels of exhaustion at the end of both days. I'm still not totally adept at using the trams and so there was A LOT of walking.
And now I bring you the Wonderful World of Warsaw, according to Ellen and Christina:
(most of these photos are Ellen's because my camera batteries weren't charged)
Here are some dashing young men in uniform dutifully guarding the tomb of the unkown soldier. Ellen has a thing for guys in uniform, so I'm pretty sure she has 45 other versions of this photo on her computer, but you get the idea. During the changing of the guards, the soldiers march down a large concrete square (which I should know the name of), and their shoes make an impressive tapping noise.
After that, we wandered into the old town, and on our way we thought we stopped the pope! But, Poland has more than one religious authority and so we made the acquaintance of this lovely cardinal.
Warsaw's Old Town (Stary Miasto) can't really compare to that of Krakow, because most of it was destoryed during WWII and rebuilt after the war. So, none of the buildings are more than 70 years old. The archictects were strict about rebuilding the city as accurately as possible though, so it's still a cool place.
We also czeched out the Warsaw University Library which I think is one of the most beautiful spots in Warsaw. It's a relatively new building and definitely tries to bring the outdoors inside as much as possible. There are lots of skylights, high cielings, and plants inside, and on the roof of the building there is a beautiful garden. As much as I pine for the Woodruff Library, I think the Warsaw University Library might give it a run for its money. Here's Ellen on our way up to the roof.
Instead of going back to my flat to collapse from exhaustion, at this point we rushed back, quickly packed, had a slight panic attack about missing our train, and headed to the main station for the 6 hour ride to Babcia's. While I was still in the midst of my panic attack my friend Patrycja from school saw us in the station, and as luck would have it was taking the same train to Olsztyn, a town on the way to Ketrzyn. Not only did Patrycja confirm that we were in fact about to board the correct train, but she also made a great travelling pal, and my panic attack subsided.
Once at Babcias, we changed our shoes for kapchi, donned our aprons and settled in for a long weekend of cooking at eating. I'm not sure it's possible to express exactly how much food we ate, because i would have previously thought this much food to be impossible. As an example, Babcia bought 6 cakes (not to mention a lot of candy) for the 2 of us to eat over 3 days. So we each essentially ate a cake a day...after really big meals.
The weather was quite ugly and Babcia predicted snow...and who would think it but the lady was right! On Easter Sunday and Monday we woke up to a winter wonderland. Bizarre, but beautiful. It warmed my cold Michiganian heart.
All of this alone makes for a pretty exciting week, but the fun just kept being had! On Thursday, Ellen and I packed our bags again and headed off to the beautiful city of Prague. For some reason, I thought the train ride was going to take 7 hours, but it definitely took 9, which was disappointing. On the train, Elle and I met a friendly French man (crazy!) who lived in Prague and told us some cool places to go to. However, despite our best note taking and navigating, it seems as though those places didn't exist. Which meant that we were in Prague, without a map, or having looked at a guide book, or anything like that. We decided to invest in a map that had lovely pictures and descriptions of the main tourist attractions, though that wasn't the end of our navigating troubles.
Getting lost in Prague isn't too much of a problem, though, because it's beautiful!
Since we were there right after Easter, the old market square was decked out for the season. I wish we had Easter trees in the States, too!
We took a tour of the Jewish quarter of Prague, which was fun, although our tour guide kind of hated women. We also made the brilliant decision to take the tour on Saturday, when everything was closed. The plus side was that we avoided the crowds, and we still managed to meet Kafka:
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
As promised
I figure I need to post the recipe for Babcia's Homemade Pickle Soup up, since I am returning to Babcia's for Easter and will come back will loads more cooking photos and cooking adventure that will also need posting. So, here it is:
Polish Pickle Soup
Ingredients: Carrots
Leeks
Parsnips
Pickles! And Pickle Juice!
Potatoes
Directions:
Step 1: Prepare some broth-if you are carnivorous, then boil some meat with water, if you are of the vegetarian persuasion, then rock on and use some vegetarian bullion cubes.
Step 2: While the broth is boiling, or maybe before (fly by the seat of your pants on this one), wash, peel, and chop the carrots, potatoes, parsnips, and leeks. The carrots and potatoes should be in bite-sized pieces, but the parsnips and leeks don't need to be cut as small.
Step 3: This step is probably unnecessary, because once we were done cooking we decided the pickles probably didn't NEED to be peeled. But, I peeled pickles, and I think that it's worth showing this photo to the internets. You should, however, finely chop the pickles or shred them.
Step 4: Add the parsnips, carrots, potatoes, and one or two bay leaves to the broth, and let it until the vegetables are almost done. Add the leeks, pickles and all saved pickle juice at the end, then season with salt and pepper as needed.
Step 5: Dig in!
Walk it out
Not having internet access in my apartment is kind of becoming the bain of my existence. On the positive side, it forces me to waste less time on the internet, but sometimes my desire to use the 'nets is so strong that I spend an embarassing amount of time sitting in front of my computer restarting, reconnecting, cursing and praying for firefox to work. To no avail.
THE WEATHER HERE IS BEAUTIFUL! Not today, it is cold again, but for the last week it has been gorgeous. I've said it once and I'll say it many more times, I really miss Atlanta weather.
I had a very busy weekend last weekend, and I will give an account of it because I am so impressed with how many things I did. On Friday I made the sad discovery that my phone was out of money, and had the exhilirating experience of trying to buy a phone card and load it onto my phone in Polish. Time was of the essence because I was waiting for a phone call from Ellen, to hear about the cost of hotel rooms in Amsterdam because, if affordable, I was going to fly by the seat of my pants over there. Alas, it was not in my price range and it's just as well because Ellen's flight got cancelled. Once I figured out my phone situation I got in touch with a girl from Emory who is studying in Prague for the semester and was in town visitng family friends. It was awesome to see her to talk about the History and Religion Departments back home and the experience of being American in Europe right now. I've been getting a little frustrated because people sometimes feel the urge to explain to me why their countries have such better heathcare, social security, and education systems than we have in the U.S., and they consider themselves the experts on this comparison. It's frustrating to say the least, because I am NOT the United States of America, but rather, a college student who has only voted in one Presidential election and does NOT have the ability (or reall, the desire) to make the US into a welfare state.
Saturday morning a met with a girl from Warsaw University to do a language tandem. We spend half the time speaking Polish and half the time speaking English. I am meeting with 2 girls, and can tell already that it is going to help my Polish much more than language classes (though they give me a grammatical background so it's still helpful). We spent 2 hours walking around the city trying to communicate, and it was exhausting, but awesome. I met up with a Belgian friend right afterwards to czech out some Warsaw art galleries. We are in a Polish art history class together, and it's all kinds of miserable, so we're trying to access some interesting art on our own. We lucked out with a small gallery that has a collection of photos from the turn of the century. The photos were taken by Polish artists using innovative techniques that manipulate the images-some looking like sketches, some like watercolors, others like extremely vivid photos. We also crashed an awesome violin and piano concert held in the gallery...all this was for a dollar!
On Sunday I went to church at the warsaw uprising museum, and while it wasn't quite as crazy as I was hoping, it was done in 45 minutes which is pretty much the perfect length for a mass in a foreign language. I met with my other tandem, who is also awesome, and then had a picnic in a park just outside the Centrum with my Slovakian friends. While it was chilly by the time we left, it was so great to be outside.
I just found out that I recieved the grant I applied for from the History Department to continue learning Polish over the summer followed by 2 weeks of research in Polish archives. It's pretty damn exciting.
Just as exciting is the fact that tomorrow afternoon, at 3:55 pm, I will be meeting Ellen in the airport to start our Central European Adventure!! I can't wait. In honor of the fun times we will have, I need to post this picture of Jacek, the handsome young man on my shopping bag. Here, you only get really small, thin plastic bags for free from the grocery store so if you buy many groceries you need to either bring your own cloth bags or buy (and then reuse) thick plastic bags. Usually the plastic bags are plaid patterened, or seasonal (angels at christmas time etc), but 2 weeks ago when I was at the grocery store, the ONLY bags available were these. It made me kind of uncomfortable to pay money for a practically shirtless, muscular man holding a puppy, and I feel bad for any macho Polish men out there, or pious Babcias, who had to carry their food home with Jacek because there weren't any other options.
But I'm sure Ellen, for one, wouldn't mind.
THE WEATHER HERE IS BEAUTIFUL! Not today, it is cold again, but for the last week it has been gorgeous. I've said it once and I'll say it many more times, I really miss Atlanta weather.
I had a very busy weekend last weekend, and I will give an account of it because I am so impressed with how many things I did. On Friday I made the sad discovery that my phone was out of money, and had the exhilirating experience of trying to buy a phone card and load it onto my phone in Polish. Time was of the essence because I was waiting for a phone call from Ellen, to hear about the cost of hotel rooms in Amsterdam because, if affordable, I was going to fly by the seat of my pants over there. Alas, it was not in my price range and it's just as well because Ellen's flight got cancelled. Once I figured out my phone situation I got in touch with a girl from Emory who is studying in Prague for the semester and was in town visitng family friends. It was awesome to see her to talk about the History and Religion Departments back home and the experience of being American in Europe right now. I've been getting a little frustrated because people sometimes feel the urge to explain to me why their countries have such better heathcare, social security, and education systems than we have in the U.S., and they consider themselves the experts on this comparison. It's frustrating to say the least, because I am NOT the United States of America, but rather, a college student who has only voted in one Presidential election and does NOT have the ability (or reall, the desire) to make the US into a welfare state.
Saturday morning a met with a girl from Warsaw University to do a language tandem. We spend half the time speaking Polish and half the time speaking English. I am meeting with 2 girls, and can tell already that it is going to help my Polish much more than language classes (though they give me a grammatical background so it's still helpful). We spent 2 hours walking around the city trying to communicate, and it was exhausting, but awesome. I met up with a Belgian friend right afterwards to czech out some Warsaw art galleries. We are in a Polish art history class together, and it's all kinds of miserable, so we're trying to access some interesting art on our own. We lucked out with a small gallery that has a collection of photos from the turn of the century. The photos were taken by Polish artists using innovative techniques that manipulate the images-some looking like sketches, some like watercolors, others like extremely vivid photos. We also crashed an awesome violin and piano concert held in the gallery...all this was for a dollar!
On Sunday I went to church at the warsaw uprising museum, and while it wasn't quite as crazy as I was hoping, it was done in 45 minutes which is pretty much the perfect length for a mass in a foreign language. I met with my other tandem, who is also awesome, and then had a picnic in a park just outside the Centrum with my Slovakian friends. While it was chilly by the time we left, it was so great to be outside.
I just found out that I recieved the grant I applied for from the History Department to continue learning Polish over the summer followed by 2 weeks of research in Polish archives. It's pretty damn exciting.
Just as exciting is the fact that tomorrow afternoon, at 3:55 pm, I will be meeting Ellen in the airport to start our Central European Adventure!! I can't wait. In honor of the fun times we will have, I need to post this picture of Jacek, the handsome young man on my shopping bag. Here, you only get really small, thin plastic bags for free from the grocery store so if you buy many groceries you need to either bring your own cloth bags or buy (and then reuse) thick plastic bags. Usually the plastic bags are plaid patterened, or seasonal (angels at christmas time etc), but 2 weeks ago when I was at the grocery store, the ONLY bags available were these. It made me kind of uncomfortable to pay money for a practically shirtless, muscular man holding a puppy, and I feel bad for any macho Polish men out there, or pious Babcias, who had to carry their food home with Jacek because there weren't any other options.
But I'm sure Ellen, for one, wouldn't mind.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Long time no see
The sporadic internet access in my apartment makes updating this lovely blog a bit difficult, and whenever I do get internet access on my labtop I am franticly checking various email accounts and using messenger programs so sadly, this update will be hurried.
I also need to note that since I've gotten here and have been (trying) to learn Polish, my ability to type or speak articulate English has gone substantially downhill, and not only am I making more typos, but I often have difficulty figuring out if what I've typed is spelled correctly or not...So there's my disclaimer.
I figure it's about time I post a picture of my school, in all of it's impressive Soviet glory. Behold, the Palace of Culture and Science:
Or, in Polish Palac Kultury i Nauki. It is arguably the ugliest building in Warsaw, which is really saying something, but I think it's kind of cool, and certainly pretty at night. It's also very good for me that there is such a huge landmark because I still get lost in this city at an alarmingly frequent rate. I also know very few street names. These things might be related. Because I'm sort of stealing internet access from a cafe that I'm at right now, I won't type out my own history of the Palace, but instead direct you to good old Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_culture_and_science
(incidently, Polish is the fourth most frequently used language for Wikipedia. Kind of cool?)
Because my classes here are pretty shitty, I've decided to make the most of my free time and go to a lot of museums and gallaries while I'm here. So far I've been to the Old Jewish Cemetary, the Pawiak Prision Museum, the National Art Gallery, and the Warsaw Uprising Museum. I've been doing a lot of reading about Solidarity, which involves a lot of reading about Marshall law, for my Thesis next year, and combined with my experiences at most of the museums, I've been having nightmares about totalitarianism on a fairly frequent basis. Warsaw is certainly a crazy place to live in while studying history.
Here part of the memorial outside of the Pawiak Prison. The prison was originally used by the Russian during partition, but it's more well known for being the largest German political prison in occupied Poland. 100,000 prisoners were kept here, which was over 10% the population of Warsaw, and 37,000 prisoners were killed
.
It's certainly a creepy place. The museum was good, tons of information. I had a bit of an interesting experience though, because it's a pretty small museum so curators get really excited when they have visitors. To enter the museum, you walk down 5 steps and then walk about 2 meters to the prison door. I had barely finished with the steps when the door sprung open and 2 older Polish men with questionable dental hygiene opened the door and immediately asked "Polish??" I replied, in Polish, that I was American, and they were overjoyed to have such a visitor in their humble museum. They talked to me for a good 10 minutes about why I was in Poland, telling me that Poland is where my heart is, that they were happy I was here, etc. There was a bit of physical contacting, as they kept patting me on the shoulder. It was kind of uncomfortable, but my friend Nadine who visited the museum a few weeks before had a similar experience.
The old Jewish Cemetary is really close to my apartment and it enormous. I spent about an hour there and you could spend much more time walking around because it goes on and on, and once you enter the gates you are essentially in a forest.
As you can see, Warsaw is really an upbeat place! Prisons, cemetaries, uprisings oh my! I am really having a good time though, and it's a very interesting place. The other people here are great; I'm enjoying being the token American in a European exchange program and getting to bust up some American myths.
I also need to note that since I've gotten here and have been (trying) to learn Polish, my ability to type or speak articulate English has gone substantially downhill, and not only am I making more typos, but I often have difficulty figuring out if what I've typed is spelled correctly or not...So there's my disclaimer.
I figure it's about time I post a picture of my school, in all of it's impressive Soviet glory. Behold, the Palace of Culture and Science:
Or, in Polish Palac Kultury i Nauki. It is arguably the ugliest building in Warsaw, which is really saying something, but I think it's kind of cool, and certainly pretty at night. It's also very good for me that there is such a huge landmark because I still get lost in this city at an alarmingly frequent rate. I also know very few street names. These things might be related. Because I'm sort of stealing internet access from a cafe that I'm at right now, I won't type out my own history of the Palace, but instead direct you to good old Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_culture_and_science
(incidently, Polish is the fourth most frequently used language for Wikipedia. Kind of cool?)
Because my classes here are pretty shitty, I've decided to make the most of my free time and go to a lot of museums and gallaries while I'm here. So far I've been to the Old Jewish Cemetary, the Pawiak Prision Museum, the National Art Gallery, and the Warsaw Uprising Museum. I've been doing a lot of reading about Solidarity, which involves a lot of reading about Marshall law, for my Thesis next year, and combined with my experiences at most of the museums, I've been having nightmares about totalitarianism on a fairly frequent basis. Warsaw is certainly a crazy place to live in while studying history.
Here part of the memorial outside of the Pawiak Prison. The prison was originally used by the Russian during partition, but it's more well known for being the largest German political prison in occupied Poland. 100,000 prisoners were kept here, which was over 10% the population of Warsaw, and 37,000 prisoners were killed
.
It's certainly a creepy place. The museum was good, tons of information. I had a bit of an interesting experience though, because it's a pretty small museum so curators get really excited when they have visitors. To enter the museum, you walk down 5 steps and then walk about 2 meters to the prison door. I had barely finished with the steps when the door sprung open and 2 older Polish men with questionable dental hygiene opened the door and immediately asked "Polish??" I replied, in Polish, that I was American, and they were overjoyed to have such a visitor in their humble museum. They talked to me for a good 10 minutes about why I was in Poland, telling me that Poland is where my heart is, that they were happy I was here, etc. There was a bit of physical contacting, as they kept patting me on the shoulder. It was kind of uncomfortable, but my friend Nadine who visited the museum a few weeks before had a similar experience.
The old Jewish Cemetary is really close to my apartment and it enormous. I spent about an hour there and you could spend much more time walking around because it goes on and on, and once you enter the gates you are essentially in a forest.
As you can see, Warsaw is really an upbeat place! Prisons, cemetaries, uprisings oh my! I am really having a good time though, and it's a very interesting place. The other people here are great; I'm enjoying being the token American in a European exchange program and getting to bust up some American myths.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Over the River and Through the Woods
This weekend Dorotka and I went to visit Babcia, and we had a lovely, if exhausting time. My grandmother just turned 80 years old, which is a little less than twice the combined age of my cousin and I, yet I think she has more energy than both of us combined. What with living through a World War, Cold War, and totalitarian state, she is probably the toughest woman I know. The fact that she still grows most of her own food, keeps her floors scrubbed spotless, and spends the winters sewing only support my claims.
So Friday morning I met Dorotka at Centralny, the main train station, and we bought our tickets and sandwiches and managed to snag window seats on the train. I started reading Life of Pi on the train (thanks Ben!) and really like it so far, but I’ve been warned that the ending is sad. We had a transfer in Olstyn, but didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes for our train, so it was a good trip.
Ketrzyn, the town that Babcia lives in and that my mom grew up in, is really beautiful. There are a lot of old buildings made of red brick with red tiled roofs. And Ketryn is in the Masury region of Poland, which is the land of a thousand lakes. There is a beautiful, large lake in the center of town, and it was still frozen over from winter. There are other small lakes and streams throughout the town, and as you can see from this view of the field behind Babcia’s flat, there are lots of beautiful fields. I have a thing for hay stacks and farm land, so I think it’s pretty gorgeous.
If there is one truth that can be universally acknowledged about Polish grandmothers, it is that they like to make sure their family is well fed. We spent Friday night cooking and eating dinner. We made nalesnicki, which are Polish crepes filled with ricotta cheese and topped with cream and Babcia’s homemade jams. We made these nalesnicki with woda gasowana (carbonated water) so they were nice and light.
Babcia made Dorotka and I matching aprons, so we looked quite awesome and put together while we were cooking. She made them from the front and back of an old dress. The lady sure knows how to do some impressive clothing reconstruction!
On Saturday we went shopping for an arm chair, followed by a trip to the cemetery and then we came back to the apartment for more cooking. Here we are on the walk back-there is a path that goes from Babcia’s apartment to the town center.
A lot more cooking happened on Saturday, and I will post a recipe for Polish Pickle Soup later. But the real highlight of the weekend was Saturday night when Dorotka and I began poking around the many boxes and drawers full of treasures that my grandma has stored over the years. Babcia got into it herself, and at one point the three of us were all running around her flat trying on fashions that were at least 30 year old, and attempting to determine whether enough skilled tugging and pulling could make these (polyester) riches a.) fit and b.) fashionable. I certainly could have used the shrewd and imaginative eyes of my dear roommates, but I think I was sucessful in distinguishing between crazy awesome and just crazy clothes.
And finally, here is a picture of the best dressed Polish Babcia I have come across in my one month here:
She's cute, right?
Friday, March 2, 2007
Classes
Yesterday was my first real Polish class here at school, and it went pretty well. The class was fairly easy and was mostly a review of what I learned over the summer-they use the same book and are only halfway through where we got at Jagellonia. After class I talked to the coordinator about trying out the next level, because I really want to improve my Polish. I've been kind of stressed out/uncomfortable about my classes here, because it's a Political Science program and I study History, so I can't quite figure out which classes to take or how many. I feel like if I have to suffer through classes about Russian Politics and Diplomacy, my Polish better get better. I had my friend Zuza come with me to talk to the coordinator, and when they realized that I could understand everything they were saying in Polish, they sent me to the top "conversation class." There was only one other student there, who was very nice and helpful, but it's hard being in a conversation class when I can't actually speak much Polish. But the other classes still seem to be stuck on the basic "Hello my name is__, how are you?" so this will be good, especially if I study the more basic grammar and vocab on my own. I hope.
My other classes are easy-it's actually kind of ridiculous. Most teachers don't require attendance, have oral final exams, and dont' give out homework or require reading. I'm taking one class that has an 8 page final and 15 minute class presenation, and students are blown away by how much work that is. Classes only meet for an hour and a half a week, but the typical class load is 8 classes. I'm taking 7 classes and world dance, which is pretty awesome so far.
Because the school here is so small and because there arent' any other American exchange students I'm considered an Erasmus student, which is great because the Erasmus students have organized get togethers and trips throughout Poland. Tonight we're having a group dinner, then tomorrow I will hopefully see Dorotka. Other than that, my plans for the weekend include trying to find someplace where I can buy a pillow and extra towels (which is way harder than it sounds).
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