Poland

May 19

The Austrian Airlines flight to Vienna took nine and a half hours. Then an hour flight to Warsaw and we are on a familiar turf greeted by my two brothers and driven to Pabianice, my hometown. After devouring a few cabbage rolls cooked by my sister-in-law we are repacking Kamila for her next trip tomorrow. Eva, my friend and her godmother is kidnapping her for a four-day school trip to the south-west Poland Karkonosze and to Prague in Chech Republic. Kamila stays with her for the night so they can arrive together at the meeting place early tomorrow.

May 20

First day without Kamila for the last ten months we were constantly together  the sudden separation feels unreal. Similarly unreal feels my visit to the cemetery  my mama and my dad, died in 2000, already or only five years ago  can't decide. And a few more graves that rose since my last visit here my two aunts and my godfather. Then a long walk through the streets of the familiar parts of the town. Where my brother lives now is that part of Pabianice which is little known to me  developed during the last twenty years I have to learn my ways around with Zdzisiek as a guide. The evening I spend completely by myself /brother gone to work/ going through old photographs and things salvaged from our parents apartment

May 21

The day of the big party  30th anniversary of high-school graduation. About 50 of us, and three teachers gathered at the Piemont restaurant. Variety of professions among us, one grandmother, the oldest child  30 years old, the youngest - 3 years old. Lots of grey hair, wrinkles and potbellies, but enough energy to drink and dance all night! The sun was already high up when we walked out of the banquet hall planning another gathering in a week's time.

May 22

A beautiful sunny day. Obviously I did not have much energy today to face the day's challenges. My friends, Magda and Andrzej, mercifully took me to their garden where I spent a few hours snoozing in a hammock.

May 23

Late in the evening Kamila comes back from the school trip happy and enriched with new memories and friends.

May 24 till now

The whirlwind of visiting places, family and friends lasts and never ends making me giddy but happy. There was a Holy Thursday in churches on May 28  Corpus Christi with the traditional processions along the streets of the town. Went to see it and shed a few tears looking at little girls throwing flowers in front of the priest carrying a holy communion - seeing myself doing exactly the same about forty years ago.  On another day, invited by Eva, we attended a solemn ceremony of consecrating a new school flag and giving the school a new name. Many prominent officials from the town were there giving more or less interesting speeches, as well as the heroes of the day - the Second World War veterans from the Armia Krajowa, for whom the school was named. Students for their part prepared drama scenes depicting the army tragic history  excellent performance appreciated by everybody including Kamila who patiently endured all the preceding oratories. After the official part I had a chance to get acquainted with a few teachers, Eva's colleagues, over pizza and beer. Felt familiar. And there was this planned school friends reunion party encore on one Friday - this time at a private venue and limited to only our class members. Again we didn't part until daybreak - I'm proud of my unsuspected abilities.

In the meantime I spent some time sending more pictures from Thailand and and Bali on our site, naming some of them and musing over bygone days.

I’m now in Poland, and I feel like a Hollywood star — I’ve got every day of the week booked to do something. Yet today I’ve got some time to do nothing!!!!!! 🙂 I love doing nothing. Who doesn’t? So me and my mommy arrived in Poland on the 19th of May, early in the morning, from Thailand. We were waiting at the airport and were about to go outside and get on the bus to Lodz when suddenly mom’s oldest brother, Jurek, appeared. Then we went and got mom’s other brother, Zdzisiek. We almost missed each other, even though they said they were watching every single person go by. We drove to Pabianice and went for lunch at Jurek’s. Myrka, his wife, had made an ENORMOUS “lunch,” which we ate some of. Then we went to Zdzisiek’s place, where we are staying. That evening, after unpacking everything, we repacked my backpack and my godmother Eva took us to her place. We looked at photos, watched my diving video (during which I kept saying, “That’s me… oh, there I am… look there!”). Then mom went back and I slept there. The next morning Eva woke me up at 4:30 a.m.!!!! :P One hour later they drove an unhappy Kamila to school. Except I didn’t have to work in that school, because we went on a four-day trip!!!!! The kids were 14–16 years old, but I stayed with the 16-year-olds because they were in Eva’s class. As you can imagine, I laughed a lot over the next four days. The trip was to the Karkonosze Mountains, where we climbed two mountains, one of them 1602 meters high. We also went to Prague, which was lovely. The trip eventually ended, and since then me and mom have been visiting people and going up to the cottage. It’s like a countryside cottage — a flat with a big garden — everyone here has one. I’ve also been shopping in Lodz, where I spent WAY too much money. I was very surprised when I added up all the receipts and couldn’t believe the balance on my bank card, hehe!! Oh yes — and I’ve finally had more interaction with people my age again!!!!! Yippee!!!!!! 🙂 Today mom’s going to another party, but I’m not going because I’d be too bored — it’s only middle-aged adults. Pleh. Tehe. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!! :D Okay, well, that’s Poland for you.

June 13 – July 8

I’ll start by saying that I am in Poland, in a little town called Pabianice where half my relatives live. Pabianice is very close to the second biggest city in Poland, which is Lodz. You might not have heard of it because there’s not much to see there. Lodz is basically in the middle of Poland, and that’s where the other half of my relatives live.

On June 13, I organized a surprise party for my mommy for her name day, which is celebrated a lot in Poland. Her actual name day is on the 15th, but I thought we were leaving on the 14th, so I planned it for the 13th. All day I was at my friend’s house making little sandwiches for the party. We also made a really yummy fruit salad with whipped cream and cinnamon. We bought drinks, including wine since my friend Ewa is 19, and we bought munchies and ice cream!! In the evening my uncle took my mom out to visit friends who live a little outside Pabianice. While they were gone, everyone came to my uncle’s place (where we’re staying). Another Ewa brought champagne, some people brought vodka (a must for a Polish party — “Na zdrowie,” pronounced Na-zdro-vie, hehe), and Ula brought a huge strawberry cake she baked herself. Around 7ish my mom came home. Everyone hid, and I said, “Hey mom, it’s your name day in two days,” and then everyone jumped out yelling SURPRISE!! Tehe. Mom got lots of presents, people drank a lot, ate a lot, and had mad dogs. Tehe. Until everyone left… and then there was the mess to clean up. Pleh.

On the 15th, me and my mom got on a train to Katowice, where my aunt on my dad’s side lives. When we got off the train, there was my daddy — whom we hadn’t seen for eight and a half months!! So yeah. In the following days we went to Krakow and Wieliczka (a salt mine), both of which were absolutely gorgeous. Then we said goodbye to my aunt and uncle and took a train to Warsaw, where another uncle picked us up. We quickly went to a bookstore in Warsaw because I wanted the last book in a series — in English — and I got it!! :D I was so happy and even bought another book. So if you’re ever in Poland and want English books, go to the modern bookstore in Warsaw!! Then we drove to the Mazury Lakes, which are really beautiful. We met up with a ton of my dad’s friends from Lodz. For the next 3–4 days we sailed around in three boats. There were 20 people, three other kids, and one doggie! :D In the evenings we had campfires. One guy, who isn’t a chef but cooks like one, made food for everyone. There were sausages and marshmallows — and of course, lots of beer and vodka. Tehe. After four days, me, mom, dad, and my uncle drove to Gdansk — which is my favorite city in Poland so far. But just before reaching it (about 10 km away), the car stopped and wouldn’t start. Oy vay!! Luckily, there was a sign for a hotel 150 meters away. We pushed the car there and stayed the night. Later my uncle fiddled with the car and it started again, but we stayed anyway.

The next morning we drove to Gdansk. When we arrived, I had a headache and didn’t want to do anything except find a place to sleep. We found a hostel that looked scary from the outside but was really nice inside. It turned out to be one of the best hostels I’ve stayed in all year — clean sheets, nice showers, a lounge, free internet, and for people over 18… free vodka! There was even an Aussie guy working there who helped explain things in English.

I went straight to bed and woke up feeling much better. Over the next four days we explored Gdansk, ate lots of fish, and saw beautiful places like Neptune Fountain, Dlugi Targ, Mariacka Street, and the old crane Zuraw. One day we took a train to Sopot and went to the beach. We swam in the Baltic Sea — cold, but not horrible. Later we ate flounder, which was delicious. That evening we attended a concert near Neptune Fountain because it was St. John’s Eve. The street was packed, the music was amazing, and there were fireworks and confetti. I stood on my chair and looked back — the entire street was filled with people. It was incredible. The next morning we headed home, but about 50 km from Pabianice the car broke down again. OMG. Some men helped us and told us there was an inn nearby, so we stayed the night. In the morning the car was fixed (something to do with the alarm), we thanked the helpers with a bottle of alcohol, and finally drove home.

In the following days my dad met up with friends, there were more parties, and eventually my dad left and went back to Toronto. Since then we’ve been meeting people, going to movies, and I’ve been sleeping over at friends’ places. We have tickets to London on July 20, but we might change them to go earlier. We’ll see.

Well, that’s my journal for now.
Love you all!!
Kama!! 🙂