What a trip... I left for Poland Decemeber 22, at 8:15pm the bus was estimated at 16 hours, route -->the Netherlands to Germany north into Poland. To start, the bus was 25 minutes late, and it was literally on the verge of freezing. The bus ride was ok for the most part until we arrived in Poland. At about 8am we arrived at our transfer point, except the the bus from London had its engine break down, and delayed the other busses for 3 hours. 3 hours! Don't ask why they couldn't send another bus, it was pretty shady and hardly anyone spoke English. So, I had to wait it out, and finally we were able to leave and I was on my way to Lodz, my roommate's city. I arrived in one piece happy to be off the bus, and met Ania and we headed to her city 20 minutes from Lodz. It was an interesting situation, because Ania's mother spoke very little English, she spent 1 year in Canada 30 years ago, and her father spoke only Russian and Polish, so we had quite the language barrier. However, Ania was able to translate quite well for me, and I was able to pick up bare essentials in Polish, and used sign language to communicate with her dad when Ania was not available to translate. It all worked out quite well.
December 23rd, I arrived and got to decorate the Christmas tree~! Christmas eve I was tasked with food prep for the dinner, and misc things. In Poland they are very Catholic and very traditional, this meant that for dinner we had to 'break' the bread with everyone and make Christmas wishes. After, we start the first of 12 dishes, yes 12. The first was traditional warm drink made with dried fruits (apricots, plums and prunes, with cinnamon and nutmeg and lovely Christmas smells) 2nd was soup with perogies inside, very tasty. 3d was a different type of perogy with mushrooms and onions inside, 4th was fish dish 5th and 6th were traditional Polish salads, 7th and 8th was a fish dish with vegetables and potatoes, 9th was an additional salad and 10th, 11th and 12th were cakes. I thought Canadian Christmas dinners were too much food, this was a lot! It was a very cool experience to eat traditional Polish food. Afterwards, came the tea always the tea, very typical of eastern European culture. Then came the presents, the family was very nice to me, and gave me gifts, I got a book about Poland, typical Polish chocolates and a bracelet. I gave them a wine decanter in the shape of an old bottle, and a candle decoration from the Christmas market in Cologne. It all went very well!
On Christmas morning we had a big breakfast, and just spent the day hanging about the house and eating. In Poland, their biggest meal is our lunch around 3-4, and then a small meal at 7-8. Another big meal was the Christmas 'dinner' and then we had to eat later on as well. It must be noted, that I am not used to eating this much food, and well it's a good thing I didn't have anywhere special to go because I just wanted to wear stretchy pants, even though I secretly wanted to eat granola and go to the gym. But, hey when in Rome.
The following day we went into Krakow in the south and Auschwitz, about a 2 hour drive. Auschwitz was an interesting experience, it was something to see if you want to grasp the gravity of the situation, but it is hard to see. Going into the camp and seeing the displays was pretty hard, it's hard to comprehend how one individual was capable of creating an ideology that inflicted so much cruelty and harm, and that people actually believed in and supported such an idea. I saw both camps, but the smaller one with the buildings where the torture and killings happened had the biggest affect. A lot of strange things, like a display of hair that was collected from victims and shows, and bowls and luggage. Hundreds of pictures showing victims lined the walls, and it was hard to see them after awhile. But, if you have an opportunity and you have the will to see it, it is something that should be seen.
It is a beautiful city, with a massive castle and a wonderful old city centre. We walked around the castle, and then headed over to the centre. I saw an old market set, where they were sealing touristy things, and loads of jewelry and some Christmasy things. We went into a Christmas market and bought traditional Polish candy, the fudge like stuff, so full of melty goodness. Afterwards, we went to the gate of the city that was from the Roman times. All this in the what I felt was freezing cold, and darkening of night. Finally, we went to restaurant and I had some hot rum with cinnamon, and then a giant pancake concoction with zucchini and cheese. A wonderful dinner of sorts. Then it was time to go home.
The last day Ania took me shopping to one of the largest markets in Europe, and then to one of the biggest shopping malls in Europe. A bit excessive, but interesting to see. In the evening we went to several parties in the centre, and I got to party Polish style. I must say, even though the Dutch don't dance, I prefer the non-dancing blunt Dutch to the electro ravers of the 80s in Poland. Overall, it was fun, the first club not so much, but further through the night it got much better. My stay in Poland was very nice and on the 28th I was on a bus to Berlin.
Poland is an interesting country, it is still recovering from the war and has a mixed tier of poverty and wealth. The buildings are quite old, and shambled and will become revitalized but in time. Being a new member of the EU means revitalization is occurring but it will take time. I would recommend Poland, but in 10 years. It is a tough country to be in as a back-packer, but I had the luxury of being with a family and well-off family too. I am glad I went, it is one country I am glad to have had company and someone showing me around, and maybe I will go back.
No comments:
Post a Comment