The long overdue Poland story is delivered at last. Although my darling friend Jagoda had prepared a powerpoint presentation about Poland for me, I didn’t really manage to learn any Polish phrases before I left. It was only as we were waiting for the Eurolines bus to arrive at the Aalborg bus station that I began to hear and digest Polish. As this happened, it started to sink in exactly what I was doing. Of course, nothing I imagined really measured up to the experiences I was about to have.
I must admit that riding on a bus for almost 24 hours is not the best way to kick start a holiday. That being said, getting to Jagoda’s home in Inowrocław from Aalborg would have been long and difficult by any means. That’s what happens when you live out in the countryside. We left Aalborg shortly before 8pm on a Friday night, after a week of no obligations and saying bon voyage to people leaving on Christmas holidays or leaving Aalborg for good. We boarded the bus with Poul (a Danish acquaintance who’s dating a Polish girl in Aalborg), another Polish girl whom Jagoda knows, and a handful of others, mostly Polish, almost all of which were headed to Poland for Christmas. The trip was fairly uneventful with a couple of exceptions… there was a Danish man who got drunk and called his Polish girlfriend, the bus was delayed in southern Denmark due to a fool who gave some folks money to see a trick and insisted on involving the whole bus after they ran off with his money (people then spent a while translating and debating the issue which resulted in us taking him to the police station and waiting until he was able to file a report), and the fact that when we arrived in Berlin at 5am, nobody knew what bus we were to board or where it was. Standing around a cold bus station in Germany in the wee hours of the morning did make me eager to get back on a bus – no small feat! When a bus finally arrived bound for Poland, the three drivers couldn’t seem to agree on whether or not it would be stopping at our destination: Poznań. We decided that two out of three were good enough odds and claimed our seats. The rest of the trip was pretty straightforward – we saved time at the border because just two days before Poland became a Schengen state, which means you can move freely between it and Germany (and any other place that has signed the Schengen Agreement). However, we then proceeded to sit in horrendous traffic on legendary Polish roads all the way to Poznań. Oh, and we also left a passenger at the gas station we stopped at. The trip from Berlin to Poznań is only about 300km and in theory should take less than four hours. Our fantastic journey took double that! Nevertheless, we arrived to see the smiling faces of Marta and Maciek waiting for us. It was high time I met Jagoda’s older sister – not only had I heard all about her from Jagoda, but she studied in Aalborg before and so nearly all the PhD students I hang out with know and love her. As expected, Marta is fantastic, and her fiancé Maciek is equally awesome.
We went to their flat for some lunch and then it was time to load up the car and drive another 120km to Inowrocław. I was welcomed with open arms into Jagoda’s family, and meeting her parents Zofia and Wojciech was such a lovely moment. Iwona, Jagoda’s twin sister was also already at home. While we got settled in a took a rest, Iwona invited me to go downtown (being a town of less than 80,000 you can imagine how exciting a prospect this was). Not wanting to sit around a house after cooped up for a day, I went out and met some childhood friends. The next morning we walked downtown so that we could do some last minute shopping and that night the twins and I went back downtown to go out with more friends. It ended up quite an amusing night – we joined some fellows in the basement of the town’s theater where they were drinking, playing instruments, and smoking. In all honesty, it was the sort of thing that fit right into a stereotypical image of “Eastern-European” boys. They were a fun crowd although there was little to no English – one guitar player was excited that I was from Seattle and played some Nirvana for us, followed by a couple rounds of “100 lat” (100 years, the Polish birthday song) for me.
On Christmas eve, Jagoda and I worked away at home to prepare a couple of dishes for the next few days. We made a cold vegetable salad, makowiec (poppyseed-swirl cake), and pierogi with applesauce and poppyseeds. The night we went out to Jaksice (about 9km NW of Inowrocław) to Jagoda’s father’s childhood home for a big dinner and gifts. Tradition stipulates that there is to be no meat eaten on Christmas eve, but instead the dinner’s special dish is carp (in Poland carp is only eaten on this one day). We started with barszcz (beetroot soup with little tortellinis called “ears”) and then dug into the rest of the dishes. Everything was delicious and since there was no meat, there was a heavy emphasis on mushrooms and fish. Jagoda’s grandmother knows a number of secret recipes involving mushrooms and she made a couple of dishes with mushrooms she collected herself. For dessert we had makoweic, sernik (cheesecake), pierniki (soft gingerbread), and a layer cake with cherry. Everything was homemade of course. After dinner we opened gifts that had been laid out under the miniature artificial tree that has been used every year since Jagoda’s father was a child. My mother had knit scarves for all the Dworek women and I had taken some Danish alcohol for the men. I was surprised with a couple of gifts myself – the family gave me a book on Polish cooking, Iwona made me slippers, and Marta had compiled a box full of typical Polish sweets and alcohol. They also gave me a gift for my parents (which I shall not disclose here since I haven’t sent it to them yet and they’re bound to read this before I do). We headed back home in time for midnight mass. Now, I’m not a religious person and although I was baptized Catholic I am not very familiar with common practices, let alone hardcore Polish traditions! In order to make the mass more worthwhile, Iwona hauled Jagoda and I up to the front so that we would be able to see. This was just fine, until due to the huge crowd we were pushed further forward and to the side… so that we ended up standing in front of the first pew (and as a relatively tall person, made me feel very self-conscious). Thankfully I had one girl on either side of me so that at least I could do all the right things at the right time and look slightly less foolish. There were two material yet fantastic highlights to the mass. The first was that there were three large, real trees decorated behind the main pulpit and on the top of each there was an electric star that changed colors. From outside, the changing colors bursting out of the windows made the church look a bit like a disco. The second highlight was the angel collection box – when you insert a coin (which the girls encouraged me to do), the angel bobs uncontrollably.
Christmas day was more family and more food. We started the day with a chilly walk through Solanki park where I got to see Inowrocław’s famous salt baths. Then it was out to Jaksice for lunch at the grandparent’s again, followed by dinner with Jagoda’s mother’s side of the family in her childhood home (a five minute walk from her husband’s). There were over 20 people at this dinner and this time there was meat. I met most of Jagoda’s cousins and enjoyed seeing such the family dynamics at a once-per-year gathering. Actually, Jagoda and Iwona explained to me that while their grandparents were alive, the family didn’t get together. It was only after they passed away that the whole family came together and started visiting for Christmas. Regardless, it was a lovely time.
On the 26th, we drove out to Włocławek (about 66km SE from Inowrocław) to see some family/friends of Jagoda’s father. The family whose house we were at lived in the states for a while and it showed in how they decorated their home (which was very attractive). There was eating, more eating, and even when you think it’s done, more. I also watched the movie “About a Boy” that day. More fantastic homemade food and even some homemade Polish alcohol. Not to mention the fine company. On the way to Włocławek, Jagoda’s parents took me by the Mouse Tower of Kruszwica. Legend has it that due to poor ruling of the Polanie tribe by Prince Popiel, the poor fellow was removed from the throne and left in this tower to be eaten alive by mice. There’s another legend that says the prince and princess took refuge in the tower from angry tribes people and then mice attacked the tower, chewed through the walls and ate the couple. In reality, there’s no proof of a Prince Popiel and the actual tower is not old enough to be the one in the legend. It was an interesting building anyway.
Official Christmas holidays came to an end and Jagoda’s parents went back to work on the 27th. I went for a haircut, shopping, and ice skating downtown. Wanting to see more of Poland, Jagoda and I headed to Warsawa early Friday morning. We spent the better part of the day walking around town and Łazienki Park. In the late afternoon we went and dropped our stuff off at Jagoda’s old flat and then out for some beers with university friends, followed by a movie with her old flatmate (that we were staying with). Day two in Warsawa we were woken up by the sun shining and so we hopped out of bed and into old town for some sightseeing. Although chilly, the bright sun and clear blue sky were just perfect for lifting the spirits and for pictures of course! We caught an afternoon train to Toruń to meet her mother and Marta. Toruń is also known as “Little Krakow” and was the birthplace of Copernicus. It is located about 215km NW from Warsaw and less than 40km NE of Inowrocław and is listed as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Although occupied by Nazi troops during WWII, the city was spared destruction and is one of the few places in Poland to remain virtually the same as it was before the war. From there we drove back home for a quiet night with the family.
On Sunday, we had a typical Sunday lunch as a family and then later Jagoda, her father, and I went swimming at the local pool. It felt fantastic to be in water and to swim laps… not to mention using the two and a half story water slide! I’ve only been to one water park before so this seemingly never-ending corkscrew of a slide was quite a thrill.
New Year’s eve arrived much quicker than I expected and the twins and I caught a train back to Poznań to spend the holiday with Marta and Maciek. To ring in 2008 we went to their friend’s new bachelor pad in the suburbs of the city. Stanislaw was a great guy and he went to great lengths to prepare for the party – including a disco ball, disco lights, strobe lights, a fog machine, tons of good food and made-to-order cocktails all night long. Although outside the city, his balcony had a picture perfect view of Poznań and we could see all the little independent firework shows going on. He also loved to go around with his tray for shot glasses that had an old-fashioned bike bell on the handle so he could get your attention easily. There were not very many people there, maybe a dozen (and I came with half!) but the atmosphere was great. We danced, sang, danced some more, and finally went home… only to return the next day after walking around Poznań for a couple of hours.
I did some shopping with Jagoda and Iwona on Wednesday before it was time to catch the bus back to Aalborg. I’m not used to being in such close proximity to so many people for such an extended period of time so on the one hand I was ready to go home… but on the other I didn’t want my Polish experience to end. The bus ride home was short and sleepless, dropping us off in terribly cold, windy, and snowy weather at 6:30 in the morning. We trudged home with our heavy bags and promptly went to sleep.
All in all – my trip to Poland was fantastic. It wasn’t so terribly life-changing and exciting. But more importantly, I spent time with a loving family and two of my dear friends, saw new things, learned some Polish words, and experienced Polish culture through immersion. I had a very nice time and would definitely go back… although I get the impression that traveling through Poland without a Pole wouldn’t be as cool. That being said – if you’re in the area, go! Since pictures are already posted, that makes this process much easier. Good news considering the fact that I have two other trips I need to write about! Until then, Do zobaczenia!
