Visit to the Bieskady Mountains

Today I made an American breakfast for Witek, Aneta and Ania consisting of fried potatoes, scrambled eggs and ham. Witek also boiled some Polish sausage and put bread on the table to round out the offering. Ania was determined to feed herself and the potatoes were much to large to sit atop her tiny spoon. She would load one on the spoon, balanced precariously, and then bring it toward her mouth while cupping her little hand under her chin to keep it from falling while she navigated it into her mouth. It was pretty entertaining.

After breakfast we drove to the Beiskady Mountain region to visit Witek's beautiful cousin, Ella, her mother Teresa and Witek's parents, Marianna and Frank. Ella is the Director of an S.O.S. Home for children who have been removed from their parents. The organization is all over the world but only has three S.O.S. Homes in the USA. They shelter 80,000 children worldwide. The home she runs has room for 12 children ages 3 to 18. They are nEarly always full but only had seven children in residence when we were there.

This family gathering was quite interesting and I learned how it feels to be the only person in a room who can't understand what is being said! Aneta was good to translate but you get everything filtered.

Ella is an excellent cook and we ate a large mid day meal with baked chicken, a slaw type salad, a potato, cheese and ground pork casserole and fresh baked bread. Then we were served three deserts, one of which was a delicious cheesecake with peaches. I learned something about a cultural difference in how Polish families eat as opposed to American families.
Everyone takes a helping of one dish and eats it. When everyone is finished a second selection is made and everyone eats a portion of that. When you are finished another dish is distributed and so on until everyone has had some of each item but never with more than one item at a time on your plate.

Following a spirited discussion in Polish, about what I can't even hazard a guess, Aneta and I went for a long walk down to the Vistula River, which has it's origins in the mountains near here. On the way back we met the rest of the relatives coming for a walk as well. Aneta and I continued on and sat in a lovely Gazebo in the garden while we waited for the others to return so we could get back into the house. It was nice to be outdoors for awhile, I have been feeling a bit like a hot house plant as my back has troubled me so I haven't been able to get out and move much.

I was especially intrigued by the beautifully constructed benches in this Gazebo. Instead of a straight, even arrangement of boards on the bench seat the edge board was slanted downward slightly so the edge didn't cut into to back of your leg. Additionally, the support boards under the ends were planed down slightly so that the seat boards actually made a cradle for your bottom. They were without question the most comfortable wooden benches I have ever sat upon.

Following our walk we were again hustled into the living room for another full meal. I was so stuffed by the end of this latest gustation I could barely walk!

Another observation I made today was that Transformer toys must have been invented in Poland. The coffee table in the small living room was miraculously transformed into a full size dining table around which everyone just scooted their chairs, or whatever they were seated on, as close as possible to the table and stayed put.

Tomorrow I am making apple omelets for Witek and Aneta and Chris and his fiancee, Agnes if we can find Amaretto before morning!

My daughter and my son competed today in a Sprint Triathlon on Vancouver and I am dying to know how they did.

Have a nice Sunday!
Linda

PS
Just went to the supermarket with Aneta. First, I needed heavy cream and she had no clue what I was talking about. We succeeded in finding it and now she knows what it is. She had never heard of whipping cream. Next, the absence of Amaretto left us searching for almond flavoring and that took a bit longer. No Schilling here! The tiny little bottles of almond flavoring are adorable! They are shaped like little jugs with a tiny glass handle on the side. They may hold two tlbs of flavoring but not a drop more. I am actually learning quite a bit of elementary Polish as I go through the steps of learning to adapt and live here. It isn't fair to Aneta that I assume she knows everything and prattle on like I am actually getting through to her. She feels insecure about telling me "I don't understand you.". But she will soon learn that it is the best way to assure she doesn't have to make duplicate trips to the store at 11 pm. I was also surprised to learn that someone named Misho and his girlfriend have also been invited to breakfast! That makes six plus the toddler I wills be cooking for tomorrow. There really isn't any rest for the wicked.

Oh yes, eggs come in cartons of 10, not our traditional dozen and "tea" is "hermata" in Polish! Thank goodness coffee is Kava - I might actually be able to safely order a cup!

Jin do bray (phonetically speaking I think it means "good night"

Linda

Running errands in Gliwice

Imagine stepping into a tiny electronics workshop in a Polish city and being greeted by a large burly fellow with Semper Fidelis tattooed on his forearm. That happened to me as I tried to find a way to get my cell phone to function on a local network. I do think he spoke a little English but fortunately Aneta was with me to explain my mission. He checked out the phone and suggested we go find a T-Mobile store and get a Sim card for it that would work locally and internationally. He refused payment for his service and smiled broadly at me when I said, "Jin couya" (my version of phoneticic Polish for "thank-you.")

Then we were off to find the T-Mobile store on the main street of Gliwice. On the way we stopped at Aneta's bank and I deposited my money in her account for safekeeping. Then we went to an ATM and withdrew cash in Zlotys so I would have some usable currency. Our next stop was T-Mobile, which is brand new in Poland. I was successful in my mission and now have a sim Card that will let me call internationally for 2.45 zlotys a minute (about $1 us)and 30 Grozny per minute throughout Europe (about 10 cents us). And, if I can find any, I can call any other T-Mobile customer in Europe and talk for 2,000 minutes for 9 zlotys a week! As anyone who knows me well knows, I dislike talking on the phone so that isn't likely to happen!

Aneta took me to lunch at The Golden Donkey, a vegetarian restaurant she had heard about and wanted to try. The food was superb and we filled right up on Lasagna and three salads. We capped our lunch with a delicious cup of coffee complete with steamed milk foam on top and raw sugar to take the bite out.

Then we were off to collect Aneta's daughter Ania from her Bopsha's flat. Ania fell asleep as soon as we put her in the car and had a nice nap before Aneta woke her for her swimming lesson. I was supposed to join her today at swimming but my back hurt so badly by the time we got back to the flat that I opted to take a muscle relaxant and stay home.

Tonight Kojak will come for a visit and tomorrow Witek's parents are coming over for lunch. They speak exactly no English and I speak the same amount of Polish so that should be Fun. The baby I get along with just fine - she uses grunts and sign language and I'm pretty good at figuring out what she is saying.

Tomorrow I hope my back is more improved than it was today. Today was much better than yesterday though so I am not complaining.

The weather has been disappointing with rain the past two days and predicted to stay this way until the weekend.

So long for now.
Linda