Thus is the flowchart illustrating my past few weeks. When I step back for a minute and really look at what I have been doing and all of the opportunities I have had while living here, I can finally appreciate the decision I have made.
First things first, KIELCE. Here is the e-mail I sent my parents the day I got back from the Świętokrzyż region:
So my little day trip to Kielce turned into an entire weekend where I saw a 1000 year-old monastery, a 600 year-old castle, a 400 year-old preserved Polish war hero, a 19th-century village museum, impressive WWII monuments, and the best of Communist-era architecture. I rode by bus, by train, logged about 250 kilometers in my friend's car and walked almost as much through some forest trails. I also ate some great food with two different Babcias. It was pretty great, and now I am preparing for tomorrow's trip to Brussels and then Madrid. (Meaning I am doing laundry because I have been wearing the same clothes for 3 days...)That's just a quick summary. Before I left, a Polish girl in Piast old me that there really isn't a whole lot to do in Kielce, which might be true if you aren't shown around by people who are really proud of where they live. Piotr works in the head office of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains National Park, so he was really excited to the area off to me. He thinks this is one of Poland's overlooked regions since most tourists flock to the Tatra Mountains or to Mazurian lakes instead. It was with Piotr that I understood what the true Polish hospitality is - gościnność. At his house, his mother prepared the most wonderful meals that almost brought me to tears. His family was so nice and patient with my broken Polish. (I realized that I can really only carry a conversation for about a half an hour before I exhaust all of my vocabulary...) But his grandmother reassured me, "Well, after only four months you are doing marvelous, kochanna."
While Piotr showed me the surrounding areas, Adam took me around the city itself. It is much bigger than I thought, and, yes, it is interesting. It is just more interesting, however, when you have someone to tell you anecdotes about all the sites - such as the tradition of high schoolers skinny-dipping in the fountain in front of City Hall on the eve of their graduation. We went to Adam's house for lunch, where his grandmother, a former cook, had prepared a delicious meal of homemade pierogi and mushroom soup. As we were eating, Adam made the comment, "This tastes like Christmas," which made me realize how lucky I was and how special this day was. Adam's grandmother seemed really nice but kind of shy, most likely because she doesn't speak English, and she thought that her house was "too modest" for an American. However, when I introduced myself –all I said was "Jestem Sarah"– she pulled me in for a big grandma hug and a kiss. She was so soft that I felt like I was melting into her embrace. And she kept offering us food, coffee, tea, sweets... in other words, she is exactly how you imagine the perfect babcia to be.
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I think I'll have to save my Western (Europe) adventures for another post, since I've got to get going before class. I'm not on vacation anymore, you know. In the meantime, here are some photos:
A walk in the woods
Piotrek, my grown-up Boy Scout
Adam in front of the historic, Zakopane-style church
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