Underneath The Sycamore

A busy couple of days have happened since my last entry. On Friday, we took a train to Lublin and checked into our hotel (it was neat to have card keys and to each have our own). Our room had a nice view of the square towards the rynek/old town area - which at one point gave us a view of a crowd of spectators and dancers doing 'Brazilian Dance Fighting.' :-P Once we made it to our rooms and left our bags, we went around the city, seeing a group that is trying to preserve Lublin's Jewish history and their exhibit at a special gate in the city. After that point, we went near the city's castle, into an underground area near the town hall to see models and hear stories of the cities historical progress (including a moving model with lights, sounds, and Wislawa Szymborska reciting a poem before we heard the story of a fire that almost burned down the city). We later walked around the town, seeing the remains of a former cathedral, a former orphanage, 'Christian' versus 'Jewish' areas (before and now) and the gates and bridges between them, different places of worship, a Jewish university, a Jewish cemetery, and more of the city (paths, squares - but in the shape of an eye with 10 buildings on one side and stairs to the castle hill on the other). It is a cute little city. We stopped for snacks at one point before having a nice dinner at a Jewish restaurant in the Old Town area. I had a really good cabbage soup, plus an okay grilled salmon salad and this neat Israeli drink (with little bits of apple and cinnamon, which I had served warm since it was a chilly day). Later on, I had the chance to watch some TV and then some of us spent some time at a cafe.

On Saturday, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel (one of the better I have had at an accommodation since coming to Poland) before going to the Majdanek concentration/extermination camp. It is very well-preserved, which makes it seem as though we are on a movie set. It is also very close to the city and interesting to see after visiting Auschwitz (especially for comparison reasons). It is free to enter (just need to set up and to pay for a guide if wanted). It had some neat historical exhibits and the different buildings seem almost left untouched since the camp stopped being used. There was one room that had THOUSANDS of shoes. It was as startling as the amounts of hair and belongings on display at Auschwitz, but Majdanek also has gas chambers and crematoria that were not destroyed. It was a very informative trip and interesting to see how more than one camp appears, even so many years later. We also have been fortunate to have had AMAZING tour guides on every tour, from tours in Warsaw to tours in the tri-cities on the Baltic to Auschwitz and Krakow and Lublin and this camp. The guide also reminded me of someone I know, which made me almost laugh to myself. I appreciate people who care to learn and to teach about historical places with such knowledge and passion (particularly difficult places, such as cemeteries and death camps).

After we returned, I relaxed and did some work before going to the wonderful Night of the Museums. I stuck with a group of us who went, so we mostly saw just a performance at Lazienki Park (cool lights, tons of people, jazz music, a guitarist from Genesis) - on the way there some of us saw a few Annie Leibovitz portraits up along the street - then walked around the park (pretty dark except some candles, lanterns, or lights shined at certain points; saw some loud - they were making their presence known in sound, not sight - peacock friends again, but hard to spot in the tops of trees) and then headed towards a park near a castle/museum before walking around (the soccer stadium was lit up with cool lights and we walked by a hip-hop/rap concert in a park) and then going to Old Town. We sat at a cafe before heading back for the night. There were so many events and available museums (a couple of us checked the extensive schedule for the participating museums, galleries, cafes, and other places), it was crazy! And I am not sure I have ever seen so many people out... even during the day. :-/ There were lines and people everywhere, of all kinds and ages. :-P

Today, sadly, I have work and it is predicted to rain. HOWEVER, I may try to head out in the grayness soon. ;) Not sure what and when, but I want to see Wilanow and the first day of Chopin concerts! On Tuesday, we go to the Presidential Palace for a visit/tour.

Photos added to Photobucket. :-D

Mistaken For Strangers

Interesting day. The weather was nice, but I did not have much of a chance to enjoy it because of my class schedule. It was a bit awkward to have classes again, although not too strange. I had a Polish lesson, where I had to go back to learning the details of Polish grammar. We learned more information about our Polish exam sometime next week (our last week) and that our class on Wednesday will include everyone on the program, where we will learn about Polish slang. I later had a history class (we learned our papers are due at the beginning of June and are much more personal and liberal in topic; we select what we want to write about based upon what we learned in class and from our experiences abroad; our actual lesson was about Prague Spring) and a politics class (again, another open-ended, personal choice topic. Similar to the paper in politics - in terms of due date, length, using course material - except about politics and foreign relations; today we learned about foreign relations between Poland and other countries after the fall of Communism). My Jews in Poland class was cancelled due to the professor's illness (both today and tomorrow classes are cancelled with a make-up tentatively set for Thursday; out trip to Lublin, so far, is unchanged - to be from Friday to Saturday). We had a paper for the Jewish class due tomorrow, but since the teacher is sick, there has been a loose extension for the paper, set to be due by the end of the week. :)

The extra time I had from cancellation of my Jewish class meant that I could eat dinner earlier, begin the long tirade of laundry work, and watch "Source Code" [it was quite good...]. Now I am up to finishing laundry and WORK. I have four papers, readings, some Polish work, and studying (for the Polish exam) to do the next couple of weeks...

Polish poster, where it is called "Code of Immortality" (in Polish)

Quote of the Day: “We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves.”

—  Marcel Proust

The Devil Is In The Details...

So the "Three Cities" - "Trójmiasto" of Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot - are beautiful. I really enjoyed this area and seeing the BALTIC SEA! :-D Sadly, did not touch it, but not sure I would like even putting a finger in (which was all that was technically allowed for my group. ;) ) I wish our stay were longer and I would love to see more or return soon (especially in summertime).The train trip went by pretty quickly and we even saw the Teutonic castle in Malbork as we passed:

Not my personal photo, of course. ;)

On Friday, we went and checked in to our hotel. It was so nice to be in a proper hotel, not a hostel or dorm. :-P I stayed in a room with two other girls and decided to take a fold-out instead of one of the two twin beds. It was a cute room. We went out to dinner at a restaurant that specializes in regional cuisine. I had a Kashubian (that part of Poland has people known as Kashubians, who are influenced by Polish and German culture) fish soup and a salad with smoked salmon, vegetables, fish eggs (thought "eggs" on the menu were from a chicken, heehee ;) ), and vinaigrette. My meal was all pretty good. Afterwards, I hung out some with the other students and we went out for a bit at night. We walked around the city some before going to bed before a day of major touring of Gdansk. We had a European continental breakfast (eggs, kielbasa, bread, rolls, dry cereals, whole fruits, drinks, tomatoes, cucumbers, crepes/nalesniki, sliced meats and cheeses, etc.) before going on a walking tour of Gdansk. We saw statues, fountains, monuments, the town hall, a special meeting hall, an older church (climbed ALL the way to the small viewing deck on top, a whopping 400+ steps - my calves still feel it a bit when I climb stairs),  a Solidarity Museum, and the famous Gdansk/Lenin Shipyards where Solidarity/Solidarność began! After that, we had some time to relax (in the middle of the tour we did have a coffee break; I had a soy latte (that I left unsweetened) and a parfait of yogurt, flakes, and fruit) and do as we please before a LONG (we happened to go to Gdansk on a weekend with deals similar to those in places that have Restaurant Weeks with special menus and prices for certain dishes, which made restaurants and cafes participating in these half-prices much busier than usual) dinner at a mixed-ethnic restaurant (Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, etc.); I had some delicious clear borscht and a fish that was cooked with shredded beets on top and salads/coleslaws/shredded vegetables/sides. It was one of the best fish meals I have ever had. I finished off with some fruit in whipped cream (sadly, each course took an hour, which caused a three-hour or so meal). On Sunday, after packing-breakfast-checkout, we took a bus to different sites around Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot: ports, piers, monuments, parks, etc. before having lunch in Sopot (I had a decent fish soup and a small salad with mixed seafood on it). I had a nice chat with other students and the amazing tour guide we had both Saturday and Sunday. The weather was great on Sunday and our trip ride back was fun; it is a great time when the entire program group can spend some time together.

Today, my Polish class was cancelled so that our abroad group could visit the Polish Parliament buildings. After that fun tour (reminded me of visiting the UN), I had a quick lunch at Green Way (cabbage and other vegetable soup; tofu and vegetables in tomato sauce on top of kasza with sides) before a shortened history class (we left early to go on another walking tour with our Jews in Poland class). The last tour I went on today included both places I had and had not seen: various monuments and markers of the former Jewish ghetto, famous Jews, or areas where many Jews had been before the Holocaust drastically cut down their population size. I visited a lot of places and learned so much these past few days. :) I especially enjoy the feeling of being and of seeing new places. Ahh, it can give quite a rush and giddiness in me. :-P

Pictures here: photobucket.com/kab1221