Patti really IN Poland

Wayne and Lorin finally arrived and Wayne caught me moving across the Rynek to start a class assignment, on a blisteringly hot day. It was a mock scavenger hunt to find locations in the Old City. Thanks to Barbara, I was able to find almost everything quickly. We retreated to the Art Bunker for more class and conversation. Tomorrow, off the grid to Bochnia.

dom, slodki dom

I took my first quiz this morning, so I have a moment between classes and trips to the Centrum to show you around the place where I store my laptop. Dom Studenckie Piast was built by the Communist government in the 1970's to house the maximum student population with the minimum level of frill. My room is about 8x10' and would normally house two students. The bath is shared with another identical room. As you can see, it is a standard that most Americans would not enjoy. When Wayne arrives he will have another guest room and hopefully, I can at least take showers there.
The food is Polish dorm food; veggies, ham, eggs and cheese for breakfast along with tea,warm milk, bad coffee and omnipresent bread rolls. Lunch (obiad) is the main meal of the day, served family style, and it always includes soup, bread, potatoes, some form of cabbage, small amounts of a vegetable and either a very starchy vegetable or fried meat option. Dinner, (kolacje) is the evening meal. Lighter, it has a starchy salad, and either warm ham or warm egg, another meat or starchy dish, and fruit.
I am meeting Barbara at 7:30 pm to have a light lovely supper in the town square, and discuss our weekend trip to the home village of Lakta Dolna with her dad and uncle, and a visit with Eugene. She is bringing me tomatoes from her home. Home-grown Polish tomatoes will be a treat without peer!

lotem ptaka po polsce

It's the title of an old book of Polish songs and stories from my first encounter with the Polish language almost 50 years ago. Today, I had a "birds eye view of Poland" with a cousin, Barbara Burek. I walked for 12 hours, beginning with a walking tour of the Old City, then to the Jewish Quarter where i piloted myself to our meeting place, then, wonders: magnificent cathedrals, crazy public spaces, wonderful food and a final chamber music concert in an 11th century church. Rare, fun, utterly fulfilling.

family, at last

One of the objectives of this trip was to find what remains of my Polish family. This is my second cousin Barbara. She was my guide to a fantastic day of sightseeing the old city of Krakow. We had great food, wonderful conversation and a delightful time.
A rare day, indeed.

citizen Erickson

After class today, I wandered back to the old City, found an academic bookstore, and registered for a pass to get around town. Few own cars; they are mostly small. Polish driving is wild and woolly. I feel safe on the tram and can get anywhere quickly.
I was able to get a photographer to take this picture, which is the best passport photo EVER, in Polish. Progress!

the modern school

This is where I take my classes, 5 hours a day, in Polish. I've been thrown into the deep end of the pool, with 6 other students from Croatia, Germany, Great Britain and America. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. I self-selected into a slightly less strenuous class than the one at the UW to get more practice speaking and listening to familiar material. Not quite as exciting, but it will provide a solid foundation for future progress.Those are bars, not shoji; the doors are metal and it's immaculate, but very functional. This part of the Jagiellonian is not as gorgeous as the medieval bit but it was built as a land-grant college and has some great Communist art, like the Lenin in Fremont but more basic, miners, woodsmen, amazingly kitschy stuff.
The rain has finally stopped and it's cooler and quite pleasant, good thing because the homework is strenuous, too.

the big show

One of the most beautiful medieval rooms I've ever seen, the paintings are of former Polish royalty extending charters to the University. Other folks adorn the walls; Jan Pawel II is there as well. A big speech, then off to the Centrum .
I've discovered that I cannot speak Polish. Folks are very nice about it; the tipoff is when litle old ladies say something like " I'm so sorry, I didn't realize that you were not Polish." meaning: you are unintelligible to them but they don't want to hurt your tender American feelings. Hopefully this will change; there are a lot of really expert speakers in the crowd, but the instruction is by ability, so there's hope.