Karneval Edition

Guest editor - Lewis

March 7, 2009

Greetings! It's been a while since the last post, but life has been busy. So... to catch up a bit.

Jaime asked me to fill in some of the events of the past weeks, particularly about our Fasching activities. For those who aren't aware, Fasching, Fassenacht, Karnival, Mardi Gras, etc. are all names for the activities leading up to Lent. In Germany, Fasching isn't universally celebrated, but noted centers of celebration include Köln, and Mainz. Wiesbaden, just next to Mainz, and many of the surrounding communities also jump in with full enthusiasm.

One of my colleagues at work is a member of a local club, BappKappeClub Wiesbaden 1985 n.e.V. (see http://bkcw.de).





They dress up as Vikings and participate in several of the Fassenacht parties and parades in the Wiesbaden area. Well, we just had to join up!

The group is primarily German citizens, with Jaime and I tripling the American membership to 3. We thought it sounded like fun, and would get to meet more of the local citizens and practice a bit of German language.

Well, we had a blast. We attended several of the Sitzungs (Fassenacht parties) and even though 90% of the jokes, etc went over our head, we enjoyed the music and the general enthusiasm everyone had for celebrating.
And the beer. Germany has good beer. :-)

We also "marched" in two of the Fasching parades. Marching isn't exactly correct, because one of the tenets of the BKCW is that while everyone is being very correct and traditional and composed (not really), the Vikings are acting like Vikings.. walking through the crowd with weapons, yelling and blowing horns, drinking, etc. during the parade. They loved us! The group has become well known and has only been kicked out of parties a few times. We participated in the Wiesbaden parade on Sunday,


and in the Frauenstein parade on Monday (Rosenmontag).



That wrapped up the season for us, though I guess there were a few more parties the next day. Next year we get to have our own weapons!

Stayed tuned for more from Jaime.

Per Jaime on 3/8/09: We finally pulled our copy of the local newspaper (Dotzheimer Kontakte) to read last night - and - Lo, and behold: Yours truly is pictured in her Viking regalia right in the middle of the front page! Who'da thunk it? I'm becoming famous over here! We're going to try and get more copies today.

Poland Edition, Part 2

Monday, February 2nd - Ground Hog's Day!
Whirlwind visit here so far. Not sure I remember what happened Monday now. I do remember rest of Sunday pretty much a wash since I was too tired to go out again after my bus trip. This was fine cause Sara and I needed to catch up and she has her translations. I know I slept in cause Sara left on her bike in the morning to teach a lesson. I think she travels to most of her students, but it is winter break from school here now and she only has a couple of students this week. She was home by 11am-noon at the latest and we ventured out for the first time. Sara has a student who joined us for the walk to town. Her name is Marta. She is 17 and a finalist in the national English contest in Poznan this spring. Only 58 finalists selected in all of Poland so quite an honor for Zamosc and a real testament to Sara's teaching skills. Her english is flawless!

So Sara, Marta and I explore the Old Town of Zamosc by foot. We had lunch at a pizza place that had George Bush and Ben Laden featured pizza's on the menu, but we just ordered an eggplant and prosciutto (I think). I had red wine, while Marta and Sara each had banana juice. For dessert we went all-out decadent for REAL hot chocolate at a popular Chocolatier off of the town square. My hot chocolate was really a fruit fondue that was to die for!

Tense episode awaited when we arrived back at Sara's place and discovered she didn't have her keys. All pockets, bags, etc checked. Keys awol. Called Sara's landlord who let us in. Searched some more and not a trace.

Gave Marta the brownie mix I had brought for Sara. Sara hasn't figured out her oven yet and Marta knows how to use hers. Also this was a good exercise for Marta's english - learning how to prepare an American brownie mix, which she promised to do and bring back the finished product!

Tuesday, February 3rd
Errands with Sara that morning. Needed to get wine and gift for Sara's friends who invited us to dinner. Good thing we came back to apt before heading out - Marta called and said Chocolatier found keys! Yippee! Back into town to get keys and catch bus to friends house. Bus missed stop near friends house. Oyvey! Bus driver needed signal but Sara says they're not necessary. Anyway, he drove so quickly past the stop that there was no chance to indicate our wishes.

So we were on this bus headed to a small village called "Wychody". We took this as an opportunity to check out "greater Zamosc" and stayed on the bus to Wychody. Very curious looking structures in the backyards of homes in this village. They look like little beekeeping houses. They are all painted different colors and lined up in rows. They also have ramps leading up to the doors. If anyone has any information leading to what these things might be, please let me know! Everyone here has heard the description but has no clue.

We eventually reached a stop close to friends house but it had started snowing and big temperature drop. Really ready for warmth and dinner. Sara's friends are a delight! - Janusz, Julia and 5 yr old Amelia plus her 5 yr old cousins Monia and older sister, Alicja. Typical Polish dinner awaited and apple crepes for dessert! Julia is quite the sous chef!

After dinner, Alicja played piano and Amelia and Monia sang Christmas Carols. I had a rare opportunity to teach Poles how to play Polish Poker. They LOVED it. We played the rest of the evening with Sara holding the lead.

Wednesday, February 4th
Lots of shopping today. Met Janusz and family in town square late morning. Oh, particular highlight was being awoken by Sara's client needing a translation for a job reference. At the town square, took pictures of the ice rink. Lots of kids hanging out here today with school on break. Could not understand the meaning of a 2 week school break beginning of Feb. Apparently it's a hold-over from communist rule days when there were no religious holidays, let alone lengthy school breaks. Check out my picture of the ice rink (looks like a postcard!):















Met our friends and did some shopping for traditional Polish gifts. Found myself a pretty amber necklace. 5 yr old Amelia saw lots to buy! We spent some time at Julia's brother's second hand store. I bought four winter tops. That was fun. To post office to mail postcards. Then to restaurant for dinner. YUM! Janusz and Julia had some sort of meat entree while Sara and I had pierogi's and this really delicious, warm and flavorful beet soup that we drank like tea! Here is picture of me and the family:
















Back at Sara's to greet Marta and our promised brownies! She was embarrased as they didn't turn out quite right. They were hard around the edges, but still tasted like brownies so they were fine. We taught Marta Polish Poker and another game from Sara that was like UNO.

Thursday, February 5th
Decided to ride the train back to Krakow on Friday. Bus only takes an hour less and was much more crowded. More errands in town - retook some of the pictures Sara thought she had taken but were not saved. Found the Corner Pub. Here is Sara outside the Zamosc Corner Pub. This is really a Polish sister pub to our beloved Corner Pub of Silver Spring!




















Some other shots of old town by the award-winning digital camera whiz - Sara Wild! This one is me standing outside part of the wall surrounding the east gate to this walled city:















We went to the Zamosc Museum where we saw an actual model of the city as it looked when it was created in the 1500's. Of course, huge portions of this wall are gone now, thanks to the Russian conquerors in the 1700/1800's but they are now being restored. Zamosc is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and some assistance is coming with their admission into the European Union.















Now being Thursday and, back in Silver Spring, we are always at the Corner Pub on Thursdays for 1/2 price pizza, we should have gone one step further and actually had lunch and possibly pizza and beer for lunch at this place but I was hellbent on crepes and hot chocolate at popular trendy local place off the town square called "Bohema." We each had these wonderful vegetable and cheese crepes with garlic sauce. Dessert was hot chocolate with chili powder!

Sara had a 5pm student, so I chilled at her place while she biked over to their place. She manages to ride in all types of weather, but I'm not sure about in the dark. So I was a little worried when she was a couple of minutes late getting back.

We were going out again but decided to just shop for my snacks for my return train tomorrow. Got some Polish beer for Lewis, bottled water and pastry for me. Got Sara a badly needed cutting board and teflon spatula for her kitchen.

Too tired to go back out. I had to wake at 4am to catch my train. Cab scheduled to pick me up at 4:45pm. Showered and packed before bed. Sara worked on translating but seemed to get to bed earlier since she was waking up with the alarm like I was.

Friday, February 6th
Didn't need the alarm. Stayed awake all night. Basically got dressed and ready and a light breakfast. We said our goodbyes and I was right on time for the cab. Little hesitation at the train station not knowing the language and being sure I got on the right train and that it was 2nd class. All was well. Train very very slow. At times thought I could probably walk faster, but soooooo much better than the bus. And only a few zloty's more. Worth it.

Language barrier erupted again when I wasn't sure of my stop in Krakow. Lady in my car warned me at the stop immediately before but we were able to communicate enough for me to know for sure that the stop I wanted was immediately after that one. Whew!

Next hurdle was getting me and my stuff over to the airport train. No problem here. Just followed the little illustrated signs. One scheduled to leave about 15 mins after I arrived in Krakow! From there it was pretty uneventful. Was at the airport 2 hrs before my flight. PLENTY of time for my badly needed cup of coffee, bathroom, last-minute souvenirs and to check in with Lewis.

Arrived in Frankfurt on time at 5:30pm. Lewis there with a single rose! Quite a journey, folks! I can't wait to return to Poland with Lewis this time! Oh, interesting sidenote: gloomy with snow and ice the whole time in Poland. But Sara had to just tell me that immediately after I left the weather cleared, got much warmer and sunnier. Go figure. Of course, now it is gloomy and rainy here in Wiesbaden. Guess I have some bad weather karma following me around these days. Let's hope it doesn't continue!

Till next week,

Jaime

Poland Edition, Part 1

So much has happened that I felt an early issue warranted to cover the last three days.

Friday, Jan. 30th
Pretty typical day in Wiesbaden, ALTHOUGH, some of my female buddies decided it was time to treat ourselves to the local bad (meaning bath - where the "bad" in Wiesbaden comes from) while our spouses were at work. Met Debbie at the Hotel and took the shuttle to meet our other two friends on base where we walked over to the Aukammtal Thermalbad. Thermalbad means (I believe) warm or heated mineral bath or waters.

Were we in for a treat! This is a large complex which houses a combination indoor/outdoor public bath, in addition to other therapeutical and fitness services, and a wonderful cafe which you can access directy from the pool or at the entrance of the facility. I think one of the greatest luxuries in life is to swim in a warm bath OUTDOORS in the winter. It feels devine!

Saturday, Jan. 31st
So I'm still in a flurry getting ready for my flight to Poland and not being able to locate any Polish currency (zloty's). Finally located a Western Union at the train station that sold me $100 worth and ended up costing about $16 for the exchange. Peace of mind. I wouldn't be arriving into Krakow until late and needed enough dough for the train into town and the bus ride to Zamosc the next morning. Not to mention meals.

Stayed at a nice place in Krakow called "Hotel Polonia" right across the street from the bus and train stations. Very easy to find. My room had high ceilings and two single beds pushed together.

Tried to fall asleep to the only English channel I could find on TV - 'Euronews' - some kind of recorded news program that is on a continuous loop. No wonder I didn't get much sleep, although turning it off didn't make any difference. Too concerned, I guess, with waking up early enough to catch a 7:30am bus to Krakow and having to actually find the bus station first.

Oh! Forgot to mention a thank you note is very much in order to Sara's friend in Krakow - Kuba. Kuba went out of his way to reserve a seat for me on the bus. In addition, he went ahead and paid for it and then left it with the front desk at the hotel waiting for me when I arrived. I can't tell you how much that increased my comfort level after arriving in so late from Frankfurt!

Sunday, Jan. 31st.
Loooooooooong bus ride to Zamosc. The bus was full. Kuba must have bought me the last seat! It was a six hour ride to Zamosc. Next time I will fly into Warsaw cause it's only a 4 hour ride from there. That is mostly because there are more major and direct routes from Warsaw to Zamosc than from Krakow.

So hell bent on finding the bus station and catching it on time that I skipped breakfast and never got off for any of the breaks on the bus ride. My eyes were glued to the window the entire time! I was happy to get there at 1:30, though, and to be greeted by Sara's smiling face. Visiting her here makes me feel like I'm with family.

Her apartment is only a short walk from the bus station so we headed there directly. I was pretty hungry for lunch by then (no breakfast or dinner the night before, basically). Then a badly needed shower and we just hung out and talked the rest of the day.

Sara has a wonderful little apartment on the top floor of a building that overlooks parks and the town. She has a very busy schedule teaching english and doing translations. She has several translations at the moment and may not be able to return with me to see Krakow before I leave, but I can tell we have more than enough to do here in Zamosc!

Bye for now, Jaime