PREPARE YOURSELF FOR YET ANOTHER HUMONGOUS BLOG ENTRY! :D You might actually have to take breaks since I doubt you will be able to read it all in one sitting! Hahaha... This is the tale of my ENTIRE trip to Poland, so that is why it is so long :)
My trip to Poland was sweet! The bus ride there was hot and uncomfortable, but I sat beside a woman who spoke a little bit of English, so conversation made the trip a bit more bearable. It took 3 hours to cross the border, but aside from that there were no issues. When I arrived at 5:00am the next morning (Friday), Matt (whom I will refer to as Chopin) and his uncle Tom picked me up. Chopin's family (on both sides) was very nice and hospitable, and I felt right at home! At the house where I stayed live Uncle Tomek with his wife and their two children, as well as Chopin's grandma. They live in a small municipality just outside of Warsaw called Lomianki.
After a glorious nap, a bath and a few text messages, I got ready and went with Chopin to visit his other grandma, and there we met with Uncle Tom (they are both Tom's). Chopin's grandma made some awesome crapes and then Uncle Tom showed me his bike, the back workshop, and his "Crazy Car", as he calls his mini-camper van.
Later that day we took a bus to Warsaw and talked around the Old City, which has very beautiful architecture and it is very historic because of the Warsaw uprising during WWII. We got to see some great displays about the war, a few churches, statues and the wall where the actual battle was won. We also saw a really awesome painter painting on the street. I got a small painting from him :) There were also some stores that had war-related artifacts, as well as jewelery stores DECKED with amber, which is a major Polish export. After that, Chopin, his grandma and I took a bus to a recreation center, where we attended a concert by a local singer. Chopin and I were a bit nervous that we were going to hate it, hahaha, but it was surprisingly actually quite good!! She was a very good singer (even if I couldn't understand the words of the songs), and there was one song especially that I loved! One of the band members specialized in percussion instruments, and he composed an awesome piece with all kinds of percussion gadgets, and it sounded like an awesome jungle beat with the sounds of the jungle in the backgrounud, like animals, birds and stuff like that. I loved it!! Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures.
The next morning we got up really early and got to join a bunch of people who were taking a bus to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. We originally thought we were going with a youth group, but it turned out the youngerst person there was probably 60 years old hahaha. It was still awesome. Once we got to the shrine, we went off on our own and we were able to make it for mass at the church. We squized in through the crowd and got almost to the front. It seemed like a good idea at first, but then the church got so ridiculously packed, especially during the distribution of communion, that you couldnt even lift one of your feet for fear that you wouldn't be able to put it back down lol. The church was prety amazing. The walls were very ornate and they were covered, COVERED, in metal and amber ornaments that were put up as signs of thanksgiving by pilgrims. A whole wall was also covered with crutches that were left behind by people who had come with them but got healed, so they left them behind as a sign of thanksgiving! (Make sure to check out my album... to do this look on the right hand side panel of my blog, and there you will find a list of links to my different albums. You don't need to have facebook to access them). Unfortunately, even though I was almost at the front, I was still too far to take a good picture of the image of our Lady (which is called the Black Madonna of Czestochowa). In fact, I took one from the wrong side of the lineup, where people were getting out, without realizing that it was precisely the side where people were getting out, so a lady got mad at me... I didn't mean to cut in! I promise! I wanted to go on the line up on the other side, but that would have taken hours... literally. So instead, after Mass we left and walked around the town, going in and out of religious items stores. Then, we walked all the way to the train station, from where we took a train to Krakow.
(For info on the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Madonna_of_Cz%C4%99stochowa) (You can also click on any highlighter words for links to websites related to those words)
I thought we were going to just walk around the city, but Chopin had a surprise in store for me... He took me to the shrine of the Divine Mercy! :D :D :D :D :D :D!!! It was awesome!! Chopin knew that I really love the Divine Mercy image and the whole message of Jesus gave to St. Faustina, so he thought it would be more meaningful and significative if he took me there instead of to any other place in Krakow. And he was right. I was not allowed to take pictures inside the church, which is a shame, but I also understand it. Inside, the church is very simple and ordinary, but yet beautiful. The original picture of the Divine Mercy (Jesus) that was painted by an artist by request of Jesus through St. Faustina (so the story goes... I believe it but I know some of you don't), hung on the left, and below it was a reliquarie with a giant relic of a bone of St. Faustina. It seemed like the end piece of a bone of her arm, and it was almost 10 cm long!
(For more information about the Divine Mercy and the shrine, go to: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/index.htm)
As soon as I walked into the church, I felt so overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions that I broke into tears. I was so overjoyed, so blessed, so humbled, and so very grateful to both God (and Chopin) for getting me here. I kneeled for a ling time with tears running down my face, making wonderfully unappealing roads of black eyeliner down my face, hahaha. I didn't care. I was too happy. Chopin just smiled :P The Eucharist was exposed for Adoration and you could truly feel Christ's presence in the little church. After Adoration, they distributed Communion, so I gladly went up and received it again. I know generally you are not supposed to, but you are allowed if you are going to several pilgrimage places, or something like that. I was so happy!!
Then, Chopin and I went outside of the church to line up in the long line to see the image and the relic up close. Once we got to the very front, I was able to move to the side to contemplate the image for a little while. It was wonderful. After that, we left and walked towards the basilica, which is a giant modern church located right behind the shrine church, where the second painting of the Divine Mercy is. I loved the church!! It was huuuuuge! It was a giant cicle without columns in the middle, similar to the basilica of Guadalupe for those of you who have been there, but it was all white inside. It was wonderful.It also had a really tall tower outside with a statue of the late Pope John Paul II. This completed my visit, and to be honest, it was the best birthday present ever!!
After that, we went back home on the train, where we got a cabin to ourselves. It was so cold in the cabin until after 2 hours of freezing, chopin discovered there was a heat regulator lol. It was a 6 hour train ride, though, so it was good that we got to be a little warmer.
When we got home, we were picked up by Chopin's uncle again, and the next morning we got up early for Mass. It was my 23rd birthday and I was so pleased to be there on that special occasion! Even though it was a bit cold, I decided to wear my hot pink flowy skirt, which is a skirt I wear when I feel really happy hahahaha. After Mass, we took a few pictures with the family, whom I got to really really really love. They prepared a small surprise birthday party for me!! They got me a beautiful heart-shapped strawberry shortcake, and also cheesecake on the side, so as not to break the tradition, because I told Chopin how I have always had cheesecake for my birthday, ever since I can remember!! In addition, they got me a bouquet of three hot pink roses (which perfectly matched my skirt hahaha), and Chopin's other grandma gave me a Jesus Fish keychain. In addition, I also received a very special gift Chopin got his uncles to put together a little something, but before I tell you what it is I have to explain...
Uncle Tomek, who is the one at whose house I was staying, works designing specialty boxes for special products. He has made all kinds of cool objects out of cardboard, like two cloc ks, a toy spaceship for his children, and a chest for his daughter's toys. Uncle Tom, on the other hand (Crazy Uncle Tom as Chopin calls him), is a jeweler, and he makes all kinds of pins, jewlery, medals, etc. Well, together they put together my gift, which was a wonderful little cardboard box containing two incredibly beautiful stained silver rosary rings!! The design is so intricate and beautiful. And I love all the thought both of his uncles, and Chopin himself, put into this gift, as well as the whole family did with the birthday surprise. I had expected none of this, and I felt so loved by all of them. They are such great people, and I am not just saying this for what they did for my birthday. Even though I was there only for a little while, I got to see what a great heart they have. I fell in love with Chopin's family! :D
That day, while seating to eat cake, the family asked me about my experiences in Ukraine, and Chopin did a wonderful job of translating. In the evening, we went to his other Grandma's for dinner, and after that we went to a carnival because it was the municipality's 20th anniversary of receiving municipal rights! Hahaha. There was live music, includying a group of hippies who played African music with jumbes, hahaha. It was awesome. It started to spit rain pretty hard, but it was funny because on my left side there was this horribly menacing black cloud, and on my right side there was clear sky and sunshine! So sure enough, there was a rainbow!! Yay! Rainbow for my birthday! And in fact, it was a DOUBLE rainbow! Hahaha! It was sweet! (It is too bad that it is hard to see in the picture, but it was definitely a double raibow :P) We got some shelter at the booth where Chopin's aunt was selling some clay crafts, but it stopped raining soon and we were able to walk around a little bit before going back home. That night Chopin and I talked for a long time and it was nice. He told me all about his fiance and their upcoming wedding. He is so happy and I am so happy for them! He is a good friend :)
The next morning, that is Monday, we went with one of Chopin's grandma's to the museum of the Warsaw Uprising. It was pretty cool, although very sobering. Then, his grandma took us to lunch at an Asian restaurant. The meal there was HUGE! e plate was like 30 cm in diameter, and the meal went like 7 cm high lol, packed with chicken, noodles and cabbage. It was very good, but I couldn't finish it! Those of you who know me well, know that I can eat A LOT for my size, hahahaa, but even still, it was too much food for me. After that, Chopin took me to buy my train ticket, buy a few things for the ride, and get some foot medication to treat some foot infections some of the girls have. He was wonderfully generous (as always) and bought the medication himself. When we came back, I spent some time on the computer answering emails, doing a bit of schoolwork and talking to friends. I was very happy because I had received a few text messages from my family and from friends wishing me a happy birthday, well well as other emails and your typical facebook birthday messages, so I spent some time answering back. In the meantime, Chopin was playing on the computer with his uncle some funny battle computer game lol, cuz his uncle is cool like that! Hahahaha.
His family came out to say goodbye, and they gave me lots of stuff to take to the girls at the orphanage, such as chocolates, clothes and toys. It was wonderful. Then, the next morning I took a train back to Ukraine. I was NOT talking the bus again! Hahahaha. In all honesty, even though the way back was 19 hours, I would take another 19 hour train ride instead of a 12 hour bus ride any day!! It was much more expensive, but it was worth it!
The train ride was not bad. I had a cabin to myself for the first part of the trip, and later I was joined by a 22 year old girl who spoke English, which was awesome. We got along great. I was also able to talk to another lady who also spoke English. She was from Iceland! However, I did have two unpleasant experiences on the train. One is that I accidentally bumped the soap container in the bathroom, which was very poorly secured, and I spilled the entire contents of it all over my purse and my clothes!! It was such a mess!! I had to change my shirt but I kept my pants because they were the most comfortable and breathable ones I had on me, and it was pretty hot and stuffy in the train. At least my room smelled nice with all the soap! Hahaha. The other unpleasant experience had to do with an old man who was a worker at the spot where they change the train wheels (I will say more about this shortly). He came in to talk to me, but clearly that did not work because I don't speak a word of Polish! Nevertheless, he tried to communicate with me, but he was being much too friendly, to the point that it made me very uncomfortable... When he said goodbye, he extended his hand out (which was missing the middle finger), so I politely extended mine to shake it. Then, in old European fashion, he kissed it, then pulled me towards him so as to do the old fahioned kiss on the cheek, and then he tried to kiss me on the lips!! GHAAAAHHHHH!! I was horrified! I pushed him away and pulled my hand out. I was scared lol. I wanted to book it for the door, but he was right infront of it. He just laughed... I looked visibly upset, so eventually he go the hint that I didn't want him there and he left soon after that, still laughing... He wasn't trying to hurt me. He was just trying to have some dirty old man fun... You know, young foreign girl sitting alone on the train lol... I know better now. From now on, when I travel by myself I will make sure to keep my cabin closed whenever we make stops lol.
So anyway, about the wheels. You probably found that strange, and indeed it is! What happens is that Ukraine has a different standard width and size of train wheels than the rest of Europe. Ukraine, as you may or may not know, is not part of the European Union, and in fact this was done as a political tactic to keep the country separate from the European Union country alliance. (Ukraine is still very much influenced by the Soviets). So that means that when you get close to the border, they have to change the wheels on all of the cars of the train!! It is ridiculous, and ti takes such a long time!! It is also annoying, cuz the train goes back and forward and back and forward in a very small piece of rail lol. Oh well, I still rather have that than the bus! Lol. Crossing the border by train was actually very easy too. No issues.
I arrived in Ternopil at 4:00 am, and Orest picked me up in a cab (thank heavens!!) So with that, my trip to Poland was over. The next morning my host family received me with a set of gifts of their own, including a necklace, a pen and a little glute, all made of wood! To these, later in the week were added a set of birthday cards that were made by Jen, Jess and the girls, and they too were pretty awesome! Thanks so much guys!!
I am glad I had such a great experience there!! I am actually planning on going back in 2 weeks, this time accompanied by Jen and Jessica. We want to go to Auschwitz, and I also want to go to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. (For info on this check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine). Jen and Jessica are not really that interested in going there, and they want to g around Krakow and maybe do a pub crawl instead, but Chopin said he would love to go so he is going to join me and go with me! Yay! He is also thinking of going to Auschwitz, so that would be fantastic as well!
So I guess that is it for my trip. Thansk for having taken the trouble to read this novel-sized entry, hahaha. Please don't forget to check out my albums on the right hand side panel. It takes forever to upload pictures here, so I have opted for putting up only a few and leaving the rest for the facebook albums posted on the links on the panel (I did post a lot of them on this post but only because it is so long so I wanted to make it a bit more interesting and readable for you :D). And just a reminder, you do not have to have facebook to be able to see the albums, so please enjoy and feel free to leave comments! Love you all, miss you all. God bless.
I am so happy that you are thinking of going to the Salt Mines! :D
ReplyDeletePubcrawls you can do anywhere, and this is once in a lifetime event! You won't regret it.
And believe me, I went to a few caves in my life, and they were boring. this has a lot of history and our tour guide told us some stories (I dont know how your's will be...)