Words can't describe how my life has been changed, but here is my best try... (Part 1)

Sunflowers in Poland :)

4 days ago I got off of the airplane in Wroclaw, Poland without a clue as to what I was about to get myself into and as a stranger to everyone I was about to meet.

Today, as my train pulled out of the station in Frankfurt (by Oder) Germany, I broke down crying after waving goodbye to Aunt Jola, her husband Klaus, and especially my cousin and new wonderful friend Pawel for the last time.

Of course, goodbye never really is goodbye.  I know that we will all meet again.

But my days spent in Poland have been truly unforgettable and will remain engraved as an indelible print in my memories for as long as I live. Trying to describe the experience I just had would be impossible, because it wasn't just "something fun." "Fun" -- as it is generally defined-- is a nice thing to have in life.

But what I had was much greater and went much deeper than that.

I have left Poland feeling as though I'm leaving a wonderful friend and family behind. I didn't just "see some cool sights" or "do some cool things;" I lived in a way and place I had never lived before. I was warmly received by each and every person that I met and treated as one of the family. But most importantly of all, I got to truly know somebody who has taught me so much about the world and myself, and who has changed my life forever.

I suppose I should pick up where I left off last time. After sleeping in for a nice, long time into Wednesday morning I timidly tiptoed into the living room around 10:00 a.m. to wake Pawel up. Waking someone up always makes me nervous because I never know if they'll be the type to bite my head off. But, using his favorite catchphrase for me, Pawel told me to "be courageous" and everything was just fine! ;) (It didn't take him long to notice how indecisive I am; hence the birth of the phrase "be courageous"). We both celebrated that the sun was shining, and then we sat down to a yummy breakfast of cereal, bread, and the ultimate European indulgence-- Nutella. I have to admit that, although peanut butter will always and forever have my heart, it just isn't the same here as it is in America. Nutella, though, is pretty darn good. I could get used to creamy, chocolate, hazelnut goodness :)

After breakfast we got all dressed and ready for a day out in Wroclaw! Pawel took me to The Panorama; a large, circular painting that commemorates the battle between the Poles and the Russians during the Kosciuszko Uprising on April 4th, 1794. Although Poland lost the battle they learned from it that in times of turmoil the nation could come together to fight as a unified force against their enemy, and this knowledge was the greatest victory of all for the country.

The panorama!

After viewing the Panorama we went to eat Sushi for lunch, and while it was delicious it of course didn't fill either of us up because our ridiculous metabolisms render most food non-existent. So we went off in search of more food and, after walking down by the river to investigate a large, mysterious looking building we had seen and to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, we hopped on the tram to ride out to a shopping center where Pawel knew of a sandwich shop he loved. We each had a scrumptious salmon sandwich served on fresh, warm sunflower seed bread and then we were finally full. With happy bellies we continued our way towards Pawel's next planned out destination, and we meandered through a gorgeous Japanese Garden then watched a fountain show complete with lights and music (although it was hard to see the lights since the sun was only just beginning to set).

The mysterious, Communist looking building that we STILL don't know what it is ;D

Walkin by the river!

I'll tell you what, I'm REALLY going to miss this amazing European bread...

At the fountains!

The Japanese garden :)

It was beautiful!

The tasty red wine that I'm like, in love with :D

That evening we went back to the Town Center of Wroclaw where we met Pawel's friend Martina. She was very nice and full of laughter, and after the two of them patiently (or maybe not so patiently but I'll never know because they would never say!) waited for me to indecisively buy souvenirs we all headed back to Pawel's apartment at 8:30 for dinner.

This brings me to the night I wrote my last blog post. After Martina left for a party she was already committed to, Pawel and I continued to relax and enjoy ourselves with a brand new bottle of the wonderful red wine and (leftover) traditional Polish food.

Well round 4 a.m. in the morning we decided it may be wise we to take a 3 hour nap before packing up and heading out to Lubiaz ;) So we parted ways after a fun night of watching How I Met Your Mother, making fun of Justin Bieber, listening to music, chatting, and sipping on red wine (see why we didn't want to go to sleep?), saying we would see each other in a few hours!

By 7 o'clock my alarm was ringing and I reluctantly rolled out of the bed, brazenly barged into the living room this time to wake Pawel up, and we prepared to head out. But not, of course, without our "shakira." That's the Polish name for really super de duper strong coffee, but I think it sounds like the singer, Shakira, so I always got a good laugh out of it :D After scrambling around for 2 hours making sure Pawel had everything he need for the next 2 weeks in the middle of the woods, I had packed all the belongings I had with me into the one backpack I had brought on the trip, and we had either eaten or packed all of the food we needed, we hauled our heavy luggage (complete with my sunflowers sticking out of a bag) to the tram stop, rode to the bus station, and by 10:45 were finally on our way to Lubiaz. On the bus we spent some time laughing and filling out a notepad with 2 pages worth of inside jokes that had sprung up over the past couple of days, and then I fell asleep for the hour long trip to the small, country village.

When the bus dropped us off we were picked up by Pawel's mom, his sister Alexandra (whom we always called Ola), and her boyfriend Bartek (and I guarantee you I just completely butchered the spelling of his name but hey, that's what it sounds like to me!) At this point I will admit, I was beginning to get a little nervous. Hanging out with Pawel had been easy because he speaks beautiful English, but the three new people I had just met spoke little to no English. Suddenly it was as though someone had super glued my mouth shut and I couldn't say a word. I didn't know what to say to people who didn't speak my language, and I knew that Pawel would have to translate everything anyway so it felt silly trying to have a conversation.

It actually took me a very long time to get comfortable with this situation as we met more Polish speaking relatives and I felt more and more lost in a land where every word I had ever been taught suddenly met nothing. But Pawel was always looking out for me, and did his best to make sure I could understand what was going on as I dived deeper into Poland, and eventually the courage he was always encouraging me to grasp hold of slowly began to work its power on me. It wasn't easy breaking down the language barrier, and it certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it was also a learning experience like none other and ended up being terrifically gratifying to muddle my way through the sea of translation. But of course there will be more to come on that later.

Pawel's mother drove all of us to the home of Pawel and Ola's grandmother, who I know as Cousin Maria. She and my Grandpa Holowach are first cousins, which means that my great-grandmother was sister's with Pawel and Ola's great-grandmother....yes, we are still trying to figure out what that make us. Third cousins one million times removed? Who knows ;)

Meeting Maria was positively wonderful. Neither of us could speak a word of the other's language, but as soon as she saw me she took my arms, pulled me gently into her home, and gave me a big embrace. She sat me down and fed me coffee and absolutely scrumptious peach crumble cake (which I am not ashamed to admit I ate two pieces of), and showed me pictures of herself with my grandparents and asked me questions about my family, with Pawel as our translator. She was so sweet and good to me one would think that I was her own grandchild, but I guess that's just what family is like in Poland. They seem to love you before they even get to know you.

Maria with her grandchildren, Ola and Pawel!

The lovely Cousin Maria and I :)

Cake and tea with the family! (Left to right) Maria, Pawel, their mother Monika, Bartek (?) and Ola

After being well fed at Cousin Maria's and saying farewell, Ms. Monika dropped us kids off at the Cistercian Abbey in Lubiaz-- one of the biggest abbeys in Europe that my Grandpa had driven by and snapped a picture of, but which I was given the opportunity to explore. It was a large and beautiful building that, I feel, perfectly summed up the country of Poland and its difficult history.

Poland is a very different place from America. Some people may be saying "Well duh, tell me something I don't know," but it really is eye-opening to spend time in a country lacking many of the luxuries Americans-- or at least residents of Madison, Mississippi-- enjoy and take fore granted everyday. It's normal for every member of a family to have a car from the time they're 15 years old in America; it's normal to have large apartments and nice streets and it isn't normal to see graffiti covering every single wall of a city. But Poland was communist until 1989, and as Pawel informed me it is still a developing country with its share of problems. Poland was really unlike anything I have ever experienced, but it is how these people live every single day, and to get to be a part of that even for the small amount of time I was there was really incredible. Poland is by no means a third world country or completely destitute; it is still quite beautiful and the people live comfortably. But it is a country still crippled by oppression and hobbling to stand up on its own two feet, and to experience such a place changed my life.

Therefore, the Cistercian Abbey was Poland under a microscope. One of the biggest abbeys on the continent, it used to be full of glamor and glittering decoration. What we saw, though, was the bare bones of a building that has had all of this stripped away from it. I couldn't understand what the tour guide was saying so I wandered around taking pictures and admiring how sinister a cathedral with nothing on the walls or floors, a pipe organ and lectern that had been ripped out, and cracked windows and boarded up doors looked. I honestly thought it was spectacular, because I have seen so many cathedrals in England that would look just like this if they were stripped of all their splendor. But then Pawel told me that, while I as marveling at how incredible this all looked, other people in the group were lamenting over the cathedral's deprivation of its previous beauty and asking why everything had been stolen by the communists and any other number of vagabonds and wishing it had never come to be. Over hundreds of years this abbey has been raided by any number of foreigners who would have it completely destroyed, but it still stands.

And so does Poland.

Poland has been divided between Germany, Austria and Russia; it has been torn apart in wars; tribes and peoples have been scattered across the continent and communism has wrecked its havoc on the land.

But Poland still stands, and it grows stronger every day. 

I made it to the abbey, Grandpa! ;)

Of course, it wasn't all bare bones ;)

Here I am!

This is the actual cathedral, and the oldest part of the Abbey

Where there should be a little prayer chapel...

Where there should be a window...

Where there should be an organ...

And a lectern...

And a door....

But back to the beauty again :)

When we were done with our tour of the Abbey we walked a little bit through Lubiaz and then Ms. Monika picked us up to bring us to her parent's house for dinner. These people I have no blood relation to but they still showered me with the utmost kindness. They lived in a darling looking cottage in the feilds of Poland with a large, plentiful garden and their own lumber business in the backyard. For dinner I was treated to marvelous soup, yummy cabbage rolls with rice and beef inside of them (it's something Polish and traditional but I don't know the name of it and wouldn't be able to spell it anyway since Pawel isn't here to help me out anymore!), and then delicious cinnamon cake complete with a warm cup of tea. After eating I wanted to walk around the gardens and take in the beautiful scene of Poland basking in the warmth of the afternoon sunlight, and then we all piled in the car again to head to Pawel and Ola's house. Their house was perfectly lovely, and once there we picked peaches, folded blankets, and finished loading up the car with everything we would need at the chalet in Lubikowo.

Finally it was time to hunker down for the 3 hour drive into the true countryside of Poland, but I will have to continue regaling you with all of these tales in another post. I really wish I could write more now but the time has come to work on studying for a final exam but please stay tuned for more. There is still much more to come!