Manda's Visit

Marta decided to go home to the Ukraine for the holiday, so Manda came to visit for the weekend! 

FRIDAY - 

Doro's parents were in town from Germany this week so I hadn't seen much of her outside of school. On Friday I went shopping with her and her Mom and then we met her Dad at Cafe Bona for some afternoon coffee and cake. Her parents were absolutely lovely and were actually a lot like my parents. Her Mom is German and her Dad is Polish and they have similar personalities and physicalities to the Gretchen and Peter we all know. We had a charming afternoon together filled with a mix of English, German and Polish that somehow worked out beautifully. Her parents asked me if I would come and join their family in Germany for the Xmas holidays and naturally I accepted. They became very excited and started telling me about their home and the different things they would like to show me in Germany (the xmas markets, different towns, the nearest city, etc). They are very close to the French border and said that if we have time they would like to take me to a sweet little town in France as well. Doro's Dad also informed me that he would only speak Polish to me over Xmas. I told him that was a great idea. I was so touched by their warmth and generosity, especially since I am practically a stranger. They both gave me big hugs when I left; feeling very blessed and lucky.  

Once Manda arrived, we went to Ikea to get some things to organize my life. It's enormous and took us forever to find the checkout. But now I'm all set in terms of organization :-) After Ikea we headed to the Kazimierz to meet up with some of her old classmates for dinner. We had delicious falafel and hummus at this hole-in-the-wall place Aunt Valerie discovered when she was in Kraków and then we headed to Alchemia to met more of her friends for drinks. Alchemia is a cafe/bar that is filled with old wooden tables of all sizes and random mis-matched chairs. They play great music and sometimes have life performances downstairs. Every table has a lit candle on it and that is the only source of light. About halfway through our second round, Damian stands up and starts yelling, 'her hair's on fire!' I turned around just in time to see the flames climb up this girl's beautiful long dark hair at the table behind us. Petro immediately jumped up and started smacking her head to put out the flames and a horrendous smell filled the room. Petro kept saying 'sorry, but your hair was on fire' and the girl just glared at him. I think she thought he set her hair alight. What had happened was the candle on the table behind her was on the edge of the table rather than the middle and she had leaned back just far enough to light her locks. As scary as those few seconds were, the image of the flames in her dark hair was mesmerizing. She was just sitting there and talking like it was the most natural thing in the world.

At Wedel Cafe

SATURDAY - Manda and I went for a run around the huge field (Błonia) in the morning and then she went to meet up with friends while I got some studying and fluting in. She brought me my flute that I had left at her apartment when we first got to Poland. It was a lil rusty, but felt good to play again. I got no complaints about the noise. We'll see how long that lasts.

We had dinner with Doro and Josephine at Manda's favorite Indian restaurant in Kraków and then went to buy Manda's ticket home and naturally stopped at the Galleria Krakowska on our way back. We discovered an international food store, Kuchnie Świat, (world kitchen) where we found speculoos. It's a Belgium spread made  from a cookie that is popular in Belgium. It tastes like a cross between a gingerbread cookie and graham crackers. I picked up a jar to try and then we headed to Wedel Cafe in the Rynek. Wedel is a Polish chocolate company and at the cafe they have this thick menu filled with all kinds of chocolates, chocolate drinks and desserts. The girls each tried a different exotic hot chocolate and I settled for some orange, vanilla and cinnamon tea which was delicious. It came with a natural vanilla 'branch' which looked like a thick cord, cinnamon sticks and an orange slice all submerged in it. Then we headed back to the dorm to do our nails and watch a movie.

SUNDAY - Manda headed to Church and Doro and I spent the afternoon at Cafe Bona and wandering around some new shops we found. We met Manda and her friends for obiad at a vegetarian cafe I had heard about. It was excellent. I had lentil soup with fresh rye croutons and Doro had placki with feta which were scrumptious. Then I took Manda to the train station and we ta-ta-ed for the time being.