Family in Kraków

Monday we woke up to an ugly, cold, rainy day in Kraków. This was incredibly disappointing, because most of the things I wanted to show everyone involved lots of outdoor time. Monday morning, Mom, Dad, Lucy and Olivia headed over to Wawel for a tour of the castle. I had to run some errands, so I took Calvin with me and we had lunch together at one of the best Kebab places in Kraków. We all re-convened again in the late afternoon and had ice cream on the square before heading back to the apartment for an afternoon nap. In the early evening Aunt Valerie, Uncle Bob, Uncle Ted, Pete and Manda had arrived so we all got together in our apartment for cocktails before heading out to dinner. We were very late arriving at the restaurant. They let us eat, but we definitely closed the place. It was the beginning of a very long night.

On the way home, Lucy, my friend Doro and I stopped at the vodka bar and decided to have a drink. The bar is itty bitty, but it has over 100 flavors of vodka to choose from and the serve it to you in little shot glasses to sip. The bar is right across the street from where we were staying so we were joined intermittently by the rest of the clan. Olivia, Uncle Ted, Calvin and Pete were in the bar next door, but they would pop-in every so often to see if we were ready to hit the clubs. Around 2am, we closed the vodka bar and decided to re-locate. Aunt Valerie and Lucy headed home and Doro and I met up with the rest of the clan in the city center. It took us a good hour to track down everyone. We never did find Pete, but he was in the apartment the next morning, so we didn't have to send out a search party. It was too late to get into any of the usual clubs so we went to the closest late-night club and were there until around 5am. 

The next morning was VERY slow. Mom had to wake me up at 12pm. I completely missed class and breakfast. I had all kinds of texts from strange numbers, thanks to Manda who met some Italian guys at the bar and decided to give them my number instead of hers - it's been over a week and they still text me even though I have never responded once. Manda lost both her shoes, and I somehow managed to acquire an additional jacket and a very nice pagmina. 

I love this pic

After lots of coffee, we went on a free walking tour throughout the Jewish Quarter of the city. About halfway through I had to leave to go talk to a real estate agency about getting an apartment. I asked Aunt Valerie to go with me to help with the Polish end of things and she graciously agreed. It was a successful meeting and I decided to sign the lease the next day and move by the end of the week. It was such a relief.

In the evening we all had dinner at a famous Polish restaurant, 'U Babci Maliny' and then went for ice cream afterwards. Again, we closed the place and then headed back to the apartment to pack up, as everyone was going to Prague the next day. In the morning, I said good-bye to everyone and headed to class for the first time all week. 

Juvenalia, Wedding

Needless to say, it's been awhile and a lot has happened. 

Juvenalia

The first week of May was an important week in Kraków. The student festival Juvenalia takes place for a full week and this year, it lasted almost two weeks. There are stages erected all over the city and every day there are a variety of concerts you can attend. You have to buy tickets to the concerts, but they are very cheap - the equivalent of a few American dollars. There are also concerts in the dorms. The main weekend of Juvenalia is kicked off by a huge parade on Friday throughout the city center. The parade is made up of students, all in costume, and more often than not, at least a little tipsy. All the main universities hold parties throughout the weekend. Some of the parties you need to have tickets for, and others you can attend simply by showing your university ID. Unfortunately I missed the main Juvenalia events because I was in Warsaw for my cousin's wedding, but I did get a taste of Juvenalia the week leading up to the opening parade. There was a concert venue a block from my dorm and it was so loud, that it was impossible to get any sleep. I could hear the concert clearly, even with my windows closed. I attended one concert at the student drom, Zaczek, and had an absolute blast. They ran out of tickets, so we just waited a few hours and then were able to enter for free. The group singing, was great, and totally 80s. The main singer had HUGE, curly hair, was wearing a onesie and huge chunky heels. The place was so packed with people that dancing was virtually impossible and you couldn't get anywhere near the stage, so we hungout by one of the big TV screens and did a lot of jumping. 

William and I at the Concert

On the way home, Anastasia and I were waiting for the bus for 20 minutes before we admitted that it wasn't going to come. Anastasia said she knew a shortcut back to our dorm through Park Jordana so we reluctantly headed that way. Of course, the park was closed, but we found a hole in the fence and fumbled our way through the paths and sculpted hedges in the pitch dark. It was my first time in Park Jordana, and even at night it was absolutely beautiful. A cross between Central Park and the English Tea Gardens. I was surprised at how many people were in the park. You would have thought it was high noon. Unfortunately when we got to the other side, the gates were also locked and we couldn't find a hole, so we had to jump the fence. We had all our school books with us, which meant our bags wouldn't fit through the fence, so we had to throw them over. We were doubled over, laughing. 

Manda and Olivia at the Wedding

As soon as we got out of the park and started heading up the street it immediately became clear why the bus hadn't come. The bus stop was over-run with a mob of students. The crowd was so huge that it took up at least a block in length and was at least a sidewalk-width deep. Even if a bus did come, hardly a fraction of the people at the stop would be able to get on it. Our entire walk was about 30 minutes, but we made it back to the dorm happy and exhausted.

A few days later I headed to Warsaw for my first Polish wedding! I met my family on Friday, May 10th in Warsaw and finally got to see them for the first time in seven months! The train ride seemed to take forever and when they actually arrived at the hotel, it seemed unreal. We did some wandering around Warsaw that day, and had dinner in the old city (stare miasto). This part of the city was completely destroyed during WWII, but it has been re-built so that it now looks exactly as it did before the war. On the bus back to the hotel, Olivia had to get off the bus one stop early to let some people exit. She didn't make it back on the bus before the doors closed again so we got separated. She knew the way back to the hotel, but once we got off the bus, we couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't in the room or anywhere along the bus route. After about an hour of frantic searching, we finally got an email from her saying that she was in the executive lounge, working on some school stuff. Everyone was super relieved. 

Saturday we had another Olivia adventure. The bus 'cheuffeure' was super late picking us up for the ceremony so we arrived in the old city at the time the ceremony was supposed to start. Then, he didn't drop us off in front of the hall like he was supposed to, so we were all running across the cobble-stoned rynek in our heels. Olivia had a few close calls and then she actually took a tumble. Within seconds, two Polish guys sprinted over to her and had her on her feet in no time. They then tried to escort her the rest of the way across the rynek and were trying to talk to her in Polish. She had no idea what they were saying and Manda and I went over to try and detach her from them, as we were already running late. Then Pete sprinted over and after one look at him, the guys released their hold on Olivia and we rushed into the hall where the wedding was to be held. 

Olivia & Calvin

The ceremony was beautiful. Both Andrew and Marysia looked stunning and the civil ceremony was lovely. Afterwards we took some pictures and then piled back onto the bus and headed to the Kingdom Hall for the marriage talk. 

The Happy Couple

At the Kingdom Hall, Marysia and Andrew sat on the stage in front of their family and friends and a member of their congregation spoke to them about marriage and the new path they were embarking on. The talk was in Polish, but another member of the congregation interpreted into English as he went along. This was fascinating to me and actually incredibly helpful. The talk was very metaphorical and so it was interesting to see how the interpreter translated it into English, because a direct translation would never have the same meaning. He did a really great job and the pauses during the speech for translation seemed almost seamless. After the talk, we got back on the bus and headed out of Warsaw to Konstancin for the wesele (reception). 

Pociąg on the dancefloor

We all checked into our rooms at the inn where the reception was to be held and freshened up a bit. We then walked across the courtyard and took our seats at our assigned tables. Huge, long, wooden tables were set-up with all kinds of plates of food, served family style. There were a variety of polish salads, vegetables, fish, potatoes, pork, duck and much, much more! A meal was served every three hours, but there was always food on the tables. On each table were buckets of ice which held bottles of wine and vodka. Each place setting was also accompanied by a shot glass, so we sipped our wine with our food and took shots intermittently throughout the night. The next room had a live band and between courses the dancefloor was crowded and the tables virtually deserted. 

Reunited

Sibs on the Dancefloor

I got to sit with my siblings, and an old friend of my Aunt Valerie's and his family. They were absolutely lovely and I had a great time talking to them in a mixture of Polish and English. I also met one of Marysia's friends in the bathroom, and we ended up chatting for a good half hour. After a lot of eating, dancing and laughing, we headed to bed around 3am. 

Happy to Be Together

Handlebar Mustasche

The next morning we got up relatively early and hopped in taxis back to Warsaw because the bus driver never showed up. We caught a train to Kraków and after getting settled-in to our apartment right in the city center, we had a nice dinner in Kazimierz and then everyone exhuastedly hit the hay and prepared for a few days in my neck of the woods.