The day after Rachel left, I packed up all my stuff from Nico's and moved-in to a new apartment, ten minutes walk from the city square. It's a great place with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a dining room/living room/kitchen area with a balcony. We are so close to the Rynek, that I can hear the trumpeter play the hejnał every hour from St. Mary's Church on the main square. I never get tired of hearing it.
My new roommates are all Polish. Elvis is the lessee and he shares a room with his girlfriend, Ashia. Ashia's cousin, Dominika shares a room with me. The fact that they are family is immediately evident upon entering. The apartment is perfectly equiped with everything a normal home would have. They cook, clean and socialize together, and always make an effort to include me in everything. They all speak English very well, but prefer Polish. Needless to say, I have only heard then speak English a few times. Occasionally they ask me English questions, and I always ask them about things in Polish. However, having to speak Polish all the time around the apartment turned out to be the first of many catalysts in my language skills.
My roommate's 'bad day' binge
I couldn't have received a warmer welcome in the apartment. They made space for me to put my stuff in every room in the house. They quickly explained that they share everything and that I am welcome to partake in whatever I would like. They often ask me to eat with them, and in turn I have cooked some American wonders for them to try. I made pancakes one morning and also introduced them to CCCs and oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter and candied nuts.
Lake in back of the palace in Puszczyna
Once I got all settled-in, the job search immediately began. I started sending my CV to any position I could find which involved some form of English. Being a native English speaker is seen here in Poland as the strongest point on my resume and the fact that I am a Polish citizen also helps tremendously.I got called in for interviews within a week and was reminded of just how much I dislike the seeking-employment game.
In the midst of all of this I started dating Krzysiek. I met him in May, at Nico's birthday party. We had both heard a fair amount about each other through Nico, so I was sure he would be there but I had no idea what he looked like. He describes our meeting as something out of a movie. I was sitting in the living room, talking to a group of my classmates and he came and sat down next to me. We didn't introduce ourselves, we just started talking. He said it felt like he already knew me. It wasn't until later when he finally heard my name that he realized who I was. We had a lot of fun that weekend celebrating Nico's birthday and after that we started seeing each other several times a week.
Krzyskiek, Me and Nico
Krzysiek doesn't speak English. At first I thought this was going to be a major problem considering my Polish is still elementary. I liked seeing him, but it made me really nervous because I was always worried about not being able to understand or respond to what he was saying. Speaking with native speakers is a whole different ball game as they speak quickly, less clearly and use words I am completely unfamiliar with. Additionally, I didn't have English as a back-up. But somehow it wasn't a problem. He made a conscious effort to speak so that I could understand, and he always explained anything I didn't understand in simpler Polish. He said he liked explaining things to me and it ended up being extremely helpful to have a live dictionary. At first he did the majority of the talking when we got together, and after a couple hours I was so tired from the active listening I would have to call it quits. But almost immediately, my learning curve skyrocketed. I became really good at describing the word I was looking for in Polish and became used to how he speaks so that my level of comprehension got better and better. We kept in touch during my travels to Budapest, Ireland, France, Germany and Austria and when I got back to Kraków we decided to make it official and see how things went.
view of the palace from the lawn
Things got intense, pretty fast. Almost immediately I met all his friends and his entire extended family. I had met one of his sisters and her fiancé when Olivia was visiting, because we all went on a day trip together to see a castle. The rest of the family lives in a small town about 45minutes outside of Kraków called Wola. The first time I went to Wola we took the bus to Oświęcim which is the next biggest town in the area. It is where Auschwitz is located. Krzysiek's Dad picked us up from the bus station and we actually drove right by Birkenau on our way to the house. I was a little weirded out by this. I couldn't really imagine what it must be like to grow up next to Auschwitz. This region of Poland is called sląsk. It's not far from the German border and there they speak a dialect which is a mixture of Polish and German. They also have a slightly different accent. I was sure I wasn't going to understand a word, but Krzysiek was less than worried about it.
As we pulled up to the house, I was introduced to one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. All around the house were flowers, trees, bushes and plants. Everything was in the garden and Krzysiek's Dad had me dump my bag on the brick walkway and eagerly showed me every corner of the garden giving me fruit tastings at every stop. They have peaches, pears, apples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, nectarines, plums, tomatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, cucumbers, walnuts, hazelnuts and a whole selection of herbs. Not to mention the bazillion varieties of flowers in full bloom. It was a stunning sight.
After my tour and fresh fruit appetizers we headed into the house where I met his Mom. I made the mistake of staying 'cześć' instead of the formal and polite 'dzień dobry' and it became the running joke of the visit. We had a lovely dinner together and then spent the evening in the garden on the porch swing lit by tiny white lights and chatted until bedtime.
Bridge over the lake
The next day, Krzysiek was put to work re-finishing the picnic table. I was supposed to help him paint it, but in the meantime there was a great deal of sanding to be done which ended up taking pretty much all day. I left him to it and spent the afternoon with his Mom in the kitchen. She taught me how to make a traditional Polish fish dish, pickles and rose petal jam. After our cooking extravaganza we sat in the garden with glasses of red wine and chatted until dinner time. She did a great job of talking so that I could understand, and we ended up having a lot in common which made conversation easy. The whole family started teasing me that I had a new best friend. She also does a great deal of beauty services out of the home and so occasionally she would take a break to dye someone's hair or give a facial. She waxed my eyebrows for me and filled them in with henna. She also gave me a facial massage which left my skin glowing.
The following day Krzysiek took me on a day trip to Pszczyna to see the castle. We went on an hour-long tour of the castle and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the park on the castle grounds. On the way back to the car we stopped and had ice cream on the main square. It was a lovely day. I also met his Grandma who is hard of hearing so conversation is usually one sided. The first thing she said to me when I walked in the door was, 'Oh! Krzysiek has a new lady friend!' She told me all about the one trip she took to the U.S. a bazillion years ago. She said she liked going to church because they sang beautifully in the states, but she couldn't remember where she had been exactly. As we were walking out the door she gave me a hug and told Krzysiek that I was very nice and pretty. I knew she had liked his last girlfriend, so this was a good sign. I also met Krzysiek's uncle and two cousins from his Mom's side of the family. He had us try a variety of home-made fruit liquers and by the time we left we were feelin no pain.
sunset on the rynek, Krakow
By day 3 my brain was absolute mush. I couldn't process language anymore and I was completely exhausted. I fell asleep every night at the drop of a hat and it was an effort to get up in the morning. I was mentally spent, but it definitely paid off. When I got back to Kraków, Krzysiek told me that after only a few days with the family, there was a marked difference in the way I spoke Polish. Not long after that, Krzysiek started speaking to me at a normal pace and no longer dumbed-down his sentences. My brain was forced to kick it up a notch.
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