Day of the Dead

Perhaps its because of the massive loss of life during the wars, but Poland goes to great lengths to honor their dead.

In October, an official holiday honoring the dead is declared and the cemetaries are filled to overflowing with people lighting candles and placing flowers on the graves. By evening, when the sun goes down, the sky is lit up with an eerie glow from the flickering candles. No grave is ignored or forgotten. These pictures were taken at the Warsaw Uprising Cemeterywhere thousands of civilians, women and children were killed and thrown into mass graves. A sight we will always remember.

The Kissing Parasite

Did you ever wonder where mistletoe
came from?
It's a parasite that grows off
of other trees. It's completely
taking over some of the groves.
As you can see, it's large and not
the cute stuff that we see
in the store at Christmas time.
But, with this much of it
around...
there should be a lot of
kissing going on in Poland
all year round!

Dinner With the Zlewki's

We finally got invited to dinner. Our new friends, the Zlewki's invited us over to their home on the 3rd floor of this building for an official Polish meal. Ninety per cent of the people live in a building very similar to this one.

Maya, their 15 year old daughter was busy in the
kitchen when we arrived. She was the first child in
Poland who was born under the covenant.

Dinner was elegantly served in the dinning room/living room.







As you can see, there was no shortage of food. They served American food(salmon, rice and tossed salad), and Polish food (hamburgers, cucumber soup, beets, and mashed potatoes). It was delicious!






And what did I contribute? Brownies! They love the way Americans make brownies! It was a wonderful evening, we hope to return the favor by taking them to dinner soon. Food can cross cultural boundaries and make language differences barely noticeable. We adore our new Polish friends.

Signs

They have the most charming road signs in Poland.
It's perfect for those of us who can't read the language very well.

This one tells you that you're entering the village of Przysiek.

And this one tells you that you're leaving...I love it!
Simple enough, even for me.

I love you, I think.

You may have wondered if they celebrate Valentine's Day in Poland...and the answer is "yes", especially among the young.

Dean bought me flowers and chocolates....just like at home.

And he got a new pair of gloves to replace the ones he lost. As you can see I even found a card in English wishing him Happy Valentine's Day.

He found a beautiful card for me too, but it was
written in Polish! So, I spent the morning reading
the card and the dictionary. I think he loves me too.

Another Place and Time

Sometimes, I look around
and I
feel like perhaps
I'm living
in another
place and time.

I wonder what it might have
been like to live
behind stone walls...

...or take a romantic ride
in a horse-drawn
carriage.

I can almost hear
Chopin's melancholy
Polonaises sifting
through the branches
of the trees.

But, then I turn around and see that some things remain the same through the ages in every place and time.

Weekend in Babylon

We went to Church in Katowice over the weekend....

The chapel was located just over "BABYLON".

Dean had a difficult time deciding where to go...

But, don't worry! He didn't miss the conference. Once again he proved what
a truly great man he is!

Fat Thursday

Poland has an interesting tradition called Fat Thursday. I think it's somehow tied into giving up something for lent, a Catholic practice....On Fat Thursday everyone
gorges themselves in preparation for giving something up on Friday.
The food of choice is płączki---a filled donut.

So naturally, we had to try out this tradition too.

The missionaries had a contest to see who could eat the most....
Sister Banner 3
Elder Banner 5
Elder Fuller 40!!!
Amazing!