March is always one of my favorite months of the year. The many reasons include: it occurs right after my birthday, February 26th, the days start to get longer, the weather starts to get warmer, and this year, it held one of my favorite vacations ever, a trip with 5 other volunteers to Krakow, Poland!
It's hard to explain how different it is to go to Poland from Ukraine. It is quite dramatic in the most subtle ways. For example, suddenly customer service exists. In Ukraine it is considered odd if you smile or are friendly to a stranger, even in a service capacity. In Poland it's much more like America in that there is a priority of making the experience pleasant for the customer/shopper.
We spent the first day of our trip stuck at the border on a bus for about 4 hours while our bus, and the bus in front of us were thoroughly searched. Because cigarettes and alcohol are so cheap in Ukraine compared to Poland (Poland is in the EU), smuggling is a big concern. After the long stint at the border we were finally in Poland. Not far from the border we made our first stop in the city of Lublin. our first order of business was to find something good to eat, so we walked until we saw a sign with Guinness and Fish and Chips, and knew we had found a good place. We proceeded to have a delicious plate of fish and chips, and also had a great conversation about the things to come, and how much we enjoyed sitting in a bar in western Europe.
The evening continued with us dropping off our stuff and staying at a nunnery in Lublin, which in itself was a fascinating cross-cultural experience. The nuns were extremely friendly and let us stay for the price of 25z a person, which is about $8, fine by me for sure. We proceeded to spend the rest of the evening celebrating our arrival in Poland, dining on street food and some delicious пиво.
Early the next morning we headed for Krakow, a beautiful bus ride through the Polish countryside. We arrived in Krakow and spent the next four days there. Some important parts of the stay included seeing a string quintet in a beautiful cathedral, seeing a great cover band, visiting Auschwitz, visiting a huge salte mine, eating KFC, and just in general spending time with some of the most awesome people I've ever come to know. The longer I'm over here, the further away home seems and the line becomes blurred between Ukraine and home. At this point, coming home to my place really was like coming home.
While we were in Poland we celebrated our one year anniversery of service in Ukraine. It's hard to even grasp that it's been a year, the longest I had ever been away from 14714 NE Bonanza RD was about 2 weeks. Now I've been gone for over a year in an unfamiliar enviroment, with unfamiliar people, an unfamiliar language, and a completely different way of life. Although I can't say for certain I've changed the people around me, I myself have definitely changed.
More to come.
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