People in Poland
A train from Czestachowa to Krakow, Poland
30 January, 2000
While I was waiting for the train to depart (I took my seat 15 minutes early), two guys dressed the same (the only differences being their ages and height) sat next to me. They both wore blue coats, army green hats with shiny brown brims (the kind of hats that don’t cover your ears), and had olive green day packs on their backs, totes that matched the day packs in color diagonally across their fronts, and olive green soft guitar cases strapped over their right shoulders. The older one spoke a little English, so we were able to communicate a bit, however, the younger one didn’t speak English at all. They were two brothers, Tomasz, 20 years old, and Sebastian, 13 years old. They were both on a two week Winter Break from school (Tomasz from university and Sebastian from secondary school) and were going to Krakow to busk (play their guitars in the town square for tips to earn money). They had done it before quite a few times and Krakow is where they get the best tips. Good luck, guys.
Krakow, Poland
28 January, 2000
I went to have dinner, and as I was, two guys asked if they could share my table, as it was a small place and all the others were full. I told them that that would be fine. Their names were Lucas and Pawel, two students in their twenties from Warszawa, that came down to visit a friend in Krakow for the weekend. We started talking and ended up having a long conversation about basically everything in the world. They were interested in why I gave up life in the USA to live in Poland. Lucas had been to Virginia to visit a friend, and Pawel said that after he graduates (he’s studying IT), he would like to live in the USA for a year for work. Also, the have a friend who is currently studying at the University of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg and has told them a lot about the USA. Get this…the name of the town their friend lives in is East Berlin (Pennsylvania).
After a while, the friend that they were visiting, Wojtek, joined us. He couldn’t speak English well, however, he understood quite a bit. Next, they invited me out with them for a drink at a pub in the town square (about 10 minutes from where we were). We met up with two of their friends, Mical, a law student, and Pawel (yes, a second person with the same name), someone who I found to be quite interesting. He was a soldier in the Polish Army and had recently returned from Kosovo (his friends first called him the "Brave Polish Solider back from Kosovo", then later called him the "Brave Polish Killer back from Kosovo"..I didn’t ask). His time was up and he chose not to reenlist. Instead, he relocated to Krakow and is following something he loves, art. He paints, designs, etc. Other than his main projects, one of the other projects he is working on is painting Christmas ornaments to sell for the next Christmas season! Aren’t people great? You never know what kind of hidden talents the have!
Poznan, Poland
29 December, 1999
As I was waiting for the midday festivity, with my camera in hand, a distinguished looking gentleman of about 65 years old with a mustache, gray hat and coat, and cigarette in his hand, began talking to me in Polish. He asked if I was Canadian, and I told him that I was American. He then said something I didn’t understand in Polish, but ended it with the word "Italiano", which is not a Polish word. I asked him, in Italian (of which I speak about 5 words), if he spoke Italian. He did. I told him that I speak Spanish. We both knew that the two languages were close enough to have a conversation, so we did. We talked for about 15 minutes. It turns out that after the war, he had relocated to Italy for work and spent 5 years there. But, he wanted to return to Poland and did. We talked about how great Poland was and ended our conversation by exchanging names. His is Edmund. That’s just another gem of traveling. You meet wonderful people all over the world, whether you can communicate with them through language, otherwise, or not at all.
