"Some carolers came to our door after supper. One teenage boy was probably the first caroler I've seen wearing devil ears."
December 30th, 2005: Pluznica
Czarek put me on a train from Gizycko straight to Wabrzezno, just 20km from Pluznica! He'd even made me sandwiches. In Wabrzezno, my old host father (Andrzej) picked me up at the station. Monika and her boyfriend Voytek were also coming up, and Marcin was still around, and so we'd all get to celebrate New Year's together!
"Some carolers came to our door after supper. One teenage boy was
probably the first caroler I've seen wearing devil ears."
At TRGP, preparing for the New Year's party...
Yustyna, Marcin's younger sister
Left: Marcin, the Polish supervisor from my previous
program
Satellite TV at SMGP...
Here we're gathering some sound equippment to take upstairs to TRGP.
Relaxing in SMGP after a hard evening's work...
Centre: Paulina, my host sister
Will, Marcin, Monika
The following are from the late afternoon of New Year's Eve. We're going to Wabrzezno in Monika's new car to get some more "supplies and provisions."
After that, we return to Marcin's compound to prepare the things we are going to take to the party:
Marcin's parents own a furniture business.
Monika, Voytek, Yustyna
Yustyna's room
This has got to be Marcin's handiwork.
After the New Year's party (and a not unprolonged recovery period), it was January 2nd, and Magda and I got to pop out for a bit:
January 3rd. I'm on my way to Lisewo, and ultimately Chelmno, but I
had a few moments to stop in and say goodbye to Magda.
Marcin took me to Lisewo, and we got to see a lot of familiar faces.
Stopping by the Lisewo gimnazjum where I used
to help teach, here's Zheneta and one of her co-workers.
"So the first stop outside Pluznica that day was Lisewo. Marcin and I came by around 1400 and snuck in while classes were in session. We found Kinga in the gimnazjum staff room straight away, and soon after Marcin left we went to the primary school and found Agata. This was between classes, so a lot of shocked kids found themselves saying good morning or good afternoon to me (which one depending on their linguistic prowess). Still, I didn’t see most of the kids I knew from before – most of the ones I really knew were in third year gymnasium (roughly, Grade 9) and would be in high school now."
Agata took Kinga and I back to her apartment in Chelmno, and I spent the night with Kinga and her husband before heading to Torun the following day (January 4th) with the idea of meeting Karol, my other host brother.
"Agata took me up to her flat for supper and then we went for a walk. Chelmno hadn’t changed a bit – it was just as I remembered it: still dark and dusky like a gothic movie on freeze-frame. It was set up quite well for the holidays. It brought back memories; Kinga had doubted my assertion that we walked up the dark, tree-lined road from our orientation camp hotel to the town at this time last year, so I had the opportunity to explain to her one of my fondest memories from that POC – that silly “kissing-killer” game. You had to be there."