note "flip & flap" on the truck door.Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Photo of Malbork castle in 1945
Hitler came here often during the war (after all he wasn't that far away, having spent most of the war in his hideout (the Wolf's Lair) in northern Poland. He used the main hall to recruit Hitler Youth at gala rallies.But the Russians bombarded the castle almost to ruins as they made their way toward Berlin, January 1945...the pictures of Malbork are of a rebuilt version, very little of which was left standing.
Old ivy plants on one of the walls of Malbork castle
The trunks, down low, are thick as a man's thigh.
The dry moat at Malbork Castle
Prisoners were kept here, after the Knights (who were also monks) raided nearby Prussian villages, or after a battle.
Malbork castle
Said to be the world's largest gothic brick castle. Begun early 1200s by the Teutonic Knights (who also built the castle in Torun & scattered all over north Poland.) Largest part of the castle dates to about 1450.
Stutthof concentration camp
From the rear of the camp...raised ground is where barracks, workrooms, etc. were.The "hospital" at Stutthof concentration camp
More inmates were killed by lethal injections of phenol than were treated for any of the many prevelant diseases in the camp.At Stutthof concentration camp
Prisoners were required to wear "badges" identifying what crime they were found guilty of --e.g. being Jewish, or an intellectual, or homosexual...
The power of the Baltic
On the Baltic
The horses of the sea are angry.
They shake their white manes
and paw the shore.
The splash of their breaths
is the wash of my blood;
through the tides of my heart
they would carry me down
to the dark meadows they call home
and there have me build
my house out of time,
to keep them company;
and in the dawns of their own time
offer them, one by one,
til they are gone,
the bright apples of my soul.
On the Baltic
The waves were pretty high that first night. There was a real north wind blowing straight down from Gotland...I watched them trying, vainly, to recuscitate a drowning victim. 
Pix, soon...
Still can't upload photos, will soon. Meanwhile a couple of word-pictures.
Two elderly nuns have emerged from the cathedral. They walk up the broad pedestrian mall toward the rynek, half as fast as others. Is that because, at their age and a life full of prayer and holiness, they't have as far to go as the rest of us, being already closer to God? Or is it that the rest of us, not so sure as they about the Hereafter, hurry to sweep up as much of this life as we can, before it's all over, forever? But of course, by hurrying, we miss much that's beautiful, and can only be found with a slower pace. So perhaps we should join them and assume, for practical purposes if none other, that there is a life eternal. Or if not that then at least put on the habit of serenity and adjust our pace to theirs?
Did you ever stir up one of those big anthills you sometimes find along the road or in a pasture, and watch them suddenly scurrying about? It's what happened last night at the Podlasie Folk Festival, when a dark, threatening storm rose up over the horizon, and the audience fled helter-skelter for their homes, bus-stops, and cars; and above them a sudden mayhem of crows.
Two elderly nuns have emerged from the cathedral. They walk up the broad pedestrian mall toward the rynek, half as fast as others. Is that because, at their age and a life full of prayer and holiness, they't have as far to go as the rest of us, being already closer to God? Or is it that the rest of us, not so sure as they about the Hereafter, hurry to sweep up as much of this life as we can, before it's all over, forever? But of course, by hurrying, we miss much that's beautiful, and can only be found with a slower pace. So perhaps we should join them and assume, for practical purposes if none other, that there is a life eternal. Or if not that then at least put on the habit of serenity and adjust our pace to theirs?
Did you ever stir up one of those big anthills you sometimes find along the road or in a pasture, and watch them suddenly scurrying about? It's what happened last night at the Podlasie Folk Festival, when a dark, threatening storm rose up over the horizon, and the audience fled helter-skelter for their homes, bus-stops, and cars; and above them a sudden mayhem of crows.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Heyho
Been offdablog for over a week...problems with accessing computers & especially uploading photos...am working on it, so, more to come! Meanwhile go on with your life!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Mikolaj Dudkiewicz
We were treated last night to a classical guitar concert by an ex-student of this camp (2 years ago.) Mikolaj is studying guitar at the Univ. in Gdansk.
The Bebens (Joe & Pat), teaching with us now, took him around the U.S. last year, to 27 different venues, all across the states, from the Polish embassy in DC to San Francisco, most of tho not always at Polish-American clubs.
Mikolaj & the winner of our student talent competition from last week (Janek, on the cello) played a duet, which was really really good. Here's Mikolaj doing Albinez' "Artusias," one of the pieces he played for us. It's worth listening to!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yzLok5-7CA
The Bebens (Joe & Pat), teaching with us now, took him around the U.S. last year, to 27 different venues, all across the states, from the Polish embassy in DC to San Francisco, most of tho not always at Polish-American clubs.
Mikolaj & the winner of our student talent competition from last week (Janek, on the cello) played a duet, which was really really good. Here's Mikolaj doing Albinez' "Artusias," one of the pieces he played for us. It's worth listening to!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yzLok5-7CA
Sunday, July 11, 2010
To Bambo or not to Bambo
Each year at graduation teachers read poems in Polish, chosen by our homerooms. My group gave me a kind of nursery rhyme about Bambo, the Polish Little Black Sambo. The book/poem was written about a hundred years ago, by Juliam Towim, supposedly to introduce black people to Poland, which had seen so few (cover on left). Soon as I figured out what it was about, I balked, saying it had overtones of racism, was sterotyping blacks, and I would feel embarrassed to read it in the presence of my black friends. They protested it wasn't really rascist, and neither were they. I asked them to translate the poem and come back the next day (Friday.)
They came back Friday morning with a different poem entirely, said that after reading it again they agreed it was inappropriate. I was touched, the teaching moment had been successful. I used the opportunity to extend the lesson, and on Friday homeroom put together a paper with a Nazi poster showing a Slavic "Untermensch," or subhuman, and asked how were they different. I also introduced them to Polish jokes -- they had no idea there was such a thing -- and talked about how Polish jokes stereotype Poles.
The poem they gave me (Entliczek-Pentliczek), unfortunately, is even harder to read than Bambo. The lesson to me was: How ethics can make your life harder.
Here it is (rough translation...it's about a little red worm living in an apple. He complains that his grandpa, grandma, father & mother are living there, too, and eating up the apple. Anyway, he's fed up with nothing but apple, apple, apple...he wants a steak!
Entliczek-pentliczek, czerwony stoliczek,
A na tym stoliczku pleciony koszyczek,
W koszyczku jabłuszko, w jabłuszku robaczek,
A na tym robaczku zielony kubraczek.
Powiada robaczek: "I dziadek, i babka,
I ojciec, i matka jadali wciąż jabłka,
A ja już nie mogę! Już dosyć! Już basta!
Mam chęć na befsztyczek!" I poszedł do miasta.
Szedł tydzień, a jednak nie zmienił zamiaru,
Gdy znalazł się w mieście, poleciał do baru.
SÄ… w barach - wiadomo - zwyczaje utarte:
Podchodzi doń kelner, podaje mu kartę,
A w karcie - okropność! - przyznacie to sami:
Jest zupa jabłkowa i knedle z jabłkami,
Duszone są jabłka, pieczone są jabłka
I z jabłek szarlotka, i komput [placek], i babka!
No, widzisz, robaczku! I gdzie twój befsztyczek?
Entliczek-pentliczek, czerwony stoliczek.
Halloween, Szymark, etc.
Yesterday (Saturday) we were bussed up to a Kashubian part of the country (a bit west of Gdansk.) Kashubs are a subculture of Poles, whose language is somewhat different, with lots of German influence. They were mostly fishermen, who went out into the Baltic & fished the region's lakes. Szymbark itself is a combined ethnic museum, with houses brought from Siberia & Canada, to represent old Kashubian lifestyle, a train which carried Poles to Siberia, a copy of an underground bunker as used to fight the Germans in WWII, complete with ear-splitting sound effects representing an air attack on the bunker, but then also an upside-down house, children's attractions, an overdose of tourist kitsch.
The ride up was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours. It took four. Traffic was bad, the drivers got lost, twice taking the wrong turn & having to turn these gigantic buses around, the roads were hilly & curvy, one girl sitting in back got carsick, so we had to stop & let her off to settle her stomach. We had breakfast at 7:00, arrived at Szymark at 11:30, de-bused. We were given sack lunches for the day. Nobody knew anything about whether we should take our lunches with, or when we'd be able to access the buses again, so most of us left them on the bus, where they experienced 6 hours of 90 degree temps and were basically inedible.
Traveling in Poland can be very frustrating. The lack of facilities, signs, planning, and so on would drive a Type A German tourist to obscenity. But the people are so warm, so sympatico, they (almost?) make up for the obstacles...
More on Szymbark later in the Blog.
The ride up was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours. It took four. Traffic was bad, the drivers got lost, twice taking the wrong turn & having to turn these gigantic buses around, the roads were hilly & curvy, one girl sitting in back got carsick, so we had to stop & let her off to settle her stomach. We had breakfast at 7:00, arrived at Szymark at 11:30, de-bused. We were given sack lunches for the day. Nobody knew anything about whether we should take our lunches with, or when we'd be able to access the buses again, so most of us left them on the bus, where they experienced 6 hours of 90 degree temps and were basically inedible.
Traveling in Poland can be very frustrating. The lack of facilities, signs, planning, and so on would drive a Type A German tourist to obscenity. But the people are so warm, so sympatico, they (almost?) make up for the obstacles...
More on Szymbark later in the Blog.
Old wall, Torun
In niches, in unexpected places, they've put whimsical wooden figures, here representing the characters in a Medeival passion play.
Balloon Contest
One evening students were given balloons & asked to create a sculpture with it. This was the winning entry. Some of us thought it was a bug, or maybe an airplane. After winning, they threw it, and the wings flapped & it landed on its feet (landing gear?)These are 15-18 year-olds, and I am impressed how quickly & easily they become little kids again. There doesn't seem to be nearly as much stand-off-ishness as we find the states, i.e. kids afraid to have fun because it would embarrass them.
Poles are very social creature, loaded with "symatico," i.e. empathy for others. When Josephine, somewhere in her 70s, walks on the rough cobblestones with students, a bevy of the girls will immediately surround & help her. On the bus coming back from Szymbark yesterday I watched two of the girls, their faces 6 inches from each other, staring at one another, making faces. They're not afraid to touch & enjoy each other, much more than in the states.
"Tableau Night" second prize
This group constructed a human bicycle. The seated girls were peddling, the front one steering...
"Tableau Night"
For one evening activity, each homeroom was given a bag of props (hair-rollers, paper clips, etc.) and challenged to create a tableau (no movement) with them. This was the winning group. They show activity in the shower-rooms on a typical morning (near center, top, is the water coming down from a shower, girls on left are applying makeup in a mirror...) The other groups were also creative. In some ways, this is the best part of camp, turning the students lose to explore their creativity...
Torun
A view of the setting sun off three church steeples. Our favorite pub's outdoor sunshades are at the very lower right. The clock on the nearest church runs backwards. Our school is just beyond the steeple on the left, Swiata Katarczyni...Saint Katherine's.
Polish has talent night
A 16-year-old, Janek Lewandowski, won first place by playing a couple Bach pieces, and a pop song. He really really was good!
Polish has talent night: Michal
Michal (the "l" has a slash through it, so it's pronounced Michaw) does a completely randomized rubic cube in 15 seconds. He's a junior in high school, and wants to study quantum mechanics, probably at MIT.
Halloween
Friend Jim as a fierce bee...it's hard to see, but in the center of the black square marked by "caution" he's mounted a short but dangerous stinger.
Josephine
My colleague Josephine, from Naperville, Ill. She has the honor of being the second oldest of us, and along with it, the sweetest...
World's record longest board
Cut by hand somewhere nearby, this board is over 100 feet long. The table near it is made from the same tree.
Boots
Boots such as these were prized in the Siberian camps, and had to be earned. Stuffed with straw or grass they could be the difference between frostbite (then gangrene, and death) and survival.
Inside a rebuilt gulag shelter.
These rough shelters housed 150 prisoners in Siberia, each with about 15 inches of board as a bed.
Russian train engine
This is one of the engines which pulled trains full of Poles (Kashubs & others) on their often one-way trip to Siberia. Some 2 million were carried away, beginning after the Soviet invastion of 1939.
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