it looks like I had the plane to myself, when really I was just sitting in the last row |
I returned to Poznan late yesterday after two months stateside. It will be interesting to see if posting more frequently will reduce the spam comments on my blogs. I’ve heard that inactive blogs are often targets. I want to encourage readers to comment, so I make it very easy – nothing to type to prove that you’re not a machine. The downside of that is that machines fill up the comment section with gobblety-gook (sometimes obscene) which always ends in “click on this link to visit my page.” I delete the comments as soon as I see them, but when they’re on a roll, they’re coming every 10 minutes, so you can see where staying on top of it could become a full-time job.
Maybe I shouldn’t say this so soon and jinx myself, but I slept all night. Only two groups of people get excited about that, new parents and people who’ve crossed many times zones. OK, I’m willing to add insomniacs to that list.
any visit with less than an hour wait is a good one |
It’s early afternoon, and we’ve gotten a lot done today. We picked up my resident permit – the renewal came in while I was away. This office will be a familiar sight for all of the foreigners in town.
with Justyna at the Gazeta Cafe |
We met with Justyna, a reporter for the Gazeta, a local paper. Apparently there will be some mention of my thoughts on Easter in Poland in their Saturday edition. I hope I said enough on that subject to give her something to work with. I do know that we had a very enjoyable chat – the kind that meanders through many topics.
our newest mall, I had expected it to be an office building |
A new mall opened while I was away, Galeria MM, so we took a quick tour. The outside of this structure is unusual, and I suspect somewhat controversial. It’s modern architecture is very noticeable among its Old Town neighbors, and I enjoy the juxtaposition.
I know from friends, who moved to Poznan before we did, that 7 or 8 years ago, there were no shopping malls. Now there are several, and this one is a very short walk from Stary Browar – probably the largest mall. I wonder if these malls will all still be here in another 7 or 8 years. Are there enough people spending money in what seem to be very high end shops to keep them all in business? Only time will tell.
Our outing concluded with a walk through the Stary Rynek. We saw the scaled down remains of the pre-Easter market in the old square, and since we were there at noon, we got to hear the trumpeter and see the small crowd gathered for the goats butting heads on the Old Town Hal. These are mechanized goats, Poznan’s version of a cuckoo clock.
I’m trying to remember if this will be my first Easter in Poznan. Celebrating holidays loses a lot without extended family nearby, so I think we’ve usually been traveling over Easter. Our usual tradition, at home in Arizona, has been to host a tea party after church for family and friends complete with fancy finger foods and now that our daughters are older, beverages more along the line of champagne cocktails rather than tea.
If I were truly a Polish housewife, I would be gathering up a basket of food with salt, horseradish, eggs, cake, and maybe butter molded into the shape of a lamb. All over Poland, baskets like this will be taken to church on Saturday to be blessed by the priest. The foods, which represent parts of the Easter story, will be untouched until Sunday.
I may not be over my jet lag. In the time it’s taken me to write this, a nap is starting to sound really good. 😉
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
tralf
It's good to be reading your blog again.
Lois B
tralf – thanks, mum. Sorry, I'm probably better about keeping in touch this way, rather than when I'm in AZ.
Chris
If you were a true Polish housewife, you'd be cleaning your windows 🙂
Welcome back!
Lois B
Chris – that too! I did bring back some magic cleaning solution and a good squeegee. The neighbors are putting the pressure on; must must keep up!
Lois B
For my non-Polish readers, as Chris had alluded, it is traditional to clean one's windows the week before Easter. Clean windows for Jesus, as one friend put it.
Mary
Love to read your posts! As I was raised in an American-Polish household, your post brought back wonderful memories of many Easters… and every one of them had butter that had been shaped into a lamb.
Lois B
Mary – thanks for your comment. I remember seeing lamb shaped molds in the Willims Sonoma catalogue, now I know where they came from.
Lori
Love you note about sleeping all night. Took me more than a week to get over jet lag coming home recently from Romania, although I always find going west harder, and always thought it was the let down of coming home, but I've heard Europeans say, too, going west seems harder, and they would have the adrenaline up for visiting/working somewhere else.
Kasia
Unfortunately we have not done "swieconka" in the last couple years – due to… soccer:) I like that tradition, and the traditional Polish breakfast. I think my husband's family was confused and surprised when I invited them for Easter breakfast one year – I was stuck with many hard boiled eggs after they had left.
My windows are dirty and I hate it.
I do not like that
Lois B
Lori – it's been over a week. I guess I'll have to find another excuse for a nap. 😉
Kasia – my windows in Poznan are beautiful, my windows in Tucson are very dirty. The only one that gets cleaned semi-regularly is the sliding glass door to the back yard, and that is just to clean off the dogs' paw and nose prints. We found we had a lot more time on our hands when the