September 10: VISITING RELATIVES

BLOG ENTRY, September 10: VISITING RELATIVES

Today was both shocking and heartwarming. First, Yalena (her name we find is Yanina) and Wladic’s son, Leszck, took us, in his 4 year old Honda Civic (both he and his wife work in Italy trading off time at home to look after their two young boys, about 9 and 11), to get our reservations for the train trip from Jaroslaw to Warsaw on the 14th. We went to a small city called Lubachiu?, the closest significant railway station where tickets could be bought. However, they could not issue Eurail reservations so Leszck drove us the 25 kms to Jaroslaw where we reserved our tickets for 30 Zloty (on top of the cost for the Eurail pass).

We returned at 12:30pm to visit Annie (Pietrucha) and Bernard Tworka, and another widower brother Joseph Pietrucha 77. This time the house was even older and more dilapidated, reminding me of a shack in the woods for wood cutters, although this one was made of the typical brick/stucco construction. We were served borscht, several very fatty sausage meats, and bread. The small kitchen, about 8’ x 10’, had printed linoleum on the floor, curled up at the edges and tacked down at the door. A small 24” propane stove sat beside the door with the propane tank beside it. As I sat at the tiny table I was asked to move to ensure that the burner on the stove did not set fire to me. In another corner was the old tiled stove/heater. Adjoining the kitchen was a smaller bathroom with cob webs, a flush toilet and no sink, which stank so much that Rose nearly threw up when using it. She had to rush outside afterwards for fresh air and refused to enter the house again, to the disappointment of our hosts. Also adjoining the kitchen was a carpeted living room with TV, cabinets, and a computer (for the grandchildren). After tiring of the conversation I went into the living room to lie on the ‘sofa’. It reminded me of the horse hair settee on which my sister, Judy, and I used to play as children in the attic of our old farm house in Saskatchewan. The generous and excited cousins were classic images of poor elderly grandpas and grandmas in the ‘old country’. Some had no teeth. Others had a few teeth in the final stages of deterioration. But they were talking a mile a minute.

We did not realize that Leszck was not planning to pick us up until 4pm. When Lillian and Mike finally tired of the conversation at about 2:30pm we all walked 4kms back to our host’s home. Before we left the host removed our plates from the table, rinsed them in cold water, and put them on the shelf. The first portion of the walk was along the narrow highway, whose ditches served as sewer lines – really gross odors. You could see the drain pipes coming out from the homes. After a couple of kms we encountered paving stone sidewalks. The sun was shining and the temperature must have been around 24 C, 75 F. We enjoyed the exercise and the walk.

Later 31 year old Leszck returned and took us to more visits. The first was his house. We were surprised to find a recently built modern designed North American style house and garage, still of the block/stucco construction, but with hardwood floors with centered sculpted carpets, a large plasma TV, on which one of the boys was using his Play Station game, an equally modern kitchen which included, for example, a stainless steel dishwasher, the first we had seen in Ukraine or Poland. Leszck was in the midst of his time at home and his wife was working in Italy. Between the two of them they likely earn about EURO 30,000. Leszck invited us to sit in his simple but well appointed dining room with solid wood table and leather padded chairs, buffet and side wall to ceiling cupboards, where he laid out a snack/meal of the usual salads, cold meat cuts, bread, with water and pop, followed by cakes. He accepted our decline of his offer of vodka, and did not push us to eat more than we wanted. The salads were all herring in different sauces, and the meats included the highest quality hams, which I had not seen since we left home. He proudly showed us around the house. We asked if he planned to immigrate to Italy. He said he was Polish and planned to live in Poland. He had been an electrician in the army and he planned set up an auto electrical business out of his garage.

About 6:30pm Leszck took us to visit his pregnant sister Agata’s home, another family of younger cousins in their 30s. They lived with his parents, in their late 50’s, in a remodeled older home, again with plasma TV and computer, but retaining the tiled heaters, ‘as insurance’. Ogata works in the local town office. Her husband, Chrsitoff Mariko, works for the power/electrical company, and their 6 year old daughter, Julita, was busy with her ‘babies’ cats pushing them around in a small carriage.

The visits today showed us more of the nature of the population. The older men tended to have had heart attacks, bad teeth, smoke, and be heavy drinkers. The older women were the result of living with the older men. The younger ones were much more careful about their health.

Agata’s husband, Chrsitoff Mariko, drove us home in his older Pegeut wagon at 8:30pm.