Currency in Poland

The Zloty is the currency of Poland. Notes and coins of the following denominations are in circulation:

Coins
1, 2 and 5 zloty and denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 groszy.

Notes
The PLN appears in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 zloty.

	200zł = 48,4 EUR
	20zł = 4,83 EUR
	50zł = 12,09 EUR

Polish Style Coffee

Would you like a cup of kava?

"Tak, Tak, Prosze", I reply.

The Poles make coffee very strong, like the Greeks. In a tall flat bottomed glass, they place one or two large spoonfuls of coffee grounds. Pour boiling water over the coffee, add a little bit of sugar or a lot, then let the coffee steep. If you want milk or cream, pour it slowly right before your ready to drink the coffee

Of course, some Poles have an electric coffee makers with filters but I found the opposite to be true among the several of my cousins. I was careful not to drink all the coffee and leave the sludge at the bottom of the cup.

Male or Female

I've learned something while in Poland that is very interesting. If your father has a surname that ends in "ski" than all females of that family will have the same surnames but with "ska". That is a polish tradition and you see it used commonly throughout Poland.

This happens to be very common across Russian as well. In Russia women usually adopt the surname of their husband. Most of Russian last names ending change depending on gender, for example, male - Ivanov, but female - Ivanova. In most cases ending "a" is added in female last names.

Somewhere along the journey to America our family lost that tradition. Did our system just get lazy or was the concept to difficult to accept? It does make sense to me that all male names should end in "ski" where all female names end in "ska".

With this thought in mind, I am almost considering going to the court house in America and changing my name back to the customary surname with the "ska". What do you think?

Finding Family

My trip has been very successful. I have learned the names of my grandfathers brothers. My grandfather was the oldest of 5 boys and I have listed them by their birth order (Adam, Impol, Tomasz, Franciszek, and Jozef). All of the boys were born in Belarus and slowly moved to other parts of the world after World War 1.

I have met all my cousins from Jozef's family and they live in Poland. Except for Marta who lives in London. Some day I hope to meet her face to face as I have done with the other cousins in Poland.

Tomasz family lives in Argentina and I am happy to have found them. Thanks for the internet and their curiosity, we have been searching for one another for some time. Now we have the opportunity to communicate through email and other online tools.

Franciszek family is in Italy. It's so exciting to see the puzzle pieces coming together and learning so much about my cousins. I love Italy so you know I'll make the trip to visit them one day soon.

Adam's family is all in the United States. My gift to my cousins in America is the gift of knowledge so that they have the opportunity to make a connection to our other cousins if they wish. I will make it possible for everyone to be active or not in connecting with our family. It is their choice.

I do all of this to honor my Mother Josephine. She was always so good at keeping everyone in Poland informed as to events within our family in the United States. Once mom is gone that connection would be lost. Now it is not lost but can begin a new life through the internet and all the cousins we have around the world. It is very exciting and the possibilities are endless.

Thinking About My Trip

It's been a very eye-opening trip. First to meet my cousins, that was amazing. I had met my one cousin Jon because my mom invited him to US several times but to finally meet his wife and son, that was nice. Also other cousins in the area and I was surprised that all of the younger ones could speak English.

Life in Poland is very modern, I don't know exactly what I was expecting or maybe not expecting. There is one thing that is different and that is they do not use clothes dryers. Apparently you can buy them but no one does. Everyone washes their clothes in a washing machine just like what we use then hang dries all their clothes outside on the balcony. When I was a kid, mom would wash the clothes and then carry the basket to the back yard to hang the clothes on our clothes line.

I have walked many stairs on this trip. Each night when I go to sleep I can feel the ache in my legs. My ankle has been holding out fairly well considering I had surgery back in September. It does swell during the day just slightly but once I feel that happening I decide it's time to take a break and have a coffee at a local cafe. Just sitting down for an hour helps relieve the pain and I am able to continue on my journey.

I am tired of sleeping on other peoples beds.They all feel so hard to me and I'm just so spoiled with my swedish sleeping system at home. That is one thing that I will truly enjoy when I get back to Texas...My Bed!

I only have 3 days left to my Polish trip. It has gone by fast and just last night I was thinking how it would change me and my perspective on life. Each time I travel to a new country, I can feel a small part of myself left behind. But I can also feel that I have gained a new layer of complexity that I am unable to explain.

Royal Treatment at the Salt Mine

Today I purchased a ticket to tour the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Little did I know that I would be the only person on this tour. I walk to the bus stop to wait for my tour guide and it's only me. Yes, only me. The gentleman that is driving the bus tells me that I'll be the only one on this tour. Okay. The drive to the mine takes about an hour and once we arrive, a young woman approaches me and introduces herself as my guide. Okay.

As we approach the entrance to the mine there are hundreds of people standing around waiting in line for tickets. My guide walks past all these people and tells me to follow her. Here I am looking at hundreds of people and they are all staring back at me with that look on their faces with the question "Who is this woman that gets to cut in front of us and allowed to enter the mine solo?" I'm looking at them wondering, "Why is this happening to me?"

I'm not the type of person that enjoys the spot light nor do I seek that attention. I enjoy blending into the groups as it's been a way for me to survive all these years. But here I am now the center of attention with everyone looking at me and I'm uncomfortable. We enter the mine and happily I am guided away from the crowds which does give me a sense of relief. Now that we have spaced ourselves far from the large groups of people I am happy to enjoy all that the guide tells me and look at my surrounds.

The mine is amazing. After walking down 800 steps so that we may enter the third camber far below the surface, you notice the air quality has changed and I can taste salt in my mouth. Everything surrounding me is salt. The floors, walls, ceilings, statues, carvings are all made from the salt. It's definitely a sight to behold. I have never seen anything like this in my life. It will always be a moment that I remember.

After we walk approximately 3.5 km we enter into a chamber that has a restaurant. I'm told that my tour includes a traditional Polish meal and welcome drink. The dinning room is filled with people waiting in line. Oh no, not again I think to myself. I am lead to a table sectioned off from the rest of the groups behind a panel. Everyone can see me enter this cage and I feel their eyes looking at me. My guide is ready to leave me and I ask her to please stay with me as I'm uncomfortable with all the attention. She says, "You're receiving the Royal Treatment, Enjoy!" I whisper to her, "Please stay." She smiles and agrees.

First I was brought a shot of vodka. A plate of Smalec which is partially double fried lard with onion, marjoram and spread on bread served with pickled cucumbers. Followed by a bowl of Zurek soup (sour rye soup with sausage floating on top) and fresh bread. After several minutes the girl returns with a plate of Pierogi, a very traditional small white dumplings filled with sauerkraut with mushrooms. All I could think was, "This is too much food." I tried everything but I did not finish anything. Once I was finished, we could continue our tour, which of course I had to be lead once again in front of all these people.

At the end of the tour, we stood in line to take the elevator to the surface. At least this time I got to share an elevator with a few other people. There are 2 elevators that can hold only 8-9 people, you step inside the elevator and it's a wire cage that quickly moves to the surface. It's like taking a ride at six flags but it's dark and you don't know where you're going or what's around you. Very exciting. I would definitely advise everyone to take this tour. Over all I really enjoyed everything I saw and I'm sure most of you would have loved the "Royal Treatment".

Zupa grzybowa

I found my mushroom soup today. After walking through Wawel Castle, I stopped at a cafe and noticed on their menu they had mushroom soup. It's very good. I love the way they served it in a bread bowl.

Jajo (egg)

The egg in Poland is important. It's used in many dishes from soups, breads, dishes, salads, or just boiled. I also understand that sometimes since the eggs are not pasteurized in Poland that you can also purchase eggs that have a partial embryo.

I walked to the local market to pick up a few items for breakfast and purchased 2 eggs. Not a dozen or 6 like you can in America but just 2 single eggs. I didn't think anything about it because well, I'm in Poland. But now after consideration of what I have learned over the last couple of weeks, I'm wondering if these eggs have the partial embryo. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

My cousin Anna made an unusual dish the other day. I wanted to share a photo of the dish and then list the ingredients so you can ponder over the multiple flavors of the dish.

Hard-boiled eggs

pineapple

cabbage with mayonnaise and dill

corn

chopped ham

I've listed the ingredients from top to bottom so if you want to try this salad, start with the chopped ham on the bottom and work your way up.

The ingredients are placed in the bowl in layers so when you look at the salad from the side of the bowl, you see each color. I decided to taste this and was delighted that it was delicious.

Jan's whole family.

Jan, Jan, and Henry

Family

Magda, me, Irene.

When I was a small girl, my mother would make these jam filled doughnuts for us on special holidays.

Three Generations

Family Visit

Each time I visit a new cousin, their tables are filled with cakes, kava, kerbata, and wodka.

Graffiti Art of Pila

Along airplane hanger on old base.

Food of Pila

Golonka w piwie: fat, but tasty pork knuckle, sometimes in beer sauce, always with horseradish; very traditional, originally from Bavaria. Served with boiled potatoes & dill and tomatoes.