Poland - Cousins

Here's my connection to the Polish cousins I stayed with during my time in Poland...
Jan Szerlowski and Anna Psutka had five children:
- Rozalia (mother of Krystyna, my babcia/grandma)
- Stanisław
- Michał
- Zygmunt (father of Ludmila, the first cousin I stayed with)
- Zofia (mother of Alina, mother of Ursula, the second cousin I stayed with, along with her husband, Stanisław, and daughter Elzbieta [Ela is at the same level as me on the family tree])
- Joanna

Rozalia and her children were the only branch of the family tree to immigrate to Canada.

This morning Robyn and Madelein left for the airport bright and early and my Babcia's cousin, Ludmila (pronounced lood-MEEL-ah), picked me up from the hostel with her stepson, Mariusz (pronounced MAR-ee-OOSH). The hostel door is kept locked but I was waiting on the couches and saw a petite older woman knock on the door and I knew it must be Ludmila. When I opened the door she rattled off some Polish and I heard my name so I asked, "Ludmila?" and she gave me a big hug. She only knows a few English words but her stepson speaks English quite well so he was our translator for the two-and-a-half hour drive to reach their flat in Głubczyce.

Ludmila and her husband Jan

Ludmila's mother lives in the flat below Ludmila and Jan.
I just called her "Babcia".

In the afternoon, Mariusz brought over his two teenage daughters, Paulina and Angela, as well as his girlfriend, Ania. The girls spoke English very well and they were fun to hang out with. Angela mentioned her boyfriend and I asked her wryly if he's a good boy and she grinned and said, "Not really." I laughed and asked if Ludmila thinks he's a good boy and she laughed and said, "Yes - it's good that she doesn't understand us." Ludmila soon came into the room and made a comment about not understanding our conversation and we laughed again, with Angela telling her we're just visiting.

I asked the proper way to pronounce "Piechnik" and discovered that the "ch" is actually pronounced with a slightly gutteral and breathy "ck" sound instead of a hard "ck" sound. The "nik" is actually pronounced "neek". As if our last name wasn't already difficult enough, go to Poland and it gets worse!

L-R: Paulina and Angela.

It was Mariusz's sister's husband's birthday so Mariusz said he, Ania, and his daughters would take me over to meet them. I really didn't understand where I was going or what we were doing, but I grabbed my coat and went along. As we were going out the door, they told me to get my passport because we were going to the Czech Republic! After a fifteen minute drive we crossed the border and I was able to add another country to my list of places I've visited! We walked through a little town (saw a Winnie the Pooh book in a shop window and found out the Polish call him Kubuś Puchatek (KOO-boosh poo-HA-teck), drove to the top of a hill for a sweeping view of Poland and the Czech Republic, then back to Poland.

It was strange to spend the evening with a bunch of people who really aren't related to me except through marriage, as Mariusz is Jan's son from his first marriage, but they still felt like family. I met his mom, sister, and brother-in-law - his mom made an amazing sunflower seed cake! She wrote out the recipe for me in Polish and my Babcia is working on translating it. (I'll do a trial run and post the recipe once I know we got the translation correct.) I had a wonderful evening eating plenty of Polish food and listening to Mariusz's sister tell me stories about wanting to visit her best friend in Portsmouth, England. She would speak to me in Polish, using only two or three words at a time and then waiting for Angela or Paulina to translate before continuing. We couldn't stop laughing all evening! (She was getting rather tipsy.) I even heard some Polish singing as Mariusz's sister convinced her husband to pull out his guitar so she could sing a couple of songs. When they were finished, I asked them to sing "Sto Lat", the Polish version of "Happy Birthday", a song I've heard at Polish birthday parties back home. The whole group sang along - I wish I'd had my camera to capture it on video. For those who are curious, I found the lyrics online and also found a funny video clip of a Polish restaurant owner singing the song - I love the faces of the two young waiters.