"Babcia" portraits

Today, Sz and I decided to use his (finally) cleaned out basement as a studio with his grandma as a test model. My indoor lighting experience is a little foggy as I don't remember much of it from film school (13 years ago), but I think we came up with a decent setup using our basic lighting equipment. :)

My visit to the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp

Entrance to Auscwitz I with the infamous words "Abeit Mach Frei" - Work will set you free

Personal belongings of victims recovered after the Soviet Red Army stormed the camp 

The wall of death, where a lot of inmates were shot individually, usually to the back of their heads

The famous "showers" that were actually gas chambers fixed with fake shower heads

"Güterwagen" (goods wagon), one of the types used for deportation to the camp

Ruins of Crematorium IV, blown up in the revolt

The main entrance to extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau

BarBq on ice and a polar dip

Sz and his friends decided to have a barbecue on a frozen river with a dip afterwards for health reasons.

After finding the perfect spot (deepest end) on the river they begun to hack away at the ice to create a hole to dip into.

They took turns for over 2 hours, breaking up the approximately 15 inch thick ice layer.

Sz cools off in the snow after working for over an hour.

The moment they had all been waiting for...

Two and half hours of digging, breaking and hacking away for 10 seconds of sitting in freezing ice cold water. It's certainly not for everyone. I was quite warmly dressed but a little chilly after stepping through thin ice a couple of times. They insisted this experience was good for the health, but I need more convincing to participate.

Trying to be domesticated

I offered to cook dinner for Sz and 'Babcia' (grandma in Polish)  a couple of days ago. I thought some greek food would be a welcome change from the regular meals of boiled potatoes, 'kotlety' and chicken soup. I watched in dismay as 'Babcia' looked disapprovingly at the meal placed before her. "What's that?" she asked in Polish. He explained. "And this?" He explained what the calamari was. She picked at the food and with every bite a portion of it was removed from her mouth and placed on a side plate. "I can't eat this...it's too chewy" By the end of the meal, a third of the food including all the calamari and some of the lamb was on the side plate. I avoided eye contact with her as I quickly finished my meal. Thankfully Sz seemed to be enjoying his first ever plate of Greek food. "I'm sorry 'Babcia' hates my food" I told him. "It's ok...she has only 8 teeth and most of them are in front, so don't take it personally". I got up and collected the dishes to the kitchen. Usually she would say thank you, but not this time.
 
The next day she came into the kitchen as I cooked another meal. I thought I saw an eye roll, but I might have been imagining it. I think she decided to play it safe and warm up a bowl of soup for herself.

Today I made sushi, but we decided this might be too out there for her. So she had her potatoes and 'kotlety', which took the pressure off of me.

While I decide whether I could ever stay here, long term, I worry about not getting ingredients for some of my favourite food in this part of Poland. Finding hot pepper for example can be a challenge. I've resorted to adding tabasco and sweet chili sauce to everything I eat. I'm almost getting used to being stared at everywhere I go, people almost walking into walls at the sight of me, phones appearing out of nowhere for a photo op, people asking to touch my dreads, the expectation that I'm going to be good at salsa when we go out dancing, only to disappoint by doing my basic quick-quick-slow moves (sorry Lumo, for all the years I wasted not practicing).

The other day we were at a hardware store and the sounds of Enrique Eglesias' 'Tonight I'm F-ing You' blared thoughout. I couldn't imagine this version being played at Canadian Tire without raising some eyebrows. Obviously the managers here did not fully understand the lyrics. I thought it was hilarious. It reminded me of passing through a funeral in Osu several years ago and hearing  Khia's explicit "My neck, my back" song blasting away at what  was supposed to be a mournful occasion.

Going the distance

After 9 hours total flight time from Accra, 5 hours waiting in between flights time, I arrive at the main airport of Resovia, Poland. As usual I'm the last to come out...not because of customs this time...A quick 5 minutes dash to the bathroom to freshen up was all it took for the passengers and crew of the LOT airlines Embraer 170 plane that I came with to disappear into thin air. There was not a soul in sight when I stepped out. No airport staff...not a soul. I opened the only door that wasn't leading back to the runway and stepped into the street! Ok, this can't be right...where would someone wait to meet me? I went back in..."Hello...Prosze" I attempted my inadequate Polish. An airport staff obscured from view behind a desk popped his head out. "Hi, sorry I"m lost, where is the way to the waiting area?" I asked sheepishly. He had an amused smile on his face as he directed me back onto the street and around a hanger and through a little reception area.  The automatic sliding doors were locked by the time I got to the reception area and I imagine I looked like an idiot stepping back and forth towards the sliding door in an attempt to make them work. A passer by, using gestures, indicated that I should just walk towards the door. "I know, how it works, I've tried that.." I said exasperatedly, as if he understood a word of what I was saying.  "See, its not working" I said as I stepped right into the door to dramatically illustrate my point. "Ah...." he nodded, and shouted to someone in Polish. Turned out the door had been locked. As the 'gatekeeper' unlocked the door with his ginormous bunch of keys, Sz sent me a text msg:"where are you!"

I spotted him in the parking lot walking towards me. He'd been looking everywhere for me. I had imagined that I'd run into his arms and hug him for about half an hour...like I'd been telling him for the past few weeks as we counted down the days till we saw each other again. But my arms hang limply by my sides as he hugged me.  "Hey, what happened to my 30 minute, hug?" he asked jokingly. "I'm tired, hungry, I need a shower, I'm cold....did i mention tired?" I replied half jokingly. "eh, I know, I'm sorry....lets get out of here"

Noina + Ianna

Ebo + Phoebe