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.
