Manic Bookstore Cafe

Note the Fiddler in the upper right corner! Anatevka, Anatevka. Underfed, overworked Anatevka. Where else could Sabbath be so sweet? Anatevka, Anatevka. Intimate, obstinate Anatevka, Where I know everyone I meet. Soon I'll be a stranger in a strange new place, Searching for an old familiar face From Anatevka. I belong in Anatevka, Tumble-down, work-a-day Anatevka. Dear little village, little town of mine. These words, from the lyrics of Fiddler on the Roof , remind us of the value of home, of the small town, of small town life. Even when things are difficult, as they are in this fictional story of a Russian-Polish shtetl, so beloved in American high schools, on Broadway, and on tour in small cities all over America, the value of community -- and its religion, its customs -- offers a kind of comfort in anticipation of the new and unfamiliar. All right. It's hokey. But when we spent the day recently in Łódź -- a day like so many during this long winter, snow...

Are antibiotics always the answer? For those of you waiting to find out what happened to my poor sick boy in the public health care system of Poland: 1) he was given a health card! (Apparently my insistence that I have health insurance through the university was convincing, even without any evidence ... and no, I don't have a contract yet, and I haven't paid into the system yet ... In Poland, the wheels of bureaucracy move slowly. On the other hand, I have recently informed the university bookkeeper of my town of birth, my mother's first name, and my father's first name [why?!]. So health insurance must be not far behind.) 2) he was given yet more prescriptions -- for another antibiotic, in case he has a sinus infection, for nose drops to penetrate his stuffy nasal passages, for allergy medicine in the spring... Polish doctors love their prescription pads. It's not quite clear, though, what is going on in his sinuses, because our doctor is a pediatric GP....

SAM is the name of a cafe that was recommended to me near the University library. It is very Euro-chic -- wooden tables, including a long communal table in the middle, some couches, stools and chairs, big blackboard with menu, wi-fi, of course. The food was fresh and interesting, and small dishes were not expensive -- I had a panini'd baguette with camembert, rocket, and avocado, and Steve had Tunisian fish soup. Great coffee and nice loose leaf tea -- as I keep saying with most places I'm finding, we'll be back. The cafe's name is evocative. On the one hand, it could be a person's name. Or, in all-caps, it looks like an abbreviation for something -- haven't thought of what yet. But it could also be the Polish word "sam," as in "myself" or "himself." (Or "alone.") Some years ago I was told that Alexander Men, the evangelical Russian Orthodox priest who was murdered in 1990 outside his home, in his final moments in...

My Polish is definitely getting better. Though my child is not. The cough did, after all, eventually turn into a bacterial infection of the throat, according to a doctor at the private clinic of Luxmed -- a pediatric laryngologist who for a mere 160 PLN wrote us more prescriptions than you could shake a stick at. This was an enormous clinic way on the outskirts of the city (we even had to jaywalk across a 6 lane road and trek through a large mudfield to get to the clinic -- it seems to have been constructed for the future car lifestyle that Poles are aspiring to, so it was quite far from the bus stop). There were very few patients out there, and we spent some time trying to figure out what the doctor does between appointments. Dr. Wrona Maciej spoke some English, was very sweet, and sent us on our way in about 4 1/2 minutes. Very efficient. A week later, though, my son is still sick. And now he feels pressure in his sinuses, so we are worried about another sinus infection like...

Today I discovered that while skating at the Tor Stegny is quite economical, it has been even more economical because I have somehow been slipping in without paying the entrance fee... We went again this evening and both children skated with me. Sessions start on weekdays at 5:30 p.m., so we strapped on our (admittedly rather uncomfortable plastic) rented skates and slid out onto the fresh ice just as the session began. The sky was blue and it was still light, but over the course of an hour we watched the light disappear and the skies turn dark. Gorgeous. Even though the skating rink is located in a part of town that is still developing... surrounded by mud and parking lots and highrises and hospitals, some of which seem to have lost their financing in the middle of construction. We could still smell the circus that had unexpectedly arrived and set up a bigtop last week, complete with animals and RVs for the performers. By today the scent and some sand from under the bigtop were...

Last weekend we got out of town. Over the course of 3+ days we managed to use every kind of transportation possible:  bus to the train station in the morning; train to Krakow -- 2nd class, but a rather nice compartment with six seats -- we had the window, which gave wonderful views; the Polskibus (as in Polskibus.com -- we think someone must have seen the Megabus model in Chicago!) from Krakow to Zakopane -- an essential change of transportation mode, as the train from Krakow to Zakopane takes 5 hours, and the bus takes just over two...) on foot much of the time within Zakopane: Except: minibuses to the ski hills two kinds of ski lift, including a butt lift that defeated me more than once... and a KULIG -- a horse-drawn evening sleigh ride with torches AND a kielbasa roast. We reversed the trip (Polskibus, train) and even took a taxi home, since we returned fairly late on Sunday night. The mountains were awesome, the a...

Now there will be two Zakopane posts -- I've been having trouble with both the blog itself and the internet connection. But it was such a lovely weekend I think it deserves two posts!! Zakopane has been known for decades as a resort town, and it lives up to its reputation. The town is filled with hotels and pensions; the streets are lined with folks holding signs: pokój z łazienką -- room with bath; the sidewalks were covered in ice and snow, with mounds of snow on either side. And there was a number of beautiful Polish-style wooden houses -- decorated with wood carvings, and often with sweet-looking porches -- even sleeping porches. Beautiful in winter, and I bet the breathing would be great in summer as well. The downtown pedestrian mall was a bit touristy for my taste, but most importantly Zakopane is surrounded by mountains, and in February those mountains are covered in snow. We took advantage of it -- sledding, downhill skiing, cross country skiing along ...