“We need the rain” everyone said throughout the day, but we didn’t need the rain — a handful of days in Polska and we don’t need one filled with rain. But rain it did, all day.

Tomorrow is the baptism, so we did some shopping. First, to a bacowka for oscypek.

One step inside and you know you’re getting something traditional, something with character and heart.

True, it is a little frightening — from hygiene’s point of view — how they make the cheese.

But that’s really just my hyper-clean American safety-sealed conscience speaking. We consume so many germs by the second that it would probably terrify most of us, and put OCD-clean folks into a catatonic state.

The price of oscypek is a good indicator of inflation in Poland. When we bought it before our 2005 departure, one cost 15 zloty; we paid 100 zloty for four of them today.

The price of everything in Poland is on the rise in a way that doesn’t compare to anything America’s experiencing. One friend told us she earns about 2,000 zloty a month, but spends 500 zloty a week on food for their family of five. One whole salary just for food. Add to that gas (we paid 100 zloty — about $50 these days with the falling dollar — for a little less than half a tank of gas, which costs about $9 a gallon), electricity (our electric bill here would be 500 zloty a month, K’s father informs us), and the various other costs and it’s difficult to imagine how anyone can survive in Poland.

Afterwards, we continued with the traditional theme, visiting friends who live in a traditional Podhale home, complete with connected barn.

K and her university friend played with the children for a while

and talked for a while

while I snapped pictures

and the kids played.

Lastly, it was back to Nowy Targ to visit my Peace Corps buddy C and his family.

On the way we stopped for ice cream (literally freshly handmade — so good that it’d difficult even to consider describing it), but fighting the rain and a sleepy girl didn’t inspire any photographic moods.

It’s not supposed to rain anymore for a while, so perhaps tomorrow the Girl and I will go to the river and entertain the dog, or maybe we’ll walk to Jablonka’s center for some ice cream. Babcia and K will be busy preparing for the baptism — one of the main reasons for the trip.