Easter

Tuesday 29 March 2005 | general

Easter “vacation” is over. It was pleasant enough, but I was a little sad at the end, knowing it was the last major holiday that Kinga will be in her native country for some time. All things come to an end, I suppose, but that particular end is creeping ever closer.

The surprise of the weekend for me was how Wiktor, Kinga’s two-and-a-half-year-old nephew, was virtually obsessed with me. Every time he saw me, he was asking, “Wujek, co robisz?” (“Uncle, what are you doing?”) I enjoyed spending time with him, and I actually looked after him for quite a while Friday – or was it Saturday? Can’t recall. At any rate, I enjoyed it, but it was difficult understanding him sometimes. Understanding “baby talk” that’s in a foreign language — it’s a nightmare. I felt, once again, like I was new in the country, fresh off the plane.

The second surprise: an evening of bridge with everyone. Jan (my father-in-law) taught Daniel (my brother-in-law) how to play bridge, and we played until after midnight Sunday. Kinga and I were partners, and it turned out that she’s an excellent bridge player – better than I am, for sure. We cleaned up, that’s for sure.

This was the first year I didn’t go to the resurrection service. We changed to summertime that Saturday evening/Sunday morning, and the thought of getting up at four (body time) to be at the church at five (again, body time) just did nothing for me.

Blessing the Food, Easter 2003

I went for the blessing of the food — a Polish tradition that involves going to the church Saturday morning to have a basket of food for Easter breakfast blessed by the priest– and I went for the night watch, but I just decided to pass on the early morning mass.

1 Comment

  1. I’m glad you had a nice Easter holiday. I know what you mean about baby talk in a foreign language. I babysat a four year old for a while, and it really bothered me that he would come to me for something and I couldn’t understand him!