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.
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.
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!