Market

For six days of the week, the stalls stand empty, a sort of minimalistic ghost town of spare wood framing and corrugated metal roofing. The corner of Market and Forest Streets normally looks like this.

But on Wednesdays, when the jarmark comes to town, everything looks different. The stalls fill with vendors and goods, and the streets are essentially closed to traffic as potential customers weave in and out, walking between the various vendors’ invitations to inspect their wares.

“Can we go see the chickens?” the Boy asks as we enter the market. It’s always been a favorite spot for him.

Of course, chickens aren’t the only attraction. Tables covered with knives, hoodies with the most incredible images.

And then there’s all the food.

Slovakia

A trip to Poland isn’t complete without a short trip across the border into Slovakia. Babcia always likes to do a little shopping there, and it’s always pleasant to see a slightly different view of central Europe. Things haven’t changed here as much as they have in Poland. The supermarket on the small rynek looks like it must have 30 or even 40 years ago.

Lipnica

My Polish home for seven years, Lipnica holds a place in my heart like no other.

It’s always a highlight of a trip to Poland, especially when you find out some parts of it are disappearing for good.

The first apartment I had Lipnica was the lower-left apartment of the six-apartment dom nauczyciel. I found out during today’s visit that the entire building is to be demolished in the near future. It suddenly occurred to me that trying to get into the apartment one last time, now that I know that it’s empty, is a bit of a priority for the rest of the time I have here.

But the real surprise of the visit, though, had to do with people.

Two old friends of K and mine whom we haven’t seen over twenty years were there. One is not surprising: she still lives in Lipnica; the other, also named K, lives in New York, home visiting her parents. It was these three women, then girls, who approached me during one of my first visits to a disco in Lipnica and said, “You’re the new English teacher. We want to practice our English.”