Auschwitz-Birkenau

On Saturday Adrian, Iza, Samuel, Kayla and I went to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.  It was an experience that I will never forget.  First we went to Birkenau (Auschwitz II) and walked around for 2.5 hours. 

We went inside some of the barracks and saw the horrible living conditions these people endured.  Some barracks were made of brick and others were former stables.  Each one housed 300 people. 

 There were separate buildings with drop toilets.  It was incredible to see how massive the Birkenau camp really was.  I would have never imagined it so big.  

In this camp there are also four huge gas chambers that could each house up to 2000 people at one time.  Retreating SS to try and hide the evidence of their crimes and blew them up.  You can still however see the large changing room where prisoners were told to undress, the gas chamber, lifts and rails to push the bodies along and on the surface we can see the large hollows left by the furnaces. 

Then we went to Auschwitz and took a tour of the former Polish Army Barracks.  We were each given a set of headphones so we would all be able to hear the tour guide with out trouble.  Then we started off the tour through the gate saying Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Brings Freedom).           

First we went into Block 4.  We learned a lot about how the location of Auschwitz was important, as it is very centrally located in Europe.

We saw a diagram of the large gas chambers and crematoriums at Birkenau and learned about Cyclone B.

In another room we saw just a fraction of things found at Auschwitz and Birkenau that had been taken from the prisoners.  Because people didn’t have any idea where they were going they often packed almost everything they had especially valuables.  

Shoes

Glasses

Brushes

We also went into Block 11 (The Death Block).  This was a prison with in the prison.  Prisners were completely isolated from the rest of the camp.  The basement has several different cells; we saw a starvation cell, standing cells and dark cells used as harsh forms of punishment. 

Between Blocks 10 and 11 is The Execution Wall where people were shot, the courtyard is enclosed by high walls and the windows of Block 10 and 11 and bricked off the prevent witnesses. 

The last thing we did was tour the small gas chamber at Auschwitz.  It was very eerie to walk through.  In places you can see scratches in the walls from the people who suffered and died there.

Touring this camp was defiantly and experience I will never forget. 

Easter Snow

When we woke up on Easter I was eager to try all of the delicious morsles in our Easter Basket!  I got out of bed looked out the window and this is what I saw.

Near blizzard conditions.  It was snowing like CRAZY and it continued to do so all day.  I had an idea that I would build a snow bunny but after a few minutes and people looking out there windows at me I made a snow angle went back inside.

All in all when the snow stopped we got over 10 inches!

Easter Baskets

The Saturday before Easter Ilona and her mom invited us over to her house to assemble a traditional Polish Easter Basket.  It was really cool to see where the Easter Basket Tradition came from opposed to how we have Easter Baskets today in the USA. 

First we added the Lamb (cake) representing Jesus Christ.  Then we added eggs, decorated eggs in Polish are called Pisanki, to symbolize life.  We also added bread for the Eucharist, and ham to represent prosperity.  Salt to represent purification, butter for the good will of Christ and horseradish to represent Christ’s passion still in our minds and the sacrifice he made for us.  We also added some Polish sausage, some fruit, a chocolate bunny, some chocolate eggs and chocolate chickens.  Finally we decorated the basked with greenery and placed a special clothe on top.

Then along with LOTS of other people we headed off to one of many Church services to get our Easter Basket blessed.  Ilona’s church was very full all of the pews were full and the isles were full of people standing.  The Priest talked to the children and asked them what the different parts of their basket represented and then he sprinkled everyone’s basket with holy water. 

Then on Easter morning all of the contents of the basket get eaten for breakfast.  It was probably the coolest thing we have experienced in Poland so far and so much more meaningful then our Easter Baskets at home.   A big thank you to Ilona and her mom for teaching us about this Easter Tradition!!!

WHITE sweet potato

I love sweet potatoes.  In Poland we have enjoyed them quite a bit, but the other night Kayla went to peal a sweet potato and it was WHITE.  I had never seen a WHITE sweet potato before so I did what most millennials would do and goggled it. 

I found out that the orange potatoes we usually call sweet potatoes are truly yams and the white ones are sweet potatoes.  The Internet also informed me that these would be dryer and not as sweet as Yams.  Well they were right, after a bit of baking they came out looking and smelling all right but tasted like paste.  GROSS but we discovered the thinner ones were crisper and all right so we baked them to a crisp and enjoyed our true sweet potatoes.  Now we are always more careful to buy yams. 

Women's Day

Sorry it has been a while.  About a month ago was Women’s Day in Poland.  I had no clue it was Women’s Day, but had been noticing more and more people out on the streets selling flowers.  I attributed this to the upcoming spring season, but I was wrong.  I love that in Poland when a holiday is approaching people start selling the appropriate decorations, gifts, or foods on the streets. 

Anyway when I got to school on this particular Friday morning I went to the second grade classroom and was presented with a tulip.  I was surprised and the second graders were surprised that I didn’t know it was women’s day.    Then I went to fourth grade the next hour and was given some chocolates. 

When we went to Sfera (the mall), later in the afternoon, there was a fashion show displaying the upcoming spring styles!  All I know is that I like this Women’s Day tradition!