TRIP REPORT:
POLAND, May - June 2016
Part Four: June 5 - June 15
June 5, 2016 Sunday
Weather High of 78 fluffy clouds - shorts weather
Rzeszów
Well, about the air conditioning . . . it's similar to what we experience at the Marriott in Warsaw. It only goes down to 70F and the fan doesn't blow hard enough. So, this morning Dave brought the fan up from the car as the room was too hot while getting ready.
We went down to breakfast at 10:00 a.m. Food pretty much the same as the other hotels but eggs to order and a toaster! Yay! Doesn't take much to excite me. Also offered were sauteed mushrooms, croissants and porridge.
I was still concerned about the email I received from the Hotel Bona in Sanok so I sent an email saying that I didn't understand, I hadn't made a reservation with them. Then I sent an email this morning asking the Hotel Bona WHO made the reservation? No response and tomorrow we are supposed to leave for Sanok. Dave thought that maybe the Hotel Bona bought the Zajazd where we are to stay and that's why they sent me the email. But I made the reservation with the Zajazd through Booking.com. That's why I sent the Bona another email.
I still only had two visits set-up in Bukowsko and another one that was set-up for a day, but not the time. I was stressing out about this as I had lots more people to visit but I needed a translator with me! I hate to knock on the door and say, "Dzien dobry, do zobacenia."
Back to what we did today.
We left the hotel at 10:45 for the rynek in Rzeszów. The place was empty. It has pretty buildings and a ratusz surrounded by restaurants. There is an underground tour of the area but we didn't take the tour. The only souvenir store was inside the underground museum. There had been a concert the night before so men were tearing down the stage and equipment from that event. BTW We’d seen advertisements for two other underground tours in Szczecin and Kraków.
After a short walk-around in the rynek we drove to Łańcut to look around and see the zamek museum. We actually stayed in this castle 16 years ago with our younger son. I didn't recall a crowd back then like we saw today. The tickets to the museum/zamek were 20 złoty each and that was for a senior ticket! We received headphones and the recording was in English. We had to put slippers on over our shoes. I have to say that walking through this castle reminded me of the homes we visited in Newport, Rhode Island, a year ago. The difference being that the American homes copied the castles in Poland and other European countries. Several portraits were of the Radziwill family. Jackie Kennedy's sister was married to Prince Radziwill. We both enjoyed the castle tour even though we weren't allowed to take photos.
Afterwards we walked across the street to buy some ice cream. Hey! We didn't have any yesterday!
Our next stop was Ropczyce, the ancestral village of my great grandfather, Jaworski. We arrived at 2:45 p.m. after stopping for gas and a bathroom break. I originally intended to do some research here but once I put villages on my calendar I realized that we would be in Ropczyce on the weekend and I wouldn't be able to any research anywhere.
I have to say that Ropczyce is not the same village it was during my first trip here in 1996. I can no loner see my great grandfather walking down the roads to church or to put flowers on a grave in the cemetery. This gmina received over 3 million złoty from the EU to update/improve its rynek and streets. This village now has a Biedronka and Tesco. Even the Urząd Stanu Cywilnego is in a new, big building.
I took updated photos of the church, priests' house, USC, and cemetery. I have to say that using the GPS APP allowed us to locate the Jewish cemetery (kirkut), the new community cemetery which opened in 2001 and the dwór. The Jewish cemetery is behind cement walls and the gate was locked. The cemetery was so overgrown I couldn't see any headstones.
Once we were in finished in Ropczyce we headed back to Rzeszów with a stop at the Nowy Swiąt shopping mall so Dave could buy a "Big Star" t-shirt from the Big Star store. Unfortunately for him, they didn't have the one he wanted.
We were back at the hotel by 5:00 p.m. We had a drink outside before dinner. We met a Brit, Canadian and American from Connecticut who were also having a drink outside. We chatted with them for a few minutes and then went into the restaurant for dinner. Dinner was very good and we were stuffed.
I've sent two more emails to my "Sanok" translators hoping to get things moving along before we arrived in Sanok.
We are to leave here in the morning. Breakfast ends at 10 a.m. so I went to bed.
Other things I bring to Poland:
Polish extension cord, Polish hair dryer, chip clip for snacks.
June 6, 2016 Monday
Weather 68F breezy, chilly with blue skies
Rzeszów to Sanok (Bukowsko)
List of villages is shown at the end of this day.
So far 3,507 kilometers driven.
Stork nests seen: 124
Tirówki: 4 (one had an umbrella - it was raining!)
The difference between prostytutka and tirówki is that tirówki hang-out on busy roads near forests.
I set the alarm for 7:45 but awoke at 7:15 and knew I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep. We got ready and packed our suitcases, then went down to breakfast which ended at 10 a.m. today. There were a few more people than the previous mornings.
I received an email from Hotel Bona in Sanok saying that I had sent them an email in January and they included it. Well, they were right! However, I asked them for the price but never committed to a room. They said it was not a problem if I didn't want the reservation. I didn't respond thinking that if the new place I picked turned out to be less than desirable, I could still go to the Bona.
I also received an email from Adam, the translator I hired for my time in Bukowsko. He was all set for me to pick him up at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The first time we met Adam (through another member of Bukowsko Triangle) in 2012 he was living with his parents in a beautiful house built by his father. We were invited over for soup as I recall (read about it). Now he is married with one child, has his own landscape architecture business and still lives with his parents as is the old custom.
We left the hotel at 10:45 a.m. Why so late? Because my husband - I can call him that now, at this moment - lost his wedding ring. Later this month we were to celebrate our 29th anniversary - or maybe not. Dave had lost a lot of weight and his ring is very loose on his finger. I don't have that problem; arthritis in my fingers prevents my rings from slipping off. I told Dave to wrap a Bandaid around his ring. He did that for one day. I told him he needed to continue using the Bandaid. So, as we are walking into the restaurant this morning he said, "My ring is gone." He went back up to the room to look for it thinking that it had fallen off this morning. I got my coffee. I was near tears but so mad I couldn't cry. He didn't find it. We ate breakfast, looked around the room and through the linens. No ring. I decided there was no point in looking twelve more times so I left information with the front desk and checked out while Dave loaded the car. I had four postcards to mail so while I stayed with the car Dave went to the post office in the mall next to the hotel and mailed the cards. I swear the postage is different every time I mail postcards to "oo es ah". Six złoty each and they were regular 5x7 cards!
While waiting for Dave to send the cards I saw a group of about 15 kindergarten kids (or younger) with three teachers stop at the public bus stop in front of the hotel. They were on a field trip and were going to take public transportation. They were pretty well-behaved. I can't imagine taking that many little kids on a public bus. I saw this situation several times during our trip.
We only stopped in two villages to take photos for a client of mine, Brzozów and Trześniów. Both are located in a hilly part of the country. Brzozów was a very large city with narrow winding roads even through the center of town. The church is smack dab in the middle of town on a busy, curving street. Buildings surrounded it and it was very difficult to get good pictures of it.
We found one cemetery in Brzozów and filmed all of the headstones that had the surnames my client was interested in. Not too many, sadly. Then we found the Komunalny Cmentarz. This one was much older than the first but it was huge! It would take two people at least a week to photograph only specific headstones. I only photographed the outside of the cemetery and took a few general photos of the inside. We'd spent over 2 1/2 hours in the town and still had another village to visit.
Driving around Poland we’d not seen any horse drawn carts on the roads and today we saw our first horse in a field hitched to a tiller. EU has allowed farmers to buy tractors so the horse is disappearing in Poland.
On to Trześniów. It took awhile to get out of Brzozów but in so doing we found the dwór. The only problem was that a tractor was blocking the main driveway so we couldn't get a photo of it but we did get a picture of the walls around the property.
This part of the country is very hilly with winding roads. It is in the lower Bieszczady mountains. We had no trouble finding Trześniów. The cemetery was pretty big here too and probably 85% of the headstones had surnames of interest to my client. That means we spent a lot of time photographing the graves. I always photograph the whole grave and then a close-up of the inscription. If there is a photo of the deceased then I get a close-up of that. While we were there a few men were "paving" a new grave putting down a marble or granite cover and sides. They didn't bother us and we didn't bother them.
We couldn't read all of the cemetery and ended up reading just the old ones in the last 1/4 of the cemetery. We also took photographs of the church, shrines, houses, the road, and the area.
We arrived in Sanok at about 4:30 p.m. and as usual had no trouble finding the "hotel." Even though this was our first time to stay at the Zajazd Sanocki, we knew exactly where it was located because we've been to Sanok so many times before. My concern was no elevator and no air conditioning. But then, no other hotel in Sanok has those either!
Our room is on the (U.S.) third floor so we had to carry up two large, heavy suitcases, two smaller suitcases, a backpack, snack bag, and desk fan. I should have called my friend Robert and had his teenage son help us! Maybe when we check out in TEN DAYS!
Several trips ago I vowed never to stay in a Zajazd again - too primitive. Even though the Hotel Bona opened in 2010, it just isn't quite up to par. I want to call Anthony from the show, "Hotel Impossible" and ask him to help the Bona.
When we arrived at the Zajazd the woman at the desk spoke excellent English. She said that there were two extra pillows as I requested and they could handle our laundry.
Our room was on the top floor so it had dormers over the beds. There was one twin bed and one double bed, three chairs that had storage, two little drawers, small closet, small table, equipped kitchenette (!), fridge, bathroom with a shower, plenty of outlets, bar soap, sink with a plug, and a balcony with chairs on it. Oh! And a floor fan! The room was a decent size. Breakfast was not included in the room price but cost 15 złoty per person per day. We were going to pay 1300 złoty for ten days (without breakfast). That's under $40 a day! We are betting that the mornings and nights will be cool so we won't miss the air conditioning.
The room does not have a phone, alarm clock, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, facial tissue or a hair dryer but I have all that stuff.
After we lugged everything upstairs we unpacked. In preparation for a visit to the civil archives in Sanok the next day. I opened my carry-on to get out the appropriate folder. Guess what I found? Dave's ring! I'm not sure who was more relieved, Dave or me. I won't get into the words that were exchanged, suffice to say that we would be celebrating 29 years of marriage in a few weeks.
Feeling relieved we walked two houses down to the Dwórek Sanocki, a karczma we've eaten in before. I think it's owned by the same people who own the Zajazd Sanocki.
I ordered a scotch and water and Dave ordered a Lezajsk beer. We brought the computer so I could get some work done while we enjoyed our drinks. Dave called Robert, a friend of ours who lives in Sanok and teaches English in the Pobiedno school. Robert always offers his translation services to us if he's available and he tries to be available as much as his full life will allow. The plan was to meet him the next day to pick up a box I sent ahead from home that contained gifts for his family, my families, friends, the gmina wojt, the editor of the "Kwartalnik", the school in Pobiedno, the school in Bukowsko and ks. Kudła, the pastor in Bukowsko.
I sent an email to Adam setting up more time that I would need him (during the day when Robert is teaching) and we ordered dinner. I had kaszanka and Dave had bigos. He loves bigos. Everything was very good.
We walked back to the hotel for the night. We couldn't drive anywhere because I had a drink and drinking and driving in Poland is not tolerated. This is the downside of me doing the driving when we visit friends and family - I can't join in on the wódka!
Note to self: buy an ice tray for drinks in our room.
So, we settled in. The fans seemed to be doing the trick. I don't like leaving windows open at night (even if they only open at the top) since there aren't window screens and leaving the window open means leaving the curtains open which means bright sunlight at 4:00 a.m.!
So, dobra noc from the Bieszczady mountains, the birth place of my great grandmother, Magdalena Żytka and her ancestors. I've researched as far back in this line as the records allow. The records only go back to the late 1700s.
Villages in old. woj. Krosno: Brzozów and Trześniów.
June 7, 2016 Tuesday
Weather 68, blue skies with fluffy clouds
Sanok
List of villages is shown at the end of this day.
Other things I bring to Poland: galoshes in case the cemeteries are muddy when we want to "read" them. This time I also brought a plastic container with suction cups to hang in the shower. It holds our shampoo, conditioner when there’s nowhere to put them.
Awoke at 7:30 a.m. Nice thing about this room is that there is a shelf above the sink which is good since it doesn't have a vanity. Also there's a cabinet under the sink to store our stuff.
Breakfast was a little smaller than usual but this is a zajazd so we expected it. The coffee machine wasn't working so we had instant coffee. Eggs were made to order. Dave thinks this place is better than the Hotel Bona.
We left the zajazd at 10:15 for the Sanok branch of the Rzeszów Civil Archive. We'd been here several times before so we had no trouble finding it. The director asked us into his office and I showed him the letter he had sent back to me a month or so ago which listed the two books I was interested in. One was out for digitization but he brought the other to me in the reading room, after I filled out some forms.
Photography? No problem. The director spoke English and was straight forward but not what I would call friendly.
Bukowsko USC Book #1, birth, marriage and death records 1890-1902. Since the Bukowsko Triangle didn't have the death records covered by this book, I photographed all of them. I also photographed a few baptismal and marriage records that I was interested in. I did not film the whole book as I didn't have time. I thought I might go back to the archive on another day if I had time.
We finished at about 1:00 p.m. and drove to Kaufland's supermarket to pick up a few things: clothes pins (to close bags of chips), ice cube tray, vodka, brandy cookies, peanuts, beer and a Euro 2016 souvenir. The last five items were gifts.
We arrive back at the zajazd close to 2:00 p.m. Robert arrived shortly thereafter with his 11 year old daughter, Paulina. Robert brought the box I had shipped via container ship (boat) 2 months previous. The box contained gifts for family, schools and Robert's family.
We sat in the "kitchen/restaurant" of the zajazd and visited with Robert and his daughter. We went over our schedules and he called a few family members to set-up visiting times. Robert left at about 4:30.
Since it was still daylight Dave and I drove to Pisarowce and Pielnia to take village photos. We stopped on a road "in the middle of nowhere" to take a great photo of the church and village of Dudyńce. A man in a car pulled up next to us to see if we needed help. He spoke enough English to understand that I was visiting family in Bukowsko but right then we were just taking photos. What a nice guy. He told me Bukowsko was about 7 km down the road and to keep turning left. I guess he thought I didn’t know where to go.
We took photos in Pisarowce first and then in Pielnia. Though we had read the cemetery in Pielnia a few years ago, I'd never taken pictures of the church or the village.
We arrived back at the "motel" at about 6:00 p.m. and walked to dinner at the Dworek Sanocki (again). We each had a drink and dinner. At about 8:00 p.m. I realized that I was tired. What's new, right? I had to be up pretty early the next morning so I went to bed! The weather was cool right then and the previous night was great in our room. The fans were all we needed last night and this morning.
Villages in old. woj. Krosno: Pisarowce, Pielnia.
June 8, 2016 Wednesday
Weather 72F, blue skies
Sanok - Bukowsko
Apparently we weren’t going to receive daily maid service which is OK actually. Dave pointed out that the sign on the closet said that if we needed to have the linens changed or the room cleaned to tell the clerk.
Up at 7:20 a.m. got ready (wore slacks and “dress” shoes) had breakfast and picked up Adam, our translator at 9:30 a.m. Adam speaks very good English even though he never studied it in school. Adam had started to turn gray but he’s only in his early 30's. We greeted and drove off to our first stop.
We arrived at my cousin, Helena's house in Sanok at 9:45. I hadn't called her but hoped she and her husband were home. Kisses all around and I gave them a gift. We were offered coffee or tea and cookies but we'd just finished breakfast so we declined. We visited a bit and Adam translated. We left at about 10 in order to be on time for our next stop in Bukowsko, about 20 minutes to a half hour away. It's not far but the speed limit is only 50 km/h.
We arrived in Bukowsko early so we went to the second floor (really third floor) store in the "mall" to buy the current "Kwartalnik" magazine.
At 10:30 we drove two blocks to the elementary school. When the school found out that I would be in town they invited me to a plaque installation honoring Kazimiera Kochańska (deceased), a former teacher and principal. Why? Because I was named the Ambassador to Bukowsko by the quarterly news magazine (no newspaper here), I'm well-known in the village (I've been there a lot) and I've spear-headed a project to photograph, translate and publish a diary written by Kochańska from the time of Akcja Wisła to the time she retired. My project has been in the works for over six years. I received a personalized invitation to the ceremony. In Poland it is the custom to include the guest's name on the invitation, not just on the envelope, so my name was on the invitation.
The first person I saw was my cousin, Ewa who is a teacher at the school and who was instrumental in getting me permission to photograph the first "Kronika"/diary written by Kazimierz Kochańska in 1945 during Akcja Wisła. There were several older folks already seated in the shade so we grabbed three spots in the same area. Though it was in the low 70's, the sun was hot. I was greeted by several more people; Kazek my cousin who works at the school, Dorota my cousin who used to work at the school, Janina my cousin who used to work at the USC, Janusz Sitarz the school principal, the vice-principal, the wojt (mayor), ks. Kudla the pastor, Henryk Pałuk the "Kwartalnik" editor, Pani Ćwiakąła the mother of the man I met in Namyślin a week ago (he called her!), Zofia Żytka another cousin, Irena Pleśniarska who said she read about me on the internet and in the "Kwartalnik". I have been having trouble connecting two Pleśniarski families (one or both of them are related to me) so I quickly got Irena's phone number and address and made some notes; all this while trying to say Hi to other people I knew. My head was swimming.
One woman thanked me for putting the Bukowsko records online because she was able to do her own genealogy - and she lives in Bukowsko!
There were about 125 people in attendance at this outdoor event held in front of the school. There was an honor guard of girl scouts, several students who introduced people, a stage, flowers, the new plaque and a long line of posters that had Kochańska's vital records, photographs and GASP! pages from her diary! I just about died. These were facing the hot sun deteriorating. The prized pages I had been working so hard to copy . . . I later realized that the display items were scans of the originals and calmed down.
The principal gave the opening remarks mentioning some of those in attendance including local government people, Kochańska's granddaughter, the wojt, retired teachers, ks. Kudla, Marcin Paszkiewicz, historian and Debbie Greenlee from stanu/the states! Was I shocked! I stood-up as others had done.
The ceremony lasted an hour and a half. Marcin Paszkiewicz gave a nice history of Bukowsko and the area from WWII through Akcja Wisla. Though I didn't understand a lot of what he said (Adam couldn't translate all the time because it was disturbing people) I knew I wanted a copy of Marcin’s speech. One woman gave Kochańska's history, Kochańska's granddaughter spoke about her babcia, another woman talked about working with Kochańska and about 12 kindergarten students sang and danced the Krakowiak in folk costume. They were so darling.
After the ceremony I approached Marcin Paszkiewicz about getting a copy of his speech but instead he offered to send me a copy of his history book which was coming out soon. I gave him my card. As it turned out I received a copy of his speech a few days later via email.
We followed the crowd into the gym for coffee and cake. It was very nice but my head was whirling from meeting people I didn't know who wanted to talk "family." How could I fit them into my schedule?
After the reception Ewa took us to her classroom with THE BOOK. I told her it was a wonderful present. The principal came in and I told him the same thing since Kochańska's "Kronika" (diaries) were the property of the school. I gave the principal a gift and a box of school supplies, toys and other items the school would use as prizes and incentives. These items were in the box I had sent to Robert by boat. I buy this stuff when it's on deep discount after school starts in the U.S. I told Sitarz that I would be very careful with the book and I would send him a CD of the images.
It took about 45 minutes to photograph the "Kronika." Though we had brought a flatbed scanner we couldn't use it because it would have damaged the book. I photographed each page, uploaded the images to the computer and verified that they were clear and complete.
We drove to the gmina (office of the government and "Kwartalnik") to visit with the wojt Błażejowski. I hadn't made an appointment. I never do. If he's busy fine, we'll see him next time. He wasn't. Dzien dobrys. I gave him a gift in a bottle and we sat down at the table in his office to talk. He had just returned from a leave of absence. He injured himself (he's in his 60s) teaching a granddaughter to skate. We talked about improvements in the gmina; a big one is the new and only gas station! We talked about the lack of a good hotel in Sanok and the area, his hobby which is restoring old motorcycles, and the fact that the Zajazd Bukowsko was closed and for sale. The wojt didn't know the asking price. This building is in terrible condition. It might be cheaper to tear it down and start over. Dave was not even curious as to the asking price.
I still had one other person to see so we said our good-byes. The wojt wanted to know how long I'd "be" in Bukowsko. I told him 8 more days. I had the feeling he'd be keeping an eye on me.
Next stop was the "Kwartalnik" office of Henryk Pałuk in the same building. I gave Henryk a gift and we exchanged pleasantries and talked about how the internet has helped people connect. I asked for hard copies of the "Kwartalniks" that had been published since my last trip two years ago. No problem. One thing we talked about was Henryk's retirement. He doesn't have a successor. Not good.
That ended our visits for the day. We took Adam home at 4:00 p.m. in time for him to make a presentation to a potential customer. I had forgotten but Adam and his wife had renovated and moved into a flat near the rynek. He still wanted me to pick him up and drop him off at his parents house as that was where his employees meet him before work.
Dave and I drove to the rynek. Paid parking is about 500 feet behind the rynek. I checked out a small souvenir shop and a Cepelia (chain souvenir store) while Dave ordered a beer under an umbrella on the square. We decided to eat at the Karczma which was on the rynek. Not much different than the dwórek where we'd eaten the two previous nights but it was easy. Dave had kaszanka and kapusta. I had red barszcz and we shared smalec. During all this I typed!
We were finished by 6:20 p.m. We thought we might hang out on the rynek until we had room for ice cream. Well, we didn't do that. We took a few photos from the rynek and then drove back to the hotel where I tried to re-organize the gifts I brought and tried to make sure I had something for everyone we were going to visit or might visit.
We counted our clean clothes to see if we really needed to have anything laundered before we headed home in 16 days. Dave didn’t need anything (not sure how that happened) but I needed a few things so just washed them in the sink. My jeans were going on day 23 without being washed. I wasn’t going to have them washed as I had another pair of jeans if I broke down and felt like I needed a clean pair.
What does my gene-valet do while I'm typing? He either reads or watches U.S. TV or movies on his iPad.
I had to type this on the bed as the chairs are so short that my back aches from sitting on one earlier.
Time to think about going to bed.
June 9, 2016 Thursday
Weather 73F, slight drizzle in the afternoon in Bukowsko
Sanok - Bukowsko, Zahutyn
We awoke at 6:45 a.m. because we had to be in Pobiedno at 10:00 a.m.
This Zajazd seems to stay full. There are nine rooms; singles, doubles and a triple (ours). Breakfasts don't change but they don't change at my house either.
We drove 20 minutes to Pobiedno which would be 10 minutes as the crow flies but the roads there curve through the villages and wind around so it takes longer. There was no parking left at the school so we parked across the street at the little sklep. Robert met us at the front door of the school and ushered us to the principal's office. It's been a long time since that's happened! We met the principal and the vice-principal during our last visit so greetings were more like, "Glad to see you again." We chatted for a few minutes in the principal's office and were offered coffee, tea, water and cookies. I gave the principal two bags of items for the school as well as a monetary gift from a member of Bukowsko Triangle. This generous person sent me money (at home) to help pay my expenses and to give to the Pobiedno school. I gave the principal the person's name, email address and ancestral names (Srogi and Starego). The principal was so surprised at the money and she assured me that she would email the donor.
After a few minutes we went into an English class of 15-16 year olds. Only two were boys. The kids were slow in getting started with their questions in English but eventually asked things like, "Are kids in America nice?" They also asked personal questions such as, do we have children, what's Texas like, what was our favorite place in Poland and so on. Robert showed them my web site with photos of their villages. Using Google maps he showed them our house, but you couldn't see it because of the trees in front. I explained why I come to Poland and mentioned a lot of my ancestral surnames. It's always fun to hear the kids repeat a surname because it's theirs!
After 1/2 hour or so we were ushered outside along with all the kids. It was quite noisy. The kids played outside for a few minutes and then had to go back into the building. We had noticed that there were two police cars across the street at the store (where our car was parked). I wasn't concerned as I knew what was going on (you'll find out).
This time we talked to a group of 10-11 year old English students. The day before they had learned about the word, "like." Most of the questions involved that word. "Do you like grapes? Do you like mushrooms? Do you have pets? Do you skate? Do you have a bike?" and so on. They were pretty cute. Some were more embarrassed than others. All of a sudden the "bell" sounded and we were ushered to the outdoor basketball court which is surrounded by a fence. It was an evacuation. Across the street "bad guys" drove up and jumped out of their car. A police car was right behind them as were two fire engines and ambulances. The police looked like a SWAT team. They pulled their guns on someone in the car, broke one of the windows, used smoke bombs, had a dog sniff for drugs, hosed the car down, pulled a "bad guy" (teenage actor from the school) from the car and handcuffed him, took another out on a stretcher, another smoke bomb, ripped the hood and a door off the car, used foam on the car. Then we saw a teacher in an open window on the second floor in the building across the street. Smoke was pouring out of the window. A hook and ladder pulled up and rescued the teacher. Hooray! All this time there are sirens, screeching tires and so on. A spokesman for this evacuation told everyone what was going on over a loud speaker as it happened. Pretty exciting! And during all this the 10-11 year olds were asking us questions in English. One little girl asked me if I like firemen. I said, "Yes, and most are handsome." She thought that was funny. "Do I have a daughter? Do I have a son? What is my favorite color? Do I sing? Do I play the guitar?"
Henryk Pałuk from the "Kwartalnik" was there along with the wojt, Principal Sitarz from Bukowsko and some other people I didn't recognize, believe it or not.
When the evacuation was over the principal thanked the police, firemen, dignitaries and myself (!) for taking part in this exercise. I was so surprised to hear my name - again.
School was now over. I told the teenagers and the younger children that if they saw me driving down the road to wave to me. They said they would. We said goodbye to Robert for the time being and drove to Bukowsko and bought two ice creams from the old deli near the bridge.
We drove through Bukowsko and noticed that it had the new gas station (owned by a chain) previously mentioned and new and more bus stops. Several houses now had American siding and a lot of houses had fresh paint; then there's the red house owned by a Hnat family who apparently lived in France for awhile. There was drainage improvement going on and new cobble stone sidewalks were being installed. We drove up the small road between the FOR SALE Zajazd and the fire station. At the top of the hill is a new house and they had painted the big shrine and added landscape around it. We continued driving up the road towards the Jewish Cemetery. At the turn-off we parked in the grass and walked the next 1/2 km to the cemetery. I am pretty sure the hill has gotten steeper and the 1/2 km is farther than it used to be. The road is only used by tractors so the ruts are deep and difficult to navigate. It started to drizzle so we hurried. I had promised Debbie Raff (Bukowsko Triangle) that I would take close-ups of the headstones so hopefully she could transcribe/translate them and put them on her web site.
We found the cemetery in the forest to be overgrown but not nearly as bad as it had been previously. Clearly someone had been visiting. There was a candle at the "entrance" and a candle at one of the headstones. Someone had recently cleared away the ground around one of the headstones. I didn’t understand why, if someone clears away one area why they didn’t clear the area around the other 13 headstones. I'd also like to know who's visiting this cemetery.
While we were in the woods, Dave saw a deer! All I saw were several snails that were larger than ping pong balls - mmmm, escargot!
It never did rain hard but our shoes and jeans were very dusty. You should have seen the car! It really needed to be hosed down.
We drove to Zahutyn which is between Sanok and Zagórz. It's a charming little village with pretty front yards. We photographed the church and its cemeteries which all sit at the top of a hill, drove up to a cloister/klasztor and took photos of a few homes and the school for my web site.
Back to Sanok. Driving around Sanok we saw a mall (Galeria), several "Delikatasy Centrum" stores (larger than 7-11), and the Soviet Prisoner of War cemetery. We had until 4:30 p.m. so we drove to the skansen to look for souvenirs and I found some! We had visited this skansen several times before so we didn't bother this time though it is one of the best and largest in Poland.
At 4:30 p.m. we picked-up Robert in front of his building (apartment) and drove back to Bukowsko to have dinner with my cousin Tadeusz and his wife, Ewa Kseniak. Ewa is a teacher at Bukowsko school and Tadek is a postman. I gave them both gifts and in turn Ewa gave me some books and a Sanok newspaper that had an article and photos about Bukowsko during Akcja Wisła.
Gałabki with real mushrooms! Yeah for me. Ewa served us each four huge cabbage rolls. I could only eat two but they were soooo good. Vodka followed, but not for me since I was driving. Dave, Tadek and Robert shared a few toasts. The conversation was lively and enjoyable. I promised to email Tadek a section of our "tree". We left at 8:45 p.m., dropped Robert at his flat and drove back to our room.
So, that was our busy day.
June 10, 2016 Friday
Weather 60F in a.m.; 73 in p.m. Drizzled a little
Sanok - Bukowsko
Awoke at 7:30. Picked-up Adam at 10:00 a.m. Our first stop was the house of Janina Kutiak Nowaczek and her husband Wacław Nowaczek. Both of them are my cousins. Witam! Kisses, hugs and gifts. Both Janina and Wacław seemed genuinely happy to see me - and I them. I saw Janina already at the Bukowsko school during the program for Kazimiera Kochańska. We went into the combination living room / dining room and sat down at the table. Glasses, cups, plates and bakery goods were already on the table. It was time for śniadanie #2.
ASIDE: In Poland most dining tables (kitchens are usually too small for an eating table) are placed in front of the sofa and quite often the sofa folds out into a bed.
We accepted herbata and small pączki that were really good! Wacław actually came in a few minutes after we arrived. He had been out mushrooming in the forest. He brought home 80 mushrooms for drying.
We talked for awhile about our families, the trips they had taken, where we'd been and where we were going. Janina knows Bukowsko family lines because of her job at the gmina recording and looking-up vital records. We visited for about 1 1/2 hours at which time I said we had an appointment with ks. Kudła. As we were leaving Janina said she would show us where my great grandmother's house had been. I was having trouble figuring this out. As anyone from Bukowsko knows the village burned down at least four times and each time a home was rebuilt it was given a new address even if it was on the same property. Trying to trace properties is very difficult and confusing. We said our goodbyes to Wacław and drove up the road a short distance (it's not like anything in Bukowsko is a long distance) passed the last curve in the road heading towards the end of town. Janina had me stop in front of house #239 which is now owned by the Piłats and house #238 which is owned by Stawarczyk but was owned by Szaszowski. The Żytka property would have been between the two houses back in late 1800s. Farther up the road was house #240, Jasiczek followed by house #241. The Zadylak house was next followed by the Kseniak home and the Hnat home. I told Janina I should have taken her for a ride earlier and we could have "labeled" the whole village. I drove her back to her house and she said we should stay with her the next time we come to Poland since it's only herself and her husband in the house. We kissed and hugged and then drove two minutes to the priest's house behind the church.
A new addition is the funeral chapel which sits next to the church. It was built within the last year and is used by people from Nowotaniec as well as Bukowsko.
I rang the bell and ks. Kudła opened the door. I gave the traditional Polish greeting to a priest (I practiced it but can't remember it now) and we went inside to his dining room. I gave him a gift and also gave his housekeeper some candy and cookies. We were served tea but this time with honey from Tokarnia bees. It tasted so good and different. I also gave the priest money which was sent to me by people who requested images of their family's records. I also included the names of those people, their location and the surnames of their ancestors. He was very grateful. I gave him a donation from myself as well.
We talked about my family, his family (his mother is 94), the new funeral chapel (with a cooler), cremation (which is available in Poland), the people I had visited and those I was going to visit, and American politics. We visited until 2:00 p.m. when I decided we'd taken up enough of his time. We took the biannual photograph and said our goodbyes. Kudła is really a nice guy.
Next stop, the Bukowsko kindergarten. I had a bag of small toys I had decided to give the school in appreciation of the wonderful performance some of the students had put on during the Kochańska event. I did not call ahead but did not intend to spend much time there. The director agreed to see us and thanked us for the gifts. She said each new item is an opportunity for a child to learn. Since the kids were still in school she was busy but insisted on showing us around. The school has a total of 70 students but needs more room which means a bigger building. We were there for about 20 minutes and then said our goodbyes. The director invited us back the next time we were in town.
Now what? I had Adam call my Oleksów relatives to see if if we could stop by now as had been discussed earlier. No, it wasn't a good time. OK. So, Adam called Irena Pleśniarska, the apparent relative who approached me during the Kochańska ceremony and asked me to come see her and her brother. Well, they couldn't see us today or the next day. This news cut my day short! I drove Adam home and we went back to our zajazd. I typed a little and tried to re-group for Saturday.
At 4:50 p.m. Robert called and said he would pick us up for dinner. Dave asked Robert if he knew how to get to the zajazd. Of course! We grabbed the gifts and went downstairs to wait. Robert showed up within a few minutes and almost passed us by. He didn't know how to get there! LOL
Robert's flat is close to our zajazd. He parked near the building's flat and we walked up four flights to the apartment. Anna, his wife and Patryk his son were waiting for us. Hugs, kisses, Witamy! I gave Anna and Patryk their gifts (Robert and Paulina had received theirs a few days earlier. Patryk is 18 and likes Hip Hop so I gave him a music CD suggested by my son. I also gave him a tie which he can wear for his matura (high school exams). Both he and Anna thanked us and had us sit down at the table which was in the combination dining room/living room/parents' bedroom. The flat has four rooms and a bathroom including the kitchen. Each of the children has their own room.
Shortly after we arrived Paulina came home. She had been at gymnastics in Zahutyn being taught by a coach who was on "Poland has Talent." This man pays for the building and his expenses by picking up glass and cans and selling them for recycling.
I gave the Koczera kids two packages of Pop Rocks. They really liked them. I should have brought more.
Anna served so much food I teased her that it was like "wesela." We had red barszcz with mushroom and lamb's ears (dumplings), bigos, two kinds of pierogi, smalec, sliced meats, cucumbers, tomatoes with mozzarella, bread, homemade sausage, apple cake, water and sok. We were stuffed and couldn't even try everything. The food just kept coming. Then the wódka and two kinds of bimber showed-up. I tried one of the bimbers and holy cow it was strong. Anna made me drink something similar to "Bailey's Irish Cream." There was a lot of talking. Anna doesn't speak English but she understands a lot. Patryk does pretty well with English. BTW He is so cute.
At one point Robert showed us a Youtube video on his TV of "The Chaos" a poem that illustrates the many English words that are spelled alike but pronounced differently. It was pretty eye opening and worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1edPxKqiptw
Paulina was a typical 11 year old; she showed us some gymnastic moves, put on makeup and practiced doing her nails. I had given her an Elza and Anna doll (movie, Frozen) so she showed me the other toys she had from that movie. LOL I'd sent them to her at Christmas and she was teasing me.
The conversation included futbol (soccer), boxing, hockey, teaching in Poland and the U.S., the kids and stuff. After a few drinks it was time to go home. Dave and I were so full. Patryk was our driver since Robert had a few drinks. Patryk didn't mind and I thought he was a good driver, confident and competent. We said our goodbyes at the zajazd and agreed that we would meet Saturday at about 3:30 p.m.
Dave and I went upstairs and went to bed. It was about 9:00 p.m. We were so full!
June 11, 2016 Saturday
Weather 65F, Rain
Sanok - Bukowsko, Nowotaniec, Nagórzany.
Let's start with the phone call we received at 2:00 a.m. (7:00 p.m. Texas time) Friday night/Saturday morning. Our youngest son, Josh, had been checking on our house and paying bills for us while we were gone. He called to say that two of the fire alarms in the house were beeping, indicating low batteries. He took one battery out to see what kind to replace it with and the alarm company called the house. Josh explained the situation and then called us for instructions. Thankfully the fire department wasn't called.
About two years ago we replaced our alarm system. We'd not replaced the batteries since. Seems I have to add that job to Dave's "To Do" list. The batteries are unusual ones so we didn't have any spares at home. Dave suggested that Josh go to "Batteries Plus" and buy three batteries and replace all three in the house. Josh had to be at a job in Oklahoma the next morning (Saturday) so he was not happy about this complication/delay. It seems that every time we go to Poland something happens at the house. Josh has become more resistant to "watching" the house while we're gone because of this. But, this is what happens when you own a house! We try to plan for all possibilities but it's an impossible task. I suppose I need to spread the responsibility around and have our older son take care of the house as well.
So, this interrupted our sleep and then we worried whether Josh was able to get to the store before it closed and whether the store had the needed batteries. Dave emailed Josh about our concern after an hour and was told that everything was now fine. Of course, this situation kept us both awake for awhile.
We woke up (again) at 8:30, had breakfast and then went back up to the room so I could check a few things on the internet; was the Sanok branch of the Rzeszów civil archive closed today? Yes. Did the Sanok branch have the Bukowsko Record book #17 for Karlików yet? No.
We didn't have anything scheduled until later in the day so at 11:45 a.m. we finally left the zajazd. Our first stop was at the kantor in Sanok as we needed złoty to pay the hotel bill and Adam. I dropped Dave off on the main street (ul. Kościuszki) so he could go from one kantor to the other looking for a good deal. There were about eight kantors within two blocks of each other. I drove around (no parking on this main street) for a few minutes and then picked him up. The exchange rate was 3.852 złoty per $1.00 with no commission. The "no commission" is important as it can increase the amount you receive in the exchange and kantors don't always tell you in advance if they charge one. Dave asks in advance.
I bought two shades to put in the back windows of our rental car in support of Poland during Euro 2016. The shade is affixed to the windows with suction cups. The top half is white and the bottom half is red. Poles are really into showing their support for the home team. You can see flags on cars and people wearing red and white.
I decided to go to Nowotaniec and start photographing the headstones in the very large cemetery. We took our galoshes and umbrellas because it had rained quite a bit the day before. It was raining when we arrived but stopped so we put on our galoshes. It started raining again before we could get out of the car and it didn't stop. Though I don't mind photographing headstones in wet and muddy grass I won't do it in the rain. It's too difficult to hold an umbrella and a camera and move candles and flowers so I can see the headstone. If Dave held the umbrella for me (and one for him) it would be too slow. Why can't cemeteries be inside a building?
So we left and decided to find the Jewish cemetery in Nowotaniec. I had a map. We found a little dirt road between house #109 and #66 (these houses are next door to each other) and took it up a hill between fields. We found the location, approximately. It's a field now that has been planted through the years and there is no memorial, plaque or sign indicating that a Jewish cemetery was once in the area. I know the Jewish community is very involved in locating all the Jewish cemeteries in Poland so I don't know why this one has not been marked unless the property owner will not allow it. Think about it. If you were a farmer would you want people occasionally traipsing through your crops? Of course not. On the other hand perhaps some sort of arrangement could be made with the farmer. I know that the men who own the property where the Bełchówka Łemko cemetery is located will not allow anyone on their property.
We then drove to Nagórzany to see the condition of the cerkiew and its cemetery. It is now "roped-off" (string actually) to prevent people from entering the property. The cemetery is more overgrown than the Jewish cemetery in Bukowsko. I doubt that the weeds have been mowed since we were here two years ago. You can't even see the upright headstones. The cerkiew windows will certainly collapse within a short time now. Nothing has been done to preserve this church which has been in an increasing state of ruin since we first saw it years ago. Of course, when a building isn't used this is what happens. It would be nice if Łemkos could somehow protect/preserve this cerkiew and the one in Płonna but I think this would be a losing proposition.
Driving from village to village is slow because of the speed limits and the fact that sometimes there is no direct road. Dave mentioned earlier that they are moving the speed limit signs further and further from the villages. In many places now there are long, long stretches where the theoretical 90 kmh speed limit for roads practically doesn't exist because the city speed limit signs are back to back continuously.
We drove back to Bukowsko and took the road to the Nędze and Łazy neighborhoods in Bukowsko. There are many new homes in this part of town and the road is paved; narrow but paved. And then it stops. We hypothesize that at one time there was probably a footpath from town that went through Łazy and up to the hill where the Jewish cemetery is located. Taking this route would have meant that people could have crossed the existing bridge over the creek in town and also avoided the creek that you must now cross on the current road to the cemetery.
There's a new catering/homemade food store in Bukowsko. It's directly across from Janina Nowaczek's house and next to the "Delikatasy Centrum" store that has taken business away from the stores in the Bukowsko "mall." The new store is owned by a young woman from Wola Piotrowa. She was given assistance by the European Union and gmina to start her business.
We drove back to Sanok to check-out the new mall, Galeria. Parking is above the mall and there's not much of it. I can't imagine what it's like at Christmas since now most people drive rather than walk or take the bus. There are two levels to this mall. We found the ice cream shop and . . . We went into a Rossman's store and looked around, buying four Colgate toothbrushes, medium bristles, for about $2.00. What a buy! I have been making note of what U.S. cosmetics are sold over there and Maybelline and L’oreal seem to be the only ones. My makeup, Covergirl is not sold here. So I am glad I brought enough.
Television shows in Poland:
Master Chef Junior - Poland
Handelarz - Storage Wars - Poland. I don't know how they get the items though. I don't think there are storage lockers over here.
Usterka - Poles remodeling homes in Britain - or not. It's sort of like "To Catch a Contractor" crossed with "Sure I can do it even though I don't have experience."
Couch People - it's just like the show in the U.S. except that Poles are sitting on their couches watching U.S. television programs giving their reactions and comments. This show is too stupid even in the U.S.!
At 3:30 we picked up Robert and drove to my cousin Dorota's house in Bukowsko. Dorota and Roman share their home with their daughter, Marta, Marta’s husband and their eight year old daughter, Patrycja. I had already seen Dorota and the Kochańska function a few days prior. ** I pulled the car up into the front yard making sure to drive on the brick path driveway. Dorota and Patrycja came outside to greet us. Kisses, hugs, witam! I gave Dorota a few gifts for her and Roman.
We went inside and sat down at the dining table in the living room. Marta and Roman (her Dad) came in a few minutes later and greetings were exchanged again. While we talked Dorota was dishing up obiad (lunch). She served us pork roast with boiled potatoes, cold broccoli florets and a tossed salad. Water and juice were on the table as well. Everything was so good. I am really glad and fortunate that everyone in my family is a good cook. After we ate we talked some more about the families, life in Bukowsko and Poland (high unemployment rate). We found out that a Pole can earn as much money in one week in Holland as they can in Poland in one month! This is a common story. Poles go to other EU countries to work for a few months because there are so few jobs available in Poland and when the jobs are available the pay is low.
While we were at Dorota's an ambulans (Polish spelling) arrived to the house next door. The 64 year old woman had been having trouble breathing. Apparently things got worse for her. This woman was to have a knee operation a few years ago but when it was time she was sick so she had to go to the "end of the line." Since she couldn't get around she gained a lot of weight, acquired breathing difficulties and so on. The ambulans left with the neighbor and her daughter followed in the family car. I asked Dorota how an ambulans could find any house in Bukowsko since there are no street signs/street names, the houses are not numbered sequentially and many houses don't even have their addresses on the house. She said someone stands out on the street and waves down the ambulans or tells the ambulans company that the house is the fourth one from the church for example. I know for a fact, thanks to our friend Monika, that there is an APP that lists the house numbers for each house in Bukowsko.
We talked about storks! There are a few nests in Bukowsko and one is two houses down from Dorota. She said there was a fight at the nest this year so there weren't any eggs. I don't know why these birds are fighting. I've seen plenty of empty nests during our travels. True, some need remodeling but what the heck?
I never did get the opportunity to talk to Dorota about genealogy. She too, is interested and knows almost everything and everybody in Bukowsko.
At about 7:00 p.m. we said our goodbyes to Dorota and the family and drove Robert back to his flat. We drove on to the zajazd for the night. There was no parking available at the zajazd. It was full, which meant there were 7 cars parked there. We had to park off the road, on the grass across the street, as did two other cars. I wasn't pleased about this. Upstairs we settled in and went to sleep.
** Update: In early July, 2016, after we had returned to the U.S., Marta’s husband drowned in a lake near Bukowsko. This tragedy devastated the family.
June 12, 2016 Sunday
Weather 68F blue skies with fluffy clouds
Sanok - Bukowsko
Gymnastics Coach: My friend Monika in Kraków sent me the following information so I thought I'd pass it along in case anyone is interested. Keep in mind that in the U.S. parents pay thousands of dollars to have their children taught gymnastics.
and
https://www.facebook.com/Miru-Spartan-479404532111064/?fref=ts
INFO: Everyone in Poland has to pay a monthly fee for their television in addition to their satellite fee!
We awoke a little after 8:00 a.m. No plans until later in the day so we took our time getting ready and eating breakfast. I decided to wash out a few things for the last time and get caught up on my diary.
At 1:00 p.m. we drove to Prusiek (on the way to Bukowsko) to pick-up Ewelina who would be our translator for the afternoon. We met Ewelina two years ago at Paulina Koczera's First Communion (see my web site www.polishfamily.com ). Ewelina is Paulina's godmother and she speaks English.
On our way to Bukowsko on Saturday, Robert showed us where Ewelina lives so we didn't have any trouble finding her house today.
We arrived at Ewelina's home about 1:30 p.m. She invited me inside to meet her mother, and say hello to her husband and two sons. She wanted to show me around the house which sits high up on a hill and has a great view of the area but I said only if her mother agreed. Her mother said the house was a mess. So there you go! Ewelina gave me a CD of Kazimiera Kochańska's "Kronika" (yes, the same one that I just photographed on Wednesday). I had asked her two years ago to copy all of the books and put them on a CD for me and one for the school. I was to pay her for her time and the CD. Well, I never received it so I didn't know what to think. And then she gave it to me today. I was very pleased of course, but bewildered. Ewelina would not take money for the work.
On the way to our appointment in Bukowsko Ewelina asked who we were going to see. I told her the Łuszcz family. She said she had recently attended a wedding where the groom was a Łuszcz. I didn't know anything about this. When we arrived at the Łuszcz home Ewelina realized that indeed she knew the bride and groom. I think that relaxed her a little. We were greeted outside by Wacław Łuszcz my cousin. Kisses. We went inside and up the stairs. All homes involved going up the stairs to get to the main floor.
Bronisława Hnat Łuszcz was in the dining room with her daughter Helena who is my Facebook friend. Bronisława is my closest living cousin still living in Bukowsko. She was 95 years old now. Bronislawa's mother was the niece of my great grandmother, Magdalena Żytka. So for me this second visit was very important. Bronisława's mother was Agata Klepczyk and her father was Michał Hnat. Though Agata and Michał had two sons born in the U.S. they returned to Poland and added to their family. They both died in Bukowsko.
I gave gifts to Bronisława, her daughter Helena who lives in Sanok, Wacław whom Bronisława’s son and Teresa, Wacław's wife. We sat down in the dining room and Teresa served us cakes and tea. I started the conversation with photographs given to me by Ann Poslosky a cousin in the U.S. Ann found these photos amongst her parents' things and couldn't identify all of the people in the pictures. I have been asking people I see in Bukowsko if they can identity anyone in these photos. Until today, I've not had any luck. Most of the photos show events which happened in 1910-1911, before Bronisława was born but I thought perhaps she would recognize someone or even recognize a photo. The one photo Bronisława and her son and daughter could identify had three people in it. They were: Agnieszka Łuszcz, her husband Józef Wojtaszek and their daughter Józefa. Agnieszka was the sister of Wacław's father, Michał Łuszcz. Agnieszka was also the sister-in-law of Bronisława Hnat Łuszcz. Bronisława thought the photo was taken in France. The family was quite surprised to see a photo of their own family.
Józefa Łuszcz married a Dutka in Detroit, Michigan and their daughter is Lorraine Dutka. So, Ann, there you go!
I knew I had taken photographs of the graves of Agata Klepczyk and her husband Michał Hnat years ago because I checked my index. What I didn't know before now was where those graves were located in the cemetery so I asked and was told they were on the left side as you enter the cemetery from the church pathway. I planned to visit these graves before I left the area. I don't know why it never dawned on me before that these graves would still exist. It was just too easy to check the index on my web site! I am so busy gathering information for others that I often neglect my own research.
Agata Klepcyzk's sister, Anna Klepczyk married Tomasz Pleśniarski in New Jersey. Though I am in contact with their granddaughter who is my age, I didn’t have enough information about Tomasz. The Bukowsko record books for his birth date are missing.
Where did Michał Hnat and Agnieszka Klepczyk live in Bukowsko? Behind the big shrine to St. John which is just up the street from Janina Nowaczek's house. I knew the spot! Turn left after the shrine and Agnieszka and Michał’s grandsons’ homes were on the left. One was a white "tall" house and the other is a wood house. Agnieszka and Michal's grandsons Aleksander and Krzysztof Hnat own houses next to each other. Aleksander's is the two story house. I decided to return to that area to get their house numbers and take photos.
I was asked about my connection to Kazimiera Kochańska. Helena Łuszcz Rojek knew that I had been at the ceremony because I told her on Facebook. I explained that Kochańska was not family but I was so impressed with her as a person and teacher that I felt compelled to have her diary translated into English. Bronisława and both of her children remembered Kochańska fondly. Helena reminded me that Kochańska could recite from memory all of Mickiewicz's poem, "Pan Tadeusz". That's quite an accomplishment. Look it up and I think you'll be impressed too.
Helena gave me some very nice gifts and I was very pleased. Bronisława also gave me a medallion of Pope John Paul II from her shelf. One of the best gifts though, and I can't explain why, is when Bronisława said, "Debbie."
At 4:00 p.m. I said we had to leave. Ewelina needed to attend the Prusiek school picnic. I reminded the family to look for a particular family photo and that they had two years to find it. Everyone laughed. We took a couple of family photos, hugged, kissed and said our goodbyes.
We took Ewelina home and decided to have dinner at Xavitos in Sanok. We've eaten pizza here before and we think it's pretty good. Dave was able to get another Cieszyński beer so he was quite happy. We shared a small (25 centimeters) pizza and then I ordered an ice cream sundae that had vanilla ice cream strawberries, peaches, grapes, whipped cream and a cherry on top (11 zł). It was so good but I couldn't finish it so Dave did.
Which reminds me. Most menus in Poland list the size of the foods by grams or centimeters so you know how much food you're getting. If you order meat with potatoes, the menu will list the grams for each one.
Just as we were ready to leave Xavito’s THE soccer game started (Poland vs. Northern Ireland in Euro 2016). The streets were pretty empty. Everyone was somewhere watching the game.
We drove straight back to the zajazd and men were working on the street nearby. We only noticed because it was Sunday and Dave thought the tiny front end loader they were using was cute. He even took a photo of it with his phone. Oh, and the water was turned off. Dave went down to reception and they both went out to the men working in the street. The water would only be off for an hour and they were right.
Once in the room we turned on the soccer game and watched Poland score the only goal of the game. Yeah! We won! The TV showed the American embassy in Warsaw cheering for Poland.
Well, it was now 8:30 p.m. and I needed to work towards going to bed. It was supposed to be dry the next day so we planned to photograph the Nowotaniec cemetery. We were running out of time to read this cemetery.
June 13, 2016 Monday
Weather 70F, sunny rano, cloudy and breezy po południa.
Sanok - Nowotaniec
Woke up at 7:00 a.m. and went to breakfast at 9:00. I had to check a few things on the internet (archives info, addresses, family info).
For breakfast I had coffee (my third cup for the day), strawberry granola, toast using "hearty bread". Dave had chocolate granola, kawa, kielbasa, ser and chleb.
We gassed up the car last night so we wouldn't have to take the time this morning. We drove to Bukowsko and took photos of the Hnat "boy's" homes. They are my cousins but I've not met them and probably won't unless it's during another trip. One of them owns a garden nursery.
Next stop was the Bukowsko cemetery. After I "read" it a few years ago I vowed I'd never go back but I had to see the graves of my great grandmother Żytka's niece and her husband (Agata Klepczyk and Michał Hnat). Before going to the cemetery I verified on my web site that I had indeed indexed their graves. I get so involved in gathering information I often forget to look for my own family! It was pretty cool seeing these graves as they are the oldest ones to survive in any of my ancestral lines in Poland.
We noticed something interesting in the Bukowsko cemetery. The old stone headstone/monuments have been gathered and lined-up in one area. I am sure the graves have been re-used but these monuments are so old that "they" wanted to keep them so this was how they decided to do it.
Bukowsko cemetery has huge snails.
Then to work! 11:00 a.m. Both Dave and I started filming headstones in the Nowotaniec cemetery. We had filmed the little cemetery across the path a few years ago and that is indexed here: http://semanchuk.com/gen/
My plan for this trip was to film the big cemetery so we started in the back section. Dave went from front to back and I went from back to front. The cemetery has been divided with cobblestone walkways so it was easy to divide it up for photographing. Even though it was only about 70F it was hot and we were both perspiring. I hate that. After two hours we'd finished the back section and took a break in the car with the air conditioning on. We brought bottles of water but no lunch. After about ten minutes we went back to work. I have to say I didn't want to; my back hurt and I was hot but I had taken on this job so I had to finish or attempt to finish it.
We started filming the middle right section (as you face the church across the street). We divided up sections using the sidewalks. After a short time Dave's camera battery died. Seriously? We changed tactics. I filmed the headstones while he moved flowers and candles out of my way and kept track of which graves we'd filmed. Not all of the graves were in straight lines. We were taking between two and three shots per headstone depending on how many people were buried in a grave. If a headstone had a photo of the person (many do) then we'd take a close-up of that photo. This takes considerable time. At about 1:30 p.m. my camera card was full! So we went back to the car and moved the photos from my camera to the computer. Glad we brought the computer to the cemetery. This took about 15 minutes. Between the two of us we had over 1,000 images. While we were waiting for the images to transfer to the computer Dave wanted me to drive to the store in Nowotaniec and buy ice cream bars. I didn't.
We went back to work and were able to finish the middle right section. I was pleased. We'd probably recorded half of the cemetery. But there were still a lot of headstones to photograph. It would probably take about two hours with the both of us working. I was hoping to finish this cemetery either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. I didn't think there was any hope of us filming the cemetery at Zarszyn. There are a few other things we didn’t have time for either.
Nowotaniec cemetery has dozens of lizards. Odd since Bukowsko has snails.
We were finished for the day at about 3:30. We drove to Bukowsko (that's the road from Nowotaniec to Sanok) and bought ice cream bars and snacks at the "Nasza Sklep" (used to be the deli on the tri-corner). After we ate them we drove over to the mall in Bukowsko (1/2 block) to see if I could buy women's hankies. Only one store in Bukowsko might have had these. I looked around but couldn't see any. The clerk asked me (in Polish) if she could help. I started with "Nie mowie dobrze po polsku. Chciałbym . . . I couldn't think of the word! I pulled out a Kleenex. The lady showed me facial tissue. Nie. Then she showed me wet wipes. Nie. Dave finally found the word using Google translate; chusteczka damska! She walked over to a full counter with overflowing shelves and said she only had men's handkerchiefs. Phooey! I said, "Nie, dziękuję." Then she found handkerchiefs that you wear on your head. "Nie, dziękuję. Do widzenia."
We stopped into the mall's grocery store so Dave could look for different snacks. I picked up a jar of porzecka jelly to bring home. While we were shopping (this happens to be the store where my cousin's wife works but she wasn't there) Robert called to see how our day went. We talked for a few minutes, paid for our items and drove back to Sanok. We felt grimy so we stopped at the zajazd to clean-up a little.
We picked Adam up at 4:30. He was going with us to visit my “new” cousin Helena Łuszcz Rojek who lives in Sanok. We met her for the first time on Sunday though I had been Facebook friends with her and her daughter for a few months. Helena had invited us to her flat for a visit. Though Dave and I could not find the address on Google maps, Adam had no problem - good thing! As it turned out, I had been down Helena's street the other day while Dave was shopping kantors!
Helena lives on the first floor (hooray!). I rang the bell and Helena opened it immediately. "Witamy." "Dzien dobry." Hugs and kisses and introductions. We were ushered into Helena's living room and sat down. She already had four plates with cake ready for us. Tea was served as well. We talked about family again and she showed me her photo album as well a couple of photos taken in Bukowsko before WWII (a real find since very few photos survived the village burning). I was quite pleased. She didn't have any photos of her grandmother Agata Klepczyk because Agata died at a young age but she did have photos of her grandfather, Michał Hnat. While we talked Dave copied the photos. I made sure to write down the information for each photo in my notebook. I happen to have two photos of Agata Klepczyk though, before she married. I gave the Łuszcz’s copies of them.
I verified with Helena what happened to Agata Klepczyk's family's property. It agreed with what Janina Nowaczek had told me.
We stayed for two hours and then we said our goodbyes. I noticed that Helena had put out a Hallmark Christmas ornament I had just given her. Hallmark ornaments are something I collect. And you thought I only collected family! Anyway, the ornament was a pair of cowboy boots on a base that said "Texas." I explained that Hallmark had only made this kind of ornament for Texas so I thought it was a perfect gift! She loved it.
We drove Adam to his parents' home high on a hill overlooking Sanok. When we pulled up I could see a little boy shoveling sand. It was Natan, Adam's son. Natan said "Hello" to me - in English. Adam asked how old Natan was and he showed me three fingers. Adam asked Natan to count for me and he said, "One, two, three." In English! He can count to ten but only in English, not in Polish. What a riot!
We paid Adam for the time he translated for us and said goodbye though we made plans to take his family out to dinner another night. We hadn't had dinner so the question was, what to do? It was 7:30. I decided to go the room and Dave went the Dworek Sanocki for goulash on a potato pancake (Goral style) and a beer. That was fine by me.
I checked my email and was surprised to find one from the Przemyśl Civil Archives. They were responding to the request I sent on April 20 to have records pulled. My plan was to go there the next day, Tuesday. We would have to get up earlier than I planned on Tuesday because the archive only takes orders for records at 9:00, 11:00, and 1:00 p.m. and it's about a two hour drive. Glad I received the email!
So, good night!
June 14, 2016 Tuesday
Weather 68 RAIN and chilly
Sanok - Przemyśl
List of villages is shown at the end of this day.
Up at DAWN, well, 6:45 a.m. Had breakfast and on the road to Przemyśl by 8:30.
The Przemyśl Civil Archives sent me an email the previous night telling me which "notariusz"/notary records they had for Bukowsko and Ropczyce and included the call numbers - in a PDF which meant I couldn't just copy and paste the letter to get a translation. I had to send it "home" to a friend who kindly translated the letter for me. Record orders were only filled at 9, 11 and 1:00 p.m.
It rained. Normally it would take about an hour and a half to drive from Sanok to Przemyśl but I was afraid the rain would slow things down. Actually, the roads were pretty empty and we arrived in Przemyśl at about 10:00 a.m. We stopped at a gas station on the way for a bathroom break and to pick up a package of almonds for our lunch. Driving into the city I noticed that the Hotel Gromada is now Hotel Accademia.
We were able to park across the street from the archive. The first person you meet inside the archive is the bag check person. Backpacks and bags need to given to her and she has to see your passport. She does not speak English so communicating was a bit difficult. We took out the computer, scanner, camera and various wires and checked the backpack. The woman directed us inside the reading room. I'd been to this archive before but with translators. Today I was on my own. I walked up to the counter and showed the woman what I wanted. She didn't speak English but Gosia did. Gosia was curt and aloof or maybe she just wasn't sure about her English. Either way she was off-putting.
I was given three forms to fill out plus separate forms for each record item. No instructions in English but I pretty much knew what they wanted since I’d filled out requests at other archives. I was also given the index books for the records I wanted so I could list them on the forms. I'd never seen notariusz records so I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping that there would be indexes. Though difficult to figure out, three record items had indexes for hundreds of books and thousands of records. This was going to take awhile and I only had a few hours. I figured that if I looked at the indexes I could at least determine which records I wanted to see at a later date (if necessary). So, I ordered seven "books". I turned in my paper work at 11:00 am. There were four other people doing research and five employees.
There is now an air conditioner in the reading room. Each table has electrical outlets on the back. The Archive has WiFi but you have to ask for the log in and password.
45 minutes later I received two of the Ropczyce bundles I ordered from 1873 and 1874. I was given a cardboard bundle that held a large stack of old, fragile papers. I noticed Jewish surnames in the Ropczyce records which makes sense since there was a large Jewish population living there until WWII. I looked at a couple, flipped through a bunch of others and bundled everything back-up. I was not prepared to look at these records page by page (no index) and I knew there was no way I could even make a dent in one of these books and to wait two years to finish was silly. I returned the bundles and asked for Bukowsko. Gosia said I would have to wait. For what, the second coming of Christ?!
I sat down. One of the other women looked around the piles of books on the front counter and found two film boxes. She set them down on my table with no instructions. I guess Gosia didn’t realize that the Bukowsko notariusz records had already been pulled and were right there in front of her. I walked over to a microfilm reader, uncovered it, threaded the film and turned it on. Nothing. OMG! I asked a third woman for help. She had to call the man who actually filled the record orders and he found that a switch hadn't been turned on at the back of the machine. Good. But the film had not been rewound on its original reel so the film was reversed. I had to thread it backwards on the machine which meant looking at the records in reverse order. At least most of these were on typed sheets. Once I figured out where to find the names on these pages it went pretty fast except that I couldn't make the images smaller so I was constantly moving the image up and down. And there was no microfilm reader that copied or printed the images.
Oh, I noticed Jerzy Ćwiakąła’s (BT) name on one of the inventory cards. He’s a member of the Bukowsko Triangle and I met his brother in Namyślin.
I made notes about some of what I saw in these Bukowsko notary records. Most records seemed to be land transactions though some hand written pages could have been wills. Lots of Łemkos from all of the villages in the Bukowsko area and lots of Jewish names. If you have ancestors from either group as well as Polish, you might want to spend a few days in Przemyśl and go through these films. All papers had signatures. At the end of this report is a list of the Jewish names I found on one of the Bukowsko films.
At 12:30 p.m. everyone had to leave for 20 minutes. Are you kidding me? Could they make it any more difficult to do research here? Apparently all five of the staff in the reading room ate their lunch at the same time and they didn't want witnesses. So we all went out to the lobby and sat. I pulled out the bag of almonds and Dave and I had lunch too - in front of the other researchers.
At 12:50 p.m. we all marched back into the room and went back to work. I found a document with at least 20 signatures on it. I looked at the preceding typed pages and all those names were typed with a father's name included (Jan Żytka, son of Michał). I saw so many family surnames that I had to have a copy of this document. It took three shots to capture one page and there were about 10 pages. What a pain. After this I quit. My arm hurt, my back hurt, my shoulder hurt and my neck hurt from the hard-to-crank machine and the fact that it and the chair were at the wrong height. Being a good little researcher I wound the film back onto the reel it SHOULD have been on so it could be used correctly next time. In so doing, I found the indexes at the front of the film. Oj! There were hundreds of indexes. I didn't even bother to go through them. Again, I wouldn't have been able to finish. The only way to do effective research in the notariusz records is to rent a sleeping room at the archive (yes, Przemyśl has these) and spend a few days or a week in Przemyśl, no sightseeing, just going through these records. I am quite happy with the one document I photographed even though I hadn’t figured out what it was. I liked having all those signatures.
At 2:00 p.m. we packed up. I didn't even ask for the rest of the records and I didn't even bother to look at the other Bukowsko film. We headed back to Sanok but made several stops to photograph villages. We saw a stork in his nest atop a very tall factory chimney. He was king of the valley. We saw quite a few stork nests this day. We had also seen a lot of storks on the ground looking for food.
Dave liked driving through the forests this day. It rained all day until about 4:00 p.m. The road from Sanok to Przemyśl is two lane over two mountain ranges, uphill, downhill with lots of tight curves and switchbacks. Most of the time I couldn't get out of second gear.
We arrived back in Sanok at about 4:00 p.m. We parked the car near the rynek and walked around looking for a store that might sell hankies. I decided I needed to find women's underwear stores. In one store a clerk and her customers told me that finding hankies would be a problem.
We drove back to our room for about an hour. We were to meet Adam, his wife, Magda and their three year old son Natan for dinner at Xavito's at 6:00 p.m. We futzed around the room until 5:40 and the drove to the restaurant (we ate there the other night). We weren't there very long when Adam and his family arrived. Kisses and Dzien Dobrys. We all ordered pizza but Natan was given a milk shake. He said more things in English during dinner; fireman, fire engine, rock, truck. He knows numbers, body parts and animals. Kudos to his parents for getting him started on another language so young. Magda speaks English as well so the conversation was pretty easy. There's a kiddie playground at this restaurant but it was closed and Natan was not happy about that but he got over it.
I asked Magda where she thought I could find hankies and she suggested the Cepelia store. Of course! The souvenir store! And it's near an ice cream store. Magda also suggested a store called, Dream near the rynek and also near an ice cream store. Great! I would check them out on Wednesday. Dinner with Adam and his family was very enjoyable. We paid the bill, said "See you next time" and went back to the zajazd.
Wednesday would be our last full day in Sanok and it was up for grabs. I was hoping it wouldn’t rain so we could finish photographing the Nowotaniec cemetery. We also had to pack!
Some of the Jewish names in Bukowsko notary records 1930: Saul Noach Markel, Pajscha Stern, Marja Moskal, Kolman Kornreich, Mozes Werner, Józef Weinstein, Chaim Ziegler, Benjamin Sufrin, Chaja Sufrin, Hersch Gruber, Abraham Pinkas, Josel Langsam, Schaja Langsam, Berlem Ringlem, Abraham Kellerman, Chaim Mendel.
Villages in old. woj. Przemyśl: Boguszówka, Stara Bircza, Leszczawa.
Villages in old. woj. Krosno: Tyrawa Wołoska, Wujskie, Załuż.
June 15, 2016 Wednesday
Weather 75F, not and mostly sunny. Rain in the late afternoon
Sanok - Nowotaniec
4,156 km traveled so far
Stork Nests: 146
Tyrówki: 4
We were up at 8:00. The "kitchen" was out of wieners and kielbasa! Dave and I had granola, cheese, pate, ham, toast, bread and coffee. I only had some of those items, not all.
We left the zajazd at 10 and arrived at the Nowotaniec cemetery at 10:30 a.m. We forgot to fill-up our water bottles so there wasn't much in them (we'd left them in the car overnight). I'd also forgotten to bring something for lunch.
As on Monday, there was a man and woman working in the cemetery. He was weed-eating and she was sweeping off the cement around the graves with a broom that should be outlawed. The broomstick was only about a foot long! I never could figure out if they were only cleaning-up their own family's graves or if they were paid to clean-up specific graves and add new candles. If they weren't being paid then they had a really large family.
We photographed the rest of the cemetery. Hooray! I don't have to go back there. HaHa We worked from 10:30 - 12:30 and took one break in the car turning on the air conditioning, drinking the water we had and eating the few almonds I left in the car from our trip to Przemyśl. It was hot! How can 75F be so hot?
We got back to work and finished up. We were hot, thirsty, sweaty, and my back hurt. The rows were irregular, we had to contend with high weeds (I almost paid the weed-eater guy to cut down the weeds around the graves we needed to photograph), and no shade except at the sides of the cemetery where trees shaded the ground. I spotted the cutest little pine cones on one of the trees and grabbed a handful. I would dry them and spray paint them gold and use at Christmas. Don't tell the U.S. Customs agents!
Once finished with the Nowotaniec cemetery we decided to drive through some of Bukowsko as a goodbye. Of course Dave had to have an ice cream bar from the Deli first. We drove around a little and took a few photos; cute pink bushes, brightly colored homes. We drove down a road behind a local grocery store and I said, "Is that Roman?" Sure enough. It was my cousin's husband. We said hi and I told him we were taking photos. Roman told us that his hand, after surgery was much better. At least that's what I think he said. We said goodbye and drove to Zboiska. I decided to get some updated photos for the woman on Bukowsko Triangle who donated money to the Pobiedno school. Her family is actually from Zboiska. The kids from Zboiska and a few other small villages, attend school in Pobiedno.
We headed back to Sanok. I was still looking for handkerchiefs. We tried the Cepelia and another store but no luck. Just as at home these are hard to find now that facial tissue is available.
We went back to the zajazd and unpacked all of the suitcases and started re-packing them. We didn't want to open one of them until we got home so we had to pay attention to what we were doing. It had rained and was hot so we changed into shorts/capris. My jeans lasted about 37 days. They were now in with the other dirty clothes that would be washed when we arrived home. If we hadn't waded through weeds and dirt in the cemeteries I may have worn the jeans all the way home. Thursday is supposed to be pretty warm in Lublin and on Friday it will be almost 90F! That's shorts weather. We were going to leave our fan at the zajazd but I'm afraid we'll need it in Lublin and even Warsaw.
At 5:30 p.m. we walked over to the Dwórek Sanocki (two houses down) and waited for Robert and his family. This would be our last dinner. I told the waitress, in broken Polish, there would be six of us and she repeated in English what she understood me to say. We decided to order drinks while we waited. Hello scotch! Dave had a Cieszyn duzy. After a half-hour we ordered smalec and ate half the order saving the rest for our guests. They arrived at 6:30. The clutch on Robert's car went out! He tried to fix it but gave up and they walked to the restaurant which is about eight blocks from their flat. Robert had to attend a dance at school this evening! He was supposed to be there at 6:00 p.m. We ate dinner, talked and took photos. We gave Robert an opened bottle of vodka that we didn't want to put in our suitcase and knew we wouldn't finish before the end of our trip. I also gave the family plastic ware and paper plates that I brought in case we bought cake or something to eat in the room which we didn’t do. I told them they could use it for picnics. Anna gave me a beautiful tea cup and saucer painted in a wycinanki design. She also gave me pens with my name on them! Dave received a letter opener/key ring set and pen set, all engraved with the name I sign when I send Christmas cards, Dawid. Anna said the engraver told her the 'w' should be a 'v' but she knew I signed his name with a 'w' so that's what is engraved on the pens, letter opener and key ring. Dave loves them! Anna also gave me pen sets for our sons. Robert gave Dawid a bottle of Góralsko Kraina, vodka with honey. Pretty funny, we gave him a bottle and he gave us a bottle. This one plus two small bottles we received from Basia (Solec Kujawski) put us at 2 liters, the maximum we were allowed to take home.
After dinner Anna and Paulina walked home. We drove Robert to school otherwise he would have had to take the bus and then he would have been even later. When we arrived we could hear the music and saw a few teenagers standing around outside. Ah, high school dances. Yes, I did want to go in but I wasn't dressed appropriately and the kids probably would not have liked it.
So, for the last time we drove from the Bukowsko area to Sanok and to our room.
It would be about a four hour drive to Lublin so I wasn’t sure if we would take photos or not. It was possible that we had taken photos of the villages on our route during a previous trip.
And then it was time for bed. We would finish packing in the morning.