Well, it's truly been an awful lot of time since the last post got published, I believe we're past the 4 months!
At this point, only something special was going to bring me back here and, guess what, it's precisely what this holiday of mine was, something unforgettable that requires some lines to be jot down! :-)
-I haven't written much lately, please forgive any mistakes/confused and imprecise bits and just focus on the story itself, as it's definitely the main thing here! ;-)-
Now, what happened? Well, I went to Poland! It was a plan I had been cooking up for quite some time, hence why I was ready to take up any convenient offer that was going to come out.
But why did I go there? Admittedly, Poland wouldn't be the first choice for many, as that beautiful country doesn’t often get the credit it deserves and most people wouldn’t think of it as the perfect destination for a summer getaway -cold, grey, etc...(reminds a bit of certain parts of England in that sense eh ;-) )-. Luckily, I am not one of those people who get easily influenced by others' opinions and, after doing some research on my own and hearing how the mother and another couple of lucky friends had fallen in love with the country, I could but be eager to take off :-).
But I would be a huge liar if I said that sightseeing was what pulled me the most: I actually wanted to visit the dear Aurelia so bad -it had been almost a year since that way too quick meeting in Brighton, I couldn't have that, definitely not! ;-)- and she wanted to see me too, so, considering the motivation, a plan was bound to come out at some point, as it did eventually. Booked the flights, booked the hostels, bob's your uncle, I was going to Poland!!
Now, I am not going to give an accurate description of everything we did during those 4 days we managed to spend together, that'd take me ages...Knowing I won't get to see that lovely person in God knows how long -I always get quite depressed when I think about it-, I did my best to treasure every second of that precious time (having a good memory helped a lot in that sense!), which means I have potentially enough material to write an encyclopedia size post. Nah, better if I hold myself eh? ;-)
I'll start with saying it was special. Special beyond any possible imagination. I was welcomed in the warmest of ways, both by Aurelia herself and by her parents, despite being not much more than a complete stranger to them. I know some of you might think it's normal -I mean, I was the guest and she had to take care of me/be a good host etc etc-, but I can assure it is not, at least not at this level.
-with this I absolutely don't mean I thought they weren't going to be good with me, just that I wasn't ready for such kindness, generosity and hospitality...after all, who was I to them? Why should I deserve that much? I still am a bit surprised, but oh so thankful for everything...I can't really find the proper words, it's just too huge to be put down in writing!-
To give you an example, besides driving me around on a daily basis and giving advice on where to go and which activities to indulge in, I was even invited for lunch at their place on my very first day in Katowice (after an endless walk in Park Śląski with that bloody boiling temperature -thanks for that darling! ;-) ) and had homemade Gołąbki (see, they even took the time to prepare them for me!), a traditional Polish dish which consists of a cabbage roll with meat inside (apologies for the poor description eh, I suggest you google it to have a more precise idea) which I found absolutely delicious -despite the obvious struggles to learn the correct spelling and pronunciation (I believe it was funny for them to witness my pitiful attempts at that, but oh well, it was hilarious for me too ;-) ).
That aside, as mentioned before, Aurelia was an awesome host. She took great care of me -maybe too much, I am sure it wasn't a piece of cake for her, I would have been more than happy with half of what she did for me- and well, I am thankful for that, wholeheartedly.
-maybe my liver doesn't exactly stick with me on this one, but hey 'When in Poland, do as the Polish do', right? And they drink a lot, therefore my respect for their culture brought me to swallow quite a few liters of beer -surely more than I normally do, as I have never been a huge beer drinker haha-. On top of that, I was challenged by her -trust me, she was a tough opponent, overall we can call it a draw-, so naturally I had to take that up and go for it. Pride was involved here, it was serious ;-).-
Thanks to her I also got to see quite a lot in such a short period of time, which means I was able to appreciate Poland even more. Apart from Katowice, we spent a day in Wrocław (again, I dare anyone who doesn't speak Polish natively to guess the pronunciation. I'll pay you a tenner if you get it right on your first try and without using any extra resources ;-) ), which was simply lovely -worth the 2.30 hours on a train to get there -I was fascinated by being on an old fashioned train, that was some great experience for me! :-)- and the 3 hours bus trip on the way back spent worrying that our unlucky seats wouldn't break ;-)-.We tasted Pierogi and I fell in love with them (gotta learn to make them myself at some point, or I'll end up going back to Poland on a weekly basis to have them! ;-) ). Then she showed me more around Katowice, including, besides the huge park they have, some characteristic neighbourhoods dating back to the early 20th century, then we also visited an underground mine. It was great, even though I am sure someone was a bit scared of the lift eh? ;-). Jokes aside, it's understandable, I am a bit claustrophobic myself, and she did awesome in both trips. Admittedly, we spent most of our time underground in a lovely bar having, guess what, beer -second round of the aforementioned competition-, chatting, laughing and having an awesome time in general.
NB: she fancies having beer with a straw, apparently it's common over there. No need to add that such a peculiar habit needed some mocking by me -I believe I will never get accustomed to it! ;-)
Sadly, those 4 days with Aurelia went by in an instant and we soon reached that 'goodbye' moment I had been hoping not to come. Realising it could take an enormous amount of time before I get to see that splendid girl again made me quite emotional afterwards, so much so that I needed an hour or so before being ready to go out again and buy some souvenirs (and paprika for the mother!). I believe emotions getting the better of me was also due to how great I had been treated and how sorry I was that such lovely people live that far from me.
The last two days, I spent them in Krakow, exploring, eating delicious stuff and generally falling in love with another part of Poland, which was yet so different from what I'd seen before in the previous days.
One last bit of adventure, as I almost missed my flight on Wednesday, due to being led to jump on the wrong bus and finding myself lost in the Polish countryside, miles away from the airport and with my flight due to take off in 2 hours. Two bus trips, many missed taxis and an endless amount of swearing later -"Kurwa" came quite in handy I must say, thanks for teaching me darling! ;-)- I finally got to the airport, where I was further delayed by a bunch of bloody idiots who forgot to take the liquids off the hand luggage, thus slowing down the controls and wasting some crucial minutes of my time. Luckily for me, I got one single bit of positive karma, which was, quite frankly, the only thing I could hope for in order not to miss my flight: technical problems and consequent delay. I swear I've never been so happy for a plane taking off 50 mins later in my life! So much for being a thrill-seeker, eh? Never again do I want something like that to happen!
Summing up what has turned out to be quite a long post -I definitely am out of practice writing wise, but the topic being so dear to me made everything easier-, I had an unforgettable time in Poland, I am thanking for the billionth time Aurelia and her parents for being quite simply splendid with me. I hope to see her again soon (maybe it's going to be her turn visiting next, eh? That'd be great!! ;-)<3 ), I really do, she is awesome and well, she's grown to become an extremely dear person to me. If only there wasn't 900km between us...nah, she probably couldn't stand me being closer ;-P
Anyways, needless to say that this holiday has already taken a special place amongst my most precious experiences and dearest memories, I won't forget anything about it! Dziękuję bardzo, see you soon!!
"One day, you'll leave this world behind,
So leave a life you will remember"
That's my plan and so far it seems to have worked out not too badly I'd say... ;-)
PS photos will come out in the next few days on my fb. Dunno if you're reading this, but be ready for some shots of yourself too darling! And don't hate me too much for publishing them please! ;-)
