Swięta i Sylwester w Polsce (Christmas and New Years in Poland)

I had the priviledge of spending my holiday season away from home... for the first time ever. This was my trip:The trip to Zakopane is in red, from Zakopane is in blue.
My grandma for christmas gave me some socks; but more importantly made me my favourite cake - Karpatka - called this for it's close resemblance to the Karpathian mountains in the southern parts of Poland.The best part of staying at grandma's however - sleeping for 10 hours a day :-) Next on the way was Sandomierz.. were I realized that I had forgotten my pin number for my debit card. Credit cards in rural Poland are unfortunately not widely accepted. I had to pay for: Ski rentals and ski lift tickets for two days, transportation to Zakopane from Sandomierz, to Krakow from Zakopane, from Krakow to Warsaw, and any alcohol that I wanted to drink on the way. I had a little under 50 Złoty in my walet. A challenge worth undertaking.

When in Sandomierz, I went to visit All my cousins, and their significant others (two are married with children). They prepared a nice little table when I came to visit - and I only came for one night to their house. He also broke out his bottle of specially prepared "bimber," or alcohol. The bus ticket to Zakopane from Sandomierz cost 22 Zl.. but it took 6.5 hours! This is a little town in the southernmost part of Poland. In Zakopane the ski conditions weren't the best.. but I had little choice since my friend was teaching. One little russian kid, around 4 years was signed up as his student. Thing is.. he knew 4 words in Russian (thank you, Don't understand, and please), the the kid didn't know a world in Polish. When the little kid came, after a few minutes and said (in Russian) "I don't Understand," my friend replied "Don't worry about it" In Polish.

Since my friend had "Atomic" skis, and all the instructors were required to have "salomon" skis, he had to rent some, and I could use my cousin's skis - he has the same shoe size as me. The ski lift tickets I paid for with my credit card, so no pains there either.

On the way back, when I arrived in Kraków, it was 6pm.. but the nearest TESCO store was already closed! A non-alocholic new years??? oj.. However, after my cousin came and picked up his girlfriend, we went to the gas station, were in Poland they sell all kinds of alcohol, and they were closing in 15 minutes.. plenty of time.

The Sylwester was ... not spent in the Rynek Krakowski.. but at my cousin's friends house. 25 people.., and all in all a great success. The way back to Warsaw the next day started with me waking up.. at 3pm. My cousin made me some eggs... to which I told him "I really did like your eggs.. but don't get upset if I return them to you."

Upon arriving at the train station at 16:40, I found out that all the seats for the faster Inter-City Trains were all booked. All that was left was some spots on the "pospieszny" train. The second slowest train in Poland. it left at 18:30 and arrived at 00:30 from Krakow to Warsaw.