It was good. Real good. I did almost all of the things I’d planned, and some I even hadn’t. I got my long walks in the forest, enough sleep, parties, visits to and from friends, self-pampering sessions in beauty parlours, gatherings with family, a day long movie marathon, shopping, shopping and more shopping… what else can a girl wish for? I also went to the Zoo. I feel happy and well-rested now, ready to take on the world.
Curiously, at one point I caught myself actually missing work. I hastily planned some more fun to avoid this unnatural feeling, all ended well.
My family and I went to Northern Poland for the first few days of May. We went by car, and I had the spacious backseat of minivan all to myself. I could sleep and read when I got tired of sight-seeing. Very comfy.
We saw many beautiful places and towns, and stayed in surprisingly fine road-side motels. Food was good, and cheep, and a-plenty. Although, Polish beer sucks even more than Czech beer.
I really do not understand why people say there’s nothing to see in Poland. Seemed beautiful to me. Bright yellow dandelion and canola fields, blooming apple-trees, blue sky, churches in every town worth its salt, Catholic shrines in every village worth its name, winding roads framed by pretty oaks, maples, ash-trees. Deep, clean forests, surprisingly blue lakes, city parks with well-kept flowerbeds and trees, and strange cemeteries with no trees at all.
(Cemeteries here in Latvia are always, always full of all kinds of green: evergreens and seasonal plants, and flowers, and whatnot. We carefully make sure it is so by planting, weeding, fertilizing and trimming every year. Our graveyards look more like parks, really.
So, whenever I leave the country, I’m always a bit surprised it’s not like that everywhere. A graveyard with depressing amount of black marble tombstones enclosed within iron fence in the middle of a flat field confuses me.
I guess we, Latvians, are taking our dead more seriously then strictly necessary. We like to know that they are in a decorative place where we can keep taking care of them and bring to them flowers thus maintaining their place in the family tree and memory. We don’t forget for several generations.
(Please, note that the following is highly hypothetical version created by my over-imaginative brain, and has no considerable factual reference)
I guess it has to do with the ancient cult of ancestors when our people considered themselves part of the clan with all members included - present, past and future. Person’s position in life was inter-woven in the greater pattern, and could be better retained if touch with generations past wasn’t lost. Ancestors received their due respect, and got gifts and sacrifices brought to their graves. Coincidentally, ‘flower’ (zieds) has another meaning in Latvian - ‘sacrifice’ -, hence all the greenery in cemeteries.
I guess we were pacific if a bit vain nation even back then, and didn’t want to sully our graveyards with actual sacrificial animal blood. That would be messy and not in style at all.
On the other hand, they also swore and/or gave promises by their name, holding drawn swords and standing on their shields. Literally.
If a man happened to break his word given in this manner, the judgement was swift and severe. His sword got broken in half, his right arm cut off (yes, really), and his name was taken from him, consequently making him persona non grata, an outsider of the great pattern of life-cycle. No place in the world was home for poor sod any longer.
Essentially, betrayal of a given word resulted in loss of status as a person, and one could be treated as such – killed with no penalties, taken as a slave, baited with dogs, and perhaps much worse. The moral – if you can’t keep your word, you don’t deserve to have one. Quite simple.
In a roundabout way, it indicates that my ancestors were quite pro-environment oriented. They also lacked such tolerance when one of their own dared to mess with governing rules of world and nature they were given by gods to uphold and honour.
I hope it makes some sense if anyone’s actually reading this. But I digress.)
Anyway, pictures from my trip are here.
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| Poland |
Now, back to work for me. More later.
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