World Trip

Family, at Last

July 12, 2005

I finally made it. After many detours and delays, I have arrived in my home city, the place where most of my family still lives. I haven't been back since a little over half a year. However, the issue was that when I started my journey, I sent out a bunch of postcards letting my family know I will be there around the middle or end of June. I am obviously late.

I went to one of my aunt's home, which will be my home while I hang out in Poznan.

It is nice now, having come back a few times in the past, it no longer seems like such a big deal. It is much more relaxed coming back now. It does not necessarily feel like I am thousands of miles away visiting family. On the contrary, now it feels like I am dropping by an aunt's place in the next state.

There are a few things that still throw me for a loop. Obviously, I do not have much family in the US. It still is strange for me walking down the street in Poland when visiting family and running into a random uncle or two on the way to the store. It feels good, knowing that there is a place with so much family you can randomly run into them on the street.

After settling down and going over many stories, I decided it was high time to go and visit Marzena, who lives just a bit down the street. Marzena's daughter, Aleksandra (Ola), is my goddaughter. Last time I was in Poland the previous November I was there for her christening. She was just a tiny little one month old baby, so I was looking forward to seeing her grown up a bit now. She's beautiful. She has the cutest smile, big chubby cheeks, and her unusually long hair is put up in a little palm tree. She is the epitome of cuteness. She is just starting to learn how to walk, and can cover short distances on her own. It’s just amazing how quickly kids grow.

Unfortunately, like most babies, she is shy towards strangers, and I she does not know me yet. It was hilarious as Marzena tried to get Ola to walk from her to me. She would let go of Ola, who would start walking towards me, and halfway would turn around and waddle back to mommy. They might teach hew how to walk, but I will now be able to take credit for teaching Ola how to turn around well. Eventually they let me know on a little secret. Ola love to munch on things, and it is quite easy to bribe her with anything she would be able to eat. So we got a bit of bread, and voila, Ola was now running to me without any hesitation. Well, maybe she was running towards the food, but I am not a stickler for details.