A Well Earned Break From Work

Teaching about Halloween is supposed to be fun, right?

Well, our bosses seemed to find a way to ruin it for us by subjecting us to still more observations, and than basically tearing us a new one because they didn't like what they saw.  They ticked me off in my meeting and made Sarah cry in hers -- it's getting rather difficult not to take it personally.  Sometimes I wonder if there is something personal behind it: maybe I'm just being paranoid.  It seems I'm always watching my back these days, wondering when it's about to be stabbed.

We did have a nice, relaxing Halloween party after work on Thursday with a few of our co-workers, and a friend of ours who came up from Gliwice to bring us home with him for the long weekend.  We caught the early train from Radom and arrived in Gliwice in the early afternoon -- and I can tell you that the vibe around that city is the complete opposite of Radom.

It is beautiful there!  Because the province of Silesia was part of Germany before WWII it has not seen the same damage as most cities in Poland -- it still has the vast majority of its old buildings, even if they've been re-purposed.  The flats that Peter shares with his family are a twenty minute walk from the train station, and right in the heart of Old Gliwice.  He's on the 8th floor and the view from the apartments is stunning!

The view of Gliwice from Peter's flat.

Halloween isn't as big a deal in Poland as All Saints' Day (November 1st), and Peter's family had no objections to taking us with them to show us what it was all about.

Traditionally All Saints was celebrated as a means of remembering all the saints and martyrs that died for the sake of their faith over the centuries, but in the modern sense (or so one of my adult students explained to me) it's more like "All Dead People Day."  You can also think of it as a more serious version of Day of the Dead.

Candles placed at the foot of a statue of Jesus in the Central Cemetary

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People go to the cemeteries to visit the graves of friends and loved ones -- they clean the graves and leave candles and flowers as a tribute to those that they've lost.  It's fairly normal to visit as many cemeteries as you can so that nobody is forgotten -- however they do realize that this isn't always realistic and will light a candle for those who are far away.  The flowers and candles look lovely by day, but the view is gorgeous after dark with lights as far as the eye can see.

First we visited a small cemetery near the middle of town so that they could pay homage to a few departed friends, and then showed us the Jewish cemetery that was right beside it.  It is part of a UNESCO world heritage site because it is one of the few Jewish graveyards to survive the Second World War intact.  It is often locked away for fear of vandalism, and so few people know it is there that it is commonly referred to as the "forgotten cemetery of Gliwice."  After that, we went to the larger "Central Cemetery" (that was actually closer to the outskirts of the city) and it took us several hours to explore its entirety because it was absolutely huge.

The smaller graveyard.

The Jewish Cemetery.

Saturday was spent exploring Gliwice, its supermarkets, and the Ikea in Katowice.  It doesn't sound like much, but it was great fun.  It was also Peter's father's birthday, so we had a nice meal when we came back and drank to his health.  Both of his parents are very sweet and funny, and very interested in Canada (since they have family in Kamloops).  I would like to just take a second to muse on the typical Polish customs when one has a guest in their home...is it normal to feed people so much?  Every meal the food just kept coming every time we cleared a plate.  By the time we got through the various dishes, cake and sweets and the end of each meal it was a wonder we could move from the table!  They are both thoroughly determined to find us work in Gliwice when our contract in Radom is over -- a sentiment they both expressed frequently over the course of the weekend.  Who knows?  We might even take them up on it.

This radio tower is the tallest free-standing wooden structure in Europe.  It also has some very important historical symbolism attached.

Today we visited the botanical garden with our last few hours in the city, since it was a very short walk from the place we were staying.  We returned to the flat to grab out things before Peter and his mom took us to the train station, and it was with heavy hearts and feet that we returned to Radom tonight.  The people we shared our compartment with on the way back made up for it somewhat, but it has done nothing against the dread of going back to work on Monday, knowing that we both get to look forward to more classroom observations with little or no warning at all.

I hate the company I work for.

On the other hand, the weekend coming up is also a holiday.

Goodbye Radom, hello Krakow!