This past Wednesday I spent an hour or so at an open air market, Stary Kleparz, in Krakow where there is an abundance of fresh produce, cheese, sausages, meat, bread and baked goods, clothing and household items. When I'm in places like this I can't help but get out my camera and take photos of the cornucopia of abundance, beautiful color combinations and textures mingling in piles on tables and being presented in windows. I thought I'd share photos from the market with you as I post my weekly "Six Senses" update.
HEAR:
- Polish being spoken all around me at the table in my cousin's home while Lukasz tries to keep up with the translating.
- an evening of live music played by Kwartet Jorgi (a polish band with roots elements) a bag pipe like instrument, wooden flutes played along side a tenor sax, acoustic guitar and hand percussion... hearing dissonant harmonies and a lot of improvisational elements
- my 8 year old cousin, Marta, quietly humming Leonard Cohen's song, "Hallelujah" as we took in the view from atop Mt. Tarnica
- strong wind blowing, humming and resonating against and through a metal cross on the top of Mt. Tarnica
SMELL:
- fresh mountain air
- wildflowers in blossom as honey bees busy themselves with their work
- a warm kitchen filled with scents of delicious, cooking food
- the fruity and sweet bouquet of my cousin Roman's homemade wine
- a cigarette being smoked inside a cafe at night
TASTE:
- Cousin Roman's delicious homemade wine
- Cousin Paulina's fresh, delicious homemade doughnuts
- Warm beer with ginger and clove on a cool rainy night in Cafe Camelot
- Cousin Kinga's homemade kremówka papieska a cream cake/pastry which was apparently Pope John Paul the II's favorite Polish pastry
- strawberries on white rice with fresh sweet cream poured on top
TOUCH:
- kissing cheeks and exchanging warm hugs with my growing family
- running my hand over tall grasses with full seed heads as I hike up Tarnica
- pen to paper as I begin to sketch designs found on Pisanka eggs at the Ethnographic Museum
- the petals of a freshly cut rose
SEE:
- I had the wonderful opportunity to meet more of my relatives in Korczyna last Sunday.
- a small bouquet of flowers adding color to my dorm room, picked from my relatives gardens...three zinnias and a rose
- ancient symbols and motifs found on very old architectural and archeological items ... and the thread of these symbols in Polish peasant art
- I walked around the Jan Matejko Fine Arts Academy on a quiet morning among the sculptures and sculptural casts and sensed the energy of artists who studied and created in that building.
- Polish being spoken all around me at the table in my cousin's home while Lukasz tries to keep up with the translating.
- an evening of live music played by Kwartet Jorgi (a polish band with roots elements) a bag pipe like instrument, wooden flutes played along side a tenor sax, acoustic guitar and hand percussion... hearing dissonant harmonies and a lot of improvisational elements
- my 8 year old cousin, Marta, quietly humming Leonard Cohen's song, "Hallelujah" as we took in the view from atop Mt. Tarnica
- strong wind blowing, humming and resonating against and through a metal cross on the top of Mt. Tarnica
- fresh mountain air
- wildflowers in blossom as honey bees busy themselves with their work
- a warm kitchen filled with scents of delicious, cooking food
- the fruity and sweet bouquet of my cousin Roman's homemade wine
- a cigarette being smoked inside a cafe at night
- Cousin Roman's delicious homemade wine
- Cousin Paulina's fresh, delicious homemade doughnuts
- Warm beer with ginger and clove on a cool rainy night in Cafe Camelot
- Cousin Kinga's homemade kremówka papieska a cream cake/pastry which was apparently Pope John Paul the II's favorite Polish pastry
- strawberries on white rice with fresh sweet cream poured on top
- kissing cheeks and exchanging warm hugs with my growing family
- running my hand over tall grasses with full seed heads as I hike up Tarnica
- pen to paper as I begin to sketch designs found on Pisanka eggs at the Ethnographic Museum
- the petals of a freshly cut rose
FEEL:
- sadness at the sense of closing as my program at Jagiellonian University winds up... classes are ending and new friends and acquaintances are leaving
- very interested in the language of symbols
- tired of the cool, gray, rainy days
- tipsy after an evening of visiting and talking over lots beer and pizza at Cousin Paulina's and Lukasz's flat
- pleasantly overwhelmed by the generosity and warmth of my family here in Poland and also by my family and friends at home who have been so supportive and enthusiastic about me coming here to Poland this summer
- like I am learning so much about Poland, the culture, the country, society... Poland is such a complex, beautiful and complicated place with such a rich and at times very painful history. I hope to do some more writing here on my blog to share with you my deeper sense of this place.