Days 7-13, a much needed update!

So for those of you who are following our travels, I apologize for the delay in our correspondence. It's been a whirlwind of packing and unpacking, walking, learning and getting to know the Polish better. I will try to summarize our past week as best as I can.

Day 7: We spent most of the day at the District 2230 Conference,

sitting in the back of an auditorium listening to what translated in to our ears as gibberish. As you can imagine it's difficult and exhausting to be listening to people you can't understand for 6 hours straight. We've come to realize the Polish culture in terms of schedules and time is similar to that of the Mexicans. When they say something is going to last until 1, you better add 2 more hours to your agenda!

Day 8: A unique part of Polish towns is the "world" that exists underground. Like we saw in Lublin, in Rzewoza we took of tour of the underground merchant chambers.

In most Polish towns there is a market square and back in the day when the market was the form of commerce and trading, merchants needed more space for storing goods, so they dug cellars underneath the buildings, these cellars were then connected to eachother through tunnels that run underground. In WWII these chambers became hiding places for the Jews, however Nazi Germans were clever enough to figure it out and would drill holes from above ground and drop deadly gases down the chutes, inevitably killing everyone below.

In the afternoon we toured the Lancut (pronounced Wine Suit) Palace and then transferred to our hotel which also was a Palace at one time!!

Dinner brought with it a very new experience for both Kim and I, it was our first time eating snails. And much to our surprise they were very very tasty. After dinner our group walked around the grounds and just enjoyed being in the fresh air. In the morning John went for a run and got chased by dogs, don't worry he's ok.

Day 9: We transferred to Jeroslaw and met with Mayor first thing in the morning when we got there. He gave us a tour or the City Hall and was eager to sell his town and is looking to partner with another city in the US.

Whoever thought that this GSE trip might result is one of us creating a relationship between our home town and a sister city in Poland! He got Ralph's contact information so we'll see where it goes from here.

After that we went to a Museum and had a tour with a lady that spoke no English and reminds us of the gal from Polterguist. That evening we met with the Jeroslaw Rotary club gave our presentation and ate dinner. The discussion that followed our presentation is the best we've had up to this point. Through our travels and meeting with the various Rotarians, it has become very apparent that the role of women in Polish Rotary is unwanted and non-existent. Given this and the strong females that Kim and I are we have questioned that notion in order to better understand their reasoning. The conversation has always been kept friendly but you can tell that at this point in the devlopment of the Rotary Clubs, they are very comfortable with the separation of the sexes. Our conversations that evening encompassed many topics beyond the role of women from comparing agriculture to talking politics. Regardless of what ideas were exchanged we feel like the Polish welcomed us with open arms and it was proved to be a good night topped of with lots of "Polish Woda".

Day 10: In the morning we visited the Lady finger biscut factory.

It's a small family owned company that produces 500 tons of Lady Finger (sponge biscuts, made out of flour, sugar and egg, as you can imagine they are very light and airy) a year. The eye opener for us was when we heard they run three eight our shifts and only give the women one 15 minute break a day for lunch. I think it made us all greatful for our education. In the afternoon we boarded a train from Jeroslaw to Krakow. The three hour trip with all 5 of us and our luggage crammed in to a tiny little cabin went by much faster than I thought it would.

When we arrived in Krakow we were greeted by Janusc (yawn-nus), the Rotary Club- Krakow Center President, a gentleman with a unique personality in which no words can really describe. For example at the meeting that evening when he was reviewing our itinerary with us he asked if we had cell phones to which we all replied, no. He then continued to stare at us with a perplexed look as if someone had just told him the world was coming to an end. We proceeded to reassure him that people have gotten along just fine for many years prior to the invention of the cellphone and that there would be ways for us to work around it!! Krakow is definitely the largest city we've been to yet, approximately 1 million habitants, 180,000 are students. It's been Unfortunately for us it's been rainy and cold but the more unfortunate thing is the flooding that has been caused by all the rain. It's quite severe and reminds me very much of June 2008. We were informed that Auschwitz has been closed due to flooding which means it's pretty severe because it's never been under water the way it is now. The flood has people a little irritable and is creating a real issue in terms of traffic flow.

Day 11: Today we visited the Salt Mines. It was incredible and my favorite experience up to this point! Ironically 150M (450 ft) underground in the middle of Poland Brian ran in to sister Joan, the provost at Clarke College where he works! We've never seen him so giddy and it totally made his day! In the salt mines we saw many carvings of Elvis or was it the Pope? I don't know, it was someone who is cool and important to this area of the world (95% of the people here are Catholic and there is little separate between church and state). In the afternoon it was still raining and so Janusc dropped us off at the Galeria (Mall) for 4 hours. Who would have ever thought that you wouldn't be able to keep an American entertained for 4 hours in a mall. We all realized that it was too much time.

Day 12: Toured the Wawel Castle, ate at a Polish Mexican restaraunt (very different from what we are used to) and then walked around Market square. In the evening we met with Rotaract (the 18-30 year old Rotary group) and had pizza for the 2nd night in a row. The conversation led to a discussion regarding the gap between Rotary and Roteract, not seems as if in Poland there is not a real place for people 30-50 years old. We are starting to pick up on the fact that Eurpoeans are much more comfortable with class distinction than we are in America. We topped the night off by going to watch one of the Rotarian's Jazz band.

Day 13: Vocational Day 2: Kim and I went to the city council, the gal was late because of the flood but the conversation was great and gave Kim and I an inside look at the role of strong women in Polish Politics and family life.

Ralph met with a corporate lawyer, John met with Stan a Rotary member who is a branch manager at Deutsch Bank and Brian met with Katrine a drawing instructor and art conservator. We then went to Jangiello University, the 4th oldest University in the world, it dates back to 1364. Our afternoon lunch consisted of sushi and once again a "first" for Kim who excitedly used chopsticks for the first time.