A couple days ago we went into full tourist mode and went up in a balloon to get an ariel view of the city. It was pretty. Trinidad was afraid.

We also went to the Ethnographic Museum of Krakow. It was cool. The most interesting exhibit to me was the carolers exhibit. They didn’t mention the word syncretism but I know enough about history to know they showed it. They had loads of pictures of carolers from the 1930s-1970s and talked about the history of caroling in Poland.

In winter groups would dress up and go from home to home singing songs. They would dress up in scary costumes. This showed the extreme racism of the region because a lot of the cosumes were people dressed up like “Jews”. I put Jews in quotes because they really looked more like monsters.

Then they had examples of pre-Christian caroling costumes and the history of that too. It was really cool! Then they talked about how when Christianity moved in they took over caroling but called it a Christian tradition, thus syncretism!

In case you don’t know what syncretism is it’s when one religion steals something from another religion then claims it was always theirs. There are more dimensions to it than that, but that’s the basic version.

We had lunch that day at a Tex-Mex restaurant called Los Gorditas. Now, you’re probably thinking the same thing I was: Tex-Mex in Poland?? That’s gonna suck. But we had to give it a try. There’s no Tex-Mex in Almaty so this was the best we were going to get for at least another year. And oh my god! It was good! It was a better burrito than you’ll find in Tennessee. It really was. It was definitely Tex-Mex and not Mexican, but it was good. I’ve lived in both Texas and New Mexico and traveled extensively in Latin America. I know the food well. This was good.

The next day we went to Energylandia, the amusement park outside Krakow, and she was far more afriad of it. There were some rides she wouldn’t go on. It’s amazing how much kids change. When my kid was younger she was fearless. So fearless, in fact, my husband and I worried about her. She had no fears. Now she’s afraid of everything and we couldn’t even get her to ride some of the roller coasters. She started crying when we tried to talk her into it. Anyway, we spent the whole day there. She sure as hell can’t tell me I never do anything for her. I spent 12 hours at an amusement park.

Something I love about places like this in countries other than the US is they don’t rip you off. Food is reasonably priced inside the park. Souvenirs are reasonably priced. Even the bar inside the park was perfectly reasonably priced. You’re not going to lose a fortune going to the amusement part for the day.

Most people that know me well know I have a thing for dolls. My great-grandmother was a serious collector of dolls. She had a doll house and when I say doll house I mean she bought a house, a real house, and had it moved and dropped off next to her house, she installed shelves in every room of the house, and put her dolls on the shelves.

Her daughter, my grandmother, also collects dolls. I grew up with a great interest in dolls. On my grandmother’s wedding day my grandfather fave her a doll as his wedding gift to her. The doll’s body we made of cloth and has since then deteriorated, but the head still exists. About 15 years ago my grandmother gave it to me. I have that doll’s head tattooed on my arm.

My interest in dolls is with the old and forgotten ones. People always think I link old dolls because they’re scary. That’s not the thing at all. No matter how many times I explain it no one listens to me. They’re not scary. They’re not creepy. That’s not it at all. It’s the forgotten aspect that gets it. This used to be a little girls cherished dolly and now look at it; thrown away, forgotten about, covered in dust. There’s something so sad about it.

I like to honor what the doll once was. The older the better. The doll pulled out of the very back of the attic or the bottom a of a box in the basement that has mold growing all over it. She used to be a little girl’s favorite toy. She used to go everywhere with her. And now she’s forgotten. I might be the last person to ever pay any attention to that little doll again. Once she was beautiful and loved.

Anyway, I’ve gone on too long about that. People think I like them because they’re scary. I don’t find dolls scary in the slightest. I love them.  I’ve tried to explain that for 30 years but no one listens. I just give up and agree with them now. Yep… you’re right… it’s a creepy doll… I love it. It’s true. I love it. But not for the reason they think.

So why did I say all this? We went to eat dinner at a place with antique doll decor!!! And it wasn’t on purpose!!! We had no idea! It’s not in any of the Google reviews. It was simply a place that looked cute from the outside and it’s near our apartment. That’s it. But I loved it!!! I couldn’t stop smiling and I walked throughout the whole place taking pictures!

It’s extremely hot for Poland temps and our friend Anna took us swimming at a lake. We had pizza after.

Yesterday we volunteered at the refugee shelter. I was measuring that had been donated which the refugees will use to make curtains and Brandon and Trinidad built a chest of drawers.

My Russian is really coming in handy! I’m so happy I started studying so intensely. I’ve been studying about 3 hours a day for the past 3 months. I still hardly know anything, I can’t even hold a conversation, but I can do little things like ask “what’s your name” and say “over here” and “over there” and ask “what’s this” or “what’s that” and I can pick up and little phrases here and there. It makes a difference.

Also, at our apartlment there’s a sign that says STRICT CURFEW from 22:00-08:00 and we were like WTF??? We’re grown adults and we’re paying a lot of money for this place. There shouldn’t be a curfew, but then the sign was translated into Russian and I read the Russian and it said QUIET 22:00-08:00. So, I think the English is just a bad translation! I was really proud of myself there.

While we were working a van full of donations arrived. It had been driven all the way from Great Britain. We helped unload and I asked the guys where they were staying for the night and they said they had booked a campsite and would sleep in the van. No. No. No. I was not having that.

Our AirBnB is huge. It’s not fancy but it’s big. I insisted they stay with us. Then they told us they were actually travelling with another two people but they had broken down a while back. No problem for us! The more the merrier! So, last night four awesome Brits stayed with us.

They’ve started their own organization to help with the war effort. They’re raising funds and collecting donations then bringing them all the way from Great Britain to Poland and into western villages of Ukraine. Here’s their website. You can donate to them and follow them. It was wonderfully inspiring to meet others so passionate and eager to help.

Don’t forget if you want to donate to any of the orgs I’ve been helping here you can send me money via Venmo @TravelTeachRead or my GoFundMe. I don’t need any personal funding. Tell me what you want me to do with the money and I’ll do it, or just trust me to spend it how I see fit. So far I’ve been splitting the funds between a shelter for refugees here and sending transports to Ukraine.