Carp Update and Christmas

Well the carp have gone from the "swimming" type of fish to the "eating" type of fish. As with any tradition, I have to be a part of it, especially since I am from the U.S. and this is my first Christmas in Poland. So my uncle showed me how to help the carp make their transition and now I too have fully taken part of the Polish Carp tradition. Well, except for the eating part, that comes today.

So why all the fish? Well in the Polish style of celebrating the holiday, we start on Christmas Eve. This is how I celebrate Christmas even in the United States with my family, only no carp. It is a day of fasting and of no meat, so hence the fish. Then, at the end of the day, the whole family gets together at someone's house and we have a big meal of different kinds of fish and meatless dishes. This meal is called the Wigilia. We sit around, talk, hang out with the family, normal holiday stuff. Then, after we have eaten the carp, we open the presents.

At the end of the night we go to church and celebrate a midnight mass. Coming home, since it is after midnight and technically the first day of Christmas (December 25) we are allowed to eat meat and some families start right then and there and have some more food. It is also, at this point, the end of the Catholic season of Advent for which many people do not drink alcohol, so following the mass with their food they might enjoy a glass or two of something to drink.

My family is a little more muted and we might be a bit tired so might just go straight to bed. When we wake up, we have the first day of Christmas and we again get together and feast with everyone. We do this again for the second day of Christmas (December 26). So here in Poland, we will be celebrating three days for Christmas. That's one of the reasons we have so much carp, because it needs to last for the whole three days.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Carp!

A few weeks ago I posted on here about the Christmas Carp (Karp, in Polish). Well my family is no exception to this tradition. A few days ago I found out that we will definitely be having carp on our Christmas Eve table. However, what I was also excited to find out is that we would be getting the carp earlier in the week and letting them hang out in our bathtub!

Well, this morning one of my cousins came back from the store with our carp. Now I thought we would be getting one. . . . We have ten of these guys swimming around in the bathtub!

Christmas Carp to the fullest!

Made in the USA

I have said many times that one of the reasons I am in Poland is to reconnect with my family's culture and my heritage. Coming from Polish parents and being the first one in my family to be born in the United States, I have very strong ties to this country. I grew up eating Polish food and celebrating Polish holidays. Despite this, however, I have always considered myself an American. Of course living abroad in a foreign country has heightened my sense and appreciation of what it is to be an American. Everyday when I'm outside walking around I can't help but feel a little bit like Steve McQueen, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Bruce Springsteen all rolled into one. Not so much so because of my (lack of) musical or acting talent, by more so because we all come from the same country. And even more so, because we all share the same characteristic American attitude: that of a "bad-ass".

Two months ago I had a chance to demonstrate just this trait. I was with my rowing team in Berlin for the Rund Um Wannsee Regatta (see October Posts). It was a great race that offered a chance for many international crews to get together and race. Following the race, there was a large outdoor banquet held for the athletes and spectators, complete with food, a stage, live music, drinks and a carnival style hammer challenge. The latter was one of those things you find at carnivals where a challenger is given a large hammer and must strike a lever causing a little weight to shoot up a vertical scale at the top of which is a bell that rings when struck.

So after the race and after some food, everyone starts gathering around the hammer challenge. People start taking turns and there are a few people here and there that ring the bell, but for the most part it seems like a difficult thing to do. My boat mates and I want to have a go at it. While I am waiting my turn, I remark that if they want to make it really challenging they should try to do it one handed. Everyone scoffed at me and said why don't I do it one-handed. I said that it would be no problem. My team mates who were ahead of me in line even gave up their spots in hopes that I would sooner humiliate myself. They said, "Let's see you do it Americano!"

I grabbed the hammer with my right hand, felt its weight, and taking a good swing, struck the lever nice and hard and the weight shot all the way up and rung the bell nice and loud.
That's how we do it in America!

Racing on the Brda

Here in Poland we have been off of the water for some time, doing all of our training in the weight room, on the ergs and running. Training like this is fine, but any rower will tell you that it is all about being on the water and actually making a boat move. So naturally I have been doing a lot of reminiscing of actually rowing in a boat on the water, and while doing so, remembered an intersting experience.

I think it was in October and we were doing a lot of work in pairs. I was stroking and as such had the toe (which means I steered the boat with my foot) and my partner, sitting in bow, would look over his shoulder and tell me where to steer. Normally, on a race course or a waterway with lots of straight-ways the bow seat does not need to look over his shoulder, but rowing on the Brda where there is only about 200 meters of straight course at the longest before encountering a turn, the bow needs to be in constant communication with the stroke.

So one day we were doing race pieces in the pairs, racing against each other. I think there were four pairs total. The first piece, my boat came in second, finishing about a seat down to the first place boat. We start the second piece and my boat and the boat that won the previous piece jump out ahead and its going to be a battle between us again. We are exchanging the lead but for the most part holding even. About halfway into the piece, we enter a rather long turn, slowly curving to port (so left when looking to bow). The other boat has the inside of the turn, so the advantage, but my partner and I suddenly click and find a rhythm. Not only are we keeping even with them on the outside of the turn, but are slowly starting to pull ahead! As we inch ahead, both of us are just thinking about the coming straight-way where the other boat won't have the advantage of the turn and we can really do some damage. Coming to the end of the turn, we are laying down these powerful strokes that are sending us ahead. We are completely in tune with each other, putting all of our strength into each stroke and then boom! We go from moving at light speed to a complete dead stop!

Apparently, since we were in such a good rhythm and pulling away, my partner stopped looking over his shoulder and didn't think to check our course. Since he didn't say anything, I kept us on the slow turn to port, but it wasn't enough. Just as we were about to get onto that straight-way and really pull away, we crashed into some bushes that were hanging over the bank of the river. I was pissed that we couldn't finish the piece, but couldn't help but laugh at the comical situation. To go from full speed to a dead stop made the situation a bit amusing. It took us a little while to untangle ourselves from the midst of the bushes. No harm done to the boat nor to my bow seat who took the full force of the branches to his back. We re-adjusted our course and finished the piece, well behind the other boats.

But though we lost the piece, we gained a great story and a good laugh.

Gdansk

Last week I travelled with my Polish club for my last competition of the year, an indoor rowing race in the city of Gdansk. The race was held on ergometers, machines used to mimic the rowing motion and the race was over the standard 2000 meter distance. The race itself was like most indoor rowing competitions: a line of ergs next to each other all connected to one another and to televisions so that the athletes, and the crowds, can monitor the progress of the race. However, the exciting and interesting element of the race was that in my event I was going to be racing the current or at one point world record holder for the fastest time on an erg over the 2k distance, Maciej Siekowski. After the race, I went up to him and talked with him for a few minutes and asked for a photo (below). He is a very nice man, wished me the best of luck in my own rowing career and hoped to see me in the future. He even asked for my full name so he could watch out for me. Besides encouraging, it was also a bit intimidating as Mr. Siekowski is a good head taller than me, and his head is the size of my torso, a giant of a man.

Following the competition, I did not return to Bydgoszcz with the team, but stayed behind in Gdansk. My dad has some friends who live there and asked that they take me in for a few days to show me around, since I have never been to this beautiful city before.

Gdansk is located on the northern coast of Poland where the Vistula River empties into the Baltic Sea. It received its official town charter in 998, so is well over 1000 years old. There is something remarkable walking through a city of that age, especially coming from the relatively young United States. Some of the things that mark its age are the giant crane and the old mill, both of which were at one point the largest in Medieval Europe.

Like most of the old cities of Poland (and Europe) there is the old town (stare miasto) around which the modern city has expanded. Gdansk, however, because of its age and its great former wealth and ranking as one of the greatest cities of Old Europe, has a gorgeous and rather large old town. The buildings are well maintained and there is something surreal about walking around and looking up at buildings that were housing people before the America’s were discovered. Along Long Street (Dluga), lies the famous Neptune Fountain, next to which the city had erected a giant, living Christmas Tree to welcome in the holidays.

I had a great time in Gdansk and would like to thank my hosts Pan Janek and Pani Jola.

(Neptue Fountain with the Christmas Tree and Stare Miasto in the background)

Christmas Carp!

One of the great things about living in another country is the opportunity to experience and witness that country's traditions. Take Poland and the Christmas Carp. The Christmas celebration here (and in my family back home, since we are Polish) starts on December 24 with what is called Wigilia (Christmas Eve) and traditionally no meat is served or eaten. So, everyone gets together for the big meal and there is a whole lot of fish: herring in sour cream, salmon, fried tilapia, all of which are very good and I have eaten before. But what I am new to, although I am familiar with the tradition, is the carp.

From what I understand, back in the day before refrigerators were everywhere, people bought a carp for the Wigilia meal since it was a fish that is from the area and tasty enough for the occasion (like a Thanksgiving turkey in the States). What they did with the carp, however, is that they got it alive and kept it alive in the bathtub until it was time to eat it, thus ensuring it stayed fresh!

So now, when I go to the supermarket, there is a huge pool in the fish section that is teaming with live carp and a huge line of people waiting to get theirs. A store employee nets one out, the buyer decides if they like the specific fish or not, and then the fish is bagged, alive! The first time I noticed this, however, was when I was standing in line to make my purchases. I had been in line for some time without incident when suddenly, in the cart in front of me a bag starts wildly flailing around. I did not at first realize what was happeneing, so I thought that maybe there was a small child in the bag, or a dog. Then I remembered the carp! It sure makes going to the supermarket in December a lot more exciting.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is an amazing European city and I am so happy that I took some time during my Scotland visit to see this place. Of course, timing has a great deal to do with why I enjoyed the city so much, but nonetheless it is an amazing city.

To begin with, the city offered non-stop activity and entertainment. I was let off of the bus from St. Andrews in St. Andrew's Square, where, there happened to be a Christmas Concert starting in about seven minutes! So I fought the cold (it was -1C, plus wind) and stood in the crowd singing Christmas carols. Being the good American, I had not let myself think of Christmas before celebrating Thanksgiving, but now that I had done that, I took full part in the Christmas festivities. Besides the Christmas Concert, there was a Christmas Carnival being held in the center of Edinburgh that was complete with an outdoor ice skating rink and music. So after a few cups of hot mulled wine and some German Bratwursts, I took a few turns around on the ice taking in the glow of Edinburgh at night.

One of the great things about the city is that it is somewhat cut in half by the fact that part of the city is built upon and over a hill which sits next to a shallow valley that comes up again where the rest of the city is spread out. The Christmas Carnival was held in this shallow valley so it was right in the center and surrounded by Edinburgh. While I was walking around the carnival, the Edinburgh Castle which is perched up on the highest hill kept watch as it was lit up with blue lights. I actually visited the castle the following day (Monday) where entry was free because it was St. Andrew's feast day, which is also why the castle was cast with blue lights.

Besides these activities, I visited the coffee shop where the author took her time writing the Harry Potter books (not so much a big deal for me except that they had good coffee), walked around and sampled some helpings from the local pubs, had a glass or two of Scotch Whisky (no "e" if its really Scottish) and tried hagis and cullen skink (a fish stew that just has a really cool name), both of which were excellent.

My trip to Scotland as a whole was great. It is defintely one of the great advantages of living in Europe, that travelling to other parts of Europe is so much easier and cheaper.