4/4 Three creative days

16 Feb 2010 Pawel Mrozowicz
3rd day the last day.

Expert for the Auschwitz tour was Bartek who graduated from Jewish studies and is actually apllying to join our team.

As the journey to Auschwitz takes about 1.5 h and rented a coach, I stated that it would be good to prepare something for the journey.

So we prepared hand-outs about Auschwitz for people to read basic issues even before the tour. Bartek did that from Jewish studies graduate point of view (a lot of content), I from psychologist (bigger pictures, headings, cut of few information).

Furthermore I decided to screen movie on the way. For the way there I chose "The courageous heart of Irena Sendler" movie movie which was intended to face stereotypes that Oskar Schindler was the only one who saved Jews in Poland during the war.

On the way back together with visit organizer Gabriel, we decided to screen something to cheer up which meant Monthy Python and the Holy Grail .

The visit in Auschwitz could have been better organized as we were forced to pay for ear phones which I didn't checked before. Furthermore tour guides were at least old-fashioned and very closkwise thinking. So it was very usefull to have our own expert with us. When the tour was finished finished in Birkenau me and Bartek were answering questions for at least 30 min. So for the first organized visit of souch big group it wasn't so bad.

On the way back to Krakow, Gabriel told me that they want to have a dinner all together somewhere in the Jewish Quarter and if can I can help them with that...

So another challenge came. After few phone calls negotiating, before we reached Krakow we managed to book a Jewish restaurant for 56 people and a Jewish klezmer live music concert after the dinner. :)

I was also invited for a dinner.

Dinner was at Klezmer Hois Jewish restaurant, where in the same building cellar ritual jewish mykwa used to be. Furthermore it is the place where famous Lepold Kozlowski (well known as the last Klezmer from Galicia ) used to rehearse.

Dinner could be better, concert was very nice, but much more unforgettable was what happened after. Some student started playing the piano. Then Malaysian girl began playing the piano... I felt as being at the Chopin competition and I realized why so many times players from Asia won this competition. For sure an evening to remember but there it went even further...

In the meantime I made one of the teacher realized that I know How the Irish saved Civilization , cause of book that I read in high school. He was Irish and they called him John Paul. I though that it was a pious nick name. But then I realized that this is the way that he was named because of John Paul II's visit in Ireland. So in some way we can say that He came back to his roots.

So the dinner was coming to sn end. Students started leaving restaurant and asking me about place to go out. Then I took out maps of Krakow and started marking a good place to go for them. Students comment to this was:
-Hmmm clever...
and I finished it with quote of Gene Hackman playing the role of the Polish general Stanislaw Sosabowski in the movie "A bridge too far"
-"I'm a Pole, consider to be clever!" :)

At the end we went out almost all together. And it was the first time for last 3 days for me to really integrate with the group. As at all of the previous evenings I was quickly going back home to prepare for the next day.

So I have to admit that I have never seen before this kind of customers thankfulness. Before we left the restaurant I was officially announced as their Man in Krakow, and they wanted do adopt me to their University family! :) After at the pub many people were hugging me, proposing drinks. So this was one of those moments that I could feel that my job really does matter! This kind of moments is the most important for in my life.

So on the one hand I was totally exhausted (more than 3 days of hard work, twisted ankle few weeks before), but on the other hand I knew that those days were maybe not ideal, but in such a short time and experience it was a really good job. So I decided to take a risk and to celebrate with such friendly people! :)

The most curious fact from medical point of view was that, at the end of night I felt brave enough to do pole-dancing at the club. But the next day, my ankle hurt even less than the previous day. So we can say that Lapdancing can be used as a medical treatment :)

So thank You very much for such an adventure and I hope to see you again someday... somewhere... :)

ps.: If you could send me some photos or link to them I'd very much appreciate that. Especially photo doing Bruderschaft or in Polish brudzio :)

Pawel