Babel School in Taiwan

Część z Was już pewnie wie, że … bardzo interesują mnie cmentarze. Chętnie odwiedzam miejsca pochówku, czytam napisy na grobowcach, robię zdjęcia i rozmyślam. Odwiedzając cmentarz można się wiele nauczyć o historii, religii i kulturze danego kraju. Cmentarze mogą być rozmaite – w Polsce stare cmentarze, to parki z kilkusetletnimi drzewami i wąskimi alejkami przy których stoją marmurowe lub granitowe grobowce niektóre z posągami, kwiatami i zniczami: W USA cmentarze to parki z gdzieniegdzie porozrzucanymi drzewami, a alejki przecinają rozległe trawniki z których wyłaniają się jedynie pionowe tablice nagrobne; Source: https://cemeterytravel.com Na Tajwanie prawie wszystkie groby skierowane są na wschód, przyozdobione są małymi kolorowymi posążkami i z daleka wyglądają jak małe domki na wzgórzu. Tajwańczycy w ogóle "nie lubią" cmentarzy, odwiedzają je raz do roku, w Święto Zmarłych 清明節 wypadające na początku kwietnia (15. dnia po wiosennej równonocy). Często om...

Since last time, 3 years ago, when we visited Poland for All Saints Day, a few new graves have been added to our long list of family and friends who have passed away. Lately I've been coming to Poland only to attend funerals. There is no joy in visits like this. Already a few years ago I've stopped planning my trips, I fly over when I am needed. I wish I could come to Poland just for holidays. I wish I could come with whole family and drive around my beautiful country showing them the many wonderful places that they still haven't seen. I hope that next time my wishes will come true and we will come to Poland for fun. But until then ... Throughout this stay we visited many graves on quite a few cemeteries - in Warsaw, Bydgoszcz and Belsk. This year the weather around All Saints' Day was cold and wet, but that was no excuse and we still visited the historical Powązki cemetery in Warsaw three times. My Dad's tomb My Grandmother's and Great Aunt's g...

Whenever we are in Poland, we visit a village where I lived as a child. There is no one left that I would know or that would remember me. But there is still that feeling of belonging there. My parents and I moved out of Belsk when I was 5 years old.  For many years I was going back to Belsk for a week or two in summer and sometimes during the school year for weekends. When I turned 12-13 years old I used to take long distance buses and go there by myself. Why would I do that? Both of my parents worked at a Polish Academy of Sciences institute in Belsk. There was no nursery in the village and no grandparents around. Most kids living there had nannies. I also had one. She was the BEST nanny ever! Her son died as a child not long before my birth, so she has given me all her love. She was the one I used to visit after my family moved to Warsaw. She has met Zosia when she was still a baby (in the photo above Zosia is just 5 months old), bust has never met Jaś nor Ania. I visi...