Conference DAY 2

What a day! I thought yesterday was an amazing success. Today was even more amazing! Monika and her colleagues at the Solidarity office are to be congratulated on putting together a stupendous day of meaningful events! From beginning to end, these teachers of Poland have proven themselves to be of the finest caliber!

I got up late (7:40) and realized that if I am to run this morning, I better get to it! I had to meet the group in the lobby at 9:00. So run I did down to the center of the old city at the crack of dawn. What a place! The waterfront and the market give you a sense of a 17th century Baltic seaport. The architecture is Scandinavian port with so many variations on a theme! I thought I was lost on the way back, but managed to gauge the tall buildings back to the hotel. A quick shower, quick suit on, quick breakfast and I was ready with the group on time. As we always said in Russia: We were born ready!

We entered the office building of Solidarity in Gdansk and walked to a reception hall. The hall was adorned with a 10 x 5 banner with the Civic Voices logo, Solidarity logo and all the other partner countries listed. The banner was hung in the middle amidst many red and white Solidarity banners. Larry and I were seated in front along with the president of Solidarity (the whole trade union, not just the educational arm), a representative from the US embassy, and a professor involved with the ‘Memory’ program in Poland. Some of you may know that Russia has had a similar Memorial interest group since before the fall of the Soviet Union.

Almost like the UN, we wore headphones to hear simultaneous translation through the entire program. A wonderful guitarist/singer began the program with some very special songs related to the struggle 20 to 30 years ago. Some of the audience joined in at the chorus on the first song. That never happens in America. Now I have seen it happen in Poland and Russia. Something about strong cultural roots. The president of Solidarity spoke for 5 pages of speech, sometimes apologizing for being so long-winded. He recounted the tough times of the 70s and 80s and charged teachers to use the Civic Voices program to keep the memory of those days alive for future generations.

Next to speak was Craig Conway, First Secretary attached to the US embassy in Warsaw. His words were very well chosen and also agreed that Civic Voices was a valuable endeavor. The professor from Memory spoke about his experiences with recording the past. Larry had left the room (to fetch presents for guests back the hotel – I did not know this at the time) and it looked like I would have to speak in Larry’s place. It was nice to see him return in time! Larry discussed the presentation we put together the night before without any problems. Then question time from the audience and we all had to answer questions for a while. Interesting questions: Why was Poland picked? Why Mongolia? Whatever I said seemed to satisfy their query!

Following all these discussions was yet a press conference. At first it seemed as though there wasn’t much interest by the press. But a radio station recorded our statements and asked some questions. A reporter from a local newspaper was on hand with a recording device and taking lots of notes. I saw her later, typing her story into a laptop, possibly getting ready to send it to publish in the day’s paper. When I thought we had completed the easy task of dealing with the press, in saunters a tall, striking, confident woman with an older cameraman in tow. I was asked to report to the back of the hall. She spoke excellent English and interviewed me right there on camera. Monika said later that I was on the 5:30 news on TVP and maybe her father recorded it for us!? The TV reporter did not stop there. When she saw one of the FLIP cameras she wanted to know all about it and how this process was taking place. She had one of the teacher groups set up a camera on a tripod and she filmed the camera with a snippet of an interview from earlier that morning. Larry thought that since the FLIP camera is getting free advertising, that the company should donate a number of cameras for the project! Shannon may be on the phone at the moment she reads this!?

Lunch was served at a restaurant at the top of a tall building with massive windows on each side of two large dining rooms. The view of the shipyards and the Old part of town were incredible. The food was okay – mushroom soup, pressed salmon, vegetables, and, of course, plenty of potatoes!

After lunch, it was time for the five civic activists that Monika invited to the conference to address the entire group and tell a little bit about their stories. We probably should have had the cameras rolling at that point since it made some of their later interviews shorter. But what fantastic stories! Strikes, with Walesa, organizing in Gdynia, in Gdansk, in the southern regions, mistakes made, successes that became the glory of Poland - WOW! When they were finished ( and each one talked for at least 20 minutes!), four groups each took their activist to another place to interview them according to the guide! One group had already finished their interview during the morning as the interviewee had to leave early.

So, it’s 5:00 or so at the end of the day and it’s not over yet! Unbeknownst to us, each group wanted to report back to us all of their findings and tell us how it went. I think they read the guide. They’re already reflecting!! They were so pumped up! All were very excited about what they had just accomplished. It was incredible to see 25 teachers who don’t know each other, from different regions all over Poland come together and be enthusiastic about the project! The word teamwork was mentioned more than once! I complimented Monika on her organization and her ability to put this all together so magnificently! Again, an English speaking person from another country can communicate with Americans so well. Konstantin, are you reading this?

A little Internet time and off to dinner we all went. We walked down to the Old town and went to a lovely little restaurant. Two men were playing accordion (Larry’s favorite! Ha) when we entered. We sat at two long tables that were next to the walls so the middle of the room was somewhat open. We toasted with a shot of something that we equated with cherry cough syrup. Other than that, the food was delicious. Mushroom soup, fried pork, potatoes, meatloaf of some kind baked around a large carrot, herring salad, cabbage, dessert, and later a gift of a bottle of Sobieski Vodka. They presented Solidarity shirts to us – I wore mine immediately. That seemed to please the crowd a bit. The musicians played a Kashubian song that was written on four staves, all with a treble clef, but – no notes. Only symbols were used and the song seemed to go through each staff and then do sort of a repeat through the staves. Some of the Poles were singing along as if it were a folk tune they remember from their childhood.

And if that wasn’t enough music, I was asked to play one of their rhythm instruments – a pole that has a pair of cymbals together like a trap set. It also had some hanging metal things that twinkled like a wind chime. There was a black face painted on one side and a box on the bottom that had two strings attached to the top for twang effect – but the strings were lose. This pole was called a “Devil’s Violin” and to play it all you needed to do was to stomp it on the floor in good rhythm with the song. That wasn’t enough for the effect. They dressed me up with a long, blue, decorated vest and put a hat on me. Then they played the song and I pounded the “Devil’s Violin” in good rhythm! There will probably be some good blackmail photographs making their way around in some emails in the near future! The dinner and entertainment were lovely ways to end a magnificent day!

On our walk back to the hotel, we chatted with Arkady (interpreter) and Wanda (German observer).