Well, in a whirlwind, the people who would become my colleagues and friends in a matter of seconds, came rushing in the door – chattering away in English. When I heard one of them say to the bell hop, well there are a lot of us, I knew it was them. As over thirty people crowded into the lobby I stood to the side, grinning like a cheshire cat, and approached a group of friendly looking women to make sure it was them and to introduce myself. They all said “Oh!! You must be number 16!!” I looked puzzled, but they said that they had been taught to do roll call by number and that when they got to 16, one of the leaders had said – she's the one who isn't here yet. Regardless, the women were very welcoming and interested in knowing why I was already here and was in the midst of conversation when I heard my name called – with a quick “oh, she's getting here later” and a chime in from me “no, I'm here!!”
My roommate is a sweet girl named Wendy from Massachusetts who is exactly my age – graduated from college the same year and has been the perfect roommate so far. We headed off to our room as I filled her in and she filled me in on the plane ride and the orientation meeting in New York. Once I figured the chaos in the lobby had died down I ran back downstairs to get my packet and was set. We had a meeting at five. I was in!
Wendy and I set off to explore Old Town and to grab a quick bite to eat, squeezed in a twenty minute crash break, and headed off to our five o'clock meeting. The meeting was a great deal longer than any of us had anticipated. I was fine – no jet lag for me!, but my colleagues were struggling. Stephen Feinberg – a historian for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC is our main guide for the trip – and is truly a fount of knowledge with a wonderful sense of humor and a fabulous sense of the power of words and their definitions. He spoke for about forty-five minutes about the beginnings of Judaism and discussed/skimmed over several thousand years of history focusing on major shifts of the Jewish people. He is very good at including a basic level of information along with a far more complex level – to key you in, jog your memory (or teach you something you really didn't know), and then delve into more complexities. After he spoke we met with a man named Stephen Stoltenberg from the US Embassy in Poland. He is actually an analyst for Poland and Baltic state accounts and works in what is essentially a state department think tank. He is here on a one month assignment while the embassy has summer breaks and transitions. He discussed US-Poland relations and how there has been a history of very positive pro-US relations in Poland, but that there may be a major change in the tide occurring at this moment. The United States has been trying to negotiate an agreement that would allow the US to install a missile defense system (like the one in Alaska) in Poland so that there would be one on the European continent. Poland has been very assertive in its negotiations and is not inclined to accept – in fact so far, it hasn't. This is a marked change in US-Poland relations, as Poland has always been very pro US and is one of the only countries to supply us with troops in Iraq. And, in fact, under new governmental leadership, Polish troops will now be pulling out of Iraq by October of 2008. I found all of this very interesting and a distinctive change from the pro-US things I heard when I was studying in Poland in 2005. Very interesting.
The next speaker was Dr. Michael Steinlauf who wrote a book called “Bondage to the Dead” which addresses how Poles after the second world war reacted and dealt with the Holocaust, what they witnessed, and what happened in Poland. He began with a general history about the Jewish population in Poland through the centuries prior to the second world war. His points were poignant and interesting – definitely something that deepened my understanding and things to mull over. After that Vladka Meed, our wonderful founder, spoke to us briefly and we headed in for a delicious dinner. Vladka Meed is the founder of the teacher's program and was a Jew in Warsaw during the war. Because of her Aryan looks, she was able to escape from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Aryan side and help the Jewish underground resistance. She helped people escape from the ghetto and find hiding places, proper paperwork, etc. She also helped smuggle goods into the ghetto – including things that would be instrumental in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. She wrote a wonderful book “On the Other Side of the Wall” that we all read prior to the trip. It was very exciting to see her and hear from her. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson are all here with her and it is the first time her grandson (a future high school senior) is here in Poland – so it is a very special trip for the family.
After dinner I was wired and had the advantage of not being jet lagged – so I worked out, spoke to Daniel on email, etc. I stayed up and read the two articles they had given us to prepare for our visit to Majdanek, and I went to sleep, much more at peace, no longer lonely, and excited to begin my new journey!
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