SOLMarch 4: My Life in 50 Objects, Amber from the Baltic

 

 

 

 

 

In the summer of 1999, I traveled to Poland, to Gdansk (Danzig before WWII), to visit Malgorzata “Gosia” Tarasiewicz, the Polish director of the Network of East-West Women. Gosia actually lived in Sopot, a resort town along the Baltic Sea about seven miles up the coast from Gdansk. 

Gdansk was severely damaged when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, but after the war it was largely rebuilt, with old buildings back to medieval times restored based on photographs and other documentation. 

One day we went to the coast, where thin forests went right up to the sea. We collected amber, with chips along the beach and among the trees. The Baltic Sea area is a major source of amber, which was created millions of years ago. 

Here are the flakes of amber I found that summer, in a small pot I also bought in Poland. 

Four days later, after traveling south to Krakow, I discovered I’d picked up a tick in the underbrush along the sea coast. Roma, my Polish friend in Krakow, took me to a clinic, where a doctor, practicing his English, “unscrewed” the tick from my knee and assured me that ticks that carried Lyme disease were only in the far east of Poland, not in the north along the Baltic. 

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I’m participating in the 17th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 4 of the 31-day challenge. It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about. Join in!