Tomorrow Finally Came!: Experiences as an Agricultural Advisor in Post-Communist Poland 2nd Edition

Tomorrow Finally Came!

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Published by Boson Books 3905 Meadow Field Lane Raleigh, NC 27606 ISBN 1-886420-33-5 An imprint of C&M Online Media Inc. „ Copyright 1999 Darwin G. Braund All rights reserved Secoond Edition For information contact C&M Online Media Inc. 3905 Meadow Field Lane Raleigh, NC 27606 Tel: (919) 233-8164 Fax: (919) 233-8578 e-mail:[email protected] URL: http://www.bosonbooks.com URL: http://www.bosonromances.com

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

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TOMORROW FINALLY CAME! Experiences as an Agricultural Advisor in Post-Communist Poland Second Edition by Darwin G. Braund, Ph.D., P.A.S. ______________________________________

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

To Pam

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Chapter 1 Tomorrow Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty place from day to day... - Shakespeare “Tomorrow! Your office will be ready tomorrow!” Director Kobylinski was saying. Dr. Roman Kobylinski, Director of the Szczecin voivodship (province) Extension Center in Barzkowice, Poland, was explaining a delay in preparations for our arrival. Of course, today was yesterday's tomorrow when he had said the same words. His use of “tomorrow” (jutro in Polish) was my first exposure to the widespread use of this word in the Polish language. I had arrived in Warsaw June 13, 1995, twenty-four hours later than planned, to begin six months as an Agricultural Advisor with the Polish/American Extension Project (PAEP). My scheduled departure had been delayed near take-off until “tomorrow” because of severe wind and rain storms in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Polish/American Extension Project (PAEP) was a joint effort of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy (MAFE) and the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was conceived in late 1989, soon after U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Yuetter, at the direction of President Bush, led a high level delegation of government and industry leaders to Poland. The purpose was to identify opportunities for U.S. cooperation with Polish counterparts to improve the state of Polish agriculture. I'd been assigned to the Szczecin province in the northwest corner of Poland. The Baltic Sea forms the northern border while Germany borders on the West. The city of Szczecin is the capital of the province, and I was located 60 km east at the Agricultural Advisory Center (Osrodek Doradztwa Rolniczego-ODR) in Barzkowice. The ODRs are located in each of the forty-nine provinces in Poland with up to eleven regional offices in some provinces. The Barzkowice ODR had ten regional offices. Since the Project began in June 1991 and until it ended in December 1995, over one hundred American Advisors worked in forty-two of Poland's forty-nine provinces. Each stayed for six months or longer. The purpose of agricultural extension is to develop and foster bi-directional linkages of communications and knowledge transfer between agricultural producers and agricultural scientists. Extension is a unique form of non-formal education. Various models around the world place heavy emphasis on the role of the trained itinerant teacher

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Tomorrow Finally Came! (extension agent or advisor) to carry the results of scientific investigation to rural communities and to encourage adoption of technology through demonstration (U.S. Congress, 1913). The demonstration model has been used successfully by extension services worldwide because of its grassroots appeal and a high degree of acceptability due to its focus on problem solving. During training sessions at Washington, DC, in mid-May and upon arrival in Warsaw, the teams were urged to work on what was needed in the provinces, as determined by local needs assessments, and NOT on what the Poles or the Americans in Warsaw thought important. The overall goal of the Project was to improve the living standards of Polish farmers and consumers by helping the emergence of a strong, effective, and economically successful private sector in Poland's agriculture. The objective was not to impose a U.S. extension model in Poland, but to share ideas that worked for us in our various states and shape them to fit Polish needs. Following four days of orientation and training in Warsaw, I'd arrived June 17 in the small village of Barzkowice after an all-day trek by bus and van. A hotel operated by the ODR was next door to the Extension Center and made a convenient but very modest “home” until permanent housing could be arranged. That would also be “tomorrow,” as I was to learn many times. The American Extension Advisors on this Project were assigned in two-person teams to the various ODR Centers around Poland. Each team consisted of an agricultural economist and someone with both administrative and other subject matter experience who worked collaboratively with ODR specialists, region advisors, farmers, and allied industry personnel. My teammate was Dr. Kent Fleming, a native of Massachusetts and Agricultural Economist at the University of Hawaii. He stood 6'6” with a full head of fluffy, gray hair and probably weighed at least 280 pounds. Thus, he was an imposing physical specimen for the Poles unaccustomed to such large stature and dimensions. Our host's number one concern, we were to learn later, was where to find a bed large enough for Kent. Each American Advisor eventually had their own full-time translator. However, Kent and I were initially assigned only one translator, Maciek Markiewicz, a twentyseven year old young man with no prior experience with either the Project or agriculture. Arrangements for a second translator would be worked out “tomorrow.” June 19 was our first day at the office, so to speak. The Director and two Vice Directors apologized repeatedly for not learning earlier that we were arriving this weekend. They were expecting us one week later. In fairness to them, we learned eventually this confusion extended to the other four teams selected for the Project during the six-month period. I was to learn many times how easy it was for communications to be garbled in the multi-step process of English to Polish to English to Polish and reverse.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Thus, our work offices were not ready, our cars were not available, computers had not arrived, and our living arrangements were not finalized. Other than that things were in fine shape. We would expect to report to the office at the normal starting time of half past seven for a get-acquainted meeting with the Director at eight o'clock. However, we learned that because the Director and the two Vice Directors were having their usual Monday morning meeting, they did not wish to see us until eleven o'clock. With unscheduled time available, Kent, Maciek, and I decided to take a hike to the nearest village about a mile away. Being a friendly sort of chap, I like to wave at people, but found such a greeting to be the wrong signal this morning. As a man driving a truck carrying cans of gasoline passed by, I waved. He immediately came to a stop thinking I was flagging him down as a customer. He passed us later on a different road with a warning horn sounding something like “Yankee Doodle Dandy” to alert potential customers of his presence. I certainly did not wave to him again. Finally at eleven o'clock we went to the office building to meet with the Director. He was still meeting with the Vice Directors. We waited for them as they seemed to be in no hurry for adjournment. About a quarter past eleven he called us in to his spacious and pleasant office with a sizable conference table. From then until about half past one we seemed to have a continuing stream of different people joining and leaving the discussions. There was no written background information provided on anyone. Usually there was some kind of verbal introduction, but the translator was having difficulty keeping up with the Director's machine-gun rate of speaking and I could never quite figure out where the many visitors came from or what their responsibilities were. Later that afternoon we toured the Center's computer facilities. Adam Boltryk, Manager, took substantial pains to explain, with considerable pride, their computer equipment and training facilities. Certainly modest by U.S. standards, we were to learn later that the Center was plagued with a poor telephone system internally and externally. Adam was the only Pole in the forty-member office staff who spoke any English. He provided much needed assistance to me many times when a translator was not available and became a good friend. The next several days proved eventful. First, I got an office. It was small, but quite functional, about 10 by 15 feet with a storage closet in one corner. My “desk” was a plywood table about 30 by 48 inches with a side table 18 by 24 inches attached two inches lower on the left side to form an “L.” This arrangement did not have any drawers. A separate, small three-drawer cabinet on casters fit under the side table. I sat on a straight-back chair with four legs and no casters. All the furniture was made of plywood and painted black. The white stucco walls were newly painted. A patterned carpet covered the floor. One end was taken up by windows facing directly west. The two lowest windows were hinged at the bottom, tipping in at the top. Two

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Tomorrow Finally Came! larger windows above these were hinged on the side. They swung in, but required climbing up on the window sill to activate. A new sliding, adjustable, vertical blind added a nice touch. It helped keep out the hot summer afternoon sun. Both wind and rain moved rather freely through and around the window frames. We soon learned not to place papers of any importance on the window sill. The second major event was the installation of a new computer. It had a 486 processor with 16 MB of RAM and was superior in capacity and programs to the one I'd inherited at my North Carolina State University office just before departing for Poland. It was two generations beyond the 286 processors in the Center. Adam Boltryk, the Computer Center Manager, attempted to teach me how to use it in his very limited English. My low level of computer skills and his relatively poor understanding of English made for a very interesting challenge. He was exceedingly patient and understanding and I did learn a fair amount. The third highlight was to get a brand-new car. It was a Polonez, a Polish-made, four-door sedan, equipped with four cylinders and a five-speed manual shift on the floor. Because car thievery was so prevalent, it also had a gear-shift lock and an automatic alarm device. Fourth, I received mail from the U.S.! My own letter mailed “Dear Self” the day I left to check mail delivery time was postmarked June 12 and arrived June 21. A North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (NCCES) envelope marked “Official Business” from Dr. Pete Bromley in Zoology was mailed June 14 and also arrived on the 21st. From this first experience with transoceanic mail, I concluded official business envelopes commanded more attention—either by the U.S. Postal Service or in Poland. Subsequent experience with mail showed an erratic and unpredictable delivery schedule ranging from seven to fifteen days for personal, first-class air mail. Fifth, I talked by phone with my wife, Sharon, and daughters Michele and Wendy, at Michele's farm in Pennsylvania. I arose at four in the morning to call since it was ten in the evening at the farm. Two attempts were unsuccessful and I left a recorded message for them to call me about one o'clock my time the following day. About half-past one, a call came through from them. I talked with Wendy and Michele, but was cut off in midconversation. After about an hour of trying at their end, they got through a second time and I talked with Sharon. It was great to hear their voices after almost ten days away from the U.S. Thursday, we left the office about ten o'clock for a meeting starting at eleven in Szczecin. As usual, we had no information on who the attendees would be or even the approximate number attending. Due to a late start and complications getting lost in the city, we arrived at the meeting about thirty minutes late. It was on the fifth floor (no elevators, of course) in a very pleasant conference room.

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

One of the distractions about which we had been warned during our training was the almost incessant side conversations going on while someone had the floor speaking. At times, there was almost a constant buzz of conversations. At one point we counted six different side conversations going on while one man was addressing the group. I finally learned that this meeting was composed of ODR Directors from the surrounding regions and faculty members from the Agricultural University of Szczecin. The Rector and President of the Academic Senate of the Agricultural University of Szczecin was Professor Dr. Marian Piech. He was a delightful, older balding gentleman who spoke rather good English. He welcomed us in English and both Kent and I were asked to introduce ourselves and give a brief background, which we did. Maciek translated. Of course, I did not understand any of the rather animated discussion which went on during the meeting. When the meeting broke up about half past one, we had a private meeting with the Rector in his office before going to a delightful lunch, which he hosted for us. The lunch ended about half past two. We were on our own for the rest of the afternoon because Director Kobylinski had surprised us by saying his schedule had changed and he would not be taking us to some other scheduled meeting. This continued the rather frustrating experience of having what we thought were firm schedule commitments changed almost on an hourly basis. On Friday we were to have a meeting with Director Kobylinski at half past eight, but of course, that didn't occur on schedule. We were beginning to learn that prior time commitments and schedules were rather meaningless. We finally gathered at half past ten. Saturday morning I puttered around the room and read in my “hotel home” while we waited for Piotr Szysz, one of the two Vice Directors, who was scheduled to arrive at 10:00 a.m. He eventually showed up at noon and drove us to the Lake Insko area about 40 km away to look for potential permanent housing. What we'd failed to realize was that Friday was the longest day of the year. In Poland and apparently in many places in Europe, people have an all-night celebration. The Vice Director was two hours late arriving Saturday since he had participated in the all-night celebration Friday night. After returning from the trip to the Lake Insko area, I went for a long walk through the village of Golina and followed a farm lane out into the fields. There were many small fields divided by both wire and wooden rail fences with various numbers of black and white cattle in them. Hay had been mowed in some of the fields. On my return to the village, I met two farmers driving a tractor with a small wagon going out, I guessed to gather hay for the cows. A small boy of six or seven was in the tractor cab with them. Running along beside was a huge German Shepherd dog. When he spied me, he came

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Tomorrow Finally Came! rushing down the lane toward me barking ferociously, and I thought I was in great difficulty. The farmer riding on the tractor shouted and shook his fist several times at the dog. I wondered what I was going to do other than stand still and wait for the dog to arrive. The farmer's shouting and fist-waving did, indeed, attract the attention of the dog. When he reached me, he was subdued. He walked warily around me while I talked to him in English. The tractor arrived and the dog went on his way. I breathed a big sigh of relief. Going back through the village, I encountered five youngsters, probably ages four to seven sitting on the steps of a house. They had crayons and paper and appeared to be drawing pictures. I said, “good afternoon” in Polish and they responded in Polish. I asked if they spoke English and in a chorus, they all said “No.” I started to leave and suddenly they all shouted “Bye-bye” in English and laughed uproariously. It was obvious that they could at least say “Bye-bye” in English. They were pleased they had pulled a joke on me by saying they did not speak English. As I walked down the road, they continued to wave and shout and laugh. They certainly were having a good time over their little joke. Saturday, July 1, was the official “working” Saturday for the month, as decided by Director Kobylinski. In Poland one Saturday per month is decreed to be a “working” Saturday. This may be the same Saturday throughout the country or it can be altered by either local officials or companies, depending on their needs. July 1 was the working Saturday for ODR Barzkowice because the next day, Sunday, an “Open Door” program was being held. The Director wanted to make sure everyone was in attendance to complete all necessary arrangements. Thus, there was much scurrying about on Saturday by the entire staff. Justyna Rzewnicka, my full-time translator, arrived that same evening, July 1. I had hired her on the basis of a first-time interview during our training session in Warsaw, and a very strong letter of recommendation from my friend of forty years, Les Firth, who had worked with her in Konin, about 360 km east. We began working together almost immediately. The next day, Sunday, we went to the office at half past seven to prepare some materials for our display at the “Open Door” program beginning about nine o'clock. In the U.S. we would call such a program an “Open House” or “Field Day.” As new American Advisors, we were going to be on display. I wrote out in long-hand a brief description of the state of North Carolina, indicating that it was approximately 870 km east to west and 640 km north to south. The state's ranking among all fifty states was listed for the following products: turkeys - first; swine - second; sweet potatoes - second; tobacco - second; and cotton - fourth. Justyna typed this in Polish and the sheet was taped to the table beside a map of North Carolina. I attached my business card adjacent to Raleigh on the map. This was our display. Attendance was light until about noon time, when farmers began to arrive in fairly large numbers. There seemed to be much interest

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Tomorrow Finally Came! in the crops demonstrations as large groups went on tour of the plots of potatoes, grains, and soybeans. Shortly after noon farmers began to stop at our “booth” and ask questions. They were especially interested in North Carolina and the entire United States. I regretted not having a map of the United States, so they could see where North Carolina was in relation to the rest of the country. They also asked several technical questions. One man was quite distraught regarding a problem he was having with his wheat. He seemed quite demoralized and after some discussion he left when the Rector of the Szczecin Agricultural University arrived with his wife. Later, I saw the farmer carrying a bag of his wheat stalks. He had apparently found someone who could help him with his problem. At one point, there must have been a dozen interested people standing around our desk listening to this peculiar person speaking in English while a woman translated what he was saying for the Polish questioners. Both adults and kids stood around our table with much interest. A TV cameraman had come by sometime before and spent what seemed like three or four minutes filming us. I only wish that he had been there when this substantial audience was present. About half past two the crowd thinned out and we went to the hotel for a mid-afternoon major meal. Some exhibitors had already started to dismantle their exhibits and were packing up to leave at this time. During the day, the temperature had dropped. It had become quite breezy and was definitely sweater or jacket weather. Monday, July 3, was Justyna's first day in the office with me. What a pleasure to have her! She immediately realized the computer was not located in the proper place, that we needed a second desk, and should rearrange the office. This we approached with much enthusiasm. We learned that the ODR Director had a large office down the hall where he had planned to put the two translators together. My teammate, Kent, and I were in an adjoining office half the building length away. Justyna and I vetoed the idea of the translators in one office separate from us and so one of those desks was moved into my office. It turned out to be a desk actually designed for a computer and related equipment. By mid-morning, we had two desks in the office appropriately arranged and were getting down to work. We realized the importance for the two of us to meet with the Director and arranged a meeting at two o'clock. When we went to his office, the secretary said the Director was not available and did not know when he would be. The Vice Director, Piotr, came out of his adjacent office and invited us to meet with him. He indicated the Director was very busy and was getting ready to leave for the United States on Friday, July 7, for one month. Piotr said he would be in charge while the Director was gone, and if we had any questions to come directly to

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Tomorrow Finally Came! him. It was a good efficient meeting for a change. As we left, we noticed the Director talking with the secretary in the office, but he was too busy to recognize us or acknowledge that he had missed a meeting scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Such was the need for flexibility! Schedules changed almost without warning, planned meetings disappeared—patience! patience! patience! patience! I was reminded often: “T. T. T.—Things Take Time!”

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Chapter 2 Home in the Forest Monday, June 26, was both a “downer” and an “upper.” Once again, we learned that time was not very important and appointments might not occur on, about, or even near the scheduled time. We were supposed to attend the Monday morning staff meeting of the Center's department heads at nine o'clock. Somewhere around a quarter-past ten the secretary called from the main office to say the meeting was about to begin. The Director sat at a table facing the attendees, flanked by his two Vice Directors, Malgorzata Krysiak and Piotr Szysz. The staff members sat in comfortable, movie-house style seats. In fact, I found out later that's exactly what they were. The large conference room in the Center had, indeed, been a cinema in it's former life during the Communist era. The moveable seats were now used in many rooms and areas of the Center. We were introduced and everyone welcomed us in unison with “good morning” in Polish. The Director gave a lengthy report with apparent emphasis on a Festival the previous day in a local village which we'd attended. Then Madam Vice Director Krysiak gave a report punctuated by questions from attendees. Next, the department leaders gave reports with much animated discussion and simultaneous talking by several people. It was not unlike staff meetings at home, except I just couldn't understand anything being said. About half past eleven Vice Director Szysz drove my car and took us on an apartment-looking trip to the town of Insko about 40 km away. The first stop was at the home of a young couple with an eighteen-month old daughter. They lived in a brick house in a very rural area across the road from a 100-acre lake. The husband worked as a forester for the state Forest Service which owned the house and the forests in the area. They had an unfinished, two-room apartment upstairs which they were getting ready to rent to summer vacationers. As we were looking at these facilities, my teammate, Kent, announced that he had already told Director Kobylinski that he was going to rent the apartment being renovated in the ODR Hotel on a full-time basis. This was a shock to me since I had also decided that was probably the best alternative for my housing needs. It was a case of my not knowing the system and taking too much for granted without being aggressive in pursuit of my own needs. I had understood the final decisions would be made after both of us had seen all potential living arrangements in the various locations. This experience was lesson number one in evaluating verbal communications with Kent. Next we drove into the town of Insko to check on availability of apartments but found nothing. At that point, I decided that maybe the upstairs apartment with the forester

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Tomorrow Finally Came! had considerable potential for me, and I requested that we return to look at it again. This time, both he and his wife were home and we discussed at some length what they would provide. The remodeling of the bathroom wouldn't be finished for two weeks, he explained. However, because I could pay two months rent in advance, he was willing to have the process speeded up and completed within one week. I gave him 1,000 zlotys ($400) for two-months' rent and he signed a hand-written receipt I had prepared. It was Monday, June 26. With the extra cash up front, he thought it could be finished by Saturday, July 1, and certainly by Sunday, July 2. I told him I'd move in on Monday, July 3, and he said that would be fine, but “just in case” I should call first to check. In hindsight, that should have been a warning signal, but I missed its significance. Monday, July 3, I called as instructed. Well, the project was not yet completed, but surely would be by “tomorrow,” July 4. I'd planned to take the Fourth as a good old American holiday although, of course, it meant nothing in Poland. Thus, I told him I'd move in tomorrow, July 4. I'd never completely unpacked my three large pieces of luggage while living in the confines of the modest hotel room, so it wasn't a major project to repack for the relocation to a permanent “home” for the remaining five months. I loaded the car about seven o'clock July 4 and departed the hotel after having lived there for seventeen nights. I left for my new apartment with much anticipation. The area around my new location was marvelous. It was 25 km from the office. Wonderful hardwood forests covered the surrounding countryside. A rather famous road, the Watega, was known for its fifty-five serpentine curves. It provided a delightful drive through the forest to reach my new home “in the forest” as the office staff and local inhabitants described the location. I arrived at my new location in the forest about half past nine, unloaded the car without unpacking, and told my landlord I'd be back no later than nine o'clock that night. Due to unanticipated delay waiting for a ferryboat during a sightseeing trip that day, it was almost midnight when I finally found my way back through a rainy and very dark night. Fortunately, the landlord and his wife, neither of whom spoke English, had remained up with the outdoor light on until I arrived. They let me in, apologizing profusely again for the bathroom not being completed. They invited me via much use of a developing system of communications “charades” to use their downstairs bathroom. They assured me my facilities would be finished “tomorrow.” Pulling into their driveway about midnight, I'd wondered about the wisdom of my decision to select this location and facility and whether or not I would ever have a completed bathroom. Following a busy day with several meetings on Wednesday, July 5, imagine my surprise and keen disappointment when I arrived “home” and found nothing more had

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Tomorrow Finally Came! been done regarding my bathroom. The landlord managed to help me understand that the workers had not shown up that day and that I should continue using their family facilities downstairs. My enthusiasm for the wisdom of my decision to rent this place was dropping like a rock. Much to my surprise and chagrin, I next learned the kitchen had no running hot water. I marked this up to another case of too much “assumacy,” as I picked up speed on the learning curve in my new environment. Knowing I'd need hot water to wash dishes, I proceeded to put a kettle of water on the four-burner propane gas stove. While the kettle was on the stove, the landlord and his wife came upstairs. I got distracted and suddenly the landlord made a wild dash into the kitchen to turn off the gas stove because the water kettle was boiling over! Thus, was the start of my first meal preparation in Poland! After the landlords again apologized profusely in Polish regarding the state of affairs, they returned downstairs. I decided I would have a rum and coke, with heavy emphasis on the rum! Following a bountiful dinner of sliced tomatoes, cottage cheese, potato chips, and bread, I washed the dishes in a plastic dishpan in the sink using the well heated water from the kettle. With the dish washing completed, I dumped the water down the sink and put the dishes on a plastic wall rack to dry. Suddenly, to my surprise, the landlord came up the stairs rather excitedly and explained that I should not pour water down the sink because for some reason, it was coming out the drain pipe onto the floor of their bathroom downstairs. By this time, I was really beginning to wonder how long I might stay in this situation. I was going to unpack that evening, but by now my interest and spirit for the place was such that I said “to heck with unpacking” and climbed into bed about ten o'clock. It was still light outdoors. During the night, I experienced severe stomach cramps and thought I was coming down with some kind of “Polish plague.” I found the light switch, got down the stairs, and used the family facilities. Then I immediately took two of the anti-diarrhea pills which my wife, Sharon, had so thoughtfully gotten for me before leaving. They did the trick because I had no further problems. The next day a meeting with the livestock specialists was interrupted by a call that we were to meet immediately with Director Kobylinski. We went to his office where he very excitedly and rapidly told us about his upcoming trip to the United States starting tomorrow, July 7. It was obvious that he was keyed up about this trip, having never been to the U.S. He was going to visit Penn State and Purdue Universities, in addition to Washington, DC. He inquired about how things were going with my new apartment. When I indicated that things could be better, to say the least, he immediately said, “Well, if the workers doing the job can't get it done, we'll send some of our staff people out from here to see that it gets done!” Vice Director Szysz said we would go out that afternoon and

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Tomorrow Finally Came! leave at one o'clock. Fortunately, he got so busy we never did leave which was just fine with me. I did not want the landlord to think I had brought additional pressure through the ODR Director for a condition over which he, the landlord, had profusely apologized and had no control. On Saturday, July 8, I got up at four o'clock after trying to get back to sleep for a half-hour and wrote Sharon a long letter. At six I decided to hike around the lake, returned at seven and had breakfast. While I was eating, three men showed up in a pickup truck. They turned out to be workers on the bathroom project. “Hallelujah!” I thought, “today's the day—finally!” They worked until three o'clock and then left without having finished the job, much to my disappointment. Since no one would be working Sunday, use of the family facilities downstairs would need to continue. Monday night I returned to find the landlord wielding a paint brush after having installed the plastic shower stall sides and doors. “Ready tomorrow!” he said and at long last I thought that maybe “tomorrow” might arrive. Sure enough, Tuesday night, July 11, when I got home, the bathroom and shower were complete with a runner rug on the floor and towels in place. I celebrated by taking a shower. It had only required eleven “tomorrows” for completion. It wasn't till nearly four months later that I learned my landlords were surprised when I chose their second floor facilities for my home in Poland. About six weeks before my arrival in June, they had signed up to participate in the provincial Agroturyzm (Agrotourism) program sponsored by the Barzkowice Extension Center as part of a national program throughout the country. They had expected to rent to short-term summer vacationers for a season which lasted about six weeks because, among other disadvantages, their upstairs had no source of heat. Then I showed up in late June needing a place to stay until early December—an American, and even more disconcerting—a university professor! “Why did he want to stay in our humble house?” they asked themselves, according to information shared with me in October. I told them my interest had been based on the location and themselves, a young couple in a rural environment, with a toddling daughter. It had been twenty-five years since I'd lived in a home with a young child less than two years old. The rustic rural location with adjacent lake and small campground were pluses, because twenty years earlier, I'd camped across the U.S. and Canada with a young family of three daughters. Also, the landlords had agreed to provide portable electric heaters for my winter-time comfort. In retrospect, I surmised their surprise over my housing choice revolved around their perceptions of the American standard of living as chronicled by American TV and movies—both ubiquitous throughout Poland. Sensitive to their economic conditions, I had to be coaxed at some length to produce pictures of our three-year old home in

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. With four bedrooms and 2,500 square feet, located at the end of a cul-de-sac in a development carved out of an oak forest, it was a vivid contrast to the conditions I'd chosen with them. This white brick “Georgian Transitional Ranch” house represented a “sea-change” for my wife and me when we moved into it in November 1992, from a 100-year old farm house in Fayetteville, NY. Thus, I couldn't help but laugh when Bozena's mother saw the pictures of our large white brick house and exclaimed, “The White House! President Reagan! President Bush! President Clinton!” I downplayed the comparison, but was enormously impressed that she could name the three most recent U.S. presidents in proper order. “Could any Americans do the same for Poland's presidents?” I wondered, knowing the answer was undoubtedly “no.” The challenges of waiting for the bathroom to be finished were more than compensated by the hospitality of my landlords, Krzysztof (Christopher) and Bozena Cichecki with their active eighteen-month old daughter, Alicja (pronounced Alecia). They were a pure delight and soon accepted me as “family.” Their respective mothers and fathers lived in the town of Dobrzany, 7 km away, in the same apartment building. Christopher's parents lived on the first floor while Bozena's mother and father resided on the floor above. They shared flower beds and a large garden. Bozena's brother and his wife with two children, daughter six and son thirty months, also lived in Dobrzany. Christopher's father also had a sizable potato patch and about five acres of rye on the land where Christopher lived. On the first Saturday in August, a 16-foot, selfpropelled combine arrived to harvest the rye crop. It was in two patches—one about twice the size of the other. The elder Cichecki carefully and methodically used an old grain cradle to cut the standing grain away from the fences and in the corners of the field. He placed the cut rye in the standing grain so that the combine could get it all without wasting any. It took the combine operator an unusually long time to harvest these two small patches. Both were irregular in shape and much of the rye was flat on the ground due to winds and rain. One wagon load of rye was hauled away by tractor while the last bin full was dumped directly on a canvas in the parking area near the barn. This pile was then surrounded by boards on edge leaning against stakes Mr. Cichecki had driven into the ground. He then spread out the grain on the canvas. Several times during the afternoon he stirred the grain by hand using a short-handled shovel. This process was to let the bright sun and wind dry the weed seeds in the grain. That evening, he shoveled the rye into a pushcart and delivered it to a storage area in the far end of the barn. After pushing the cart up a rickety, narrow incline, it was dumped and the grain was spread around to a depth of about one foot. The hand labor and effort devoted to this project was truly amazing by U.S. standards.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! The stored rye had multiple uses. Once a day Christopher would scatter a pail of whole grain in the barnyard for the geese, ducks, and chickens. Some was taken to the local village where a friend had a small grain grinder. A pail of ground rye was placed in a wooden trough each evening for all the barnyard fowl. The four dogs were fed a rye “porridge,” made of the ground meal mixed with warm water. In addition, carp raised in two separate, but connected ponds on the premises, were also beneficiaries of the rye harvest. Christopher kept a pail of whole grain soaking in water. Each morning and evening he would scatter a pail of soaked grain over the surface of the small ponds. The carp raising enterprise was in its third year of operation. Some of these rye-fed fish weighed three to five lb. Christopher spent many hours sitting on the bank with his fishing “stick” — the Polish name for our fishing rod. One afternoon, my landlords were entertaining their extended family with several additional members that I had not seen previously. Christopher and some of his relatives were fishing for carp in the pond. As I began a long walk and was leaving the pond area, I heard much shouting and saw Christopher waving his arms to indicate they had caught a large fish. I counted fifteen adults and six or seven kids under the age of six running from all directions to see this spectacle. Christopher's cousin had a video camera, so he was recording the activity with much glee. Shortly, they pulled a carp out of the water which I guessed would weigh between three and four pounds. After passing it among the men and chasing the women with it, they put it in a wire cage in the water along with several others which had been caught previously. Upon my return from walking, they had cleaned the carp and had three or four (probably three pound fish) and some smaller ones ready to fry over the campground fire. I continued on into the house so as not to be invited for the meal. They liked to include me in their family activities and since this was the windup of a holiday, I felt it inappropriate to be involved in their last family meal. A few meters from “my” house standing under a huge horse chestnut tree was a nicely finished picnic table complete with covered roof. Hardly a day or evening during the summer passed without some members of their extended family or friends present to share food, fellowship, and beverages. When available, I was always invited to join the gathering. A small backyard was enclosed by a wooden fence constructed in the traditional style of the area with wooden pieces made by sawing round poles lengthwise in half. A real barn and barnyard were beyond the wooden fence. Because this area of Poland once belonged to Germany, many of the buildings were of German design. The barn was built of bricks with a high gable roof. It contained a variety of areas including pens for pigs, a large wood storage area for the winter's wood supply, and another area for chickens, ducks, and geese. Two or more storage areas occupied the remaining space.

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The front gate was protected by “Bugs,” a brindle Boxer dog prone to sliding his collar off and disappearing for several days at a time. Twice Christopher found him in two different towns 7 km away in opposite directions. The back area was more than adequately guarded by “Rambo,” a German Shepherd kept in a fenced-in area for good reason. It was three months before he accepted me as “family” and even then, I moved around him warily. The dog population also included “Kytag,” a four-year old shaggyhaired, long-bodied, short-legged, friendly sort whom I called “Whiskers.” The final and youngest member of the dog family was “Maly,” the Polish word for “small.” A beautiful red, smooth-haired, long-eared Bloodhound puppy ,he was about six weeks old at my arrival. He grew rapidly during my stay, except for a worrisome few days, when he nearly died from some type of poison or toxin he'd apparently eaten. As he approached adult size, I asked Christopher if he was going to change Maly's name, but Christopher said the dog would always be called “Maly.” The barnyard menagerie included a pair of mature geese, one half-grown, and three fuzzy goslings, a pair of ducks with four fuzzy babies, and assorted hens with chicks of various sizes, and two roosters. The latter began crowing about four o'clock regardless of the season or whether dark or daylight. The male goose was an aggressive “watchdog” who led his flock in hissing at anyone or anything that dared approach their space. I parked my car at night in this “protected” barnyard. The geese appeared especially happy to see it leave each morning since they seemed to think the parked car usurped their turf. Unfortunately, the barnyard didn't offer protection from what seemed like hundreds (probably only several dozens) of barn swallows that flew over my car as they swooped and dove to catch bugs. They left many deposits on my car during their flights. Sometimes it began to resemble a Dalmatian dog with many white spots on its black body. The barnyard parking lot usually included Christopher's unique pick-up truck and at least one other truck and a car belonging to friends. In addition the “forest tractor” and two-wheeled wood-hauling trailer were permanent residents. The forest tractor was a special piece of equipment. It certainly had seen better days, with the hood gone and the fenders held together by an added piece of angle iron bolted from one to the other. It was forever breaking down. During my first three months there, it seemed to be in various piles of parts a high proportion of the time. One evening I went with Christopher as he drove the tractor and trailer 4 km into the forest to get a load of firewood. Standing on the trailer, I was amazed at the loud grinding and chattering sounds emanating from the rear end housing. I said to myself, “sounds like the ring gear is in bad shape—wonder how much longer it will last?” It didn't take long to find out. Within a week I came home one night to find the rear half of

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Tomorrow Finally Came! the tractor in various piles. Sure enough, the ring gear and related parts were being replaced. Fortunately, the tractor wasn't Christopher's problem since it belonged to a neighbor. He had use of it—when it was working. It took over a week to get it back together with many hours of labor by the neighbor and his son. It was back in operation only a few days when the radiator was pierced by a tree branch and had to be replaced. My home in the forest was also home to a huge stork nest on top of the chimney and I quickly developed a love affair with the white stork (Ciconia ciconia). Between my arrival July 4 and their departure in late August, a family of four was the source of much enjoyment and amateur photography. The Polish word for stork is bocian, pronounced “boo-chin.” Next to the whitetailed eagle, the Polish emblem, storks are the most Polish of all birds. Man has never been known to kill a stork in Poland. In Poland of yesterday, a stork nest symbolized happiness and fertility. Indeed, children were once taught to believe that storks brought them into the world. As dawn broke over the forest each morning, I could see, from my kitchen window, the two adults systematically crossing the meadow back and forth gathering food for their two growing babies. A stork family requires between 200-250 kilograms (440-550 lb) of food in a season, mostly insects, small mammals, mice, moles, frogs, fish, and worms. Once a “load” of food had been gathered, they would fly to the nest and, with considerable commotion and flapping of wings, unload directly into the eager mouths of the two youngsters. Then back they'd go to the meadow and begin searching for another load of food at the point where they had stopped for the prior trip to the nest. According to landlord Christopher and his father, who had also lived there for many years, the house had a forty-year history of being home for a stork nest. During that time two different nests were involved. The first survived in place for about thirty years, then succumbed to a fire ignited by ashes released up the chimney as the wood burning furnace was stirred up. The next season the returning storks rebuilt on the same chimney. The second nest is now ten years old and should remain indefinitely since this chimney is no longer used for house heating. The nests are huge assemblies of branches and sticks about five or six feet in diameter and three to four feet high. They can weigh as much as one ton. Storks never forget their birthplace and always return to their old nests. Some are used for dozens of years, the oldest known in the borough of Horodlo being one hundred years old. Two nests can be observed on one barn roof in Dubienka village.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! In southern Poland, storks set up home mainly on trees. House roofs and chimneys are the primary sites in northern Poland where I was located. In recent years, storks build their nests on telephone poles and electricity pylons. In fact, the latter locations are hazardous to the health of storks. When the young are learning to fly, they are often electrocuted. Working to save the storks, the Pro Natura Friends of Nature Society, with funding from the UN's Global Environment Facility—the Small Groups Program—has devised a plan to move the endangered nests onto special platforms. The platforms are mounted on poles, above the dangerous wires. This is done in the fall or winter when the storks are in Africa. Of 300 nests in the Warsaw province, about seventy are built on pylons. In 1984 there were twenty-eight. Storks arrive in Poland in late March, bringing spring on their wings—or at least that's how the old saying goes. At the end of March they fly from Africa and rebuild their old nests, then in early summer, they breed. At the beginning of August, they start preparing for their 5,000 mile flight back to warmer climates. Stork families begin congregating into larger and larger flocks in forest glades, meadows, and stubble-fields. One morning, I unexpectedly counted twelve in a meadow as I rounded a turn on a back road. Ornithologists call the storks' gatherings “councils.” The storks usually set out before noon, using the warm thermal patterns in the air. They fly gliding at an altitude of about 3,000-3,500 feet and travel thirty to two hundred miles a day. The entire trip will take them three to four months. They reach Africa by two routes, both of which avoid the necessity of flying over wide sections of the Mediterranean Sea. The Polish birds fly over the Bosphorus, Turkey, and the Sinai Peninsula. Those from Western Europe prefer a route which takes them over the straits of Gibraltar and western Africa. Most of them will meet up in Kenya and Uganda, while some will head for Ethiopia and Sudan. The most persistent ones will reach South Africa. Only some of the birds which leave their European nests will have the good fortune to see them again in the spring. Storks' migration routes bristle with many hazards, both north and south of the equator. “Some African tribes hunt the stork for their meat or to get the leg bands that ornithologists put on them. They later use the leg bands in making jewelry,” says Adam Tartowski of the Polish Friends of Nature Society Pro Natura, which takes care of storks. Poland is currently the stork capital of the continent. In 1984, 30,500 nested there—30 percent of all European storks. In Denmark, only eighteen pairs of storks remain today of the 1,000 which once lived there. Only 3,000 storks live in Germany, about 300 in Austria, 30 in France, 15,000 in Ukraine and 10,000 in Belarus. No storks live in Sweden and Belgium.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! The female stork lays two to six eggs shortly after arrival, four being the most frequent number. Both parents hatch out the eggs for a month and look after the chicks for an additional two months. Storks seem to sense the advent of a dry summer in early spring and throw a number of the hatched chicks out of the nest, in an accurate prediction of just how much food they can catch in a given year. Young storks leave their nests in late July and start feeling a “migratory fever” in late August. They know from their biological clock just when they must depart. It takes them three to four months to fly to southern Africa, many falling from exhaustion on the way. They are ready to fly back as early as January, though a number of young storks remain several years in Africa until they become mature for family life. A stork reaches maturity at age of three or four and can live up to twenty-six years. The white stork is a protected species in Poland. Another species of stork, the black stork, also nests in Poland. An endangered species, it enjoys total protection and so does its nesting grounds. The black stork is slightly smaller than its white cousin. Its plumage is black, with only the insides of the wings and belly white; the beak and the legs are red. It builds its nests in old trees deep in wet forests. In marked difference to the white stork, this bird is very shy, avoids humans, and often abandons its nest if disturbed. It can be found in northern and eastern areas of Poland. The black stork spends winter in Africa or in India. Sighting a black stork in the area where I lived was very rare, so Justyna, my translator, and I were understandably excited one day when we saw what appeared to be a black stork in Barzkowice village. “Look! A black stork!” she exclaimed as we were driving through the village. Indeed, it was black, but we were very disappointed to find out it was black from smoke and soot coming out of the chimney on which its nest resided. Late in the fall I noticed the nest had disappeared from the smoke spewing chimney on a multifamily apartment building. The stork is featured in numerous legends, superstitions, and predictions. In folk culture, killing a stork is considered a grave sin. It was believed that a stork brings luck wherever it chooses to nest. Nest construction was facilitated by placing a wheel or harrow on the roof or up in a tree. A stork was supposed to thank a homeowner for showing concern by dropping valuables in through the chimney. The chimney was also believed to be used as a delivery route for newborn babies. When the stork family departed my house in the forest at the end of August, I felt like I'd lost some special friends. However, I was able to add one more item to the short list of things I know for certain—storks don't bring babies—at least not human babies. Other superstitions or sayings involving storks include:

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Tomorrow Finally Came! • The stork brings a swallow on its tail—spring is coming soon. The arrival of swallows symbolizes the return of spring. • Where there is a stork nest, lightning will never strike. • “They have a stork nesting” —said about lucky persons. • You may hear the complaint, “What am I, a stork? You want me to clear up the whole world?” According to tradition, the stork was to rid the world of reptiles and amphibians which symbolized evil. It's vaguely equivalent to a harried American saying, “Get off my back!” As the long days of summer disappeared and the nip of autumn became apparent in mid-September, Christopher and Bozena introduced me to an annual Polish tradition—hunting for grzyby. Grzyby literally means “fungi,” but the term also means wild mushrooms. They play an important role in Polish cuisine, especially in the fall and winter months. An estimated eight to ten million Poles participate in mushroom hunts each year, and from 18,000 to 20,000 tons of wild mushrooms are picked annually, usually for personal consumption. Sunday, September 17, was a gorgeous golden fall day. Following a delicious midday meal of bigos which Bozena had prepared for me, she and Christopher asked if I would like to go with them to hunt for mushrooms that afternoon. Of course, I said, “Yes!” About half past three Christopher, Bozena, Alecia, and myself in one car, Christopher's mother and father in another car, and Bozena's father in a third car, departed for the forest. Once there, we split up and went in different directions. We drove on down the forest road for a ways until Bozena spied a huge mushroom. We parked the car. From there we proceeded to walk considerable distance in search of these delicious fungi. I had had no experience in picking mushrooms to eat. I'd been taught to avoid them because there are so many poisonous kinds. They showed me what to look for and after three or four false starts, I finally found the right kind to pick. Of course, I checked every one with them for its edibility before putting it in the basket. I was amazed at how little Alecia, twenty-two months old, navigated the forest. She tromped around by herself, running back and forth between her father and me, often a distance of 100 meters without much difficulty. It was especially fun to watch her traverse the more difficult parts. She would always head through a pile of brush rather

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Tomorrow Finally Came! than try to go around it. About half past five a light rain started to fall. We headed home with probably a peck of mushrooms. As a rule, a few trips to the forest each fall will keep a family stocked up with enough mushrooms to last the winter, including enough for the Christmas meal, which as any Pole can tell you, is not complete without them. Bozena spent many hours preparing the mushrooms for preservation. After careful inspection and cleaning, they were canned or pickled in glass jars. Others were sauteed or dried by stringing them over the stove in the kitchen. And, of course, many were eaten fresh-fried in butter, or used in wonderfully delicious soups. Wild mushrooms also provide a source of income for youngsters and unemployed adults. The major highways were literally lined with sellers of mushrooms during the fall season. Mushroom seekers would leave the cities and villages by train, auto, bicycles, or walking before six in the morning. They would carry brown wicker baskets or pails and head for any large wooded area. It was important to leave early and arrive at the chosen destination before the locals got there to grab all the good mushrooms. They grew fast after a rainfall and were most plentiful in moist areas. However, it was useless to look for them in very wet, boggy lands, or in young forests. Techniques for the actual picking of the mushroom varied. One version, called the “twist” technique required that you carefully twisted the mushroom at the base of the stem. A second method was to take a sharp knife and cut it about an inch above the ground. The important part was to respect nature and make sure that the ground was not torn up and that the mushroom was able to grow again in the future. Mushroom hunts not only provided an opportunity to help collect an important dietary staple, but also were a wonderful way to get close to nature during the famous Polish golden fall. It was also a contest. Everybody competed to see who had picked the most. I never won any picking contests, but I sure did win with fun, fellowship, and great eating with Christopher, Bozena, and Alecia at my home in the forest.

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Chapter 3 Driving in Poland and Germany The best advice about driving a car in Poland we were told during our four-day Warsaw training, was “Don't!” A person is more likely to die on the road in Poland than any other place in Europe. Poland not only has the highest number of car accidents per capita, but also the highest traffic mortality rate. But, because it was necessary and cars were going to be provided at our location, we received four pages of driving tips and road signs. Then one afternoon every new American Advisor was asked to drive a car in a sort of driving test in Warsaw city traffic. Fortunately because that day was a Polish holiday, the driving wasn't nearly as complicated as it could have been had normal traffic been in process. The most feared part of driving in Warsaw (and other Polish cities) was the infamous “Rondo” or traffic circle. At least six streets enter and exit somewhere around the major Warsaw Rondo which had four traffic lanes around its perimeter. Cutting across the Rondo and all traffic lanes at right angles were two sets of double tram or trolley tracks going in both directions. Thus, the Rondo was divided into four quadrants. Traffic control lights were at each intersection of the Rondo. Navigating this nightmare in heavy auto and tram traffic required the utmost in peripheral vision, driving dexterity, and guts. A major trick and necessity was to never stop on the tram tracks when changing traffic lights stopped the flow of autos moving at a fast pace around the circle, darting, and changing lanes without warning. Since trams had no ability to navigate other than straight ahead on their tracks, they always had the rightof-way. Despite that, collisions of trams and autos were not uncommon. One busy afternoon a car strayed from its lane and rammed into a crowd at an island tram stop, killing a sixty-one-year old man and seriously injuring eleven other people. The thirty-eight-year-old driver had for some unexplained reason turned left and drove straight into the crowd. Police believed the driver lost control because he was driving 50-60 km an hour, too fast given the bumpy, pothole riddled road. The car plowed through the crowd and crossed the tram tracks before stopping in the opposite auto traffic lane. The day after this fatal accident, another auto driver tried to make an illegal turn at the same spot and crashed into a tram. The drive suffered minor injuries, while the passenger was taken to the hospital with more serious injuries. Many Warsaw tram stop islands have no protection against crashes. Of fortyseven stops, twenty-one did not have protective barriers. Some islands serve as both bus and tram stops. Warsaw has twenty tram stops that are not even on islands. To board or leave a tram, passengers have to cross busy roads.

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The long trip from Warsaw to Barzkowice, a distance of some 520 km, was accomplished by a chartered bus and the ODR Barzkowice van for the last 100 km. When the bus reached the open countryside, I understood much better why instructors stressed the dangers of Polish driving so much during our orientation session in Warsaw. For the most part, Poland's highways were single lane in each direction, but that did not prohibit drivers of all types of vehicles from passing anytime, anywhere, regardless of danger. In theory, and occasionally in practice, the vehicle being passed was supposed to pull over on the berm and make room for the overtaking vehicle to pass. Thus, a two-lane highway could suddenly become four-lane traffic when two vehicles going in opposite directions decided to pass traffic ahead of them. Sometimes I wondered which driver would give in first in an apparent game of “chicken.” The Polish-made Polonez car I was provided had four cylinders and a five-speed manual gear shift on the floor. It certainly provided adequate transportation, but I quickly learned the importance of down-shifting from fifth to third gear for most passing situations. I sure didn't want to be “parked” out there passing when a driver coming from the opposite direction suddenly decided to pass also, creating four lanes of traffic where two had existed only moments before. The auto traffic was further complicated by a wide variety of other users regardless of whether the road was city or country, main or secondary. These users included heavy trucks with trailers, horse-drawn wagons, farm tractors pulling from one to three wagons, tractors pulling wide, swinging farm equipment, self-propelled combines 12' to 26' feet wide, dairy cows being driven to and from pasture, and pedestrians—always pedestrians—walking, hitch-hiking, or staggering day or night. Between pedestrian carelessness and alcohol-impaired drivers, it was a deadly summer period while I was in Poland. During just one “black weekend,” July 15-16, fifty-one people died as a result of road accidents. During July, the first month of the high vacation season, 459 people died in 5,297 accidents and 6,909 were injured. Soon after I departed Poland, seven people died and two were seriously injured when a Mercedes slammed into an Audi. The Mercedes driver was trying to pass another car at the time. Eyewitnesses said it was going about 150 km (nearly 95 miles) per hour. This in a country the size of the state of New Mexico, U.S., but having nearly forty million people and about ten million registered vehicles. The increase in the number of vehicles in Poland has resulted in approximately 7,000 fatalities and 60,000 injuries yearly. Two indicators allow comparison between Poland and the European Union (EU): the first is fatalities per million vehicles per kilometer. In Poland for 1990 this figure was 9, rising to 11.2 in 1992; the EU average is

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Tomorrow Finally Came! 2.7. The second indicator is deaths per 100 road accidents. Once again, at 14.6 in 1991, the Polish figure is significantly higher than the EU average of 3.5. According to police statistics, the most common cause of accidents (27 percent) was pedestrians' carelessness. Children and senior citizens, in particular, failed to observe basic principles of safety. The second most common cause (21 percent) was driving under the influence of alcohol. One man who died in a June accident had 0.5 percent of alcohol in his blood. Even though 0.3 to 0.35 percent is usually fatal, the driver instead died of injuries sustained when he failed to make a turn in the road and crashed into a tree. Other reasons for accidents were excessive speed (19 percent), failure to yield the right of way (12 percent), improper passing (9 percent), failure to pay attention (8 percent), blocking the roadway (4 percent), and deficiencies in vehicle equipment (2 percent). With statistics it is difficult to quantify such a common factor as stupidity. What else can you call seven men riding on a single motorcycle? One good safety law in Poland was the requirement for auto lights to be on during the day from November 1 to March 1, the winter period. As an advocate and practitioner of driving in the U.S. with lights on during the day, year round, the headlights on my Polonez car were never off while I was driving in Poland, day or night. Pedestrians had the right of way at all times and took advantage of this to the extreme. You just never knew when someone would dart or casually wander out in front of your auto without warning. The following column in the Warsaw Voice, Poland and Central Europe Review, August 27, 1995, described the situation so well that I've repeated it verbatim: Don't Look Twice, It's All Right Scientists say that the biggest difference between apes and man is the ability to walk upright. But I wonder. The evidence of my own eyes suggests that the more exact difference is that most apes look twice before they cross the street. Take this. I'm crossing the street in my small Fiat. We approach an intersection, say Krucza and Jerozolimskie. Suddenly a human being crosses the road against the traffic lights. More often than not the human being is looking the other way. Meanwhile, you are bearing down on them in your motor car. The light is red for them, the light is green for you. They cross the street looking the other way. Makes sense to me.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! It would be fine if most of these dolts were children. Children have a propensity for ignorance, called innocence, where the perils of life are concerned. But most of these wayward pedestrians are adults. Or teenagers. Teen-agers do not count. They are the missing link. Then there are the pedestrian types: the wandering granny, the Polish Princess, the teenage mutant fashion victim, the blue-collar tough guy, the absent-minded professional. None of these people need to look twice when they cross the street. THEY ARE IMMORTAL. When I see this blatant disregard for personal safety, I am reminded of a certain tribe of American Plains Indians who believed they were impervious to bullets. Do these pedestrians believe they are impervious to the Polonez? Is this pedestrian road lottery a form of Polish roulette? Is jaywalking a Slavic sport akin to bull fighting? Or are there just more dreamy poets per capita in this country? Perhaps being run off the sidewalks of their own towns by motor cars has made them slightly mad. They are simply getting their own back on drivers. You have to ask yourself. But it isn't just street crossing that separates man from ape. In other words, it makes the ape look more intelligent. How about the habits of the driver himself? You're probably saying to yourself, Yeah, what about the habits of the driver? Well, Poland seems to be the only country in Europe, with the exception, of course, of Italy, where driving 100 miles an hour passing every one in the right hand lane is considered excellent carmanship. I am often reminded of the American Plains Indian custom of counting coup. To Whit: The car passing on the right cuts in on the car in the middle lane as close as possible to its front right bumper and at as terrible a rate of speed as possible without actually hitting the other car. If you hit it, so what? Hospital is a small penalty to pay for bravado. Perhaps this weird automotive compulsion is really nothing more than an expression of contempt for the motor vehicle itself. Consider the Lada does not inspire admiration. The Fiat 126 wins no beauty contests. You have seen card-board boxes with more style than the Polonez. And the Zil gets a nil for glamour. Peel me a banana. I think I'm going out to swing from a few trees.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm fed up with human beings. And the next time Miss Lang calls me a big ape I'm going to take it as a compliment.

Farmers contributed to the traffic nightmare with their carelessness. The 20 km drive from Barzkowice to Stargard, the nearest city, was a constant obstacle course on major highway route 10. There were several 90-degree turns in this main two-lane road with much heavy truck traffic. It was called an asphalt graveyard and for good reason. A single accident claimed four lives while I was in Poland. One afternoon, in the middle of one 90-degree blind turn, I found a farm tractor with a five-bottom plow stopped in my lane. The end of the plow projected into the oncoming lane. The tractor operator, oblivious to the danger, was pounding on the hitch with a heavy hammer. Of course, there were no flashing lights or warning signs of any kind. The very next day, on the same blind curve, coming in the opposite direction, was a single horse-drawn wagon loaded with brush. The driver of this conveyance sat on his seat half asleep, as traffic in both directions backed up. After all, it was his road to use also. Self-propelled combines on major and secondary roads were common occurrences during harvest season. With headers 12' to 26'-wide, they provided an awesome sight coming toward you and projecting into your lane. Newer combines had removable headers that were towed behind the combine on a two-wheeled trailer which helped. Still, particularly at night, with their head lights high above car traffic, they were a stressinducing sight. Poles drive tractors and farm equipment in the fields just like they do cars on the highway—absolutely crazily. Several times I inquired of the Vice Director and livestock specialists about any emphasis on farm safety programs. They responded that that was the responsibility of the insurance companies, but that they (the specialists) cooperated with the insurance companies. I could surely understand why the insurance companies were concerned! I soon learned to treat each intersection and blind turn as if something, either conveyance or cows, could suddenly appear without warning. Many times everything from large busses to tractors to bicycles to pedestrians to dairy cows did, indeed, appear unexpectedly, often on my side of the road. Defensive driving was mandatory at all times. The 25 km trip from my home in the forest to the ODR Center was an adventure each morning and evening. It took me through the villages of Golinka, Sulino, and

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Kepno, and the town of Dobrzany. Every possible type of turn, curve, and geometrical angle at intersections was involved. One intersection was particularly dangerous and worrisome. It involved a 90degree sweeping curve on a country road. Another road intersected this curve at about a 30-degree angle. And, of course, true to the Polish love affair with trees, bushes, shrubs, and brush, the visibility and line of sight from all directions was obliterated by all of the above. My route forced me to make the 30-degree angle turn twice daily. The morning turn was most dangerous. Experience had taught me that my schedule often coincided with the milk tanker truck that stopped in the villages to siphon milk from cans of all sizes. These were brought to a central location in push carts, wheel barrows, baby buggies, and hanging from the cross bar of bicycles. Thus, I was particularly alert for the milk truck. Because of the lousy visibility I had to pull into the intersection in order to see traffic coming from either direction. At 6:30 a.m. one beautiful morning, I saw the milk truck coming from my right so I, of course, waited in the intersection for him to pass before I turned left. As my eyes shifted to follow his passage in front of me, I suddenly realized something huge was looming on my left. I gasped in shock to see a huge public transportation bus just a few yards from my car. Then, I realized it was stopped because my car was blocking his passage since I had pulled so far into the intersection to see. The bus driver, obviously furious at such a stupid auto driver, was shaking his fist and had his mouth in high gear. I judged he wasn't commenting on the gorgeous morning. Once I started to breathe again, I put my Polonez in reverse and got out of his way. That shock was enough to stimulate action. That evening on my return, I parked near the intersection in an adjacent field and proceeded to break off or bend over interfering brush and branches to improve visibility. That helped considerably, but I knew it wasn't enough and I wished I had Christopher's chain saw to do what was really necessary. But then, I thought, I'd probably get arrested for destroying natural resources. I continued on my way home. About a month later, at four o'clock on a brilliant Sunday afternoon, I came upon this intersection to see the blue lights of Polish police cars blinking. I had a terrible, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. As I passed by, the remains of a tiny Fiat auto were being loaded on a flatbed truck. Any other vehicles involved had been removed from the scene. Even without stopping, I just knew that based on the crumpled and twisted heap of metal, the likelihood of a fatality was exceedingly high. My mind flashed back nine years, almost to the day, when my youngest daughter, Pamela, had been killed at the age of eighteen, in a tragic head-on, two-car accident

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Tomorrow Finally Came! which also claimed the life of a wife and mother in the other car. Like this Polish intersection, my daughter's death occurred at a dangerous intersection where the line of sight was obliterated by human error and lack of action. I had forced myself to go view the remains of the 1980 white Subaru car in which Pam was driving alone. The sight of that terribly twisted wreckage with her blood on the remains of the steering wheel and front seat has never been dislodged from my memory. Thus, there was adequate and painful reason for my fear of a fatality as I drove on by this accident scene in Poland, thousands of miles physically, but only milliseconds in memory, away from Fayetteville, New York. The next morning at the ODR office I inquired about the Sunday afternoon accident, but no one seemed to know about it. Only after I got home that evening I learned from my landlords there had been not one, but two fatalities. A young man and his wife traveling in the Fiat had been killed. My heart ached for the family and friends of these unknown people. I wondered if I could and should have done more to improve the visibility at that intersection. Bureaucracies being what they are, the Polish road people within a week had a crew of three men at this intersection who worked four days cutting and burning the brush and branches which had contributed to the double fatality. It had taken two deaths to get action. Back in Fayetteville, New York, I had made a commitment to Pam and her memory that I would do whatever was necessary for as long as required to see that the intersection which claimed her life—and which the New York State Department of Transportation admitted had never been designed, but just “happened” when a new NY Route 5 was relocated—would be eliminated and her legacy would save further needless deaths. Five years to the month of Pam's death, a newly designed NY Route 5 and safe intersection was opened, but it had taken another needless death of a young woman with eerily identical circumstances to create the necessary sense of urgency and action. Rare was the sight of wild animals killed on Poland's road. I did have deer, wild pigs, large rabbits (hares) and many foxes cross in front of me while driving at night. However, I was always much more concerned about bicycles and pedestrians. They could be found on either side of the road and sometimes anywhere in between, going with or against traffic. Another lesson I learned quickly was not to stop when I saw a bicycle and its rider sprawled in the weeds beside the road. Invariably the rider was drunk and had either stopped voluntarily or had fallen off. Highway surface construction left much to be desired. A major problem in hot weather was the softening of the asphalt surface so that heavy trucks formed grooves, especially on curves, when load weight shifted to the outside of the turn. Thus, in addition to the usual cracks and holes running across the road, tire grooves going in the direction of traffic flow, added a new dimension for unsuspecting drivers. If temperatures

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Tomorrow Finally Came! in August had continued above 86•F for a couple more days, the government was ready to ban all heavy trucks from the highways. Fortunately, the heat wave subsided and truck traffic continued without interruption. The first Sunday in August I was invited to attend a meeting in the town of Lubniewice with the honorable Samuel E. Hayes, Jr., former State Senator in the Pennsylvania Legislature. We were to review the Polish-Penn State Joint International Program “English As A Second Language 4-H Project.” I had met Sam Hayes previously at Penn State when he was the keynote speaker at the dedication of the Animal Industries Building on campus. It was a two and on half hour drive south to this town, so I left at eight o'clock to arrive in plenty of time to meet my co-worker, Dick Poorbaugh, at half past eleven. Of course, in true Polish fashion, Sam Hayes was not delivered at the appointed time by his Polish host from the previous town. They did not arrive until about one o'clock, more than one hour late. We met until about three o'clock with the Mayor of the town and the Secretary of Agriculture from that Province. Then, we adjourned for a delicious dinner and at about half past four left with the mayor to tour the highlights of his town. Although only about 4,000 population, the town depended heavily on tourists and tourism for six months of the year. The year before this town had been declared the most ecologically favorable town in all of Poland—a point about which the mayor was extremely proud. Following our tour, he took us to a very nice pub and treated us all to a beer. We found out that the reason this particular location had been selected was that he was the owner. Obviously, it became even nicer upon learning this bit of information! From there, we climbed the tower of the local famous castle, all 137 steps going up and 137 coming back down. Finally, at six o'clock, two hours later than originally planned, we left this town and departed by auto to deliver Sam Hayes to his next stop over five hours away. When I left home that morning at eight, I fully expected to be back no later than six or seven that night. Imagine my surprise when Dick Poorbaugh announced that he had mentioned to the planners that he and I (Darwin) would deliver Sam Hayes to his next destination by car. Thus, we drove over five hours arriving in the town of Wloclawek about midnight. The people expecting us about eight o'clock had given up at ten and gone home. A fence with an apparently locked gate surrounded the castle property which housed the ODR staff that included my friend, Don Overdorff, County Agent in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Sam Hayes climbed over the fence, walked to the castle, and awoke the guard, who immediately strapped on his sidearm revolver (gun). Meanwhile, Dick Poorbaugh jiggled one of the gates, found it closed with a wooden peg, and got it

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Tomorrow Finally Came! open. We walked to the castle to find Sam Hayes and the guard coming back toward us. We got the car and drove the considerable distance from the main gate to the castle. The cook had understood only one person was coming, so he was surprised to find three of us, but he prepared some extra coffee and tea and a few extra cucumbers, tomatoes, and cold meat for sandwiches. We tanked up on caffeine, got back in the car, and Dick and I proceeded to start the return to our original destination It was now midnight. After an unusually long trip, we arrived at Dick Poorbaugh's house at four in the morning. He prepared a cup of coffee, gave me several pieces of cake, and I departed at a quarter past four, as dawn was beginning to break. After taking a couple of wrong turns and coming through new countryside on back roads, I arrived home at half past six with the sun shining brightly. This was the second time in fourteen days that I had driven all night and watched the sun come up through the windshield of the Polonez. I had had enough auto driving for one day. Among its many accomplishments since 1989, Poland has achieved the singular honor of having the highest incidence of stolen vehicles among the former East European nations. In 1988, 4,000 vehicles were registered as stolen. The figures for 1989-1991 were 8,000, 14,500 and 30,000, respectively. Today, it is estimated that over 40,000 stolen vehicles are stolen per year in Poland. In Warsaw, twenty-five to thirty vehicles vanished each day. This figure varied widely during the summer months, when up to seventy cars were reported stolen in a twenty-four hour period. Consequently, American Advisors, when in Warsaw, had to follow the Ragland* Law of Preserving Vehicles, i.e., we had to park in paid (guarded) parking areas at all times. During the five years, two Project cars were stolen, one was severely damaged on the street, and one had all four wheels stolen while parked in an unguarded area. The Polonez cars came equipped with two anti-theft devices, a gear-shift lock and an automatic alarm device. The alarm had to be properly deactivated when approaching the car and then activated when leaving it. For the first several times I got in the car, the alarm went off because I couldn't remember whether one or two punches were required on the key apparatus to deactivate it. In the city, car alarms went off so often, no one seemed to pay attention, and it appeared they lost their effectiveness. My car alarm lost its use one day when I was putting groceries in the trunk. It went off with its bells, whistle, and siren going full blast. Nothing I tried would silence the thing. Finally, after the programmed time had elapsed, it shut itself off. That was the final straw for me! The control mechanism came off the key chain and went in the glove

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Tomorrow Finally Came! compartment where it remained until I turned the car over to the ODR Director on my departure. The gear shift lock was another handy-dandy mechanism. It was basically a “U” clamp that went down over the gear shift lever when in reverse and locked in place. Of course, the clamp was painted black to match the color of the gear shift cover. Therefore, much of the time I'd forget the clamp, camouflaged against the gear shift cover, and start the engine. The car could be steered with no problem, and since it was already in reverse, I'd back out of the parking space into the traffic lane before finding the gear-shift lock was still in place when I tried to shift into forward. The next step was to turn off the engine, remove key from switch, take another key (of course), and try to get it inserted into the hidden hole of the gear shift lock. This process was usually slowed down by the honking of horns by annoyed drivers of cars

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*Dr. John Ragland, Senior Advisor, Polish-American Extension Project. ºnow lined up behind in the stalled traffic. The laughter of my passengers did not help the situation either. During the nearly six months of driving the Polonez, I probably forgot to remove the gear shift lock about 50 percent of the time. The most memorable experience occurred one dark Sunday night at the Szczecin train station where I'd gone to buy international issues of Newsweek and Time magazines published in English. I'd sat down in the station waiting room to read them for awhile before departing. Preoccupied with the new-found news of the world, I returned to the Polonez, started the engine, and backed out of the parking stall into the street. Of course, I couldn't shift into forward, having forgotten the gear shift lock. For some unexpected reason, I had more than my usual difficulty in finding the hidden key hole in the lock. Next, I did have my usual night-time problem of inserting the ignition key into its out-ofsight, odd-angled hole in the steering column. The car's position was such that it effectively blocked the one-way traffic in front of the busy station spewing forth a huge crowd of returning “week-enders.” Honking horns diverted my attention to the rear-view mirror. I counted six cars —all taxis—lined up behind me with their drivers' well known mini amount of patience fully exhausted. Mercifully the ignition key finally found its hole, the engine started, and I accelerated quickly before a riot ensued.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Poles were notoriously unenthusiastic about Polonez cars, manufactured in the state-owned auto plant in Warsaw, which employed 20,000 people; thousands more than necessary according to published analyses by foreign auto makers interested in potential joint ventures, especially General Motors. Most of the civilized world changes cars every few years, replacing old ones with safer and more improved vehicles. Poles, however, have been forced to drive the dangerous Fiat 126 and the uneconomical Polonez for almost twenty years. This was possible because the state took over the manufacturing of these cars, reduced imports by levying duties, taxes, and excise taxes on foreign cars. As a result, cars sold in Poland are twice as expensive as in the United States, and much more expensive than in Western Europe. People have to spend months on waiting lists. Meanwhile, both Fiat and Polonez prices rose at least four times per year, on average. Used car dealers hardly ever offered anything for less than $10,000. In addition to poor design, lousy fuel economy, and lack of quality control, I found another reason for the Poles' attitude toward the Polonez when winter struck early and without warning Friday afternoon, November 3. A miserable cold rain had changed to wet snow about two o'clock. From my office window, where the chilly wind found the numerous cracks around the loose-fitting frames, I could see the heavy snow quickly accumulating on the trees. Already chilled to the bone by the involuntary ventilation, I decided to evacuate and head for home about three o'clock. Outside I spied my friend, Eva, the cleaning and maintenance lady, trudging with head bowed into the storm, going to her home in the village of Barzkowice, a ten-minute hike in good weather. I changed my normal route, picked her up, and dropped her off at her apartment building, with a warm feeling of having at least partially repaid her many kindness' to me, including bringing two different bouquets of flowers to my office, soon after my arrival. The change in direction added about 12 km to my trip and the further I went, the deeper the snow and wet slush became. It quickly became apparent that the Polonez was no snow car. Its light weight and rear wheel drive provided a treacherous combination. I drove most of the way in third gear. Fortunately there was little traffic. By the time I reached my forest road with its famous fifty-five curves, I'd gotten the “feel” and navigated the snake-like road without difficulty. I arrived home safely with a deep sigh of relief and thankfulness. The trip had taken twice as long as usual. The snow there was now four inches deep and still coming down in heavy wet flakes placing a huge burden on all trees which still had 50 percent or more of their leaves. Welcome to my first Polish winter, the first I'd experienced since leaving Central New York for Raleigh, North Carolina three years earlier. Two weeks to the day on Friday, November 17, a second storm hit dumping six inches of unexpected snow, accompanied by low temperatures lasting nearly a week. It didn't take long to realize that neither were the roads plowed nor was sand used beyond intersections and railroad crossings in towns and cities. Use of road salt was apparently

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Tomorrow Finally Came! unheard of, which was fine with me, since I'd endured twenty-five years of this autoeating compound in Central New York. However, traffic, especially the log trucks which were heavy users of the road to my home in the forest, quickly compacted the snow into a hard pack which soon turned to an icy skating rink on all rural roads. These conditions lasted for a full week in the country and my 50 km daily round trip provided much experience in keeping the light-footed Polonez between the tree-lined road banks and buildings which formed walled passage-ways through the villages. On the forest road the banks and drop-offs which had been hidden by leafy brush and bushes during the summer now were stark-naked. Their closeness was accentuated by the dark trees standing as sentinels outlined against the pristine whiteness. With the two-inch deep ice cover in most places, I drove much of the time on this forest road in third gear, especially when meeting on-coming log and pulp-wood trucks with trailers. The Polonez was even worse on the ice than it was with snow and slush. Several times I felt I was riding a snake. By the grace of God and good luck, I'd survived several close calls in Polish traffic and was determined to get through my service period without having a “broken” car as Director Kobylinski described Kent Fleming's Polonez after his translator, Maciek Markiewcz, had skidded on wet cobblestones and smashed the front end. But one night on the way home over the icy road, I thought my luck had run out. Approaching the village of Kepno with its two 90-degree turns 200 yards apart, the Polonez, without warning, brought its rear end up to where the front end had been moments before. Fortunately, the sun had melted a bare spot where its rays had reached between buildings. When the Polonez hit this spot going in a sideways direction, it regained its footing and I steered out of trouble with a racing heart. I said a prayer of thanksgiving and proceeded on home safely without further incidents. I had profound appreciation for the Poles' lack of confidence in their Polonez autos. The Odra River is the border between the province of Szczecin and Germany. Thus, German drivers were famous on the narrow and crooked roads of Poland for their excessive rates of speed and risky passing in dangerous situations. Also, because Berlin was reported to be only about two hours from Szczecin by auto, there was much interest by several team members in traveling to Berlin. During my last two months in Poland, I traveled to Berlin on three occasions with each trip having more than its fair share of travel difficulties. The first excursion on October 3 was absolutely spontaneous and completely unplanned on my part. Drs. Don Evans and Charles (Chuck) Krueger, faculty members from the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, came to my office as previously scheduled about nine o'clock, having arrived at the hotel the previous night about seven. They had had dinner with Director Kobylinski and Vice Director Szysz, who both proceeded to get very drunk on vodka, according to reports. Hence, neither of them had

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Tomorrow Finally Came! made an appearance this day by mid-morning when Don and Chuck began talking about a planned trip to Berlin for a sight-seeing tour. For about twenty minutes there was much animated discussion about this trip, which apparently had been worked out the night before, but had not been adequately communicated via translator. Hence, this morning there was absolute confusion. Finally, Vice Director Szysz showed up exhibiting signs of his activities the previous evening. Eventually, after more discussion and translation, the details began to fall in place and in a completely unplanned decision, Justyna and I decided to go to Berlin with them. I rode with Chuck Krueger while Don Evans and Justyna traveled with Vice Director Szysz. We arrived in Berlin without too much trouble, but then promptly spent much time driving around trying to get near the Brandenburgh Gate, which was “Check Point Charlie” at the old Berlin Wall. Don Evans was especially interested in seeing this famous site because his grandfather had come from an area not far from Berlin. After viewing this historic scene and noticing the huge crowds, we learned that it was the fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which had attracted the unusually large number of tour buses. About half past four, we hiked back to the cars and then proceeded on the long torturous trip trying to find our way out of Berlin. This took more than one hour and by now it was nearly dark. It was clear that Vice Director Szysz did not know Berlin and was thoroughly lost. After much confusion, turning around, and retracing of our tracks, we finally got out of the city and proceeded toward Poland and the border. Unfortunately, the first three border crossings we tried were closed and this caused more confusion and detours. I took over driving for Chuck Krueger, who by this time was stressed and irritated about the delays from getting lost. Like many Americans, he valued commitments and time and was upset that he and Don Evans were already two hours late for their planned arrival at their next destination and still had at least two more hours of driving to get there. We finally arrived at a border crossing that was open and got through after being interrogated about the official documents for the car. Since this was a car borrowed from the Warsaw Project office, we did not know where the documents were. Chuck proceeded to paw through papers in the glove compartment and gave a couple of them to the guard, one of which I thought was a scrapped off inspection sticker. He asked if we spoke German, and of course, we said no. He smiled, returned the papers, and let us go through. After getting across the border at last, Chuck and Don went on their way. Justyna and I went with Vice Director Szysz as he proceeded to drive at speeds of 120-130 km per hour over the dark and narrow roads. We finally arrived at the hotel in Barzkowice about 11 p.m. with both of us exhausted. I got the keys to my car from the hotel office

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Tomorrow Finally Came! because I had loaned it that day to Adam Boltryk, which was fortunate, because then I did not have to drive to Berlin. Earlier in the week, I had agreed to call Sharon this night at ten o'clock to confirm final details of her trip to Poland, but now it was after eleven. She was surely surprised to learn I had just returned from Berlin. Several weeks previously, when we planned Sharon's trip to Poland, and long before I had had my first experience with Berlin, I had suggested to her that she plan to fly into Berlin rather than Warsaw, since it would be closer to pick her up. She was due to arrive in Berlin about nine Friday morning, October 6. I went to bed early Thursday evening anticipating morning coming quickly for my trip to Berlin. After being asleep for some time, I heard Bozena's voice calling up the stairway, “Darveen, Darveen! Telephone! Your wife!” I leaped out of bed and got down the stairway wondering what had happened. It was eleven o'clock - five o'clock in Syracuse, NY. Sure enough, Sharon was on the phone and obviously stressed judging by the tone of her voice. She called to say she was stranded in Syracuse, unable to leave for New York City because of a very severe rain and windstorm. She was urgently trying to reach me so that I would not go to Berlin for naught. We were both disappointed at this sudden and unexpected turn of events, but I reacted calmly and said, “No problem!.” After four months of being in Poland, I had learned to expect the unexpected—tomorrow will come. Saturday I awoke before four o'clock to find extremely dense fog outside and so decided to leave for Berlin even earlier than originally planned. The first 100 km or so was fairly slow going because of the fog, but fortunately traffic was light. I arrived at the border crossing at a quarter to six and it took only ten minutes to get through. I had written out specific directions, had them on my tablet beside me in the front seat. With periodic consultation, I arrived at Tegel Airport in Berlin at a quarter to eight. Sharon's flight was posted to arrive about twenty minutes early and sure enough at 8:44 a.m., the sign said it had landed. From that moment I calculated that I would not see her come through the Customs Check Gate much before half past nine and so I took up watch in a strategic position and began counting the minutes. The first passenger came through the Customs Gate at 9:03 a.m. and the waiting crowd began to stir. At 9:25 a.m. I spied Sharon some distance away and got my camera ready to record this historic event. Finally she came through and I snapped a picture—somewhat to her minor disgust. She felt she looked so drained and disheveled, having slept very little during the previous twenty-four hours. We gathered her luggage and I went to the parking area to retrieve my car. At the exit gate, I found my parking ticket would not activate the automatic parking gate release.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! On further investigation, I found I had to go to another location to pay for the ticket and then come back with the punched ticket to activate the gate. Since other cars already had pulled in behind me, I had to navigate in reverse and signal to traffic behind me that this idiot had to back up and get out of the waiting line of traffic. Finally, I accomplished this maneuver, found the other ticket machine, and put my ticket in it. Imagine my disgust when I found the machine would not take American dollars which I had been told would be accepted at the airport. The machine blinked that twelve deutsche marks were required for payment, and I didn't have a single one! By this time, three people were lined up behind me. They could do nothing because the machine would not budge until I or someone had paid it twelve deutsche marks. I tried to explain to the annoyed ticket holders in line behind me that I had to go get American dollars exchanged for deutsche marks. Away I went and learned this was no small undertaking. Several times I inquired where the exchange was and finally found it located off the main terminal area. I got a $20 bill converted to twenty-seven deutsche marks and returned to the automatic machine. Imagine my surprise when no one was around and the machine was cleared and I had no ticket at all. Someone had paid the twelve deutsche marks in order to activate the machine for customers waiting in line. Now I really was in a “pickle.” My car was confined inside the lot with no ticket of any kind to activate the exit gate. I went back to report all of this nonsense to Sharon. She was less than impressed, but was gracious in her acceptance of my dilemma. I went off to find someone who could direct me to anyone that might have a suggestion for solving my predicament. Once again, I found it difficult to get directions to where I ought to go, but after much hunting, delay, and irritation, I finally found a real live body in the office of the independent company which managed the parking system. I explained my dilemma and paid the office person twelve Deutsch Marks. He gave me a ticket and assured me it would activate the exit gate. I returned to the car, got to the exit gate, inserted my newly purchased ticket, and sure enough the gate opened much to my relief! I drove around to where Sharon had been waiting for what must have seemed an eternity to her, but in reality it had only been about one hour. What irony! My flight from the Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina, on June 11 had been delayed for twenty-four hours by a bad wind and rain storm. Now my wife's flight from Syracuse, New York, on Thursday, October 5, had likewise been delayed twenty-four hours due to a bad wind and rain storm. I thought “another chapter for my book, Tomorrow Finally Came!” I loaded the car in an unauthorized parking area under the stern gaze of two security officers to whom I tried to explain my predicament. The baggage was placed in the car in record time and we departed the airport terminal.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Unfortunately, with the twenty-four-hour delay of Sharon's departure and her return from Syracuse to her parents' home in Romulus, they changed automobiles for the next day's trip. In the process, Sharon left her newly purchased raincoat in the first automobile. Her father had made arrangements to get the coat back to Syracuse and was assured it would be on the plane with Sharon when she arrived in Berlin. However, Customs people at the Berlin Airport said all packages had been taken to the air cargo terminal and we would have to go there. After circling the airport twice, we finally found the cargo terminal on the opposite side of the airport. Upon being directed to the appropriate office by someone in the warehouse, I found it unattended. After further delay an agent finally materialized and explained the good news that no package was on that plane for Sharon Braund. Since there was only one flight every twenty-four hours from New York City to Berlin, we would have to return the next day at the same time. That would be Sunday morning with only limited assistance available, and we were going to be 250 km away. The other bit of good news was that the package would have to clear Customs and this would be a problem on Sunday. We made a strategic decision that wherever the coat might be, we would track it down some other time. We departed the airport. Unfortunately because we were on the opposite side of the terminal at the cargo location, the exit placed us on a different road than where I had wanted to be. I knew fairly soon we were not going on the right highway, but traffic was such that I could do nothing about it. Suffice to say we saw several different parts of Berlin from a variety of angles before we managed to leave the city. At long last, we got on the route we should have been on two hours earlier, headed toward Poland and the border crossing which I had come through at a quarter to six that morning. Because of all the extracurricular driving trying to escape the tentacles of Berlin, my fuel tank was getting perilously close to empty. Shortly the empty light began to flicker and before long it was on permanently. I had been told to be certain to buy gasoline on the Poland side of the border because it was substantially cheaper. My frugal nature compelled me to run for the border. Sharon kept asking how much further and I would reply, “Not much further.” Suddenly, as we were going up a long hill, the car sputtered and choked and I realized the error of my judgment. We were out of gas! The four-lane highway was under construction. I coasted through and around pylons to a stop. Sharon, bless her heart, sat tight lipped and offered no free, unsolicited advice. I turned on the four-way flashers, told her to keep the doors locked, and started hiking up the highway. I had gone about 1 km and was crossing a bridge overpass when I spied someone on the other side of the road. I inquired (or tried to) of him where the nearest source might be for gasoline. Of course, he spoke German, but I finally comprehended that the nearest village was 5 km at right angles to the highway across farmland.

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

I thanked him and was just turning away to cross underneath the highway when lo and behold! a car pulled off and stopped! Wonder of wonders! The driver was Kent Fleming, my teammate in Barzkowice. His first words were, “Darwin, don't ever say I didn't do anything for you!” I eagerly jumped in the front seat with Kent and wouldn't you know, found his gas gage blinking empty! He, likewise, was pushing for the border before he bought gas. Neither one of us knew the other had been in Berlin on Saturday. We each thought we were going to be there independently on Friday with no knowledge about a change in plans for either one of us. We reconnoitered about what to do and decided to head for the village, which my “consultant” on the bridge had told me about. When we arrived at the village, the only gas station was, of course, closed, it being late Saturday afternoon. The sign said the next village was 15 km away, and we both decided Kent's car might not get that far and back without it also running out of gas. We turned around, looking for any live bodies who might know a source of fuel. Suddenly we spied a group of people working on a building. We stopped and tried to explain our predicament to this group of Germans and finally they understood. One of them went to his car trunk and pulled out a five liter plastic gasoline can filled with the suddenly highly valuable fuel. It took several more minutes of animated conversation before we could communicate that we would take the can back to the highway, put it's contents in my car, and I would return with the can. To get this accomplished, without me having any deutsche marks, we left a total of ten deutsche marks from Kent and a $20 U. S. bill from me and departed with the can, hoping that when I returned, he would keep the ten deutsche marks and return the $20 U.S. bill to me. We arrived back at the car and found that Sharon had turned off the flashers because she did not wish to attract attention of the on-going traffic. We put the gasoline in the car and Kent went on his way with my assurance that I would be watching for him, in case he ran out of gas before reaching the border. After several attempts my car finally started, since I had drained every ounce of fumes out of the fuel line previously. I returned the gasoline can to its owner in the nearby village. I was pleasantly surprised when he returned my $20 bill having figured that my previous stupidity would cost me at least that much. The border crossing was within 20 km, and when we arrived there, the traffic had backed up a long distance. It took us one hour and thirty minutes before we were finally through Customs. I kept turning the engine off every time we moved to preserve my precious remaining fuel. We finally reached the gas station on the Polish side of the border. I pumped every last ounce of fuel possible into the tank.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! We reached Stargard about eight o'clock and found the Vietnamese restaurant where I had eaten my first meal after arriving in Barzkowice. Fortunately our luck changed. Without knowing what we were really ordering, since the waiter could speak no English, each of us had very delicious meals. By this time, both of us were feeling more relaxed and comfortable, and we went on to my home in the forest, arriving about nine o'clock. There, we surprised Bozena and Christopher with our arrival since, when I departed that morning, plans were for us to stay overnight in Berlin. Because of Sharon's delayed arrival, we had decided to forgo staying overnight in Berlin, which in retrospect, was a very good decision. I welcomed Sharon to her temporary home in the forest. We fell into bed exhausted with the understanding there would be no rush to stir about Sunday morning. My third and final sojourn into Germany was Saturday, October 28. This was Sharon's last weekend in Poland, as she was departing the following day for home. She finished packing Saturday morning, bid farewell to Christopher and Bozena, and we drove to the ODR Hotel, where Gene and Kay Brewer met us. They wanted to visit Berlin, so we invited them to go with us when I took Sharon to the Berlin airport. We arrived in Berlin about five o'clock. without difficulty but spent considerable time finding the hotel where I had made overnight reservations for us. After getting settled, we took a substantial hike to a restaurant which the hotel clerk had recommended. There we had a wonderful dinner—one of the very best I had at a restaurant during my stay in Europe. Following a leisurely buffet breakfast, we left the hotel about half past ten for the airport. It was only about 5 km away, but in what had become a fairly normal routine for us, we again got lost. It took about three times the normal time required to get to the airport. Fortunately, we did arrive well ahead of schedule and Sharon got checked in quickly. Her flight was scheduled to depart at noon and at a quarter past eleven they asked her to start through Customs. I bid her farewell, and she disappeared out of sight to the Customs Gate.

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Chapter 4 Polish People Family is very important in Poland with much social interaction and interdependence. People depend more on family and relatives than on the authorities and institutions. This trend increased throughout the decade of the 1980s. A survey in 1990 showed that Poles rely more heavily on family and relatives than on themselves. Sources of Dependence to Settle Important Matters, Poland, 1990 Sources of Dependence % __________________________________________________________ Family/Relatives 43.9 Self

32.8

Authorities

12.0

Institutions/Organizations

3.7

Other

3.0

Trade Unions 1 ___________________________________________________________ Source: Wnuk-Lipinski, in Adamski, p. 90 Cited by H.M. Bahn, Societal Attitudes in the Polish Marketplace, 1995 ___________________________________________________________ Dr. Henry Bahn, National Program Leader, CSREES, USDA, has hypothesized that since 1990, as political parties emerge that are more closely linked to special interests (e.g., the Peasants Party), those parties will eventually take a more prominent role as sources of help to settle important matters for groups and individuals. Today, financial necessity dictates that most mothers return to their job after maternity leave. Work provides needed income and other benefits for the family, such as meals and access to vacation facilities. Day care and pre-school facilities exist, but not in sufficient numbers to guarantee a place for each child. Even a family which is able to place its child in a program still faces such enormously time-consuming tasks in order to

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Tomorrow Finally Came! maintain the household that help of others is essential. Frequently, older relatives provide this help, especially in the form of child care and household chores. Cooperation of all kinds figures prominently in the numerous multigenerational households where adult children often live with parents until separate housing becomes available. It is not unusual for adult children to have married and had children of their own before they are able to move out. If three generations are not necessarily living under the same roof, there is still active participation in each other's lives. One effect this seems to have had is the preservation of traditional values and culture over the past forty years, despite the enormous changes that have occurred in Poland. Public respect for the elderly and a strong sense of family duty are valued and much in evidence. About five million Poles live in poverty. People under thirty-four years old (not old-age pensioners, as is commonly thought) have the hardest time trying to make ends meet. Despite economic growth and an increase in real wages in recent years, the number of Poles living in poverty is not dropping. Today, the biggest financial problems lie with the unemployed and workers with low qualifications (mostly young people looking for their first job). Two-thirds of Poles under thirty-four years old are unemployed. Young families with children are the most threatened with poverty, especially those living in small towns and villages; 81.5 percent of families with four or more children and 75 percent with three children live below the poverty line. After the transition from communism, farmers suffered more economic deprivation than other groups. This was a turnaround from the communist period. In 1990, farmer income was estimated to be only 69.5 percent of the average income reported for the general sample, and farmers' income distribution was skewed downward. A higher proportion of farmers fell into the lowest income category, and a lower proportion of farmers were in the highest income category than for any other reported employment classification. Both economic and sociopolitical performance was weak. Real (inflation adjusted) income fell and unemployment was high. The stark pressure on family finances has had a dramatic effect on family size. No longer is it common to find young Polish families with four or more children. The present generation of young parents have made a significant shift away from the historical pattern of large families. Even though 96 percent of Poles are Catholic, it was clear through observation and discussions with present and potential parents, that the negative stand of the Catholic Church on birth control was widely disregarded. Today's young Polish parents seem to understand the cost of raising children and have planned accordingly. Young families with one to three children appeared to predominate. The Polish child grows up in a world where the efforts of adults to provide what they feel to be good and right for him/her are seemingly boundless. Children have an exalted place to be sure, but it is a strictly defined one. Material resources for children are

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Tomorrow Finally Came! quite limited in comparison to what is available in the U.S., but they are far better off than were their parents and grandparents. Parents feel compelled to improve their children's life, although, their income doesn't always allow them to take advantage of all the new products available. There is universal interest in the health and comfort of children. Parents sacrifice their own wardrobes in order to buy their children a wide variety of stylish and colorful clothes. Two young families in particular provided a unique insight into the multigenerational structure, traditional values, and culture of contemporary Polish families. Krzysztof (Christopher) and Bozena Cichecki, ages twenty-nine and twentyfour, respectively, with daughter, Alicja (pronounced Alecia), who turned two years old November 22, 1995, were my “home” family. They soon “adopted” me and I became a virtual member of their extended family. This included his parents Leon and Zdzislawa Cichecki, and Bozena's mother and father, Stanislaw and Irena Markowicz. Both sets of parents lived 7 km away in the town of Dobrzany. The elder Cichecki occupied the first floor and Bozena's parents resided above them on the second floor of a two-story, fourfamily building. Irena and Stanislaw Markowicz were each fifty-three years old which surprised both my wife and me as we guessed them eight to ten years older. A robust, buxom, effervescent, and delightfully outgoing woman, Irena, was a true “character” and the life of any gathering. On several occasions, I saw her laugh till tears ran down her face. Although only fifty-three, she'd worked in the Dobrzany District Office of the State Forest Service for 39 years, which meant she'd begun there at age fourteen. Sharon and I visited her office one morning where she showed us several medals she'd been given for years of service. She made it clear that many of them had been presented in lieu of salary increases. She was head of the accounting office and among other responsibilities had charge of budgets. Bozena's father, Stanislaw, was retired from a management position with a former company that manufactured building materials, but which had gone bankrupt. That occurrence combined with a back problem led to his early retirement so now he worked part-time at odd jobs “to keep busy.” He was more taciturn and less loquacious than his wife but could hold his own in animated conversations. They had been married for thirty-three years, lived in the same house the entire time and appeared to be in comfortable financial circumstances. Shortly after I arrived, Irena returned from a holiday of several days in Italy. A few weeks later they proudly showed me newly purchased oriental rugs in their main and secondary living rooms. In October, they purchased a new automobile made in the Czech Republic. Then just before departing, during one of her sumptuous and lengthy Sunday afternoon dinners, Irena showed me four winter coats, each made of different furs, including fox, lamb, and nutria, a large domesticated fur bearer, similar in looks to a beaver.

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Christopher's parents, Leon, fifty-eight, and Zdzislawa Cichecki, fifty-six, were likewise pleasant and enjoyable, but apparently came from a different background. He was a laborer with the State Forest Service and raised a sizable patch of potatoes and a couple hectares of rye on land where Christopher and Bozena lived. In fact, he and his wife had lived about fifteen years in the same Forest Service house where Christopher, Bozena, Alecia, and I were now living. He was a pleasant, friendly man, but not as outgoing as Bozena's father. Christopher's mother was a quiet, stoic lady who, in a group of people, rarely said much, but in the comfortable surroundings of family members, didn't hesitate to actively participate in conversation. She worked as a cleaning lady in the Dobrzany District Office of the State Forest Service. The beauty of her large, pleasant face was accentuated by fine, exquisite lines resulting from her passages through life. It was easy to see the parental influence in the personalities of Bozena and Christopher. Bozena reflected the effervescent personality of her mother, was aggressive in action and speaking. Without prior experience with the English language, she learned quickly, and had a jovial side that led to much good-natured joking with me. After two years as a young mother and living in the forest with the only neighbor a half kilometer away, she was tired of not being employed outside the home. Bozena had some post-high school training in animal nutrition. She was very excited in August to receive acceptance in a Forestry School program which she started in October and attended for three days a month. In two years, she would graduate and hoped to find employment in the State Forest Service where her husband, mother, brother, sister-in-law, uncle, father-in-law, and mother-in-law currently worked. I believe another reason for her interest in employment outside the home was additional family income. Most Polish mothers work outside the home because of financial necessity. Christopher was a slight, wiry man, but amazingly strong for his size. I'd guessed he weighed about 140 lb. When I inquired (to provide Sharon information on size of clothes to bring from the U.S. as gifts), he said 66 kg (143 lb). He and I bonded quickly with similar interests in hunting, fishing, and outdoor work. He and his father were flabbergasted one July evening when I took a scythe and demonstrated that I not only knew what it was, but also how to use it, by cutting the weeds along a wooden fence lining the long, cobblestone driveway. On the day of my arrival he thoughtfully gave me an English-Polish dictionary. He used the Polish-English version to aid in verbal communications. He spoke no English, but did speak German (Deutsche) as did many people in that area of Poland. Until fifty years ago, this part of Poland had been a part of Germany. The fiftieth anniversary of this historic occasion was celebrated during my visit. I helped Christopher haul firewood from the forest. I was amazed how he could pick up and throw large four-foot-long pieces weighing more than himself. At age

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Tomorrow Finally Came! twenty-nine, he fit between my daughters at ages thirty-two and thirty. I regarded him as the son which I never had. Many times I thought back forty to fifty years to the time I'd worked side-by-side with my own father doing similarly hard, but satisfying labor cutting wood, building fences, and other work involved in farm life. Christopher was Assistant Manager of his Forest District with responsibility for 1,800 hectares (4,500 acres) of forests. In addition to supervising a three-man crew of laborers (he said he didn't do any actual cutting, but told the crew which trees to cut), he graded all the timber harvested and determined its eventual use for pulpwood, furniture, or building construction. Also he kept the harvest and new planting records in an office in his home. He'd been Assistant Manager for seven years and hoped to become Manager in the next year or so. I asked if that would mean a salary increase and Bozena quickly said, “Yes, about double.” I didn't ask what he currently earned, but guessed it was about 500 zlotys ($200 U.S.) per month in addition to the house provided by the Forest Service. He paid for the phone and electricity. Heat was provided by a wood-burning furnace in the cellar fueled with the ubiquitous wood supply available for the hauling. Alecia was the youngest by seven months of the three grandchildren living in the vicinity. Bozena's brother, five years older, and his wife, had a two and a half year old son, and a daughter, six. They also lived in Dobrzany. Christopher's sister who lived about 300 km away had daughters two and six and had visited three weeks or so in the summer staying with her parents. Later I learned Christopher had had another sister who died at the age of twelve, some twenty years earlier. She apparently had suffered some type of head injury in a fall, but I didn't learn any details. It was a joy to observe the love exchanged between the grandparents and grandchildren, especially Alecia, who used her aggressive twenty-month old charms to “work” all situations to her advantage. I fell in love with her almost immediately. It was a very special day when for the first time, she came running to greet me as I emerged from the car after a long day at the Extension Center. She was the recipient of much attention and little discipline from her grandparents and my mind often flashed back thirty years to similar situations between my own three daughters and their two sets of grandparents. November 1, All Saints' Day in Poland, is a major national holiday, a time used to honor and remember the deceased. It is famous for flowers and candles in all the cemeteries. Christopher said his entire family would gather, then go to the cemetery, place flowers and candles on his sister's grave stone, and then have a big family dinner. More Poles are likely to travel to pay their respects at the family grave on All Saints' Day than visit their living relatives at Christmas time. The roads are crowded in all directions and there is bustling trade in candles and flowers outside cemeteries. The

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Tomorrow Finally Came! mood of crowds is a mixture of solemnity and festivity and children are not left out. As a visitor from the U.S., All Saints' Day made me realize I was in a completely foreign country, where traditions and attitudes are very different. At half past eight that morning when I drove through Dobrzany a huge number of cars were parked near the cemetery and it was filled with people, flowers, and lighted candles. In town people were walking toward the cemetery with bouquets of flowers. I saw a car pulling a trailer filled with flowers going to the cemetery. That evening I drove to Dobrzany to see the cemetery with its lighted candles in honor of the special day of recognizing and remembering deceased relatives and friends. Anywhere from four to a dozen oil-burning candles were on about 90 percent of the gravestones. The majority were red with the remainder yellow. Fresh flowers, both bouquets and potted plants in full bloom, seemed to be everywhere. It was a large cemetery and every grave had upright stones, many of them large crosses. The flickering glow of thousands of candles cast an eerie light among the stones and was reflected back by leaves still on the trees overhead. Several people walked the paved roads, many silent, but several youths were laughing and jostling each other. I had a flashback to Christmas Eve 1986 in Fayetteville, New York. That was the first Christmas after daughter Pam was killed in the tragic auto accident on August 19. Her two sisters, her mother, myself, and Sharon were each struggling in our own way to manage our first Christmas Eve and Christmas Day without Pam. Pam's mother and I had separated two years earlier with the painful divorce being finalized in the fall of 1985. Sharon had come into my life in August 1985, and she and I were celebrating a quiet Christmas Eve at my house. By prior agreement, Michele, Wendy, and their mother were spending Christmas Eve together. Then Michele and Wendy would come to my house on Christmas Day. About eleven o'clock., I went to the cemetery to place a lighted candle on Pam's grave. It was raining lightly and cold, but the temperature was not low enough to change the rain to snow, as it had often done on prior Christmas Eves. I put the candle in a paper sack with sand and got it lighted, despite the drizzle. I paused for several minutes in reflection and meditation amidst deep grief and an incredible sense of loss. It was about half past eleven when I left the cemetery and headed toward home. As I approached the main intersection of Route 5 in Fayetteville, the Fayetteville ambulance sped through the intersection going toward the Methodist Church where I knew my former wife and daughters were attending Christmas Eve midnight service. I had a deep sense of apprehension because ever since Pam's tragic death, ambulance sirens have caused me deep anxiety and worry about tragedy. Some sixth sense caused me to follow the ambulance toward the church with the fear that something had happened to someone I knew—even a family member.

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My anxiety level increased dramatically as the ambulance did turn into the church parking lot and went around to the back door near the kitchen and recreation room. From the outside I could see through the ground level windows that a crowd was gathered in a circle around someone. Even though I was dressed in outdoor clothes with my Woolrich hunting jacket on, I decided to enter the back door. I was absolutely dumb struck as the ambulance crew was carrying my former wife out on a stretcher. She had passed out during the service because of a combination of great emotional stress and the hot temperature in the sanctuary. As they carried her by, I could see her eyes were open, that she was conscious, and that she recognized me. The ambulance departed and I drove home nearly overcome with conflicting emotions and shock. Sharon greeted me at the back door and knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. I was in the midst of explaining to her what I had witnessed when our dear and special friends, Rod and Mary Martin, drove in. They had been at the Christmas Eve Service and had seen me leave alone. In their typical caring and sensitive concern for both Carol and me, they had followed me home. After helping me get settled down, they agreed that Sharon and I should go to the hospital. We went directly to the emergency room of Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse where Carol was a well-known nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. She received priority attention that Christmas Eve in the emergency room. The medical team ascertained that nothing serious was wrong with her, but that the combination of heat and emotional stress had been responsible for her fainting. They advised her to return home and rest on Christmas Day instead of going to work, as she had been scheduled. When Carol was released I drove home in a car containing my former wife, our two daughters, and a new love, Sharon, who had come into my life the previous year. She had raised me from the depths of loneliness and despair which had plagued me for many months following the divorce. It was an exceedingly remarkable experience for many reasons. One that I hadn't forgotten. The memory of it was triggered this night by the beautiful and eerie scenes in a cemetery in Dobrzany, Poland, thousands of miles and nine years removed from that experience in Fayetteville, New York, on Christmas Eve 1986. The second young family which contributed enormous help and joy during my stay was that of Adam and Agnieszka Boltryk, each twenty-eight, and their son, Przemek, two weeks younger than Alecia. Both were employed at the ODR Center where Adam was Manager of the Computer Department and Agnieszka was one of three livestock specialists. Each of them had Master's degrees. Both had joined the Extension Center staff in 1992. Adam was responsible for the technical operations of the Computer Department. He also did statistical analyses of opinion surveys of farmers, graphics for

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Tomorrow Finally Came! the ODR publications, and all other jobs that could be accomplished with computers such as spreadsheets, databases and word processing. Adam was the only one in the forty-person office staff who could speak any English. During my first two weeks without a translator, he was a vital, although limited communications link for me. He was especially interested in learning to speak English and could find words in his Polish-English dictionary faster than anyone I'd ever seen. In addition, he was exceedingly patient and understanding with my low level of computer skills and comprehension of the Polish language. During my early weeks I could hear “Adam!” urgently being called in the hallways by the non-English speaking secretaries who'd received a phone call from someone wanting to speak to an American named Braund. Born in Kolobrzeg, a city in northern Poland on the central part of the Baltic Sea coast, Adam had one sister two years older. He began his education when six years old at the Polish Navy Primary School. At age fourteen he went to engineering school and became a mechanic-locksmith. Following secondary school he entered the Technical University of Koszlin (a city in NW Poland). After three terms there he went to the Agriculture University in Szczecin and studied agricultural engineering. In 1992 he completed his MS degree ( M.Sc. in Poland) with a thesis entitled, “Construction and characteristics of agriculture aircraft in the world, in comparison with agriculture requirements.” Agnieszka had just returned to work at the time of my arrival in June following an eighteen-month maternity leave. A pleasant and devoted mother and diligent worker, she spoke no English. Being the youngest and newest livestock specialist, she got many of the details and assignments others didn't want. She was on duty in July when fellow specialist Boguslaw Kuleta was on vacation and in August when Dr. Jaromir Palusinski, Livestock Coordinator, took his one-month holiday. During this time, she offered to make arrangements for me to visit regional extension offices and farmers with various types and sizes of livestock enterprises. I eagerly accepted her offer. After a month of getting acquainted with office personnel and responsibilities, I was more than ready to get on Polish farms and talk to “real farmers.” As I drove Agnieszka and Justyna over several hundred kilometers of beautiful Polish countryside, we had many hours of discussion. I was pleased at how she interacted with the farmers and I always made a point to seek her input and insure her involvement in the myriad conversations. Agnieszka was born and raised in Stargard, a city only 20 km from Barzkowice. Oldest of three children, she had a younger sister and brother. Following secondary school she enrolled at the Agricultural University in Szczecin and studied animal

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Tomorrow Finally Came! production. She received her MS degree in 1992 and began working as a Livestock Specialist at the Barzkowice ODR. It was clear she was working out of economic necessity. They owned an apartment in a Barzkowice housing cooperative about one km from the ODR office, but did not own an auto. With the nearest shopping and medical facilities located in the city of Stargard, 20 km away, they had to rely on public transportation via bus and train. The latter was boarded at the “station,” 2 km walking distance from their apartment. Several times I gladly loaned my car to Adam for emergency trips to the hospital: when Agnieszka suffered a miscarriage in early September, when Przemek had the usual respiratory ailments of an active twenty-month old boy, and when Adam or Agnieszka had severe tooth aches or other problems requiring medical attention. Adam's mother, Ludwika Boltryk, a widow, age fifty-three, lived in the four room apartment with them and provided care for Przemek during the day while his parents were at work in the ODR Center. Lunch was served at half past one during the week in the dining room of the ODR Hotel. Each day Mrs. Boltryk would bring Przemek to the dining room where she and Przemek enjoyed eating with Adam and Agnieszka. It was heart-warming to watch Przemek run to greet his mother and father each day. After appropriate time in their arms he would look for me (if I hadn't already attracted his attention) and run to my arms, where he invariably reached for the red felt tip pen in my shirt pocket. Carefully he would remove the cap, make several marks on the back of his hand, replace the cap and insert the pen back in my pocket. Some days this procedure was repeated several times. It was clear that Przemek was the “ODR boy” and enjoyed the attention of several regular diners. I was honored by his special attention. Adam's father had died from cardiac insufficiency in 1994. Mrs. Boltryk had retained an exquisitely beautiful face, with a soft completion, accentuated by fine lines, especially around her eyes and mouth. Her nose, shaped as if chiseled by a fine sculptor, provided a profile exuding grace and dignity. Her dark hair, now abundantly streaked with gray was pulled back and tied in a neat bun. It was not until the last couple weeks of my stay at Barzkowice, when I asked through Adam to discuss her family life, that I learned about her background. I regretted not doing this much earlier. She amazed me with her professionalism and experience. Born in 1941 in Warsaw, she completed her education in a school of engineering and became a specialist in hydroengineering, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. She began her career with the Warsaw District Heating Company where she met Adam's father, twelve years her senior. In 1963 they moved to Koszlin in Northern Poland. Three years later they relocated to Kolobrzeg where Adam was born. For a few years she worked on building

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Tomorrow Finally Came! sites as a construction manager. Then she worked for her husband's company in Kolobrzeg. Adam's father, Florian, was born in 1929 in what today is the country of Byelorussia. Then it was part of the U.S.S.R. In his youth he was a guerrilla in the resistance movement (soldier in the underground army) called Armia Krajowa-the AK (the Home Army). The AK was an anti-fascistic and anti-communistic military organization. The first members of the AK were Polish soldiers. The Polish Army never laid down its arms during WW II, according to Adam. When Adam's father was fourteen, he was detained by the infamous KGB, the Soviet Security Police. The KGB sentenced him to death three times. However, because he wasn't an adult, those sentences were changed to nine years in a deportation work camp in Siberia. He left the work camp in 1956 after Stalin's death, but without permission to return to Poland. He returned to Poland anyway in the 1960s and started working as an electrician on building sites. After a few years he became a building site manager. In the 1970s he developed the technology for making Favieur heaters—a type of industrial heater. For this he received a state award and started his own business—a small manufacturing company that made those heaters. Adam's father was persecuted many times during his life. He was imprisoned three times for long periods (apart from numerous events of short-time detention for forty-eight hours or for a week). Having never received any official sentence, he spent six years in prison. It was called “investigation arrest.” “Always the Public Prosecutor brought financial (business) charges against my father, but it was political persecution, because the charges were absurd and never proven to be true,” Adam said. Most of his father's family lived in the U.S.S.R.—today Byelorussia—where they stayed after WW II, when Poland's eastern border was moved westward. They stayed because an uncle worked on the building site for a nuclear power station and did not get permission to leave the USSR. Only Adam's father returned to Poland. He visited his family a few times at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s. After each visit he was detained for forty-eight hours for “clarification.” He had to describe whom he met, when, why, what they talked about, etc. The visited family was summoned to the police stations to give explanations. This trouble was the main reason for which Adam's father broke contact with his own family. They didn't receive any news from Adam's father for more than twenty years. He knew that every letter was censored and wanted to protect his own family against unpleasant consequences.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! At the end of the 1970s Adam's parents divorced. The main reason for this decision was the menacing confiscation of the family's property (at that time an investigation was being carried out against Adam's father). His parents divided their property: his father took the family business and the car, and his mother took the flat and the rest. His father managed, just in time, to sell the company to a friend. Soon afterward he was arrested and the Mercedes car was confiscated. His father left prison in the mid 1980s. The court found him innocent, but he never recovered the car. In 1986 Adam's mother moved to Torun in North Poland where she started to work for a natural gas company as an inspector for safety and hygiene. She began doing the same type of work part time in 1997 for a private construction company. I was especially interested in learning what impact the fall of Communism had exerted on her life. She was emphatically clear about her satisfaction regarding its collapse. However, she reported the same scenes I'd heard from several others. Life is better, busier, and unfortunately, more expensive now that the Communist Era is over. Gone are the days of long lines, shortages, rationing, and hard currency stores. For the older generations the changes are happening too fast. For the younger generation, they're not fast enough. Justyna Rzewnicka was an outstanding example of the younger generation of Poles. Born April 5, 1973, she was twenty-two years old when she commenced working with me as a full time translator. I was the third PAEP team member for which she had translated. Thus, her experiences with the Project and Americans were invaluable to me. Until age twenty, Justyna lived in a village of about 1,500 inhabitants in northeast Poland. She was graduated from the high school in Makow Mazowiecki, a town of about 10,000 people. After that she received a degree from the Teachers' Training College of Foreign Languages in Ciechanow with a major in English. While working with me, she continued studies in the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw. Twice monthly she took the five-hour train ride to Warsaw where she had sixteen classroom hours with four different classes on Friday and Saturday. In September 1996, she successfully defended her graduate thesis on “The Americanization of the Polish Immigrants to the United States of America between 18801920,” and received her Master's degree in American Culture. As she shared some of her courses with me I, only half facetiously, told her, “When you are finished with your program, you'll know more about the U.S. than I do!” Justyna was a pleasure to work with. At all times she acted and performed in a highly professional and competent manner. A petite woman, she had a surprisingly nice collection of clothes for a Pole of her age. She dressed professionally and appropriately

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Tomorrow Finally Came! for all occasions, whether making calls to farmers in their fields and barns, or meeting with high ranking officials in their offices. An accomplished musician, Justyna played the guitar and sang. She had been president of the pupils' self-government organization in school and participated in school shows and public performances. In college she was able to practice her stage skills and participated in video films recorded in class programs. Justyna began public school earlier than most Polish children because her mother was a school teacher. Thus, with the scarcity of pre-school day care, she was able to be near her mother during the day while beginning first grade at an unusually early age. Her mother, Jadwiga, and father, Ryszard Rzewnicki, were each born in 1950. Justyna and her mother were graduated from the same high school. Mrs. Rzewnicka then went to Teachers' Training College and was a primary school teacher for about twentysix years. Ryszard Rzewnicki was graduated from college as a specialist in irrigation. He worked for seven years as manager of the Road Maintenance Company. At the age of twenty-seven, he became ill and since then has been retired. He died in 1997. In addition to Justyna, they had a second daughter, Renata, age eighteen, in her final year of high school. Maternal grandparents of the girls, born about 1915, were farmers in the same area where Justyna grew up. Their paternal grandparents were also farmers. Grandfather Rzewnicka, born in 1899, was drafted into the Russian army at age eighteen. That region of the world belonged to Russia then since Poland did not exist. Independence for Poland was gained in 1918. The biggest impact on the lives of Justyna's maternal grandparents, she reported, was made by World War II. Life after that was a paradise for them in comparison to life before and during World War II. They came from poor families. Communism was a promised land for these poor people who owned nothing before the war. Following the war her grandfather received some land from the state as a result of the nationalization reform. They build a house, developed their farm, and gave both their children (Justyna's mother and aunt) college educations—both were teachers. Communism was a part of the lives of Justyna's parents. They were raised in the system, but were never really involved in any political or communistic activities, she reported. They never achieved any high positions, but they managed to preserve the values of their parents. Her parents attended church masses regularly and carried strong family values. Although they worked hard, they never became rich.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Justyna reported that life is different now. She didn't know if life for her parents was easier now, but did not think so. Before they had to deal with corruption and political connections. Their salaries were not high enough to live a decent life. Now it's not so different. Maybe it's easier to purchase food and other supplies, but their income is not adequate either. However, they do not want the old system (communism) to return. They are optimistic when looking at Justyna with her good education, job opportunities, and adequate income. Her future seems to be more promising in her parents eyes. Justyna reflected thoughtfully on her experiences. She said, “Communism is a big word and for many people abroad it means something terrible.” When she started to really think and be aware of the outside world, she was ten years old and it was 1983. It was only her unclear and child-like memory which provided pictures of empty stores and speeches of the First Communist Party Leader or Chairman on TV. She did not hear about the labor strikes of 1968 and 1970 until 1991 when she was eighteen years old. The Marshall Plan and Martial Law in 1981 were things unreal. For her it meant that her family could not travel outside their province, relatives could not visit, and some men were drafted into the army. There was nothing in the stores, but that wasn't too difficult for her family because her grandparents had farms which supplied them food. In primary school, Justyna believed in the system and socialism. “I really thought it was good and worked O.K.,” she said. “I did not know of another way of living and I could not imagine that some other countries could live in better conditions.” Only when she went to high school did her attitude begin to change. Those years were a period of many changes. History books began to be altered. She was taught new and different things. However, all those things were happening somewhere else. Her family and relatives were never really involved. “We were and are common people who have tried to live according to our own values. The outside world was beyond our own problems,” Justyna emphasized. Now that she has completed her graduate degree from the University of Warsaw, Justyna wants to find a job which would provide maximum satisfaction. She would like to have a family and can't imagine living her life alone. Her family has been very religious and she is continuing this tradition. Her faith (Catholic) plays a big role in her life. Most important for her is family and she says she would not sacrifice a family for a career, although the latter is also crucial for her. “I would like to say at the end of my days that I had a good life, did not hurt anybody, and I did something good for people and for my country.”

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Tomorrow Finally Came! After working closely with her for five months, it's my considered judgment she'll be able to say all of the above—and more. Justyna and her contemporaries represent a very bright future for Poland. Poland has a different culture and language from the United States, but one thing in common is the genuine enthusiasm of young people to learn and do. That's why when 4-H debuted in Poland in 1991, it met with rave reviews. With the creation in 1993 of the Polish 4-H Foundation, Poland joined some 100 countries in bringing the power of 4-H to young people. Poland's interest in 4-H was a natural outgrowth of what began as a cooperative arrangement between that country's version of Extension known by its acronym ODR and Extension in the United States. Since 1990, Extension staff, at the request of Poland have helped improve agricultural practices, assisted by a U.S. AID grant. While in the Polish provinces, U.S. Advisors became keenly aware that little in the form of constructive out-of-school programs existed for young people. They noted, too, that Polish young people showed an intense interest in becoming involved in their communities. Extension workers posed the idea of bringing 4-H to Poland. 4-H was not an entirely new concept in Poland, having existed there in the 1920s. Early clubs were eventually turned into Farmers' Professional Preparation Courses which stressed vocational training. Only in 1991 was 4-H renewed when a club was formed in the Leszno Province through the Polish/American Extension Project. Since 4-H has resumed in Poland, some 12,000 youngsters have become involved with clubs in thirty provinces in rural and urban areas. The province of Szczecin where I was located had only a single 4-H club. It was in its first year. The regional Home Economics Specialist, Helena Krauze, was the driving force behind the club. Her entire family of husband, two daughters, and a son, all teenagers, were active in it. She invited me to show some of my slides of Poland's beauty at a club meeting at four o'clock Friday, September 22. I drove with Justyna, my translator, to a community building in the village of Biala near where I lived. Although it was about thirty minutes before the meeting was scheduled, several youngsters and parents were already there. They had decorated the meeting room and mothers were preparing food in a little room to the side that functioned as a make-shift kitchen. About half past four, I was introduced by Helena with some background comments. Then I showed slides for about twenty minutes. Following that, my teammate, Kent Fleming, and I responded to many excellent questions from the youngsters. They wanted to know about how 4-H functioned in the U.S. and what members did for projects. These thoughtful and stimulating questions and answers went

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Tomorrow Finally Came! on for about forty-five minutes. Then we were served the most delicious home-made Polish food I had in Poland. After the meal, I spread out my large map of the U.S. with the North Carolina map and spent some time responding to questions from the kids. I explained how large the U.S. was and where North Carolina was located. I had about a dozen of the one-page biography sheets I had used early after my arrival in Barzkowice. I handed these out to the kids, as long as they lasted. Unfortunately, I had enough for only about half of the youngsters. The demand was so great that I agreed to process more and provide them to Helena the next week. Shortly the kids brought their sheets around for me to autograph. They had a great time collecting the autographs from myself, Kent Fleming, and translator, Justyna. It was clear that the program and evening was not going to end until we, the American guests, left. So about a quarter past seven I packed up the screen, projector, and other materials and we departed. The 4-H kids with some adults stayed for a dance with recorded music. This affair was without doubt the most enjoyable and memorable experience involving Polish people that I had had thus far. About twenty youngsters and ten parents attended and the youngsters were absolute models of superb behavior and manners. Each one stood when they asked a question. Initially they were shy, but as time went along, they became more open and at ease. During the evening, I took several photos with my flash camera and they were intrigued with this. When they saw me getting ready and realized what I was going to do, they all lined up without much commotion and got ready for a group picture. Their behavior and manners were so remarkable that I wished I could transport the whole group back home as a model for some of our U.S. kids to learn about manners and respect for each other, their parents, and visitors. I left the meeting really wound up about what these young people did with so little to work with. Their club in this village was the only 4-H club in the entire province of Szczecin. Furthermore, it apparently was organized by Helena without much, if any, support from Director Kobylinski and the ODR Barzkowice Extension Center. In fact, I was not even aware there was any 4-H club in Szczecin until being invited to this meeting. They indicated they would like to have us come back again before we left in December. After countless cups of coffee in private homes and during workday meetings, I found that coffee in Poland was more than a beverage—it was an institution of social life. Drinking coffee had its rituals and traditions. The beverage had always been seen as a special kind of delicacy, to be savored slowly and lingered over.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! After burning my tongue with the near-scalding liquid, I learned early the importance of waiting until it was safe to consume. This required patience since rarely was milk or cream available for cooling and cutting the very strong taste. Also, I soon learned to not drink the last quarter cup. Otherwise, I got a mouthful of grounds since most coffee was prepared by placing ground coffee in each cup and pouring in boiling water. The strength was awesome. For the first and only time in my life, I saw a spoonful of sugar actually float on the surface before sinking in a cup of the traditionally “extra strength” Polish coffee. Although not a usual user of sugar in coffee, I soon converted just to be able to consume and “be sociable.” In Poland, coffee has traditionally been drunk outside the home so the history of its consumption is closely intertwined with the history of Polish cafes and pastry shops, which continue to be centers of social life, the places where gossip is born and the places to see and be seen. Not unlike in the U.S. Coffee came to Poland from Germany in the seventeenth century. It was not used as a morning drink; the tradition of consuming warmed beer or wine prevailed. Coffee was seen as something therapeutic but also a little dangerous. Local coffee-lovers believed that it was effective in washing out the intestines and in preventing apoplexy. In the beginning, it was consumed black, since doctors upheld that coffee mixed with cream was highly toxic. Coffee drinkers were treated with reverence and respect: a man who finished his meal with a cup of coffee was excused from drinking toasts. Women did not drink coffee in public at all. In 1950, all the cafes were nationalized—only take-out pastry shops were allowed to remain in private hands. The state enterprise enjoyed preferential treatment in several areas, including purchasing and hiring. Then came the 1980s, a time of food shortages, and coffee became very scarce. It became a popular bribe and ration cards almost became a second currency. With a pack of coffee in hand one could arrange almost anything. This situation enforced the popular perception of coffee as a luxury item. Despite the major role of coffee as a center of social life today, Poles do not consume large amounts of it—the average is 1.6 cups per day according to a recent survey. The French and Italians consume over twice as much. In the U.S. 1.7 cups of coffee were consumed per capita in 1995, down from 1.9 in 1993. Closely associated with coffee in many cultures are cigarettes. Polish people hold the world's statistical record in the number of cigarettes smoked per person. In 19901992, it led the world with 3,620 per capita compared to 3,260 for Hungary, 2,670 for the U.S., 2,540 for Canada, and 2,050 for Britain. In Poland, there is tolerance and even a green-light atmosphere for smokers. Poles are smoking more and more and not only because of aggressive advertising, but also

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Tomorrow Finally Came! because cigarette prices are low and do not discourage people from buying them. About 30 percent of all Polish doctors smoke. According to surveys, as much as 27 percent of young people regularly spend money on cigarettes while only eight percent invest their money in amateur sports. Also, there is a lack of large-scale public awareness campaigns telling people about the hazards of smoking. There is a particular dearth of campaigns aimed at children and youths. Surveys show that 50 percent of Polish men and 25 percent of Polish women smoke. I routinely made personal observations in meetings and social gatherings. My conclusion was the professional surveys might even be conservative. Industry predictions are that by year 2000 tobacco consumption in Poland will increase by ten to twenty percent. Since the mid-1960s the mortality rate among men between thirty-four and sixtyfour has risen dramatically in Poland. In 1965, the rate was 900 deaths for every 100,000 residents; today the figure is 1,320. More than 40 percent of all deaths are linked with smoking. For women aged thirty-four to sixty-four, mortality has held steady for about twenty years; more than 500 deaths per 100,000 residents. Personal relationships are very important in Poland. In fact, relationships were more important than time as I learned. Poles are polite and gracious, almost to a fault. Pleasant personal relationships and a good atmosphere are very important in the workplace in Poland. Poles were very critical of how they themselves take criticism. They realize it's taken very personally. Some said it was just better if the negative went unsaid. Thus, as American Advisors, charged with helping to improve Polish Extension, we had to understand the local relationships and proceed very cautiously with any “constructive criticism.” Nobody really enjoys giving (or getting) criticism at work. But there were opportunities to provide “suggestions” to our Polish coworkers. One Polish executive highly trained by an American corporation said, “If you understand the difference between critique and criticism, you're halfway there.” That is, a critique includes the negative and positive and a good manager knows when and how to say both. Effective “people” managers know how to use the “Sandwich and Cushion” technique. For example, the negative is sandwiched between sincerely positive remarks: “I like what you've outlined, but we'll need these details handled to complete this program. When you get these done, I know you'll have accomplished an outstanding project.” However, this technique is sometimes lost on Poles, said one Westernized Polish executive: “If a critique contains one little bit of negative, the Pole gets ticked off.” Other Poles commented that people only listened to the positive part and would not take the

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Tomorrow Finally Came! total message seriously. The idea of management “style” or “technique” hasn't been around long in the Polish workplace, so management practices are more at the whim of individual supervisors. In my six months stay in Poland I concluded that a conventionalized “style” or system for open negative evaluation to help employees improve had not yet emerged. According to professional recruiters the greatest demand in Poland today is for sales managers, marketing specialists, advertising personnel, public relations and human resources experts and accounting and financial experts. The latter two professions have changed their profiles in comparison to the model which existed in Poland until the end of the 1980s. They are now in the business of providing information, nor merely performing mechanical activities. They have grown and diversified with new positions such as controller, planner, and financial analyst. One corporate recruiter said that the real demand was for people who are “aware of what is going on” — able to meet the challenge in every situation. Possessing several university degrees does not necessarily mean competence. Another important factor, always mentioned last, but always mentioned nonetheless, was appearance. The employer it was reported, will always prefer candidates who know how to behave properly and who have not gone around in sweaters and jeans all their lives. The Polish extension system benefited from the introduction of new leadership and management styles via the Polish/American Extension Project. The tradition of hierarchical management systems favored control rather than participation and top level officials did not welcome feedback from employees at lower levels. This tradition seemed to be especially strong at my ODR Barzkowice where Dr. Roman Kobylinski was the autocratic Director. He maintained complete control over expenditures, equipment, and people. Even with two Vice-Directors, Piotr Szysz and Malgorzata Krysiak, whose responsibilities and authority seemed to be vague, all approvals were eventually made by Director Kobylinski. The Director's control over all resources and activities was significantly enhanced by an extra pair of eyes and ears belonging to Grzegorz Trymerski. He apparently was the service or maintenance manager, but was never seen to do discernible productive work. Rather, he was ubiquitous—always walking around—his beady eyes never looking at anyone directly. He was the epitome of the pompous, stuffed-shirt bureaucrat, puffed up with his self-assumed importance. His belly protruded over his belt, giving an additional physical reality to the stuffed-shirt syndrome. Within a few days of our arrival, Kent and I had dubbed him “Director Number One” or “PD” for “Pseudo-Director.” He perfectly fit my mental image of an old-time communist informer. In retrospect, I should not have been surprised. Poland had overthrown communism only six years earlier. Reports indicated the highest level of communist

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Tomorrow Finally Came! management had been relatively easy to unseat. It was the middle level—that mainstay and passive layer of any bureaucracy—that remained tenaciously entrenched. In some areas, the human infrastructure was as difficult to remove as the physical infrastructure of outmoded industrial plants, warehouses, and housing projects. Also, Poles have a high degree of distrust of outside intervention due to their historical tenuous position as a buffer between eastern Europe and Asia and western Europe. They also showed a strong preference for autonomy and a desire to define their public institutions according to their perceived needs. During the VIII Barzkowice Fair in September, Justyna, my translator, confirmed my “informer” suspicions. She spent many hours over three days with ODR staff in the Fair office and reported their general impression that “PD” was in reality a “spy” for Director Kobylinski. The only time in six months I ever saw him move with any speed was the day Director Kobylinski emerged from his car and hollered “Grzegorz!” at the sauntering “PD” a hundred yards away. He spontaneously shifted into a gear I never knew existed and reached the Director in record time to receive his commands. The Director's management style was control through intimidation and fear, not respect and leadership. In staff meetings I attended, the two vice-directors, both former graduate students of his at the Szczecin Agricultural University, usually spoke only with his tacit approval. One memorable event, the great “potato-pick-up-day,” acutely demonstrated his style. On September 20, about two o'clock, Director Kobylinski had called the ODR from 150 km away, to announce that “tomorrow everyone, men and women, should arrive with appropriate clothes, prepared to pick up potatoes!” They were to be dug from the ODR demonstration plots. Only those with medical reasons would be excused. I learned of this “happening” about ten o'clock the next day when the usually jovial Dr. Jaromir (Jeremy) Palusinski , Livestock Program Coordinator, came to our office and proceeded to unload for an hour. I'd not seen him upset before. He had just come from the Director's office where he'd been summoned to explain why he wasn't out in the cold, misty air and mud picking up newly dug potatoes with all the other men and women. Jeremy, in his early thirties, had both a weight and back problem. Normally jovial, his rotund body literally shook “like a bowl full of jelly,” when he laughed, which was often. This time he wasn't laughing—he was flushed with anger and needed a friendly ear. It wasn't clear whether Jeremy had a written medical excuse from his doctor or not. Regardless, he'd decided he wasn't going to follow the Director's orders. It was very clear the Director had not been impressed by either Jeremy's decision or his supporting reasons. The entire ODR staff, he reported, was not only upset but also had no idea what possessed the Director to take such action. It was the first time such a thing had occurred

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Tomorrow Finally Came! in his four-year tenure as Director. It certainly didn't help the general attitude to learn that, through the efforts of one staff member, a local potato producer had offered his potato harvester for the job—free of charge. I asked Jeremy if I should go home, get my work clothes, and participate in the potato-pick-up-program. After all, I possessed the necessary expertise and experience since I had picked up potatoes for several falls while growing up on the family farm in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. “Absolutely not!” he said. “It would be counterproductive. I asked Director Kobylinski, 'Is Darwin going to pick up potatoes?' and he told me, 'Don't ask such a stupid question!'” I also decided it would be neither personally nor politically correct to go take photos of the disgruntled potato-pickers. Therefore, I have no pictorial proof to show this method of demonstrating who was in total charge of ODR Barzkowice. When Jeremy l eft our office his face had lost its flush and his humor had returned. Justyna and I agreed we had provided some helpful therapy. We never learned what instigated the ODR Barzkowice potato-pick-up-day. Two weeks later the Director declared Wednesday to be a holiday so all who wanted could go to the forest and pick mushrooms—a major fall activity in Poland. September 13 was the much anticipated meeting with the AGROFIRMA people to finalize details for the meat preparation demonstration they had graciously volunteered to host for ODR personnel. We were scheduled to leave at eight o'clock for the meeting at nine in their corporate headquarters. When Justyna went to get the Madame Vice Director, the Vice Director had forgotten about the meeting, despite my follow-up written memo and verbal reminders. She said she had many things to do, and would not go unless I wanted her to. I made it plain that I expected her to be present. In the meantime, Jeremy, the rotund Livestock Coordinator, had decided he also would like to attend, along with Boguslaw, who had been scheduled to participate all along. When the Madame Vice Director showed up dressed very casually in Levi's and a sweater, we had one more person than the car could possibly hold. After additional discussion, Madame Vice Director indicated she would go and Jeremy would need to stay in the office. We arrived at the AGROFIRMA headquarters about ten minutes early and found that Mr. Brudlow, President, had a conflict but would return shortly. Fortunately, I had prepared a written agenda. I anticipated needing this both as a reminder of all the details we had to finalize and also as an aid in keeping the meeting on track. Thank God I had the foresight to prepare the agenda! Occurrences at a meeting of faculty members from Szczecin Agricultural University and ODR Directors during my second week in Poland had alerted me to potential problems. One of the distractions at Polish meetings, about which we had been warned during our training, was the almost incessant side conversations going on while someone had the floor and was speaking. At

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Tomorrow Finally Came! times, during the faculty-directors meeting, there was almost a constant buzz of conversations. At one point, I counted six different side conversations going on while one faculty member was addressing the group. We finally decided to begin with personal introductions, despite the fact that Mr. Brudlow was absent. There were five of us from the ODR and two AGROFIRMA people at the start. From the beginning, it was clear that our Madame Vice Director was uncomfortable and stressed for some reason. As the meeting progressed, a major source of her stress became more obvious to me. It was the Marketing Manager for AGROFIRMA, Agnieszka Postrzech. She was a competent young woman, age twentysix, with a very pleasant personality and a ready, beautiful smile. Our Madame Vice Director was rather plain looking and always very stern, unsmiling, with a prickly personality. It did not help the meeting environment when the Director of Technology Development for AGROFIRMA, Tadeusz Kowal, said that “Agnieszka was the smartest woman on the second floor of their headquarters building!” and, by implication, the smartest female in our meeting room, also on the second floor. Mr. Brudlow arrived about ten minutes late and was very apologetic for his sudden conflict. By this time, there had been much animated discussion and arguments proposed about all the many details we had to decide. Everybody had their own suggestions as to what to do, of course. I constantly had to remind them that we were going to follow the agenda point-by-point and would come to those details in the order listed on the agenda. For an hour, we went back and forth with my patience growing thinner and thinner with the continuous chattering while I and others were trying to speak. Finally, we got through all of the points on the agenda with a decision that the date would be September 28 from eleven o'clock to one o'clock in the ODR hotel dining room. At this point, plates of hot and cold meats were delivered to our table. We adjourned to have an early lunch at half past ten. In the car on the way home, I asked the Madame Vice Director if our meeting was conducted and progressed satisfactorily. She said, obviously misinterpreting my question, “Talking and conversation between people while someone had the floor and was trying to make a point during a meeting, was a normal part of Polish custom. I didn't like that?,” she asked. I wanted to say, “Hell, No!, I didn't like it! It was very disrespectful to others and highly annoying!” However, I called up what little patience I had left and reexplained my original question. She felt everything had gone OK. It certainly had been an exhausting meeting with so much talking and argument going on simultaneously. I, again, gave thanks for my prepared written agenda, which I insisted on following point-by-point until a decision was reached. As we were leaving the

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Tomorrow Finally Came! building and going to the car, Justyna said to me, “Another meeting like that, I will have a heart attack!” It had been a good learning experience for me on Polish customs and relationships among people. I had a better understanding of my relationship with the Madame Vice Director, which had not developed to my satisfaction. I now understood that she was intimidated by other women who were more attractive, intelligent, more appropriately dressed for the occasion, and by people more educated than she. I apparently had several intimidating attributes—one, I was a foreigner (American), second, I had Ph.D. after my name, third, I was a male, and fourth, I was considerably older. About mid-day Sunday, October 8 (Sharon's first day in Poland), Bozena informed us that we were invited to her parents home for dinner about two o'clock. This announcement put Sharon under stress. She had been reading several different tour guide books, which said that you always took a gift to the host and hostess when invited into their home for a meal. Since the parents lived only 7 km away in Dobrzany, it was no problem to go into town early and do some shopping. We bought several food items, including different kinds of cheese and the inevitable bottle of vodka and took these to the parents' home. This was Sharon's very first exposure to the unique and wonderful brand of hospitality provided by Polish families. We were warmly greeted and after a bit proceeded to be treated to a wonderful Polish meal. We continued to eat and eat and occasionally drink some vodka. A special treat at four o'clock. was watching the Pavaroti Benefit Concert on television which he gave live October 4 in Warsaw. If Sharon had been here then, I definitely would have bought tickets, even though ticket prices ranged from a minimum of 100 zlotys up to 900 zlotys ($40 to $360 U.S.) for this benefit performance. About six o'clock, we excused ourselves and I drove to Stargard where Sharon had her first opportunity to meet Justyna. She was arriving by train after attending her first series of graduate courses Friday and Saturday at the University of Warsaw. On Sunday, November 12, Bozena invited me to their mid-day dinner. By prior arrangement, I had scheduled a trip that afternoon to take Bozena, Christopher, and Alecia for a visit to the veterinarian and his wife who owned the thirty-goat herd at Kolbacz. As we were finishing dinner, more of the never-ending relatives showed up, apparently some of Christopher's long-lost cousins from the city. We were delayed in leaving for our trip to the goat farm. Finally we left. I picked up Justyna at the hotel about forty-five minutes late. She thought we had forgotten about her. We arrived at the goat location to learn they had three new babies, two of which were born that very day. Bozena, Christopher, and especially Alecia, were delighted.

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Earlier that morning I'd gone to Christopher's barn to take out the young male goat which had showed up there a couple of weeks earlier. I was concerned when I found his pen empty and assumed he must be tied outdoors somewhere with the dog chain I had demonstrated how to use with the goat. I walked around the house and barn, but found no signs of the goat anywhere. I went to the house and asked Christopher about the goat. He laughed and said, “Need Justyna,” meaning it was a long story for which a translator would be needed. I didn't know whether he had gotten disgusted with it or it had died or what its demise had been. On the drive to the goat farm I asked Justyna to translate the story of the missing goat. Much to my surprise, the goat had showed up rather mysteriously in Christopher's barn a couple of weeks earlier. I thought that maybe my enthusiastic suggestions about using either goats or lambs to eat the abundant grass and weeds on his property might have taken root. I learned that this young goat, an intact male, had appeared at Christopher's aunt's house in the town of Dobrzany, 7 km away. She tried in vain to locate the owner of the goat and even went to the police who were less than enthusiastic about using their meager talents to track down the owner of a wandering goat. The aunt brought the goat out to Christopher's “ranch” and asked if he would like to keep it. Thus, the goat had found a new home. It and Christopher were adjusting to each other under my tutelage. I had gotten copies of several publications on goats from the ODR and gave these to Christopher one evening for reference material. As the story unfolded, I learned that the goat's former owner finally discovered that it had wandered into the hands of Christopher's aunt and ended up at Christopher's. The owner came to the house asking to get back his lost goat. Of course, Christopher released it. Thus, Christopher and Bozena were temporarily out of the goat business. It was probably just as well because in my experience with this young billy, I realized that he was an aggressive cuss. Already he was using his head to rigorously butt things, including me, even though his horns had not yet started to grow. I concluded he would be ornery when he matured. It was just as well that if Christopher and Bozena were going into the goat business, they do it with a young female rather than a potentially ornery male. I was very pleased when Bozena and Christopher became excited on seeing the thirty goats in the herd and asked many, many questions. Before we left, they were negotiating the purchase of a young female at a later date. They even got directions on how the goat would be put into a sack with only its neck protruding with the sack tied around its neck, so that it could be transported in an automobile. I was very familiar with this technique having watched my father do it several times with dairy calves. He took them to the local market in the back seat of our old family car.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! On the way home Christopher asked that we stop at a sweet shop in Stargard where he insisted on buying dessert for all five of us. We had delicious ice cream covered with several kinds of fruit and enjoyed this stop immensely. I learned much more about Christopher's career in forestry and Bozena's interest in the same career. She was now going to school several weekends over the next few months. On the way home while going through Dobrzany, Bozena said, “My mother's house, five minutes!” I had spent several other “five minute” stops at her mother's house and so knew this would be a stop of indeterminable length. Sure enough, when we arrived, they were just completing their evening meal and proceeded to produce dessert cake, coffee, and tea for us. Then realizing we had not eaten an evening meal, her mother spread out bigos, kielbasa, and of course, vodka. After that they announced that at eight o'clock on TV a presidential debate would occur between current President Lech Walesa and his opponent, Aleksander Kwasniewski. It was clear that everyone wanted to watch the debate and so we did. It was an interesting experience. I had thought that Bozena and Christopher were in opposite political camps and found that her mother and father likewise were of different political persuasions. As the debate continued, there would be a murmur or a loud outburst for or against the speaker by one of the family members. Then they would get shushed up and told to keep quiet until the next disagreement arose. I watched and listened in fascination, not understanding much of what was said, either in the room or on television. I was impressed with their interest in the candidates and the issues. The televised debate ended at a quarter past nine and soon we left the house some three hours after our “five minute stop.” The first election of the two-stage race was held Sunday, November 5. I had been invited to the home of Adam and Agnieszka Boltryk for dinner about half past one. I drove to Dobrzany, bought two bottles of wine, and went on to the Boltryk's apartment in Barzkowice. We had a wonderful dinner and talked for a couple of hours about Adam's interest in obtaining a Ph.D. degree and his current evening classes in English in Stargard. He needed very much to buy a car, but had only 5,000 of the necessary 15,000 zlotys for a five or six year old used car. Credit was available in Poland to buy used automobiles, but the interest rate was twenty percent, making the cost excessive for many families. I asked them if they were going to vote and they said, “No, because they would have to wait thirty-five minutes for the bus in the cold” with two-year old Przemek. I offered to drive them to the next village of Pezino where they were to vote and they agreed. I drove them to the polling place and it only took a couple of minutes to mark their ballot. I drove back to their apartment, dropped them off, and went on to Szczecin to buy Time and Newsweek in English. I felt I had actually made a contribution to this historic election for Poland's president.

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With seventeen candidates running, the field was nearly three times as large as in 1990 when there were six. In addition to politicians with extensive experience and welltested qualifications, there were several candidates with no political experience and several politicians with controversial views. After running a distant fourth behind Kwasniewski in the polls, Walesa had worked his way back into the race. His support in the seventeen-candidate race had risen from 7 percent to 23 percent in the week before the first round; thus, he was just about assured of second place in the first round of voting, which would take him into a runoff with Kwasniewski two weeks later. Walesa's comeback had been “astounding” according to the professional pollsters. They said he had “risen from the ashes.” Part of the explanation for his uncanny bounce back had been Poland's remarkable economic performance in the past few years for which Walesa had not hesitated to claim credit. The majority of Poles who embraced him as a hero when he led Solidarity's assault on the communist regime turned against him during his presidency. They blamed him for fragmenting the former opposition into numerous ineffective parties, thus allowing the left to take control of the government two years previously. They said he had broken his promise to punish the former officials for the crimes of the communist era, wipe out corruption, and help the neediest weather the transition to a market economy. And many who had once delighted in his folksy habits of speech started to mock them. Some Poles, particularly the older generation, now subsisting on pensions, were nostalgic for the good old, bad old days of communism when livelihoods seemed less threatened by change. In the first round election, Walesa and Kwasniewski garnered two-thirds of the vote between them. Walesa finished the campaign before the first round in impressive style, increasing his voter support to 33 percent from a mere 7 percent in September. Turn-out was 64.7 percent, a record figure for the past six years, even though many voters in southern Poland had problems making it to the polls because of heavy snowfall. Two weeks later on Sunday, November 19, Kwasniewski, a former communist, won the presidency, defeating Walesa with 51.7 percent of the vote in the runoff. In my province of Szczecin, voters had supported the winner by two to one. Justyna was devastated. When the official results were announced, she shared her deep disappointment with me. She was afraid that Kwasniewski would bring back communism. Because she was so disturbed, I decided we'd take a “time-out” from our Monday projects to just talk. She was about eight years old when martial law was declared for all of Poland in 1981 and still remembered the fright and turmoil that it had created. She was a teenager when communism was overthrown in 1989. Now, having experienced five years with freedom during her early adult years, she was especially fearful of communism returning with Kwasniewski as president.

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We discussed my thoughts that Poland had made too much progress with significant momentum away from communism during the past five years to return to it. Further, I thought that former president Walesa wouldn't disappear from the political scene, but would stay active to help ensure his years of effort against communism had not been in vain. Because of her college training and interest in history, I urged her to turn her interest into action and become active politically to ensure that communism did not return to Poland. November 30 Bozena and Christopher hosted a lovely and intimate farewell party for me. Both sets of parents were there and we spent two hours of pure enjoyment as we had done so many times since July 1 when I moved to the forest and became an adopted member of their extended family. I didn't arrive till seven o'clock, an hour after the established starting time of six, because it took Justyna and me so long to finish the final report and pack up the remaining things in the office. Fortunately, I had called Bozena to tell her of my tardiness at a quarter past six and at that point the parents had not arrived, but she said everything was ready for the party. On my way home, I drove through the forest at the fastest pace I had ever gone in the hundreds of trips I had made on that beautiful, but crooked road. I now knew each curve like the proverbial “back of my hand.” Vice Director Szysz said back in June when I made the decision to move out there, “After driving this road you will be able to become a race car driver in America.” I had no interest in becoming a race car driver, but I did know how to take the curves on the road to my home in that wonderful and lovely forest. Christopher's parents gave Sharon and me a lovely brass candle base with two small bells attached. Bozena's parents presented us a set of three porcelain figurines as a matched set of vases. Christopher and Bozena gave us a beautiful forest and lake scene picture in a lovely wooden frame—to remind me of Lake Okole across the road from their house. A week earlier I had given Bozena and Christopher an album of seventy-two photos taken during my stay. Inside the front cover was the following message in Polish and English:

Dear Bozena, Christopher, and Alicja This album of my photos is given to you in appreciation for the privilege of living in your home these past five months. You graciously opened your home and hearts and made me feel like a member of your larger family. As you look at these pictures, I hope they

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Tomorrow Finally Came! will remind you of the wonderful times you and your families shared with me. I am returning to my home in North Carolina much richer for having had many experiences with you, some of which are shown in these pictures. The fun and fellowship you provided made my stay in Poland more enjoyable than I could ever have imagined. Sharon joins me in thanking you for what you've done for and meant to us. I hope to return to Poland within a few years and you special friends will be first on my list of people to visit. With my deepest thanks and appreciation.

I was especially gratified to watch the interest and enthusiasm of the four parents (also grandparents) as they eagerly passed the album back and forth to exclaim about the pictures—many showing them in various combinations involved with family activities, including all three generations with many relatives. We had a wonderful meal, as usual, with two kinds of kielbasa, cold meats, a wonderful hot bouillon-type beverage and of course, the marvelous cakes and baked goods that I had enjoyed so many times. At nine o'clock I indicated I needed to go upstairs and finish packing, a job which I had begun the previous night but still had much to do. After the parents left, Bozena, Christopher, and Alecia came upstairs and offered to help. I thanked them for their thoughtfulness and said it was just like a giant puzzle—I had to figure out where each item would go in the available space. Finally at half past eleven I had forced the last item into one of the three pieces of luggage and had put about a kilometer of tape on the big cardboard box that contained printed materials from the office and from my loft. I set the alarm for half past five and fell exhausted into bed. Friday, December 1, I left my home in the forest for the final time. Tears streamed down my face as I hugged Alecia for a long last time. Then Bozena and I embraced and I kissed her on the cheek. Finally, Christopher and I embraced in that unique and warm Polish tradition between men. They asked that I call when I got back in the U.S. to tell them I had arrived safely. I promised to do so. I drove slowly through the beautiful forest with a bright sun outlining the stark and naked trees from the east. I hadn't had many opportunities to see the beauty of this forest in its winter cloak because each morning when I left it was still dark. Darkness fell at half past three in the afternoon. The car was well-loaded with my worldly possessions.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I was on my way to pick up Justyna, who had told me she had four pieces of luggage. Where everything would fit in remained to be seen. The last item I put in the car was a unique and very special gift from Christopher. “Darveen, special for you,” he said, as he handed me the carefully prepared skull and antlers of a roebuck, which I had admired earlier in the summer. It represented the final and most precious gift he could have given me, his “hunting partner,” the man armed with two cameras as we spent many hours in the beautiful forests. I was ten minutes late arriving at the ODR office, having told Justyna I would pick her up at half past eight. Saying “good-bye” to my “family” had taken longer than anticipated. Foreigners who say “bye” and zip out the door strike Poles as cold, curt, and just plain ill-mannered. Poles tend to linger longer over good-byes. It's part of the tradition of not letting visitors go and of prolonging the visit. For Poles, it is just plain politeness to see someone to the door whether you're at home or the office. Or, at least stand up to say good-bye. If you're on your duff when you bid someone good-bye, you'd better have a broken leg as an excuse. Waving and saying bye to a group of people is okay, but shaking everyone's hand is more polite. Many Americans prefer a slip-out-theback-Jack maneuver, but that's considered rude—especially in Poland. Justyna was stressed and annoyed. “Where have you been? I thought you had died!” I was surprised and more than a little annoyed. I had wanted to leave earlier, especially if the weather had been bad and had suggested leaving as early as six o'clock. She rebelled at that ridiculous hour and we had settled on half past eight. Now she was afraid we couldn't reach the Central Train Station in Warsaw by six o'clock, the time her cousin was to pick her up with his car. After driving almost 25,000 km in Poland, I'd learned to build in extra time for auto trips and had planned likewise for this one. Justyna was the only Pole I met or knew in my six months in Poland who paid any attention to the clock or a pre-determined time commitment. Her one annoying habit was her incessant checking of her wristwatch. Thus, her negative attitude on this beautiful morning irritated me, especially since she could have gone to the office and gotten the copies of the final report printed in Polish while she waited. This she had not done, but was stomping around waiting for me. Thus another twenty minutes elapsed before she had gotten the reports and I had her baggage jammed into the Polonez. At precisely nine o'clock I pulled out of the ODR Barzkowice parking lot for the final time and headed up the road through the double row of trees which I had enjoyed so many times during my stay. My comment, “It's a gorgeous morning” was met with icy silence by Justyna. I decided that would end my conversation until she said something. I drove in silence concentrating on the crooked road and on making up for lost time.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! It was a bitterly cold but bright and sunny morning. The frozen dew glistened on the grass and trees. There was considerable frost on parts of the road. I did a lot of down shifting on the curves. Soon I realized that the heavy load jammed into every corner was providing a stability for the Polonez that it had not had previously. I was glad to have this extra weight because it substantially improved the way the car handled on the turns. I had carefully written out the routes and the names of the towns we would go through so that I could travel cross county with a minimum of difficulty. Of course, I had forgotten how poorly the roads were marked. Within the first hour I came to a fork in the road with no indication of which way to go. I had remembered that same fork from a previous trip and at the last second decided to take the right-hand fork. Within minutes I had a sinking sensation that I had chosen the wrong fork. I continued onward driving into the sun, since I knew we were headed east toward Warsaw. I drove for thirty minutes or so and then Justyna, without a word, pulled out her road atlas. This was a silent signal to me that I had better stop, pull out my own atlas, and consult my directions. This I did and for the first time since we had left Barzkowice more than an hour earlier, Justyna began to talk. I had, indeed, taken the wrong fork in the road and was traveling in the wrong direction. After consultation, we concluded that we could continue, make sort of a half-circle and get back to where we should be. Eventually, we did get back on track and finally I arrived at the main route to Poznan. This road I remembered well from the time Sharon and I had driven it to and from Polagra (Poland's National Agricultural Fair), the second day of her stay in Poland. Getting through Poznan seemed to take forever. This highway, although the main route from Russia to Germany through Poland, was only two lanes much of the way. Through the city of Poznan the road was filled with unbelievable ruts from the heavy truck traffic pounding the soft pavement in the summertime. We crawled along in first and second gear for miles as the truck traffic backed up at intersections, plus the annoying problem of farm tractors hauling double wagons on the main road. Finally we got through Poznan and emerged on the east side on the best highway in Poland. It was a wide, four-lane road with an unusually smooth surface. By now Justyna had unthawed and we were having good conversation. I told her we would make up for lost time. I knew the Polonez could go 150 km per hour without a load as I had checked it out during the summer on some straight stretches of highway. But I didn't know what it would do with the heavy load and decided to find out. So I “put the pedal to the metal” and headed down the highway. It was a beautiful straight stretch of smooth road with two lanes in each direction. We got up to 130 km per hour with ease. I pushed it some and we reached 140 km and still had a little bit left. I pressed the accelerator the remaining distance and we inched up to 145 and stayed there as long as we were on the level. When we headed up any grade, it would ease back to about 135 km per hour. Even at this speed, the Germans driving Mercedes, BMWs and Volvos still

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Tomorrow Finally Came! passed me like I was standing still. The Polonez was handling very well with its heavy load. I would never have gone that fast had I not felt comfortable with the way it handled. After about an hour we stopped for gas. I looked at the odometer and calculated that we had gone 98 km in less than an hour. We had, indeed, made up for lost time! We continued on without incident and had a wonderful conversation covering a multitude of subjects. I regretted that we had gotten started that morning under such stressful conditions. We arrived in Warsaw at a quarter past four. It took another fifteen minutes in the heavy city traffic before we reached the Central Train Station where Justyna had arranged to meet her cousin. She had told him that we would be there by six o'clock. We were ninety minutes early. She proceeded to try to call him without success and got exceedingly stressed from standing in the line to use the phone without being able to reach him. When she returned to where I had been guarding her luggage, she was upset. She had talked with her mother, her aunt, and then her sister trying to get word to her cousin who was not at his place of work where she expected him to be. I assured her that I was not going to leave her stranded in the huge train station by herself with four pieces of luggage. This helped lower her stress level. At half past five in walked her cousin, much to Justyna's relief. We carried her luggage to his car, which was parked on the opposite side of the huge train station. For the first time since she arrived July 1, I put my arms around her and we embraced as tears ran down her face. I kissed her on the cheek and wished her good luck in all her endeavors. She asked to be remembered to Sharon. I thanked her for all her loyal and professional efforts and promised to write. I waved as she drove off with her cousin. Justyna had drawn a map of instructions for me on how to reach my hotel. I went outside the train station and walked the course I would follow to get out of the parking lot. I had to get in a huge traffic jam, and make a left-hand turn to get on the main street. I went back to the car, drank the last of the coffee that I had made at five o'clock that morning and proceeded out into the rush-hour traffic jam. I inched along with Justyna's map clutched in my right hand, following it closely. It was absolutely correct and I was amazed when I made the last turn to see my Hotel Karat on the right. I pulled in and parked at the front door with a sense of enormous relief. I unloaded with excellent assistance from the doorman who made arrangements to store the car load of luggage until I departed a week later for the U.S. I was spending the night in Warsaw as a stop over on a long trip to see the famous town of Zakopane in the beautiful mountains of southeastern Poland. Plans for this trip had been made a month earlier. In late October I'd been invited by Truda Roper, 4-H Agent from Virginia, who was one of my American counterparts, to meet with her livestock specialist at the Kalsk ODR in the province of Zielona Gora. During that visit,

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Tomorrow Finally Came! we planned a two-day training program on beef production and marketing for the entire staff of the Kalsk ODR to be held November 28 and 29. During the October meeting I became acquainted with the delightful young woman who would translate for me during my presentations at the beef training program in November. Her name was Marta Gorak, age twenty-six, and she was one of two translators working with the PAEP team at the Kalsk ODR. Her home in Tarnow was near the mountains and she had spent summers hiking the many trails. She urged me not to leave Poland without seeing the mountains and the unique historical town of Zakopane. My last weekend in Poland was the only time I had available. She agreed to go with me as a guide and translator for the weekend of December 3 and 4. I went into shock when I arrived in Kalsk November 27 and Marta told me she was being married on Thursday, November 30. Five weeks earlier there had been no mention of any wedding plans. With that news, I immediately assumed our planned trip to the mountains three days later was canceled and said so. “Oh no!” Marta responded, “I made a commitment to you and I've told Adam (her soon-to-be-husband) that I have an agreement to be your guide and translator this weekend.” I was dumbfounded but pleased and impressed with her decision to keep her prior commitment. Saturday morning, December 2, I left the Warsaw hotel for the 300 km drive to Tarnow where I was to meet Marta and her new husband, Adam. I stayed overnight at a hotel in this city of 120,000. Sunday morning, December 3, Marta and her new husband arrived at the hotel right at the appointed departure time of a quarter past eight. I thanked Adam for letting Marta go with me as a guide and translator to Zakopane as we had arranged a month earlier before her wedding was even discussed. As we left Tarnow, she instructed me to drive to a village about 10 km away to show me the new home she was constructing. Since she had spent a year in the U.S. in Chicago teaching English, she had obtained many ideas of western house construction and design. She had even subscribed to the Architectural Digest for a year. Thus she had incorporated many design ideas into this lovely home she was building on a lot purchased earlier in this small village. I was utterly flabbergasted that a young lady twenty-six years old could be building such a structure. She proudly said she had been working on it for three years and was not in a rush to finish it. She owned it herself and every penny invested in it was money she had earned without any family financial involvement. It was a three-story house made of typical Polish masonry construction with interior square wood posts. Other than that, it did not look like typical Polish houses. It was open and spacious with archways where doors would otherwise be. The living room floor was covered with marble as were the bathroom and shower room floors. The only borrowed money she had used was a loan to install the heating system, which was a dual coal burning furnace and a separate natural gas furnace.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Much of the labor had been family help provided free of charge in turn for trade off of similar work. Marta reported that at one point, twelve different relatives were working there at one time. Her sister, four years younger, cooked noon time meals for the workers everyday during the summer. She had designed in two fireplaces, one inside the family room and another outside on the patio which backed up to the indoor fireplace, a strictly western and American tradition. Marta indicated that at times she was working three jobs simultaneously, including being a radio announcer, an English teacher, and a translator, and put every bit of money she earned into the house. She was justifiably proud of this accomplishment. When she showed it to her new husband, Adam, whom she had married three days earlier and brought home for the first time, she said he was utterly flabbergasted. She had told Adam she owned a house, but gave no details about its size or newness. I could understand how shocked he must have been. It required nearly four hours to reach Zakopane. I was glad she was the guide for the cross country zigs and zags. We arrived there about noon and checked into the hotel where she had made reservations for two single rooms. By this time, a light snow was falling to add to the two or three feet that they had already received in separate storms. We started to hike toward the tram to take a ride up the mountain. The mountains were covered with icy fog and we knew visibility would be zero but we both wanted to get a feel for them under these conditions. After walking up hill for some period of time, we came to a line of single horses and sleighs which were for hire. We took the one at the head of the line, got in, and wrapped ourselves in the big bear rug provided for warmth. The driver got in the front seat but perched himself high up on the back of the front seat that provided a high center of gravity. Having driven horses and sleighs for several years, I had had considerable experience and was concerned about the narrow runners and this high center of gravity, particularly as we moved out of the street up a small bank onto the sidewalk. Before long, he decided to come down from the sidewalk back into the street where there was about a two-foot drop-off. Based on my experience, I thought he was going a bit too fast when we came down off the bank. Sure enough the high center of gravity combined with the narrow runners caused us to tip over! This spooked the horse. The driver, who turned out to be inebriated, had enough brain cells working to keep hold of the reins to the horse. The horse was dancing up the street while the driver was sliding along on his backside holding on to the reins. I was trying to extricate my feet from the bear rug without success. Before I could get myself out of the bear rug, the driver had managed to get the horse stopped and regained his footing. By this time, I was out of the sleigh and helping him calm the horse. Since this was a new experience for her, Marta was somewhat concerned about the situation. We

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Tomorrow Finally Came! righted the sleigh, got back in, and proceeded without further problems to the base of the mountain where the tram was located. I paid the driver the 50 zlotys requested. Later I was annoyed at myself for not bargaining with him, especially for the careless way in which he allowed us to upset. We took the tram up the mountain which was loaded with skiers all talking in foreign tongue which I judged was mostly Polish with some German thrown in. As we traveled up the mountain to the first stage where we got off one tram and into the second, we looked down on a gorgeous view of pine trees daintily covered with snow. It reminded me much of Switzerland. At the top we had a cup of hot tea in the restaurant before returning down the mountain by tram. We took another sleigh, this time with a sober driver, to the bottom of the long hill from where we walked back into town. The streets were all snow packed and very icy in many places. No cinders or salt were used due to environmental regulations. I treated Marta to a McDonald's meal since she had never eaten at McDonald's. That evening she wanted to go to the Catholic Church Mass at seven o'clock, so I accompanied her. Although I couldn't understand a single word that was said, I did enjoy the wonderful painted murals on the walls of the church representing local folk artists and folklore. The next morning we concentrated on shopping. I bought many wooden handpainted Easter eggs to be divided among Michele, Wendy, and Sharon. Originally I had wanted to get some glass Christmas tree ornaments, but decided there was no way I could pack them safely and get them home without substantial breaking. Thus, the solid wooden eggs were a much a better bet for safe travel. At one o'clock we left Zakopane and came down from the mountains using a back road which Marta didn't realize existed. It was a wonderful trip, but I was certainly glad there was very little traffic. In places the road was fairly steep and with the heavy snow pack, automobile tire traffic had packed it into icy channels. Several times I stopped to take pictures and was delighted to find a team of horses pulling huge long logs down the mountainside. I stopped to take pictures of them. Because it was snowing and the roads were slippery, it took us five hours to get back to Tarnow. In two busy days including nearly ten hours of auto travel, I'd learned much about another member of the younger generation of Poles, her attitudes and aspirations. Marta was born February 12, 1969, which placed her within eight months in age of my deceased daughter, Pam. Oldest of three siblings, Marta had a married brother one year younger, and a sister four years younger, in her third year of law school. Her widowed grandmother had lived with them for many years until she died—another example of the three-generation family support system in Poland.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Marta attended high school in Tarnow with an extended program in English. Since the seventh and eighth grades, she'd been interested in arts and dancing, participating in the rhythms group at school and then in the folk group at the Culture House in Tarnow. High school provided her a very general and broad knowledge of humanities and a decent knowledge of English. After high school, she decided to study Polish literature in Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She wanted to be a teacher of Polish and write literature. Along the way, she changed her mind and became a student in the English Department. Although Jagiellonian University is considered the best in Poland, especially in humanities, Marta found the courses and curriculum “rather disappointing.” She expected a “dynamic, alive, passionate kind of knowledge.” What she got was stiff, theoretical, and very often boring lectures or similar practical exercises. Because she wasn't much interested in theoretical learning, Marta began teaching English in private schools. There was a great boom for English and teachers of English because of the political situation and opening of frontiers following the fall of communism. She made “great money” for a college student, paid her living expenses in Krakow, and started to build her house. She also bought a round trip air ticket to the U.S. and back. After her third year of college, Marta took a year's vacation and went to the U.S., staying in and near Chicago with her cousin. She also traveled and saw Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Crazy Horse and other places.” “I loved the vastness and openness of your country,” she said. “I really felt at home there.” In August of 1992 she returned to Poland and stayed two more years in Krakow, completing both her BA and MA degrees in English Romantic Literature. As we traveled and talked in the car, I began to realize that Marta, with her travel to the U.S. and ownership of a lovely house by age twenty-six, did not represent the typical Polish female of her younger generation. She confirmed my analysis. She had had a nearly five-year relationship with Arek, a divorced man, five years her senior. The divorce didn't bother Marta as much as the fact that he did abandon his only son. “At the beginning of our relationship, I did not seem to notice that he could not really be a responsible father and husband,” Marta said. “As time went by, I considered and weighed my great love against all the doubts I had about our relationship and his attitude toward his son, me, and life in general. I finally broke up with him. It was an extremely painful experience. For the first time in my life, I suffered so deeply.” After she parted with Arek, Czeslaw came into her life. She had known him earlier, having met him in the Botanical Garden in Chicago. He was a gifted architect, only one year older than Marta, and was already working on his Ph.D. He was extremely interested in old Polish manor houses. With his own skills and labor, Czeslaw built a beautiful stylized manor house and wagon workshop in the mountains. He collected old wagons and sledges, repaired and renovated them.

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“His patience, determination, and strong will fortified by his deep love for me finally broke my indifference,” she said. “His love was great. Despite all the obstacles, difficulties, and my own doubts and hesitations about us, he never lost hope. We got engaged and I started to feel happy again.” “One day we went on a picnic at a lovely lake. Czeslaw wanted to swim and dove into the water. He never surfaced. He died before my eyes and I could do nothing about it. I called the lifeguard. When they pulled him from under the water, he was already dead. I was numb. I stayed waiting with his body for several hours until his mother and brother came and took him away forever. My theory, born after that tragedy, is that the best people leave us first.” I felt empathy beyond description. “There were men after him in my life, but somehow my heart was still. Unwillingly and subconsciously I kept comparing them to Czeslaw. The longer it lasted the more difficult it was to torture my psyche and get adopted to someone else—until I fell in love with Adam.” They were married November 30, 1995, after a whirlwind courtship. Marta's mother who owned a fabric store was just closing shop as we arrived in Tarnow. She graciously unlocked the doors and showed me around. I bought an oval Christmas decorated tablecloth for Sharon before leaving and treating Marta and her mother to dinner in a restaurant, before going to her parents apartment. Marta made a thermos of hot tea for me. I left at a quarter past eight for the five hour trip back to Warsaw. It was a long and lonely trip by myself. I had so much from the past two days to think about. The roads were very slippery and I had to stop often to wipe the grime off the headlights and windshield so I could see. Finally at a quarter past one I arrived in Warsaw and found the Karat Hotel surprisingly easily. I had spent twenty-four hours in a unique and historic part of Poland, different from anything I had seen during my entire stay. I had also experienced remarkable psychological closeness, friendship, and deep discussions with another young Pole who represents a very bright future for her beloved Poland.

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Chapter 5 Transaction Costs It didn't take many days in ODR Barzkowice to realize the costs of “doing business” in Poland, and especially in Barzkowice, were incredibly high. The telephone apparatus, generously called a “system,” was archaic and belonged in a museum. The dial phone was one generation removed from the hand crank wall phone we'd had at home during the first ten years of my life. The mechanism in the cradle for the receiver nearly always stuck so vigorous thumping was required for it to spring back to its correct position after each unsuccessful dialing, which was about 90 percent of the time. At the time of my arrival, all out-going calls had to be placed through the Director's secretary, who understood no English. Without a translator for the first two weeks I had no out-going phone communication from the office. On July 1, Justyna Rzewnicka arrived to be my full time translator and saved me from further serious consideration of alternative locations. Among other key abilities she could communicate with the Director's secretary and get calls placed—that is, when the phones were working and the line was available. At least weekly, and sometimes daily, the phones failed to work for a variety of reasons. On one occasion we were informed the phones were not functioning because during the previous night the copper wire lines strung overhead between the concrete poles had been cut and removed—to be sold for scrap by someone short of zlotys. A major source of our telecommunications problems, I was told by Adam Boltryk, Computer Center Manager, was the small diameter copper phone wires connecting ODR Barzkowice to the outside world via Stargard, a city of 70,000, 20 km away. After some weeks of effort by teammate Kent Fleming, something was changed to improve operation of our respective computers and we were then able to dial direct from our office without going through the Director's secretary. But still, this could only be done if and when the “system” was working. The two adjacent offices which housed Kent and me still had a single “party” line so it was necessary to wait when the other was using it. Also there were only two outside lines to serve about 40 people in the ODR. I became so disgusted with wasting time trying to place calls that I finally told the Warsaw office personnel and my fellow teammates in four other provinces, “Look, don't expect any phone calls from me. If we need to talk by phone, you call me, because I'm in a non-telecommunication capacity in Barzkowice.” During our first training session in Washington, DC, in mid-May, we'd been told that we would have e-mail connections from our locations in Poland to home offices and anywhere else in the world with appropriate connections. What a joke!

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First, when we arrived in Poland, the only e-mail connection was in the Warsaw office. Second, having e-mail connections in each ODR location was an unrealized objective of the Project, now in its fifth and final year and down to the last set of Advisor teams. Third, Kent Fleming learned he'd been recruited primarily for his computer and telecommunications experience, and he was expected to get e-mail up and running for ODRs during his stay. Fourth, for reasons that escaped our comprehension, a decision had been made by someone that our multi-thousand dollar, state-of-the-art computers would not be equipped with a $200 modem, essential to make e-mail work. Thus, only those team members who'd brought their own PC already equipped with a modem from the U.S. would have access to e-mail—if and when a system did get developed. After three months of diligent and time-consuming efforts, Kent did find the necessary technical experts in Warsaw and proudly announced he was on e-mail. Unfortunately for me, my only e-mail access was via his personal PC, which he, of course, carried with him when he left the office. This was a most of the time. I did manage to send one e-mail message to my wife via a neighbor's computer and one to Len Bull, my department head at North Carolina State University. Complications developed and I abandoned further attempts to communicate via e-mail. One incoming e-mail message from teammate Gene Brewer in Pila, 120 km away, arrived on my desk eight days after he sent it. That was because Kent's PC had been with him in Denmark for several days while he was on vacation. Fortunately, Gene's teammate, Bill Zimmerman, had driven to Barzkowice to attend a beef conference the day after Gene's e-mail had been dispatched to me. Bill informed me of Gene's message and said Gene was expecting a response from me. I tried by office telephone several times with the usual inability to get through, gave up, and used a pay phone in the town of Dobrzany on my way home that night. With twenty-five years of experience in U.S. agricultural firms, I'd understood the meaning of “costs of doing business.” It was not until I read the Project Final Report prepared by Dr. John Ragland that I was introduced to the theory of “transaction costs.” He wrote such an interesting, clear, and concise description that I quote directly:

The 1993 Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Douglas North for his work on the theory of transaction costs. This theory is particularly valuable to economies which are making the transition from centrally planned to market economies. It provides a good framework for understanding what is happening and what changes need to happen. I suspect the Nobel Committee was influenced not only by the excellence of Professor North's scholarship, but also by the unique opportunity for the

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Tomorrow Finally Came! former Eastern Block countries to benefit from understanding and applying his theory at this time. Briefly, this new theory recognizes that the gains from trade (transactions) are the key to creating wealth, but bluntly challenges the assumption of neoclassical economics that transaction costs are zero. North contends that transaction costs are never zero, although they may appear to be zero in a well-developed market economy, where grades, standards, and contracts are well developed and routinely enforced. In transitioning economies, such as presently exist in Central and Eastern Europe, transaction costs are often very high. In many cases, they are so high that the transaction is blocked and the potential gains from the transaction are never realized. All of us know of individuals who have attempted to import or export products, purchase state farmland, or acquire a building permit where the transactions are so difficult or protracted that the projects are abandoned. A more immediate example is when we try to make a telephone call and must spend ten to fifteen minutes doing what would be almost instantaneous in the well developed market economies around the world. Transactions (trades) are generally difficult to make in this part of the world and, therefore, very expensive. They must be lowered before the wealth everyone wants can be created. Transaction costs reduce the overall economic benefits of trading by absorbing resources directly and by blocking exchanges that otherwise would have been mutually and soundly beneficial. For this reason, North has stated, `The costs of transacting are the key to the performance of economies.' The transaction costs of using the telephone had a significant impact on my attitude toward use of this communications device. For example, in late August I tried all day Monday and for one and one-half hours Tuesday morning to make an important call from the office. I couldn't get an open line out of the office—always busy with only two lines serving forty people. Tuesday from half past seven to nine o'clock Justyna and I alternated dialing trying to get an outside line. Exasperated, I decided to drive 20 km to Dobrzany and use a pay phone on the street corner. Upon arrival I found the coin operated phone out of order. I tried to buy a Polish phone credit card available only at a post office. I went to the post office and stood in line for ten minutes to learn no credit cards were available till tomorrow! I decided to drive 7 km further to home and use landlord's phone with my U.S. MCI credit card. There I waited twenty-five minutes on line until the busy signal stopped on the line to exit Poland. Then I tried again. This time the intended recipient's phone in the U.S. was busy. I waited ten minutes and tried again. It was now eleven o'clock. I waited another ten minutes on line and finally gave up.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! My largest direct and documented transaction cost involved the convoluted process of obtaining a package sent by my NCSU secretary, Brenda Richardson, at my request. On Thursday, November 9, I received via fax to the ODR office, four pages of information and forms (in Polish, of course) dated November 7 from a company called Masterlink in Warsaw. The good news was that the 30 lb package shipped November 3 via Federal Express from Raleigh, North Carolina, had arrived in Poland. The bad news was that the package was in the hands of Polish Customs and would not be released until several forms had been completed, including numbers such as a Polish bank account and NIP which I didn't have. Furthermore, a significant import duty tax would have to be paid because the shipment contained forty-eight NCSU Cooperative Extension caps, which I wanted to give my Polish friends and associates as souvenir gifts on my departure from Barzkowice, now only three weeks away. Justyna was perplexed at the directions. I asked her to relax and review them that evening and then we (she) would call the next day to describe the situation and arrange shipment from Warsaw to me without delay. The following day she did call—not once, but twice—to Masterlink personnel who receive all Federal Express shipments to Poland. No one was there who spoke English, so it was impossible for me to vent my anger and frustration directly and describe the urgency of getting the shipment without further delay. They gave another number to call where someone did speak English. By this time, I'd enjoyed all I could stand of the run-around and called Dr. Bill Miller at the Project office in Warsaw for permission to call the U.S. Embassy office in Warsaw for diplomatic help. He gave me permission to call, but also gave the discouraging news that he didn't think the Embassy office would be able to help. Rather, Bill said, “The best thing is to catch a train to Warsaw and physically appear in person ready to pay the import tax.” By now it was Friday afternoon. Monday was the only open day for a trip to Warsaw. We went to Stargard to buy a train ticket. Although three people were standing in line at the ticket window, no clerk was available. Finally, the elderly woman first in line shouted into the window, but failed to rouse anyone. We left to do other errands and returned in thirty minutes to find about twenty people standing in line. Exasperated, I decided to leave without waiting further. We eventually got a ticket Sunday afternoon for the Monday 5:55 a.m. train to Warsaw. I awoke with a start Monday at 5:25 a.m. The alarm clock I'd carefully set the night before to ring at half past four had failed to go off! I had thirty minutes to shower, shave, dress, and drive forty-five minutes to the train station. Even in my confused mental state, it didn't take long to calculate the futility of such stressful activities.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! There was an 8:12 a.m. train to Warsaw that I'd never taken, but I decided to find out if my 5:55 a.m. ticket would work at 8:12 a.m. If it did work, I'd have only two hours in Warsaw to do what it might take two days to accomplish before the return train at 4:30 p.m. for which I'd already purchased the ticket. With considerable new found breathing room I had a leisurely breakfast, did some reading, showered, shaved, and drove to Stargard. With extra time I decided to call Justyna and have her relay my delayed arrival to the Project office. After standing in line to use the credit card phone at the post office, I was unsuccessful in three attempts to reach her. This day, which happened to be the thirteenth, was off to a lousy start. I boarded the train. In due course the conductor arrived, with a female assistant, the first time in six or eight similar trips, I'd seen an assistant. Of course, he immediately spotted the incorrect ticket I was holding for his train, and explained in Polish that I had a “probleem.” (sic) “Moment! Moment!” he said, using the Polish term that describes an interval of time ranging from one or two minutes to something less than twenty-four hours. In about thirty minutes, the two of them returned, this time with a third person, a very pleasant man, who explained in English that it would be necessary for me to pay additional charges—four zlotys for a ticket change and four zlotys because the ticket had to be written by the conductor. Furthermore, he explained, my ticket was for first class and I was in a second class section, so it was necessary to move, “No problem!” I was just glad to be on the train and have the ticket situation resolved. Because of additional stops this train took thirty minutes longer for the trip than the 5:55 a.m. train and it was about a quarter to two when I arrived in Warsaw. I hurried on foot to the Project office and found only Piotr, the rest having not returned from the traditionally late Polish midday meal. I explained the problem. Piotr reviewed the forms and instructions and placed a couple phone calls. “Yes,” the office lady remembered talking with Justyna on Friday about this package. They would have to open it to calculate the total import tax due, even though the contents were itemized on the Federal Express shipping form and a total value of $75.00 listed. Furthermore, there was nothing that could be done today because it was now too late—being after two o'clock. Also, they would need my passport. “Oh! By the way, did I have an official government passport? You do? That changes the whole matter! Call this number.” Piotr called the number. The person spoke English and explained “They'd made a mistake! The shipment shouldn't have been stopped in Customs. There would be no import tax due! They would ship it on to me with arrival expected in Barzkowice on Wednesday!” “No,” I said, “I've made a special train trip to Warsaw to physically obtain the package today and don't want any further delay. I am coming there as soon as

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Tomorrow Finally Came! possible.” “OK. Wait till after six o'clock. That way, the long lines of people waiting for assistance will be gone and we can deal directly with you without further inconvenience.” It was now three o'clock and it wasn't going to be possible to catch the 4:30 p.m. train back home. Furthermore, I'd need to say overnight, get a hotel room, and cancel my attendance at the beef producer meeting up near the Baltic Sea at which I was scheduled to speak tomorrow. To do this required the nearly impossible task of reaching Justyna at the Barzkowice ODR. The Project office had considerable experience with that challenge. Sure enough, six attempts were fruitless. About a quarter past five I called the hotel and waited while someone was dispatched to her room on the second floor to bring her to the only phone at the reception office. I gave her the good news about the package release after six o'clock and the bad news about tomorrow. Piotr called a taxi and we left for the Customs Office. It was located in the Cargo Section at the Warsaw Airport. Piotr, with his excellent translating abilities, found the right people. Within minutes I was signing release papers and departed with my much sought after 30-lb package—with no import duty of any kind required. The day which had started for me in such a negative manner had now turned in a highly positive direction. The trials and tribulations had paid significant dividends. The taxi took Piotr to his home and then dropped me off at the Karat Hotel, which had replaced the Holiday Inn for Project personnel, due to lower costs. I carried my precious package to the room with a significant sense of accomplishment. The next morning I went to the train station to trade my November 13 4:30 p.m. ticket for a 1:30 p.m. ticket, November 14. Much to my surprise, the clerk indicated I had a problem. A young lady standing in line behind me helped explain in English that you just couldn't trade the unused ticket for a new one—I had to pay full price for a new ticket. One more addition to the increasing list of transaction costs required to obtain the shipment of forty-eight NCSU caps. A summary of transaction costs showed the following: ` November 3 Federal Express Shipping

$75.00

November 7 Fax - 4 pg. Warsaw to Barzkowice

10.25

November 10 Three phone calls-Barzkowice to Warsaw

20.00

November 13 Train ticket - Barzkowice to Warsaw 22.55 November 13 Taxi - Warsaw

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Tomorrow Finally Came! November 13 Overnight hotel - Warsaw

39.00

November 13 Train ticket - Warsaw to Barzkowice (unused)

19.25

November 14 Train ticket - Warsaw to Barzkowice

19.25

GRAND TOTAL

$215.55

This didn't include two days of my time. According to Polish tradition, time has little value, so that wouldn't be significant in Polish accounting methods. Also, based on Bill Miller's experience of paying import duty of three times the value for peanuts as gifts, the import duty would have been another $225.00. Thus, with no value placed on my own time, the transaction costs to get these caps in my hands approached $10 per cap. Upon my return to NCSU, I sure would not be promoting an export market to Poland for NCSU Cooperative Extension caps.

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Chapter 6 Auschwitz and Polish/Jewish Relations The first of three team meetings with all of the American Advisors on the five teams was held July 21, in the Radziwill Palace in Balice, about 15 km from Krakow. Each of the three meetings was scheduled in widely different areas of the country which provided opportunities to get beyond assigned localities and tour many historical places. It was good to see my American friends again. This was our first meeting after we left Warsaw on June 17 with a significant level of anxiety mixed with excitement. On July 23, I visited Auschwitz, the scene of the most horrible concentration camps and extermination of Jews and many others during World War II. It's located in the Polish town of Oswiecim which the Germans changed to Auschwitz. I was traveling by auto with Gene and Kay Brewer, fellow North Carolinians. Gene was County Extension Director in Watauga County at Boone, North Carolina, and PAEP Advisor in the province of Pila about two hours west of my location in Barzkowice. We arrived at Auschwitz about eleven o'clock after having gotten lost on the way. While stopped at a gas station to determine our location, a very nice family—mother, father, two little boys, and a little girl in a small German car—graciously offered to lead us several kilometers to our final destination. I took several pictures and gave them a five zloty coin, which they did not want to accept for their efforts. About five o'clock, we left Auschwitz. I will never be the same after having seen first-hand the scenes of those incredible crimes perpetrated upon humanity. During almost five years of its existence and steady development, the camp became a symbol of terror and genocide. The final phase of the camp consisted of three major parts with more than forty sub-camps situated in the region. Auschwitz was the biggest extermination site in the history of humankind, part of the Nazi plan of wiping out the Jewish nation. Under an act of the Polish Parliament in July 1947, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was established comprising Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, the only remaining parts of the complex that survived the war. In 1979, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was included on UNESCO's World Heritage List. One of the most fundamental and controversial issues in the history of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp is the precise number of its victims. Figures quoted in the literature on this subject range from one to four million. The exact number who were killed at this camp will never be known because too many decisions and facts relating to the extermination of the prisoners were never committed to paper. Those that were and could have provided some solid ground for relevant assessments, were destroyed by the Nazis out of fear of legal and moral accountability. For details see: “Auschwitz-How

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Many Perished Jews, Poles, Gypsies...” Franciszek Piper, Poligrafia ITS, 30-306 Krakow, Poland. The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp (1940-1945) was the destination for deportation and the center of extermination of four main national groups: Jews, who made up the overwhelming majority, Poles, Gypsies, and Russians. In addition, to these, many Czechs, French, Yugoslavs, Germans, Austrians, and others were also put to death there. With regard to the national importance of its prisoners, the history of the camp can be divided into two periods. The Polish period lasted from the establishment of the camp up to mid-1942, during which Poles constituted the majority of the inmates. The Jewish period was from mid-1942 up to the closure of the camp, during which Jews formed the majority of the prisoner population. The divide between these two periods can be set at February 15, 1942, when the first known mass transport of Jews arrived at the camp. This date marks the beginning of the actual incorporation of Auschwitz into the program of the final destruction of European Jewry. At that time, it served simultaneously as a concentration camp, in which the annihilation of prisoners was a gradual process, and as a center of mass extermination. From March to June 1942, the able-bodied and those unfit for work were brought mostly in separate transport. The Jews designated as fit for work were registered, whereas those considered unemployable were killed in the gas chambers. The number of those selected for work and those doomed to immediate extermination depended not only on the physical conditions of the prisoners, but also was often determined in accordance with the camp's capacity and the demand for a labor force. Thus, instant selections upon arrival were sporadic. Regular selections of nearly all mass transports of Jews began in earnest on July 4, 1942. Thereafter, more than half of the Jews sent to camp were killed in gas chambers, while the rest were registered and put to work. Franaszsk Piper's paper sums up results of the protracted research of historians on the implementation of the Nazi policy of extermination in the European countries either occupied by the Third Reich or subordinated to it. It confirms the Auschwitz camp as the largest center for the extermination of Jews. About one million innocent men, women, and children were deliberately put to death by the Nazis, for political purposes, merely because they were Jews. For Poles, who for six years of German occupation were murdered in thousands of prisons and other execution sites, Auschwitz is the symbol of the sufferings of Polish people. Its very name spread terror among the Polish population—the place where tens of thousands of Polish patriots, members of the resistance movement, and the intelligentsia, including prominent members of cultural, scientific, and social life, met their deaths.

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Above the main gate at Auschwitz—through which the prisoners passed each day on their way to work (returning 12 or more hours later)-there is a cynical inscription: “Arbeit macht frei” (Work brings freedom). What a painful irony! Everything in the camp served death, not freedom. For nearly six hours I pondered as I walked through the buildings and grounds, trying to imagine the horrors endured by men, women, and children on the very ground upon which I was now standing as a free human. The poignant sight of a bouquet of wild flowers hanging on the locked gate of an awful seven foot high, originally electrified, barbed wire fence nearly brought tears to my eyes. There were bouquets of fresh flowers in several places, especially at the Execution Wall in block eleven, where thousands of inmates, mainly Poles, were executed by firing squads. Auschwitz was a tragedy not only for entire nations, it remains a tragedy for all individuals whose loved ones perished there. In Auschwitz-Birkenau, five crematoriums with gas chambers were in operation. Six to seven kg of Cyclon B gas was enough to kill about 1,500 people in twelve to fifteen minutes. After the initial “selection” (i.e., segregation into fit and unfit for work) prisoners were assured that they would be allowed a bath. They were herded into a second underground chamber resembling a bathroom. Showers were fitted into the ceiling—but they were never connected to the water supply. Approximately 1,500-2,000 victims would be forced into this room, an area of about 2000 square feet. After the doors had been firmly closed and locked, Cyclon B was poured into the chamber through special openings in the ceiling. Within fifteen minutes, all people trapped inside died. After gold tooth fillings, rings, earrings, and hair had been removed from the bodies, they were taken to the incinerators situated on the ground floor, or—if these could not cope with the mass of human flesh—to makeshift “funeral pyres.” At the ruins of gas chamber and crematorium II, I picked up a broken piece of building stone and a short piece of barbed wire and placed them in my pocket. They serve as continuing reminders of the history of the place upon which I was standing. At crematorium I, reconstructed with the heavy all-metal wheeled carts on tracks used to move bodies into the fire pits, my mind flashed back thirty years to a horrible barn fire I'd witnessed in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. About fifty beef cattle were trapped in the basement of a large barn fully engulfed in a blazing inferno. The acrid odor of burning flesh filled the air as men ran from window to window shooting the terrified cattle with rifles to mercifully end their suffering. As I stood silently looking at the body carts and asking “Why?,” I could almost smell the odor of burning flesh. I wondered how the men pushing the carts handled their

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Tomorrow Finally Came! job and the awful odor. Then it struck me. Who cared? The workers were also prisoners whose turn in these same carts would come when their own stamina had been exhausted and they were no longer productive slaves. By mid-afternoon rain began to fall, adding the final touch to a dark, cold, dismal, gloomy day. “How appropriate,” I thought, “Mother Nature has provided her elements to help paint the picture of gloom and despair which must have pervaded the minds of all inmates old enough to understand their fate in this place. Why should the sun shine for me on this day?” The Bosnian War was raging this very day as I pondered the incredible and neverending irony. “Won't humankind ever learn?,” I asked myself knowing the inevitable answer. Auschwitz looms large as an ominous warning against indifference to all forms of violence and racial, religious, and national hatred. I learned the subject of Polish/Jewish relations is highly charged. There is widespread feeling among Poles that they are unjustly accused of contributing to the destruction of Polish Jewry during World War II. The world is charged by Poland with failing to recognize both the extent to which non-Jewish Poles suffered during the War and the extent to which individual Poles made efforts to help Jews. For example, my friend, Marta Gorak, told the poignant story of her grandmother and grandfather hiding a Jewish man in their barn for five years during the war. He hid under the hay in the barn during the winter. When the animals had consumed all the hay by springtime, he fled to the forest and hid there during the summer. He returned to the barn in the fall after it had been filled with hay from the summer harvest. This went on for three years until Liberation Day. Incredibly, after three years, the Germans found him that very day and shot him. Marta was hazy about the details since she'd been told the story by her grandmother, now deceased. I inquired if she would be willing to ask her mother and other sources for additional information and provide it later via letter for my book. This she did. The story follows in her own words.

I promised to complete the war history of my grandparents with some details. Let me start with a brief historical introduction. Tarnow was before World War II a city with one of the largest Jewish populations. The whole market place was inhabited by Jews, hence the names of streets which remain to the present time. There was also a synagogue out of which only the main part which is called Birma (the holy place where Tora was read during holy services and Jewish prayers) was preserved

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Tomorrow Finally Came! after the war. Tarnow is also the place from which the first transport of Jews was taken to Oswiecim-Brzezinka and murdered. It took place in 1941. When you are in Tarnow I will take you to all the places marked by the tragic Jewish history, which the government and historians started to uncover and renovate lately. After the first transport and the successive hunts for Jews the Jewish population somehow learned about the real aim of the so-called by Germans “deportations” and tried to hid or run away. At least some of them. The majority either could not believe or did not know about the cruelest plans of Nazi Germans towards their whole Jewish nation or did not have any place to go or hide. Poles were very severely punished for hiding Jews. The punishment for that “crime” was only one—death by shooting. Besides, these were whole families with children, older people, and so on, impossible to hide. And Germans were exceptionally diligent in following Jews and haunting those who helped them. Soon after the first transports in late summer of 1941, a Jewish man came to the village and asked some villagers for help. They all refused one after the other. Each farmer had to provide food for German soldiers or serve certain services for the occupant. People were scared to death. So was probably my grandpa (he died in 1968, a year before I was born, so I did not have the chance to talk to him personally) who, despite this fear and awaiting consequences, decided to help the man in need. At that time there were nine children at home and grandma and grandpa were very poor with the small plot of land they had. Two of the older boys were later on taken to Germany for slavery work. Coming back to the story, grandpa did not tell anybody about the Jewish man and hid him on the attic of the barn where he stored hay. He did not even tell my grandma about it because he knew she would panic. Everyday in the evening before he fed the farm animals he climbed the ladder to the attic and gave the food he somehow had managed to save from his own daily share. This way he managed to hide and support the man during fall, winter and beginning of spring. It was impossible to hide him like that during later spring or summer because there was no hay in the attic and anybody could easily see the Jewish man accidentally. So during this period he hid in the neighboring forests eating what nature could offer. Late summer he came back to the attic. That lasted for three years.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! During the spring of 1944, he hid in the forest just as in past years. The rumors about the end of the war and Nazi defeat were spreading slowly so maybe he was less cautious than usual. He took with him the list of all the people who helped him (I have no idea who else except my grandpa was included on it) which probably meant that he was not going to come back to the attic that year and wanted to have names of his benefactors for after the war. For the tragic irony he was spotted by Germans when he left the forest and they instantly shot him. Before he died he somehow managed to destroy the list of people who had helped him and this way saved my grandpa and who knows how many other people from death. (Germans always checked the clothes of Jews very carefully for lists like that one or for gold). This is how this tragic story ended. My grandpa had been a very wise and good man although very severe for his family. He never talked much. My grandma even learned about the Jew hidden in the attic accidentally when she once went to the barn to feed the cow. She saw him and screamed in fear. Although after that situation she was scared that the Germans would come and kill her children even more than before, yet she kept the secret and helped her husband in hiding the man. Never after the war did my grandpa come back to this topic nor tried to make this known to interested people. Maybe he regretted that all his attempts turned out for nothing—we will never know. My grandma told her children and then me, the whole story. She did not even remember the name of the man. I am sorry I cannot provide any more details. But I did my best and talked to many people to collect these data for your requests. The other was the bitter reflection caused by the information that some versions of the second World War history contain the most false information about Poles collaborating with Nazi Germans and chasing Jews or even killing them more eagerly than Germans themselves. Information like this hurts me a lot. So many Poles did risk their lives to save at least one Jewish being, so many of them adopted Jewish children or provided food to Jewish ghettos in Polish towns. That is the truth. I get angry when I hear the completely reverse versions of Polish/Jewish relations during WW II. We Poles as a nation have never occupied nor attacked nor killed people of other nations. We were the ones to be occupied, attacked or murdered. My grandparents were not the only exception. Six million Poles sacrificed their lives—that is the tragic balance of the war history for us. How can anybody teach young people that the Polish nation collaborated

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Tomorrow Finally Came! with Germans in extermination of Jews???!!! Is not that cruelly unjust?! I cannot understand this. Had we collaborated with Germans would we lose so many lives, fight for so long in spite of our military possibilities, get the whole country destroyed..... What would these “new historians” call the attitude of the nations of Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, etc.? I am getting too involved and passionate too much as always when I see complete non-objectiveness, falsehood and even cruelty in changing the historical facts. I know you know the truth but what about school children. I hope that truth will prevail in the end. Marta's eloquent plea demonstrated that Poles have an acute sense of pain, believing that they have experienced more evil than good at the hands of neighbors and minorities, and that they have suffered undeserved persecution, pain, and misfortune, despite their own good works. There is no history of Jewish persecution of Poles—yet Poles' negative stereotype of Jews remains relatively strong. Pawel Spiewak, Sociologist at Warsaw University, says research suggests that the number of Polish anti-Semites is fairly stable, but that there is also a gradual increase in the number of people “favorably disposed” toward Jews. That means that the number of people “indifferent” to Jews is decreasing, and that negative stereotypes are slowly giving way. The higher the education, the greater the percentage of people favorably disposed toward Jews. The younger the person, the greater the probability of philo-Semitic or proJewish views. Several factors contribute to this. First, there are few Jews left in Poland, so younger Poles have neither positive nor negative experiences of them. Stereotypes can lose their power because of personal experience. Second, influential circles have long been trying to propagate open-mindedness in relations between nations. Third, the Polish religious character is changing. The Catholic Church has officially condemned antiSemitism. Professor Spiewak says anti-Semitism is usually linked to the frustrationaggression syndrome. People struggling economically or who have suffered big setbacks in life are more likely to be aggressive in their attitudes and to find scapegoats for their failures. Poland is a good example. People who have suffered are inclined to express antiSemitic attitudes. They are also likely to have neither a sense of humor (which often translates into hate) nor the capacity to look inwards and realistically assess themselves, he said.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Poles generally regard themselves as an innocent nation ravaged by history. There is a clear interest in Jewish culture and for the first time in Polish history, anti-Semitism is starting to be perceived as a shameful attitude. As the death of Polish Jewry is obscured, so are the dimensions of 700 years of Jewish life in Poland obscured; people too young to know have no means to discover what it was. Stereotypes still abound, but knowledge of Jews and their culture has all but vanished, seemingly without significant trace. And yet, traces of Jewish culture in Poland are emerging. The ghosts of the ghetto may still haunt the country, but in forty years Poland hasn't found the will to struggle with that question—not until recently. The burst of free speech in the 1980s has brought Poland's Jewish “problems” to the surface. Its airing could do much for Poland's image in the world. It could do more for Poland's self-image, and more still for one extraordinary minority group: the tiny generation of Jews who came of age in Poland after the Holocaust. They are Jewish Poles, in their thirties, and they plan to stay. Professor Spiewalk says, “We have always been taught that Poles are victims. Now we find that we, Poles, could have made victims of others. It's healthy. It means we're normal.” The air is clearing and the Jews who didn't flee in 1968 are stepping out of the haze. There may be as few as 4,000 in the country now, but they are discovering, often by chance, that their ancestors were Jewish. Parents and grandparents had shielded their children from a stigma. Such discoveries come as extraordinary personal news. Across central Europe and the United States, people have been having similar experiences for the last decade or so. Shortly after assuming her role as Secretary of State, Madeline Albright learned her Czech grandparents were not Roman Catholics, but Jews and two of them, as well as an aunt, died in the Holocaust. The Holocaust continues to produce unexpected debris.

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Chapter 7 Stone Age Salt and the Barzkowice Fair Saturday, July 22, was my sixty-first birthday and one of the few I ever remembered celebrating without any family members present. During the morning we toured the very famous Wieliczka Salt Mine and the Subterranean Museum of Cracovian Salt Mining. The production of evaporated salt in this area goes back to the Middle Stone Age, 3,500 BC. With the passage of time the early salt-extractors gradually delved deeper and deeper into the salt wells. Rock salt was first discovered about 1250. It was an accidental discovery, which happened during the sinking of a brine well. Extraction of rock salt started around 1290. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, Europe's oldest salt mine, has been in existence over 700 years. It now covers a huge area with over 2,000 chambers (where excavation has now been abandoned) of various sizes, distributed throughout nine levels. Level one lies at a depth of 64m below ground level, while level nine goes down to a depth of 327m. The entire multi-layered labyrinth of corridors, shafts, caverns, and chambers stretches under the town of Wieliczka and well beyond its municipal boundaries. The layers of salt stretch from west to east over a distance of about 10 km, with a highly irregular thickness from .5 to 1.5 km. The extent of the active mining area grows each year since the Salt Mine is still busy producing rock salt. In 1978, it was entered on the UNESCO First World Culture and Natural Heritage List. The excavation sites available for tourists date back to the seventeenth century. Almost all of what tourists see was wrought by the wearisome toil of human hands without the benefit of machinery or explosive materials. Arrangements had been made for us to have an English-speaking guide, a delightful woman whose husband taught at a local college. They had a son, twelve, and a daughter, ten. The tour guide hoped to come to the U.S. some day. She did such a good job that I gave her a 10 zloty bill to “start her travel fund for her U.S. trip.” Our tour was filled with views of exquisitely carved statues of animals, people, and scenes. We were warned not to touch the carvings because the moisture on our hands would accelerate the “melting” (dissolving) of the salt forms. In the museum, we saw the early tools and later mechanical machinery used in mining. One block of salt weighing 1,800 kg (about 4,000 lb) gave new meaning to the words “salt block” for this former farm boy, used to providing animals with salt blocks weighing fifty pounds. We rushed from the salt mines back to Old Town Krakow to meet a scheduled guide and tour the famous Wawel Palace and historic cathedrals. The afternoon turned into a record heat day in Poland, so by mid-afternoon, we all were getting rather weary

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Tomorrow Finally Came! and enjoying our tour less and less. If only the day's plans had been reversed, some thought out loud, we could be enjoying the coolness of the salt mines, instead of suffering the sweltering heat. Finally we had enjoyed all the cathedrals, artwork, and ancient furniture we could endure for one very hot afternoon. Our group broke up about four o'clock. Some headed for the mountains two hours away. I visited an antique shop and was reminded that “antique” in Poland has a different connotation than in the U.S. We think anything 200 years old is old! In Europe, a 200year old item, especially furniture, barely has the final finish completely dry! I saw beautiful furniture and exquisite paintings that were 500-800 years old—and priced accordingly. I met several team members for a wonderful and relaxing dinner in the stone cellar of a fine restaurant. Since the Raglands, John and Irene, were soon returning to the University of Kentucky, after four and one-half years directing the Project, we presented Irene a bouquet of flowers following dinner. Then we toured Old Town till about eleven o'clock and started for our lodging in the Radziwill Palace Hotel. Finally we arrived there after getting lost so many times we lost count. We concluded we had circled the Palace within one or two km at least twice without knowing how to reach it. Another mark was placed on our scorecard noting the paucity of road and highway identification signs in Poland. The next day we had an interesting challenge trying to get out of the town where Auschwitz is located. It's the Polish town of Oswiecim which the Germans had changed to Auschwitz. Kay Brewer was driving while Gene read the maps. This was some event by trial and error. After making several stops, turns, backups, and reversing directions, we thought we were on our way. After driving for about twenty-five minutes Kay said, “Good Lord, there's that same hotel again!” Lo and behold! We had gotten turned around and had driven back into the town when we thought we were headed away from it. In the back seat I covered the silent laughter on my face with a hand so it wouldn't show to two frustrated people in the front seat. It took a full hour to get out of this rather small-sized town. Because Kay was a conservative driver and also was getting tired, I offered to change places with her and so drove the last 500 km back to their home. It was a long, long, long trip. Along the way near Czestochowa about half past seven, we spied a McDonald's and joined the traffic jam trying to get off the highway to reach it. I took some pictures to document how many people were trying to reach a McDonald's in Poland on Sunday evening. One picture of the sign showing the twenty locations of McDonald's was used much later in my work to illustrate the impact of McDonald's on beef production and consumption in Poland. We finally had a very nice meal which the Brewer's bought for me in honor of my birthday the previous day.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I drove on through the night. Somewhere after midnight, we were going through a small town when the local police waved me down. I was quite sure I had not been speeding, but did not know what they wanted. As we pulled to the curb, I told Gene, “Remember what we were taught to do during our training in Warsaw when stopped by the police. We don't know nothin' about nothin'!” Gene rolled down his window and the first policeman began to talk very rapidly in Polish. I thought he was asking to see our “documents” meaning license, registration card, etc. I kept saying, “I speak English. Speak English. Don't understand!” Finally, in disgust, the first policeman returned to his partner and he came over and began to repeat the process, again saying something about documents. Again, I emphasized I did not speak Polish and did not understand. Finally, after several minutes of consultation, they waved us on. As we pulled from the curb, Gene Brewer in his best North Carolina southern mountain accent with his innocent, but mischievous grin, shouted out the window, “Do widzenia!” It means “Good-bye” in Polish. I nearly wet my pants. I fully expected the policemen to jump in their car, chase after, and really interrogate us as impostors when my friend spoke Polish. Fortunately, they did not come after us. I said, “Gene, you idiot! You just flunked the first lesson in our Warsaw training program.” We finally arrived at the Brewer's home about a quarter past four. I had driven all the way. We loaded my car and I took off as the sun was coming up about half past four. I was wide awake, there was little traffic, and I made good time over the narrow, crooked road and reached my house in the forest at six o'clock. It was a driving trip I didn't wish to repeat very soon. I went to bed, got up at nine o'clock and went to the office. Upon our arrival in Barzkowice in mid-June, the first dates Director Kobylinski asked us to hold were September 8-10. The Eighth Annual Barzkowice Agricultural Targi (Fair) would be held on those dates. He was the General Manager of the entire affair. He was enormously proud of this project, since he had developed it from little more than a bazaar into the largest agricultural fair in western Poland. I understood it was second only to Poland's International Polagra Agricultural Show held in Poznan each October, which was equivalent to a large State Fair in the U.S. The Barzkowice Fair was held on the grounds surrounding the ODR with the Hotel and ODR Office in the geographic and managerial center of all activities. The external commotion commenced on Monday prior to the Fair opening on Friday. By Thursday morning most of the vendors and exhibitors had arrived and were busily setting up their tents for displays. Thursday following lunch I gave Justyna the afternoon off and toured the grounds of the rapidly developing fair exhibition next door to the office headquarters.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! During the week, all the people in the office had been stressed out with short tempers, lots of shouting, and arguments. The two phone lines had been tied up with fair business all week, so it had been useless trying to make phone calls. I kept a low profile in the office and stayed out of the way. My role would be very limited, as I understood it, and would involve only being near the livestock educational exhibits to respond to questions and be exhibit A as one of the two American Advisors. Friday, the opening day of the Fair, found people scurrying about in the various offices. I took two letters down to the Director's office for the secretaries to mail as usual. When I saw them madly preparing flower arrangements, I knew it was of no use to leave my letters there. Most likely they would not get mailed until the following week. So, I decided to hand-deliver them to the local post office in Barzkowice about one-half km away. Of course, when I arrived about a quarter past eight, the post office was officially closed. However, there was a lady sweeping the front steps with a broom and the door was open, so I proceeded to walk in. The lady quickly put down her broom and came to explain that the post office was still closed. I handed her my two letters, tried to explain my purpose, and she nodded her head in apparent agreement. I left the letters with her, said “thank you” in my best Polish, and departed. The letters did get mailed because when talking with Sharon by telephone, she mentioned receiving one of them. Returning to the office, I completed a few tasks, locked the office door, and went out onto the fairgrounds. People were beginning to arrive. It was a lovely, bright day. The temperature was very comfortable for a short-sleeved shirt. Promptly at ten o'clock, the Director mounted the stage and over the public address system, which covered the entire grounds, gave many words of welcome and appreciation to those in attendance. After about ten minutes, he said, “The Eighth Annual Barzkowice Agricultural Fair is now officially open!” I went to the large, white barn several hundred meters distant from the office where the livestock were headquartered. This barn was constructed of concrete blocks and bricks with large pillars in two rows inside, which supported the high roof structure. It was approximately 50 feet wide and 100 feet long inside. All the pens were constructed of long poles that had been sawed lengthwise down the middle. I marveled at how well the workmen did with what they had to work with. There were pens of various sizes; the smaller pens housing goats and sheep, the larger pens holding dairy cattle, beef cattle, and pigs. In one walkway, cages on elevated stands held rabbits of various size; and two Nutria (large fur-bearing animals which looked similar to beavers). In addition, there were cages of guinea pigs and two cages of chickens, which I gathered were breeding stock for broilers. One cage contained brown chickens, the second cage had white chickens.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! On the back side of the barn, additional pens had been constructed outside, again made of long, straight sawed poles. These pens housed beef cattle with several Polled Herefords, Angus, and Simmental beef cattle with calves by side. The pens were covered over on top with heavy, black plastic laid over long sawed poles to make a temporary roof. Also, behind the barn were four fish ponds ingeniously constructed of dirt walls forming a large hole, which was divided into four quarters by wooden partitions. Big sheets of black plastic then were draped over the side walls and the partitions. Water was pumped into each of the four quadrants. Four varieties of domesticated food fish were displayed and attracted much attention. I found out that Friday was called, “Technical Day” which meant that it was primarily devoted to people and exhibitors interested in farm machinery and agricultural technology. It was also a key public relations day for non-farmers. My friend, Boguslaw Kuleta, had made arrangements for me to meet with executives of AGRYF Company from Szczecin. Following some confusion resulting from breakdown in communications, we finally met them at their fair booth where they were cooking kielbasa and other meats from their own production plant. I met with Roman Dolata, Vice President of Production, and Ryszard Chodowicz, Director of Procurement. They graciously provided Justyna and me with a fine lunch, including different types of kielbasa and salads. After much discussion, they agreed that I could come to their company, meet with them, and tour their facilities the following week. It was clear from both their verbal and body language that they really weren't eager for me to visit their facilities. However, after I told them I would get information from the U.S. on pricing pig carcasses based on leanness and would share that information with them, they became much more agreeable to letting me come to their facilities. The rest of day was spent walking among the exhibits and going back and forth to the livestock barn to see if there was anything that I needed to be doing. It was clear they had not included me in their plans to be present for any duties, so I was free to roam the grounds. I spent a large amount of time talking with my two friends with John Deere, Mr. Bernd Albert, and his assistant. They had opened a John Deere dealership in Szczecin two years earlier. Both of them were graduate agricultural engineers and impressed me with their knowledge of both business and agricultural technology. Among the 197 commercial exhibitors, I was pleased to see several well known U.S. firms. In addition to John Deere, these included Alfa Laval Agri, Case International, Central Soya, Land O' Lakes Agra, and New Holland.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I left the fairgrounds about half past five just as a light drizzle was beginning to fall. I hoped that it would not rain heavily and damage the lovely exhibits of green bouquets and dried flowers that several of the exhibitors had prepared. Saturday morning I awoke to find it had rained apparently most of the night and drove to the fairgrounds thinking that attendance would be poor. I was surprised at the turnout. Just as they do for the New York State and North Carolina State Fairs, the farmers had come prepared with raincoats, umbrellas, and boots. Despite those preparations, the rain did hold down the total crowd attendance according to my Polish associates. My fellow teammate from Pila province, Bill Zimmerman (from Minnesota), arrived as planned about ten o'clock. I spent a couple of hours taking him around the fairgrounds. Then he met Kent Fleming for a session on computer training, and I spent the rest of the afternoon either in exhibits or at the tent office where Justyna had found her friend, Agnieszka Lewandowski, very eager for her help. Saturday evening a party was scheduled at seven o'clock for all exhibitors at a huge, old castle in an adjoining village. I never really was invited to attend and so was very undecided about whether I should plan to go to the party or not. Justyna was tired and did not want to go and so I ended up not going, thinking that it would be somewhat useless without a translator. The next day I learned that Kent and his translator had been there but that the party apparently was nothing extra special. The weather this day, Sunday, made up for the bad weather on Saturday. By nine o'clock many people had arrived and by noon the grounds were jammed with cars and people. There was a church service (Catholic, of course) on the soccer field that attracted a huge throng. I did not attend, but took several pictures of the crowd. The size of the crowd, although much smaller than at the North Carolina or New York State Fairs, still jammed the existing facilities, making it difficult to move around with any speed. The farm equipment dealers were demonstrating their plows, tractors, and tillage equipment in a large field adjacent to their exhibit area. These demonstrations attracted a large crowd of interested onlookers. A much anticipated soccer game between the team sponsored by the Barzkowice ODR and a team from a town up on the Baltic Sea was held between two and four o'clock. This match ended in a 1-1 draw. About half past four the exhibitors began to move off the grounds with their equipment creating an enormous traffic jam. At the fourway intersection beside the fair office tent, a giant gridlock caused traffic to stand still for at least ten minutes. In late afternoon, my landlords, Christopher and Bozena, had found me so Justyna and I went with them and their daughter, Alecia, to ride some of the carnival rides. Bozena elected not to ride the roller coaster train, but the rest of us did and had a ball.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Then we rode the bumper cars. I hadn't ridden those things since I was in high school, forty-five years ago. I rode them about four different times and had particular fun with Christopher as we chased each other around alternately colliding and then avoiding each other. Afterwards, I took them up to my office to show them where I hid out when not enjoying life at their house. They were particularly interested in the large map of the United States, which I had on the office wall. I showed them where North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York were located and pointed out that the country of Poland would fit in the State of New Mexico. When we finally left the fairgrounds, ours were the last two cars in the parking lot at the livestock barn. The Eighth Annual Barzkowice Agricultural Fair had been officially closed for the last two hours and now we were ready to depart. Monday morning was cloudy, overcast, and cool, as I arrived at the office to find the fairgrounds littered with trash and paper left over from Sunday's huge crowd. It wasn't long before the ODR crews were out gathering up the trash and cleaning the exhibit grounds. By the end of the day, all of the trash had been picked up and the premises restored to their usual clean and orderly appearance. I wrote memos of congratulations to the livestock specialists and to the Director and Vice Directors for their highly successful fair, telling them that I would return to the U.S. and inform my associates what a fine job the Poles did with very limited facilities and resources. The following memo written in Polish (shown on pg. 126) went to Director Kobylinski and his two vice directors. Much to my surprise, he directed that it be posted on the bulletin boards of the office and the ODR Hotel. In addition, it was printed in the 3,500 copies of the November issue of the ODR monthly magazine. I concluded that getting positive feedback for one's efforts was not a customary occurrence in Poland, but when it was done, such a gesture was greatly appreciated. Having become acquainted with Dr. Kobylinski's promotional flair, I would not be at all surprised to learn that this memo showed up in some of his literature for promoting the Ninth Barzkowice Fair in 1996. G. Braund, Ph.D. Polsko/Amerykanski Program Doradztwa Rolniczego Polish/American Extension Project WODR Barzkowice, Szczecin Memo to:

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Director Roman Kobylinski Vice Director Malgorzata Krysiak Vice Director Piotr Szysz From: Subject:

Darwin G. Braund, Advisor Congratulations!

Before another moment passes, I want to pause this morning and extend my sincerest congratulations on a highly successful VIII Barzkowice Fair! As a first-time observer and attendee, I was highly impressed with the organization and conduct of this huge three-day affair. I've worked at ten-day state fairs in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and North Carolina in the U.S. and know from personal experience the great amount of preparation and work done unseen by the public. I congratulate you and all staff personnel for doing so much with what you have to work with. I shall return to the U.S. and tell my associates what a fine job you do organizing and running a large fair with far fewer facilities than they have. Please extend my congratulations and appreciation to each and every staff person who contributed to making your VIII Barzkowice Fair such a huge and enjoyable success.

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Chapter 8 Wild Game Hunting– Preserving Poland's Nature and Tradition Poland has a long and honored history of wild game hunting. Beginning in the 10th century, hunting became a permanent part of Polish national tradition. At that time, along with the development of Polish statehood, a system of feudal hunting privileges emerged. Even in those times, legislation and practical experience classified game by size. Also, the first royal hunt masters and other hunting officials were appointed in individual districts. The 18th century marked stepped-up development in the Polish hunting system. The royal family's enthusiasm for hunting influenced magnates and noblemen and the ethos of knighthood was soon introduced into hunting, in keeping with pan-European traditions. A code of hunting behavior was created, based on chivalry toward both fellow hunters and the game. A new hunting tradition and certain new modes of behavior were established. Then came the times of Poland's partitions and the loss of independence. These events became an indirect cause of the creation of a modern hunting system in Poland. National tragedies integrated Polish society and stimulated people to work for the country. Hunting stopped being just entertainment. The term “modern hunting management” appeared, denoting breeding activities, preservation of certain species and rational management of animal populations. As early as the second half of the 19th century, the first modern hunting organizations started to develop in all three sectors of partitioned Poland. Tradition was revived and breeding in hunting grounds was intensified, even though the partitioning countries were not happy to see the formation of independent-minded, self-regulating Polish organizations. Obviously, World War I focused the attention of Polish ruling elites elsewhere, but as a result of the war, a sovereign republic of Poland reemerged and hunting was revived in the regained lands. As a result of intensive breeding efforts, the auroch (European bison—Bison bonasus) was restored in the Bialowieska Forest, the largest woodland in Europe. The International Society for the Protection of European Bison was founded on the initiative of Polish naturalists, many of whom were also hunters. Polish hunting organizations were actively engaged in international environmental projects.

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To upgrade hunting administration and management, a plan was carried out in 1923 to consolidate the efforts of regional hunting societies. These efforts led to the creation of a single, integrated and autonomous Polish Hunting Union (PZL). The Union has been active until today, without officially discontinuing its activities even during World War II. The PZL became an elitist association in the most positive sense of the word, because it brought together the hearts and minds of imminent personalities of Polish life. The PZL immediately took over the government's responsibilities in the area of hunting. During World War II, the Germans formally abolished the Union, but the Chief Hunting Council, responsible to the Polish government in exile in London, continued to work underground, trying to save from ruin whatever could still be rescued. The main concern was the terribly devastated animal population. Also, work continued on a new version of the hunting act, which had been submitted to Parliament just before the outbreak of the war. As the German Army withdrew from Polish territories, regional PZL structures were restored. In January 1945, the PZL was entered into an Official Register of Associations. Unfortunately, the PZL's work was hampered in the late 1940s, when new hunting authorities were appointed from above. These people were members of the ruling communist party. Yet, representatives of traditional Polish social groups still represented the core of the Union. A new hunting law was prepared in 1959. Even though it was drafted in keeping with the communist spirit, it also included some fundamental provisions from the prewar period, which was favorable for the future of hunting in Poland. Hunting management in postwar Poland started to take on a proper shape, despite the “political corsets” imposed on the hunting community and the PZL. Transformation processes begun in 1989 changed the character of the PZL. In 1990, new PZL authorities were appointed—people who had not been involved in the old order—while the old activists from the list of communist party officials remained in the hunting community as normal hunters. Actually, during the decade preceding the Solidarity-inspired watershed in Poland, relations between the government and the PZL had been largely democratic, and hunting developed successfully. The power of traditional patterns of behavior proved to be overwhelming. Today, the PZL has about 100,000 members, nearly 50 percent of whom are hunters authorized to conduct selection of male deer. There are 2,500 hunting circles in Poland which deal with breeding projects in 4,800 hunting districts, covering a combined area of more than 25,000,000 hectares. Organization membership is still mandatory for Polish hunters.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Fortunately for me, landlord Christopher was a member of the Ciemnik Circle (Club) of the Polish Hunting Union. In June when I agreed to rent his upstairs apartment, he was delighted to learn of my similar interests in hunting and fishing. He had said then that when hunting season arrived in the fall, he would take me on hunting expeditions at night during the periods of full moon. When the cool, crisp nights of fall arrived and the beautiful full moon lit up the sky, we went on two or three occasions to spend a few hours in high hunting stands built on top of long poles strategically located to overlook large areas of open land. One of these stands overlooked a pine plantation, which Christopher, his wife, and his father and mother had set out about six years earlier. Wild pigs would come out of the hardwood forest into this area on their way to root up his potatoes in the patch near the barn, much to Christopher's annoyance. I went with him to this stand two or three different evenings, but no pigs ever came while I was with him. It wasn't until a winter storm hit early and unexpectedly on November 3 that excitement and memorable experiences involving hunting really began. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn I was back in Central New York, because outside it was a winter wonderland. About half past two the miserable cold rain had changed to snow and suddenly outside it was almost a Central New York blizzard. Heavy, wet snow began to fall and by the time I left the office, significant accumulation in the form of slush and wet snow was forming on the roadway. Underneath the hardwood trees, which still held a significant amount of foliage, lay a carpet of leaves brought down by the heavy, wet, sticky snow. I drove cautiously in third and occasionally fourth gear. The further I went, the deeper the snow became on the road and it had accumulated on the grass and weeds along the road and in the fields. When I arrived in the forest, the heavy canopy overhead had protected the roadway and so it was merely wet and slushy in spots. Arriving at my home which was in open space, I was greeted by a European Christmas card scene. The roofs of all buildings were white with the snow and about three to four inches had accumulated in the driveway. The six geese guarding my parking area in the barnyard were wondering what had happened to their environment. They gave me their usual raucous greeting of annoyance, as I usurped their space with the Polonez. I climbed the stairs to my loft, which was quite chilly, plugged in the small, portable electric heater which the landlords had purchased a couple of weeks earlier, prepared myself a rum and coke to drink, opened some pretzels and sat down to read. About five o'clock I became chilly so I put on another pair of socks, a sweatshirt, my sweatpants, and climbed into bed under the covers. About half past six I awoke to the realization that the electricity was off. I heard a commotion downstairs. Christopher was in the back room getting dressed in outdoor clothes with the aid of his flashlight. He had returned from Dobrzany and said the electricity was off in town also. He was getting dressed to go hunting wild pigs and asked if I wished to go along. I had planned to work

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Tomorrow Finally Came! on my book that evening, but since the electricity was off, it was going to be a bit difficult to write. It didn't take much consideration before I said, “Yes, I'd like to go.” I thought I could always write, but I might never have another opportunity to hunt wild pigs at night in a veritable winter wonderland. My L. L. Bean boots with leather tops had not been oiled recently. I was fearful that they would probably soak through with the heavy, wet snow. Christopher said, “No probleem,” (sic) and gave me a pair of his special insulated boots designed for work in the forest. In retrospect, I must have thought I was back in central New York about midJanuary getting prepared to go for a sedentary ride with my horses and sleigh. I put on special long underwear, over which I pulled my heavy western trousers. Over the longsleeved underwear on my upper body, I put on a turtle-neck shirt followed by a hooded sweatshirt. Then came three pairs of socks. Over all of this, I pulled on Christopher's insulated forest pants and put on my insulated jacket. A red wool pullover stocking hat covered my head, and I pulled the sweatshirt hood up over that. Now fully prepared for the elements, we walked through the barnyard and toward the forest. Christopher was leading with his rifle over his shoulder, and I followed. It was still snowing, but much lighter than previously. I judged the storm was about to end. We hadn't gone but about 100 yards when Christopher stopped and, using his flashlight, pointed to many scratchings under an apple tree. “Stag!” He exclaimed. I thought we might be going to the wooden hunting stand overlooking a young pine plantation where I had spent time with him previously. However, we headed into the forest on a logging trail. As forester-in-charge of nearly 5,000 acres of surrounding forest land, Christopher knew the forest like his backyard. It was an incredible sight as we walked along, stopping every hundred yards to listen while he used his special night-vision binoculars to scan the forest for any signs of activity. The forest area was quite open with the large hardwood trees having high canopies. Visibility was not a problem, as the whiteness of the snow both on the ground and clinging to the trees provided a reflective background. My mind flashed back to the many times in central New York when on nights like this and under similar conditions, I harnessed the horses to go for sleigh rides through fields and forests many times with the entire family laughing and listening to the sleigh bells. Tonight the forest was silent except for the slight dripping of melting snow from the trees. As we went further into the forest, I could sense the temperature was beginning to rise and the dripping from the leaves increased. Every once in a while a loud crack like the sound of a rifle shot rang out as a tree or large branch would come crashing down. One of these occurred within 100 yards of us as we walked along. It was clear that the forest was going to be a dangerous place to be tonight because of the heavy snow weighing down the branches. We took a variety of forest trails with Christopher leading the way. Suddenly, without warning, a small branch fell down and hit me on the

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Tomorrow Finally Came! shoulder. In one giant leap or maybe several modest man-sized leaps, I ended up some distance to the side of where I had been moments before with my heart pounding in my throat. Christopher exclaimed, “Wow! You O.K.?” I replied in the affirmative, even though my pulse rate had increased substantially. We kept on, stopping quite often to listen while he scanned the forest with his binoculars. I imagined the scene before us might be what a small fly would see walking across a huge birthday cake coated with white icing and holding hundreds of large black unlit candles. Above these hundreds of candles would be draped two or three layers of lace tablecloths. It was a truly magnificent sight. After about thirty minutes, we came to a road which I recognized because of the saw logs piled along its edge. I thought it was the forest road leading from Lake Okole to the village of Krzemien. Christopher confirmed my identification. He pointed left. “Okole,” he said and pointed right and said, “Krzemien.” I nodded in agreement. We followed this road toward Krzemien for probably fifteen minutes, again stopping quite often to check for wildlife activity. Then Christopher suddenly said, “Go home!” and pointed to the treetops. With his hands, he described falling treetops and branches and said, “Dead!” He was using his professional training and experience to explain the first law of traveling in a forest under heavy snow conditions—that of unexpected tree limbs crashing down to kill an unsuspecting person without warning. I had had sufficient experience in the woods to recognize this danger. We turned back toward home. I was relieved to see that Christopher was going to follow the roadway rather than re-trace our steps along the logging paths through the timberland. The roadway, although unpaved, had a solid base in most places composed of rocks or cinders and some areas were actually paved with concrete blocks laid end to end to provide two tracks for vehicle wheels. This was a main road for pulpwood and logging trucks. I recalled my amazement earlier in the summer when Christopher had invited me to go with him and Bozena to Krzemien for beer and he had turned off the paved road onto this forest road, and I wondered what on earth we were doing. I had driven that road many times since and enjoyed it immensely during the summer and fall as the foliage changed color. We arrived back at the paved road and turned left toward home. Three times along the paved road Christopher used his flashlight to show surprisingly large branches which had fallen down under the weight of the snow. Fortunately they were lying parallel to the road. By the time we reached home, I had counted at least eight loud cracks of branches and trees falling in the forest. Fortunately the one I didn't hear was the smallest and although it scared the daylights out of me when it hit my shoulder, no other damage was done. By the time we arrived home it was eight o'clock. I judged we had covered between four and five km or about two and one half to three miles.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! The next day, Saturday, Christopher had invited me to go hunting with him and a rather large group of friends who would hunt with ten to twelve dogs. No other details were provided. The potential prey would be foxes, stags, and wild pigs. When we arrived home Friday night, Christopher exclaimed, “Bad hunting tomorrow!” We'd decide tomorrow whether we would go or not and what we would wear based on the temperature. Christopher was flabbergasted when I showed him how I was dressed. He laughed and said, “O.K. for Alaska!” Obviously, I was overdressed for the temperature proven by the rivulets of sweat running down my back. Sometime during the night the temperature warmed and the snow changed to a miserable cold rain. I could hear the wind blowing vigorously during the several times I awoke because of my excitement over the impending hunting expedition. About two o'clock I went downstairs and opened the outside door to check on the weather. It was raining steadily. I held out little hope that we would be hunting within a few hours. At five o'clock I woke up without the alarm and decided to stay up. I prepared breakfast and did some reading. About half past six Christopher called up the stairs to say we would go hunting. The rain had stopped and the western sky gave some promise of the weather breaking. Christopher gave me his insulated trousers, which I had used the night before, and also a matching insulated jacket. Surprisingly it fit me, even though I was some eighty pounds heavier and probably four inches taller. About half past seven we got in his VW car with our respective thermoses of coffee and tea and his rifle. Off we went. Within fifteen minutes we arrived at the destination. Much to my surprise, there were many cars already there and several dozen people. Also, there were two tractors, one pulling a fiveton rubber-tired forest wagon. The other was hitched to what appeared to be a type of former circus wagon with a stovepipe through the roof spewing smoke. It turned out to be a heated conveyance with room in the rear for the hunting dogs and considerable space in the front where several hunters were gathered around the iron stove in one corner. Christopher led me to the group and I shook hands with nearly everyone saying, “Good morning,” in my best Polish. We stood around for a few minutes and then a man who was obviously in charge began to speak. Everyone came to attention and formed two lines facing him—one behind the other. I had already counted sixty-five people and others were still arriving. I was impressed how quickly the group came to attention and the respect they showed for the person speaking. He spoke for several minutes and suddenly I recognized the words, “American” and “North Carolina.” Christopher poked me in the ribs and said, “Darveen, Darveen.” I realized I was being introduced to the group. I took off my red wool stocking cap and said, “Thank you very much” in Polish.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! A second man spoke briefly followed by a third man who was carrying a walking stick with a school-room type bell fastened near the top. Below it was attached a small bottle of vodka. He rang the bell twice and everyone removed their headgear almost in unison. Then the man who had spoken first pulled a pack of cards from his pocket, shuffled them and took them to the only female hunter in the group. She cut the deck by pulling out a card. Then the man handed a card to each hunter in the group. On the card was a grid with numbers printed in boxes. I learned later that these numbers were the key for each individual hunter to be posted in the forest during the hunt. With the formalities over, we returned to the cars. A procession of about twentyfive cars drove back to the highway and toward Christopher's house. As we came to his house, he stopped to get a three-legged folding seat, which he had forgotten to take with him. This turned out to be my perch during the hunt. By this time, the procession had gone by and Christopher speeded up to find where they had disappeared. He stopped to ask a man cutting a tree and learned we had to turn back, toward the direction from which we had come. Then we found a logging road leading off to the left, which we followed. We bounced over rain-filled holes for about 2 km. Suddenly there were all the cars with the hunters standing around in clusters. Once again, the man who had dealt the cards spoke. With minimal confusion, we went toward the first hunting area. Several dogs of various colors and descriptions ranging from small, short-haired hounds to substantial, hairy, long-legged critters ran around in anticipation of the hunt. A few were on leashes controlled by their owners. I stayed with Christopher and carried my slide camera for my “protection.” Christopher's number was ten for this first hunt, meaning he would be the tenth man dropped off on the line of watchers through the forest. I realized the hunting pattern was going to be very similar to that used in my experience at the Loyalsock Rod and Gun Club, otherwise known as the “Bunny, Buck, and Bear Hunting Camp” in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. The major differences were that today dogs were being used, the number of hunters was more than twice the twenty we were allowed for one camp in Pennsylvania, and the “drivers” did not carry rifles. Shortly after the first drive began, a single small deer came out to where Christopher and I were watching, saw us, and turned parallel with the line of watchers. Soon I saw five or six more deer coming through the trees. They also turned away from us. Similar to some experiences with first drives in Pennsylvania when we saw several deer, I thought the forest was probably full of game, but found later such was not the case. There was no shooting on this first drive. Eligible game included wild pigs, foxes, and big stags or large deer. The second drive began about ten o'clock and took about thirty minutes to complete. There was no shooting on this drive, and we saw no game at our location.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Christopher's number was seven this time. The third drive began in a different location. Christopher's number was fifteen, so we had a long walk. Because of the number of hunters involved, there were enough to post them about seventy-five yards apart. Each was careful to let others know where he was located. This time, Christopher's location had what he called a “good look,” compared with the “bad look” he had in the previous drive. That meant the visibility and line of view were substantially better. Shortly after the drive began, we heard a shot and then another and another, each one coming from a location closer to us. Christopher whispered, “Pigs!” and my adrenaline began to flow faster. Suddenly, “Bang!” I was startled by the shot of the hunter standing 75 yards to our right. Christopher had his rifle to his shoulder, and suddenly through the forest I saw movement. There came four pigs, head to tail, two large ones in front followed by two smaller ones. They were coming from our right going left and were headed toward a more open area. “Bang!” went his rifle and the lead pigs turned and came toward me. Since it was snowing quite heavily I foolishly had put my camera inside my zippered jacket. I began to fumble with the zipper to get my camera. This stupid movement alerted the pigs to our presence. They turned quickly and headed in the opposite direction down over a bank toward the nearby lake. Christopher was thoroughly disgusted. He had taken aim at the lead big pig and uncharacteristically had missed. We went to check for any blood in the snow and found where his rifle shot had dug into the ground short of its intended target. We waited for about thirty more minutes. I could tell that another drive had been formed and was coming toward us from another direction. On this drive there was considerable shooting. I felt that with all the activity something must have been harvested. When the drive was over, we headed back along the logging trail and after walking for maybe ten minutes heard a tractor coming in the distance. Over the next rise Christopher exclaimed and pointed. There beside the logging trail lay a small pig already eviscerated. We waited for the tractor and wagon to arrive. Christopher and I threw the pig on the wagon and climbed in. We bounced up and down as the tractor and wagon sloshed through mud holes of various sizes and depths. Shortly we came to another dead pig about the same size, got off and threw it on board. As we rounded a bend there was a third pig, this time a mature sow. The tractor driver got off and the three of us managed to heave it upon the wagon bed. All Polish wagon beds are five feet off the ground, regardless of what they are used for. Loading them by hand requires much more effort than the better engineered, low slung U. S. farm wagons. When we arrived back at the assembled group of hunters there was much goodnatured kidding and handshaking, especially for the only woman in the group who had shot the big pig.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! By now it was one o'clock. We got in the cars and headed off for another hunt, a considerable distance away. I recognized much of this area since I had driven through it during the summer in my Polonez car. This time Christopher's number was nine and we did not have a long distance to walk. Near the end of the drive there was a single shot, but we saw no game and returned to where the cars were located. At three o'clock it was clear this was the last hunt of the day. The hunters seemed in no hurry to leave. They stood around and talked and smoked and talked some more. I had been very impressed during the day with their safety precautions. Just as in my U.S. hunting experience, the hunters did not load their rifles until they were on location in the forest. I had said to Christopher early in the day, “In U.S. no drinking while hunting.” He responded, “Same in Poland.” I was very relieved fearing that with their fondness for vodka, there might be drinking and celebrating in the forest during the hunt. I had assumed that we would return home once the hunters made a move to leave. However, Christopher said, “We go eat soup and drink vodka.” This was news to me. When we finally left the procession of cars went back to the original location where everything had started that morning. Now it dawned on me that this location was their hunting camp and that this hunt was sponsored by the club membership. Christopher proudly showed me the building where we would eat. It had been converted from a former water-driven grain grinding mill. The location was lovely with water flowing through the reconstructed concrete sluice way that had formerly powered the graingrinding mill stones. Christopher signaled for me to follow him. He lead me to an open area some distance behind the clubhouse. There was an amazing sight. All the hunters and several additional club members, maybe seventy or eighty were standing in a circle. In the center of the circle lay the carcasses of four pigs harvested during the day's hunt. I was surprised to see four since the last I knew only three had been killed. However, on the last hunt of the afternoon, I had heard a single shot a long distance away. That shot yielded a mature sow pig. Hanging from four posts located on the corners of the level area, probably fifty feet apart, were four metal baskets. Each contained split pieces of firewood, which were burning brightly. Christopher said this was a Polish tradition following the day's hunt. Shortly the man in charge who had started the morning's activities made some announcements. Each hunter who had shot a pig was invited to the center of the circle and given special congratulations. Then a young man played a bugle with a circular curved bell. There were some further announcements before the ceremony ended with the words: “end of the hunt” and “darz bor” (may the forest reward you). This is the traditional way of bidding farewell to the forest, the animals, and hunting companions. Some lingered to talk while others headed for the clubhouse. Off to one side in the center of a large circle of round rocks was a huge wood fire. Snow was falling softly and

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Tomorrow Finally Came! the large fire, plus the four basket fires, were most welcome to cold feet, hands, and bodies. Christopher had said a special soup would be served following the hunt. By this time both my stomach and lowered body temperature needed some hot soup. We went into the clubhouse and much to my surprise, a full meal of bigos and kielbasa, plus the wonderful Polish dark bread was being served. A place at one of the crowded tables was prepared for me. Christopher graciously brought me a plate of food. I introduced myself to those sitting beside and across the table from me. Vodka, of course, was served and after two “Na zdrowie!”—the Polish equivalent of “Cheers!,” the crowd was in an even more jovial mood. I asked permission to take some photographs and moved around the room to take pictures of the many different sets of deer horns and antlers adorning the walls. I ended up in one corner of the room where a distinguished-looking gentleman began to converse with me in Polish. I explained I spoke English and he said, “I know, but I have heard you speaking Polish.” I laughed and said, “Only a little bit.” He was very gracious and began to speak with me in very good English. He turned out to be a medical doctor, the chief of the eye, ear, nose, and throat department at the Szczecin Hospital. He had been to the U.S. on several occasions and twice had studied for two months at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. We discussed the Polish Health Service situation and found out that the distribution of doctors in Poland, like the U.S., was skewed to the cities and metropolitan areas while the rural areas needing good medical attention found it very hard to attract medical doctors. Suddenly Christopher said, “Photo! Photo!” and asked for my camera. Once again, the leader of the group had the floor and suddenly I realized they were talking about me, the American. Then I realized they were honoring me with a special award and Christopher wanted my camera to photograph this historic event. They presented an engraved leather piece mounted on a green felt background with a rawhide strap so it could be hung around my neck. It commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Polish Hunting Club and had the day's date on it. Astounded at this gracious act of acceptance and warmth, I said, “Thank you very, very much!” in my best Polish and gratefully accepted this signal recognition. This was the concluding event of the evening and was the signal for the party to break up and clean up began. Christopher and I left for home while I good-naturedly chided him for completely hiding all of the details of this memorable day from me. Two weeks later, Saturday, November 18, Christopher invited me to go on another hunting expedition. We left home at a quarter to seven. About five inches of snow had fallen late Friday evening and during the night making the roads very hazardous and slippery. Christopher drove his front-wheel drive Volkswagen cautiously. Fortunately there was very little traffic. He was afraid we would arrive late but we got

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Tomorrow Finally Came! there at eight o'clock in time to join the group. I didn't know our destination. This time we were hunting with another hunting club group about 50 km north. I counted a total of forty hunters in twenty-one different cars as we arrived at our first stop in the forest. The first drive was through a relatively small area of head-high bushes and young trees. Once again, hunters were posted about seventy-five yards apart in a long line as the drivers and dogs came through the brush toward us. Suddenly, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and a fox traveling in high gear bounded out of the brush into the open. It was about two-thirds the distance between Christopher and the hunter on our right. I watched as that hunter raised his rifle and took aim. I waited for the shot expecting to see the fox rolling in the snow. The silence was deafening as the fox never slowed down and disappeared out of sight. The hunter lowered his rifle. Christopher called to him and found that he had committed the hunter's unpardonable sin—he had forgotten to place a shell in the chamber of his rifle. Christopher said, “Fox hoppy!” (sic) “Yes,” I responded and “Lucky!” We had a very long hike for the next drive and ended up on a rise on an edge of an open field where the wind was blowing strongly from our back. We took a position against a big tree to help break the wind and waited. The next hunter on our left was positioned in a low spot which was a natural “draw” that I thought would make a good natural run for animals coming out of the woods. We waited for about thirty minutes before we heard the first shot and the dogs barking. Christopher said, “Pigs!” and we waited. Suddenly the hunter on our left in the draw fired and almost instantaneously six pigs—two big and four small—came out of the draw going faster than I thought any pigs could travel. Within seconds, four or five more pigs shot out of the woods across the logging trail and out of sight. I couldn't understand why the hunter had not fired at least one more shot. I thought that either he had been run over in the stampede or was changing his trousers. A few minutes later a single female stag came out of the woods and bounded across the open field to our right. Christopher shot once and I saw the deer flinch and turn slightly. We both realized it had been hit in the left rear leg. I urged Christopher to shoot again, which he did. The stag turned and began to come closer to us in a circle. Christopher fired a third time, but apparently missed again. The stag disappeared into the forest on the other side of the field. We searched the snow but could find no evidence of blood. We concluded it was a minor injury and certainly not life threatening, although we both hated to have that happen. On the third drive, our station was beside a drainage ditch coming out of the flat lowland forest ahead of us. We stood with our backs to a huge open area covered with swamp grass. As the drive progressed, we saw a fox running in high gear too far into the

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Tomorrow Finally Came! woods for a shot. Later two or three pigs went by, likewise out of shot. Suddenly we saw movement closer to us and there came three large female stags. As I made a motion to bring my camera up to take a picture, they immediately came to a screeching stop. Disgusted, I thought, “You idiot, you've ruined a good opportunity!” They had stopped and frozen themselves about forty yards away but not in a good location for Christopher to shoot. As suddenly as they had stopped, they bounded across the drainage ditch to our right and out into the open area of swamp grass. Christopher took aim and fired at the lead stag. Down it went, but just as quickly, up it bounded and ran on. He fired a second shot. Again it went down, this time about 100 yards away. The hunter next to us also fired one shot, but we weren't sure at which of the three stags. We could see the first stag down but still struggling, so Christopher took careful aim and dispatched it. We waited until the hunt was ended and then headed through the swamp to the dead deer. Christopher was elated. It was a large female; he guessed it to weigh about 70 kg or approximately 160 pounds. These stags are considerably larger than the white-tailed deer I was used to in the eastern part of the United States. Poland also has small deer much smaller than the white tails. These are not hunted. For the next drive, the fourth of the day, we were on the edge of the forest in what I thought was a good location. We could hear the dogs barking in the distance and suddenly I saw movement. This time, I had my camera up to my eye as a huge, mature wild pig came straight at us in high gear. I clicked the camera just as he came over a slight ridge. Almost instantaneously Christopher's rifle cracked and the pig crumpled in a heap. I snapped my camera again without removing it from my eye. Suddenly the crumpled pig regained its feet and charged into the underbrush. Christopher moved to his left to give it a killing shot but lost sight of the animal. I said to Christopher, “No problem, he won't go far.” We waited until the hunt was completed. I paced off the distance and found it to be twenty yards with a direct head-on shot. I knew the pig would be found not far away. Christopher started in a circle around the brush and I followed the readily visible track through the snow and slush. Suddenly my right foot sunk in the mud to my knee. I instinctively withdrew my foot but the boot remained firmly stuck in the mud. I hobbled around on one foot trying to maintain my balance while keeping my sock from going into the snow and slush as I worked to retrieve my boot from the muck and mire. No wonder Christopher had made a circle instead of following the pig's track. He knew the conditions underfoot. Christopher shouted with satisfaction that he'd found the dead pig. He had gone only a few yards into the brush. It was a large mature boar which Christopher estimated to be seven years old and would weigh about 70 kg. Christopher was elated. As we

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Tomorrow Finally Came! dragged the wild boar back through the brush up to the logging path and stopped for a rest, Christopher said, “I hoppy!” (sic) “I'm happy for you!” I said as I patted him on the back. In two successive drives he had bagged a big female stag and a wild boar. He would be paid 36 zlotys for the pig, and 110 zlotys for the stag, because the meat would be exported to Germany to be sold in high class restaurants. The day's hunt had yielded him the equivalent of a week's salary. After the last drive, all the hunters gathered at the cars. Again a ceremony was held to recognize the successful marksmen. The results of the day's hunt included four large female stags, six wild pigs, including four mature and two small ones, and one fox. We got in the car and headed home. A beautiful sunset developed in the west creating gorgeous clouds and a wonderful ending to a thoroughly enjoyable and successful day. Saturday, November 25 was the third and final day of hunting that I could enjoy in Poland. Since I had already committed to a 4-H program and meal at two o'clock, I needed to leave the forest early, so both Christopher and I drove our cars. This time, the hunters had gathered at a new location. The morning, exceedingly foggy and overcast, was warmer than it had been for several days. Once again, I was surprised at the respect and order shown by the forty men gathered for the three people who were giving instructions for the day. We stood in two double lines for probably ten minutes while they gave instructions and details. Then we all got in our respective automobiles and twenty-one cars made quite a procession through the fog and mist as we drove another 20 km to where we were going to hunt. When Christopher had received his card indicating his location on the various drives for the day he groaned with disgust. I knew what that meant. “Big kilometers?” I asked, meaning did we have a long distance to hike to get to our assigned location on the hunt. “Yes, big kilometers.” We walked for what seemed like forever before reaching our assigned location. It was in an open field between two peninsulas of woods jutting out into a large field of mature native grass, much of it flat due to the recent heavy wet snow. It was nine o'clock and the fog was thick. We could see two hunters on our right, but the two hunters to our left were out of sight due to the fog and a slight hill. We had barely taken our positions when, “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” Four shots rang out. I thought they were coming from the last man on the end of our line of watchers. “Pigs!” Christopher whispered. “Maybe stag!” Then I could hear the dogs barking and then more shots—the hunt was on! For this hunt, I had decided to take along my telephoto lens for the first time. Upon arrival at my location, I had changed lenses on the camera and replaced the wideangle lens normally used with the telephoto lens. Suddenly, Christopher raised his rifle. I

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Tomorrow Finally Came! raised my camera and looked in the direction he was aiming. Out of the woods bounded in high gear a wild pig. Christopher shot and missed. The pig veered off his course and changed directions going from our right to left. I wondered why Christopher didn't shoot a second time and then realized why. He would have been shooting in the direction of the other two hunters on our left. I got one shot of the pig bounding across the open field and had it in my lens for a second shot when out of the fog a rifle cracked. The pig rolled head over heels in the grass. The shot had come from the last hunter who took aim after the pig had gone far enough across the field so the shot wouldn't be coming in our direction. By the time the call went out to indicate the drive was over, I had counted seventeen shots. There had been an unusual amount of action. When all the hunters returned to the central location, we learned that seven pigs, including five mature and two younger ones had been killed on that drive. I also learned that the four quick shots shortly after we arrived at our location had been aimed at a stag, which had escaped unscathed. Three more drives were put on before we stopped to roast kielbasa over the huge bonfire which had been started earlier in the morning. The fog was still hanging on to a surprising degree in the forest. When I went back to the car at lunch time, I noticed that the right rear tire was almost flat. I was wondering what to do when Christopher came and said, “Drive car to forest tractor for air.” Sure enough the forest tractor hauling the wagon to pick up the harvested animals had an air compressor on it. Obviously, rubbertired equipment working in the forest was subject to many tire injuries. Therefore, many of the tractors were equipped with air compressors. They recharged the air pressure in my rear tire. After one more drive following the noon break, I departed the forest—or at least I tried to do so. When I left the hunt, they asked if I knew the directions on how to get out and told me to just take the left turns. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me which left turns to take. So I took the first one that I came to. I drove for a considerable distance until I could go no further. It was obvious that this was not the right path. I turned around and retraced my tracks. Suddenly the tractor hauling the wagon with the men and dogs in it who put on the drives came around the turn. They went the same direction from which I had just returned. I took another left turn and found that wasn't the correct road either. By now the fog was getting thicker and I realized that I didn't have any clear notion of which direction to go. After several false attempts and turnarounds, I took a road which I thought might take me somewhere. The longer I followed it, the worse it became, but suddenly I was out of the forest into an area with large, open fields. I followed a lane with huge mud and water filled holes in it. Some of the holes were bigger than my automobile and I didn't dare try to go through them but rather kept dodging and driving around them. I was sure this road would take me nowhere when suddenly I came to a small village.

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Unfortunately my detailed map, which would have been very helpful was back in my room. The large map in the car did not give me a clue as to where this small village was located. I got on a paved road I didn't recognize and through the fog went several km before I found a place to stop and ask directions. Of course, I had been going in the wrong direction, so turned and retraced my tracks. Finally I got on a road that I knew would take me to a town where I could get my bearings. Arriving there, I turned south toward the village where I knew the 4-H meeting was being held. I drove through that village three times before finding the road I needed to turn to the little community hall where the meeting was scheduled. I finally arrived there taking an hour and fifteen minutes for a fifteen-minute trip. I sat on the back seat of the car, took off my hunting boots, and put on my shoes, which I had brought with me. Then I locked the front and rear door on the driver's side. Just as I did that, I realized the keys were still in the ignition. For the second time in a month I had locked the keys inside the car. My luck for the day was continuing. I went inside where the dinner had been prepared and people were just beginning to sit down. I described my plight to the husband of the 4-H leader and he said, “No problem!” He had the necessary tools, went out and returned shortly and said, “Your car is unlocked.” After a very delicious meal prepared by the 4-H parents and leaders, I gave each of the 4-H youngsters and their parents one of the NC State University plastic coin purses which I had brought with me. Unfortunately, I was short one, so I reached in my pocket, pulled out my own, dumped out the coins, and gave it to the woman who needed one more. Then I told the group how impressed I had been with the youngsters on my previous visit. I had made a decision to contribute 200 zlotys to the club treasury. My only request was that within one year they write and tell me what they had used the money for and how many times my original contribution had been increased through their efforts. With the car now unlocked, I got in and drove to my home in the forest after a rather eventful and long day. Christopher was delighted to see me. Word had spread among the hunters in the forest after the tractor driver had seen me that I was lost with my car. Christopher had been concerned about my whereabouts wondering if I'd gotten to the 4-H Club meeting okay. We got my detailed local map, sat down and had a good laugh retracing my tracks. With a sense of sadness, I realized my hunting experiences in Poland were over. I thanked Christopher for providing such warm and wonderful experiences.

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Chapter 9 The McDonald's Connection Quite by accident, a Sunday afternoon stop at the only McDonald's Restaurant in Szczecin, the provincial capital city of nearly 500,000 people, provided a contact that led to a major opportunity. On July 30, I had taken my translator, Justyna, and her younger sister, Renata, who was visiting, to Szczecin for some sight seeing. By mid-afternoon, the day was so hot that we decided to get lunch and return home. We stumbled upon the only McDonald's in the city and went in. While eating a very good, familiar American meal, I saw a man who looked like he might be the manager. He was dressed in a white shirt and tie and was carefully eyeing the young people who were taking orders at the counter. After the meal, I introduced myself. He was the licensee. His name was Pawel Kurka. Since he did not have time that afternoon, we exchanged business cards and agreed to meet later to discuss his meat purchasing program. I told him I was very familiar with McDonald's in the U.S. and knew of their demanding standards for quality. Based on my pleasant experience, I judged he had the same high standards for food and personnel in his McDonald's restaurant. I wanted to talk with him about what was needed to produce the quality of beef in Szczecin required by McDonald's restaurants throughout Poland. Did they purchase their beef from Polish producers? What percent fat was in the beef burgers? Would/could McDonald's buy Poland-produced beef if carcass quality met their standards? With a subsequent phone call, we scheduled a meeting on Wednesday, August 16. As I was about to depart that morning, he called at a quarter past eight to say he had a very sick child and would need to cancel the appointment. We agreed to meet the next day at nine o'clock. The following day Boguslaw Kuleta, one of the livestock specialists, Justyna, my translator, and I departed for Szczecin. We arrived at the McDonald's restaurant shortly after nine o'clock. He treated us to coffee and the famous McDonald's baked apple pie. I judged he was about twenty-eight to thirty years old. His McDonald's restaurant had opened in June 1995, less than three months earlier. He had gone through a nine-month rigorous training program by the McDonald's Corporation and had been to the United States for executive training. He indicated there had been several start-up challenges, but did not go into detail. I told him up front that I did not expect him to share any confidential information. It was clear he was not about to disclose proprietary data. He said all purchasing and quality control decisions were made by personnel in the Corporate Headquarters in Warsaw. His restaurant merely assembled the beef patties, pickles, ketchup, lettuce, rolls, etc., which were delivered. We discussed pricing policy because several ODR staff had

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Tomorrow Finally Came! emphasized that McDonald's was too expensive for them to patronize. He responded that each location set their own prices and they were equal to, or slightly below, similar competition. Also, he said that only native Poles were allowed to invest in McDonald's franchises in Poland. He called the McDonald's people to make an appointment for me the following day when I was scheduled to be in Warsaw. Unfortunately, the principals were out of the office at some type of budget meeting, but he did give me the name of a secretary to see. Our meeting had lasted about thirty minutes. I left with less information than I had hoped to obtain, but did have an important phone number and names of executives at the Corporate Headquarters in Warsaw. The next day, I boarded the 5:55 a.m. train in Stargard for the five-hour ride to Warsaw. Upon arrival, I headed directly for the PAEP office, got my check and then went to the bank to get it cashed. From there I went to the Holiday Inn, checked in, and deposited my overnight bag and briefcase. Then I went to find the McDonald's Corporate office. As one might expect, it was located in a well-known building above a McDonald's restaurant. As one might not expect, however, getting to the offices above the restaurant was not an easy task. I asked directions from a person standing on the stairs that I assumed led to the offices. He directed me out the door to the street, where I walked nearly half a block and tested two or three doors under his direction until we found a door that was opened by a special code. I went up two flights of stairs and into a large office area where two young women greeted me at the receptionist's desk. After explaining who I was and wished to see, one of them said, “Moment! Moment!” and off she went. Shortly she returned to say all the principals were away (which I had already known) and the secretary with whom I had been directed to talk was “too busy” to see me. It was apparent that further negotiation to see anyone would be non-productive. I gave my personal biographical sheet and business card to the secretary and asked her to give it to the man with whom I wanted to talk. She said he would be in Monday and that I should telephone him about mid-morning. I departed the office after thanking the young women for their cooperation with that nagging feeling of “tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow!” Back in my office on Monday, I attempted to call the McDonald's contacts in Warsaw. After several attempts a secretary told me that the man I had hoped to see the previous Friday (and I was now wanting to talk to by phone) was on holiday until September. I had made plans to fly to Sweden over the Labor Day weekend to see some newfound friends who had invited me to visit. On Friday, September 1, I took the usual 5:55

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Tomorrow Finally Came! a.m. train to Warsaw. Immediately upon arrival I went to the McDonald's headquarters hoping to meet their executives. This was my second visit following several phone calls. Once again, they were not in their offices. I asked the receptionist if she could make an appointment for me the following Monday. She said no, but to call the office after ten o'clock Monday morning. I returned to Warsaw Sunday evening about half past eight following a wonderful, but all too-short visit to Sweden. The next day was our U.S. Labor Day. I judged it was appropriate that on this day honoring U.S. labor, my labors to learn about McDonald's in Poland finally bore fruit. I went to their headquarters office and breathed a sigh of relief when I was able to meet with Mr. Dariusz Czarnecki, National Purchasing Manager. He was a young man in his early thirties who spoke excellent English and had just returned from the U.S. Although he originally said he did not have more than fifteen to twenty minutes to talk, we spent forty-five minutes together during which he gave me helpful information. He said the first McDonald's restaurant in Poland opened June 15, 1992, in Warsaw with the largest opening day crowd McDonald's had ever experienced anywhere in the world up till that time. As we talked, he said McDonald's had thirty-five restaurants in Poland and expected to have 100 open by the end of 1997. According to Mr. Czarnecki, McDonald's needed at that time 30,000kg of ground beef per month for their thirty-five restaurants or about 900 kg per restaurant per month. I was very pleased to get this important information. I calculated that McDonald's would use between 12,000 and 16,000 beef animals per year just to meet their hamburger requirements for 100 restaurants as shown below:

Potential Beef Needs for McDonald's in Poland Live Animals Needed Year Year No.

Total Restaurants

Grd. Beef Needed (kg/yr) @75 kg./carcass

@100 kg/carcass

1992 1

3

—-

—-

—-

1993 2

10

—-

—-

—-

1994 3

23

—-

—-

—-

1995 4

40

432,000*

5,760

4,320

1996 5

65

780,000**

10,400

7,800

1,200,000**

16,000

12,000

1997 6 100 *900 Kg/mo./restaurant **1,000 kg/mo./restaurant

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Mr. Czarnecki reported that much of the Polish-produced beef was too lean to meet their specifications of 19-21 percent fat in the ground beef patties. Therefore, beef flanks and briskets were imported from Germany to provide sufficient fat to meet the 19-21 percent specification. At that time, McDonald's used 80-85 percent Polishproduced beef, but would “have loved to use 100 percent for their expanding markets.” He further stated that beef quality was adversely affected by the stress placed on animals from poor handling and especially slaughtering techniques. The Polish slaughterhouse environment is “a real drama!” he said and McDonald's was trying to teach less stressful handling and killing procedures, but slaughterhouse personnel “didn't care because there was too much demand for beef.” He also reported that “McDonald's didn't buy young or old animals, only those three to four years old” (old by U.S. production standards). An interesting side item he shared was that Polish stores were doing three times better than U.S. stores. Poland's McDonald's are larger in size and average 3,000 transactions per day versus 1,000 in the U.S. Finally, he reported that the L & O Company in Ostroda, Poland, supplied the ground beef patties for McDonald's. After this very informative and enjoyable forty-fiveminute meeting, I thanked Mr. Czarnecki profusely and departed in good spirits for having accomplished this much on a U.S. holiday. The following week Justyna made arrangements for me to travel to Ostroda to visit the L & O Company. I wanted permission from Director Kobylinski to allow Jeremy and Boguslaw, two of the Livestock Specialists, to make the trip with me. On Thursday, I'd made many attempts to get to the Director to seek his permission without success. He was always too busy to meet with me. On Friday, I went to Warsaw as previously planned and so was unable to see him. When I arrived at the office Monday morning, my first priority was to get to the Director with my request. His secretary indicated he never came in that early and would not be in until about ten o'clock. Shortly, Boguslaw came into my office with a sad face and informed us that on Friday he and Jeremy had asked the Director for permission to make this trip and had been refused. I was not only very disappointed, but also angry. I gathered that the Director told them that they had two conferences to prepare for and besides this trip would cost money; therefore, permission not granted. I spent considerable effort plotting strategy about what do to do next. I considered asking each of the two Vice Directors, but knew they would never overrule the Director. Besides, they weren't available either. Two more calls to the Director's office ascertained that he could not see me before noon. At that point, I wouldn't have given a “plugged nickel” for the chance of his being available at noon.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! One of my efforts in planning strategy was to call the Warsaw office and explain my predicament to Pete Shumway, who had said on Friday he would like to attend this meeting in Ostroda. I told Pete that apparently the Director was hung up on the overnight costs for the two specialists. “Could I get special dispensation from the Project to cover their overnight rooms?” I asked. After more explanation and background, he reluctantly said, “Yes.” Finally, after weighing all the alternatives, none of which was optimistic, I decided to go to Stargard and mail the three tapes of dictation I had wrapped for shipment to my NC State University office. Justyna and I could make this trip and still be back by noon, in the rare case the Director might possibly be available. So we gathered our things and went out the door. There, right before our very eyes, coming down the parking lot driveway was none other than the Director, himself! My brain jumped into “Fast Forward” and I thought, “Now is the time! It's now or never!” I stopped Mr. Director in his tracks and proceeded to explain my request without indicating to him I had already heard from the specialists that his answer was “No.” With Shumway's approval to cover overnight costs, I had that little caveat in my pocket to offer the Director in case of difficulty. Director Kobylinski heard me out without interruption. When I was finished, he said, “No problem! Yes, of course, they can go and we will cover their costs.” I was flabbergasted and elated. As Justyna translated these remarks, she didn't dare look at me directly, she said later, for fear of bursting out laughing. I asked her to re-confirm with the Director that he would go immediately and tell the specialists they were permitted to go. This he said he would do. We went on our way to Stargard, “flying on cloud nine.” When we returned from Stargard at one o'clock, the two specialists already had cash in their pockets to cover the trip expenses. We departed the ODR at a quarter to four with Boguslaw driving. I knew he would want to drive the entire distance and this was fine with me. I climbed into the back seat, hooked the seat belt, and away we went. Boguslaw had said he knew the Ostroda area. Having served in the army up there he had driven back and forth by car many times. He said he could make the 360 km in six hours, which I doubted. I thought it would take at least eight. I had brought along a briefcase full of papers to read. I busied myself most of the time in the back seat reading between naps. About half way into the trip, while I was reading, I heard mumbling in the front seat and realized we had pulled to a stop on the side of a bridge overpass. Boguslaw got out of the car and then I saw the reason why. Behind us was the famous Polish Police car with two policemen who had waved us down. It was necessary for me to get out of the car to get the “documents,” which I kept with the spare tire underneath the deck of the trunk for safekeeping. I have had my share

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Tomorrow Finally Came! of encounters with U.S. policemen, but never in my life did I experience such mirth and joking as went on between my two passengers and the two policemen. They laughed and carried on and you would have thought they were long, lost friends. After looking at the “documents,” the policemen wrote out a receipt for 10 zlotys and Boguslaw paid the fine in cash. We went on our way with much more laughing and joking between Boguslaw and Jeremy about this encounter. Further on, we suddenly stopped in a village near a vacant lot. Jeremy announced, “water closet time.” I knew what that meant, rest room stop, but I sure didn't see any rest room in the vicinity and, of course, there wasn't. We went into the vacant lot, found some bushes, and answered “the call of nature.” That's the Polish way. We arrived safely at the hotel that evening at a quarter to ten, almost exactly six hours after departing and right on the schedule that Boguslaw had predicted. During the trip I probably didn't understand a dozen of the twenty million words the two men exchanged. I sure enjoyed listening to them laugh and have fun with each other. Jeremy, very rotund and short-statured, probably weighed close to 300 lb. Boguslaw was taller, much more athletic, and “quite handsome,” according to Justyna. They sure did get along well on the trip. The next morning the three of us prepared for a meeting at eight o'clock with executives at the L & O Meat Processing Company. By the time we finished breakfast and checked out of the hotel, we were already twenty minutes late. The transaction costs of getting checked out were amazing. Pete Shumway, the Project Leader from the Warsaw office, who had come up to join us in the meeting, stood for ten minutes while the clerk processed one person ahead of him in the check-out line. Everything was done by hand, and so the clerk calculated VAT taxes on each item, whether it was a pack of peanuts from the room service refrigerator, TV rental, or whatever. Of course, on the way to the processing plant we got lost twice and were held up by a train at a railroad crossing. Once we arrived, it took another ten minutes to convince the plant guards that we were legitimate visitors and had an appointment with Mr. Szustek. He finally arrived and took us to the office of Mr. Antoni Strzyszewski, Sales Director. For the next hour, we had a very informative discussion with Mr. Strzyszewski and Mr. Szustek. One of the amazing bits of information they shared was that the processing plant was running at only 15 percent of capacity for beef and 50 percent of capacity for hog slaughter. They could handle 500 head of beef and 1,500 hogs per eighthour day in their plant. Their equipment for making ground beef patties for McDonald's produced 500 kg. of patties per hour.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! The L&O Co. bought live cattle within a radius of 80 to 100 km (50-60 miles) from Ostroda. That province had much more pasture grass than did Szczecin (125,780 ha vs. 37,400), but they were about equal in hay production (84,600 ha vs. 85,900). Both Mr. Strzyszewski and Mr. Szustek believed the number of beef cattle produced in the area would increase. L&O Co. might also increase their distance to purchase live animals up to 120 km. In addition, the private individuals and companies now using the former state farms were interested in beef cattle production. Also the L&O Co. was cooperating closely with the Olsztyn Cattle Breeding Center. Recently several other processing plants and the Olsztyn Agricultural Academy had joined this partnership. Added to this combination of education and technical interests in expanding beef production were discussions occurring with Land O' Lakes and other U.S. feed companies about producing the necessary fattening feeds for beef animals. There were no large feedlots in the area. Only small producers with ten to fifty animals were supplying L&O Co. About 15 percent of their total beef slaughter came from dairy steers (not bulls) and heifers. Another 20 percent of the total were beef and dairy crosses. The remaining 65 percent came from full beef breeds, including Limousine, Charolaise, and Angus (red preferred). Mr. Strzyszewski said they could sell at least three times more beef products if live animals were available. The distance from Szczecin province, 350-400 km (200-250 miles), was too great to haul live animals to the Ostroda plant. However, he did say the company would be interested in buying beef produced and partially processed (into four quarters) in the Szczecin province. This represented an opportunity for the Barzkowice ODR livestock specialists to develop beef production and feeding programs for their farmers. At a quarter to ten Mr. Strzyszewski had appointments with a group of visitors from France, so he excused himself. Mr. Szustek took us on a tour of the processing plant. Unfortunately, the beef processing line was already shut down at half past ten because they had run out of beef animals to slaughter and process. We had a relatively short tour of about thirty minutes because the lines were not operating and they showed us only what they wanted us to see. About eleven o'clock we headed back toward Barzkowice. The next day I wrote a lengthy report outlining the opportunities for increased beef production in the Szczecin province. I sent it to Dr. Kobylinski, and provided copies to the two Vice Directors, all three livestock specialists, and the PAEP office in Warsaw, I recommended selecting a few interested producers and then working with them very closely to ensure they did everything correctly to produce the type of meat required by the market. In addition, I recommended the livestock and marketing specialists work with

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Tomorrow Finally Came! producers to form marketing associations. That way, many small producers could agree to pool their own animals ready for market. Thus, twenty producers, each with five animals ready for market, could ship one hundred head to a processor at one time and bargain for a higher price based on the higher volume of cattle. I explained the processor should be able to pay this higher price because of the efficiency involved with handling larger groups of finished cattle. With information obtained through my meetings with McDonald's and their beef supplier, L&O Co., it was clear I'd uncovered a critical shortage of Poland-produced beef to meet current and projected demands. There was an added incentive for local interest in the Szczecin province since McDonald's had announced they would build two more new restaurants in the city of Szczecin in 1996, where now only one, Mr. Kurka's, existed. I was invited to speak at two conferences and prepared papers distributed via published proceedings, using the McDonald's projections as examples of opportunities for producers, processors, ODR educators, and consumers. The first paper, “Beef Production Potential for the Szczecin Area,” was presented in October at the Conference on Organization and Economics of Cattle Breeding in the Conditions of Sustainable Development. In late November at the Conference on Impact of Environmental Factors on Amount and Quality of Milk and Beef Cattle With Special Consideration of Feeding, my paper was titled, “Will Eastern Pomerania Become a Major Factor in Poland's Beef Production?” In the second paper, I emphasized another aspect of changing animal agriculture that could offer additional opportunities. The dairy industry in Poland, like that in the U.S., was experiencing dramatic change and restructuring. Farmers who formerly produced milk from dairy cows, but no longer did so, often had a continuing interest or need to seek an alternative income producing enterprise. Thus, the restructuring occurring in Poland's dairy industry might provide additional opportunities to increase beef production. Dairy farmers often make good beef producers. I pointed out that in contrast to those people with experience raising non-ruminants (pigs, poultry), dairy persons understand the unique challenges and opportunities of working with beef cattle which likewise are ruminants. These include all the management aspects of feeding, breeding, calving, milk production, and raising baby calves. Many former U.S. dairy farmers now raise beef on land and in facilities once used for dairying. I suggested the same might occur in Poland. Will Western Pomerania become a major factor in Poland's beef production? Only time will tell, but I believe the answer is “Yes!” The night before I departed Poland, Director Kobylinski took me aside at the farewell banquet in Warsaw to say that “interest in beef production was catching on fire in Szczecin province as a result of my activities.”

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I thanked him for his gracious compliment and concluded the interest had been ignited by “The McDonald's Connection.” If, in fact, interest in beef production in Poland was “catching on fire” as a result of The McDonald's Connection, additional fuel could have been added with an article in the January 18, 1996, issue of The Wall Street Journal. In a bold effort to develop new markets abroad, McDonald's announced it would sharply accelerate its global growth rate. The number of new McDonald's in 1996 alone could approach 3,200 or nine per day. This was more than double what seemed to be aggressive world-wide expansion targets announced just last fall, about the time Mr. Dariusz Czarnecki was telling me that Poland would have 100 McDonald's by the end of 1997. The next few years could be interesting times for Poland's beef industry, if it taps into The McDonald's Connection.

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Chapter 10 Changing Polish Paradigms in Agriculture Agricultural extension in Poland dates back to the nineteenth century. Agricultural chambers were established about 1814 in western Poland as similar organizations were developing in Prussia and elsewhere in Europe. During this time, control of Poland was split by its powerful neighbors. Central and eastern Poland was controlled by Russia, western Poland was controlled by Austria. In these countries, agricultural chambers were recognized as superior in performance to other extension activities. When Poland regained international political status as an independent nation following World War I, chambers of agriculture emerged as the dominant extension design. They became the model for the formal introduction of agricultural extension service throughout the country. After World Wa r II began in 1939, agricultural chambers ceased to function. With the German occupation, government agricultural activity centered largely around enforced Nazi acquisition of Polish farm output using quotas. Some Polish chambers of agriculture were briefly reactivated after the war. However, the concept of selfgovernment was not compatible with the ideological structure of the communist government. Efforts to challenge Polish agriculture failed due to continuous resistance from farmers. In 1956, the communist government abandoned its collectivization efforts. Communist Polish agricultural extension was a highly centralized component of the state agricultural system, consistent with the central planning model. Service needs were dictated from the top down and intended for general adoption by individual farmers. In 1975, the functions of providing extension service to individual farmers and managing the state farms were combined. During the 1980s agricultural subsidies, both farm prices and farm income, rose relative to non-farm income. Thus, the relative security of being a farmer achieved a historical high during the period immediately preceding the fall of the communist government. Immediately after the change of government in 1989, there was a transition period during which there was early social consensus that farmers needed to have more direct influence on the agricultural extension system. Reintroduction of self-governed chambers of agriculture was briefly considered as a means of dealing with the diverse problems facing Polish agriculture, but was rejected in favor of a public extension system financed through the national budget.

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Since 1990, Poland's agricultural Advisory Centers (ODRs) had been aggressively changing themselves to better serve the needs of farmers operating in a market economy. The accomplishments were a classic case study of how an agency of government can transform itself so thoroughly in such a short time. Most of the decisions on how the Agricultural Advisory Centers would be restructured were made in 1990. During the first six months of 1991 the following major changes occurred: • most of the money for operating the ODRs was moved from the Ministry of Agriculture in Warsaw to the provincial governors' offices. • the 49 ODR Directors were dismissed en masse and new ones hired using a competitive selection process, based on individual qualifications and merit. • the ODRs were forced to divorce themselves from the large state farms which had been an integral part of the ODRs and a serious conflict of interest. • Advisory (Social) Councils were formed in most provinces and at the national level to influence program control and delivery. Dr. John Ragland, USDA's Senior Extension Advisor for the Project said, “All of these changes were necessary and taken together, constitute a model for any agency wishing to transform itself from serving the state monopoly to serving the public. I consider it a model for reducing the transition cost of restructuring any agency left over from a centrally-planned government in any country.” The most frequent comment of our Polish counterparts was that the American Advisors changed their “mentality”—meaning the Poles had changed from seeing mostly problems to focusing on the opportunities. During my six months, June 13 - December 8, 1995, I had complete freedom to work with the three livestock specialists at ODR Barzkowice, Agnieszka Boltryk, Boguslaw Kuleta, and Dr. Jaromir Palusinski. Together we focused on developing and improving the expanding beef and swine industries, and to a lesser extent, a fledgling but increasing interest in goats and lambs. Cooperative Extension in the United States is famous for developing Plans of Work (POW). As a professional extension worker in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and North Carolina for over twelve years, with an additional six years in New York serving as a volunteer on a county extension board of directors (two years as president), I was not surprised to learn that the POW model had been used in Poland for this Project. Thus, in concert with the three livestock specialists, I prepared a POW to guide my efforts during the duration of my assignment and opportunity in Poland. This Plan, the results, and their impacts are reviewed later.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! The forms of ODR advisory service are differentiated, depending on the needs and capability of the customers. In Poland the following four forms are used: Individual advising—advice is given directly on the farm, in the office, or over the telephone. In the Polish Extension System this form also includes the preparation of business plans for farmers and other businesses in the farm and food sectors. Group advising—advice is given to groups of farmers engaged in the same kind of production or enterprise. This is the traditional educational meeting format used widely in the United States Extension Service. Community advising—this method meets specific needs of farmers in a given region, for example, in connection with restructuring state-owned farms, re-training people who have worked in the farming sector thus far, making use of local resources, etc. Mass advising—just as in the United States, the mass media of radio, television, the print press, and other publications are utilized as communication channels for various educational programs and information. Other similarities existed between the U.S. and Polish Extension, even though the U.S. extension intervention in Poland was intentionally unstructured and no formal extension model, as such, was transferred or imposed. As in the United States, Polish Extension administrators were concerned about adequate funding for their people and programs. ODR directors and other administrators often took advantage of any opportunity to express their concerns that their Extension Advisors could not meet the requirements connected with the imperative structural changes needed in agriculture and its modernization without additional financial support. None of the resources necessary for agriculture, except the land itself, is as important as education. Agricultural education and the research and extension that support it are at the heart of a modern food economy. Unfortunately, no resource available to Polish agriculture is as troubled as its educational research and training institutions. In spite of the long tradition of excellence in education and the abundance of talented professionals in all fields, the system is under pressure. This is a reflection of the limited financial support available in an economy that is just establishing effective channels for the collection and distribution of public revenues. Polish agriculture and the Polish economy as a whole are passing through a difficult transition from a centrally planned to a market-driven economy. The challenges of the transition call for powerful intellectual resources, which can only be provided by an effective system of agricultural education. The present system of agricultural education (including university education) was developed to meet the needs of a very

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Tomorrow Finally Came! different economic regime and served different objectives. Fundamental educational reforms must be undertaken to meet the new needs and challenges of the market-driven food economy. Higher education in agriculture in Poland is the work of nine agricultural universities, which include two universities of agriculture and technology and one university of agriculture and pedagogy. These universities have fifty-seven departments. Thirty-six of these departments are in category A, seventeen are category B, and four are category C (according to the Committee of Scientific Research standards of classification). Polish higher agricultural education has a long history. The first schools were established in 1816, and agriculture quickly became an essential element of higher education in Poland. Higher agricultural education in Poland was developed and has grown. However, efforts to reform the universities to meet new demands have been up to now fragmentary and ineffective. Polish agricultural universities still operate under policies and procedures established when educational resources were allocated according to the principles of central planning. The model of highly centralized education created over the past fifty years is still in place. The universities, in spite of a growing awareness of the need for change, are not strong enough to initiate reforms that will abolish antiquated structures, reorganize the institution, and change the habits of employees. The difficult financial position of the universities only adds to the discouraging list of disincentives facing advocates of reform. The agricultural universities operate on the basis of the old educational model which was noted for: single-minded pursuit of production with little consideration given to economic efficiency; limited student initiative or independent study; ineffective organization and methodology; inflexible curricula; and infrequent student-professor contact. Moreover, the number of students pursuing a specialization is decided artificially, not by the demand of the market for professional skills created by the developing economy or by social needs and potential. Unfortunately, the organization of agricultural universities and their curricula have tended to create deep divisions between departments. This constrains or even prevents on-going adjustments to meet the needs of the economy and society. These barriers also inhibit interdisciplinary scientific research which is badly needed for the further development of universities and the agricultural economy. In the last few years, the financial position of the universities has deteriorated. The chronic shortage of funds for educators' salaries, books, and scientific equipment has eroded the human and material resources necessary to support modern education and

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Tomorrow Finally Came! research. Agricultural education (like all other higher education in Poland) is in the midst of a serious crisis and requires fundamental reform. The Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture (FDPA) has played an important role in the development of agriculture and the rural economy since its founding in 1988 as a politically independent Polish organization. FDPA was the result of early efforts led by David Rockefeller to assist Polish farmers after the imposition of marital law in 1981. A subsequent assessment of Polish agriculture by Nobel Laureate, Norman Borlaug, encouraged its founders to establish an independent private voluntary organization that could begin to address difficult problems facing Poland's rural communities. Although it was founded largely by donors based in the United States, FDPA is a Polish institution established under Polish law. It is governed by a board of directors drawn from Poland, other European countries, and North America. Its funding is based on grants from private donors located in the United States and Europe and from the European Commission. FDPA and the Consortium of Agricultural Research Organizations in Scotland (CAROS) won a grant for the study of commercialization and restructuring of agricultural research institutes in Poland. A summary of results of this study was published in the FDPA Newsletter Spring 1995. The two institutes chosen by the Ministry of Agriculture for the case study were: the Institute of Pomology and Floriculture in Skierniewice (ISK) and the Institute of Cultivation, Fertilization, and Soil Science in Pulawy (IUNG). FDPA and CAROS reviewed ongoing research programs, internal organization and policy, human and financial resources, and extra-mural relationships of the research institutes, experimental stations, and institutes' clients. Both institutes were given high rank for their research. Although institutes deeply restructured their programs and structures in 1992, concrete changes in organization structure of IUNG were suggested. The FDPA/CAROS team concentrated its efforts on evaluating potential to commercialize those institutes. Commercial activities of both institutes had already reached a level comparable to that of western institutes. To increase the commercial role of institutes in assisting the agricultural sector during the transition period, it was recommended that each institute establish a board representing farmers' organizations, consumers, processing industries, and other important representatives of the sector. Creation of professional marketing units and increasing the responsibility of senior officers for marketing their research should further enhance commercial activities of both institutes. Partial commercialization of the extension activities was also suggested. A major obstacle in development of both institutes was the declining number

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Tomorrow Finally Came! of young scientists caused by low wages. An increase of income could be achieved by establishment of joint consulting companies by institutes and agricultural universities. The team firmly believed that a significant part of the problems which agricultural institutes were facing will require restructuring of the entire system of agricultural research in Poland. Effectiveness of ongoing research was cited as one of the most important steps in adjustment to the radical changes in Polish agriculture. Polish universities and research institutes remember only too well the European model of laboratories that contribute to society by the sheer force of “break through” discoveries. Long term, an advisory system (extension service) cannot succeed unless there is a constant flow of unbiased, research-based technology and scholarly information flowing into it. The ODR system is badly served in this area because the universities and research institutes continue to operate as if they had sufficient funding to succeed following this old model. But they don't. However, they do appear to have adequate funding to help Poland become internationally competitive. A redefinition of goals is needed so that these institutions see their primary role as serving farmers, agribusiness, rural communities, and consumers. Polish agriculture and its extension educational program (ODR) face enormous challenges. The U.S. Extension model, which helped make American agriculture the envy of the rest of the world, is quite different from the Polish ODR model. The American model is not the only one in the world, nor necessarily the best, but it has certainly worked in an enviable way during its long existence. At the present time, the nine Polish Agricultural Universities do not include anything like an extension component. Consequently, their work is viewed as overly academic with inadequate practical application. Similarly, the ODRs, lacking a strong linkage with universities, suffer from not having a strong research-based knowledge component to buttress their information transfer programs. With some exceptions, our individual assignments and efforts were confined primarily to only one of the forty-nine provinces in Poland, so probably no single American Advisor obtained a true picture of Polish agriculture during their stay. In Szczecin, I did not see agriculture dominated by strong mid-sized family farms. In fact, Szczecin was reported to have the largest number of former state-owned farms (94) with an average size of 3,134 hectares (7,835 acres). On the other hand, there were over 10,000 farms in the province between 0.5 and 1.99 hectares (1.25-5.0 acres). These accounted for about 41 percent of the total number of farms. However, I did personally visit several well-managed, mid-sized family operations, some having one or two sons with families in the enterprise. Corporate farms (both cooperatives and investor-owned) looked good and seemed to have a solid future. Private farms leased and owned under good management have lots of potential. The

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Tomorrow Finally Came! corporate and large scale farms will survive because they have strong internal accounting and analyses. They will get their expert advice from either industry or extension, whichever can provide the most creditable and useful information in the most convenient manner. There appears to be a strong incentive for industry representatives to serve large, individual accounts, whereas this does not appear to be as true for small and mid-sized farms. This situation is not unlike that in the U.S. The main thrust of the extension service should be where the need is greatest, among the small and mid-sized businesses. Because of very large numbers, minimal bargaining power, and little purchasing power, these private businesses need the services of the ODR and cooperatives. The health of the rural economy and small towns depends on keeping small and mid-sized farms economically viable. That doesn't mean they have to be self-sufficient; many are too small to provide enough income to satisfy total family needs, but they can provide the home, food, and part of the family's needs. As in many of the western countries, work off the farm will be needed to supplement farm income for a good standard of living. Part-time farmers provide a solid core of stable employees to rural-based industries and thus make strong contributions to the local economy. The level of rural unemployment in Poland is a well-documented crisis. It is difficult for Americans to comprehend the enormity of this problem. In my early youth, I remember my Dad describing incredible hardships he and his family experienced during the U.S. Great Depression and the levels of unemployment and economic hardship. I concluded that the situation in Poland during my six months stay was not unlike our Great Depression of the early 1930s, at least in many Polish localities. The rural sector in Poland serves as a social safety net for a significant portion of the population by providing housing, food, and, perhaps, some income for roughly 40 percent of the population or about fifteen million people. Only 20 percent of the active farming population derive their income exclusively from farming. Farmers and members of farm families who have off-farm jobs are often among the first laid off when factory jobs are cut because they are perceived as having an alternative means of surviving. Survival is the driving force behind farm management decisions contributing to the propensity to minimize risk rather than maximize profit. I heard several farmers state they were better off under the communist government. I also visited some farmers who understood the basic premise of free enterprise with non-regulated and fluctuating prices and profits. Most Poles have always had a little business on the side—most likely that's partly why they were taking to the initiatives of basic capitalism like fish to water. However, many Polish farmers believed the government should provide essentially a risk-free decision environment. They apparently were not ready to accept the fact that prices in a market-driven economy are the result of supply and demand and that occasionally prices may actually be below the cost of production. One of the common

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Tomorrow Finally Came! myths I encountered regarding United States agriculture was the mistaken perception that all U.S. farms are huge, all U.S. farmers are rich, and that all producers are guaranteed a good income through government support programs. Given the historical background of Polish agriculture, its agricultural universities and research institutes, the timing of an article I had published in the October 1995 issue of the Journal of Animal Science was absolutely propitious. The full-length article, “Changing Paradigms in Animal Agriculture: The Role of Academia and Industry in Technology Transfer,” was translated and reproduced for distribution in the Szczecin province, sent to all five teams of PAEP advisors in addition to the Warsaw office staff, and was also reproduced and distributed to the total ODR staff in Wloclawek by American advisor, Elizabeth Claypoole. It was shortened and revised for current Polish conditions and published in the December 1995 ODR Magazine, which went to 3,500 subscribers. In addition, I gave an invited seminar to faculty and graduate students at the Szczecin Agricultural University and made a verbal presentation to the ODR Barzkowice extension staff. The article as written and published in the December 1995 issue of the ODR Barzkowice monthly magazine follows:

My previous articles in the September, October, and November issues have dealt with animals (beef and swine) and food animal products. This time, in my last article before leaving Poland as an Advisor, I'd like to discuss you and me—and our paradigms—or how we think. Paradigm used to be an uncommon word. Now it is often used by many people with multiple meanings. Among many definitions, a paradigm is “a set of rules and regulations that establish boundaries, the way we see the world, a framework of thought, a scheme for understanding and explaining certain aspects of reality.” Described in more general terms, paradigms filter incoming experience. We are viewing the world through our paradigms all the time. We constantly select from the world those data that best fit our rules and regulations and try to ignore all the rest. As a result, what may be perfectly obvious to a person with one paradigm may be totally imperceptible to someone with a different paradigm. It is our rules and regulations that keep us from successfully anticipating the future, because we try to discover the future by looking for it through

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Tomorrow Finally Came! our old paradigms. For example twenty-five years ago we looked to the future and concluded: four children make an ideal family; Japanese products will always be “junk”; the Berlin Wall will last forever; and everybody will eat meat and drink milk. And what happened? We were wrong! Our paradigms had the power to keep us from seeing what was really happening. Points About Paradigms 1. Paradigms are common. We have them in almost all aspects of our lives. 2. Paradigms are useful. They show us what's important and what's not. They focus our attention. 3. Sometimes our paradigm can become the paradigm—the only way to do something. When confronted with an alternative idea, we reject it out-of-hand. That can lead to a nasty disorder called “Paradigm Paralysis.” This is a terminal disease of certainty. It's easy to get and more than a few institutions have been destroyed by it. 4. The people who create new paradigms are usually “outsiders.” They are not part of the established paradigm community. They can be young or old; age seems to be irrelevant. But what is clear, they are not invested in the old paradigm, so they have nothing to lose by creating the new. Consider the “outsiders” that have changed our paradigms about animal agriculture: animal rightists, animal welfarists, environmentalists, consumers, legislators, regulators, to name a few. If we want to find the new paradigms that are developing in our field, we must look beyond the center to the fringes. Almost always, the new rules are written at the edge. The most important point regarding paradigms is that we can choose to change our rules and regulations. Human beings are not genetically coded to just one way of looking at the world. We can choose to shrug off one paradigm and adopt a new paradigm. We can choose to see the world and its challenges anew. What Can We Do? As educators and specialists, we must acknowledge that consumers are the ultimate customers for the products of agricultural research and technology transfer programs. We must improve communications with a significant array of publics that influence our agenda and drive decisions

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Tomorrow Finally Came! that affect financial and political support for ODR programs. Such publics include elected and appointed government officials, the media, special interest groups, university faculty and administrators, industry managers, and local, state, and national agencies. Educational activities offer one way to work for this public acceptance. But education alone is not enough. People act not on what they know, but on what they believe. The challenge is to help people change their beliefs. We must improve the marketing of our ODR accomplishments. We need to do a better job of telling the providers of our funds about the return they get on their investment in ODR people and programs. The solutions to these and other challenges facing Poland as it goes through intense change and restructuring will not depend on a single institution, agency, or program. Perhaps the most challenging issue is simply how to unite groups and individuals who have been accustomed to having their own separate programs. In the future, “business as usual” won't work. Old paradigms will not be appropriate or effective. ODR personnel and programs are being held to new standards of accountability by their various clientele (customers).

What To Do? 1. Identify strengths and weaknesses. No institution can be all things to all people. Build on strengths. Eliminate weaknesses. 2. Develop new partnerships with other institutions, industry, or government. 3. Determine how telecommunications will be involved in transferring knowledge and training. 4. Implement explicit programs for faculty and industry staff development. More mixing and sharing of positions and sabbatical leaves are needed between academia and private industry. 5. Encourage and reward staff members to work in and with interdisciplinary teams. Rewards need to be tangible in the form of salary adjustments and be visible in the promotion process.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Implications As we rapidly approach the 21st century, Poland's agricultural industry will continue to go through enormous stress and transition. It will be important not only to seek out and develop new technology, but also to apply current technology. Our paradigms are changing and must continue to do so. The need to increase Poland's agricultural competitiveness in a global environment will demand that the lag time between discovery and adoption of appropriate technology be shortened.

When Justyna had completed final translation of the full-length journal article, I gave a copy to Dr. Jaromir Palusinski, Coordinator of the three ODR livestock specialists. Within a few days he came in my office with the article in his hand and said, “This is revolutionary!” That response was an indication that his paradigm was changing—he was switching from seeing mostly problems to focusing on the opportunities. Only time will tell the degree to which Polish paradigms in agriculture will change. But if Poland's agriculture expects to be a major player in the new global economy, many paradigms must be changed. Indeed, many paradigms among Polish farmers and professional agricultural leaders were changing and continue to do so. During July, while making farm calls with Agnieszka Boltryk and translator Justyna, I talked with two pig producers who had already started using lean meat type boars to improve carcass leanness. They also understood the market economy and free enterprise system. One swine producer, Mr. Iwanoczko, had seven to fifteen sows and 100 acres of grain. He thoroughly understood the free market economy. He had reduced his number of sows from ten to seven when the market price dropped and planned to increase to fifteen sows when prices improved. He had bought a new car the previous year with profits from his farm and three months before our visit, bought a new 80-horse power tractor based on projected profits in his farm business plan. His family had a lovely home and farmstead. Even the driveways, walks, and barns were swept daily—not just because we were coming, but “every day,” he said. Another swine producer had a very successful operation with two married sons. They, likewise, had already begun to introduce lean-meat type boars into their sow herd to produce leaner carcasses. They were working with the Swine Testing Program at the Agricultural Academy in Szczecin. Among other data, back fat thickness was being measured and recorded. All three understood the challenges in the free market system and were optimistic about the future for their operation. They were in the process remodeling

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Tomorrow Finally Came! the second half of their barn after having completed the first half the previous year. They were involved in raising both breeding and market hogs. A very major paradigm shift for the Polish pork industry involved a new law affecting carcass payments. According to Dr. Jaromir Palusinski, effective January 1, 1996, all Polish meat processing plants killing eighty or more hogs per day were going to be required by law to pay producers based on carcass composition. Thus, the two Polish pork producers with whom I had visited were going to be in the first wave of producers to realize economic advantage in the marketplace for their early decision to start using leanmeat type boars in their sow herds. Pig production and management skills that I observed seemed to vary from the very best to marginal—just like in the U.S. Polish swine producers had the same questions and concerns as U.S. producers—low prices, cost of production, competition for markets from other countries, availability of loans and interest rates, consumer concerns about fat, and payment (or lack of it) for carcass quality and leanness. I shared with the Polish producers the fact that farmers in the U.S. have responded rapidly in the past few years to a new pricing system based on carcass composition. I told them U.S. consumers are demanding pork with less fat and so processing plants are paying a premium for leanness and charging producers a discount for hogs that are too fat. Poland's beef cattle industry was going through a whole new chapter in the process of restructuring. The emphasis on beef cattle breeding and production was launched at a time of a severe collapse in cattle production in Poland. The total number of cattle had dropped from about eleven million head in 1989 to less than seven million in 1995—an amazing drop of nearly 40 percent. For whatever reasons, I learned that Poles had a negative attitude toward dairy beef and cross-bred animals known to have dairy blood in their background. Thus, the new emphasis on increasing beef production in Poland was directed toward building separate specialized herds of dairy and beef cattle, as well as the production of beef cattle cross-breeds. A national program was developed to transfer expertise and skills in breeding and producing beef cattle to breeders, farmer advisory services, and representatives of allied business organizations. This program had a short time frame—about six months. It included classification of carcasses, production of beef meat and marketing in integrated terms “from the field to the table.” Interest in beef production ignited. I became personally involved and made two presentation at two conferences and conducted a twoday training program in beef production and marketing. Details are described later.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I concluded that Polish paradigms in agriculture, especially animal agriculture, were changing and for the better. It was an incredible privilege to witness so many changing paradigms. I hope to return in two or three years to witness the continuing changes I had been privileged to see and maybe even stimulate.

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Chapter 11 Did We Do Any Good? What was the impact of our six-month stay? Did we do any good? One cannot measure in six months the outcome of this experience. Our hosts were polite and gracious, almost to a fault. They were loathe to be confrontational in any way and rarely responded negatively to suggestions. If our associates didn't agree, they usually just ignored the suggestions. Thus, it was unrealistic to expect an in-depth evaluation of our efforts from our host institutions. Ever so slowly opportunities arose to seed ideas, ask questions where questions had not been asked and to inject some optimism. For a Pole to lose his/her pessimism is to lose his/her honor. We stressed possibilities. Each American Advisor was required to prepare a Final Report of his/her accomplishments with emphasis on the impact of their efforts. Guidelines and supervision were minimal, so each Advisor had free rein on organization and content. The Final Report represented the major accomplishments, results, and impact of our efforts in working with WODR Barzkowice from June 17 to December 1, 1995. A Plan of Work (POW) was developed for the livestock portion of the Polish American Extension Program involving the WODR Barzkowice (Szczecin) Center. This POW was based on the translated Polish “Plan of Cooperation with American Advisors in 1995” (PCAA) and discussions with Vice Director Malgorzata Krysiak and livestock specialists Dr. Jaromir Palusinski, Agnieszka Boltryk, and Boguslaw Kuleta. This POW was a cooperative effort between the PAEP specialist (Darwin G. Braund) and the WODR Barzkowice administration and staff. It was also based on needs assessment as determined by discussions with those named above, plus conversations with regional specialists, farmers, livestock producers, and agribusiness personnel. We developed four major objectives with nine specific strategies.

Objectives 1. Assist ODR Barzkowice specialists in providing leadership so the Szczecin voivodship (province) can take advantage of its significant natural resources to produce high quality beef. 2. Help ODR specialists understand and communicate to producers the impact of McDonald's on beef consumption in Poland and the market opportunities created.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! 3. Involve ODR specialists in working with appropriate meat industry personnel to demonstrate how to prepare tasty, healthy meals around beef, pork, lamb, and turkey meats. 4. Train ODR Specialists in methods and techniques of planning, organizing, conducting, and making presentations for educational meetings that meet the needs and desires of varied clientele.

Specific Strategies 1. Conduct training meetings for specialists on production of beef, pork, and small ruminants (lambs and goats). Results Seven of the ten regional offices were visited: Stargard, Pyrzyce, Lobez, Chojna, Gryfice, Kamien Pomorski, and Gryfino. On-farm consultations were most interesting. Farmers ranged from pessimistic and discouraged to optimistic and enlightened about the free market economy. I was amazed at the depth of some questions ranging from whether Poland should join the European Union [EU] to the perception that all U. S. farms are huge and all farmers rich. We visited the only goat herd of any size (thirty goats and kids) in the province and discussed the possibilities of developing a specialized market with the concept of “value-added” to goat milk by marketing it via the owner's cheese cake artistry. We visited AGROFIRMA, a cooperative integrated meat producer and processor at Witkowo and met with Vice President, Franciszek Surmacz. Because of the size and complexity of the cooperative's enterprises, it was necessary to return for a second visit when we met with President Franciszek Brudlo and toured the meat processing facilities. They processed 40 metric tons of products per day which included 13 tons of sausage. Each day they processed 20,000 broilers, 130 hogs, 10 beef, and 10 lambs. I was surprised (and pleased) to learn the lamb meat went to ethnic groups in the city of Szczecin, since I had been trying to determine if there was any ethnic market for lamb in Poland (Poles do not eat lamb). AGROFIRMA produced 60 percent of the hogs they slaughtered, 80 percent of their beef, and 100 percent of their poultry needs. With their Marketing Director, Agnieszka Postrzech, we had a very productive discussion on their quality standards, marketing programs, and new product development. After talking about the need to train others (consumers, educators) in proper meat preparation, she and the President agreed

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Tomorrow Finally Came! that AGROFIRMA would put on a training program for the entire ODR staff. I was delighted and considered it a real coup in my attempt to help my Polish associates learn about the taste of good beef and lamb and develop potential consumer markets. Substantial activity also occurred in the swine area. I visited the largest meat processor in Szczecin, the AGRYF Co., and had very interesting discussions with Roman Dolata, Vice Director of Production and Krzysztof Bayer, Purchasing Specialist. They had started paying a premium based on carcass leanness and were very interested in a publication on that subject from North Carolina State University. Another animal food preparation demonstration and eating event was conducted with an even more non-traditional food animal in Poland—goat. This was held at the same goat farm I'd visited July 25 when we discussed the opportunity and concept of “value-added” for goat milk and meat products. The ODR Ecology Specialist had planned this “field day” and about twenty-five people participated. The host and hostess, Dr. Witold Pietrzyk and his wife, had prepared several delicious cheese cakes and baked cakes from goat milk, but the highlight was the carcass of a young goat being turned on a spit over a hot wood fire. Attendees watched with awe (and some misgivings) as the barbecued carcass was sliced for consumption. Nearly everyone ate some and many of us, a lot! It was my first experience eating goat and even Mrs. Braund, visiting for three weeks, consumed some and said, “It tastes like turkey.” In addition, I spoke on U.S. and North Carolina goat production and discussed marketing goat products with added value at a meeting on ecological farming. I also conducted two days of training on beef production and marketing for ODR Kalsk staff in the province of Zielona Gora using the text materials and overhead visuals I had developed on beef production, marketing, and the McDonald's impact on beef consumption. Impact • Incorporated the concept of and need for marketing farm products into all presentations on production of food animals. • Demonstrated cooperation and joint efforts with appropriate industry personnel. • Stimulated interest in food animals (and products) beyond the traditional pigs and pork—beef, goat, lamb, and turkey. • Provided excellent publication from NCSU (translated to Polish) on payment for pork based on carcass leanness for ODR bulletin, shared with AGRYF and AGROFIRMA meat processing personnel and communicated this information to 3,500

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Tomorrow Finally Came! subscribers of ODR monthly magazine. (Note: the timing was very propitious since January 1, 1996, by-law, all pig slaughtering plants killing over eighty pigs per day must start paying producers for carcass leanness. This was a huge step forward to improve the quality of Poland's pig meat).

2. Assist specialists in using their training to present above information to regional staff, farmers, and producers. Results One grain farmer (he previously had raised pigs) had big plans for a 200-head beef production enterprise, but did not have experience with ruminant animals. He did seem to have all the answers! When I asked what production costs and selling prices were used in his “business plan,” he responded with some disgust, “He was not an economist, but he knew it would work! He was going to use cheap feed such as sugar beet pulp and sugar beet leaves.” The ODR livestock specialist, Agnieszka Boltryk, challenged some of his assumptions. I was pleased how she stood her ground in a spirited discussion. This project will be a major challenge for the local and ODR Advisors. I was reminded of Dr. Czeslaw Nowak's comments at the Advisor Team Meeting in Balice. “It's very difficult to teach a person who has a high opinion of his own knowledge!” I discussed at length with the ODR Specialist the implications for ODR Barzkowice Extension Service of either the success or failure of this planned venture and suggested close follow-up with the District (Local) Advisor to provide all assistance possible. Interest in beef production seemed to have been ignited. A Beef Cattle Breeding Conference was conducted in October. A Beef and Dairy Cattle Conference was held November 20 and 21 at ODR Barzkowice for which the ODR received special funding. I was successful in convincing the Livestock Program Coordinator, who chaired the conference, to make it truly regional and invite participation from the Koszalin, Slupsk, Gorzow Wielkopolski, and Pila ODRs. All five provinces are cooperating in a Development Program for Breeding Beef Cattle which has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy as part of the Strategy for Poland. Substantial momentum was building and the conference could have been a launching pad for solid progress on a regional basis. Impact

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Tomorrow Finally Came! • Taught livestock specialists the critical importance of building educational programs around needs and interests of clients (farmers, etc.), NOT on what ODR thought farmers should receive. • Ignited interest in beef production. Two conferences were held with published proceedings. • Stimulated concept of regional participation in conferences. • Encouraged specialists to build program based on momentum that was developed. • Provided translated copy of NCSU paper on “Ventilation of Turkey Buildings” that will be useful to the expanding turkey production in the province. • Consulted with one person interested in turkey production . When I departed he had 6,000 six-week-old turkeys growing on contract.

3. Write articles on above subjects for each issue of ODR monthly magazine. Results I prepared the following five articles for the ODR monthly magazine and two papers published in conference proceedings: September - “Beef Production in the U.S.” October - “Swine Production in the U.S. and the World” November - “Paying for Pigs Based on Carcass Quality and Leanness” December - “Non-traditional Meat Meals Demonstrated” and “Changing Polish Paradigms in Animal Agriculture” October - “Beef Production Potential for Szczecin Area” in Proc. Conf. on Organization and Economics of the Cattle Breeding in the Conditions of Sustainable Development, pg. 79-81. November - “Will Western Pomerania Become a Major Factor in Poland's Beef Production?” in Proc. Conf. on Impact of Environmental Factors on Amount and Quality of Milk and Beef Cattle With Special Consideration of Feeding, pg. 135-139.

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Impact • Utilized the knowledge that “the pen is mightier than the sword” and “the written word is longer lasting than the spoken word” to leave substantial and widely circulated written information for follow-up reference and use: 3,500 copies of the ODR magazine were published each month; two papers were published in conference proceedings available for wide distribution.

4. Meet with McDonald's personnel (Szczecin McDonald's Licensee and corporate personnel in Warsaw) to determine McDonald's beef purchasing program, quality standards and expectations, and the potential for buying Poland-produced beef. Results (See Chapter 9, The McDonald's Connection) 5. Organize a professional demonstration by Witkowo AGROFIRMA for Barzkowice and other ODR staff and hotel kitchen personnel on how to prepare tasty, healthy meals using meats of various animals. Results Extensive previous efforts resulted in the Meat Preparation Demonstration October 19. It was conducted by expert chefs brought from Belgium by AGROFIRMA. All meats were donated by AGROFIRMA. The program was designed to teach ODR educators how to prepare tasty, healthy meals using the non-traditional meats of beef, turkey, and lamb. They in turn repeated these demonstrations at local meetings in the province. A total of thirty-five people attended (thirty had been deemed maximum), including the Head of the Agricultural Ministry for the Szczecin province. Of particular personal satisfaction was the attendance and participation of the five Regional Home Economics Specialists. This occurred over the earlier strenuous objections of Vice Director Krysiak. These specialists made about ten different and delectable salads to demonstrate the importance of vegetables and salads in a well-balanced, nutritious human diet. The tables in the ODR Barzkowice Hotel were beautifully set, including wine glasses used to savor three different varieties of wines, including one U.S. and two Bulgarian. The chef and his crew delivered a seemingly endless number of meat dishes

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Tomorrow Finally Came! to astonished guests. Two different meals of turkey, beef, and lamb meats had been prepared. Impact • Demonstrated first-time cooperation between ODR Barzkowice and a commercial company to cosponsor an educational program; • Showed the impact and opportunity that such teamwork and leveraging of resources and expertise could produce; • Published 1000 copies of a color photo bulletin with the recipes used to promote the consumption of turkey, beef, and lamb; • ODR personnel appreciated the partial financial support of the PAEP for this bulletin; • Held follow-up meetings with AGROFIRMA p ersonnel to discuss possibility of developing proposals to VOCA for assistance with: 1) beef production and marketing and 2) swine production and genetics to improve carcass quality. 6. Contact faculty in the Department of Meat Technology at the Agricultural University of Szczecin regarding impact of stress on carcass quality of food animals. Train ODR Specialists to help teach humane slaughter techniques at slaughter plants. Results Nothing accomplished due to lack of time. Impact • Asked Dr. Jaromir Palusinski to follow-up on this. Considerable research data are available in the U.S. and much attention is currently focused on impact of stress on meat quality. McDonald's has identified this as a problem and it will negatively impact sales for Poland-produced beef and pork in a global market.

7. Train ODR Specialists in methods and techniques for achieving professional and successful educational meetings. Results

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I made my first presentation to the monthly meeting of ODR and District personnel using fourteen slides to give personal background and highlights of North Carolina beef and swine industries. Total time including translation was fifteen to twenty minutes. Feedback from Vice Director Piotr Szysz via translator was he liked it because “It was consistent and short.” (He reported the lectures of most Poles and especially Germans were too long.) A training presentation on beef production and marketing was given to the ODR and regional staffs. We demonstrated an apparently new concept in visual aids, using both a slide and overhead projector simultaneously. In addition, we showed a new use for a bed sheet—as a screen when a second screen wasn't available. Three days were devoted to the highly successful VIII Barzkowice Fair, September 8-10. Several thousand people attended, with a huge crowd jamming the grounds on Sunday. I wrote a memo of congratulations on the success of the Fair to Director Kobylinski and he directed it be posted on the bulletin boards in the office building and the hotel lobby. I was very impressed with what was accomplished based on what was available to work with. Our associates in the U.S. should take some lessons. One of the key highlights of my stay in Poland was an invitation to attend and present slides to the only 4-H club in the Szczecin province. About twenty youngsters and a dozen parents attended. The behavior of the 4-Hers was most impressive. Their questions were excellent and showed much interest and thoughtfulness. Because of my favorable experience, I decided to make a personal contribution of 200 zlotys with the only request that the club write to me after one year and tell me how they used the zlotys and how many times my contribution was multiplied. Impact • Taught importance of presenting information focused on client needs. • Demonstrated simultaneous use of slides and overheads with two screens to add interest and impact to presentations. • Emphasized importance of audience participation and feedback vs. long, individual lectures. • Wrote memo of congratulations to the District Home Economist Specialist and Gmina (district) coordinator for their outstanding 4-H club. Sent copies to Director and Vice Directors. • Stressed value of providing positive feedback to persons responsible for outstanding meetings and events.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! • Received thanks from all three livestock specialists for the memo I sent them regarding their contribution to the highly successful fair—apparently a new experience for them.

8. Convey to ODR administrators the importance of providing adequate support to specialists for critical teaching supplies such as overhead transparencies and computer-developed graphics. Results Discussed with Vice Director Krysiak the critical need by the Livestock Specialists to have overhead transparencies and computer-developed graphics in order for them to present professionally developed materials and images, which ODR administration desires. Impact • Decision was made that one of our PAEP computers would go to the Livestock group after we left. • A supply of blank overhead transparencies was left for their use.

9. Create a sense of urgency and desire to do one's best with what's available. Results Wrote memos of congratulations to Director and both Vice Directors and three Livestock Specialists on highly successful VIII Barzkowice Fair and for doing so much with what they had to work with. Impact • The memo was posted on the bulletin boards of the ODR and the ODR Hotel. • In addition, it was printed in 3,500 copies of the November issue of the ODR monthly magazine.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Recommendations for the Future • Reconstruct the ODR telephone system and transmission lines between ODR Barzkowice and Stargard. It will never the possible for ODR Barzkowice to fully utilize resources available, maximize effective use of personnel, and make the impact on the Szczecin province that could be possible until this is done. • Re-allocate available funds to accomplish number one above. • Continue to develop programs and educational meetings that meet the needs and desires of the varied clientele. • Expand cooperation with appropriate industry personnel and outside organizations. • Provide additional support for the only 4-H club and develop new clubs in other areas. • Delegate more decision-making authority to the specialists. • Encourage and reward staff members to work in and with interdisciplinary teams. Rewards need to be tangible in the form of salary adjustments and be visible in the promotion process. • Determine ways to use the ODR educational delivery system more effectively in an inclusive rather than exclusive way.

Did we do any good? Our Final Report was completed. Justyna translated it into Polish for Director Kobylinski. This was the terminal act in our nearly six-month saga together. I said to Justyna, “I hope you have the same sense of accomplishment as I do. You and I have made several important contributions during our stay at ODR Barzkowice.” We both realized, however, that only a period of years will provide a measurement of the long-term impact of our individual and collective efforts as Advisors to the Polish/American Extension Project.

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Chapter 12 What Did the Five-Year Project Accomplish? The five-year Polish/American Extension Project (PAEP) was instrumental in the redirection and refocusing of the Polish extension system. My limited personal experience and anecdotal evidence suggested that the PAEP was successful in assisting the transition of the Polish system. Fortunately, a lengthy and detailed study of the entire PAEP impact was completed in 1997. Dr. Henry M. Bahn, National Program Leader for Economic and Community Systems, CSREES, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the role and results of the PAEP. (Bahn, H. M. 1997, “The Role of the Polish/American Extension Project in the Post-Communist Transition of the Polish Agricultural Advisory System.” Department of Agricultural and Extension Education. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.) This fortuitous study documented the project in many important aspects. Some of the many components of the PAEP and its execution were not recorded. A danger existed that details of this historic project would be lost. Also, the influence of the PAEP on the Polish extension system begged investigation as the five-year project concluded. Dr. Bahn's thesis will undoubtedly be published eventually in various scholarly journals. In the meantime, he has graciously granted permission to use his findings in this book. The primary operational change observed was the adoption of a problem solving approach based on interactive education and economics considerations. Bahn quoted one ODR director who described it as “The integration of practice and practicality.” Thus, adoption of a problem-solving role changed the service focus of ODRs toward more individualized service to people or small groups, more targeted services, and increased support of individual decision making. Many individual farmers and their families were psychologically stressed by the rapidity and magnitude of the changes they faced. Although in the clientele group many were negative and pessimistic, a solid core of reasonably positive and motivated small farmers depended heavily on the ODR system for guidance, counsel, and information. Dealing with the needs of private agricultural businesses was a new frontier for the ODR system. Agricultural business was generally recognized as the segment of the local economy with the greatest potential for growth and development. The majority of

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Tomorrow Finally Came! ODR efforts focused on helping potential business owners and operators to ask the appropriate economic questions, rather than just being business advocates. Extension services provided to other non-agricultural clientele changed dramatically for the ODR system. These included addition of activities foreign to the previous system plus expansion of the scope of existing activities. Examples of these services can be broadly categorized as; 1) leadership development; 2) home economics; 3) agricultural education; 4) rural development; 5) 4-H and youth programming, and 6) environmental protection, services, and education. Bahn found essentially all respondents to his study believed that the quality of ODR staff at all levels improved in the ODRs. The staff downsizing provided ODR directors with the opportunity to dismiss unproductive and otherwise deficient members and to retain those most likely to accept the changes within the ODR system. Organization and leadership training for ODR directors and staff was most frequently cited as the greatest PAEP influence on the organizational development of the ODR system. The positive impact on the conduct of ODR business, especially on daily work activities, increased office efficiency, and work reorganization was mentioned repeatedly. The PAEP team members were referred to as practical, more focused and less theoretical and thus more effective than other foreign project personnel. Many respondents indicated that the PAEP team members introduced critical thinking, interactive training, use of examples and participatory involvement by the learners. The PAEP was credited many times with changing the work mentality of ODR staff. There was initial surprise by many when U.S. team members routinely worked late and on weekends to complete timely projects, a practice that was alien to the previous Polish system. The practice became standard operating procedure at many ODRs. In addition, ODR staff members began to show more regard for the time schedules of their clientele in planning and scheduling meetings. As might be expected, some programs simply didn't capture the imagination of Polish clientele. These included a home economics crafts market, an egg cooperative, a wholesale market, and the introduction of computerized financial models. The negative responses relating to extension materials were directed specifically to the introduction of FINPAK, a U.S. developed financial analysis computer program. It was aggressively marketed in Poland, and its adoption required a financial commitment by the PAEP and the Polish ODRs. The cost of FINPAK was specifically mentioned by respondents. Developing business plans for farmers and agribusiness operators was a major effort by one of the first U.S. teams. The program was immediately recognized as

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Tomorrow Finally Came! nationally beneficial. Business plan training was applicable in a wide variety of situations involving farm improvement or expansion, construction and operation of processing plants for agricultural products, and for determining the feasibility of agribusiness and non-agricultural business opportunities. It was adaptable to small scale and large scale farmers, agribusiness, and even peripheral rural enterprises. The training process included identifying potential business ventures, preparing basic plans, preparing, presenting and defending a financial strategy, and implementation and evaluation of the plan. The training methodology, interactive case study preparation, was novel in Polish extension. After initial training, Polish specialists conducted the workshops throughout the country, virtually independently of the U.S. advisors. Training was conducted for research institute and university faculty. The business planning program became one of the most successful project activities with training conducted at many ODRs, agricultural institutes, agricultural universities, and agricultural high schools. It received widespread application throughout Poland. The response and acceptance to business plan training led to additional workshops and training on marketing and also encouraged marketing research. This, in turn, led to the development of a number of business plan training and development centers at several ODR locations and agricultural universities throughout Poland. The development of the business and marketing centers is probably the most tangible example of the PAEP successfully supporting the integration of university research and extension service activity in Poland. The centers also represent the first example of formal institutional cooperation following establishment of the ODRs. The cooperation had both intramural and extramural components, the former as programming linkages between ODRs and the latter being service linkages with the Polish government's Agency for Restructuring and Modernization for redistribution of state assets, and research linkages with agricultural universities. I was especially interested in Dr. Bahn's findings regarding agrotourism. My “home in the forest” (Chapter 2) with Bozena, Christopher, and Alecia had been found because of their participation in this program sponsored by ODR Barzkowice. Agrotouryzm (agricultural tourism) associations were organized by ODRs and participants were assisted with program and promotion efforts. These programs originated during the summer of 1992 and continue to draw customers—vacationers—from urban areas in Poland and to some extent from abroad. These efforts were particularly attractive in the mountainous provinces of southern Poland that have great potential as tourist and recreational attractions and somewhat limited agricultural development potential.

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Agrotourism was very often cited as a linkage between agricultural, business, and home economics extension programming, with the leadership most often assumed by ODR home economists. Adaptations of traditional home economics topics in support of agrotourism included meal and menu planning, food preparation techniques, homemaking and furnishing, homestead beautification, folk art and crafts. Innovations of contemporary home economics topics in support of agrotourism included promotion and advertising, business plan development, budgeting and pricing, competition, and organizing agrotourism associations. While few people (Polish or American) had the explicit expectation that agricultural tourism would become a primary enterprise for many rural residents, the focus on self assistance was viewed as having the potential for encouraging alternative (supplemental) enterprises that could absorb some excess labor and provide additional income in some locations. Indeed, in some locations agrotourism had been estimated to provide up to 25 percent of the income for some rural families, although 5 percent appeared to be a more normal figure in most regions. On my return to Poland two years later (Chapter 14) I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to find Christopher and Bozena had expanded their agrotourism involvement to a successful and profitable year-round venture. Only some of the many findings by Dr. Bahn have been reported here. He summarized the results of his study by saying:

Near unanimity was found regarding the positive changes that occurred in the Polish ODR system during the initial five-year post communist transition period. Perceived changes in ODR organization, human capital and service quality were overwhelmingly reported to reflect positive changes. Perceptions regarding the institutional survivability of the ODR system were mixed, however, especially regarding the ODR system's possible future relationship with provincial or local chambers of agriculture or other self-government organizations. The eventual emergence of chambers of agriculture was largely a foregone conclusion, while the ultimate relationship of the ODR system to the chambers was equivocal. Perceptions regarding the influence of the Polish/American Extension Project was likewise overwhelmingly positive. The PAEP influence on Polish extension organization, staff development and subsequent program quality, service and materials, and programming focus were all described

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Tomorrow Finally Came! in positive terms. While a great many strengths were reported, two rather serious concerns were identified: 1) a bias toward large scale agriculture and 2) the introduction of U.S. -designed financial analysis software that was overly complex for Polish application and that may have impeded the development and use of indigenously developed financial analysis computer software. Perceptions regarding the transferability of a PAEP-like program derivative elsewhere in central or eastern European post-communist countries were mixed, and a clear consensus regarding transferability was not found. Some of the respondents believed that further movement toward private agriculture and capitalism in other post-communist countries was a necessary prerequisite before programming similar to the PAEP could be undertaken. Others felt that, with modification, a PAEPtype programming effort could be beneficial in the near term. Still others favored a joint U.S.-Polish application of a PAEP derivative that could be designed to capitalize on the strengths of the PAEP model and the strengths of the Polish experience and cultural congruency.

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Chapter 13 Lessons Learned It was Tuesday, June 13, 1995, when my flight landed in Warsaw, Poland. On Saturday evening, June 17, I arrived in Barzkowice to begin the nearly six-month saga of serving as an American Advisor to the Polish/American Extension Project. After forty years of interest in being involved in international agriculture, here I was at last—in the land of long days, beautiful, open countryside, gorgeous long evenings, and the ubiquitous small villages and towns with their block houses and even blockier multistoried apartment buildings. I had arrived with anxiety, anticipation, naiveness, and a commitment to keeping an open mind. What did I learn from living in Poland and working as an agricultural advisor? The opportunity provided many learning experiences, from being continuously surprised by what was found, to being exposed to different ways of thinking. The changing political and economic environments in Poland and other central European countries, the impact of these changes, and the potential for increased agricultural trade provide career opportunities for interested persons. These include university faculty, especially those with extension experiences, agri-business employees, farmers, foundation and church sponsored projects, and government employees. Lessons learned in Poland could benefit individuals preparing for international assignments. Experiences as an Advisor to the PAEP June 13 - December 7, 1995, taught me many lessons. A few of them follow: 1. understanding cultural and social differences in decision-making systems is critical for successful educational program development and implementation 2.

T.T.T. - Things Take Time

3.

relationships are more important than time

4.

tradition is a significant influence

5. survival is often the driving force behind farm management decisions, contributing to a propensity to minimize risk rather than maximize profit 6.

human capital development is needed concurrent with new technology

7. the habit of hope cannot be acquired overnight, the customs of caution aren't easily discarded

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Tomorrow Finally Came! 8. knowledge is power - the traditional hierarchical management system favors control rather than participation and sharing 9. receiving positive feedback and appropriate commendation was a new experience for Polish Extension staff members 10.

laughter has no foreign accent.

My frustrations eased often when I mentally shifted gears and wondered how I and my U.S. colleagues would react to foreigners' suggestions for change in our extension system. As professional U.S. extension personnel, we proudly call ourselves “change makers.” Yet, individually and collectively some U.S. extension employees are among the most hide-bound, traditional, and change-resistant people anywhere. With this realization, American Advisors shouldn't have been surprised that we were regarded with suspicion by the Poles upon our arrival. After all, they had only recently overthrown communism. Why shouldn't they have been suspicious? The amazing thing was how quickly they did begin to accept us into their work environment and homes. Even in the U.S. traditions change slowly. Poland and other emerging democracies are trying to do quickly, in a few years, what we've gradually developed over 200 years in the U.S.. And yet, while the country needed a jump start into a new age and a selective forgetting of the old, people must move individually into the future while all the time living with the past. As we soon begin the twenty-first century, Poland's agricultural industry will continue to go through enormous stress and transition. It will be important not only to seek out and develop new technology, but also to apply current technology. Polish paradigms are changing and must continue to do so. The need to increase Poland's agricultural competitiveness in a global environment will demand that the lag time between discovering and adoption of appropriate technology be shortened. On Tuesday, December, 5, 1995, we met in Warsaw for our final team meeting for reporting and debriefing. We gathered in the same room at nine o'clock where we had met some six months earlier at the start of this adventure. There was a lively exchange and discussion of challenges, opportunities, and suggestions for improvements based on our experiences. The following day we met in the big conference room in the Ministry of Agriculture with all team members and several representatives of the Ministry, plus all of the five ODR Directors who had hosted our Advisor Teams. We all were given table name cards. I noticed mine was the same that was used six months earlier when I had written the pronunciation of Barzkowice on it.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I felt a sense of sadness. It was comparable to a high school or college graduation where everyone would be leaving for new passages of life through uncharted waters. The only difference, I surmised, was that in this instance, we had crammed a lifetime of new experiences into six months. My six-month saga of adapting to a new and different country, a new culture with wonderful people, special new friends, many frustrations, and a sense of contribution had come to a close. It was a wonderful and remarkable experience, one during which the wishes, memories, sorrows, and joys of my youth and three score years of life had been rekindled. My 40-year goal of participating in international agricultural assistance had been achieved. Yes, tomorrow finally came! And it was made so uniquely enjoyable by the reliving of many yesterdays.

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Chapter 14 Two Years Later “Look at the cars! Where did all these cars come from?” I asked incredulously. We were stuck in bumper-to-bumper, crawl-and-stop traffic from the airport into the center of Warsaw. Two years and eleven days since departing Warsaw on December 8, 1995, I was back, fulfilling my promise to return in two to three years. It was Friday, December 19, 1997, the last weekend before Christmas. I had returned to Poland for a two-week visit during the Christmas and New Year Holidays. Jacek Kosiec, my friend from Warsaw University, met me at the airport and was now chauffeuring me to find the apartment I'd rented in Warsaw. Some of the traffic, Jacek explained, was due to Christmas shoppers. However, since my departure in December 1995, new car sales in Poland had skyrocketed. In 1996, sales of new autos shot up 41 percent, while they rose “only” 26 percent in 1997. At this particular moment, it seemed like most of them must be on the same street with us. Ninety minutes later, we completed the “twenty-minute” trip. Parking was more horrendous than I remembered, with cars parked on sidewalks at all angles. In the streets, double and triple parking snarled traffic. Fortunately, my apartment was on the backside of a huge block-long complex, away from the four-lane main street divided by the ubiquitous tram tracks. We carried my luggage to the second floor and used the oversized three-inch and four-inch long keys to open the two different locks on the door. The apartment was a pleasant surprise. A spacious living-dining room was equipped with a nice sofa and chair, end table with reading lamps, and a work desk with lamp and computer. A TV was in one corner. Along the back wall a glass-topped dining table with four chairs provided a generous dining area. The bedroom had a very comfortable double bed—a surprise, since during my prior experience, I'd encountered only single beds, even in the better hotels. A small kitchen was equipped with an electric stove, refrigerator, and sink with hot water. A separate bathroom had a tub with the usual Polish-type removable, hand-held shower head. A wall mounted gas-fired hot water heater came on immediately when a hot water faucet was opened. Towels were provided, although I had brought one with me—based on prior experience. The four rooms were connected by a large hallway, which contained a very adequate clothes and storage closet. Several throw rugs were on the hallway floor to minimize tracking in dirt from outdoors.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! All of this for $25 per night. I paid in cash for only the seven nights I planned to use it. This was ideal, because the remaining nights of my two-week sojourn would be in other areas of Poland. I could keep my things in the apartment, use it as a headquarters, and return to Warsaw between trips to opposite ends of the country. Arrangements for renting the apartment had been made by Ania Turlinska, a translator friend from my PAEP days. She was now working in Warsaw with the ACDI/VOCA Cooperative Bank Development Project. Her organization kept the apartment for visiting consultants; hence, its spaciousness and nice furnishings. Jacek took me to a bank to convert dollars into zlotys. Another pleasant surprise. The exchange rate was now 3.5 zlotys per dollar compared to 2.3 two years earlier. Thus, the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar had increased about 50 percent, that is, until Polish inflation was factored in. For example, the price of gasoline had gone from $1.50 up to $2.00 per liter in two years, an increase of 33.3 percent. That was equal to $7.60 per gallon, more than six times the price at home. Next stop was the Central Train Station, where Jacek expedited my purchase of train tickets for planned trips to Tarnow and Stargard. Of course, we had to go to the opposite end of the station and stand in another long line in order to find out the arrival time in Tarnow and Stargard for the tickets that we had just purchased. Jacek disgustedly explained that the Polish train system was still state-owned and nothing had or would change because the employees had no incentive to improve. The Friday afternoon pre-Christmas rush had jammed the station and lines were long at each public phone booth. Once again, Jacek graciously assisted by putting through calls in Polish to my hosts in Tarnow and Stargard, telling them of my expected arrival times. We returned to the traffic-jammed streets and eventually arrived back at my apartment. Jacek left for his home. I had been in Warsaw only six hours, but already was astonished by one major change since my departure two years earlier—the automobile situation. Poles bought nearly 500,000 new passenger cars in 1997—over 100,000 more than in 1996. The delivery vehicle market also grew in 1997, with over 55,000 of those vehicles sold. The cost of credit for auto purchases had decreased. This had dramatically stimulated sales. During my stay in 1995, credit for cars was very expensive, costing 20 percent or more. Part of the automobile congestion problem, I learned, was that old autos never die in Poland. They slowly—too slowly—fade away with too few recycled. An international conference of car experts concluded that Poland has too many old vehicles polluting the environment, and that the country's car recycling, which could decrease their number, is underdeveloped.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Some 50 percent of cars on Polish roads are more than ten years old, twice as many as in Italy and three times more than in France. Auto manufacturers have begun to offer price reductions to buyers who turn in their old vehicles for recycling. The situation is expected to improve in 1998 because buyers will not be able to register a new car without showing proof that any non-functional old car was scrapped. I asked Jacek about an apparent increase in the number of fancy and expensive cars on the streets in Warsaw. He said fancy cars no longer cause great excitement on Polish roads and streets, as they have become a more common sight. A few years ago, the appearance of an expensive car on a Polish road caused a sensation. Today, they are ignored. Each year, the number of cars being sold that cost $50,000 or more increases. Still, luxury cars account for only about 0.5 percent of total auto sales in Poland. The demand for luxury cars would probably be higher were it not limited by taxes. Many Poles wanting to drive luxury cars try to by-pass taxes and customs duties in various ways. While stuck in the ubiquitous traffic jams, Jacek explained a new traffic law which went into force on January 1, 1998. It was a long-awaited regulation, which will, hopefully, create order on Polish roads and streets. Among many new rules, a person driving a car will be forbidden to use a cellular phone, unless using hands-free equipment. “What a sensible rule,” I said, “Poland is ahead of the U.S. on this one.” Polish cellular phone equipment sellers were expecting a run on them in the first several months of 1998 as drivers started paying fines and understood that the new regulations had gone into effect—with force. The lawmakers did show some compassion, allowing the continuation of a long-standing Polish tradition. Drivers will still be allowed to flash their high beams to warn other drivers that a police radar is nearby. Saturday, December 20, I awoke at five o'clock to find a freezing rain had covered the trees and sidewalks of Warsaw. My train for Tarnow departed at 7:00 a.m. It took me forty-five minutes of slipping and sliding, while dragging my suitcase along on its small roller wheels, to reach the Central Train Station with several minutes to spare. It was a two-hour trip to Krakow, but the weather conditions caused so much heavy fog that there was little to observe through the windows once daylight finally arrived. I was on my way to see my special friend, Marta Gorak-Kopec and her new baby, now four months old. We had corresponded by mail. Now I was anxious to see her, her new daughter and family in Tarnow. In Krakow, I needed to change trains and inquired as to which one was going to Tarnow. I boarded the one which I had been shown and waited for departure anticipating arrival time at half past one. As the train progressed through the foggy countryside, it seemed like we were making a lot of stops. About five minutes before my expected

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Tomorrow Finally Came! arrival, I made preparations to disembark, having alerted the elderly lady who was my seat mate that I wanted off in Tarnow. Twice she stopped me from getting off by mistake. Then, she pointed to the hands on her wristwatch and showed me that this train was not due in Tarnow until thirty minutes later than I had expected. Finally, the train arrived in the Tarnow station. There to my surprise was Marta to greet me. I had been on the “slow” train in contrast to the “fast” train for which I had a purchased ticket. When I did not arrive at my expected time, Marta did some checking and found that there was a second train arriving in thirty minutes. Hoping that I might be on it, she decided to wait. Her hunch and hope were correct. We walked to her mother's flat. For the past year Marta had been living there with her husband, baby daughter, and sister. Marta's father had died suddenly at age fifty-three from a heart attack suffered July 22, 1996. The lovely new home she built and had nearly complete during my visit in December 1995 had been rented to a non-Polish employee at the Okicim Brewery Company where Marta worked. This arrangement provided a very significant income and so she and her husband had agreed to live with her mother for probably two years, until her house tenant was transferred from Poland. Thus, Marta and her husband were willing to adjust their early married lifestyle and live in cramped quarters while renting out her lovely and spacious new house. During my two-day visit, she described their plans for using rental income to buy a new car. Their car was twenty-five years old and in understandably poor condition. Because it had no workable reverse gear, Marta would not attempt to drive it. Therefore, it was necessary for her to take a one-hour bus ride to reach her place of employment 30 km from home. Fortunately it was possible for her to obtain a full year's rent in advance so the plan was to purchase a new car with this large sum of cash. Since rental of an entire house, especially a new one, is extremely rare in Poland, I asked Marta how she arrived at the rental charge. She laughed and said, “The rent is paid by the Okicim Brewery where Martin, my tenant from Ireland, is employed. He said, “Get all you can out of those bastards!” On a business trip to Germany, they both saw comparable properties for rent and used those rates as reference to establish a nontraditional rental charge for her house. I smiled and said, “Entrepreneurship is alive in Poland!” On Sunday, Marta's mother drove us to the village 10 km from Tarnow where Marta's house was located. When the opportunity to rent it suddenly arose, Marta and Adam worked long days for three weeks to complete the final interior details. Now she proudly showed me the results of those strenuous efforts. They had installed a wood floor in the loft for potential office space. Cabinets and shelving were built in the kitchen. A stairway with marble steps had been completed. The

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Tomorrow Finally Came! exterior of the house had been painted with a special paint. An iron fence surrounding the sizable country lot had been hand-scraped and painted with rust-resistant paint. Much of this had been done by Adam and Marta in the middle of her pregnancy. However, now Marta's pride and interest in her house had been superseded by a new arrival—her first baby, born August 29, 1997. She and her husband, Adam, had named their baby daughter Justyna. She had inherited her mother's beauty and features. Now, nearly four months old, her rapid growth and development, combined with all the equipment and paraphernalia needed for infant care placed significant stress on space in the modest five-room flat. Marta, by giving birth for the first time at nearly thirty years of age, joined the growing number of Polish women giving birth at a more advanced age. According to available statistics, the peak reproductive age of Polish women is moving from twenty to twenty-four years to twenty-five to twenty-nine years. This model is typical of western European societies. For the third straight year, the Central Statistical Office in Poland recorded the lowest population growth since 1945. The vice-chairman of the Central Statistical Office said, “Poles now prefer to buy an apartment or new car and guarantee a better education to their off-spring instead of producing more children. The social and professional aspirations of Polish women are also becoming serious competition for motherhood.” Marta's aspirations and situation certainly fit his description and statistics. She had been on pregnancy leave from her employment for several months prior to and following Justyna's birth in August. On January 5, 1998, she was scheduled to return to her position as translator in the Investment and Development Department at the Okicin Brewery Company where 1000 people were employed. Just prior to my visit, in late December, after intensive interviewing, Marta had hired a lady to take care of baby Justyna in the small apartment owned by Marta's mother. The return to her career, while balancing her deep mothering instincts, was obviously causing stress for Marta. It was going to be an interesting and stressful transition for her, one familiar to hundreds of thousands of young mothers in the U.S. during the past two decades. At the same time, however, Marta represented the younger generation of Poles that is gradually becoming infiltrated with western European and American culture. And instead of developing large families, they show more interest in amassing fortunes. As Polish social psychologist, Professor Jan Zapinski said, “Polish parents come from the Communist era, but the children have been brought up the American way. The McDonald's culture is spreading rapidly, engulfing the younger generation.” He says this involves not only symbols and culture imported from advertisements and American films. Now that most products are widely available on the market, consumer lifestyle is also spreading rapidly, and amassing goods is becoming one of the most important objectives

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Tomorrow Finally Came! of younger Poles. Young Poles aim to own a comfortable furnished home and a good car. To get them, they are capable of making bigger sacrifices than the average American. Monday afternoon, December 22, I returned to Warsaw for a short overnight stay in my apartment before catching a 6:30 a.m. train the next morning for my anticipated return to Barzkowice. The five-hour train trip brought back many fond memories. The biggest difference was the dark, damp, dreary fog-shrouded landscape compared to the generally lovely weather I had experienced during my stay in 1995. By prior arrangement, Adam Boltryk and his son, Przemek, my “adopted grandson,” were waiting for me at the train station in Stargard. Only two years old when I left Poland in December 1995, Przemek, of course, did not actually remember me, but he had received plenty of prompting from his father and mother. Adam and Przemek each welcomed me with open arms and warm hugs. It was a heart-warming welcome. Adam had been able to buy a ten-year-old Ford Escort car and Przemek eagerly took me by the hand and led me to where it was parked. Adam strapped him in the child seat, and I climbed in front with Adam. Przemek kept up a constant and excited chatter in Polish with occasional interpretation by Adam as we stopped in Stargard to do several errands. Then we proceeded on the familiar 20-km drive to Barzkowice. Adam had made arrangements for me to stay at the Barzkowice Hotel, where I had spent seventeen nights in 1995, prior to finding my “home in the forest.” It wasn't exactly a bustling place. I was the only overnight guest in the facility, since the ODR offices were closed for the Christmas holidays. On desk duty in the lobby was none other than Grzegorz Trymerski, the infamous “Director Number One” or “Pseudo-Director” from my former life in Barzkowice. His appearance, attitude, and habits had not changed in two years. His beady eyes still never looked directly at me. Certainly, one thing had not changed . “Director Number One,” his wife and their daughter all still worked at the ODR and the Hotel. If either he or his wife, also on duty, recognized me, and I'm certain they did, there was no outward indication that was discernible to me. Adam helped carry my luggage to the second floor room where I had stayed for the seventeen nights in 1995. I was there only a few hours when I discovered the lock on the door was inoperative, and I moved to an adjacent room. Nothing had changed with either the furnishings of the sleeping room or the bathroom with the infamous shower that flooded the floor several times during my previous occupancy. I settled in with the happy thought that I was invited to dinner that evening with Adam, Agnieszka, Przemek, and Adam's mother at their apartment in Barzkowice. About seven o'clock Adam came to pick me up. It was a special joy to be back in their comfortable apartment where I had enjoyed several wonderful meals and

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Tomorrow Finally Came! stimulating conversation many times previously. Some time since I left in 1995, Mrs. Boltryk had returned to her home in Torun to live. She had come to Barzkowice by train for a two-week stay over the Christmas holidays. We spent three hours in stimulating conversation and fond memories over a delicious meal prepared by Agniezska. It was Tuesday, December 23, and the next day was Christmas Eve Day. Adam warned me when I asked to use the bathroom not to be surprised at the sight of two carp swimming around in a large plastic tub. A long standing traditional food for the Polish Christmas Eve dinner is carp. These fish are bought live to guarantee freshness. To ensure that freshness up to the very last moment, some people even transfer the carp to the bathtub when they take them home. Rumors abound of cases where family members, unaware of the bathtub's contents, have actually added bubble bath and climbed in. Such was not the case in the Boltryk household, where the two carp were swimming leisurely in the plastic container beside the bathtub. During my stay in Tarnow and our stop at the Farmers' Market in Stargard, I had seen hundreds of carp, live and slithering and gasping for air, in tubs and even in piles like stacked cordwood. Some entrepreneurs lined two-wheeled trailers with black plastic, filled the trailers with water, and purchased carp at wholesale for resale in the town square. Purchasers could personally select their choice of fish swimming about in the confines of the portable aquarium and pay 10 zlotys per kg live weight. Adam and Agniezska said they would clean their two carp during the afternoon of December 24, in preparation for their consumption at the family Christmas Eve dinner. Having eaten carp, both barbecued and broiled during my stay in Poland, I was well aware of their multitude of bones. Adam concurred in this finding and said a good rule at Christmas Eve dinner in Poland is “be merry, but be wary!” During the planning process with Adam for my return visit, arrangements had been made for me to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my landlords, Christopher and Bozena Cichecki. Thus, about four o'clock, December 24, Christopher arrived at the ODR Hotel to take me to my former “home in the forest.” His arrival was another joyful reunion with warm hugs and greetings. He was driving a different car. The yellow Volkswagen that I remembered had been replaced with another Volkswagen, somewhat newer, but still ten years old. Christopher explained that the first Volkswagen had met its demise when Bozena skidded off the icy forest road on a sharp turn and slammed sideways into a tree. Fortunately neither she nor Alecia were injured in the accident. The yellow car had been repaired to a drive-able condition and now was relegated to being the “forest car,” meaning it was used to take Christopher back on the forest roads and trails with his work as assistant manager of the state forest in the area.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Bozena greeted me at the door with a shout and a warm hug. Immediately behind her was my “adopted granddaughter,” Alecia. I crouched down and gently reached out to her. She came into my arms, and I gave her a big hug and a kiss. It was clear that as with Przemek, Alecia had been given some prompting by her parents as to the identification of this stranger. Unlike Przemek, who had remained small and frail, Alecia had developed into a striking young lady of four. She was tall for her age, with brown hair and beautiful, expressive eyes set in a lovely face. She definitely wasn't the active little two-year-old I had left with such sadness two years earlier. I noticed immediately that the kitchen had been remodeled. Bozena and Christopher proudly showed me the alterations. The door into the living room had been relocated; the breakfast nook changed and new breakfast furniture purchased. In the living room, new furniture was proudly exhibited. A new sofa, chair, and a sort of twoperson love seat adorned the room. The latter included a pullout section for use as a bed. Also, new lace curtains hung from all the windows. Christopher patted the sofa and said, “Big zlotys,” meaning expensive. Upstairs, my former humble abode had been transformed. Central heat with hot water radiators had been installed. The kitchen had been changed with a new stove. I noted the running hot water at the sink in contrast to the lack of hot water I discovered my first night there. A large-screen color television set with new shelving and storage closets were in the living room. Christopher proudly explained that the money for the new furniture, both upstairs and downstairs, had come from the rental income of my former home in their loft. They had expanded their agrotourism involvement, so that now there was almost year-round income from tourists. In addition to the summer campers using the lake across the road, they now had people renting during the lengthy mushroom picking season in the fall. In addition, there were many outdoors people interested in the year-round opportunities to hike the trails around the lake and through the forests in the area. In fact, at that very moment, there were guests from Germany, a couple with two boys, renting the upstairs over the Christmas holidays. Christopher did not indicate the total income from this venture, but I guessed it was significant and might account for as much as 20 percent of his annual salary from the forest service. I was delighted to see the changes and pleased that my enjoyable experiences living there had encouraged them to expand this rental venture. That evening, Christmas Eve, we went to the home of Bozena's parents in the village of Dobrzany. Another gracious and warm welcome awaited. Bozena's parents greeted me like a long-lost relative. Also present were Bozena's brother and his wife, their two children, Bozena's uncle, Ben, a widower, and his two teen-aged sons.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Eventually all thirteen of us sat down around the crowded table in their living room to a marvelous and sumptuous meal. By tradition, no red meat is served at the Polish Christmas Eve dinner. Also by tradition, no vodka or other alcohol is consumed. The traditional carp and fried chicken were main dishes, amply reinforced with many different types of vegetables. These followed the traditional first course of soup and dumplings. Total meal time required approximately two hours during which individuals stopped eating and increased talking, then went back to eating as more food was continually delivered from the kitchen to the table. I had brought Christmas gifts for all of the friends I expected to see during my visits at the various locations. These were mostly clothing items with North Carolina State and/or Wolfpack insignias on them. I had learned previously how much Poles enjoyed clothing with identification from the U.S. Fortunately, I had anticipated situations that might have people for whom I had not purchased specific gifts. Thus, I had brought along eighteen liquor shot glasses with the NCSU logo showing the North Carolina State University Bell Tower outlined in red and gold. These turned out to be well-appreciated and necessary items. They were all gone by the end of my stay in Poland. When Christopher picked me up at the ODR Hotel earlier that afternoon, I had assumed without any discussion that he would bring me back that evening. However, he and Bozena had other ideas. They insisted that I stay with them Christmas Eve. Their hospitality and friendship far exceeded anything I would have experienced as the only person staying overnight Christmas Eve at the hotel. Christmas morning we had a leisurely and bountiful breakfast. Then Christopher took me on a tour of the area surrounding the house and barn. The outside appearance had changed dramatically. The barnyard where I had parked my Polonez car had been cleaned up. The chickens, geese, and ducks had been banished to the backside of the barn out of sight from the house. The wooden fence which separated the formerly small lawn area from the barnyard had been removed. The lawn now extended out into the barnyard area. A circular, raised flower bed supported by a wall of stones Christopher had gathered stood in the center of the barnyard. The infamous forest tractor had disappeared. I inquired of its whereabouts. Christopher laughed and said, “Forest tractor gone!” It apparently had ceased to function and was removed from the premises. Christopher was understandably proud as he pointed out the improvements he had made since I had left. Rambo, the German Shepherd dog still guarded the backside of the barnyard from his enclosed pen. Maybe it was my imagination, but I detected a lack of ferociousness

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Tomorrow Finally Came! and a hint of recognition as he stared at me through his wire fence. Maly, whom I remembered as a beautiful, red bloodhound puppy, was now a handsome, mature twoyear old. He had developed into a superior hunting dog according to Christopher. Kytag, the short legged, long-bodied, shaggy-haired dog I called “Whiskers,” had unfortunately lost an argument and met his demise at the jaws of Rambo. Bozena with the help of her English-speaking friend, Magda, had written in a letter, “My dog, Kytag, dead!! Rambo knaw. Doctor no more help. Bad Rambo!!!!” The appearance of the lawn, garden, barnyard, and other areas surrounding the house and barn was impressive. It was clear that Bozena and Christopher had devoted much effort to improving the appearance. I judged some or much of it might have been due to their expanding and profitable agrotourism business. The external appearance was also much improved with the bright, beautiful, sunny Christmas Day. It was the first time the sun had shown during my visit and it was a welcomed sight. That morning, Christopher had used his ax to help the upstairs guest split a large pork loin for pork chops. That was in preparation for a “grill,” or what we would call a barbecue, in the barnyard area with the upstairs guests hosting a carload of their friends. We left about one o'clock for Bozena's parents' house for another huge meal. During this visit, I went with Christopher and Bozena downstairs to visit with Christopher's mother and father. They had been away Christmas Eve visiting Christopher's elderly grandmother in Barzkowice. They, likewise, greeted me with much enthusiasm and warmth. Late that afternoon, Christopher delivered me back to the ODR Hotel. From there I walked to the Boltryk apartment in Barzkowice where, at their invitation, I ate again as if I hadn't taken in nutrients for a day or two. Przemek continued to amaze me with his interest in playing with his father's computer. At age four, he had turned into a real computer “nut.” At bedtime his parents had to drag him away from the computer. Friday, December 26, was the “Second Day of Christmas,” according to Polish tradition. Christopher and Bozena had planned to visit relatives that day, a traditional activity for many Poles. Adam and Agnieszka invited me for a late breakfast or brunch at mid-morning. Then we went for a long walk around the village and through the local park with Przemek chattering most of the way. Saturday morning I spent considerable time with Adam at the ODR. Outwardly, at first glance, nothing appeared to have changed . But something was different. Adam, noticing my quizzical gaze, proudly explained. “We have new windows!”

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Indeed, the infamous loose and leaky windows in both the hotel and adjacent ODR office building had been replaced with all new metal frames and glass. They represented an enormous investment, but were a huge improvement for the buildings. My mind flashed back to the summer of 1995 when wind and rain moved freely around the old window frames in my office. I had quickly learned to not place papers on the wide window sills. Inside, the secretary's office adjacent to the Director's office had been completely refurbished. A few weeks earlier a fire had started with electrical problems in the computer hookups and all the equipment had been destroyed. Now it was nicely furnished with all new furniture and computer equipment. In Adam's office, all the old computers had been replaced with the latest state-ofthe-art computers. This was a major breakthrough. Adam was understandably proud as he demonstrated some of the new capabilities of the equipment. One thing that hadn't changed, Adam said, was the telephone system. They still had only two outgoing lines serving the 40 staff people in the ODR center. Another thing that had not changed was Director Kobylinski. I had only a moment or two to greet him and shake hands because he continued to be “very busy.” It certainly seemed like old times. Adam did report that Director Kobylinski had been named Poland's Business Person of the Year in 1996. This was recognition for his dynamic leadership, management, and development of the Barzkowice Fair held each September. In fact, Adam reported it had become so popular for the farm machinery manufacturers that they had stopped exhibiting at the larger Polagra Exhibition in Poznan in favor of the Barzkowice Fair. The Polagra management people came out to Barzkowice to find out why this occurred. They were told the machinery exhibitors much preferred the Barzkowice Fair because they could put their tractors and other equipment through live demonstrations on the adjoining farmland. This was much more exciting and effective than static exhibition in the buildings of the Polagra Exhibition. One of my bigger regrets was that the Barzkowice ODR offices were closed and I did not get to see many of the people that I had hoped to visit. Agnieszka Boltryk was now the only livestock specialist, whereas there were three when I was there in 1995. In a reorganization of staff, Dr. Jaromir (Jeremy) Palusinski, formerly coordinator of livestock specialists was now coordinating all of production agriculture, including livestock and crops. Much of Agnieszka's efforts were devoted to educational programs helping Polish farmers understand their agricultural competition from other European countries as Poland prepared to join the European Union (EU). I was interested in learning from Agnieszka whether she thought my efforts two years earlier had left any lasting impact. She responded, “You taught me how to plan and present programs of interest to farmers. Now I know how to use data and information for

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Tomorrow Finally Came! helpful visual aids. I spend less time lecturing.” Laughing, she said, “The farmers even stay awake during my meetings! Now I ask for and receive active audience participation during and after my presentations.” Some of the objectives and strategies in my ODR Barzkowice Plan of Work came to mind. Agnieszka had confirmed the sense of accomplishment I had shared two years earlier with my translator, Justyna, at the conclusion of our Final Report. Agnieszka's reaction to my ODR Barzkowice experiences was not unique. Many responses from other ODR personnel in Dr. Bahn's study said that the American Advisors introduced critical thinking, interactive training, use of examples and participatory involvement by the learners. Adam explained that Agnieszka's educational efforts to help Polish farmers faced many challenges. Dairy farmers were in an uproar. Just three weeks earlier the European Union (EU) had announced a ban on Polish dairy products, possibly shutting the door to a market worth over $200 million annually for Poland's dairy industry. The EU said it closed its market after warning Poland earlier in the year to improve milk production and processing conditions. A limited number of inspections had found what it said were sanitary and hygiene deficiencies at two processing plants. But Poland countered that the economic shutout was political and inspired by protectionist motives. The ensuing “milk war” highlighted the difficulties Poland faced in integrating its agricultural sector with that of the EU. Agricultural reform is likely to be one of the most contentious issues in the negotiations scheduled to begin in March 1998. The Polish dairy industry faces major challenges in overhauling a sector burdened with small farms that don't have the capital to modernize. Some in the dairy industry said that although EU regulations are rigorous, they are fair, and many Polish dairies are simply substandard. But a natural, or especially a forced consolidation of the sector will prove difficult for social and political reasons. The reality is that Poland's dairy industry, specifically the supply coming from individual farmers, is in serious need of modernization. If Poland wants to enjoy the benefits of joining the EU, it will have to take painful measures to gain membership. A week after EU banned Polish milk, EU inspectors began a probe to determine if meat production in Poland conforms to EU standards. Polish meat producers were hoping to fare better than the dairy producers. It was clear that as ODR Barzkowice's only livestock specialist, Agnieszka Boltryk, faced enormous difficulties in helping farmers understand and adjust. Her Polish

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Tomorrow Finally Came! farmers were just beginning to face what U.S. dairy farmers and their dairy industry have gone through during the past three decades. Saturday afternoon Christopher again picked me up at the ODR Hotel. We returned to my former “home in the forest.” Christopher and Bozena had invited their good friends, Adam and Magdalena Humieniek for dinner. The Humienieks, including their two teen-aged sons, had camped at Christopher's for a couple of weeks during the summer of 1995 when I lived there. I enjoyed their friendship. I learned later that Magdalena, with her fairly good understanding of English, had written the letters in English that I had received from Bozena and Christopher. Magdelena was Professor of Chemistry at the Szczecin Polytechnic Institute. She asked if I would help improve her response in English to reviewer's comments regarding a paper she had submitted for publication in a scientific journal. We spent about an hour working on this project before and after dinner. She was pleased with the suggestions I made to strengthen her English grammar. Bozena had prepared her usual delicious dinner and with Magdelena helping to translate, we had a wonderful and lengthy conversation reminiscing about our experiences during the summer of 1995. Bozena and Christopher insisted we all stay overnight so I had one less overnight to enjoy at the Barzkowice Hotel. Sunday morning, after a huge breakfast, we all went for a long walk around Lake Okole. Sunday evening, Christopher returned me to the ODR Hotel. Adam Boltryk picked me up and delivered me to the Stargard train station. Adam had made arrangements for me to take the midnight sleeper train back to Warsaw. He accompanied me onto the train, talked with the conductor, and made certain I was on the correct section of the train for arrival in Warsaw. This was critical because at the mid-point of the trip, this particular train would be divided into two sections. One section went on to Warsaw, the other went south to Krakow. Indeed, the next morning about at half past seven my section pulled into the Warsaw Central Train Station. It had been a long night punctuated often by the clacking noise of going through rail switches and the separation of the train in Poznan. The second week of my stay was spent in Warsaw. Many miles were covered walking between my apartment and Central City Warsaw and many sightseeing ventures. One evening was spent enjoying the hospitality of Jacek Kosiec, his wife, and their sixmonth old daughter in their home for dinner. He showed me a model of the house he hoped to build on a lot he had purchased in Warsaw about three years earlier. Since that time, the lot had more than doubled in value, according to Jacek.

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Tomorrow Finally Came! I had been anxious to spend time with my two translator friends, Ania Turlinski and Justyna Rzewnicka, but our respective schedules did not make this possible till midweek. I invited them as guests for dinner at a location of their choice. They chose a very well known Chinese restaurant when I suggested they might wish to have something other than their native fare. Like Ania, Justyna was working as a translator in Warsaw. Her younger sister, Renata, a student at Warsaw University, was sharing an apartment with her. I gave them NC State University sweatshirts as Christmas gifts. They were thrilled and indicated that now each of them had sweatshirts from three different U.S. universities. I had previously bought each of them Penn State sweatshirts when they visited the Penn State campus in 1996 and during their month-long visit, they had also obtained Cornell University sweatshirts. While in Warsaw, I learned that cigarette sales in Poland had fallen by 11 percent last year. This was of interest because in 1995 industry projections were that by year 2000, cigarette sales would increase by ten to twenty percent. What had happened? Among other things, the anti-smoking campaigns of other countries, especially those in the U.S., had reached Poland. In addition, western trends for non-smoking and higher excise taxes, which raised cigarette prices, contributed to the decline of $55 million in cigarette sales. As of June 1998, every pack of cigarettes sold in Poland (whether domestically produced or imported) will have to bear a warning message on both sides of the pack, covering at least 30 percent of the package. This would be the biggest warning label in Europe and the tobacco companies were protesting. The new legislation woke up the tobacco lobby in the parliament. Just as in the U.S., the confrontation between the tobacco industry and government in Poland is not only continuing, but also heating up. During the week, I went to the McDonald's Corporate Office in Warsaw in an attempt to see Dariusz Czarnecki, their national purchasing manager, whom I had visited in 1995. Unfortunately, he was not in, but I was able to call him the next day by telephone for an update on the projections he had given me back in 1995. At that time, they had projected one hundred restaurants in Poland at the end of 1997. He said they almost reached that goal with a total of ninety-five at the present time. He also reported that McDonald's in Poland now used 100 percent Polandproduced beef, compared to 85 percent two years earlier. I asked the reasons for this increase. He said Polish beef producers were doing a better job of raising their animals. Also, McDonald's had expanded the area in Poland from which they purchased beef animals. I was pleased to learn this information. Maybe our efforts two years earlier in helping provide information to Polish beef producers had been beneficial.

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

I learned more about the success of Mr. Pawel Kurka, owner of the McDonald's franchise in Szczecin, who had been my initial contact for “The McDonald's Connection.” He now operated two McDonald's in Szczecin. His first restaurant, opened in June 1995, now employed seventy-five people. His second had forty employees at the moment. He had always dreamed about owning his own business. When he was nearly thirty years old, he went to the U.S. where, working hard for two years, he managed to save enough to get started. It was in America that he encountered the McDonald's restaurants and liked them very much. He thought it would be a good thing to have such a restaurant in Poland. The economic transformations in Poland offered great opportunities for such ventures. He learned it was possible to set up a restaurant on a franchise basis and got in contact with a representative of McDonald's Corporation in Warsaw. After initial talks, he attended a nearly one-year specialized training program in one of McDonald's restaurants in Warsaw. At the end of this program, he and McDonald's reached an agreement. McDonald's bought the restaurant and equipped it, including the premises for consumers and the background facilities. He received help in hiring and training personnel and in finding suppliers. He works with his wife, Iwona. “There is a lot of work, but there is even more satisfaction. The earnings are quite good, and I believe that they will grow. I like my work,” he concluded. It was December 31—New Year's Eve. There had been much promotion and advertising about the New Year's Eve celebration to be held in the square of Old Town Warsaw. I decided that's where I would welcome the arrival of 1998. Following a thirty-minute walk, I arrived to find a band playing in front of a huge stage and backdrop erected at one end of the square. It was still early, about nine o'clock, so the crowds were just beginning to assemble. I had plenty of room to walk around the square to observe the street vendors and decorations. Within two hours a huge throng had assembled and by half past eleven, it was very difficult to move. Firecrackers were carelessly and dangerously thrown onto the pavement underneath the feet of spectators. Sparklers and rockets of all descriptions appeared without warning. As midnight approached, I climbed up on a three-foot high stone wall for a better view and to get elevated above the firecrackers going off at pavement level. One time I was afraid an exploding firecracker a short distance away had damaged my eardrum. It was also apparent that a huge amount of alcohol was being consumed by a high

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Tomorrow Finally Came! proportion of the people. By midnight inebriated people of all ages were a common sight. Unfortunately, young teen-agers were conspicuously involved. At the stroke of midnight a vast array of impressive fireworks were touched off from the towers of two churches on corners of the square. In addition, two temporary towers had been erected on the opposite corners of the square from which fireworks ascended. For the next thirty minutes, it was one of the most dramatic displays of fireworks I had ever witnessed. About half past twelve I decided I had enjoyed about all I could stand of the revelry and jumped down from my perch on the wall where I had been standing with little movement for more than an hour. It was difficult to walk the first few steps because I was so cold and stiff. My difficulty in walking was certainly not due to consumption of alcohol. Even though I had a small bottle of champagne in my jacket, it stayed unopened. I decided I needed to keep my head while those all around me apparently were losing theirs in celebration. In addition, I had seen, smelled, and felt enough champagne as literally hundreds of bottles were uncorked and sprayed over everything and everybody in the surrounding area. I headed away from the square going with the flow of the crushing crowd while knowing I would need to make a change in direction at some point. After several blocks, the crowd began to thin and I got out my city map. Standing under a corner streetlight, I tried to get my bearings and decided I needed to change directions by about ninety degrees. Finally after walking for some distance, I asked a cab driver for directions. He said, “Go straight ahead for one km and turn right at the fourth traffic light.” And so I did. Much to my surprise, I came out at a very familiar corner, the one where I'd met Ania and Justyna in the McDonald's restaurant. But still, I had another km to go to reach my apartment. At least I wasn't alone. The streets were occupied with revelers on foot and the streets were busy, especially with taxicabs carrying inebriated celebrants. Finally, I arrived home at two o'clock, having hiked the long way around the perimeter of a huge triangle. It had been one of my more memorable welcomes to a new year. On January 2, I picked up a copy of USA Today to see the headlines, “Violence Rings in New Year, Accidents Also Mar Celebrations.” It said, “Revelers around the world welcomed the New Year with high hopes and traditional silliness, but violence overshadowed some celebrations. In Poland 146 people were injured during New Year's celebrations; mainly in fireworks accidents.” Although I personally had not seen physical injuries in the Old Town celebration, I could certainly understand why Poland had racked up injuries to 146 people in New

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Year celebrations. I had spent one New Year's Eve in Old Town Warsaw and once was enough —“Been there, done that!” Saturday morning, January 3, 1998, Ania Turlinska came by my apartment and introduced me to her boyfriend from Germany. I gave her the keys to the apartment that she had arranged for me and bid them farewell. The taxi arrived that she had ordered. The driver took me to the Warsaw Airport. There I boarded a Polish LOT Airlines plane bound for Chicago. I departed Warsaw, again with a sense of sadness, but also with satisfaction. Two years earlier I had promised to return. I had kept the promise. Yes, tomorrow finally came! A second time!

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

Appendix A Cooperative Extension System Personnel On Overseas Assignments Through USDA/Extension Service 1991-1995 Polish/American Extension Project To assist Poland's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Economy to plan and carry out the restructuring and reorientation of Poland's Agricultural Advisory Service. The result has been an extension system that works more closely with private farmers, producer associations, and rural communities to provide them with the skills necessary to operate successfully in a market economy.

Dates of Assignmen t

Location

Ag. Economist

4/94-10/94

Tarnobrzeg

Rural Sociologist Ext. Agent

5/91-6/92 6/91-12/91

Warsaw Leszno

Ext. Economist

6/91-12/91

Leszno

Verne House

Ext. Economist

6/94-7/95

Czestochowa, Tarnow

Johnny Jordan

Ext. Economist

1/93-12/93

Gdansk, Zamosc

Reg. Dairy Specialist

6/95-12/95

Wloclawek

Ag. Ext. Agent

6/92-12/92

Bielsko-Biala

Title Alabama A & M University James Richardson Auburn University John Burton R. Gregg Hodges George Young Clemson University

Cornell University Elizabeth Claypoole Monika Crispin

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Andrew Dufresne Vincent Ladue Mary Misek

Frm. Mngmnt. Agent

6/93-12/93

Krosno

Ext. Assn. Director Ext. Agent

4/94-10/94 1/95-12/95

Walter Nelson John Thurgood

Ag. Program Leader Ag. Program Leader

6/94-12/94 1/92-6/92

Lodz Elblag, Warsaw4H Ciechanow Siedlce

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Tomorrow Finally Came!

University of Georgia Judy Chandler Melba Cooper Bill Miller Richard Schermerhorn Peter Shumway George Westberry University of Hawaii

Leadership Dev. Spec. Leadership Dev. Spec. Ag. Economist Ag. Economist

N/A N/A 6/91-12/95 1/94-4/94

Warsaw Warsaw Olsztyn/various Warsaw

Staff Dev./Training Frm. Mngmnt. Specialist

6/92-12/95 4/94-10/94

Warsaw Radom

Kent Fleming

Ag. Economist

6/95-12/95

Szczecin

Ag. Economist

1/95-7/95

Konin

Ag. Economist Home Ecconomics Agent

6/94-7/95 6/92-7/93

Slupsk, Elblag Lublin, Skierniewice

Neil Harl

Ag. Economist

2/90

Arnold Paulsen

Ag. Finance Specialist

1/94-3/94

(Proj. Dev. Team) Poznan

Econ. Dev. Specialist Ext. Director (Retired) Ext. Agric. Economist

4/94-10/94 5/90-3/91 6/92-12/92

Lodz Warsaw Bielsko-Biala

Ext. Agent Ext. Economist Int'l. Marketing Spec.

1/95-7/95 5/91-6/92 12/92-12/95

Legnica Warsaw Various

University of Illinois Mary Lou Carlson Duane Erickson Barbara Farner

Iowa State University

Kansas State University David Darling Fred Sobering Gerald Warmann University of Kentucky Rodney Grusy A. Lee Meyer Richard Mook

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Tomorrow Finally Came! John Ragland

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Assoc. Ext. Director

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3/91-8/95

Warsaw

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University of Maryland Richard Curran Dale Johnson Irmgard Koscielniek Susan Schoenian Bruce Sorter Patricia White

County Ext. Director Ext. Economist Home Economics Agent Farm Management Agent CRD Specialist CRD Agent

1/93-7/93 1/92-12/92 6/95-12/95

Gdansk Koszalin, Torun Gorzow

1/93-7/93

Jelenia Gora

6/91-12/91 6/91-12/91

Olsztyn Plock

Michigan State University John Aylsworth Philip Seitz

Int'l. 4-H Coordinator County Ext. Director

6/92-8/92 1/92-7/93

Julia Tarsa

4-H Agent

9/92-12/92

Leszno Przemysl, Nowy Sacz, Jelenia Gora Various

5/92 6/91-12/91

(Conference) Walbrzych

6/91-12/91

Walbrzych

6/93-12/93 1/93-7/93

Biala Podlaska Skierniewice

9/91 1/92-6/92

Koszalin Siedlce

6/92-12/92 1/95-7/95

Bialystok Piotrkow Trybunalski Ostroleka Pila

University of Minnesota Patrick Borich John Cunningham Wayne Hansen

Kevin Klair Kent Olson Claudia Parliament Blake Peterson Joseph Schimmel Wayne Schoper William Zimmerman

Ext. Director Agricultural Ext. Agent Agricultural Ext. Agent Farm Management Spec. Ag. Ext. Economist Agricultural Economist Farm Credit Adm. Ext. Economist Ag. Ext. Agent Ag. Ext. Agent

6/93-12/93 6/95-12/95

Montana State University

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Jim Johnson

Charles Rust

Farm Management Spec.

4/92-5/92

Various

4/93-7/93

Wroclaw

Ext. Marketing Specialist

6/91-12/92 9/95-12/95

Plock/various Warsaw

Agricultural Economist

1/95-7/95

Sieradz

University of Nebraska Lynn Lutgen

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University of New Hampshire Nancy Adams

Ag. Ext. Agent

6/94-12/94

Czestochowa

Ext. Marketing Specialist North Carolina State University

1/93-7/93

Chelm

Darwin Braund

Assoc. Dept. Head, An Sci County Ext. Director County Ext. Director

6/95-12/95

Szczecin

6/95-12/95 6/93-12/93

Pila Opole

Ext. Economist Ext. Economist

1/93-12/93 1/92-6/92

Suwalki, Opole Wroclaw

Agricultural Economist

1/92-12/92

Przemysl, Lublin

Agricultural Specialist County Ext. Director

9/91 6/92-12/92

Koszalin Bialystok

6/94-12/95 2/91-6/91

Slupsk, Sieradz, Zielona Gora Various

1/93-7/93 1/92-6/92 Intermittent 1/95-7/95 6/93-10/93 6/91-12/91

Suwalki Koszalin Various Konin Ostroleka Rzeszow

New Mexico State University Gene Ott

Gene Brewer Daniel Smith Ohio State University Richard Duvick Allan Lines

Oklahoma State University Damona Doye Oregon State University James Beebe Michael Stoltz

Pennsylvania State University Nancy Alcorn Thomas Brewer James Clark Sam Crossley Don Evans Leslie Firth Susan Fox George Greaser

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Home Economics Agent Coop. & Marketing Spec. Ext. Agent County Ext. Director Assistant Ext. Director County Ext. Director County Ext. Director Farm Management Spec. -181-

Tomorrow Finally Came! Jake Guffey Jay Irwin David Kantner

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County Ext. Director County Ext. Director Regional Ext. Director

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4/94-10/94 6/91-12/91 6/92-12/92

Lomza Rzeszow Torun

Tomorrow Finally Came! Pennsylvania State University (continued) H. Lou Moore

Farm Management Spec.

2/91-6/91

Various

Donald Overdorff Nick Place Richard Poorbaugh Mary Saylor Gary Sheppard Sanford Smith Laurence Yeager

County Ext. Agent

4/94-5/94 6/95-12/95

Poznan Wloclawek

County Ext. Agent Spec. Farm Cooperatives Assoc. Prof. Ext. Ed. County Ext. Agent Nat. Res. Ext. Agent Area Marketing Agent

1/95-7/95 6/95-12/95

Tarnow Gorzow

1/92-6/92 4/94-10/94 1/93-12/93 6/91-12/91

Wroclaw Tarnobrzeg Chelm,Krosno Nowy Sacz

County Ext. Director

6/93-12/94

Biala Podlaska, Radom

Agricultural Economist

4/93-6/93

Lublin

County Ext. Agent

1/95-7/95

Legnica

Ext. Director (Retired)

2/92-3/92

Various

Agricultural Economist

4/94-10/94

Lomza

Ext. Marketing Specialist Washington State University

4/93-7/93

Olsztyn

Ed Adams

6/94-12/94

Ciechanow

Purdue University John Ewart

South Dakota State University Richard Shane University of Tennessee Michael Smith Texas A&M University Daniel Pfannstiel Ken Stokes Utah State University DeeVon Bailey

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Tomorrow Finally Came! Enid Cox

County Chair

6/93-12/93

Zamosc

3/95-11/95

Various

West Virginia University Robert Maxwell

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Agribusiness Advisor

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University of Wyoming Jerry Langbehn

County Ext. Director

1/95-7/95

Piotrkow Trybunalski

Various 6/91-8/91

Various Warsaw/Various

Various

Various

6/92-12/93 Various

Warsaw Various

2/90 4/91-5/91

Various Various

11/92

Various

11/92 2/93 Various

Various Conference Various

6/95-12/95

Zielona Gora

USDA/EXTENSION SERVICE Myron Johnsrud Vivan Jennings Richard Rankin David Holder Earl Teeter Janet Poley Connie McKenna Donald West Henry Bahn Chuck Graves Michael McGirr

Administrator (former) Dept. Adm./Agriculture Dept. Adm./Management NPL/Marketing Director/Int'l. Programs Director/CIT (former) NPL/Staff & Organ. Dev. NPL/Farm Management NPL/Marketing Budget Director Int'l. Programs Spec.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute Truda Roper

County 4-H Agent

TOTAL = 105 Universities With Three or More Personnel (12) Auburn Cornell Georgia Illinois Kansas State Kentucky

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Maryland Michigan State Minnesota North Carolina State Penn State USDA

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Appendix B The Province of Szczecin (from the 1993 Guidebook of the Agricultural Extension Service Centers) WODR THE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE CENTER BARZKOWICE

Wojewodzki Osrodek Doradztwa Rolniczego BARZKOWICE, 73-134 Barzkowice Location: The Center is located at Barzkowice, 20 kms from the city of Stargard Szczecinski. Public transportation is available by train, which stops at a station near Barzkowice, or by PKS bus. Organizational Structure: The Center has a total of 85 employees, including 15 subject matter specialists, 14 technical staff, 16 support staff, and 40 advisors, headquartered at 10 regional offices in the following towns or cities: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Chojna Gryfino Pyrzyce Szczecin Stargard Szczecinski

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Goleniow Nowogard Lobez Kamien Pomorski Gryfice

The number of farms served by one advisor: 630 Training facilities include two lecture rooms with capacities of 38 and 60 persons, respectively. The Center has its own printing facilities and publishes a monthly magazine, “Aktualnosci Rolnicze,” with 3,000 copies distributed. Priorities of the Extension Service include providing farmers with reliable technological, economic, and business information in order to obtain maximum economic effects.

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Appendix C SOME MORE IMPORTANT FACTS OF AGRICULTURE IN THE PROVINCE (from the 1993 Guidebook of the Agricultural Extension Service Centers)

Population: 972,000 Area: 9981 km Farm land according to use of land: (ha = hectare = 2.5 acres) Total

529.5 thousand ha

including: plow land

402.2 thousand ha

orchards

3.8 thousand ha

meadows

85.9 thousand ha

pastures

37.4 thousand ha

Farm land according to type of ownership: Types of farms Private Cooperative State

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Thousand of ha 185.9 35.5 294.6

Number of farms 25,238 44 94

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Average area of farm (ha) 7.4 806.8 3134.0

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Private farms according to their size: Specification

Groups of farms according to their area in ha* .5-1.99

2.0-4.99

5.0-6.99

7.0-9.99

10.014.99

15.0 & up

Total

Number of farms

10,806

3,836

1,127

2,491

4,359

3,951

26,570

% of farms

40.7

14.4

4.2

9.4

16.4

14.9

100

% of farm lands

no data

*ha = hectare = 2.5 acres The scientific and research institutions involved in agriculture in the province: 1) The University of Agriculture in Szczecin 2) The Research Institute of Animal Production - The Experimental Station at Kolbacz 3) The Institute for Land Reclamation and Grassland Farming - The Division in Szczecin 4) The Research Team of Agricultural Buildings in Szczecin 5) The Local Chemical and Agricultural Station 6) The Central Laboratory of Feed Industry END OF BOOK „ Copyright 1999 Darwin G. Braund All rights reserved Secoond Edition

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