Wait, wait! Buds, close back up!  Dyngus Day isn't for another 3 weeks! Check out Janice Habuda's article on the effects of our unseasonably warm weather on the Polish tradition.

My parents grew up on the East side of Buffalo, just off of Broadway, in between Filmore and Bailey Avenues. From the memories my family has illustrated, the image that sits in my head is the quintessential 1950’s, Leave it to Beaver kind of neighborhood, only…“citified”: concrete playgrounds filled with laughter; boys in button-up t-shirts and high socks dodging girls in their knee length dresses running back and forth across the street; the milk-man just finishing up his morning deliveries paving way for the man with the popcorn stand to start pushing around his cart; lovers walking hand and hand headed towards 998 Broadway to Sattler’s 3rd floor jewelry department; shoppers going about their business in and out of the bakeries, butcher’s shops, five-and-dime stores, you name it, all within a matter of blocks. This is the kind of neighborhood I wish was still in existence; I think everyone does.

However, the once cheerful, family-tight neighborhoods have deteriorated through the years into empty, condemned houses and buildings, shattered glass and barren blocks of empty lots where businesses and houses once stood.

And yet, hope remains. Driving onto Ashley Street to see my grandmother’s old house, amid the graffiti, overgrown hedges and boarded up doors, abandoned daffodils blossomed. Being one of the first flowers of spring, the daffodil symbolizes rebirth, new beginnings, respect and unrequited love. Less than a half a mile down the road sits the Broadway Market, a meeting place for business and community that is now over 120yrs old. The Broadway Market is the daffodil of the East Side; just when it seems that there is no life, spring springs and the Broadway Market is reborn.

Though this used to be an everyday market where vendors would sell exotic fruits, meats and delicacies from their homelands and shoppers would flood to stands to buy the freshest catch, the Broadway Market has now become a “Mecca” for Eastern European traditions during the Easter season. Proudly selling the essentials including the “baranek” (ba-(d)RON-ick, lightly roll the “r”) – buttered lamb, cross bread, kielbasa, zesty horseradish  along with Easter chocolates and pastries (including “ chrusciki” – croos-CHEE-ki) , the market also offers wines, plants (pussy willows), meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, Easter and year-round gifts, Polish, Italian, German and Ukranian knick-knacks and clothing…really, a lot of unique, sometimes silly, items.

A special characteristic that separates the environment of the market from department stores or chained grocery stores is the people who work there. The vendors of the Broadway Market are the kind of people that want to talk to you. They want to hear your stories and your traditions just as they are willing to tell you theirs. Monika Poslinski, owner of the Pol-Gifts Market, will tell you how she was ordered to take Russian as a schoolgirl and left Gdansk right before the fall of communism in Poland. She came to the United States not knowing a bit of English and yet has come to own her own shop with hardly any trace of a Polish accent! Mike Hnat, detail artist and illustrator of thousands of eggs, will tell you how he’s been keeping the art of pisanki alive since learning the skills from his mother and continues to pass down his techniques to his family. These people are ordinary people, just like you and me, but their passions have made them extraordinary.

If you want to take a step back in time and get a glimpse as to what market life was like for a time, I suggest taking a trip to the Broadway Market. Be it an afternoon with friends, family or loved ones, its sure create a memorable experience. Time may have changed the landscape of the East side, but the traditions of the past live on through the families who care to protect their culture and celebrate their heritage. Like the daffodil, hopefully the Broadway Market will continue to grow for generations to come.

NOTE: given that there are only a couple weeks until Easter, be prepared for the crowds. Yes, you will have to wait in line to be served. Yes, you may be pushed around by other customers. In circumstances like this, just smile. There’s no point in getting anxious or upset. Strike up conversation with your neighbor and learn something new about them. That’s what a market is – an exchange goods and knowledge.

Last year, April Fool’s Day fell on a Friday; I remember because I made a big stink about trying to make my prank leave students in tears for the weekend. Now, that may sound a bit harsh…I thought it was hilarious, but let me first explain my prank.

As I was teaching between two schools (M/F at school 1 and T/TH at school 2), the teachers of School 1 warned me that the following Friday would be “Poisson d’Avril,” a day for teachers and students to pull pranks on one another. Of course these pranks would be harmless as my students ranged from 5-11 years old but I knew they have something planned for “English teacher.” In effort to get my guard up quick I came up with something that would knock their socks off. They should have known to never underestimate the American teaching assistant!

Friday morning came and their cute little faces swarmed around me laughing and giggling as they clapped my back to greet, “Bonjour Marie!” “Salut coucou, salut!” “Bisous, Marie, bisous!” I knew they were being their sneaky little selves posting brightly colored fishes on my back to make me the fool, which was fine as it was all in good fun. Even the teachers were all smiles as they herded their students into the classrooms with fish on their backs.

Walking into my first class of the morning, CE2 or 3rd grade, I had to use all the strength I could muster to keep a straight face and prevent myself from laughing. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the room sulking, tears in my eyes trying desperately to keep the droplets from falling down my face. In the following minutes, I told my class of 32 8-year-olds that my contract was cancelled, that I was leaving for home and that I was never going to see them again. Their once smiling, welcoming faces immediately dropped and turned to worried, furrowed brows. A couple asked some questions as to why I was leaving and where I was going. Even the teacher looked at me confused and upset as she wasn’t notified of my leaving. In continuing my shtick, I explained that I didn’t have any answers, that I didn’t want to leave and that I didn’t have any choice in the matter.

That was the quietest class 3rd grade class I ever had; I could have heard a pin drop. The students were attentive and they listened, probably because they were a bit heart-broken. For the most part, my classes were the light-hearted 45 minutes out of their school day. We played games, colored, worked on crafts, and usually sang and danced about. Once and awhile there were worksheets and tests to take but the grades really didn’t matter. I think I had struck a nerve. Tee hee… J

Fine Fine Fine. The truth. With 5 minutes to spare, I explained that the announcement regarding my contract and my leaving was a “Poisson d’avril.” The children cheered, laughed, jumped up and down and came over and pulled me down to give me bisous. The teacher came up to me and complimented my trick admitting that I had her worried. Did I feel bad? Yes, a little, but it was April Fool’s Day! They should have known!! I asked the 3rd graders to not reveal my trick and to keep it a secret as I went off to terrorize their schoolmates.

The other classes accepted this information as the first and (for me) it was a pleasant afternoon of well-behaved children – truly, something all teachers want out of their day. My CM2, or 5th graders, were the kindest in presenting me with cards and pictures for me to remember them by. See! Elementary students aren’t always monsters; they can be caring and compassionate little ones!

All in all, probably my best trick to date.

Click here to learn more about Poisson d'Avril

Gerit Quealy, journalist with the Huffington Post, debates with Malachy McCourt (brother of Angela's Ashes author Frant McCourt) the Americanized dominance of the Irish holiday. Interesting article: Sober St. Patrick's: Drunken Past, Sparkling Future

Check out what Anne Neville of the Buffalo News has to say about the history and lasting traditions of the parades in Buffalo, N.Y.




written 3/18/12

I hope that you all have plans for this weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities as there are many options to choose from. Between the “Old Neighborhood’s” St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday in the First Ward and Valley neighborhoods, the parade on Sunday along Delaware Ave, and the restaurants and bars that will be going bonkers with Irish-themed happy hours and drink specials, there is much to see and do. I'll in be in attendance at the parade on Sunday trying to balance a good time with bumping elbows. Hopefully I won’t lose any teeth.

Now, I know it’s going to be a long St. Patrick’s Day weekend, what with the holiday sitting right in the middle of it all, but remember that St. Patrick’s Day is NOT a day solely devoted to drinking to the point of stupidity or blackouts. Yes its fun to wear “Kiss me, I’m Irish!” pins and to dress in your best green garb, but that’s not the whole of it either (in fact, to some it may be insulting).  The point of the holiday is to celebrate the Irish and their culture; to appreciate and understand what they have suffered through in their lengthy history and what they have prospered to become.

I’m not going to go into a drawn-out lesson on the history of Ireland; that I’ll leave for you to discover on your own, but I will give you a starting point: YourIrish.

Jameson Distillery offers guests knowledge, insight and free drinks!

Its 9:40am on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day. What would be perfect right now? An Irish Coffee, complete with Jameson, Bailey’s, a dollop of whipped cream, and oh yea, maybe the coffee too…yum yum yum! And if I had some type of travel teleportation device (NOTE to self: learn about physics and teleportation) I know exactly where I’d go to get one: the Jameson Distillery in Dublin, Ireland.

 I was in Dublin last year for the holidays and on St. Stephen’s Day (Dec. 26) my friend and I went to the Jameson Distillery to learn about whiskey. Now I didn’t know anything about Jameson then nor do I really know much about it now (other than it’s thrice distilled), but the distillery is a fun exploration of how the whiskey is made along with the history to John Jameson. When you enter the foyer, you go to the Welcome Desk to set up your tour time. Until your slot comes, there are the gift shop, informative displays/pamphlets and bar (equipped with some classy high-end Jameson Whiskey) to keep you busy.

ADVICE: When your time slot has been announced and you go in to watch a mini biography on John Jameson and his whiskey, afterwards, they’ll take volunteers for a taste-testing that happens at the end of the tour. RAISE YOUR HAND! They’ll take volunteers from the ladies first and then the men, I think five each. After the whole tour, they’ll sit you down, you’ll get three shots of labeled whiskey (Jameson obviously being one) and will ask you to taste the difference between the whiskies as they explain the differences in flavor. I, of course, couldn’t really handle the consumption of all that whiskey (even though it was free booze!) so my friend who accompanied me happily obliged. Afterwards, I receieved a nice little certificate signifying my completion of this "test."

The idea of wax figurines set in scenes along the route is a bit cheesy but in combination with the machinery and whisky stills, which show guests how everything works, you know that these people know their stuff. The tour is led by a friendly guide who is knowledgeable and passionate about Jameson; if you ask a question, they’ll know the answer.

As a part of your admission, at the end of the tour, everyone is offered a classic Jameson drink: Jameson on the rocks, Jameson and cranberry or Jameson and Ginger. I took the second…I love cranberry juice. The full and encompassing Jameson added to the tart juice creates a mixture that is like an explosion of excitement.

After the tour, it only seemed appropriate to get a drink from the bar. Being mid-afternoon and already having my shots and mixed drink, I took things a bit slower and ordered my Irish Coffee…::sigh:: boy was that good.

All in all, Jameson Distillery was a good, no great choice. I highly advise checking it out. Since it does offer free alcohol to all its “at-age” customers, try to get there during the off-season. Surprisingly, that happens to be St. Stephen’s Day and probably around the winter time. Dublin is a merry place to be in the winter but I wouldn’t bet it being their peak season.

Right. Now to go make that Irish coffee!

For more information on the Jameson Distillery, click here >>

A day on the country roads just outside Chablis, France, where I learned to drive standard with some French friends. By the way, an important word to know before starting the lesson: "freiner."