A Sense of Familiarity

           It's funny how this place seems different, yet familiar to me at the same time. The countryside looks like countryside I've seen in Western Europe. Through the windows on the train I see houses that look just like the ones I use to live in in Belgium. If not for the street signs in Polish, I may forget what country I'm in. In Zakopane this weekend, I noticed that the Tatry mountains reminded me of other mountains I had hiked in Greece and Scotland. While thinking about the similarities, it seemed real odd to stumble upon a border crossing way up at the top of one of the peaks. To my right, where my right leg was planted, were the Slovakian mountains. To my left, where my left leg was planted, were the Polish Mountains. Both sides looks exactly the same, except they were comprised of different people, with different nationalities, who speak different languages.
           By drawing lines straight through the mountains we differentiate between groups of people and throw them into neat little boxes defining their culture and terrain. This makes life a lot more simple for people who want to theorize about one group of people and compare them to another. It makes each group distinct and different. But the reality is that borders are quite a bit more fluid than one can see from a map. The architecture shares similarities, the landscape’s are reminiscent of each other and even the people look like memories of those I once knew.
             When we were in Zakopane, Agnieszka's uncle drove us around and I was struck by the similarity between him and my host father in Belgium. Both smoked like chimneys, drove like maniacs and were missing quite a few teeth. It's funny because if he didn't open his mouth, I'd swear I'd be able to talk to him in French. The Radio is also a constant reminder of a general "Europeaness" that seems to be shared by these countries. The same songs that I danced to in Belgium seven years ago, and in Germany three years ago, are still being played on the radio. These songs bring back a kind of nostalgia about living in Europe and of doing European things.
           Since I've been here, I've felt a greater sense of familiarity than I had imagined. Since Poland was on the East side of the Wall, I always thought that it had to be different from the West- but it's not real. Poland is not Siberia. In many ways it looks and feels like countries in the West.