Today, Hania's going to her grandmother's. At home there is a colourful bedsheet which grandma had sewn with her hands. Hania’s mummy was frying "placki", like in the old days, with grandma. They are very tasty but very greasy, afterwards the stomach hurts a bit because you can't stop eating them. Grandma sometimes sends a postcard and before Christmas mum writes to grandma. They drive with two large suitcases, containing many beautiful, colourful fabrics. Grandma is a tailor and mum has a sewing machine and is very good at sewing. The journey by train is very metallic, the carriages are loud, swinging, and Hania sleeps with her brother on a bed that you have to climb up to.
In Vilnius, where grandma lives, they speak a language that mum sometimes speaks to her family at family parties. A few words. Even father sometimes tells jokes in this language. At home at grandma's we speak Polish, only the stepfather speaks Russian. When the family that makes fabrics is at grandma's, women always come by to look at the fabrics and choose some. They pay with pieces of fabric. In return, mum buys golden rings. These are hidden later. It's clear that you can't mention them at the border. Grandma makes very tasty fried potatoes, they are cut into small pieces and burnt crispy. Then she sews with the sewing machine and Hania assists. Sometimes she helps grandma put the thread into the eye of the needle or collects the pins with the magnet from the floor - very funny how they stick to it. Grandma doesn't speak to Hania in the same way, she is not on first-name basis with her but instead asks, for example, "Which class does Hania go to?” That's strange, but she looks at Hania with such loving, soft eyes. Before going to sleep, grandma tells her a long story. That's something special: lying in bed with grandma and listening to her. Grandma gets money from mum, which she then secretly gives to Hania and her brother - and one shouldn't tell the stepfather.
Later, when Hania can write, mum asks her to write a postcard to grandma and to her aunt, mum’s sister, for Easter and Christmas. Hania can later write these two addresses by heart in Russian.