What is normal? What an I chasing? Hard to make sense of it all even to myself. Do you know what hurts more than goodbyes? More goodbyes. But this is what the current times demand, so be it. It's been more than a month and I am nowhere closer to standing on my own feet. There's no one more disappointed about my situation than myself. Maybe that's what pushed me to this decision.
Kraków was incredible. Actually, the entire cohesive effort by the hive community within Poland and outside of Poland was incredible. I have a newly fuelled respect for the witnesses that helped me stay afloat the first few days, for Erikah who went beyond what I could even describe to help my situation, Polish hive users who fed me information day and night, of course the hive users of Kraków from KBK, and Kasia who now I feel very comfortable talking to.
It still feels unbelievable, the entire thing. Community members of hive blockchain where KYC doesn't exist, finding ways to trust each other, connecting with each other from around the globe, financially and emotionally helping each other. This is not just my story, but all the Ukrainian Hive users who needed help. Hive was and is there for all of them.
My stay at Kraków was very very short. But my heart aches leaving it all behind. In these few days not only did I fall in love with Kraków (because of its similarities to Kharkiv among many things), but I became very fond of the people I met there. Saying goodbye to them was very tough.
Just looking at how KBK is operated and run through the hive blockchain and how passionate every member was sucked me in immediately. They were more than welcoming and never made me feel like an outsider. Very quickly I felt like I was among close friends.
Surrounded by people better than I am, AND they want to help me get on my feet, how lucky am I?
Dawid spent uncountable hours making me feel at home. Taking me places to see and letting me sit and do my thing in KBK. He helped me with literally everything, from researching legal options to booking my bus ticket. What a man. I love his passion and his creativity. His tenacity is worth admiring. I loved tasting all his new creations, some teas, some coco bean drinks, some chocolate and also playing games he invented. Learning in depth about art and culture with aga. Her free spirit is very inspiring and her passion to use her skills and knowledge to shape the future of Polish children and art is incredible. A lot of interesting conversations with many tangents took place between myself dawid and aga. It taught me something new everytime.
I had many beautiful memories at KBK. No one would believe these are experiences of a war refugee.
But the good people of KBK never made me feel like a war refugee. They made me feel like a friend.
From learning to make Italian cassone with the economist to taking his professional views on modern economical situations. We also traded hive IRL, deleting the need for middlemen services or so, and the hive will stay within the ecosystem since he will be using it to add to his HBD SAVINGS. And of course this transaction was blemish free because of the no fees and fast transaction times. Also, I like his whole 70s look and vibe haha. From the very beginning I felt empowered by Wukas. He is the generous person who let me stay at his place while he went back to his hometown and stayed there. But what was really inspiring is that he has dedicated his life to his passion, and the cool thing was that he is able to monetize his passion only because of hive. From the first minute I didn't feel like a stranger around him, he is a very good person and super friendly. Gregory was an interesting person who I met only once. He traveled to so many places on bike. Even Siberia. He also speaks some Russian. But all of us were amazed that he biked through so many countries. Kamil is an encyclopedia of so many things. He and dawid are human forms of books. Kamil is a really cool person to be around. He has very sound opinions and his knowledge about topics always makes the conversation more fulfilling. Recently I also noticed he has a funny bone. I'm waiting to see if he has something on the occasion of Aprils fools day for us. But this post might never end if I start talking about eveyy one who I met and made me feel at home. For example, Marcin and dawid stayed up till 2 in the morning accompanying me as I waited for my bus. Marcin didn't need to do it, but he still did. Dawid stayed till the last minute and made sure I got onto the bus. All of them really went beyond any expectations and it melts my heart to know there are such kind people around us.
However, I couldn't stay. As much as I want to stay and as much I loved the place, I need to leave. I need to try and get a legal status that would open doors for me. So that I Cann apply for jobs and start supporting my own weight in all ways. Also, it's been long since I've gotten any response about my Ukrainian citizenship. But I can understand why all this is taking time In Poland. It's busy and packed here. So I'll try and go to a place where it is not as packed in hopes to expedite all these legal issues.
I'm writing this post from the bus now. A few 100 kilometers away from Poland already. Thank you hive and Kraków for making me feel at home. Hope this invasion ends soon.
I wish you all the best and hope someday I can do the same and more for others.
