Living in a Polish Fairytale

So far one of my favorite things in all of Poland is the interesting way many of the older Polish couples spend weekends.

In the middle of Warsaw they have these blocks fenced off and portioned out into little garden plots.

The owners of these plots are VERY proud of them and see spending their weekends here as a huge luxury.

Those who know me know that I can be a bit fussy when it comes to where I sleep. So, you can see how it is a little difficult for me to label these shacks, umm I mean houses luxurious. There is no plumbing; which means no water or bathrooms. Every Saturday I have seen men carrying big bottles of water to their garden houses!

But what they don’t have in modern convenience they make up for in charm and beauty. It must be like stepping into a fairytale. Every time I run by I imagine a new set of characters from the Grimm brothers’ acting out their stories. And maybe I've imagined what it would be like to live there - well, until I had to pee.

I just think the whole concept is amazing and I really want to be invited over for dinner. Except I wonder what they eat????

Polish Cooking 101

We had the very best meal on Saturday that was complimented with Sałatka (Polish for salad). It however was no salad; it was absolute deliciousness! We even went to the trouble of attempting to communicate with the waitress to find out what all was in it. 

Tonight we decided to try it for dinner.

You start with Cabbage, Carrot, Cucumber, Red Pepper, Tomato, Sprouts and Corn.

Chop everything really finely. Then, add Dill, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Lemon Juice, and Olive Oil.

Toss it all together and YUMMY!

The Ground For A Culture Shock

As hard as it is for me to admit, I have really been struggling with a little culture shock - okay, maybe a lot of culture shock. Before we arrived, I loved the idea of being fully immersed in Polish culture. I just forgot a few key aspects of full immersion. Like, perhaps the fact that when no one else speaks English and you don’t speak Polish, you can’t really get to know the people around you. Or when you don’t read Polish; no matter your map reading skills, figuring out how to get where you need to go is a little more challenging. And there is the big one- when you are a foreigner in a foreign country, you can feel pretty isolated. Don’t get me wrong, I know I am where I am supposed to be and I am really enjoying Poland. I will just be extremely grateful when we get to move to our permanent house and the girls begin school – because that means structure and English speakers!

So I share all that to explain why I have been a little fragile lately. And maybe I get a little teary when there is no good reason to.

But today something amazing happened. As I was sitting across the McDonald’s booth (Yes, they have them here – No, it doesn’t taste the same- No, I’m not thinking about why that might be) from my girls, I recognized this amazing twinkle in Carlie’s eye. It was in Alaynah’s eyes too. I had to sit back and let it all sink in. They are having the time of their lives. Everything is new and amazing to them. Their entire world is growing at warp speed and they are loving every minute of this adventure.

God whispered a little secret to me. He reassured me that we are right where we need to be and that He is blessing my family. When God is sweet enough to reassure me once again, then I think I can deal with just about anything. Giving my family my full attention and focusing on meeting their needs is a privilege that I haven’t had before and this time will be over all too soon. I think I will just choose peace and enjoy each day.

Bring on the culture shock. I have found my ground and I am good to go!

It's a Journey - right?

So I should probably start with letting you know that I’m somewhat directionally challenged. I am comfortable once I have been somewhere a few times, but I have been known to get a little turned around. That disclaimer being stated: last Tuesday, me and the girls took quite a little trip – unintentionally.

The day started with lots of excitement. We went to work with Jason, toured the embassy, got our ID badges, met with lots of different departments, shopped at the commissary, and had lunch. All in all, it was a fun morning. After lunch the girls and I decided to walk through the park across the street before heading home.

The park was amazing. The flowers and foliage were in full bloom. The playground was great. We spent entirely too much time enthralled by a lady with a pet rabbit – on a leash! Who knew!

We then felt compelled to stop in at a newly opened café for some much deserved dessert. We walked quite a bit so far during the day and a little apple pie and strawberry cake seemed like a fair trade. Not to mention, free WiFi! Having very limited internet availability right now has proven to be frustrating to say the least. Any café with free WiFi is very appealing and tends to draw us in.

So after our little detour, we planned to head back to the embassy to get on the bus we arrived on, but decided to be adventurous and walk a little in the area we were in to see if we could find a bus that would get us home. Let’s just call this the first mistake.

After walking all the way to a metro station that we had been to the weekend before, the girls decided they would rather walk back to the embassy bus stop than take the metro and hike home from the closest stop to our house – 3 miles away. So we detoured again, and found our way back to the embassy. By this time, Carlie was complaining and needed to go to the bathroom and Alaynah was giddy about all the walking and how good it was for us, which apparently in teenage girl code means she is about over the whole walking thing.

When we arrived at the bus stop, we had a 12 minute wait for the bus. I just so happened to ask a lady waiting with us if we were at the correct stop. In broken English she assured me we were not and that we had to get to a stop that was across the street and down two blocks. Because Carlie really had to go to the bathroom, we practically ran to the new stop – just in time to watch the 222 bus whiz right by. It didn’t even stop. Let’s just call this the point at which the frustration began.

I assumed the bus stop lady must have misunderstood me so we started off back toward the original stop. For good measure I checked with the police in front of the embassy; they were sure that the original stop would get us home. So we caught the next bus and within minutes knew we were heading in the wrong direction. I just began praying that the bus would loop around to the beginning once we reached in the end. No such luck! Once the grumpy driver finished the route – he yelled at us in Polish to get off. Or at least I’m pretty sure it was something like that. Let’s just call this the beginning of the confusion.

And by confusion, I mean being lost. We finally discerned from our friend the grumpy bus driver that we could get off his bus and get on the one waiting in front of us and that it would get us home. Our new grumpy driver said he would be heading toward our house. Yay! Except we only had a few minutes left on our bus tickets and there was NO WAY we were going to make it home. So we rode it as far as we could and had to get off. We were about a half a mile on the other side of the embassy. This is when one keeps her head down and bites her lip and just walks. She may or may not have given her children the look that ensures they do the same.

Once we were back at the embassy for the 5^th time, we went in so Carlie could use the bathroom and ask for help. The marine at the front apparently knew less about how we could get home than I did. Let’s just call this the time when steam began to pour out of my ears.

While I waited on Carlie, I formulated a plan. It was not easy, and it was not direct; but it was the only way I knew we could get home. So once again we left the embassy and headed out. After walking off all of my frustration we arrived at the Metro station I knew would get us near our side of town. I bought new tickets and tried to use deductive reasoning to figure out which stop to get off at. I guessed and got lucky! We were only a few miles away from home. And I knew how to get there! Let’s just call this the “Dear God, if you get me home, I swear I’ll never leave again!” phase of the journey.

On the way home we passed a little grocery store that sold us great Polish frozen pizzas and chocolate. Lots of chocolate! By the time we arrived at the house, Jason was about to call the Marine guard to come look for us. Did I mention I didn’t have a cell phone yet, oh and I don’t speak Polish.

Just inside my front door, laying on the cool tile floor, I decided it would be wise to obtain a map and not leave home without it. Let’s just call that the wisdom gained from experience.

Oh My Poland!!!

After the craziness of our pack out and the heartbreak of saying goodbye, I thought the rest would be a piece of cake… Note to self, when moving to a foreign country and flying internationally for the first time – never be so smug as to think it will be completely smooth sailing.

Our flight out of Atlanta left at 6:00pm. So Thursday morning we slept in (mistake #1) and went out for brunch. We then headed back to the room to quickly dress for our trip and get everything in its proper place.

And we were off

The International concourse was amazing. Our flight was delayed a bit, so we got to spend a little extra time soaking it all in.

8.5 hour flights are LONG and SQUISHED. There was no way to sleep, as I’d hoped so we watched movies and ate. They gave us quite a bit of food.

Several dinner options

Even a continental breakfast

2:30 Georgia time / 7:30 London time we arrived in London. We must have been running on pure adrenaline because we took a bus to our terminal and exchanged some US dollars for Pounds and kept smiles the entire time.

We then got on Polish airlines and took our last leg of the journey.

All of the flying paid off when we got our first look at our home for the next 3 years.

We arrived in Warsaw at 9:00am Georgia time and 2:00 Warsaw time. Jason’s coworker met us and our ton of luggage and took us to our permanent house. She had to get back to the embassy quickly so we were soon left alone with no idea where we were and no Polish money.

This is really when the adventure began! By the end of the day we had found a bank and exchanged our money and found a mall with a grocery store. We were proud of ourselves for figuring it all out and staying awake until bedtime. We even found pizza and FroYo for dinner! We were also introduced to a very new way of life for us – In Europe people walk everywhere!

In the US I struggled to walk 5,000 steps a day and could only make 10,000 if it was a run day. Here I average about 15,000 or more!

There is so much more to the adventure, but it will have to wait for another day.

Dzien Dobry from Poland… 

Milledgeville Memories

My world is about to get a whole lot bigger! But the last 13 years of my life in Milledgeville have been very significant. Milledgeville is where I became an adult. Where I figured out who I was and what I wanted in life. Where I will always call home.

These are some of my favorite places...

My very first home. Jason and I bought it just after we got married. Our little family all came together in this little house. Jason and I learned we both liked renovation in this house. We also learned to really love each other there too.

I love this trolley. Most people who live here have never even been on it. I have probably been on it at least a dozen times. I learned about Milledgeville's rich history riding around with the wind in my hair. I could always go back to those rides when I was wondering what I had gotten myself into when I was getting a history degree.

I love this strip of Hancock Street. Many of the restaurants have changed, and then changed again. They weren't important. The friendships I have made and grown in those buildings are priceless to me. 

Blackbird Coffee. Where I learned to like coffee (well Mocha Lattes), but more importantly where I learned to enjoy spending time all alone. Once upon a time I didn't even like going to the grocery store by myself. I could sit in here and read or just think. It smells good. It makes me feel cool.

First Presbyterian Church. My grandparents have been apart of this church forever! We never attended services other than their Christmas Eve service, but half of the most influential moments in my life took place in this sanctuary. I married my love and I said goodbye to my grandaddy. Both men have been wildly influential in who I am.

My favorite restaurant. They have my favorite dessert - White Chocolate Macadamia Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster. Yum... 

This was Field's Chiropractic Office. I worked here as an office manager. It was a very turbulent time in our lives with lots of changes. I learned so much about my health and how my body worked.

Georgia Military College. In this very building I took my first college classes and realized I actually could go back to school as an adult. Also, I must mention, I hated those stairs. From far away they are unassuming, but I promise they are steep and I dreaded them so much. 

My favorite place at Georgia College and State University. On this campus I found a passion for      life-long learning. The time I spent on this campus was some of the best of my life. And I loved this walkway to class.

Georgia College Library. I think I officially moved in to one of its study rooms for a while. I discovered that I love research surrounded by the smell of old books and the sounds of whispers shared with friends. I felt right at home in the back corner of the third floor.

 

My favorite stretch of road on my most familiar running path. When I first moved to Milledgeville, Bo and I walked these roads countless evenings. When I was first going through Couch to 5K, it was on these roads. When we first knew we were going to move overseas, I would daydream while I ran. I have ran in LOTS of places, but I always come back here. My last US run will be on these streets.

The Depot. This was Georgia College's Gym my first summer taking classes. I learned to run on a treadmill here and learned how far I could push myself. Running all alone on a treadmill in that hot building I found out how much I could do when I am consistent. 

This place has been so many things to my family and I. My family has grown to love the Lord here. God and I have settled many matters on this alter. We have made some of our most precious connections with people we love so much here. We learned to serve others here. Through the ups and downs, this has been our church home and it has housed our people. No matter what, I will always remember Sinclair Baptist Church with so much fondness and such sweet memories. 

No matter where I go. This is home.