Getting Ready to Ring in 2010 in Budapest

Happy New Year! What an amazing year 2009 has been for our family! And we are delighted to be able to ring in 2010 in such a unique way.

Yesterday was very foggy. We made our way up to Castle Hill but we could not see anything.

The fog was so dense that statues and buildings that were close were not even visible. But Trey tried looking through the binoculars anyway--even with no money, dense fog AND backwards!

Last night we babysat our friends' little ones so they could have a grown up night out. Another American friend, Leanne, arrived in Budapest yesterday. She had gone home to California for Christmas in a whirlwind trip and is now joining us. She is assigned to Kielce, Poland in the southern part of the country. We are so glad to be able to spend time with her and the Key family. Here are Sonya and I at lunch today and Myles, Ben and Leanne being tourists today.

We had a very pretty and warm (45 degrees) day for sightseeing today. We went to Heroes Square where they have a huge monument and statue of Hungarian Heroes. One was St. Stephen, who was the first king of Hungary. The rest of them I had never heard of. I realized today that I know very little about Hungarian history. We stopped to take in the view in front of the Danube of the Parliament Building. It looks like we are in front of a postcard!

We walked up to Castle Hill again today because the weather was so much better. It was quite a climb (yesterday we took a bus--today we walked). We have noticed in Europe that they don't worry about things in disrepair like Americans do. Take a look at the stairs that Ben is climbing...

When we reached the top we were sure glad we came back. Yesterday we really couldn't see anything. Today when we arrived the sun was setting, there was a full moon, people were playing violins nearby and there were tons of people. The view was spectacular. 

Last evening on our way to babysit we picked up Burger King on the way. Trey wore his crown all day long today, everywhere we went! When we were enjoying the view, we noticed a grown up guy also wearing a Burger King crown. He was from San Marino (the country--not California). He came up to Trey, shook his hand and we took a picture of them together.

I have been specifically instructed to hand over the camera and include some pictures of me, so here are Myles and I with the river and city in the background. How's that? :)

It is 7:10 p.m. right now. We are getting ready to head out for the evening to enjoy the festivities of New Year's in Budapest. We are looking forward to fireworks over the Danube at midnight! What a special year for us!

Exploring Budapest

On Monday we took a 2.5 hour train ride from Bratislava to Budapest. The tracks run along the Danube River for most of the trip, and the scenery is beautiful. The river is right there and mountains are on both sides. It was our prettiest trip yet!

We arrived in Budapest at about 3:30 and made our way to our apartment. We have become pretty good at traveling and finding apartments to stay in. The cost is very comparable to a hotel and the apartments are much more comfortable. We bring our own shampoo, soap, food etc. And we eat in as much as we can. But here we have run into a situation that is not quite resolved yet. The first thing I noticed when we walked in the apartment was that there was a Christmas tree up. I thought it was strange that an apartment for rent would have a Christmas tree, but I thought perhaps they were unusually festive. Then I notice that the place is small and has many knickknacks sitting around. It is very common for these apartments to have art and sculptures around, but this place has every surface covered with things (cds, tapes, seashells, pine cones, plants, clocks, framed photographs.)...hmmm.

So I think all of this is weird but we were scheduled to meet some friends so we just left all of our stuff and headed out to visit with the Key Family! They are living in Kielce in southern Poland and are only in Poland through the end of February. In the US, they live in central Illinois but are originally from Alabama (their accents are unmistakable--southerners for sure!). They have a five year old boy and a not quite two year old girl. Trey so enjoys when we meet up with them. He and their five year old have a very good time together. We found a Hungarian restaurant for dinner and it was different and fun! Trey and I had a pork schnitzel that was as big as a medium pizza!

We went back to our friends' apartment and visited for the evening. When we returned to our apartment, we started to unpack our things. First I went to put our leftover dinner and some milk we bought for breakfast into the refrigerator in the kitchen. Imagine my surprise to find the refrigerator completely full with food. That's when we really started to look around. Every drawer is full of stuff. Some guy's underwear is folded in the top drawer of the dresser in the bedroom. The cabinets in the kitchen are filled with food. There are toiletries in the bathroom. What an awkward living arrangement! Myles contacted the property manager Monday evening (of course it was after hours) and told him that we have no room to put our things etc--the apartment is also much smaller than advertised so we are all crammed in two rooms. The manager responded Tuesday morning that he would send the owner over to get his stuff out. That's a tall order for as much stuff that is here!

On Tuesday we met our friends again and spent the day together. We went to the Central Market where there are all kinds of unique Hungarian goods and food. It was fun to see. Our friends have been here since before Christmas and they were telling us about all the geese that had been "hanging" for sale at the shops. We did not see any but we did see a whole pig hanging and quite a few pigs' heads sitting around. Abbie couldn't look!

We walked across a bridge over the Danube called the Chain Bridge. We are staying on the Pest side of the city and Buda is on the other side of the river. We walked over the bridge into Buda and had lunch. Then the dads and Ben went to take a tour of the Parliament Building. It is a beautiful building. The rest of us went to a park with some very long slides and the kids had a blast. Abbie had a jean skirt on and at some point at the slide park, her skirt ripped--a lot! So our next order of business was to find a shop with jean skirts. That proved to be an easy and cheap task and the new one is even cuter than the one that ripped!

We had dinner at an Italian/Hungarian restaurant and headed back to our apartment for the night. No one had come to take anything out. We are hoping to find someplace else to move to but we don't know how possible that is going to be. We are here three more nights and I am most unhappy about our current living arrangements! Today we are going to Castle Hill and will meet up with another Fulbright friend.

Bratislava

We packed a lot into our one day in Bratislava, Slovakia.

We arrived in Bratislava last evening around 6:30. We are staying in a very nice three bedroom apartment near the Old Town.

We set out last night to find something for dinner, but nothing was open! In Poland (and I guess here, too) Christmas and the day after are both holidays where stores and restaurants are closed. The 26th is St. Stephen's Day and is traditionally spent visiting friends and family. Slovakia is over 60% Catholic so religious traditions here are common. We walked and walked. Finally we gave up and stopped in at the McDonald's that was open. There were a lot of people there~~probably because there was nothing else open! So the kids were thrilled with their first meal in Bratislava.

We headed out this morning to see the sights. Slovakia has a population of about five million in the entire country. Bratislava is the capital and the largest city with about 450,000 people. That is the same size as Gdansk. Slovakia is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism this year. 2009 has been a wonderful milestone year for all of the countries formerly under soviet rule.

It was pretty chilly here today (around 32 degrees). We have misplaced Trey's stocking cap. I still think it is here somewhere, but we have not run across it yet. In the meantime we found him a warm toque to wear so he and Myles make the fashion statements for our family.

We went to Mass at the Cathedral of St. Martin. It is quite beautiful and now we have been to a Mass in Slovakian! They were getting ready for some event there and we were hurried out after mass. So we continued our sightseeing. There are lots of unique statues here and we enjoyed seeing them. There is a guy leaning on a bench, a guy with a top hat and this guy coming out of a manhole.

We walked up a big hill to the Bratislava castle. The view of the Danube River and the city was beautiful. It would have been even prettier if it had been warmer, but we're here in December. We can't expect great weather in the middle of winter! You can see several communist style apartment buildings on the other side of the river in the background.

After sightseeing for quite a while we stopped in a coffee shop for a yummy hot chocolate break.

Ben started having a headache this afternoon so we decided to come on back to the apartment to rest a while so it didn't get any worse. We hung out for about an hour and a half. Ben was feeling better so we went out to a Slovakian restaurant. Everyone enjoyed the food: chicken, pork with dumplings, the national dish of Slovakia Bryndzové Halušky--potato dumplings with sheep's milk cheese and bacon. We are in for the evening and are watching Pretty Woman in Slovakian!

Tomorrow we take a train for three hours to Budapest.

A Wonderful Polish Christmas Experience

Merry Christmas! We have had the most wonderful experience this Christmas...

Last evening we were invited to spend Christmas Eve with our neighbors. We are renting the house we are living in from them so technically they are our landlords. But we consider them so much more than that! We arrived at their home and were warmly greeted and introduced to some extended family members who were there.

The family consists of Mariusz (dad--next to Myles), Barbara (mom--right next to Natalie), Karol (23 year old son--next to Mariusz) and Anita (18 year old daughter--pictured below next to Karol with the guitar). Karol is engaged to Karolina and we have met her before, but she was spending Christmas Eve with her family. Anita is getting ready to graduate from high school in June. She is going to university in the fall to study music. She is a very talented vocalist. She also plays the violin.

Their table was overflowing with 12 different dishes. This was a traditional Polish Christmas dinner. There were several fish dishes (one was fish in jello--no kidding!). There were several types of pierogies. The mushroom ones were out of this world--so yummy! There were pasta dishes, one of which was made with honey and basil. That is different from anything I have tried before! There were at least five different desserts that I have never seen before. As we sat around the table, Karol brought his guitar out and the family sang Christmas Carols in Polish.

When Natalie was in 6th grade last year, her class learned a couple of Polish Christmas songs. Our hosts encouraged Natalie to start singing one of the songs and as soon as they recognized it (very quickly) they all joined in. Then they sang Jingle Bells just for us!

They showed us family photos including Mariusz and Barbara's wedding pictures and Mariusz's parents' wedding photos. His parents were there last evening. They also showed us some photos of when they went to Rome in 2001. They have a photo of nine year old Anita sitting at the feet of Pope John Paul II and they are speaking to each other! They had gone to Rome with a choir group and were singing for the Pope. Security had asked the group to move along but Pope John Paul II motioned for Anita to come see him. One photo in particular was incredible--little Anita is gazing into the eyes of the Pope and he is looking at her so lovingly. I asked them if they would make a scanned copy for me. When I get that I will post it. We got home at about 9:30 and everyone went to bed.

The kids were up early--I mean TREY was up early to see what Santa brought. He and I got everyone else up and moving and opening presents.

People here in Poland go to midnight mass for Christmas. We did not do that. We went to 9:30 mass this morning with all of the old people who also did not go to midnight mass. I think there were seven children in the church this morning (and four of those were mine!). The vast majority of the other attendees were over 75! The church was decorated beautifully with large Christmas trees and a gorgeous Nativity scene. Also, one of the songs they sang at church this morning was the same one that Natalie knew from the Christmas program last year so that was fun!

After mass we came home and finished packing for our trip. We took the train to Warszawa where we are spending the night. We had Christmas dinner in the hotel restaurant tonight. It was a bit unorthodox but a good family day, so that's all that counts! Tomorrow we are continuing our trip and will arrive in Bratislava, Slovakia in the evening.

Cold Snap in Europe

Our internet is back up and running! It has been on the fritz for several days. I have received more than a few emails and notes on my Facebook asking about the cold weather here. First of all thanks to everyone who was thinking of us! It has been crazy cold here, though not any colder than what we get in KC. It is not usual for it to get so cold where we are because we are on the water but lucky for us (sarcasm), this is an unusual winter so far! It really has not been too bad for us except for this past weekend.

We do not have a car here so we take public transportation or walk wherever we go. Our tram stops, depending on where we want to go, are each about a 10 minute walk from our house. This weekend the air temp was between 0-7. We knew this was coming so Ben and I went to the store on Thursday and stocked up for the weekend. We were loaded down by the time we got home but I was glad to have everything we needed. Usually we go to the store every day, or every other day. Friday was not so bad. We had Trey's play and then were home for the day. Friday night, Saturday and Sunday were bitterly cold. Ben was getting a little stir crazy and he and his friend concocted an idea that Ben come over to his house. We (being unreasonable as we are) told him that he was not going to walk to the tram to take it downtown, then take a bus for 40 minutes and then walk a mile to his friend's house in these temperatures. Wow! Are we overprotective or what?

Yesterday was supposed to be above freezing but it wasn't. I think the high was 23 or something chilly like that. It is supposed to warm up a bit later in the week (at least above freezing). The kids had school on Monday and then they had their school Christmas party and "Christmas Quiz" yesterday. They were divided into groups and competed for a certificate. Ben was on the reindeer team, Natalie was on the elf team and Abbie and Trey were both snowflakes. They had pizza at school and exchanged their Secret Santa gifts. They really love being a part of the school. The school starts again on January 6th which is a Wednesday. So my kids will have their first day back on January 11th. Think of how much home schooling we are going to get done!

On a much different topic, there was the recent issue of the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from Auschwitz being stolen! We followed that story closely. I think it felt much more personal to us since we were just there in October.

They found the thing cut into three pieces in a forest on the outskirts of Gdansk. Talk about close to home! According to the news, the plan was for it to be taken on a ferry and make it's way to Sweden to some collector there. Now there are a bunch of guys in a heap of trouble.

We are ready for Christmas! This is a very simple and scaled down Christmas for us--I'm really liking it! Next year I will make a traditional Polish 12 course meal when I have my own stuff in my own big kitchen! We have been invited to spend Christmas Eve with our neighbors and are looking forward to that. We are leaving for our big trip on Friday at noon (5:00 a.m. KC time). We have received quite a few Christmas cards from the US. All of them have been opened by the post office or customs or something. I don't know if customs in the US opens stuff like they do here, but it is quite a different experience for us!

Merry Christmas to all!

The Gingerbread Man

This morning we went to the kids' school to see Trey perform his role as the Gingerbread Man.

This performance was done by the "Junior Primary" and the preschool kids. Junior Primary is equivalent to grades 1-3. There were eight kids in the production. Trey was the Gingerbread Man. It was absolutely adorable. When we first walked in they handed us "theater binoculars" that they had made themselves!

They incorporated several Christmas carols into the play and everyone sang. Between scenes they distracted the audience by having sock puppets dance to Christmas music.

The kids did a great job--they were so cute!

At the end of the play the kids took their bows and then sprayed silly string all over the audience! I've been to my share of childrens' productions and this is the first time I have seen this happen! I was standing by the director of the school when this happened. He had never seen silly string before so I know it wasn't his idea. After the children had finished their performance, the teachers had organized some Christmas games for the audience. We were divided up into two teams. The first thing we did was answer trivia questions about Christmas. Here are the questions as they were presented to us. The answers are at the bottom of the blog--don't cheat!

1. The biggest Christmas Tree in the UK which can be seen in Trafalgar Square is sent by which European country?

a. Russia

b. Denmark

c. Norway

2. What snack is often left out for Santa?

a. sausages and vodka

b. cookies and milk

c. a bar of chocolate

3. How many reindeer does Santa have?

a. 9

b. 8

c. 12

4. At Christmas it is customary to exchange kisses beneath a sprig of which plant?

a. Holly

b. Mistletoe

c. Ivy

5. How many dishes can you find on a traditional Polish Christmas table?

a. 7

b. 20

c. 12

6. What country started the tradition of exchanging presents?

a. Latvia

b. The Netherlands

c. Italy

7. What color is the Grinch (a cartoon character created by Dr. Seuss)?

a. Green

b. Purple

c. Red

8. What kind of Christmas cake is traditionally eaten at Christmas in Poland?

a. Fruitcake

b. Cheesecake

c. Poppy Seed Cake

9. Finish the line of a famous Christmas song "Last Christmas." "Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day ____________________________________________.

a. you forgot about that

b. you gave it away

c. you didn't stay

10. Which country does the tradition of decorating a Christmas Tree come from?

a. Poland

b. Germany

c. The USA

The contest ended in a tie--both teams got nine out of 10. My team missed number one and the other team missed number six. Then Abbie and I represented our team and had to race two people from the other team to wrap a present. We could only use my right hand and Abbie's left hand. The other team was a little quicker but our present was prettier so we won! Then Natalie and a dad from the other team squared off. The goal was to draw a snowman on a piece of paper on top of their heads! Natalie had three snowballs in her drawing and the other team only had two so Natalie won that one. The last game was for each team to attach a small piece of paper with "Merry Christmas" in various languages to the correct country flags in the hall. I will just say that I was happy to have Ivija (from Latvia) on my team. She knew them all. I knew Spanish, French, German and that was it. She knew all the rest!

While all the parents were busy with these games, the kids were decorating very cute gingerbread men cookies to share with their parents. There was coffee and tea and other cookies for refreshments for the parents. This was a very well organized and fun Christmas morning! The teachers have been working hard with the kids for weeks on this play, and they did such a good job. We couldn't be happier to be a part of this wonderful little community!

1. c

2. b

3. a

4. b

5. c

6. c

7. a

8. c

9. b

10. b

We Are Officially Legal

We received the call we have been waiting for this morning. All our mounds of paperwork for Temporary Residency has been approved and the decision has been made to allow us to stay in Poland through the end of June! This is an unbelievably complicated process. We have been so lucky to have someone to help us navigate the system. Myles' colleague, Magda, saved us many times over with this complex, time consuming process. There is no way a foreigner could do this without lots of help. That said...we are not quite done yet.

Back on October 29th we went to city hall with our landlord to register our lease with the city. At that point the city authorized our stay in the house we are renting until December 27th. That is the day that our tourist visas expire. We needed that authorization from city hall to to apply for the Temporary Residence in a different government office. So we took that authorization among many other pieces of documentation, including the paper that says that Myles and I agree that the children can live with us while we are in Poland, to the folks who make residency decisions. This is the office that has 45 days to make their decision.

Now that we have our decision (with 10 days to spare before the kids and I got deported for overstaying our 90 day tourist visa), we now have to go back to city hall and re-register our address (the same one) that we are going to live at for the next six months. After we do that, Temporary Residency cards will be issued, and that will take at least another month or so. Now that I have the "decision" documentation, I am not going to bother with registering with city hall until we get back from Budapest. We leave next Friday and will be gone that whole week between Christmas and New Year's Day. I have no idea what kind of hours city hall will even be open next week because of Christmas. We are hopeful that this is something we can do on our own, rather than bother our landlord with it again.

This process is painfully difficult and has cost us $1,500. We had to have all our US documents (birth certificates, marriage license, insurance paperwork etc) translated into Polish by a certified translator--not cheap! But the bottom line is that we have paperwork that says we can stay. So for the next couple of weeks we won't worry about city hall and enjoy our Temporary Polish Citizenship.

All Trey Wants for Christmas...

Actually, Trey doesn't care if he has his two front teeth or not, but the timing of his missing teeth is perfect for Christmas!

It feels like Christmas now. We went downtown this afternoon and saw all the Christmas decorations and booths set up. The booths here are set up in a large, tent like indoor area. The ones in Warsaw were outdoors and the poor people who were running the booths were freezing. There were many, many people walking around today. Abbie checked out all the offerings of purses and earrings. Ben and Natalie enjoyed looking at all the items for sale with the hometown soccer team name (Lechia Gdansk). The sign in this picture means Christmas in Gdansk.

We saw Santa (here he's called Swiety Mikolaj) today. We were able to get a picture of Trey with him. This Santa had a microphone and had a very loud and hearty ho-ho-ho. He talked to Trey but did not expect any responses so he never knew that Trey did not understand Polish. I loved his fun hat!

We wandered around the square for a while. It was cold and the kids enjoyed some hot chocolate as we walked around. There is a gigantic tree in the middle of the square decorated for Christmas. The kids look tiny next to this tree!

There was a guy in the square who was standing like a statue. If people put coins in his tin, he would "come alive" and tip his hat and shake their hand. Trey gave a couple of coins and thought this guy was hilarious. It is not how I would like to earn a living, but I guess it works for him!

When we headed home it was snowing. Here is Ben at our tram stop waiting for our ride in the snow!

Tomorrow is Monday so the kids will be going to the International School. Trey's theatrical performance as the Gingerbread Man will be Friday. The kids have a school outing on Tuesday with their classmates to a bowling alley. It was nice of them to include my part time kids in this event. They have school tomorrow and next Monday and I am glad for that! I will be getting ready for our Christmas here and for our big trip starting on Christmas day. We have a tiny Christmas tree in our house. We got a one footer this year! That is my kind of Christmas decorating!

We are still waiting on word regarding our Temporary Residence Status. The office that handles this has 45 days to make a decision regarding residence. December 20th will be 45 days. We are really hoping to have this obligation taken care of this week and not have to think about it anymore. I believe since we submitted our information within the required time frame to be considered, we should be allowed an extension on our tourists visas if they do not complete their investigation within the 45 days. We are looking into this tomorrow. I find the whole process fascinating (not in a good way!). The residency is for the kids and I. Myles has a work visa through June. He was invited here, but I guess the rest of us were not! But our situation is very straightforward. We have only been married to each other, and are still married. None of our children were adopted or have any other complicating factors. I am a very boring housewife from Olathe, KS (and I mean that in a very good way!). What more could they ask? All we want is to stay here six more months, and spend our money in their economy. Then we will happily take our loot and head on home! We shall see what this week brings.

Everyone's Much Better

I think we had a case of food poisoning. After Abbie got sick at about 1:00 a.m., Ben brought his sick self down the stairs at about 3:00 a.m. So all three big kids were awake and sick all night long. Then at about 6:00 a.m. I was sick as well! December 10th was NOT a good day in our household. Toward the evening, people started feeling better. We had an uneventful (read blissfully calm) night and everyone slept well. Today we are all feeling much better, though not quite 100%. Looks like we will be back in business tomorrow. As of this writing, Myles has dodged this bullet which is why I believe the food poisoning theory to be true (though it's too early to say that he is out of the woods yet). He ran himself ragged yesterday taking care of everything and everyone yesterday!

We are all sitting here watching Rudolph together tonight. I think we will try to venture out somewhere tomorrow since we have not been out of the house in days. We may head to Old Town to see the Christmas booths that are set up. And we are definitely on the look out for a new Mashed Potato Bowl!

I am really looking forward to the days getting longer! It gets dark so early here. It is very hard for us to get used to. I used to grumble about winters in KC when it gets dark at 5:00. I'm pretty sure I will not ever grumble about that again! But the solstice is very close, and once we are past it the days will quickly get longer. In January the sunset is four to seven minutes later each day. So it will be noticeable every week. On Christmas day we are taking a train to Warszawa for the night. Then the next day we are taking a train to Bratislava, Slovakia for a few days. Then we are headed to Budapest, Hungary. We will spend New Year's with some other Fulbrighters and their families there. Then when we get back on January 3rd, we should already be able to notice the longer days. We know that when we are enjoying the fabulous spring and very long summer days in June, these short days will be a distant memory.

The Mashed Potato Bowl

When we first arrived in Poland we needed quite a few items for the kitchen. One of the things we bought was a plastic bowl that we called the Mashed Potato Bowl because we used it for yep, you guessed it, mashed potatoes! We still have it, only now we call it the Barf Bucket.

Poor Trey went to bed Monday evening and woke up around midnight sick to his stomach. He was sick several times in the night and did not get a decent amount of sleep at all. All day Tuesday he laid around and did nothing. By Tuesday evening, Natalie was not feeling well. This morning Trey was feeling back to normal and Natalie felt pretty good until dinnertime. Then she claimed the Barf Bucket as her own for the night. It is 1:00 a.m. Poland time and Abbie is now ill, too! And one of our problems is that we only have one Mashed Potato Bowl/Barf Bucket. It's ok, she's run to the bathroom and we have a trash can as a back up!

We hope this is the end of this sickness. Ben is quite concerned that he will be the next victim. If he is, I hope it is sooner rather than later. I'd like everyone better by the weekend so we can do some Christmas shopping. And we need to pick up a new Mashed Potato Bowl!

Our Last Full Day in Warszawa

We had a busy day! We went to the Warszawa Uprising Museum this morning. This museum is only a few years old. It is very interactive which was great for the kids. The amount of information is immense. I have no recollection of ever learning about the Warsaw Uprising in school. If it was mentioned at all, it was only on the surface. I have learned much here in Warszawa. I thought this quote that was displayed at the museum was very powerful.

When the resistance fighters in Warszawa organized and decided to fight, they knew that the Russian soldiers were on the east side of the Vistula River. We can see this river from the apartment that we are staying in. This apartment is part of a larger house where resistance fighters hid and planned during the uprising. The thought was that when the Warszawa fighters began to take on the Germans, the Russians would cross the river and help them. They never did. They camped on the east side of the river and watched the whole thing.

The museum has parts where it looks like you are walking in an underground sewer as the fighters did. They even have manholes up above to make it look like it would have looked to the fighters. There is a statue there called "The Little Insurgent." The statue is a little guy with an adult sized helmet on and he is carrying a gun. Children were part of the Warszawa Uprising. Hard to imagine little kids in this kind of role!

Young children delivered messages. Older children distributed news and even fought. I cannot imagine how desperate the Polish people felt to go to the extremes that they did to gain freedom. During WWII, 85% of Warszawa was destroyed. Most of this city is new, though has been rebuilt to look like it did before the war. At one point the Germans drove a tank into a church where people were hiding. Today the church has been rebuilt and part of the track of the tank is incorporated in the bricks.

We went to the Chocolate Factory this afternoon and enjoyed some fun time with some other Fulbrighters. We have done a lot of serious stuff so it was time for some fun and really good chocolate!

Then the Gartlands called it an evening. We did venture back out to the square for some kebabs for dinner. Tomorrow we head home to Gdansk.

Warszawa Day 2

Myles had a meeting at the Fulbright office here in Warszawa from 11:30 until 1:30. He met up with some other Fulbrighters who had also traveled here from different parts of Poland at 10:15 at a coffee shop. The rest of us stayed in the apartment and leisurely got ready for the day. We left the apartment right at noon and walked around the square in Old Town. We found some neat little things to bring home. We then took a taxi to the restaurant where the Fulbright office was hosting lunch. That taxi ride was frightening to say the least. The driver flew down the streets of Warsaw as if we were in a high speed chase! He did drive us by the Presidential Palace where Lech Kaczynski lives and pointed it out. We had to look quickly because he was going so fast, but we did see it. Fortunately we survived the apparent race and made it to our destination.

We had lunch at a little German restaurant. There were probably 15 Fulbrighters there and some of their families. The people who run the Poland Fulbright office were also there. We met lots of people and swapped stories of our experiences. The lunch was delicious. We could choose from four German dishes and lunch included soup and dessert. We left there feeling very full! This is Natalie outside of the restaurant.

We then went to the Palace of Culture. It is a building that was given to Warszawa as a “gift” from Stalin. There is much controversy over the building here. I thought it was a very pretty building, and the Poles call it “The Wedding Cake”

because that is what they think it looks like. The controversy is that it is very much a statement of the Russian power over Poland. We learned tonight that most of the European capital cities that were under the control of Russia have a similar building. I can understand the desire to not have that as a reminder of what used to be. But on the other hand the question is what to do with it. The inside is decorated for Christmas and is beautiful. There are cafes and theaters, along with offices in the building. The kids saw this photo op outside one of the theaters.

We took the elevator up the 34 floors and took in a bird's eye view of the city.

We met some of the other Fulbrighters for a late dinner. Seems like we have eaten all day today! Tomorrow we are off to see the Warszawa Uprising Museum. We have been told that it is very interactive and a must see. We are then going to the chocolate factory here. The kids (ok, all of us) are really looking forward to that!

Sights of Warszawa

We got up Thursday morning and headed out to see some sights. We are staying in a section of Warszawa called Old Town (we have an “Old Town” in Gdansk, too). Since it is Christmastime there are lots of little booths set up in the square in the middle of Old Town. There are so many things to look at. We strolled around there for a while and then headed to see some places of historical relevance in Warsaw.

We first went to the Warszawa Uprising monument. This is a very large monument that honors all of those Poles who organized and fought the Nazis. These were not the Jews--they had been rounded up and taken to the Warszawa Ghetto. This was the rest of the Polish people who banded together to try and fight the Nazis on their own. They did not walk the streets of Warszawa, they navigated the city through the sewer system. One of the pieces of the monument is of a man emerging from a manhole in the street. 

The people of Warszawa fought hard for freedom from the Nazis. There were 40,000 fighters killed along with 180,000 Polish civilians. The uprising occurred from August 1, 1944 until the Polish surrendered on October 2, 1944.

We also saw where the Warszawa Ghetto was. All of the Jews of Warszawa and surrounding areas were forced to move into the ghetto. There were walls erected so they could not get out. There were approximately 370,000 Jews herded into the ghetto. The conditions were very bad. Of those there, 100,000 died of hunger. There was also disease running rampant through the ghetto. Then there were transports of large numbers of Jews daily to Treblinka, which is not far from Warszawa. Treblinka was exclusively an extermination camp. Those who were transported there were killed in the gas chambers. There was no work camp, no hope. People taken to Treblinka perished. The walls are no longer there, though there are some markers showing where they once were. 

As people were systematically taken away day after day, the remaining Jews realized that their fate was grim. They banded together to fight back. They had had enough. They decided that if they were going to die anyway, they would rather die fighting than to sit there and take it. The Jewish residents of the ghetto were poorly armed, but they fought with everything they had. After a month of fighting back, the Nazis regained control. During the Ghetto Uprising, 13,000 Jewish ghetto dwellers were killed. Many of the remaining Jews were shipped off to Treblinka and exterminated. There most certainly are things that are worth fighting for! We went to the monument honoring those who fought in the Ghetto Uprising.

By this time poor Trey was starving. We stopped at a little grocery and bought bread and cheese so they all had a little snack. As we were walking back to our neighborhood, we came upon playground. We NEVER pass up a playground! 

So Trey and Abbie played on the swings for a bit. Then we came back to the square with all the booths, and had some kielbasa. Then we headed home to get ready to go out in the evening to the home of a fellow Fulbright family.

 
We set out at 5:00 to catch a tram to reach this family's home. We walked to the tram stop and waited. The tram did not come when it was supposed to. Two of the other trams came and went (we were waiting for the 35). After it was 10 minutes late we started to get a little concerned. Twice more the other trams each came. Myles finally called David and told him our problem. They were trying to work out an alternate method of getting there when our tram finally showed up 30 minutes late! There must have been some kind of traffic problem or accident or something. Once we got on the tram it was unusually slow moving. At one point we sat in one spot for 10 minutes. We finally made it to our destination and had a lovely dinner and evening with this family.
 

Going home was another story. It was close to 10:00 and David kindly walked us to our tram stop to make sure we knew where we were going and got there on time. Our tram was due to arrive at 9:53. Guess what? No tram! We waited and waited. Finally the 35 shows up at about 10:10. So we all pile on but it does not go to any of the stops that it is scheduled to go to! Frustrating! This tram ends up taking us to the central tram hub. We had no idea where we were, but there was an entrance to the subway. So we now have to buy tickets for the subway through an automated machine and the train going to where we need to go is coming in three minutes! So as quickly as he can, Myles is purchasing tickets. We get them all bought and hurry down the stairs and miss the train by seconds. Oh, well, the next one came six minutes later. So we finally get going the right direction, get off on our stop and walk about ¾ mile back to our apartment. Another exciting Polish experience!

Warszawa

The kids and I left our house at about 12:30 yesterday afternoon and took the bus to the train station. We met Myles at the train station because he was teaching this morning. Our train left at 1:20 for Warsaw and we arrived at about 6:30. It is spelled Warszawa here and pronounced var-shaw-va. That sounds so much prettier than Warsaw! The kids watched Elf and The Year Without A Santa Claus on the computer for the duration of the train ride.

Warszawa is a big, busy city! It is about the same size as Berlin (close to three million people), but to me Berlin had a very calm, orderly feel to it. My first impression of Warszawa is it reminded me of New York (I love NYC!). By the time we found our apartment and had dinner it was time for bed. Tomorrow we are doing some exploring and seeing some sights. We are so excited because we are meeting with other Fulbrighters who are assigned all over Poland. Many of them have come here (some live here) for a Fulbright meeting on Friday.

Sopot

Today we hopped on a train and went 15 minutes north to a resort town called Sopot. Sopot, Gdansk and Gdynia make up the Tri-city area (Trojmaisto) where we live. It was a pretty day today, though chilly--around 40 degrees. This town is extremely busy and crowded in the summer months because of it's location on the beach of the Baltic Sea. Ships on Baltic Sea cruises dock there and passengers spend a day in Sopot. Sopot was built by the Germans in the early 20th century and it's purpose was to bring in the tourists and as a spa for German aristocrats. There are lots of shops and restaurants. It is a very cute little town with 38,000 permanent residents.

This building is called The Crooked House

(for obvious reasons).

It was built about five years ago and inside are restaurants and a nightclub. We knew this was in Sopot, so we were looking for it. But for an instant when it comes into sight, it feels like your eyes are playing tricks on you.

We went to the beach and were surprised how many people were there walking around. There were people playing accordions on the pier and there were folks strolling the beach enjoying the day outdoors. There were lots of swans in the water looking for food (which we did not have). We'll remember for next time so we can feed the swans!

We walked out on the pier which is the longest wooden pier in Europe. It is a long way out into the Bay of Gdansk and the view is calm and relaxing. We spent quite a bit of time looking out over the water. We could see the cranes in Gdansk about four or five miles down the coast line.

We had lunch in Sopot and wandered around. We enjoyed the charm of this town. It definitely looks and feels like a vacation spot. We got back on the train and were home before sunset (3:20!). We are heading to Warsaw on Wednesday and will be there through Sunday. We are looking forward to that.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Day has been great!

The kids, Myles and I got the house ready and cooked all morning. I would not be able to make a whole turkey for two reasons. A whole turkey would not fit into my tiny little oven. And my oven has two settings: very hot and off. So I bought turkey breasts. I roasted them in my roaster. I have never seen anything like this roaster in the US. When I first got here I looked high and low for a crock pot. I believe my crock pot is the thing that I miss the most from my own kitchen. We generally use it a lot in the wintertime at home. Anyway, I could not find a crock pot anywhere, but they had these roaster things. So I bought it and was not too thrilled because the meat I made in it was not very tender, certainly not like a slow cooker meal. So I decided to try to roast the turkey breasts inside the roaster inside cooking bags. Well I could not find any cooking bags but they did have some seasoning mixes that came with roasting bags. So I got the bags (with some seasonings to use at a later date). I was very pleased with how well that worked and the turkey turned out yummy!

We made stuffing thanks to a secret family recipe given to me by a friend from home. Hopefully the McBride family in PA will never learn that security has been breached! We also had green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy and carrots. I could not find any pumpkin here so I just bought a cake from the grocery store freezer. It is chocolate and unlike Ben's birthday cake, it was overwhelmingly approved! We had our friend Jennifer over for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon and we had a very nice visit.

Here are some things that I am thankful for today (and every day):

-Our four healthy and happy children

-My fabulous and brilliant husband who is a little (ok, a lot) more adventurous that I am. He initiates most of our exciting excursions. And his genius is what allowed us to make this journey to begin with.

-The British International School of Gdansk...that was all Myles' idea and one of the smartest things we have ever done...ever!

-This adorable little house we are living it, and the sweet owners (and their family) who live right behind us. Our landlord took a risk agreeing to rent it to foreigners sight unseen. Their son Karol interprets for us and we are happy that they have become our friends.

-Myles' colleague Magda. We would have been lost without her.

-Meeting new friends from all over the world; truly amazing

-The public transportation system here. It has been two months since I have driven!

-The experience of living in a different country where we are the ones who don't know the language

-The experience of traveling many new places

-Our many friends in Olathe who keep us up to date on school happenings, how our house looks, Prince of Peace news, etc

-Facebook, as we have reconnected with many old friends this past year

-Email, which makes it easy to keep in touch and to keep up with everything going on at home.

-Everyone at home who is helping us out while we are gone: from handling our mail to making sure things get deposited to handling problems that come up to taking Myles' car for a spin to taking care of our cat (and spoiling her rotten!)

We have much to be thankful for!