Our First Full Day

Last night the kids all slept all the way through the night. I could not fall asleep until about 1:00 a.m. (6 p.m. Olathe time). I got up about 9:00 this morning. Myles had already gone in for a work thing and was on his way back home. We woke the kids up at 10:00. We got ready and headed out for some exploring. It was a beautiful day here today. The weather feels like early November to me. You definitely need a jacket if you are outside. I think the high temperature today was about 55 degrees.

Myles has been here for a little while so he has wandered already and showed us around. There is a tiny little store right across the street from us that sells soda, meat and a few other things. It is like a very tiny convenience store. There is another one about two blocks away and then a bigger grocery store about six blocks away.

We walked by our landlord's home (he and his wife and 18 year old daughter live right behind us, or actually a better description is that we live in the house in their back yard). He was outside and we got to meet him, though he does not speak any English. We don't speak any Polish so it was a quick meeting. He shook all of the kids' hands and then kissed mine!

After that we got on the tram and rode to the University where Myles is teaching.

It is a very pretty place. We did not stay long, just got an idea of where it is and what it looks like. We then went to the big mall and looked around for a bit. We submitted a request for public transportation passes and those will be ready with our pictures on them next Tuesday.

After we got home, Ben and I walked to the bigger grocery store. We cannot understand the labels so we are not exactly sure what we got! We definitely came home with pasta and something that certainly looks like spaghetti sauce. We'll see how dinner turns out tomorrow! We also got some meat filled pierogies, vegetables and bread. We did not buy eggs because in Poland they do not refrigerate them. They are just sitting out in an aisle and I'm not sure I'm brave enough to have everyone eat unrefrigerated eggs just yet. Since our refrigerator is small and we have to carry all our stuff home we will be going to the store every couple of days.

The people here have been very nice. There is one thing I have seen on three women since I have been here that is a little different. They have normal haircuts but then a little part of their head is shaved completely bald. I saw one woman with about one inch above one ear shaved. I saw another with part of her bangs shaved off and the other one had a small point shaved on the back of her head (pointing up!). If that is the new trend in hairstyles, I don't like it!

Our first load of laundry is in the teeny tiny washing machine. In the morning we will hang it outside to dry. This is all new to us!

Myles is working all day tomorrow so we will finish getting all of our things organized and maybe do a little schoolwork. If we are feeling brave we might head out and explore a little more.

International Travel

Well, we made it!

We checked in at the United desk at KCI and one of our 10 checked items weighed 56 pounds. So we rearranged a bit, taking some stuff out of the big bag and putting it in various smaller bags until that one did not weigh over 50 pounds anymore. I was able to get boarding passes for all three flights at KCI which was very helpful. Then we returned the rental car and took the shuttle back to the terminal. Our plane was late taking off from Kansas City and we did not leave KCI until 6:50. We landed in Chicago at about 8:15. Myles had written out detailed notes for me to get from the terminal we landed in to the international terminal. It was a good thing he did because that is a complicated mess, especially with four kids in tow.

International travel is not my favorite process. We showed our passports and boarding passes at KCI, went through security with our 10 carry on items. Each kid had their school backpack and a rolling backpack.

I had a rolling backpack, a computer bag and a fanny pack with all of our passports. We had to all take our tennis shoes off, jackets off (it was 80 degrees in KC yesterday so we were wearing them tied around our waists), take our two laptops out and then run 10 pieces of carry on luggage through the security. At KCI we had plenty of time.

When we get to Chicago we had to go to another terminal very far away from the one we landed in. I followed Myles' instructions and we took a tram to the international terminal. We got to security for our flight to Warsaw right at 9:00, which was scheduled to leave at 9:55. We had to go through security again because it was an international flight. So we take off our shoes, jackets, take out our laptops, show passports and plop all of our backpacks on the x-ray machine. It was very crowded and folks did not take a liking to how we held up the line. I think we were cursed in quite a few different languages. So we get through security, get everyone back in order and head to our gate.

There was a thunderstorm in Chicago last night. As we were sitting waiting for the Warsaw flight, we saw lightning and big gusty winds out the window. They delayed our flight until after the storm and we got going at about 10:45. I was hoping that the kids would get on the plane and go right to sleep (a mom can hope!). That was not to be. The plane had two aisles. There was a set of three seats in the middle for each row and then a set of two seats on either side of the aisles (by the windows). The seats were smaller than normal airplane seats. I'm not sure why it was like that, but people were packed in right on top of each other. It was so uncomfortable. My knees and Ben's knees were in the back of the seats in front of us. There was no space to move. The aisles were so skinny that we could not roll the kids' backpacks. We had to lift them (with all their school books!).

The flight was bumpy to begin with so the kids were nervous about that. Then at midnight they served dinner and turned on cartoons on the movie screen. Trey was laughing so hard at the cartoons that the people around us were laughing at him. Trey ended up falling asleep around 2:00 a.m. and slept for most of the rest of the flight. He is little enough that the cramped space didn't bother him too much. Ben, Natalie and I each managed to get a couple hours of sleep. Abbie did a little better and probably got about four hours on the plane. The flight ended up being on time which was great. We had about 90 minutes between landing in Warsaw and our flight to Gdansk.

At the Warsaw airport we got to do the security check again for the third time. That just about wore me out! We did get somewhat efficient with it, but it is very labor intensive for about 15 minutes and people did not like being behind us. Oh, well, we did the best we could.

In Warsaw, they are doing construction at the airport and the planes are currently unable to reach the gates. So when it was time for our flight to Gdansk, we all walked outside, got onto a bus and they drove us to our plane. That flight was only 45 minutes. That plane was very roomy and I noticed that there was at least six more inches of leg room than we had on the international flight. The Gdansk airport is very small. They pull steps up to the plane and you end up outside. Then you go into a small room for luggage. Out of about 25 pieces of luggage coming off the belt, 10 were ours! And Myles was there waiting for us right outside that room.

He got a cab (minivan much like the rental I just had) and took us to our new home. This house is really cute! I don't think the pictures do it justice. It is small, but there are lots of rooms, so there are places to get away and study or read or whatever. There are televisions in each bedroom. Trey came downstairs and told us that he did not want to watch tv because his tv only speaks Polish!

We brought all the luggage into the living room but have not unpacked at all. That is on the agenda for our first full day tomorrow. Myles, Ben and Abbie walked to the neighborhood grocery store and brought home some pizza for dinner. It was different than pizza they are used to and they didn't really like it. I'm afraid their palates are in for a rude awakening!

The kids are in bed. It's 11:00 p.m. here but it's 4:00 p.m. at home. I wonder what time they'll wake up. It's going to take some time to get settled. We are not doing much school wise until Thursday to give them a few days to get their bearings. We are going to start in earnest on Monday with our regular school schedule.

Myles has meetings this week to prepare for classes to start next week. We'll head out exploring tomorrow!

The Beginning of an Emotional Weekend

What a fun week! I have spent this week running a few errands and having lunch with my girlfriends every day. It was so nice to have fun things to do and fun people to hang out with every day!

Today was the last day of school for the kids. They had a great day to say the least! Ben's World History class had a little good bye party in class for him. At Prince of Peace there were cookies and celebrations for everyone.

I went up to school at 2:30 and packed up all their books and belongings in the new rolling backpacks. It was fun visiting with the teachers and the kids. One girl asked if Abbie could be her sister and stay here while we were gone. I told her I could not live without Abbie, so she has to go with us.

Lots of hugs (and tears from Abbie) as school let out. 

Trey told me that everyone in his class was going to miss him. His teacher made a huge effort to have all of his school work for the year ready for me to pick up. She also gave him a little book and game for the plane ride. Natalie had quite a group of friends walking out with her at the end of the day. Our principal gave us a Prince of Peace duffel bag with a note that says "To the Gartland Family: Through all of your travels remember Prince of Peace is home." As if we could ever forget that! The kids are going to miss their friends but they sure left today feeling loved and part of a wonderful community. I felt the same way as I said good bye to all my mom friends in the parking lot! We dropped our sweet little carpool boys off for the last time this year. One tried to get away without giving me a hug (didn't work!). We will miss them lots and will look forward to seeing them soon after we get home in the summer.

Tonight is the Aquinas homecoming game. Ben is helping the freshman football team set up all the tables and serve the alumni before the game. He has assured me that he has everything out of his locker. He is bringing just a couple of textbooks from school. Our home school program has all of the textbooks he needs, but after looking through them we wanted to supplement with the Aquinas Algebra/Geometry book and the Aquinas World History book. We want to make sure he is very prepared to come back as a sophomore next fall.

Tomorrow is Natalie's last soccer game. She does not know it, but her team is planning a little going away thing for her after the game. She has played with this team since first grade and they are a great group of girls who are sweet as can be off the field and warriors on the field! She will return to this same team next fall.

Sunday morning we are going to Mass at 10:30 and I imagine that will be very emotional. That will for sure be the last time we see all of our school and church friends. From there we are going to my parents' for lunch and then to the airport.

I am anxious to have our family together! Myles has been gone for two weeks. It would not have worked out well for us to have gone earlier since he had orientation for 10 days in Poznan. But two weeks is a long time and we are all ready to be together. He is back in Gdansk now. He braved a Polish grocery store today and his description was hilarious. I think we are in for some interesting adventures! I think my next post will be from Gdansk...We will arrive on Monday at about 5:30 p.m. Gdansk time. That will be around 10:30 a.m. central time.

A Fun Week Before We Leave

Months ago we set a deadline of September 19th to have everything done for our trip. The logic behind that was so that we could have several days (or hopefully a week) to take it easy and enjoy our family and friends before we leave. I am so glad that we stuck to this deadline! Aside from a few last minute things, we are ready to go.

Myles left last weekend. I have been so busy that this past week flew by. I had to go to Topeka last Tuesday to get the lien free title for our van. It was no big deal, just a hassle because I did not have time to wait for them to mail it to me and then get it to the new owners.

The van is now in Raymore with it's new family. The house is done and we are getting ready to enjoy the week.

Last night we went to the Fall Festival at Prince of Peace. The kids really enjoyed that time playing games and hanging out with their friends. They are going to school this week and their last day is Friday. Ben has his last football game on Tuesday evening. Aquinas homecoming is Friday so we will all go to that. Natalie has her last soccer game next Saturday evening on the brand new Overland Park soccer fields. We have people to take custody of school uniforms and sports uniforms till we get back.

I am going get Myles' car all cleaned up tomorrow and park it in the garage while we are gone. My neighbor is going to take it out for a spin every couple of weeks. I am going to rent a van for the week and then return it at the airport on Sunday. I have received receipts for one of our boxes that we shipped. I am waiting on receipts in the next few days for the other four boxes. Hopefully those arrive (the receipts) before we leave. All of our luggage is ready to go. We have 10 items to check (we each get to check two). And we will each have two carry on pieces. Sounds fun, huh? Once we get the checked stuff taken care of it will be fine.

This week will be relaxing and fun...then in one week our family will be together in Gdansk!

Things Are Moving Fast Now

I feel like I am in fast forward!

On Tuesday this past week, Myles took our five big boxes that we are shipping to the UPS store. First they get sent from our house to a shipping company in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Once they get there, they are put onto a ship and are on their way to our new home in Gdansk. It takes four to six weeks by ship. This is the most economical way to ship. To ship one 50 pound box to Gdansk, Poland by UPS would cost $800.00 (that's NOT a typo!). Shipping as we did, we sent all five boxes for less than $400.00. Definitely the way to go! So our boxes should arrive in mid to late October. It is mostly clothes, a few books etc. All of our school materials are going with us on the plane. It did not make sense to wait to get the kids moving on school work till the middle of October (though they thought that would be a fine idea!).

As of about an hour ago I have sold my van! We had taken it to Carmax to see what they would give us for it. While they gave us a very fair appraisal, they offered trade in value. We thought we would give it a go on Craigslist and see if we got any interest. We had several calls and a darling little family (two little kids and expecting their third baby) came out from Raymore to look at it. They really liked it and called me back last evening with several questions. Then they called back again to see if they could look at it again this morning. So I met with them again and they checked everything out thoroughly. They just called and made and offer and we are making the big transfer next Saturday! That works great for me because that means I can still drive the carpool this week. The husband works out of town during the week so weekends are best for them. I'm taking the van to Raymore because I want to be at the bank when they get the cashier's check made (and they bank at Community Bank of Raymore). They seem so sweet but I'm short on time and can't take any chances on errors.

Myles left yesterday afternoon. We 'skyped' this morning and he made it safely and is settling in at our new little house. He said the most complicated part of the trip is in Chicago. He is writing notes for me so I can figure it out with the kids when we go two weeks from today.

My attic is packed with plastic tubs. Every closet is empty, every drawer is empty. Just need to finish sorting all the junk in our master bedroom and then have the carpets cleaned and turn the house over to our tenants when we leave!

A Major Monkey Wrench and a Little One, Too

Well today has been an interesting day to say the least.

It all started yesterday when we went to talk to the academic counselor for the high school. We learned that in order for Ben to return to Aquinas as a sophomore next year he would be required to have six credits from an accredited institution (which I am not). So yesterday afternoon we quickly enrolled him in an accredited home school program. We are now waiting on books and materials to arrive. We thought that was a big monkey wrench. But we took care of the problem and thought we were moving forward as planned. That turned out to be the little problem!

I will begin this next part by saying that the Fulbright program expects that the host university will assist award recipients with all that needs to be done. They even have a term for the go to person, a "shepherd," who will walk us through everything. That has not been our experience. Myles has barely heard from them at all and when we do hear from them, they are unable or unprepared to help with what we need to do. So Myles handled finding, negotiating and setting up the lease for our rental house. He has researched and researched all aspects of this journey. That said, this is all new to us and we are learning as we go.

Well, when I came home last evening from a school function Myles said, "I think we have a problem." He was under the impression that he would obtain a work visa once he got to Poland. It turns out that one needs to obtain the work visa prior to leaving the US. When you get off the plane and they ask you at customs what your business in Poland is, of course Myles would say to teach (work) in Poland. If he got there without a work visa it is a major problem.

There are two Polish Consulates here in the US. One is in New York City and the other one (whose jurisdiction Kansas is under) is in Chicago. So early this morning, Myles got on a plane to head to the Polish Consulate in Chicago to see what could be done. The office does not open until noon on Thursdays (which we knew from reading the web site last night). So he gets there and the lobby is filled with people having business with the Consulate. He waits his turn in line for four hours. He just called me to say that he will get his visa and his passport back by September 13th. And there is no way to get it any sooner.

He had planned to leave on the 8th. So now we need to change his flight...I hope that does not cost too much! And we need to get in touch with our landlord and let him know that he will not be arriving until the next week and that we still want the house! Tomorrow we will see about wiring the money (first month's rent and deposit) to the landlord to make sure we keep him happy and to show that we are serious and intend to keep our word.

This is not the end of the world, but it does make Myles very strapped for time. He has to be in Warsaw on the 15th for orientation that begins on the 16th. And we really want to claim our house in Gdansk as soon as possible.

So now we wait for all the documentation to arrive so we can move forward.