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!

Thanksgiving Prep in Poland

I cannot believe it is already Thanksgiving time. This will definitely be a very weird Thanksgiving for us! Thanksgiving is specifically an American holiday. While it is one of the major holidays in the US, it is not even a blip on the radar here. Fortunately Myles does not have to work on Thursday, but it has nothing to do with the holiday. It is just the way his schedule worked out. We are having our (only) American friend over for dinner on Thursday afternoon. I am so happy she is able to make it. I have just spent an hour translating all of the ingredients I need into Polish. I have a hard time telling what some of the stuff is in the stores here, and not being able to read the packaging does not help at all. But now I am armed with my Polish list for my traditional American Thanksgiving meal. I am going to the big grocery store tomorrow while the kids are at school so I can take as much time as necessary. I could be there a while!

We have been working hard on schoolwork this week. The weather has been about 50 degrees for the past several days which has been really nice. My laundry has been out on the balconies blowing in the breeze! That makes everyone happy. When it is too cold, our laundry racks are in Ben's room and the girls' room and hanging all over the railings.

The kids have been hanging out with some of their new friends.

This is a great group of kids and we are so thankful that we have been able to get to know them and their parents. My kids look forward to going to school on Mondays. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with getting away from me!

Trey is going to be the Gingerbread Man in the school play. He is thrilled and we have been practicing his lines. This play makes me laugh because if you recall the story, the Gingerbread Man gets eaten at the end. The US has become so worried about political correctness to allow a student to be in a play where he gets eaten at the end! I'm glad we have the opportunity to be a part of this.

We are still waiting on our Temporary Residence cards. There is a Fulbright family in Warsaw who is having a very difficult time getting this done. The wife had to leave Poland yesterday or she would have been considered illegal. The Fulbright office and the US Embassy did get involved, but she still had to leave for a period of time. She flew to London and I have not heard when she will be able to return. They have four young children. One is a nursing baby who obviously had to go with mom. The other three have been cleared to stay. We believe we have supplied all of the documentation necessary to get ours done, but one never knows what further documentation they will ask for. We have until December 27th to be approved. That date is based on when we arrived. There is nothing for us to do at this point but to hope for no problems. We are fortunate to have Magda, Myles' colleague, who helps us at every turn with this, and we might need the Fulbright office in Warsaw to help.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We will really miss it this year and will appreciate it all the more next year!

Natalie is 13

We celebrated Natalie's 13th birthday in Berlin on Saturday night (her actual birthday was Sunday the 15th). We looked all over for a birthday cake. We walked into several bakeries and I used my very best German to ask if they had birthday cakes. Each time they said they did and then pointed to some torte thing covered in fruit. That simply would not do for our traditional American birthday celebration. Natalie was a great sport and finally decided that Dunkin' Donuts would be a great birthday cake. We brought those back to the apartment, stuck some candles in them, sang Happy Birthday and it all worked out great. She got a few presents in Berlin (the Harry Potter book she was missing, some clips for her hair, a new goalie shirt). She really wanted some new tennis shoes. We are going shopping for those here in Poland because it is so much less expensive. And we are going to dinner at a restaurant she loved when we first got here. The celebration will continue on Friday night when two of her new school friends will be joining our family for pizza and bowling.

Our trip home from Berlin was an experience! We left the Haupbahnhof (the all glass train station) at 2:30. The first train was less than an hour to our first train change. That went just fine and we arrived in Angermunde on time. We had 10 minutes to catch our next train. But when we got off the train we did not see it. We walked down the platform and the train station worker guy told me no train. I showed him my paper with the schedule and he said that we would not be taking a train, but an autobus. What? Ok, so we have very limited time and we all hurry (with all of our bags) out to the front of the train station where there were indeed, two buses parked.

I showed my paper to the bus guy who nodded and said we were in the right place. Well, I was not convinced. We got seated in the bus and I asked the lady next to me if it was right. She spoke only Polish and German. I know my German must be a grammatical nightmare, but we were able to communicate! She said she was confused as well. So we were on the bus for about 20 km and arrived at a train station in some tiny German town, and we then get on the train to Szczecin (sheshen). We later learned there was trouble with the tracks at Angermunde and we had to take the bus to get around the track work. We arrived in Szczecin which is right on the border of Germany on the Poland side after about 30 minutes. Moving from a German train to a Polish train is like going back in time 30 years.

Our train to Gdansk was sitting there and we hurried onto it. It was packed. These trains have compartments that can technically hold eight people, but really six people is about the limit to be somewhat comfortable. This was the first time on a train that we had to separate our family. As we walked back and forth on the train, we sent Ben into a compartment where there was room. Then we found a spot for Natalie. Abbie and Myles ended up together and Trey and I ended up together. This trip was five hours so we had a ways to go.

Trey was chattering away in our car and I did not know if the four other people with us could understand him or not. At one point one of the young men in our car put the window down and pulled out cigarettes. I thought Trey was going to come completely unglued! Many, many young people smoke here, and they smoke everywhere. I learned that the young lady next to me spoke and understood English when Trey said, "Mommy, he is smoking and it is going to make the whole car smelly!" She thought that was incredibly funny. The young man was very considerate and made a big effort to blow smoke out the window away from all of us. But at home we don't really know any smokers so Trey was undone about the whole event.

Since we discovered that the young lady next to me spoke English we made a little game of her teaching Trey Polish words. She loved how he tried whatever she wanted him to say. He learned how to say "My name is Trey." I can't remember how it goes, but Trey does. After a couple of hours she got off the train. I went and got Natalie and brought her into the car with me. I had been texting Ben and knew he was ok that way. We had been checking on Natalie, but she does not have a cell phone. And I was concerned that she was in a car by herself with strangers, though they were all ladies who seemed perfectly nice.

After about another hour the three other people in our car got off at the same stop. We quickly rounded up Ben, Abbie and Myles and we all ended up in the same car for the rest of the trip. This train did not have a dining car which was a huge bummer. I had brought quite a few groceries back that I had found in Berlin. The kids ate cereal bars and dried fruit for dinner (whatever works!). I had several boxes of cereal that we could have used in a pinch but we ended up not needing them. When I saw Special K at a grocery store in Berlin, I loaded up!

Myles talked in his blog about his philosophy regarding the fast food joints in Europe. I love trying new things and agree that we should as a general rule eat the regional cuisine. Here's the way I look at it and where I get soft...we eat Polish food (or German which I really love!) most of the time. Everyone tried the wurst and liked it fine. But when they see a McDonald's their thoughts drift to home. I have the four most wonderful children on the planet. If I am able to curb their homesickness and a little McDonald's perk will satisfy that, I see no problem with it. They have adjusted beautifully. But they are still Americans who love the comforts of home. I also think it is fun as they find a cucumber slice in their snack wrap, are handed mayo for their fries, or whatever other differences come up. So guess who they are coming to if they get a hankering for a chicken nugget or a cheesburger?!

The kids are at their international school today. The rest of the week will be spent getting caught up with school!

So Much to See in Berlin

Yesterday we set out for another day of tourism. Myles figures out the trains, subways and buses and we follow him around with blind faith. He has not let us down yet (except for that one time that we walked two blocks in the wrong direction before we realized it!). We walked by a playground and the kids (especially Trey) enjoyed that for about 30 minutes.

We then went to Kaiser Wilhelm church. It was badly damaged in WWII. It has not been repaired and stands as a reminder of the devastation of war. Having come from a country where we have been very insulated from war, I can say that it is a sight that makes a big impression.

While we were at the church we noticed a big crowd on the street watching something. Being nosy Americans we made our way over to see what was going on. A huge Christmas tree had arrived on a truck and they were setting it up in the middle of the city. We watched as the Christmas tree was hooked to cables and "flew" to where it was set up. Father Christmas was there and everything. What luck that we stumbled upon the right place at the right time!

In the afternoon we went to the Olympic Stadium. It was constructed for the 1936 Olympic Games under the direction of Adolf Hitler. This guy was a real piece of work. He designed it so that the Olympic torch was placed so that when people looked at the flame, everyone could see his "parade grounds" right behind it. This was a place where people would come (forced to come) and honor him. There was room for 180,000 people on the grass and 60,000 more people in stands (this is not part of the stadium, but right to the west of the stadium). He had a very impressive ego to say the least! The stadium itself is beautiful and was modernized in 2002. I can only imagine Hitler's reaction when Jesse Owens came into his city and cleaned up! Not only was he an AMERICAN, but he was also a BLACK man. He must have been mortified!

Today we went to a palace that belonged to Prussian Royalty. Sophie Charlotte was married to Frederich I and they were the first king and queen of Prussia. It was heavily damaged in the war and has been restored. Much of the original furniture was destroyed but they have done a wonderful job of making it look like what an early 18th century palace would look like. There are beautiful gardens in the back of the palace.

We took a tour of the city on a doubledecker bus. The kids thought that was really cool. We sat upstairs on the bus right in front. It was a great way to see the city and the bus took us to Museum Island in Berlin. We went to a museum with authentic artifacts from ancient Babylon, Greece, Sumer, Rome, etc. This was an amazing collection, though I think the kids would have enjoyed it more if we had gone earlier in the day.

Saturday is going to include some shopping and then we are heading back to Gdansk on Sunday. I am so excited that we have a DRYER here in the apartment in Berlin. We will be going home with clean and dry laundry! I am still not enjoying our laundry situation in Gdansk. It's cold out and our laundry takes two days to dry. I am going to use this dryer as much as I can while I am here!

Berlin Sightseeing

We had a great first day in Berlin. First thing this morning, Ben and I went to find a grocery store. It is not cheap for our family to eat out all the time. Since we have an apartment to stay in (with a full kitchen), we get groceries and eat breakfast and dinner in. We walked down the street and about two blocks from where we are staying we found an Aldi! It is an Aldi just like the ones at home. Now I seldom go to the Aldi in Olathe, but still! It was nice to have somewhere familiar to shop. I even asked for a bag (in German!) and understood the cashier when she told me the amount. We got some cereal, milk, spaghetti fixings and came on home.

Once everyone was fed we left and headed out for our day. First we went to the Brandenburg Gate. On Monday night it was the site of major celebrations for the 20^th anniversary of the wall coming down.

We've seen it on television many times. It was where Ronald Reagan made his famous “Tear Down This Wall” speech in 1987. It is where people freely went from East to West Berlin 20 years ago for the first time in 28 years (the physical wall was erected in 1961). It is where many world leaders were Monday to celebrate. Some in attendance included Angela Merkel (Germany), Mikhail Gorbachev (former Soviet president), Lech Walesa (the leader of the solidarity movement in Gdansk and former president of Poland), Hillary Clinton (um, where was our president?!), Gordon Brown (England), Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Demitry Medvedev (Russia). This was a big deal.

They were cleaning up from all the celebrations today and there was much activity there. But we were able to see where all the festivities were, and seeing the Brandenburg Gate in person was an experience we won't soon forget. On the West German side there are bricks in the road that show where the wall once stood. We took pictures of the kids standing with one foot on each side. 

In the not so distant past that was not possible. There were “shoot to kill” orders for those trying to escape from the East German side. Many people attempted the run to freedom and most of them did not make it. Today it was a beautiful, peaceful fall day. People were walking all over as if it had always been this way.

One very interesting thing that we saw on the west side is a large memorial to all of the Russian soldiers killed in the battle to capture Berlin in WWII. This memorial was built in 1945 and when the cold war started and the wall was built, it was located on the "wrong" side. During the cold war it was guarded by Russian soldiers. It is now maintained by the city of Berlin.

We came across a memorial to all the Jews murdered in concentration camps, or just murdered outright. This memorial is very large and there is a good description of it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe. It is on uneven ground and looks very orderly, but as you walk through it you can easily become confused. Very interesting! We went to their underground museum honoring those who died. The more I learn about the holocaust, the more overwhelming it is. 

Later in the afternoon we went to Check Point Charlie, where people would have to show visas and other documentation to travel to West Berlin. They have soldiers stationed there just for tourists.

We also saw a section of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. It is falling apart and now must be protected from people wanting to chip away pieces of it. There is one section of the original wall left that is about 3/4 of a mile long. We walked alongside of it and tried to imagine what it was like to be on one side, not able to get to the other. It has been painted by artists around the world. It is not imposing at all anymore and the art work is truly magnificent.

We Are In Berlin

We have arrived in Berlin, but so far all we have done is go to dinner!

We left Gdansk this morning on a 9:00 a.m. train. It took us five hours to get to Poznan where we changed trains. The second train was very nice. It was much quieter and smoother. It was a much newer train than the Polish one. It took us about three hours to get from Poznan to Berlin. We arrived at the Haupbahnhof train station. It was completed in 2006 and is considered an engineering marvel. It was dark when we arrived so we did not get the full effect. But it is all glass and very impressive. It is supposed to be the most modern and state of the art "crossing station" (as they call it) in Europe. We will get a better look at it on Sunday when we leave Berlin.

We made it to our apartment at about 7:00 and then went out to find a place for dinner. We ended up a couple of blocks from our apartment at an Argentinian restaurant. It was delicious! People in Poland don't really eat much beef (like people in the US do anyway) so we really enjoyed our steaks and hamburgers tonight.

We will have much to blog about on this trip to Berlin but I did want to note a fun thing that happened in Gdansk on Saturday. We were on our way to meet Myles at the Amber/Torture museum. The tram was crowded. In Poland, whenever an elderly person boards the tram or bus, the young people pop up and offer their seats. It is automatic and everyone does it. I am delighted to report that my kids have formed this habit and are always on the lookout for elderly people boarding. On Saturday, at one point several elderly ladies got on the tram. All of the young people offered their seats. The lady who took Trey's seat sat there and talked to him in Polish for several minutes. He did not say anything to her but interacted. She had no idea that he did not know Polish, it just looked like he was being a quiet little kid. As we were getting ready to get off the tram, she handed him two tiny pieces of candy. In his best Polish, he said, "Dziekuje" (thank you).

He is learning some Polish at school on Mondays. Our whole family is going to start Polish lessons soon with one of the teachers at the British International School. But when Trey says Polish words, he says them like the Polish people do. When I say the words, I sound like an American trying to speak Polish. Not good.

We are going to be tourists tomorrow. Yesterday, many world leaders were here in Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. We missed Hillary by just one day! The celebration continues for this momentous anniversary and we are thrilled to be able to be here to see some of it for ourselves.

Moms Are Moms Wherever You Go

Today was a fun day! All of the moms of the kids at the school were invited over to the home of one of the school family's. This morning I checked the address, loaded the kids down with school work, left Myles in charge and headed out for this get together.

This family lives about 200 yards from the Baltic Sea. The wife is Colombian (though she is now an Italian citizen) and the husband is Italian. They are here in Gdansk for his job. They have been here for 18 months and will be going home to Italy permanently this summer. They have three children (Maria Camilla is Trey's buddy).

I arrived and there were eight of us there for lunch (one arrived later and was not in the picture). I had met most of them at the school. I was introduced to the others. Then Claudia started bringing out the food. There were appetizers, and then a pasta dish, and a salad, and a lasagna, and a zucchini casserole, and a potato dish. And then there was dessert! It looked like she had been cooking for days. It was delicious homemade Italian food and I left there stuffed!

The afternoon flew by as we all sat around the table and chatted about life. I really enjoyed getting to know these women today. Some of the discussions included how one was worried about this kid or that kid, what cute things the kids did, what naughty things the kids did to get in trouble. It could have been a group of moms anywhere.

One of these ladies made me laugh right out loud. She is Polish and has her little girl in the International school so that she learns English well. The mom has studied English for 12 years. She speaks very well, though she does not think so. At one point she said to me, "I just love to listen to you talk." It struck me as so funny. I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before (not even Myles)! She went on to say that she loves the American accent and she prefers it to the English accent. She wanted me to explain why apple and apron do not have the same 'a' sound. That is a very good question with no good answer!

We left there when it was time for them to pick up their kids from school. It is so nice to have connections and to find people who are in similar situations.

By the time I got home, Myles and the kids were a little stir crazy. So we ended up heading out to a hypermart type store that we had heard people talk about. We need to get some snow boots for this quickly approaching winter. The store is a fair distance from where we live and we have to take a tram and a bus to get there. So we get on the tram and then realize that we are on the wrong one! So we get on the right one that takes us to the bus stop. We wait and wait and wait at the bus stop and no bus ever comes! So finally a different bus comes. We don't know where it goes but we get on it anyway. It ends up at a mall that is near our house that we have been to several times. We stop there, have some pizza for dinner in the food court and walk around for a bit. We found some snow boots for Myles and Ben on sale, got some lody (ice cream) and came on home. All's well that ends well!

Temporary Residence

Yesterday Myles and I went to the office in Gdansk that handles applications for temporary residence cards. Myles does not need one because he has a work visa. So he is cleared to stay here through the end of June. The kids and I need to have temporary residence cards so we can stay here legally with him through the end of June.

The application process is well...quite a process! Myles did all of the prep work. The application is about 10 pages long and much documentation is needed. It has to be filled out in Polish and we have to write a paragraph about why we want temporary residence in the Republic of Poland. We had to have all of our birth certificates, insurance documentation from Rockhurst and our marriage license translated into Polish by a certified translator. That cost about $350! Then we had to bring the originals and the Polish translation, and many copies with us. We had to have multiple copies of each application, our passports (originals and copies of the first page and the stamp page of the date we arrived), four passport sized photos of each of us. In Poland they require that the photos are taken at a bit of an angle and the left ear must be exposed. So we had those taken at a photo shop by our house last week. Myles had everything copied and we thought we were ready!

A colleague of Myles', Magda, met us at the office. She works at the university and is a native of Poland. We arrived just before 9:00 and we were second in line. The people in front of us did not take very long and then it was our turn. We go in with all of our documentation and the lady who was handling our application started sifting through all of it. The information on the website that Myles had followed to the letter was not accurate regarding the numbers of copies that were needed. So we had too many copies of some things and not enough of others. Magda translated for us and helped make more copies of whatever was needed.

Though it was not on the posted list, the lady wanted our lease, Myles' contract from the university here and a couple of other documents. Myles had anticipated the possibility and had brought those documents along. We had to have copies of those. Then the website said that children did not need to fill out the section on financial obligations, criminal history, etc. But when we got there they lady said those did have to be filled out. So Magda helped us fill them out (in Polish!).

It was a long and drawn out process. In the end, they want two more documents. They want an addendum to our lease that includes the names of all of our children, as well as our names so that it is clear where every applicant lives (with their parents in the same house). They also want us to document our utility bills. How it is set up with our landlord is that he pays the utility bills and we pay him. So now we've had to ask our landlord to create an addendum to the lease to include everyone's name, and for a letter stating that we pay him for utilities and an estimate of what utilities cost.

We are hopeful that once we get this documentation turned in that the application process will be complete and we can get our cards. But we have heard horror stories from many others who have had a terrible time. Our application now goes to an inspector who may want more, different documentation. We'll just have to see what comes up next. We are so thankful that Magda went with us. We could not have gotten through the initial process without her. I think we'd be arranging our trip back to Olathe if we had to try to do this alone!

We are going to Berlin on Tuesday so we are looking forward to that! Today I am going to lunch with some moms from the British International School. We are finishing up first quarter of school this week. Trey is right up to date with his class. The other three are a week or two behind their classmates at home. But we got a late start here and we will be doing school through June. Also, we will not take so much time off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, conferences, etc. So we'll get caught up!

All Saints Day and More

On Friday evening we had two ladies come over to dinner. They are part of the Fulbright program as well. Both are from the Sacramento area. One is living here in Gdansk, teaching English at a different university than Myles, and the other is teaching English at a University several hours south of us. We had a lovely evening chatting about our different experiences. Hopefully, we will see Jennifer (the one who lives here in Gdansk) a little more often. We will see Leanne (the other one who came) and quite a few other Fulbrighters in Warsaw in December.

Also on Friday, the US Navy accidently fired a weapon from a ship into the town of Gdynia. That is very close to us! Gdansk is part of a "Tri-city" which includes Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. We have not been up to Gdynia yet, and I'm sure glad we were not up there on Friday! Fortunately there were no injuries and no damage. And from what I understand it was determined to be a complete accident. So hopefully there are no hard feelings!

Yesterday, Ben went over to a friend's house. This is a kid who attends the British International School. He is Dutch and lives quite a little ways from us. You have to take a tram to downtown, which takes about 15 minutes. Then you have to get on a bus for about 40 minutes. Then you have to walk about a mile to his house. We met Ben's friend downtown. While we were waiting for him, we came across a statue of children getting ready to take a train trip. It is dedicated to those Jewish children during WWII who were sent to England to have a chance to live. They were put on trains without their parents so that they could escape. Taking these children to England was called "Kindertransports." I cannot even imagine! And yes, that's a KFC behind the statue!

So Ben met Nick downtown and Myles went with them to see how to get to this family's house. I had already met Nick's mom, and Myles got to meet her and his dad and visit with them for a while. Then Myles came back home. Since yesterday was Halloween, Ben and Nick decided to watch scary movies all night long. Meanwhile, here at our house, the other three had to answer Polish questions to get their Halloween candy! They didn't mind missing out on trick or treating too much. No one does that here. Today is All Saint's Day and it is a very big deal in Poland. No one bothers with Halloween--All Saint's is what it is all about.

We went to Mass this morning at our church that we have been going to (St. Stanislaus) while we are living here. We found out some history of this church today. It was built around 1924 and was part of the free city of Danzig (the German name for Gdansk--so same city/different name). It's a little fuzzy here, but we do know that the parish priest, Bronislaw Komorowski, was arrested by the Nazis in the early morning hours of September 2, 1939, the day after WWII started right here in Gdansk. With other Polish priests, he was beaten and taken to a concentration camp nearby called Stutthof. It was the first concentration camp established and the last one to be shut down. Many citizens of Danzig/Gdansk were arrested on the streets and taken to Stutthof. We have not been to this concentration camp yet, but it is on our list of things to do. Eventually, this priest and many others were murdered by the Nazis. He was shot to death on Good Friday of 1940.

There is a cemetery that is less than two blocks from our house. This cemetery is for those who were murdered by the Nazis from 1939-1945. It is a small cemetery but amazing to walk through. We found the grave of this particular priest.


Everyone brings lanterns to the cemetery on All Saint's Day and lights them by their loved ones' graves. We went in the afternoon and took our lantern (they have oodles of them for sale at the grocery stores). We walked around and saw several memorials. One is in honor of the 52 postal workers who were the first to resist the German occupation on September 1, 1939. They holed themselves up in the post office and fought off the thousands of German soldiers for seven days. Finally, they ran out of ammunition and had to surrender to the Germans. Then they were immediately "tried," convicted and shot on the spot. They are considered Polish heroes.

We found a grave that did not already have a lantern and we adopted that man as our family for this day. His name is Jerzy Simianow and he died on Sept. 13, 1939.


So we lit the lantern and prayed that he rests in peace. The vast majority of graves had at least one lantern. Graves like the parish priest, and the memorials had huge numbers of lanterns around them. There were lots of people walking around the cemetery in the afternoon. We went on home and then when it got dark we went back. It was an inexplicable sight. There were lit lanterns everywhere. It kind of looked like Christmas decorations. There were many, many people there in the evening. I took a couple of pictures, but they did not turn out great. Also, it is not possible for a picture to do the scene justice. We walked back to where we left our lantern. It still was the only one there. The thing that is unique about this cemetery is that every single person buried there was murdered between 1939 and 1945 by the Nazis.

Tomorrow is a school day. Everyone is excited to see their new friends again!