The News from Pooland

No, that's not a typo. There are many things I love about Poland, and there are some things that I have adjusted to and have come to appreciate. But there is one thing that I am not going to miss. Polish people love their dogs. Something that is very different here than at home is that everyone has at least one dog. And dogs are being walked all the time. There are always dogs outside of stores tied to a tree or a metal pole waiting for their owners.

I am not a big fan of dogs in general. I don't hate dogs, I just don't really care one way or the other. I'm just not a love me, love my dog kind of gal. What I am not enjoying is the massive amount of doggie doo doo that is everywhere.

This week the temperatures have been above freezing and the snow has been melting. What is being uncovered is the months' worth of dog droppings. It's hard to enjoy the beautiful, sunny 43 degree day we had today when we are having to watch every single step. And even being watchful does not always do the trick. We have some awesome winter boots that we bought here in Poland in the fall. Our boots have made it possible for us to get through this winter. These boots are well made and warm. I had planned on bringing them home because I have never had boots this great in the US. But after this week, there is NO WAY I am putting them in a suitcase and packing them with the rest of my things that I can't live without. They will be staying here with whatever remnants are left on them.

We walk everywhere, so this has become a big issue for us. In Germany, Scotland and Ireland there are signs everywhere reminding people to pick up after their dogs. I can't remember if there are signs in Hungary or not. At home people all walk their dogs with their little plastic bags. (That is another issue--the bags should be biodegradable, but I digress). But people here do not clean up after their dogs. I don't like that.

Scary Noises and We're Out of Bread

On Monday the kids went to school and Myles went to work. I was alone in the house for the first time in nearly a month! I was happily getting stuff done around the house, and Brad Paisley was singing to me (through Itunes, but still). I was cleaning away and the washing machine was going and the music was on when I heard a noise. I couldn't tell what it was or where exactly it came from. I was upstairs and it was definitely coming from downstairs, near the bathroom where the washing machine is. That is also right by the front door which I of course, have locked. There is a big iron fence around our landlord's property. It goes around both of the houses and you have to have a key to get in. So I could not imagine that someone could have gotten in the house, but I kept hearing this noise.

I called out, "Hello?" No answer. So I slowly head down the stairs. I had my cell phone in my pocket. I'm not sure who I thought I was going to call with it, but I had it. For emergencies here you call 997 for police, 998 for fire and 999 for ambulance. Is there any chance of me keeping that straight in the face of a real emergency? No way. Basia (our neighbor) taught me how to pronounce the name of our street a couple of months ago. So I was armed with that information and my cell phone as I continued down the stairs. Now I looked in all of the rooms. Nothing was out of the ordinary. I looked out the windows. Everything looked secure.

I finally opened the front door just in time to see a big batch of snow slide from the roof onto the metal railing, causing my mystery noise. It had been sliding down the roof and hitting the metal railings on the balconies and by the front door. It has been above freezing several days this week so the melting of the crazy amounts of snow has begun. So the question is: Is the continuation of the (hopefully) Spring Thaw worth the scare it caused on Monday? Yep. Bring it on! And sooner rather than later, please.

The temperatures have reached above 32 several days this week. While this is a great step in the right direction, it still is dipping below 32 at night, causing the melted snow to refreeze into ice. It was so icy this morning on the sidewalks that Myles took a taxi to work instead of walking to the tram. Trey and I went to the grocery store late this morning. It was pretty slushy and not too bad, but there certainly were icy spots. I was carrying the grocery bag and Trey was carrying our loaf of bread home. When we were about 1/2 block from our house I stepped on a patch of ice. I said to Trey, "Be careful. There is ice right here." The words were barely out of my mouth when he lost his footing and slipped, landing on his rear end. He is absolutely fine, but the end of the bread bag ruptured in the fall and our entire loaf of bread landed in the icy, mucky mess sans wrapper. It is supposed to get up to 41 degrees tomorrow. We'll pick up another loaf of bread then! In the meantime, the birds of Gdansk enjoyed an unexpected treat courtesy of Trey's ice mishap.

It is Above Freezing Today

For the first time in 2010 we have seen snow dripping off roofs! We had a high of 39 degrees today. That's the good news. The bad news is that we are supposed to get up to 6" of new snow tonight. From all the Facebook posts of our friends back home, we know we are not alone when we say that we are so done with winter!

The kids did not have school this past Monday. All the schools here had a semester break for this week. Schools here start later and go through June. So we have been getting lots of school work done this week. We also are caught up on American Idol! Myles only had to go into the university for a few hours on a couple of days this week. Next week the kids will go to the international school on Monday and Myles will start the second semester classes.

There is another Fulbright family, the Keys, that we met through this experience. They were only here in Poland for one semester.

So they are packing up and heading home to Illinois next week. This Fulbright experience with a family is very unique, and we have formed a strong bond with them.

We spent time with them in Krakow and we spent a lot of time with them in Budapest during the Christmas/New Year holidays.

We wish them safe travels and we're only a little jealous that they are heading home!

Why One Should Never Exit a Bus with Hands in Pockets

Poor Ben~He gave us quite a fright this morning! We had packed up all of our bags to come home to Gdansk, and we had to be out of the little house we were staying at by 10:00, so the cleaning lady could come. The man who manages the apartment was so nice and said that the new tenants weren't going to be there until 3:00. He suggested that we leave our bags in a corner until we had to leave for the airport at 2:00 for our 5:00 flight. That worked out great.

So we hop on a bus to go to the City Centre to walk around and have lunch. We are pros at public transportation at this point. We take buses and trams all the time. We have not driven one time since we have left the US. So anyway, everyone is exiting the bus--Myles has Trey and Abbie at the front of the line and they get off. I am the last one off, Natalie is in front of me and Ben is in front of her. I did not see exactly what happened, and Ben is not exactly sure himself, but all of a sudden, there is Ben on the pavement face first, just laying there. We think he just stepped off wrong and missed the curb, but his hands were in his pockets! So his face took the blow.

Of course, everyone springs into action. The bus driver (a young guy--probably around 30) was very concerned, other passengers who had gotten off the bus were concerned, people walking by were concerned. It was quite a spectacle! I was sitting on the pavement with Ben and he was clearly hurt, though we couldn't immediately tell how badly. He was certainly dazed, but I would not say he was confused. We got him sitting up and he said he was ok. The bus driver finally went on his way after about a minute or two, and we found a bench for Ben to sit on so we could see if we were dealing with anything serious. We had him sit there for a few minutes and he insisted that he was ok. He hit the curb at the bridge of his nose, and his forehead, and somehow his knee was scraped up, too. He seemed ok, but his face was bloody and dirty.

We were right outside of the Trinity College campus. We walked onto the campus and there was a little security office there. I knocked and asked them if there was a restroom close by so he could get his face cleaned up. There were two guys in the office who told me to have him come in. I don't know if they were EMTs or what, but they sure appeared to know what they were doing. They asked him all kinds of questions, checked his pupils (the normal head injury stuff that we already did), gave us some antiseptic wipes, told him he was going to be bruised and ugly for a while and we went on our way. He has been absolutely fine, except that he looks like he was in a bar fight. His nose is swollen and I guess only time will tell if he gets a black eye or two out of it. We are so thankful that it turned out the way it did! Ben has named this event "A Super Epic Ben-Fail."

Well after that excitement we leisurely walked around downtown. We had lunch and found yet another bookstore. We were all packed up, so we had a strict "we're only looking" policy. We walked out with four new books. There are just so many good ones! After enjoying our time browsing, we went back to get our luggage. The man met us there and called a cab for us to go to the airport. While we were waiting for the taxi to arrive, we chit chatted with him. He couldn't have been any friendlier and I loved listening to the Irish Brogue.

I asked him if he was related to the woman who owns the flat. He said that she is his daughter and she is a screen writer who lives in New York most of the time. He went on to say that her significant other is an American actor. So I say, "Oh, anyone we might know?" He says, "Oh, I don't know. His name is Andrew McCarthy." Myles and I say in unison, "Andrew McCarthy?" He says that he was in a group known as the Brat Pack back in the 80s. We say, "Yeah, we know who he is!" How fun is that?! I knew that little house was too chic for us! That's our little brush with fame. And his daughter and Andrew are coming to Ireland in about three weeks. Guess where they stay when they are in Dublin?!

We are now back home in Gdansk. There is more snow here now than when we left. That's not what we had in mind...but at least we got a nice break from freezing winter for 10 days! Ben is fine and this blog was written with his approval.

The Beautiful Coast of Eastern Ireland

Today is our last full day here in Ireland. We took a train about 45 minutes south of Dublin to County Wicklow. Myles' great grandfather, Lawrence Gartland, came to the US from County Wicklow in the 1880s. We still are not sure how he landed in St. Louis. We are also not exactly sure what town he was from, but we made it to the right county for sure. I'm sure Myles' dad's Irish Eyes are smiling from heaven today!

My grandfather's family came to the US from Tipperary, Ireland. That is in central Ireland and we were not able to make it there due to our time constraints. The scenery on the train ride to County Wicklow is breathtaking. The train goes right down the coast of the Irish Sea, which is very rocky and rugged.

We had lunch in the town of Greystones and then walked along the beach. It was pretty cold and windy out today, much colder than in Dublin (which was probably about 42). The waves were pretty big today. Myles wanted to put his hand in the Irish Sea and did not anticipate the big wave coming which soaked his shoes! I was plenty far back from the water so that incident was more than a little amusing. We walked for a while and took advantage of the photo ops.

We took the train back to Dublin and Myles took Ben and Natalie back to the apartment. I had a fun surprise for Abbie and Trey. We went to see The Princess and the Frog. In English! They were so excited. It was cute. In Poland, there are plenty of American movies. The regular movies are in English and there are Polish subtitles. I have not been to a movie in Gdansk, but that's what I've heard. But kids' movies are dubbed into Polish so my kids would not be able to understand. They enjoyed it and laughed all throughout the show. Natalie opted to hang with Ben and her dad since she is far too mature to see The Princess and the Frog. I really think she wanted some computer time!

I have really enjoyed our time in Ireland. The people here seem very happy and are generally quite loud. There is much laughter and gregarious conversation. The people seem to always be looking for ways to help each other. It is a very friendly culture. One of my favorite things here is that everyone always thanks the bus driver when they get off the bus. And the drivers are so nice--they make an effort to give direction and are very kind to tourists.

Tomorrow we are going back to Gdansk. It will be good to get back, but we have sure enjoyed our break from the below freezing temperatures there! Spring is sure to arrive in Poland eventually...we hope!

We're Busy Being Irish

On Wednesday morning we headed to the Guinness World Headquarters.

It is about a 10 minute bus ride from the City Centre. It is a very cool place! The tour is self guided and easy to follow. There are seven floors that explain how the beer is made, advertising, why Guinness is so dark, etc.

The seventh floor is called the Gravity Floor. It is where you get your free pint of Guinness (the kids and I had diet coke!).

The seventh floor is a large circular room that is all windows. We had a nice view of Dublin in all directions. This picture of Abbie has the Wicklow Mountains (to the south) in the background.

We also stopped by the Dublin City Hall building. They have a very informative exhibit on the history of Dublin.

I did not realize that Ireland was under the control of England from 1170 until 1922. That's a long time. Though very few people speak Gaelic anymore, all signs around the city (in the airport, on buses, street signs, etc) are in English and Irish Gaelic. Here is Natalie in the City Hall with the Irish flag.

Today we stayed in the apartment for most of the morning. There are toys in Trey's bedroom here and he has had a blast playing pretend with all of these action figures.

When we finally made it out the door we went to...

What a great day it was! It was around 42 degrees and a beautiful sunny day. There were very few people at the zoo so we meandered around at our own pace. They are doing quite a bit of work on several exhibits, so there were lots of construction people there. But we were able to see lots of the animals. This tiger paced by the glass divider many times while we were there.

Here is another tiger keeping his eye on Natalie.

We had a little snack at the zoo's snack bar and Abbie waited patiently with me for our order.

After the zoo, we went back to the City Centre and found a fabulous bookstore! We spent a long time and a ton of money in there. But our kids love to read so we won't gripe about spending money on books. And now have plenty of English books to bring back to Gdansk to keep us occupied for the next few months.

The trick is going to be packing them all in our carry on luggage to get them back to Gdansk!

We went to a traditional Irish pub for dinner. I had Irish stew made with Guinness beer, beef and mushrooms (yummy!). Myles had an Irish stew made with lamb and other veggies. I liked mine better, but his was still good. We've had a great couple of Irish days!

We're Halfway Home

Today marks the halfway point of our international adventure. We may be off by a day or so either direction, because we do not have our home travel details set quite yet. But by the time we get back to Gdansk on Saturday, we will definitely be on the second half of our trip. We have been away from home for 4 1/2 months. In some ways it seems like that long, and in some ways I cannot believe it has been that long. I imagine time will really start to fly now. My sister is coming to visit us for a week in six weeks (we can't wait!), and we have several more trips planned. Then we'll be busy packing everything up to come on home.

Today we are in Dublin, Ireland. We are staying at a really nice home. The lady who owns it lives here while she is in Dublin, but rents it out when she spends (I guess) a considerable amount of time in New York. It is very modern and the lay out is interesting.

I am not nearly hip enough to pull off the look, but we are having fun staying here. We are probably 10-15 minutes outside of the City Centre, but there are quite a few buses that come by frequently.

This morning we set out and caught our bus. It was a little rainy and chilly, but not bad. The zipper on my coat has broken. Drat! We are so close to the end of winter and I would really hate to have to buy another coat at this late date. But there surely are plenty of cold days still ahead in Gdansk. It also has buttons so I am going to see if I can get by with it for the rest of winter. It was a very economical buy back in October, so I guess you get what you pay for! The day cleared up in the afternoon and we were able to be outside quite a bit.

We walked around the City Centre for a little while and checked out several of the little shops. We made our way to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is attached to a little park with a fountain and playground.
 

I was surprised to see quite a few people walking around and sitting on benches in the park since it was kind of a chilly day. We had lunch at the park.

We saw where St. Patrick baptized the pagans. The actual well is no longer there, but the location is identified.

The 12th century architecture of the cathedral is too "heavy" as far as I am concerned. But I can certainly appreciate the magnitude and detail of it.

St. Patrick is the patron saint of both Myles and Trey.

After seeing the cathedral, we went to a Viking Museum. It was really neat and I think we all learned quite a bit. The Vikings founded the city of Dublin.

This museum started with the year 841 and went through medieval times. Ben had just learned about the Black Death in the 1300s in his (our) World History class, so the part of the exhibit that referred to that was especially interesting to him. Some things at the museum were interactive and then there was a young woman dressed as a medieval woman who gave us great detail about many things.

We left the museum and went to see part of the original wall that surrounded Dublin along with a gate that was built in the 1200s.

We walked to the River Liffey. This river runs right through the middle of Dublin, but I had never heard of it. Here are the kids with the river in the background.

Then we made our way back home. The people here are very friendly. At the bus stop this morning, I asked a young 20ish man if we were on the right bus to go to City Centre. He told us it was. Then as we were getting close to the stop, he appeared from a different part of the bus and made sure we knew where to get off (he was getting off at the same place). Then after we had walked about a block, he approached us again and gave us some further direction. The people here have been happy to help or answer any questions. I have to tune my ear to understand the Irish Brogue, but it has such a pretty sound!

Good-bye to Scotland...Cheers!

On Sunday we had a lazy morning. I made a big breakfast with all of the yummy breakfast stuff we found in the grocery store. We headed out at about noon. First we went to the National Museum of Scotland.

There was a room with interactive exhibits for kids so that was fun.

The other part of the museum is very large and has many artifacts. But the exhibits were scattered somewhat haphazardly over six floors, which was confusing. To me, a good museum goes in chronological order. Period. This one did not, so it was hard to follow. But there were interesting things to see from many different time periods, and it was free so we still came out ahead.

From there we stopped by an old cemetery that is allegedly very haunted. There is the legend of the dog, a skye terrier named Greyfriar Bobby. He was so devoted to his owner, John Gray, that when the owner died, the dog loyally sat by his grave for the next 14 years, until the dog died, too. This statue is right outside the cemetery.

That's not the haunted part though. There are all kinds of reports of ghost sightings at this place. We did not see any when we were walking through, nor did we feel the sudden chill that many people report. But there are nighttime tours of the graveyard and creepy things happen. There is one ghost in particular, that of a man named George McKenzie, who supposedly actually attacks people. We of course, did not go on any scary tour, but apparently this "presence" has caused injury to people who disturb the space. Weird. Here is a link that tells all about it: http://www.wyrdology.com/edinburgh/poltergeist.html.

After our little journey into the scary cemetery, we went to the National Gallery of Scotland.

It is also free! It was a beautiful art gallery. I do not know much about art or art history, but I do really enjoy wandering around art galleries. We spent about an hour there looking at all of the beautiful paintings. Trey did however, come to me at one point to tell me that he saw a painting that was inappropriate. We pushed past that painting and saw plenty of pieces that were appropriate!

We picked up some dinner from the grocery store on the way home and were in for the evening. This morning we packed up the apartment and took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Dublin. The flight was 40 minutes late and we arrived at the airport early. So there was a lot of waiting. But it was not so bad since we found Skittles for the first time since we left Kansas!

The flight from Edinburgh to Dublin is a short 40 minutes. We took a taxi from the airport to the very hip little house/apartment we are staying in. Ben and I found a grocery here a few blocks away. We've had dinner and are in for the evening. We will start exploring Dublin tomorrow morning.

We are Loving Scotland

Today was another great day of sightseeing in Edinburgh. When we left the apartment we were greeted by the haar. That's what they call the dense fog that is frequently in the area.

We walked to the Scottish Parliament building and to Holyrood. Both are just a couple of blocks from where we are staying. Holyrood is the palace where members of the royal family stay when they are in Edinburgh. We did not buy tickets to get a tour of the palace, but just took a look from the outside. Here are the kids at the royal gate and the palace is in the background.

We headed on to the Royal Mile toward the castle again. We stopped in some very touristy shops and looked around. That was fun and people here are very outgoing and friendly. When we walk into a shop or restaurant, they say "Hiya." When we leave they say "Cheers!" And they love to chit chat. They remind me of Americans in many ways. The culture here is very much like the US, so I'm sure that has lots to do with it. We stopped in several little shops as we made our way down the Royal Mile. We went to the Loch Ness Experience. It is a 3-D explanation of the Loch Ness Monster and talks about whether it is a myth or not. Myles and I were very disappointed in the film, we thought it was kind of boring and it could have been so much more. But the kids liked it and enjoyed wearing the glasses quite a bit! And we did all learn some new things.

After the Loch Ness Experience we went to a small Writer's Museum. 

 

 
It has artifacts and works of Robert Lewis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. It is a small museum, but we enjoyed seeing letters and other items that were there. Sir Walter Scott is known for many things including the well known quote "What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." There is a massive monument to him on Princes Street. As we walked down Princes Street on this drizzly (but not bad) day, we came across this bagpiper. It actually looks colder than it was. It was probably around 40 degrees. But it was drizzling on and off so that's why hoods were up. 

Men playing bagpipes are all over the place. You can hear the music from quite a distance away. I think they significantly add to the charm of Edinburgh. We went and walked around an indoor mall for a bit. Then we went to 6:00 Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral. It is a very large cathedral. I have so missed Masses in English! I really enjoyed being able to understand the words. There is an international retreat going on so our Mass was concelebrated by the normal parish priest, along with four other priests from France, Sweden, Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina. That was really cool to me, too.

But it is probably the last English Mass we will go to until we get home this summer. The Masses here are much more like Masses at home. There were Eucharistic ministers, and it appears that the parish has many activities going on. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the Scottish National Museum and perhaps the art gallery. We'll see if the wind takes us anywhere else tomorrow! 
 

A Great Day in the UK

We set out this morning as tourists in Edinburgh. When we left it was overcast, but there was not the dreaded haar (fog) that is so common in Edinburgh. This hill is called the Seat of Arthur and is visible when we walk about a block outside our apartment.

It was cloudy but warm, so we were perfectly content. It was 40-45 degrees all day today. That's fine with us! We walked around and took in the sights for a while. We came upon a statue of Adam Smith. Well, Myles was thrilled and we had to take a picture because Adam Smith is considered the "Father of Economics." He wrote The Wealth of Nations.

Myles was excited to see the statue of Adam, and we were REALLY excited to go to the Elephant House. It was a small coffee shop, now a restaurant as well. The exciting thing about this place is that it is where JK Rowling sat and wrote the early Harry Potter novels!

We are big Harry Potter fans, and it was so cool to visit the Elephant House. We walked around the back room (where she sat) and there is a huge window with a spectacular view of the Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh is not that big (about 500,000 people) and JK Rowling lives here. We all have our eagle eyes out for her. Seeing her would be a spectacular celebrity sighting for us!

We were there at about 11:00 and they were not serving lunch yet, so we did not eat there. We walked around for a while longer and then found a pub to eat lunch. It was called Deacon Brodie's. Deacon Brodie was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We have had some literary fun today for sure!

This pub had some traditional Scottish dishes. We had a UK favorite, fish and chips. Ben was very brave and ordered the Scottish National Dish. It is called Haggis. It is sheep lungs, liver, hearts--minced and mixed with oatmeal and spices. Ben thought it was quite tasty. Some of us thought the idea of it was so disgusting that we would not even try it!

After lunch we went to Edinburgh Castle. 

The castle has a long and fascinating history. Mary, Queen of Scots was born here and was named queen when she was six days old. She was coronated as queen at nine months old. Her son, James was born there, too. This is the James for whom JAMESTOWN in Virginia is named. Those two names are just the tip of the iceberg. We toured the castle and this was by far my favorite castle that we have visited.

The views are breathtaking. Of course, the castle is the highest point of the city. Since it was not too foggy we could see a long way away. The sea was visible and we had a wonderful view of the city. One of the things that I really liked about visiting the castle was all of the employees who were very welcoming. They were all over the place answering questions and offering insight. Here are Trey and Natalie modeling some head wear of medieval soldiers.

Of course, Abbie is in her element at a castle. She ended up with a tiara and her daddy crowning her Queen Abbie. All is right with the world.

We stopped by a grocery store and had dinner at the apartment. We had a full day and are in for the night at 7:00. We'll head out again in the morning...