The End of This Story

I started this blog/journal/diary in April 2009. I wanted to document this adventure for my kids. My first entry was titled "Are We Really Going?" At that point we were not entirely sure that we were even going to Poland. Back then I had never even heard of Gdansk. We thought that if we did go, we would be living in Krakow or Warsaw. Details unfolded ever so slowly. We set a move date, we packed and we flew into the unknown.

We were able to do some unusual and exciting things, to travel extensively. We have indescribable memories to last our lifetimes. Years from now I hope that my kids will look through all of these entries and say, "Oh, yeah...," "Oh, my gosh, I forgot about that...," "Wow, that was really cool..." As time goes on this adventure will become more and more a part of our past. My hope is that my kids will remember it fondly and that this unique experience will bond them forever. I hope they will someday appreciate how much they learned, and I hope they will know how much Myles and I enjoyed this journey with them. I hope they will someday share it with their children.

Today we celebrate America's 234th birthday. As we continue to transition back to our normal, I realize that we are no longer An American Household in Poland. We are simply An American Household. It's been a pleasure.

Is It Weird To Be Back?

Is it weird to be back?

This is the question that I think I have encountered the most since we returned from our adventure. The short answer is no. In fact, except for a few things it seems like we never left. There is that new Arby's that has appeared as if from nowhere.

Every time we drive by it the kids remind me that we have not been there yet. And they want to make sure we immediately get to Sonic, Taco Bell, Golden Corral and Dairy Queen. I remind them that we need to pace ourselves. If we do everything there is to do immediately, what will we do for the rest of our lives in Olathe? We did cave in and made a trip to Dairy Queen this evening.

But I insisted that we walk, so we earned that treat! You know you're in Kansas when you walk by a cornfield on the way to the Dairy Queen.

There are a few things that have changed. The produce section in Walmart has been rearranged, and the tortillas are in a different part of the store now. Kids we know grew taller and look so grown up. Our trees are taller. But overall, things are more or less the same.

I don't think we have changed too much, but we have a little bit. It is not likely that I will ever forget to bring my own bags to the grocery store again. Yesterday, I took my big and very sturdy grocery bags that we had in Poland to Walmart and caught a bit of guff from the cashier lady. In Poland cashiers sit, here they stand. In Poland people sack their own groceries, here the cashiers do it. People bring their own bags in Poland, and really throughout Europe. Some cashiers here roll their eyes at my noble attempt to go green, especially when I bring my bigger grocery sacks. This cashier filled one of the big ones up and told me I was never going to be able to lift it. I did not let on that while apparently I look wimpy, there were times in very recent Polish history that I hauled two of those big bags from the grocery store on foot more than half a mile.

Instead, I told her it was ok to load it on up because my minivan was just right outside in the parking lot.

I have been unpacking tubs from our attic. I have made quite a bit of headway, but there is still a lot to get to. I am specifically on a quest to find a tub that has our American flag in it. I have not found it yet and 4th of July is two short days away! So far this is the best we have come up with. I will keep looking!

So is it weird to be back? No way. It's wonderful. It is home!

This, That and My New Wheels

On Monday morning I took Natalie to her soccer camp. Our lives are REALLY getting back to normal. Natalie had been worried about whether or not she would be able to jump back into her soccer routine. While we were in Poland she did not play on a team. Girls do not play soccer, or at least on soccer teams, there. When I looked for a team for her in Gdansk last fall I learned that she COULD play on a boys' team. I was not thrilled with the idea of my 13 year old daughter being the only girl on a team where she does not speak the language or know the culture. She was not too thrilled about that idea either. So she juggled the ball in the backyard when the weather was somewhat decent. She had PE at the British School on Mondays. She used that as her sporty outlet. Her PE teacher commented on her end of year report about how happy Natalie was playing sports.

I watched her for about 20 minutes at the end of camp today. She looked right at home on the soccer field in the goalie box, and I know she was so happy to be back on the field again. Note the skinned up knee that happened when she dove for the ball at camp this morning and the big smile on her face! She has played on the same soccer team since first grade, and will be rejoining them for the fall season in August. She can't wait!

I have had so much fun this past week running into people we know everywhere we go. I ran into Monica at Walmart, Tricia at Quiktrip and so many friends at church. I saw Karen cruising next to me as I was driving down Pflumm yesterday, and Wendy at Target this morning. There have been times this past week where I've had the Cheers theme song running through my head: "Where everybody knows your name..." It is nice to be home!

We have a new phone number. Since we were unwilling to pay the silly monthly fee to keep our old number for nine months, we ran the risk of our old number being unavailable, and that happened. We are adapting and have learned the new number. What I was not expecting was the deluge of sales calls! We had our old number registered with the attorney general in Kansas on the Do Not Call list. After this past week of countless telemarketing calls, I registered our new number this morning. But the telemarketers do not have to comply for 31 days. We will be doing some serious screening of calls in our house until August 1st!

Our trees are growing in the backyard. They are getting big and providing some much needed shade back there as the backyard gets the summer, southwest sun. Our peach tree is producing lots of fruit, but I think we will not be able to enjoy any of it. There seems to be a serious peach theft problem in our backyard. I caught one of the criminals red handed this morning.

And it looks like this was his second helping. The pit from his first course is right by his tail.

We have been running crazy and time has been flying! I cannot believe we have already been home for over a week. When we were in Poland I had promised Ben that he could get his driving permit when we came home. Well, we have not quite gotten around to that yet, but he did have his very first driving lesson. It is a very strange feeling to let my firstborn sit in the driver's seat. It's downright terrifying to allow him to operate the vehicle!

We went to a nearby parking lot and he navigated around curbs at very slow speeds. He was surprised to realize how many things one has to think about while driving a car. He is studying the manual and we will head to the DMV later this week for his permit. He has many more instructional hours in his future before he is allowed to venture off on his own.

Ben's lesson was given in Myles' car, not my BRAND NEW (to me--it's a 2009) minivan!

We picked it up yesterday, and I love it.

One of my requirements for a new car is that it NOT look like every other vehicle out there. I have a tendency to forget where I park in big parking lots, and it is very helpful to have a unique looking vehicle. My old, mint green Ford Windstar was awesome, and I never lost it. If that thing didn't die, I would still be driving it. When it did give out, I had a light blue Town & Country for a while. It happened more than once that I tried to get into a car that wasn't mine when we owned that van! We sold it right before we left for Poland. This new van is navy blue and has a little bit different body shape to it than all the others. In addition, I will slap my "I Love Gdansk," sticker on it to help it stand out.

All of our immediate coming home chores have been accomplished. I still have an attic full of plastic tubs to empty and sort. But we are functional. I'm not complaining!

Here, Kitty, Kitty

Our cat, Miranda, is home! When we first welcomed Miranda into our family as a nine month old kitten back in 2002, she was terrified and hid behind a big dresser for several days. She was very slow to accept her new surroundings. Then for the next seven years she never left the house except for a yearly (more or less) trip to the vet. Miranda does not care for the vet or to leave the house. Whenever we went out of town we would always have a neighbor come in and check on her and make sure she had enough food and water. When we would return home she would make sure we knew she was annoyed with us for leaving her. But she would not be able to resist our charms for very long.

When we went to Poland, Miranda spent those 10 months with our friends who live here in Olathe. Ginny is a cat lover, sometimes referred to by her family as the "cat whisperer."

Her family has two cats and a dog of their own. She graciously volunteered to foster Miranda while we were bouncing all over Europe. It was so wonderful for us to know that Miranda was loved and well taken care of while we were gone. Ginny emailed pictures of Miranda to us from time to time while we were gone. We can't thank Ginny and her family enough for taking such good care of our kitty.

When we dropped Miranda off at their house last August she was very stressed. She hid behind their bed for about a day before she ventured out. Miranda is a ponderer. She observes for a long time before she even considers engaging. According to Ginny, she eventually adapted and enjoyed, even sometimes initiated play with the other cats. One of her new friends, Olive, was a bit standoffish to Miranda. So Miranda interacted with and played mostly with the other cat, Thor. I understand that they each took turns instigating mischief. Thor was very curious and concerned as we put Miranda in the pet carrier and took her away.

Ginny told me that Miranda tolerated Snowball the dog, but that's about it. That is the same way that I would describe the relationship Miranda used to have with our dog, Ginger. We put Ginger up for adoption last summer and she is permanently living with a family in Memphis, Tennessee.

I did not know how Miranda would react to seeing us. Myles was so jet lagged that he stayed home. Ben wanted to go with me to visit with Ginny's son, Ross. Ben and Ross played together on the same baseball team for a couple of years. Miranda did not come downstairs to greet us. Ginny brought her down and Miranda let me hold her. She is not a cat who likes to be held much so I was very pleasantly surprised about that. She did not seem nervous or worried, so I think she remembered us. On our way to our home from Miranda's temporary home last night, she had a lot to say. She was not one bit pleased to be in a pet carrier and made ugly and insulting comments to us during the entire ride.

When we arrived home I let her out of the carrier. Myles picked her up and reminded her where we keep her food and litter box. She did not fight him when he picked her up. She was most definitely mad, and she spent about 30 minutes hiding between the sofa and a table.

But after a very short time she started walking around just like she normally does. She seems to remember this home and very quickly started acting like she was comfortable here. I'm sure she will miss her animal buddies that she made this past year. And no, we will not be adding any new pets to our family anytime in the foreseeable future.

Step by step we are returning to the life we left. Next we are going to pick up the new van!

The Reunion that Brought Tears to My Eyes

I left the house at about 1:00 Saturday afternoon. I stopped by Target for what seems like the 12th time this week. From there I headed up toward the airport. I stopped by the Embassy Suites and picked up Natalie's backpack that we had inadvertently left there last weekend. Then I went to the airport to pick up Myles.

His flight from Chicago was scheduled to arrive at 2:50. I was there at 2:30. As I was waiting, I noticed a couple who were waiting for the same flight. They were probably early to mid 50s. The husband was nervously pacing back and forth. The wife was anxiously looking around, checking her watch, scanning the arrival board and watching out the window for the plane. She was telling her husband, "fix your shirt," "it's time for the plane to be here," "are you sure this is the door they will come out?" I was very curious to see which passenger on this plane had this couple so out of sorts.

The plane pulled up to the gate. A few minutes later the exit door to the main area was opened by an airport employee. Then people started coming off the plane. The wife drew in a big breath and started to cry as the second person walked through the jetway. It was a young US soldier in his army fatigues. His parents ran to him as he exited the gate, and there were quiet tears among spectators who happened to be standing nearby. The young man and his dad headed off to the restroom. I asked the mom how long he had been away. She said he had been in Iraq for a year this time and that now he is home for good. I'm glad I was a witness to this today.

Myles exited the plane several minutes later. He has been gone for 10 months, though we just left him in Gdansk a week ago. His homecoming trip was quite an adventure. http://mylesgartland.blogspot.com/2010/06/only-22-hours-late.html We both agree that international travel stinks. We also agree that the right sets of mishaps happened to the right people. I would not have had the patience to haul all the kids and all of our stuff from terminal to terminal trying to resolve the flightmare he endured. I would have shut it all down much sooner, rented a minivan and driven to Kansas from New Jersey.

But all's well that ends well. We are all home now. We have found a minivan to buy. We will be picking it up tomorrow. In the meantime we are making do with Myles' car that seats five people.

Next we need to go pick up our cat and bring her home.

The Best Laid Plans

This morning I took Myles' car to the shop to have it looked at again. They could not look at it right away so I walked home. It was as if I had never left Poland! Except for the blistering heat. I just checked online and the high in Gdansk was 67 today. After I had been home for about an hour I received a call from the shop. They retested the alternator and it is testing fine. They can't find any problem with it. Well, looks like I just saved $650. The alternator surely won't last forever, but I'm not getting a new one today. Abbie and I walked back up to the shop to get the car. She mentioned that maybe Olathe should consider getting some trams. That would have been helpful this morning and our Gdansk passes are paid up through July 4th!

Today I went through a huge stack of mail that had accumulated while we were gone. It was kind of fun looking at all the Christmas cards we received on this hot June day! The kids were invited to swim with some friends at their neighborhood pool.

They were happy to get away from me and hang out with their friends.

Myles was scheduled to arrive in KC at 4:40 this afternoon. Well...there's been a change. I am not sure what has happened because it was overnight here when he sent the email. I'm sure he's working up his blog right now. But I received an email from him saying that he did not make his flight in Copenhagen to Brussels. So that meant that he was scheduled to fly from Copenhagen to Newark, New Jersey, then to Chicago, then to KC. If all went according to the revised plan, he would be arriving in Kansas City at 9:34 tonight. Well, all did not go according to that plan.

I saw online that the flight from Newark to Chicago had been cancelled. When I arrived in the US last weekend, my Polish cell phone did not work. I assumed that his would not work either. I hoped he would be able to find his way to an internet connection. I emailed him and gave him all of our new phone numbers. I did not think he had them and the numbers are so new they are not even listed with directory assistance yet. Shortly later, I received a call from him while I was standing in line at Walmart. We had a terrible connection. I assume he was using the cell phone of some kind stranger because of the Washington DC area code on my caller ID. He is staying the night in Newark tonight, and will be flying into KC tomorrow afternoon. I guess I will get the full story later this evening.

I know he must be completely frustrated, but he is on the ground in the US. Most of the "process" is behind him now. I have no idea if he has a change of clothes in his carry on bag...I'm thinking not. We are anxious for him to be home. When I head to the airport tomorrow I need to remember to stop by the Embassy Suites by the airport and pick up one of our backpacks that we left there. I somehow left it when we packed up after the first night we were back in KC. It is Natalie's backpack with her books from school in it. Those first few days are pretty foggy in my head.

I am sitting by the phone waiting for Myles to call so I can get all the details.

Progress and Fun

Monday was a very busy day! I started out pulling gigantic weeds from my garden in the front yard. I planted a few flowers and in no time it looked much better. At 8:30 the air conditioning guy came and checked out the unit on the side of the house. Everything was ok with it so that was great news. A short time later a delivery truck pulls up with my new mattress. Then the AT&T guy came and activated the phone lines, the internet and television service. A crew of cleaning ladies showed up and made the house sparkle from top to bottom. In the afternoon, the washer and dryer showed up on yet another delivery truck. Those folks were summoned back out because the washer water hoses were hooked up backwards. When I was washing my clothes with cold water, hot water was coming out. That's no good. They have come and gone today and the problem is fixed.

I have been to Walmart and Target, each more than once. I stopped by the Hen House and was even able to produce my Hen House card when prompted to do so! While we were away in Poland, all of my kitchen drawers and cabinets here at home were rearranged. I have remedied that and things are back to normal. I took Myles' car to have the oil changed and to check and make sure it is in good running order. It seems that there may be a problem with the battery. They tested the battery yesterday and said it needed to be charged, probably because the car had not been driven much while we were gone. Well today I noticed that it was slow to turn over. So when I drove the girls out to Stanley for an outing with the youth group, I stopped by the tire and battery store across the street. The guy told me that the alternator is bad and it is going to cost $650 to fix. I told him that I would have my husband take care of it! He said he was worried about whether or not the car would make it home.

Well I took my chances and he needn't have worried. I called the shop that worked on it yesterday to ask if they checked the alternator. I was able to speak to the guy who worked on it and he said he did. He said that sometimes alternator problems can be intermittent so it is possible that there is a problem, but that it tested fine yesterday. I am taking it back in to have them retest it tomorrow morning. I picked up the girls from Incredibowl and drove all the way home. I then dropped them off and headed over to the car dealership to begin the process of buying a new minivan (well, not new--new to me). I test drove one but did not love it. It was ok. I talked to Myles and we are going to wait until Saturday morning and go over to the dealership together. I hate car shopping!

One of the school moms hosted a lovely coffee get together this morning at her home. It was so nice to see friends that I have not seen since September. People came and went as their schedules allowed.

It was a very nice welcome home, though I was unable to get a picture with everyone who attended! Pictures will be added to some of my very recent posts as soon as Myles gets home with the photo uploader thing.

Today is the first day that we have all felt like we were on somewhat of a normal schedule. I woke up at 5:00 this morning which is a great improvement! I have been surprised at how long it has taken me to acclimate to the time difference. Yesterday was the worst day and today has been the best day. Myles is coming home late tomorrow afternoon. I'm glad we will all be under one roof in our real home!