Earthly Belongings

Hello my Friends,

I have been waiting for this moment for over a month and finally it came October 1st. I am reunited with the stuff I have collected during my happy American life.

We had a wonderful weather in September, nice and warm, perfect for our life out of the suitcase. The last few days of September though were cold and wet and (of course) it rained on October 1, when our things arrived at last. The trailer truck did not fit through the gate, so our moving crew had to park it at the side of a road and use small van to load parcels from the container and then bring them to our apartment. The guys were great though. They managed to bring everything in about 3-4 hours. Excellent job! However, when they finished I have noticed that our kitchen table legs went for a walk… They checked their truck but there were no legs. I started to wonder “who the heck needs just table legs?” The legs in question were positively vanished. Next day, I had to go to the custom agency to bring a statement saying that “all of the thing brought belonged to us and were used by us for over six months period.” In our original statement that accompanied a long list of paperwork proving our residency in US and then our change of mind and permanent move to Poland, we have only stated that we were the owners of them. Anyway, as you know I can not stop talking when I am without kids, so I mentioned to the agent that our legs went for a walk. He said it is impossible they are missing since he did see them with his own eyes, then he called custom officer and he confirmed that he saw them, too. Well, I plowed all of the boxed after returning home but did not see table legs at all. A week with improvised kitchen table went by, I have found a carpenter who said can make new legs and guess what? Our kitchen table legs came back to us! They were well hidden in van’s “mom’s attic” and went for a trip to Warsaw (over 340 kilometers away). The movers (ABC Ricard we recommend them if you fancy move to Poland or Europe) found them and send to us via parcel service. Not even a nut or washer was missing! Fantastic, civilized people do need kitchen table for everyday living.

So, now most of the boxes are unpacked, many are stashed in the spare garage and quite a few are still around in the apartment. When all of that stuff came kids were ecstatic and literary were swimming in toys. One month on a toy free life made them appreciating their belongings.

Today we are supposed to get a working stove for our kitchen. I can not wait to make a cake and Sławek is promising to bake bread. Since European Union got in a closer contact with Poland the quality of bread went south. You really need to make an effort to find good bread from the plethora available. You know: with crust, not just puffed up dough. I have discovered that Tesco, I thing it is an Irish chain, has good loose bread but it is good only at one location. Did I mention that for now all of those stores are at least two bus lines away from my place? Unfortunately they are and carrying groceries on a bus is nuts. When I do go shopping busses are not crowded but still bags are heavy.

I am applying for an adjunct professor position at Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy in Wrocław. I pretty much know that I am not going to get that position since it is Poland and job posts at the universities are written when they already have somebody in mind. Anyway if I could get there it would be fantastic, since they look for a botanist with field and teaching experience, good knowledge of local flora and some experience at foreign academic place. The only troubled  feature mentioned in the post is fluency in German. I did have some German classes but I am far from speaking it. However, I think it is good to let people know I am around and looking for a job. I do not think it’s very common to find somebody with doctorate from the US university looking for a job at a Polish one.

I have found out what do you do when your kid gets sick on a weekend, when the doctor’s office is closed. This time it was Helena and she had an ear infection. At first I tried to see somebody at a private practice but at one place they did not have anything available for the same day and at the other the lady gave me good advice – call emergency and ask where is ear and nose doctor on call. I did and they send me to a hospital. There was not line and Helena was seen promptly. The doctor was rather unpleasant but competent. Kid got an antibiotic and ear drops and was fine within couple of days. Today I did find a family physician for our family, so I do not have to worry when someone will get sick. And I have a feeling Michał will be next.

A word about Polish health system, as far as I know about. Virtually there are no uninsured people in Poland, even if you are unemployed you are covered. The problem is public places are underfunded and doctors have dinosaur era equipment. The doctor who was examining Helena did not have one of those hand held, well known in the US devices to look into her ears. She did have a forehead flashlight that was mended with adhesive tape and plugged into outlet and she used a small tube to have a look in Helena’s ear. I am telling you the “Flintstones” live. Next to public health system (where you don’t pay a penny) there is a private network where you pay out of your pocket for every visit but those places have equipment and talented staff and they are nice to you. Pure market, you get what you pay for. Often desperate people who have urgent cases get instant help from those private practices, you do not need referrals to get to a specialist, you pay you are served.

Kids at school are doing well, they complain the English lessons are boring. No wonder, they try to teach my kid colors, saying hello, face parts etc. Recently Kasia did very well on her test, she scored 95% only because she was too lazy to write “zl” abbreviation in her calculations. I hope it will teach her to be more exact for the next test.

I think it is all for this post, I will probably write some more after our car gets here or my visit to Lublin around November 1st, when all alive in Poland go to the cemeteries to clean graves, light candles and pray for deceased they know.

Stay healthy in this rainy season and drop me a line so I know how you are doing.

Camping out continuous…

Hello my Friends,

It has been a few days since my last post, so here it comes.

Good news! We have met new friends. It is a Polish-Canadian couple who recently moved to Wrocław. It was Sławek who spotted them and then it was I who found them in person, in here. As you probably know my husband loves internet and all of the stuff it provides. So, on one of the discussion groups, he found out about them and he let me know. He suggested that I try to contact the lady and set up a play date.(You know guys do not try to make friends). To make a long story short I sent a vital info to Stephanie via e-mail and was waiting,  for some time nothing happened. Untill one morning a nice lady approached me at the bus stop and asks “Do you speak English?” Of course I do, don’t I? So, I gave her the information she needed and then asked whether she has children and where is she from? And can you believe it – she was the Stephanie I was looking forward to meet! The world is small or maybe I am extremely lucky. They are a lovely family, we met the rest of the family last Sunday and I think kids liked one another.

As of today we are still camping out in our rental apartment. Our earthly belongings are somewhere on this planet and the recent update says we should see our stuff around September 25, we will see…Honestly it is very annoying to live like that. I have collected all of the amenities in the States and now I have to struggle with daily little things. I sure hope the container comes before cold hits Poland, because I do not want to buy warm clothing for the family or should I rather say we could hardly afford to buy. Life in Poland is expensive, I would say more expensive than in the US. For example we never paid about half of Sławek’s salary for renting a place to live. Here we pay about that much. One liter (roughly 1/4 gallon) of gasoline costs about $1.60, would you pay $6.40 a gallon? Since we have no car yet (Dear God please let us have the car back, Amen) we did not pay for all the insurance and stuff related to it but I have a feeling it will be a lot for 3.8 L engine. My niece says so, too. So,what did we gain after the move? For Sławek the gain is clear – he does like his new job, and does not have any of his previous sinus pains. For me it is a different story: family (the main reason to move) is still far, far away; job for me (another reason- you will find a job more easily, English will be your asset) – no, still in my dreams. I am still at home sending applications out without any feed back. All schools of English want either a native speaker or somebody with English major, and I am neither. I do believe I speak excellent English, often better than local English majors. What we/I gained is concern about money. Great! I’d better finish my summary before I get depressed.

But hey, I took Michał to Botanical Garden. It was beautiful! He was interested in plants, ducks on the pond and frogs that were living next to water wells. I think he especially liked frogs. After walking around he and I got hungry, so we headed to a little restaurant. Michał got fries and I got fries with a hamburger – Polish edition. As we got to that restaurant I have noticed people eating hamburgers with a fork. I was surprised, “why do you need a fork?” I did find out after I got mine. It was something totally different from McDonald’s or Burger King. On an open bun there was a pork patty covered with red cabbage, dill pickle chunks, corn kernels, red beans and a little bit of onion. I swear, you did need a fork to eat it. It was not bad.

Wrocław has some attractions for children, which is good. Last week we went to Mediateka for a workshop. It was educational, about environmentally friendly ways of travel. First there was a slide show about different ways of transportation and then kids could built vehicles with blocks. Michał got fascinated with “Knex” blocks. He himself built a car, a simple one but without anybody’s help, just following directions. Of course now he wants to have a set at home. I am afraid it will have to wait for better time. Helenka did not want to build anything, she draw a picture of a fancy bicycle instead. Kasia, the freethinker, built a carriage designed by herself. There was a presentation of children work at the end of the workshop. Really nice place, I think the classes are once a month, and free.

As we have no car I go everywhere by public transportation. There is a great website for planning your route called jak dojade, I use it every day.

By the way, I did find two hooks for hanging towels! They are very simple devices (S-shaped piece of wire) that were well hidden on top of the brim of shower cabin. Small things that bring you joy, huh?

I hope you are doing well,

So, long…

School and Stuff

My Dear Friends,

We did survived first week of school. But let me start from the beginning. The last Friday of summer vacation I have found out that I do need some kind of proof that Helena and Michał did go to Kindergarten. I had their report cards but the thought of doing a sworn translation gave me cold chill on my back. It cost a fortune to formally translate anything. Anyway it was a must or otherwise they would end up in K again (do you hear those scream from my Monsters? I did), so I called a certified English translator and she advised me to get an electronic certification from the Igo school stating that kids attended K and she would translate it in no time. So, I e-mailed Dr. Allardi and she sent me certification without delay. I forwarded it to the translator and on Sunday it was ready for pick up. The amenities of twenty first century and wonderful principal (read People in Foxboro). Amazing! Monday morning everything was ready to go.

The first day of school was Tuesday, it was emotional. I got all three of them to the gymnasium where kids gathered for assembly. I stayed with my first graders and left Kasia on her own but after a while I went to check on her. I was glad I did. She was so scared of the noise and new experience, she cried. I comforted her and she sent me back to “little kids” who were doing just fine. You know two is a company so, Helena and Michał were a little afraid of the noise but otherwise Helenka started to make friends on the spot. The principal spoke to the pupils, introduced new teachers and wished them all the best of luck. The new school year was officially open.

Helena and Michał’s room has 25 students, so is Kasia’s. She is in third grade. She started like that (my decision) and she will continue there. We decided that after consulting a psychologist and occupational therapist. She does have knowledge to go to the fourth but it could be an emotional burden for her.

And now a word to you American teachers – you “are” in conflict with your Polish fellows on the issue of introducing corsive. Kasia’s americanized handwriting/print was diagnosed as a delay in writing development.

Kasia likes her third grade, she is not very open to the kids yet but she’s fine. Yesterday she got a book to read by October 1st. It has 248 pages. My kid was sort of shocked that she has to read so much, it breaks down to about 13 pages a day to stay on schedule.

Yesterday I was also attending parents-teacher first grade meeting. It was a nightmare! Nobody wants to volunteer for anything, lots of much-a-do about nothing. Tiring, I’m telling you. And before you even get to school you’ll get bunch of pamphlets advertising paid after school activities such as English lessons, tae-kwon-do, etc. Useful for making notes how much money you have to provide for classroom life during school year. I was not quite aware how pricy is Polish education in public school. For example, kids will go through ceremony of becoming a first grader, just like knighting in middle ages, and parents are to provide money for buying a gift for them and of course refreshments after the circus is over. The teacher even did not blink when she stated how much she will need from every student in order for show to go on. What is even more surprising neither did any of the parents. Our school is providing its students with a box of milk every day, regardless of that our teacher wanted to have bottled water so kids can have a drink if they forget about bringing it from home. And for that purpose she requested that students bring about $3 every month to cover the costs of buying water and plastic cups. So, for me it would be at least 75 dollars extra expenses for the school year, and I am not counting in the costs of field trips and costs from Kasia’s educational-entertaining programmes.

Hats off to you PTA from Igo.

Besides school stuff, we are living a district of Wrocław that is 800 (eight hundred) years old, we go to the church that is 600 years old, nice gothic building. The church has pipes and beautiful old sculptures, priests seems to be nice, there is a special Sunday service just for children. Last week they were blessing their backpacks and school supplies. Very Catholic.

I think I was complaining long enough as for one post. I am finishing it here, for now.

All the best to all of you, and thanks for the e-mails.

Here We are in Wroclaw!

My Dear Friends,

We made it to Wrocław. Sławek got here first, he signed up the rental agreement and the next day I brought kids and myself. We did get the apartment I liked so much. And here is a news: if you are using a realtor to find you an apartment you have to pay the realtor first to sign a contract (about $10) for finding you the place of “your dreams” and it is just so that she/he will take you to show you the place. After you decide which place you love and the owner loves you back. You – the renter – pay the realtor one full month worth of rent for “finding” the place. And it is not all of the money the realtor gets for connecting people … she/he takes 70% (seventy percent) worth of monthly rent from the landlord. That is a pure rip off, don’t you think? Or maybe I should say “I wish I could be a realtor.”

Funny thing, after spending a day or two at our new place, I started to notice some flaws… but hey nobody/nothing’s perfect. Anyway it is kind of interesting what people do in their own apartments. For example the apartment has two bathrooms, both have sinks but none has a countertop (which I liked so much while living in California), but they both have bidet which seems to me rather useless and redundant with the other standard bathroom equipment. I dare to say so especially if you take into consideration two facts, one: water running in that plumming fixture is cold (at least in this apartment) and has a very low flow, two it takes quite a lot of space which could be otherwise used more efficiently. The walls and floor are covered with really nice tiles but there is nothing you could hang a towel on to have it handy as you step out of the shower cabin. The other bathroom has a jacuzzi tub but again there is nothing you can hang a towel to have it within your reach (there is bidet right next to the bathtub, instead). Apparrently people in 2002 (when the apartment complex was built) had no idea of hair conditioners because the shower has no space for putting more than two pieces – a bar of soap and a small bottle of shampoo. Oh, the american way of life has spoiled me well.

Of course dryer is a device almost completely unknown here, so it is not surprising that my husband has recently compared an air dryed towel to a sand paper. There is some exageration in it but honestly the era of soft and fluffy fabric is gone until we get a house and I put my foot down requesting a dryer. I did about three loads of laundry since we got here and I line dryed everything and then ironed each piece.

We do have a dishwasher!!! Of course it is much smaller than standard american but works very well and it is quiet, whispering quiet. Today I learned that we have an apliance in the kitchen that teaches you virtues. It is our induction stove…it teaches you the virtue of PATIENCE. And it is a merciless teacher. It took me a good hour and a half to bring to boil about two quarts of water to make a soup. And it took me about twenty minutes on “high” to heat some cooking oil to make some french fries. It was amazing! I put a frying pan on a stove, poured some oil and dropped a piece of potato I walked to the bathroom to check on my laundry – it was done, so I started to unload it. Then with horror I realized I left that pan with oil on “high”  so I run to the kitchen and see … nothing, the oil did not even bubble around my fry. Therefore, I finished unloading clothes and then hanged them on the device to let them dry and only then the oil was bubbly. Patience…

Wrocław is sometimes called the “Venice of the North.”  Indeed it has a lot of rivers and channels, there is even a moat. Therefore it provides a perfect habitat for mosquitoes. We did experienced it first hand the first night at our place. Michał woke up with three bites on his left cheek and some more on the sole of his foot. Helenka was not a bit less tasty than her brother. On the second night she came to me in the middle of the night requesting “Benadryl spray” on her itchy leg. After those two nights we got wiser and now we make a mosquito hunt before putting kids to bed.

Anyway it is a beautiful city. Currently Wrocław is under general construction, it looks like every road is renovated and so is the pipe/sewer lines that go under the roads. It is a mess. Currently we have no car so we rely on public transportation system, and when in a hurry on cabs, but I am not very happy about driving in such conditons. If I did not tell you that before Polish drivers are maniacs big way, at least it seems to me that way after living and driving in the US for the last 12 years. Tail gating and honking is a daily bread on the road.

On Monday I am going to enroll my kid to school. My first impression about the school was positive, I did meet the principal and the vice principal and they both were nice. School is clean and it requires all of the pupils to have a change of shoes at all seasons. It will be shocking to my kids.

I have to go now, I will keep you posted

Anna

Cultural Shocks

My dear Friends,

We made it safely to Poland.

The flight was not so bumpy and surprisingly short. It took us only 5 hours and 20 minutes to get to Dublin, Ireland. After the landing we went through European Union check-points where the so darn dangerous bottles of water purchased in Boston (past security points) were taken away from us. I bet American water is highly flamable and explosive after flying across Atlantic Ocean.

First things first we purchased new bottles of water and the clerk assured me that that water was safe to carry on an airplane. After short waiting period we were boarding smaller plane to Warsaw. We got the very last row of seats and Michal claimed the window seat which caused a short fit with Kasia. We have arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule at our destination point.

The welcome committee was slightly different than usual: only Slawek’s family and nobody from mine. But everything was fine, for the very first time Kasia spared us vomiting after trans Atlantic flight. Hoooray!

So, we got home on Sunday, and on Tuesday night I was on a bus to Wroclaw in search for an apartment. I was traveling with my old friend Teresa. It took us nine hours to get there which were quite unadventurous. Polish roads did not improve so journey was rather bumpy, but we made it. After the journey we went to the restroom to refresh ourselves and sure enough it cost about a $1.00 to use it, some things never change I guess…

Anyway, we left some of the stuff in the locker and went on with our mission. First step – apartment at the Vivialdiego Street. The road there was narrow and paved with setts, so it must have been dating well before the World War II. Apartment was located at the edge of the city limits in gated community. It was large and beautiful/luxurious with a view of fields, it did have an underground parking space but apartment itself was on fourth floor without an elevator. Therefore I had to cross it out from my list of potential places to rent (by the way rent was a little over 1,000.00 USD). A very lovely owner of that place gave us a ride to the center of Wroclaw and off we went to the meeting with realtor.

Here is my shock – if you use a realtor to find an apartment for you it will cost you the equivalent of one moth’s rent for that service! I personally think it is a ripp off. But that is the reality in Poland.

The realtor I chose was the one who told me ahead of time about that outrageous fee, I did called a couple of them and not a single one mentioned that.

She was very professional and took and effort to show me places for rent. The first one I saw was a kind of a townhouse with a garage under the apartment, two levels, really spacious, one and a half bathrooms, three bedrooms. Nice at a first glance, but after more critical looks I gave it I saw some dents in the armour – there was no washing machine or refrigerator, only one designated parking space (garage), and the previous tenants were pigs (with all respect to the real ones). Stink in one of the kitchen cabinets throwed me off. So, it is not my perfect place despite very attractive rent.

The second apartment I saw was a gem!

Again, gated community, security at the entrance staircase, two garages, breath taking indoor rock garden in the stairwell! Apartment was on the fourth floor but there was an elevator, the place was furnished but with room for for our stuff, 104 square meters of space (1119.446 ft²), all of the appliances and fully stuffed kitchen (plates and pots included), fireplace. The only thing I did not like was the proximity to high voltage power lines, but if we get into that place I bet it will not kill us at once. Honestly I would love to live there. We could store our unnecessary stuff in the spare (for now) garage and have a really comfy life.Wroclaw has a well developed public transportation system and but lines were near by the apartment.

Well, I did not like Wroclaw’s roads they suck! they are very narrow and crowded with paralell parked cars. I did not like weeds as tall as I am next to pretty houses, and I did not like the fact that you have to pay to pee, I bet you could easily pee 5 buck a day in public restrooms. I still hold my oppinion that Poland is as expensive as the US but average people make much much less than average Americans.

I still have to find school for kids, get certified translations for their birth certificates and so on.

Michal is sick again, today we saw a doctor and she said he has a strep throat. Another shock- pharmacists do not mix antibiotic suspensions for you, you do it yourself at home. Cool.

On the bright note – I am grant aunt now. On August 7th my niece gave birth to her son Cezar (10.93 lb and 22.04 inches). He is so cute, the day I visited her at the hospital she was fully experiencing engorgement. But she is home now and doing well.

I will keep log of my journey to stable adult life  and keep you posted here, my e-mail addresses are still valid if you want to drop me a line, please do.

All the best for you all, and keep me in your good thoughts.

Your friend always,

Anna

We are Moving Back to Poland

Well, after all those years of sitting on a fence we have finally decided to move back to Poland.

Yesterday we have shipped our minivan, tomorrow we have a packing crew to help us pack up our earthly belongings and ship them to Poland.

As I am writing it Slawek is frantically packing so the movers have less to do tomorrow. I have already packed kids clothes and mine. I am selling and giving away stuff useless for us in Poland.

As you guessed Slawek got a job, and we are going to be closer to family only 8 hours ride on a train and not the usual 11 hours on the airplane. We are moving to Wroclaw located on the South West part of the country (we used to live in Lublin South East). So, closer to the family….

No, we do not have any place to stay in Wroclaw as of today. That is the assignement to be completed before September 1st, when my hubby is starting his new career and my kids school. So, before that happens we need to find a roof over our heads and school for kids. Poland is respecting the grades kids finished here in US but I have my concerns over Kasia – should she go to fourth grade or third. By the age she should be in the third this year. Fourth grade is hard, every subject is taught by different teacher and in a different classroom, there is a lot of stuff to read to be prepared for sessions. She would be the youngest in her group of students. On the other hand Kasia will finish me off with her complaints should she go to the third grade… We will have some specialist evaluate her and we’ll  follow the advice received.

So, this Saturday I am taking kids off to Poland, next week Slawek is going.

I will miss you all,

Anna

Happy Easter

Hello my Friends,

I can not even remember when was the last time I put anything on my blog, so it is about time to let you know I am hanging in there.

Let me start with a story about Kasia. It was about the end of Christmas break when she approached me and said that they are going to have a huge project. They will have to make a report with rough draft, final copy and a diorama to go with it. The subject were extinct animals. I said “O.K. What are you going to write about?” she replied “Wooly Mammoths.”

So, I started to mentally prepare myself for the ordeal of writing project with my kid. When Christmas break was over and I looked into her school folder to clean it I found this:

Prehistoric Animal Project

Your project has two parts. Your book (first) part is due on Tuesday, January 20th. Your model (second) part is due on Friday, January 30th. Remember to write a rough draft and make a pre-model first.

Part 1: You will write a book about the animal you chose. Your book must tell about the animal’s diet, some of its predators, why it is extinct, life cycle, how it evolved and/or adapted to its world, time period, and if it lived alone or in a group.

Part 2: You will also make a model of the animal in its habitat. The model needs to have at least one animal in its own habitat. Add details too. You can put your model into any box.

Grading Rubric

Book                                               -30 points

Model                                             – 30 points

Effort & neatness                             – 20 points

No excuses                                      – 10 points

Turned in on-time                            – 10 points

Total possible points:                    100 points

When I found that sheet I got really mad, because I do not like wasting time. If she had all those instructions ahead of time why did she keep it secret instead of doing at least a little bit?!? Slawek got upset too. We are such teachers! We gave her talk about putting everything up for the last minute, and so on. Kasia said nothing but when I wanted to keep the instructions at home she said she needs to take it to school to show her teacher to discuss something, or something of this sort. Now we were on her! She did do her draft and brought it to school, then she spent all Sunday long to finish her book on time, I put it in her backpack on the due-day. When she got home though her book was still in her backpack! I got mad “Why the hell did we do everything on time and now you did not give it to your teacher?” We turned on the heels and went back to school to return book to her teacher. She was already gone for the day, so we put that book in her mail box. Then we did diorama and Kasia took it to school. The same day her teacher, Mrs. Alden, called me and said: “Listen, I do not know if you are aware of it or not but this Prehistoric Animal Project was not assigned by me.” I was flabbergasted! Mrs. Alden continued “I hope you do not hate me.” At this point I was laughing. I explained that I thought such a big project was a little too big for third grade, but hey you do what needs to be done. And Kasia got her medicine for future pranks, because it was not fun for her to stay at home and do that gigantic assignment. Mrs. Alden gave Kasia a Certificate of Achievement to recognize her hard work.

It was a joke of the month. I think to this day Kasia is not aware of the fact that now I know she assigned that project to herself.

After that our daily lives were business as usual. I think I did not mention that since our move Slawek has sinus pain especially when he is at work. At some point he saw an ear throat and nose doctor and he prescribed him prednisone for this condition, he did take it without immediate side-effects or improvement. Now there is a possibility of sinus surgery to clean sinuses and hope for better results. However Slawek is not rushing this surgery. On April 8th (last Wednesday) he did underwent hernia repair on an outpatient basis. He is recovering, next week he is going to see his surgeon for check-up. I drove him to the hospital, and then waited for him to come back after procedure, it was kind of funny to hear his speech slurred. I have never heard him drunk but I am positive he would sound exactly the same. It cracked me up during that stressful day. Another funny moment was when nurse was peeking under cover to look at wound dressing and she commented “Everything here looks great.” I was giggling thinking “what does she mean exactly?”

On another note – Helenka is still taking her violin classes and she is getting a hang of it. Michal is playing soccer and he is excited about it. All of them are taking swimming lessons from our local YMCA.

I am still looking for a real job, so far I get a really nice rejection letters.

At the end of May our friend from Poland is coming for about a week to visit us here. I am looking forward for that because she is nice woman and I like her a lot. She will see her relative in Florida first and then see us.

Spring is in full swing, daffodils are blooming, tulips and crocuses. American robins are busy with their business.

I hope you all have a Happy Easter as well as the ordinary days.

Until next time.

A Christmas Letter

There is only four days left of the year 2008, it was pretty eventful year for me and my family. First we moved from California to Massachusetts, then we got so long awaited green cards, then there was a summer vacation in Poland, and then instead of buying a house in MA there was a change of mind of someone and we are back in limbo about anchoring our home-ship… You all know it pretty well since you are my favorite audience.

Here is the latest scoop on our last couple months. All of my offspring go to school now. The oldest does not object going there. In fact she is a watchdog for the school bus in the morning. Every morning at 8:30 am, I shout to the upper level/playroom: “It’s time to get dressed!” Kasia is the first one to be ready and out of the house – for anything she would not go to school on foot. So she is watching for bus to come. Then Helena gets ready and then I have to have a short talk with my son for he does not want to go to school. He does get on the bus, but every morning we follow that scenario. I think I have to do some research to find out why he does not want to go there.

So, they go to school and I “stay at home”. You moms know very well that “stay” is a figurative speach. I run my errands as fast as I can before kindergarteners get back at 11:35 ish. Then, they come back and park themselves in from of the TV. They love the “pbs” shows and if you let them they would watch it since noon until 6 pm. Well, I do not let them… that often.

We had our conferences in November, Kasia is doing well but not as terrific as in CA. Vast majority of the students here are native speakers so teachers focus on merit and not on teaching English as a language. Helena and Michal are in the same kindergarten classroom. Their teacher is a young girl, she keeps them very busy all the time. Most of the days they have no time to eat their snack. (It never happened in Kasia’s kindergaten). They made a tremendous progress in their reading and writing. We were concerned how Michal will be doing but not anymore. Both of them are right on track. They read and write using upper and lower case alphabet. At first they had an extra help with reading specialist but not anymore. I think they are the only bilingual kids in the classroom, but their English is as good as their classmates-native speakers. So, school is going very well.

Last week (December 20th) we have been snowed under. In two days we got about 2 feet of snow! Kids were extatic! They woke up at 6:00 am, got dressed, and got out of the house by 7:25 am. I was not that happy when I had to shovel snow and scrape the car to get to Target on time. As one of my friends accurately put it “Massachusets people drive like maniacs” but things change when roads narrow due to snow dump. In those conditions they drive really carefully. You might have heard about  ice storm that put some of the central MA out of electricity, we did not get blackout. Well we did have a power outage for about 4-5 hours but that was it. Now the snow is gone, it melted basically overnight, all that is left are those dirty piles of plowed snow on road sides and parking lots corners. Some of those piles are very impressive.

For the last two years Helena has been asking me to buy her a violin. I have finally yielded and rented her that instrument, it is so tiny! She took 3 lessons so far. Last time teacher praised her a lot. I will let you know how she is doing.

And we have survived Christmas and gift giving. It was kind of funny. Since I have kids free mornings I go shopping at Costco by myself but one day I went with all of them and it was an experience. The store was full of toys – you know it is the season to buy gifts for kids that have everything and beyond. My girls spotted a giganting doll house (maybe you have noticed it as well, it was a three storey building with everything but two car garage but I am not 100% sure if it was not included. It was priced about $300 and required an addition to your existing home. On the box there was a warning “once fully assembled the dollhouse will not fit through standard door.”) and they WANTED IT. They even tried to convince me that they will share it. Helena asked me if she and Kasia have enough money to buy it. The answer was “no” so she asked me if I can earn that much money at Target. I think I could, … barely. So, every evening Helena asked me whether or not  I  am going to work and if the answer was “yes” she was very happy. I did not buy that house but another day I was shopping just with twins and they saw another doll house, not as impressive as the first one (which was by the way sold out) but still good size. I got that one and threatened them that if they spill the beans about it, it will be returned. Can you imagine a 6 years old keeping a secret for about a month? Well, they did not spill the beans. The dollhouse was assembled by daddy on Christmas day. So, little girls from neighborhood come and play. As kids were unwrapping gifts they gave quite a performance, especially Michal. Some of the wrapped items were wrapped on his request despite of it he was exclaiming:”…how  cool, thank you! That is just what I wanted! Thank you.” I think they are growing up to be a very convincing liers or excellent actors.

And finally the update on my career. Michal rejected my barber skills, he says he prefers to have a haircut by a licensed hair dresser. When I asked him why – he said “because she knows how to make a haircut” Stab in my heart. ; ) As far as my job search goes, I went to two interview, I was declined as a potential high school substitute biology teacher (put me down for a good couple of days), I was declined in written from Stonehill College (they said they were impressed by my resume but I was not good enough in comparison to other candidates, I was not invited to interview there). I went for a talk to Jove and I will see if they give me any work.

I hope you had a great Christmas, thank you all for your Christmas cards.

All the best to you in 2009.

Fall Time …

Hello my Friends,

Well, some of you asked me how we are doing, so here is the long answer. As far as our coming back to Poland is concerned Slawek and I had hanged up the talk until the end of June, when our kids are out of school. I kind of put my foot down and decided that it is unfair for the children to toss them around the Earth in the middle of the school year. If we had been voluntary coming to our birth country we would have absolutely no clue what school and for how long they need to go. So, till the end of the school year we stay in our place in MA. Kasia needs to get prepared and attend her First Communion, and this requires one full year at the same parish. She missed her opportunity to get this milestone of catholic life last year when we had to move out from California.

In the meantime I am looking for a job. I am looking, sending applications and so far nothing “permanent” happened. It is really hard to find a job after a long absence and being CEO of your own household. By the way, maybe I did not hear from anybody because my .pdf file containing “Resume” was corrupted and no one could open it and read how great I was, before children took over my life.

In the (unlikely) event of me finding a permanent position with a life wage, we are staying at this continent.

Children are doing fine. Kasia is in her third grade, as expected she resists doing homework and going to bed at a decent time (9 pm I am talking), but she is doing well. Twins are in the same kindergarten classroom. They have a brand new teacher, it is her first year of teaching, they do like her. Surprisingly my boy gets more praise than my girl and when this happens, Helena comes home and complains that the teacher offended her because Michal was praised and she was not despite doing equally well. It is kind of funny when the little girl says: “Miss Denyse does not know we are twins and both of us need praise at the same time!”

We had our picture day! I was surprised that here pictures are taken outdoors. Everybody did quite well. At least well enough not to bother with a “take 2″. Class picture was literary group picture, which is a pity because I did like to have everybody’s name under their faces. We are going to have conferences at the beginning of November and I bet I will find out about some interesting school life facts.

We did not move out of our “charming” house. The landlord will replace windows in our bedrooms and two windows in our living room, I have found out that some of our heaters were turned off while others were half way open. That may explain why the house was so cold (average warm living room temperature was 64-65 F).

I gave up and put curtains and sheers in our living room and bedrooms windows. I must say home looks more homey.

Hey Zuzana, guess what I know how to give a boy/man haircut now. Michal was my lab rat, nobody noticed any major flaws in his mushroom haircut. I am so proud of myself.

We are members of EcoTarium in Worcester. It is a pretty awesome place! It is a large place with stuff to explore indoor and out-door, too. It has live and stuffed animals, playground, trails, pond, and year round train rides. Basic family membership lets you in for free to other awesome places in Boston, i.e. Boston Children Museum and Boston Science Museum. Another thing I like about Ecotarium is the fact that it is geared for slightly older children, not little tykes. I am hoping this will keep us healthy after visiting it during winter/flu season.

In conclusions, same old, same old

All the best for all of you.

Vacation with three kids…

My dear Friends,

Here it goes. On June 24th 2008 I went to Poland, the country of my childhood. On the same day literary minutes before leaving home I received, so long desired, green card or officially called “Permanent Resident Card,” along came a letter with a heading “Welcome to America!” Ha! Thanks for that welcome, better late than never (I’ve been in States for eleven years now). Anyway, I kiss my husband good bye (for five weeks) and pack luggage and three little (wait – not so little anymore) kids, and taxi takes us to Logan International Airport in Boston.

Kids were talking all the way to the airport, they were very excited about going on vacation. At the airport we went smoothly through all of the gates and security check-ups and after finding our gate went on to the “duty free” just to kill time because we were really early. When we got back from the “duty free” we had a box of skittles that became kids food source for the time of flight. Our plane started one hour late but we made our connection in Frankfurt. As usual, Kasia got sick on the flight to Europe, she was holding well until we got to our gate for transit in Frankfurt, there she vomited early enough so I could change her clothing before boardng plane to Warsaw. On that plane Michał freaked out when a guy spoke to him in Polish. Poor kid must have been convinced that Polish is our special language and nobody else is using it. What a surprise! After about two hours of flight we were in Warsaw, we got our luggage without any missing pieces and went out to our “welcome committee” consisting of my in-laws and my niece’s husband. As we were exiting Michał got scared again. This time it was my mother in law who must have been dyeing to see her grandchildren. She must have been anxious because she entered the “exit way” almost all the way up to the door, kneed, spreaded her arms and exclaimed “MIchał!” The boy stopped on a spot, shouted “AAAA!” and run back to the safety of mom (Me).

155 km (about 96.5 miles) from Warsaw to Lublin was really really long for me. Poland has no highway system but people have fast cars and are not afraid of driving fast on a two lane roads. It is scary when somebody is overtaking you at the same time when cars from the opposite direction are doing the same thing. Road’s shoulder is used as an ultra slow lane, or lane for escaping on the side when someone is overtaking you. Maybe you can get used to it, still it is very scary!

For our first five weeks we had our base camp in my mom’s apartment. It is so easy to get used to bigger and better things. Mom’s apartment is a three bedroom one, and only my mom and my brother live there. When we got there it seemed really tiny. Everything is so space efficient in Europe; apartments, cars, any groceries or cosmetics you buy are much, much smaller than in the US.

For two weeks kids were attending a summer camp run by the nuns, after a while they started to like it. It was a good deal because kids went to a puppet theater for “Pyza’s Adventures” and some time later they had a field trip to Kazimierz, Wąwolnica and Nałęczów. I was there with them since Helena and Michał required a chaperon. In Kazimierz we saw an old, beautiful church, town square, and ruins of the castle build by king Kazimierz the Great. We went on the Vistula ride for about one hour and everyone enjoyed it. After the ride we got rooster shaped breads and head off to Wąwolnica and Nałęczów. Because the weather was very much unpredictable we did not sight see much of the those two towns, but got back to Lublin on time.

That summer camp had the best weather for the first part of our vacation, after it ended we went through a rain spell. It rained every day, which caused some of the Kasia’s tantrums about not going to the swimming pool thus wasting summer. When it finally cleared up we went to a new place with swimming pools and everybody was happy. We went with my university-time best friend and her two boys. All had a great time even though Lublin’s water park is nothing compared to Newark’s Aquatic Center in California.

We have visited a lot of relatives on both sides of our family, Helena was thrilled to see her cousins, aunts, uncles and grand parents. Everybody loved her and she loved them right back.

Two weeks before our departure Sławek joined us and we have changed base camp from my mom to his parents house. His stay brought us stirring… He came and stated that he wants to get back to Poland now. He took it very seriously because, instead of enjoying family and relatives, he went on a couple of job interviews. On one of them he got a good job offer. For now he had to decline it because he needs to work for his current company for a year before he is free to change work. (One year anniversary is February 2009)

So, now I am back on my “swing” and I thought we are settling down for like thirty or forty years. No, no, no, my life must stay interesting. When I was setting my mind on staying in the US (because of that green card) I need to change it back but I do not really want to.

I need to mention my niece’s wedding – a beautiful ceremony with crying bride at the exchange of the wedding vow. After a wedding there was a wedding reception with music and great food. Helena did not let anybody dance with her daddy. Little kids had a blast playing with baloons. Among three of my kids Kasia lasted the longest, it was 2:00 am when we got back her home. But she must have been tired because at about 11:30 she came to me, looked at me and asked “Mom is that you?” I must admit I looked different in a red dress and a professionally done hair but everyone else did not have any doubts that I am I.

Now I am home on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, one more week and kids – all three of them- will go to school. I will have mornings left for thinking where I really want to spend the rest of my life in Poland that changed so much during the last 11 years or in America that has been my home for the same time period. What I did not like about Poland was foul language I could hear from the adults and children alike used very casually. I did not like the lack of good roads but I guess this will change in the years to come. I did not like food because it is becoming more and more global (no more good, honest, tasty food I remember). I did not like the fact that money just slips through your fingers even though I was careful with my choices. I did not like the attitude Polish people have towards money – everybody behaves like a millionaire when they are clearly not.

I hope you had a great vacation without life-changing choices to do. Take care.