Week 5…..it really feels like we have been here longer than that. Good Lord willing we will be on a plane next Saturday and headed home!! We have tried to make the most of our time here in Poland, but at the end of every day, we long to be home. HOME to us is Tennessee. The place where we live and can sit on the back porch and watch the sun rise each morning and the day come to life. It is also where we can sit on the same porch in the evening and fire up the grill and relax on the porch swing. It is where we have pictures of our family and feel comfortable and “at home”. It is where our beloved pets live, whom we miss terribly (maybe we miss our dog Barney a little bit more than Lucy the cat, haha). However, our home is much more than a physical building. It is also where our family and friends are whom we also miss very much. As they saying goes, “home is where the heart is”. We miss our home and cannot wait to get back.
In our mind, we wish for each day to pass quickly so that we can return home. We miss it so much! However, lately we have been feeling somewhat guilty for wishing these thoughts. What is “home” to our son? What does he envision “home” to be? Unfortunately, he has never had a real home. His unfathomable upbringing, the shuffling between a foster home, then a children’s home–he does not know what “home” truly means. While we are wishing the days away here, we have failed to realize we are wishing away the only “home” he has ever had. Big changes are headed his way. It will be a big culture shock for him when we return to America. Here he can survive speaking Polish, but no one will understand him in America. However, he will soon learn what it means to be home. It means having a safe place to live and sleep. It means having a loving father and mother, as well as grand parents, great grandpa, aunts, uncles and cousins. It means having a loving church family. He will learn home is a place of safety, security, love and good memories. He will learn that this new home is his “forever home”.
Anywho, enough perspective for the day 😊. Week 5 has come and gone. There really is not much to write about this week. We mainly stayed home this week. We built more Legos, watched movies (The Jungle Book and Ice Age were a hit) and played outside with water balloons. We took one adventure to Warsaw and went to the Museum of Technology. It was alright. They had displays of various objects, such as cars, motorcycles, space, printing machines, etc. I think the coolest thing there was a German Enigma machine used in WW2. After the tour, we went back to Hard Rock Cafe and chowed down on American food (another thing we miss!).
Other things we miss most about home:
– Air conditioning!! Most homes here do not have A/C. It is in the 80’s right now and is pretty stifling at night.
– Ice!!!! Ice is a rare commodity here. Even in restaurants, ice is rare. If you go to McDonalds and order a coke, you get maybe 4 tiny ice cubes in your cup.
– Free public restrooms! Poland does not have many of these. Train stations, gas stations, malls, etc, you have to pay to use the restroom. It makes for trying times when you have a 7 year old, crying because he has to go to the bathroom and you have no change to pay for the restroom!
– American roads and drivers! Polish roads are bumpy. Lots of bumps and insane road rules. For example, a road split in two because of a tree (picture below), or a stop sign directly in front of a red/green light. If the light is green, do you still stop? Huh? Also, some Polish drivers are cra-zy. There seem to be no real rules other than drive as fast as you can, drive crazy and pull out in front of people as much as possible. Another rule is to pass everyone at lightning speed, even if that person is going above the speed limit.
These are just a few trivial things we miss from home.
Things we will miss about Poland:
– Piekarnias & Cukiernias! Bakeries and sweet shops. There is nothing like fresh, home made bread, cookies and pies. Prices are super low. We go a couple of times a week to the stores and buy fresh bread and desserts. Yummy!!
– Chocolate bars! Polish chocolate bars put American ones to shame…we won’t admit how much chocolate we have eaten over here. It would be mind blowing, haha.
– Hospitality and friendliness of Polish people. Everyone we have met has been super friendly and nice. From people at restaurants, stores, court, etc, everyone has been very nice with lots of smiles.
We have one more week here, then head home! This upcoming week we will be going back and forth to Warsaw to apply/obtain for our son’s passport and visa. Hopefully, we will have those secured by Thursday or Friday. If all goes smoothly, we will be able to fly home either Friday or Saturday. We will do our best to soak up the remaining time we have here and continue to make memories of our “home” in Poland.
The road is split around a tree. Also, notice there is no drainage for water if it rains. There are pedestrians everywhere at all times, so you have to go super slow so you don’t spray water on them.

A stop sign in front of a green light?

Each day we have a short school lesson. We are learning the alphabet, numbers and colors. Dad is a great teacher 🙂
Lego building time!

Pierogis! A Polish staple. These are filled with meat and were very tasty!

Some of the goodies we have dined on at the Piekarnias/Cukiernias.

There are even bread carts located around towns. For about $.41 you can buy a delicious ring of bread.
