Getting ready for church and Kulig

The girls before church sporting their Sunday dresses they got for Christmas
Proud Papa

Count Emily! She is obsessed with numbers
Em's favorite book at the moment is Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox (great children's book). I put her to bed with some books, went back in a short while later to turn the light off and this is how I found her.

This past weekend Ben and I went on a "kulig" which is a Polish traditional sleigh ride in the forest. It was planned and arranged by CLO so we went with a bunch of folks from the embassy. It's one of those things that we're still trying to figure out if we had a good time or not. For one, it was REALLY cold.

This guy on the accordion was pretty good. I felt bad for him though playing with his bare fingers. He'd play, then run over to the fire to warm his hands and then keep on playing.

Enthusiastic suckers before the ride... it got VERY cold...
Top notch sleighs... used for canoes in the summer?

Our fearless kulig leader. He was kind of strange, if you can't tell by the pic. He would run from sleigh to sleigh, jump on, and sing traditional Polish songs at the top of his lungs... quality entertainment included in the price.
Our friends the Hrncirs. They are going on their fourth year in Poland. They're also military, have four kids, and have been stationed in Ghana, Syria, Germany, and now Poland!

It truly was a beautiful ride in the forest at dusk... fresh snow on the bountiful trees. It grew dark and the stars came out bright and beautiful. I was kind of freaked out we'd get attacked by wolves because I read some Russian novel about a marriage party traveling in a sleigh caravan that got attacked by a pack of wolves and like only one kid survived. I can't remember where I read it... does it sound familiar to anyone?

At this point my camera went dead, but we finally arrived at our campsite where they had prepared a pretty puny fire (we had been anticipating a bonfire). All 31 of us huddled around trying to unthaw. Most of the adults had alcohol to deaden the nerves... Ben and I got half a cup of lukewarm hot chocolate. We did roast kielbasa (Polish sausages) and enjoyed hot bigos (Polish stew) and good ole American smores. We really dreaded the sleigh ride back to the bus knowing how cold and long it was going to be. We all loaded on the sleighs, the horses took off at a gallop (Ben fell off his seat) and we were back to the bus in like 30 seconds. I guess we had done a huge loop. It was kind of funny because our horse and sleigh overshot the bus and he couldn't turn around, so we had to hike back to the bus. It would have been faster to just walk from the campsite. We all got a pretty good laugh out of that. Guess you had to be there.

Life Marches On

I am seriously resisting the urge to make some chocolate chip cookies. Ben usually makes them on Sunday nights, so I've been conditioned to crave them every week. Tonight is the NFL playoffs though, so Ben has found his higher calling... and Em and I are left to fend for ourselves. So, to get myself to stop thinking about the cookies, I am blogging...My friend Tawny sent Emily an adorable winter outfit. Thanks Tawny! And yes, that is a swim diaper hanging from the banister... don't ask.
Ben and I made a flurried day trip to Krakow, which is the "cultural capital" of Poland and once used to be the political capital as well. We went for my birthday. It was fantastic. We ditched the girls with our dear "pani" (nanny) and caught the 8:30 train. It's a 2.5 hour ride. It happened to be a miserably wet and rainy day, but it was fun anyway.
These are some state dept. folks that Ben went to language training with. Tim and Ann (in the middle) work for the consul in Krakow. Emily and Ben (on the left) happened to be visiting Krakow from Warsaw that day as well. We hung out with them on the train.
Ben with Smok Wawelski (the legendary Krakow dragon that lived under the Wawel Castle).
In front of the home where Pope Paul John II lived
A view of Krakow from atop the Wawel Castle.
A huge bell in the belfry of Wawel Castle. Supposedly if you put your right hand over your heart and touch the bell with your left hand and make a wish, it will come true.
We went down into the crypt of Wawel Castle where many renowned Poles are buried including the recently deceased President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski. There were so many people getting their pictures taken by his tomb.
I was touched by this lowly nun, who in the midst of all these people offered a quiet and meditative prayer. She was so incredibly focused and still, as if no one were around for miles. It made me want to resolve to give more reverent prayers. Ben gives me a hard time for always having my eyes opened during prayers... but how would he know?
And as we leave Wawel Castle, I tip my hat to Krakow, mimicking the brave national hero, Thaddeus Kosciuszko
And just as we were leaving to catch the train, the sun finally peeked out.
Here are a few more pics from earlier in the month. We went to the rynek (town square) in Warsaw on New Year's night. They had a few small vending booths, but nothing like on the scale of Salzburg or Munich.
The Christmas tree in front of the palace... I don't know what's cooler, the tree or this lady's fur coat.
Is that some crazy UFO descending upon Warsaw?
To help Ben blend in with locals, I got him this flat cap, often worn by Polish men. He wears it when he drives, and he looks awesome... I'll have to take a photo. In the meantime, pics of the girls sporting the cap!

The Shoe is on the Other Foot

So, how many of you have been guilty of snickering at the little oddities of immigrants living amongst you? Have you ever been slightly annoyed or impatient when a non-English speaking person holds up a line because they don't know our systems and don't know the language? I know a certain someone (I won't mention names), who swears foreigners are the worst drivers. How many times have you heard, "This is America. In America we speak English!" Well, now the shoe is on the other foot. We are the oddballs here, the bumbling idiots who hold up lines, cause traffic jams, and incur the wrath of the Polish speaking population as we (more like I) attempt communicating solely with facial expressions and hand gestures. And I must say, it is very HUMBLING!

We have some very sweet Polish friends Ben met through the defense academy he is attending. They have been showing us around the area and took us to a public swimming pool last week. This indoor facility was awesome... it had a huge lap pool, kids pool, and regular swimming pool. Well, when we walked in we felt kind of sheepish as everyone stared at Ben in his swimming trunks. Every male, including Ben's friend, was in a speedo. Ben, on the other hand, was wearing long baggy swimming trunks with a Hawaiian floral print . He caused quite the scene. Ben's friend, Krzystof, explained that he couldn't swim in the lap pool. He pointed to a sign that shows a stick person in swimming trunks with an X over it and a stick person in a speedo with a circle around it. Yeah, speedo required. So, Ben was stuck in the kiddie pool the whole time. He must have been kind of bored, because for some reason he thought it'd be a good idea to take Emily down the small kiddie slide. He barely fit and made a huge splash in the little pool. One of the life guards wagged his finger at him. Obnoxious American. Our friends had to be kind of embarrassed by us at this point.

In the meantime, I left the pool to go feed the baby, but I didn't understand their system. They charge by the hour and you wear an electronic wristband with a built in timer. This wristband is also the electronic key to your locker. I tried to explain to the cashier, in English mind you, that I had to go feed the baby and didn't want the time to count towards my hour, so she took my wrist band and I went on my merry way. Well, somehow something was lost in translation, because when I tried to get back in, she indicated, in broken English, that I had to buy another wristband, which was a problem because my wallet was in my locker. I tried to explain the predicament, but my dear friend Dorota had to come over and intervene. The cashier explained she had given my wrist band to another patron, who Dorota said she saw in the locker room opening my locker with all my belongings. They had to call in a supervisor with a special key to come help me retrieve my stuff. As you can imagine, we caused quite the clog in the line and I could tell everyone was a little miffed.

I was ready to get out of there at this point. So we all got dressed and were bundling up to leave when our friends incredulously pointed out that we were leaving with wet hair. They had blow-dried their hair and their kids hair and had them dressed in SNOW pants, jackets, coats, hoods, gloves, and hats, just to walk out to the car. I had Em in a coat with her hood on and wet hair. The car was like, 100 meters from the door. Really, just right outside. I didn't see the need to dress her in SNOW pants and I did actually try to blow dry her hair, but she hates the blow dryer and protested so I didn't push it. Well, that's not the way the Poles roll. They take dressing their kids for the cold seriously and we got plenty of dirty looks for our apparent disregard of our children. Seriously, if your kid is not dressed like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, you are guilty of child neglect.

Well, believe it or not, our friends weren't sufficiently humiliated by us at the pool, so they invited us later that night to go to a quaint little restaurant famous for its hot chocolate. Our hot drinks had just been served to us when Caroline, sitting on my lap, stuck her hand directly into the hot drink and then spilled it all over the white table cloth. She let out a huge cry. I jumped up yelling in English, "I need cold water! Where's the bathroom! Get me some wipes! She ruined my new sweater!" As you can imagine, we caused quite the scene once again as people in the restaurant stared horrified at what was taking place.

So, we haven't heard from our friends since, but it's only been a few days. Hopefully we'll hang out again, but honestly, I don't know if they want to be seen in public with us anymore. I will say, that I have greater resolve to be a little more accepting, understanding, patient, and kind when I return to the states and am back in my comfort zone. Maybe they'll come visit us in the states with their speedos and snow pants and you guys will all get a kick out of them. But, in all seriousness, it has been quite the learning experience and a good reminder to be accepting of everybody's differences!