Today marks our family being here for one week. Wow. I have tons of friends and family who have about a gazillion questions and are hungry for pictures. I’ll do my best to keep up to date with it as best as I can. Travis and Emma are taking trip #2 to IKEA today. It was incredible yesterday, using two large shopping carts and filling them up with tons of items and ordering other larger ones such as beds, mattresses and wardrobes. And although we didn’t really receive, what I would say was justified, stares I had to keep reminding myself that this is what happens when one moves across the world.
I’m thinking of writing a thank you letter to IKEA headquarters.
So tomorrow Emma and Elena should be able to sleep in their own actual beds! And have toys! Man, having two…energetic girls without toys or even tuperware for them to play with has been a handful. Speaking of the girls, they’re doing wonderfully. Elena could care less where we are and is just interested in making friends. She walked up to tons of kids at church gabbering away and smiling at them. Emma is also doing well so far. We went to a friends cafe and there happened to be a children’s cooking food class thing and although they were speaking only Polish she wanted to join the group so badly! YAY! I was so encouraged by that and we’re looking into how we can sign her up to begin making POLISH friends.
Personally, I’ve been doing really well. And actually really having fun and enjoying myself! I LOVE our neighborhood and our managers are super nice. Having friends here to meet us was HUGE and made me feel loved. Before moving here I wondered if I would shrink into a shy person and not as questions, order food or engage in any conversation but so far so good! I make it a point to not give those fearful whispers any attention. I’ve also had to just keep smiling and reminding myself it’s super important to laugh at myself when I goof up and they give me that long stare like I’m crazy. I have an American friend in Sochi, Russia and she reminded me of how she still has to laugh at herself and her learning curve and I will take that piece of advice and tuck it in deep. I take myself too seriously sometimes, putting pressure on myself for pretty much no good reason. 🙂 I’m taking a crash course in that you might say.
Don’t worry, you’ll be getting pictures as I blog more, but I’m still trying to figure out how to do everything on a new lap top and new theme thru WordPress.
Some fun observations so far:
The Polish love their ice cream. I mean love.
The bananas are in the exotic fruit section in my local grocery store.
They have cherry everything here. Juice, jam, tea, stuffed pierogi…I’m in heaven.
French fries are a side to tons of food. Tons.
Starbucks food is WAY BETTER!!!!! I’ll have to take a picture next time I take the 20-25 min tram ride there. Yeah.
Coffee beans at said Starbucks are much more expensive.
Oh the shoes. People here just dress so nice and their shoes are beautiful.
I’m making friends with our local bakery lady and ice cream lady and I cherish that.
NO Mexican spices as far as I can see near me. Quietly freaking out inside.
But they have peanut butter.
Church was amazing. Just amazing. A whole other post will go towards that. I already have a new Dutch friend! Yay!
I’m loving this city and there is still tons to see. I’m looking forward to being a tourist this summer, taking a map/camera with the family and bike ride around the neighborhoods.
Finally being able to buy permanent purchases is so nice. I officially have my own dining room table that I won’t have to sell/give away!!
The homes here have big window sills because most everyone has 2-3 plants in their windows. LOVE that. And according to some Polish friends of ours, a traditional house warming present is a house plant! Cool.
Papa for now!
(bye bye for now)
