I was offline for a few days because last Thursday we moved into our new apartment and I had to wait
for the Internet connection to be set up.
So here we are now, on our own and at times it's a scary feeling. Doma shipping delivered 8 more boxes
to our address, well, not exactly to our address but to the building where we live now and we had to
carry them into the apartment.
The apartment is small, smaller than we have ever had. The living room is about as big as our old
bedroom in America. It's a one bedroom apartment with kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom.
It's a new apartment in a small complex. The floors are all parquet with a rug in the living room but
not wall to wall carpeting. Below the building is the garage but we have no place for a car that comes
with the apartment. Of course, we don't have a car yet so that is no problem. When we do get a car we
will have to park it on the street.
We unpacked some boxes and hung up clothes in the only "closet" we have in the hallway. Rooms in Poland
do not have closets, you need to buy free-standing wardrobe chests for each room to put your clothes
in. It's called a schafka. The bathroom has a shower, a toilet, a bidet, sink and a tiny storage area
under the sink. The mirror is just that, a mirror. There is no medicine chest. The windows in each
room open in two ways. If you turn the handle up, the windows leans into the room, opened at the top.
If you put the handle in a horizontal position, they open from the side and you can open it all the way. The windows are large but the great thing is
there are windows on both the east and west side so you get a good breeze flowing through. The
apartment is bright all day and direct sunlight from the west doesn't come in until about 4PM so it
doesn't heat up the place. Yesterday it was about 28 celius (82 degrees) but in the apt. it was cool
all day, a plus for us.
We felt brave after unpacking what we could and went to the stores only 4 doors away from our building.
One store sold only meat, another, fruits and vegetables, another was a bakery and the fourth had the
rest of what we wanted at the moment. Later in the evening, we walked 9 blocks to the "supermarket"
they carry everything and bought a frying pan, glass kettle, 2 cups, cooking oil, milk, coffee. spatula
and a few other food items. It cost about $45. The pan was the most expensive item, about $19. Much
higher than in the U.S. We have an old portable radio we brought with us that we listen to music and
news in Polish on. We don't know when we will get a TV and other furniture we need, probably not until
we somehow buy a car.
Today's (Friday) adventure is to figure out how to get to the local tax office where we must apply for
a Polish tax identification number so we can send it to Warsaw to get our remaining 23 boxes. At least
we know now that all of the boxes arrived and only two glass items were broken, that we know of. I will
also call the Internet office to try and speak with them about connecting the internet for this
apartment.
This is really something, to be a foreigner in a different country without being fluent in the
language. I can understand a little better how it must be for people imigrating to the U.S. It is
such a difficult time when you need to ask something or buy something but I am not completely ignorant
of speaking Polish, it just takes time to put the words together. Everyone I try to talk with is very
helpful and they smile a lot at my attempt's
JOAN-It is really nice to have small shops in the area. One is a beauty parlor, next is a coffee bar,
than a vegetable and fruit shop.and you can walk there. Parking is a problem for a lot of places and
most people park up on the sidewalk partially. Last nite we walked 9 blocks to a supermarket and the
cashiers sit while they check you out. Be very careful walking across the street because the car has
the "right of way" not the pedestrian and you can be a memory veryquickly. The cars drive very fast on
the side streets and I will have to get used to it.
This apartment will do for our first year, strange as it may seem we can not put pictures on the wall
because it is made of cinderblock with a finish over it and they would have to put holes in the wall
with a special tool and then repaired when we leave, {and we would pay for it}. So our pictures will be
standing against the wall on the floor. New way of decorating!
Saturday we will visit one of David's cousin a little ways from here so we will take a bus and
hopefully not end up in Russia. Although I do want to visit Russia and a lot of countries. I do like
the fact that you can visit another country as quickly as you can visit another state in the US.
Stay tuned for another episode of the new soap opera "Dave and Joan's adventure in Poland".
Friday-Aug 10th..We had our first visitor today, cousin Krzysztof Kupinski who was in Poznan on
business.He lives in Konin, about 1 hour east of here. As is the Polish custom, he brought flowers for Joan on
his first visit to a new home.It was wonderful to see him again. He, like I, have been very interested in our family history and we
have collaborated more than once on our mutual endeavors. He has also been helpful with the box
problem. Today I called to the American Consulate in Poznan and spoke with a woman there who was
helpful with the problem. She called to Warsaw and cleared up the problem with a Polish tax number and
it turns out we DON"T need one but we do have to go to Warsaw and present our passports and
documentation that we have previously been living in the U.S.Cousin Krzysztof said it would be his pleasure to take us there on Monday so it looks like we have a
road trip coming up. Tomorrow, we will find the bus station and take a bus to Golina, my ancestral
home, and spend the weekend with cousins there. On Monday, Krzysztof will pick us and we'll go to
Warsaw for the day. Things are shaping up for us now. After the box problem is solved, the next is to
file for our temporary residency papers.
Saturday-We got up at 8 AM and I called for a taxi in Polish and said the right things. The cab
arrived and took us to the bus station, cost about $6. We took the right bus and 2 hours later we were
met at the bus station in Golina by Andrzej and his niece Justyna. She has grown a lot since our last
visit three years ago. As soon as we got to Kazia's house food and drink were waiting so we ate, went
to the cemetary to pay respect to my great great grandmother Ludwika and great aunt Genowefa. We
continued our walk to the ancestral church, the park and then back to Kazia's house where we talked for
a few hours before we ate again. It's a different feeling and this time being in Golina and knowing I
won't be leaving back to the United States. I feel more at peace, like I have always belonged here. In
the evening we talked more, played Poker with Andrzej and Justyna and went to sleep about 11PM very
tired from the day. Sunday we got up at 8AM and I went with Kazia to church, had breakfast, talked and then called cousin
Anna to make a visit at 1PM. Joan and I walked the short four blocks to the apartment building where
Anna lives with her husband Eugeniusz. Of course, there we had more food and drink, talked about her
family and her daughter Grazyna arrived to welcome us to Poland. We came back at 2PM to have obiad
(lunch), played cards, went upstairs for ice cream and coffee at Kazia's daughter Hania's apartment and
went to bed early because we had to leave early the next morning for Warsaw.
Monday-Left Kazia's at 7AM for Warsaw with cousin Krzysztof and his nephew Artur. It took about 4
hours to get to Doma shipping where we needed to release our remaining 23 boxes. We had obiad at the
Devil's Corner restaurant and I must agree with the statement that food tastes much better in Poland.
Another 4 hour ride and we had another meal in Slesin where Artur's mother lives in the summer. We
were back in our apartment at 9PM, exhausted from sitting in the car all day. Tomorrow I will get my
Internet connection and put this on the Blog with all the new pictures.
Tuesday-Aug 14-Artur will come at 11AM and take me to the computer store to get a setup for my laptop
connection before it is connected.With the box problem out of the way, now we need to find health insurance coverage and then decide if I
should apply for Polish citizenship or just temporary residency. Citizenship would make some things
easier to accomplish, like buying a house but I should look at it closely first. Listening to the radio it is amazing that almost 1/3 of the stations play American music.The weather has been great for us, only one semi hot day so far.
Windows in Poland are very different from the U.S. They open into the house, either from the top only,
tilting inward, or from the side, opening inward. Very, very few people have screens on windows and yet
we have no mosquitoes or flys in the house. All of the windows are large in size.
Another difference you notice is that when you walk down a street or pass someone, nobody says hello
like in the U.S. Maybe it has something to do with living under communism for 50 years. In stores they
are exceptionally friendly when you talk to a sales person but at Doma shipping I felt like they were
doing me a favor to give our boxes to us and they have no idea what "the customer is always right"
means. Being in the Navy early in life I learned to hate waiting in lines but in Poland I will have to
be accustomed to it, it is not unusual.
People walk everywhere here and at night many take walks after dinner. It's interesting to see how many
grandmothers and grandfathers are out for walks with their grandchildren. You also see a lot of
teenage girls walking their baby sistsers or brothers in strollers. Family ties are still strong in
Poland.
OK, I have Internet and life returns to normal.yds
for the Internet connection to be set up.
So here we are now, on our own and at times it's a scary feeling. Doma shipping delivered 8 more boxes
to our address, well, not exactly to our address but to the building where we live now and we had to
carry them into the apartment.
The apartment is small, smaller than we have ever had. The living room is about as big as our old
bedroom in America. It's a one bedroom apartment with kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom.
It's a new apartment in a small complex. The floors are all parquet with a rug in the living room but
not wall to wall carpeting. Below the building is the garage but we have no place for a car that comes
with the apartment. Of course, we don't have a car yet so that is no problem. When we do get a car we
will have to park it on the street.
We unpacked some boxes and hung up clothes in the only "closet" we have in the hallway. Rooms in Poland
do not have closets, you need to buy free-standing wardrobe chests for each room to put your clothes
in. It's called a schafka. The bathroom has a shower, a toilet, a bidet, sink and a tiny storage area
under the sink. The mirror is just that, a mirror. There is no medicine chest. The windows in each
room open in two ways. If you turn the handle up, the windows leans into the room, opened at the top.
If you put the handle in a horizontal position, they open from the side and you can open it all the way. The windows are large but the great thing is
there are windows on both the east and west side so you get a good breeze flowing through. The
apartment is bright all day and direct sunlight from the west doesn't come in until about 4PM so it
doesn't heat up the place. Yesterday it was about 28 celius (82 degrees) but in the apt. it was cool
all day, a plus for us.
We felt brave after unpacking what we could and went to the stores only 4 doors away from our building.
One store sold only meat, another, fruits and vegetables, another was a bakery and the fourth had the
rest of what we wanted at the moment. Later in the evening, we walked 9 blocks to the "supermarket"
they carry everything and bought a frying pan, glass kettle, 2 cups, cooking oil, milk, coffee. spatula
and a few other food items. It cost about $45. The pan was the most expensive item, about $19. Much
higher than in the U.S. We have an old portable radio we brought with us that we listen to music and
news in Polish on. We don't know when we will get a TV and other furniture we need, probably not until
we somehow buy a car.
Today's (Friday) adventure is to figure out how to get to the local tax office where we must apply for
a Polish tax identification number so we can send it to Warsaw to get our remaining 23 boxes. At least
we know now that all of the boxes arrived and only two glass items were broken, that we know of. I will
also call the Internet office to try and speak with them about connecting the internet for this
apartment.
This is really something, to be a foreigner in a different country without being fluent in the
language. I can understand a little better how it must be for people imigrating to the U.S. It is
such a difficult time when you need to ask something or buy something but I am not completely ignorant
of speaking Polish, it just takes time to put the words together. Everyone I try to talk with is very
helpful and they smile a lot at my attempt's
JOAN-It is really nice to have small shops in the area. One is a beauty parlor, next is a coffee bar,
than a vegetable and fruit shop.and you can walk there. Parking is a problem for a lot of places and
most people park up on the sidewalk partially. Last nite we walked 9 blocks to a supermarket and the
cashiers sit while they check you out. Be very careful walking across the street because the car has
the "right of way" not the pedestrian and you can be a memory veryquickly. The cars drive very fast on
the side streets and I will have to get used to it.
This apartment will do for our first year, strange as it may seem we can not put pictures on the wall
because it is made of cinderblock with a finish over it and they would have to put holes in the wall
with a special tool and then repaired when we leave, {and we would pay for it}. So our pictures will be
standing against the wall on the floor. New way of decorating!
Saturday we will visit one of David's cousin a little ways from here so we will take a bus and
hopefully not end up in Russia. Although I do want to visit Russia and a lot of countries. I do like
the fact that you can visit another country as quickly as you can visit another state in the US.
Stay tuned for another episode of the new soap opera "Dave and Joan's adventure in Poland".
Friday-Aug 10th..We had our first visitor today, cousin Krzysztof Kupinski who was in Poznan on
business.He lives in Konin, about 1 hour east of here. As is the Polish custom, he brought flowers for Joan on
his first visit to a new home.It was wonderful to see him again. He, like I, have been very interested in our family history and we
have collaborated more than once on our mutual endeavors. He has also been helpful with the box
problem. Today I called to the American Consulate in Poznan and spoke with a woman there who was
helpful with the problem. She called to Warsaw and cleared up the problem with a Polish tax number and
it turns out we DON"T need one but we do have to go to Warsaw and present our passports and
documentation that we have previously been living in the U.S.Cousin Krzysztof said it would be his pleasure to take us there on Monday so it looks like we have a
road trip coming up. Tomorrow, we will find the bus station and take a bus to Golina, my ancestral
home, and spend the weekend with cousins there. On Monday, Krzysztof will pick us and we'll go to
Warsaw for the day. Things are shaping up for us now. After the box problem is solved, the next is to
file for our temporary residency papers.
Saturday-We got up at 8 AM and I called for a taxi in Polish and said the right things. The cab
arrived and took us to the bus station, cost about $6. We took the right bus and 2 hours later we were
met at the bus station in Golina by Andrzej and his niece Justyna. She has grown a lot since our last
visit three years ago. As soon as we got to Kazia's house food and drink were waiting so we ate, went
to the cemetary to pay respect to my great great grandmother Ludwika and great aunt Genowefa. We
continued our walk to the ancestral church, the park and then back to Kazia's house where we talked for
a few hours before we ate again. It's a different feeling and this time being in Golina and knowing I
won't be leaving back to the United States. I feel more at peace, like I have always belonged here. In
the evening we talked more, played Poker with Andrzej and Justyna and went to sleep about 11PM very
tired from the day. Sunday we got up at 8AM and I went with Kazia to church, had breakfast, talked and then called cousin
Anna to make a visit at 1PM. Joan and I walked the short four blocks to the apartment building where
Anna lives with her husband Eugeniusz. Of course, there we had more food and drink, talked about her
family and her daughter Grazyna arrived to welcome us to Poland. We came back at 2PM to have obiad
(lunch), played cards, went upstairs for ice cream and coffee at Kazia's daughter Hania's apartment and
went to bed early because we had to leave early the next morning for Warsaw.
Monday-Left Kazia's at 7AM for Warsaw with cousin Krzysztof and his nephew Artur. It took about 4
hours to get to Doma shipping where we needed to release our remaining 23 boxes. We had obiad at the
Devil's Corner restaurant and I must agree with the statement that food tastes much better in Poland.
Another 4 hour ride and we had another meal in Slesin where Artur's mother lives in the summer. We
were back in our apartment at 9PM, exhausted from sitting in the car all day. Tomorrow I will get my
Internet connection and put this on the Blog with all the new pictures.
Tuesday-Aug 14-Artur will come at 11AM and take me to the computer store to get a setup for my laptop
connection before it is connected.With the box problem out of the way, now we need to find health insurance coverage and then decide if I
should apply for Polish citizenship or just temporary residency. Citizenship would make some things
easier to accomplish, like buying a house but I should look at it closely first. Listening to the radio it is amazing that almost 1/3 of the stations play American music.The weather has been great for us, only one semi hot day so far.
Windows in Poland are very different from the U.S. They open into the house, either from the top only,
tilting inward, or from the side, opening inward. Very, very few people have screens on windows and yet
we have no mosquitoes or flys in the house. All of the windows are large in size.
Another difference you notice is that when you walk down a street or pass someone, nobody says hello
like in the U.S. Maybe it has something to do with living under communism for 50 years. In stores they
are exceptionally friendly when you talk to a sales person but at Doma shipping I felt like they were
doing me a favor to give our boxes to us and they have no idea what "the customer is always right"
means. Being in the Navy early in life I learned to hate waiting in lines but in Poland I will have to
be accustomed to it, it is not unusual.
People walk everywhere here and at night many take walks after dinner. It's interesting to see how many
grandmothers and grandfathers are out for walks with their grandchildren. You also see a lot of
teenage girls walking their baby sistsers or brothers in strollers. Family ties are still strong in
Poland.
OK, I have Internet and life returns to normal.yds
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