Friday, January 06, 2012

Home again.

Joan and her kids, Karen and Joey


I was up early, 6AM so I could say another goodbye to the grandkids before they went to school. Joan slept in but I was ready to leave early although we didn't go to the airport until 230PM.  The flight didn't leave until 5:30PM but we had to be there early to go through customs and check in.  This flight was booked early enough that I was able to get seats by the emergency exit for extra leg room.

The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Warsaw at 9:15AM, waited an hour for the plane to Pozna艅, took a cab home and discovered that our flat had no heat in it and it was 15F inside, rather cold.  I tried to restart the heating unit to no avail and had to call Zbyszek for assistance.  He called a man who services our type of heater and an hour and a half later he arrived to replace a defaulty relay switch.  The heat is on now but it will take some time to warm the flat.  We're walking around in coats and hats now until the temperature rises enough.

We unpacked everything, put it all away and now we'e just waiting for the heat to rise.

We are glad we decided to go to America for this Christmas and see our kids, grandkids, my sister and a few friends. We should have stayed a week longer to give us more opportunity to see people but this morning Joan and I both agreed it would be nice to be back home again. We feel like we just woke up from a Christmas dream.  We left for Chicago in a gray foggy day and returned to a drizzly day in Pozna艅.  When we left Chicago it was 43F and sunny.  We had good weather the whole time we were there and in North Carolina.  Of course, we're going to miss everyone again and don't know when or if we'll make a return trip in our future, only time will tell.  The day I rented the car and drove to my sisters in Indiana was very nice driving on four lane highways again with people actually going the speed limits and not having to drive defensively all the time. It's good to have friends like Mike and Mary who drove 8 hours just to spend a day with us.  We hope that our plan to meet in Dublin works out for us all.

It's good to be back home.

By艂em rano, 6 rano, wi臋c mog艂em powiedzie膰 innym po偶egnanie wnuki, zanim poszed艂 do szko艂y. Joan spa艂, ale by艂am gotowa wyj艣膰 wcze艣niej, chocia偶 nie jecha膰 na lotnisko do 230PM. Lot nie opu艣ci艂 a偶 do 17:30, ale musimy by膰 tam wcze艣nie, aby przej艣膰 przez odpraw臋 celn膮 i sprawdzi膰 w ten lot zosta艂 zarezerwowany na tyle wcze艣nie, 偶e uda艂o mi si臋 uzyska膰 miejsca przez wyj艣cie awaryjne, na dodatkowych nogi.
Lot by艂 spokojny i przyjechali艣my do Warszawy na 09:15, czekali godzin臋 na samolot do Poznania, wzi膮艂 do domu kabiny i odkryli, 偶e nasze mieszkanie nie mia艂 ciep艂o w nim i by艂o 15F wewn膮trz, a zimno. Pr贸bowa艂em restart urz膮dzenia grzewczego bez skutku i musia艂em wezwa膰 Zbyszka o pomoc. Nazwa艂 cz艂owieka, kt贸ry us艂ug naszego rodzaju grzejnika i p贸艂torej godziny p贸藕niej przyby艂 do zast膮pienia defaulty prze艂膮cznik przeka藕nika. Ciep艂o to jest na teraz, ale to zajmie troch臋 czasu, aby ogrza膰 mieszkania. Mamy chodzi膰 w p艂aszcze i kapelusze teraz a偶 temperatura wzro艣nie na tyle.
Rozpakowali艣my wszystko, to wszystko z艂o偶y膰 si臋 i teraz we'e tylko czekaj膮 na ciep艂o wzrasta.
Cieszymy si臋, postanowili艣my pojecha膰 do Ameryki na to Bo偶e Narodzenie i na nasze dzieci, wnuki, moja siostra i kilku przyjaci贸艂. Powinni艣my mie膰 pozosta艂 tydzie艅 d艂u偶ej, by da膰 nam wi臋cej mo偶liwo艣ci, aby zobaczy膰 ludzi, ale dzi艣 rano Joan i zgodzili si臋, 偶e mi艂o by膰 powrotem do domu. Czujemy si臋 jak w艂a艣nie obudzi艂 si臋 ze snu Bo偶ego Narodzenia. Mamy wyjecha艂 do Chicago w szary dzie艅 mglisty i wr贸ci艂 do dnia drizzly w Poznaniu. Kiedy wyszli艣my z Chicago by艂o 43F i s艂oneczny. Mieli艣my dobr膮 pogod臋 przez ca艂y czas byli艣my tam i w P贸艂nocnej Karolinie. Oczywi艣cie, zamierzamy przegapi膰 wszystkich ponownie i nie wiem kiedy i czy zrobimy powr贸t w przysz艂o艣ci, czas poka偶e. Dnia wynaj膮艂em samoch贸d i pojecha艂em do siostry w Indianie by艂o bardzo mi艂e jazdy na czterech pasa autostrady ponownie z os贸b faktycznie b臋dzie ograniczenia pr臋dko艣ci, a nie konieczno艣ci jazdy defensywnie ca艂y czas. Dobrze jest mie膰 przyjaci贸艂, jak Mike i Mary kt贸ry jecha艂 8 godzin tylko na sp臋dzenie dnia z nami. Mamy nadziej臋, 偶e nasz plan na spotkanie w Dublinie pracuje obecnie dla nas wszystkich.
Dobrze jest wr贸ci膰 do domu.