Thursday, December 27, 2018

3 Birthdays & visitors.



In years past, today was a celebration of two birthdays, my son, Eric and my sister, Tami. Unfortunately, with the passing of my son last March the celebration is only in memory now. I can only look up and wish him a Happy 50th Birthday. It's painful to know I will never see him again except in the many pictures I have or, if I am lucky, in a dream.

The second birthday celebration is for my sister, Tami, her 60th birthday. It's hard to believe she has that many years already and I have 74. Time has flown by so quickly and like with Eric, I missed too many years of their lives growing up. Those are things I cannot change so I am grateful for these years we have been together, even long distance, thanks to modern technology, It is amazing how many family members I have seen grow up, in pictures, due to the internet.

Now I have added a third birthday celebration, cousin Amy Sassenberg, who came to stay with us last October from Washington state. Today she is 56.

Yesterday I spoke with Carmelo for 1 1/2 hours and we corrected each others mistakes speaking in English and Spanish. It's been great having him available through Skype to help me progress in Spanish. Having a real Spanish native speaker makes it easier to correct words I learn from the course I use because it is written in more Mexican/Spanish and some words they use for English words are completely different in Spain.

It's always nice to have visitors. Today our friend, Marcin 艢niegocki and his daughter, Zosia, came to our flat bring us cookies made by his wife, Dorota. They have been doing this for the last 3 or 4 years and we appreciate it. We spent an hour or so talking, drinking coffee and eating ciasto I brought from Elite. Marcin is a very successful manager of the Shimano company in Poland and Zosia is a young lawyer in Krak贸w. I've been able to watch Zosia grow from a 15 year old teenager into a young woman. She is very smart and speak the English language well. Marcin is always interesting to talk to. We don't see him enough.

W poprzednich latach obchodzili艣my dzi艣 dwa urodziny, m贸j syn, Eric i moja siostra, Tami. Niestety, wraz z odebraniem mojego syna w marcu, uroczysto艣膰 jest teraz tylko w pami臋ci. Mog臋 tylko spojrze膰 w g贸r臋 i 偶yczy膰 mu szcz臋艣liwych 50. urodzin. To bolesne wiedzie膰, 偶e ju偶 nigdy go nie zobacz臋, z wyj膮tkiem wielu zdj臋膰, kt贸re mam lub, je艣li mam szcz臋艣cie, we 艣nie.

Drugie urodziny s膮 dla mojej siostry, Tami, z jej 60. urodzin. Trudno uwierzy膰, 偶e ma ju偶 tyle lat i mam 74 lata. Czas p艂yn膮艂 tak szybko i jak z Ericem, t臋skni艂em za zbyt d艂ugim czasem dorastania. To s膮 rzeczy, kt贸rych nie mog臋 zmieni膰, wi臋c jestem wdzi臋czny za te lata, kiedy byli艣my razem, nawet na odleg艂o艣膰 dzi臋ki nowoczesnej technologii. To niesamowite, jak wielu cz艂onk贸w rodziny dorasta艂em, na zdj臋ciach, dzi臋ki internetowi.

Teraz doda艂em trzecie urodziny, kuzynki Amy Sassenberg, kt贸ra przyby艂a do nas w pa藕dzierniku ze stanu Washington. Dzi艣 ma 56 lat.

Wczoraj rozmawia艂em z Carmelo przez 1,5 godziny, a my poprawiali艣my nawzajem b艂臋dy w m贸wieniu po angielsku i hiszpa艅sku. Wspaniale by艂o mie膰 go za po艣rednictwem Skype'a, aby pom贸c mi w post臋pach w j臋zyku hiszpa艅skim. Posiadanie prawdziwego hiszpa艅skiego native speakera u艂atwia poprawianie s艂贸w, kt贸rych ucz臋 si臋 na kursie, kt贸rego u偶ywam, poniewa偶 jest napisany bardziej po meksyka艅sku / hiszpa艅sku, a niekt贸re s艂owa, kt贸rych u偶ywaj膮 dla angielskich s艂贸w, s膮 zupe艂nie inne w Hiszpanii.

Zawsze mi艂o jest go艣ci膰. Dzi艣 nasz przyjaciel, Marcin 艢niegocki i jego c贸rka, Zosia, przyjechali do naszego mieszkania przynie艣膰 ciasteczka wykonane przez jego 偶on臋, Dorot臋. Robi膮 to przez ostatnie 3 lub 4 lata i doceniamy to. Sp臋dzili艣my oko艂o godziny rozmawiaj膮c, pij膮c kaw臋 i jedz膮c ciasto, kt贸re przynios艂em z Elity. Marcin jest bardzo skutecznym managerem firmy Shimano w Polsce, a Zosia jest m艂odym prawnikiem w Krakowie. By艂em w stanie obserwowa膰, jak Zosia wyrasta z pi臋tnastoletniej nastolatki w m艂od膮 kobiet臋. Jest bardzo inteligentna i dobrze m贸wi po angielsku. Marcin jest zawsze ciekawy z kim porozmawia膰. Nie widzimy go wystarczaj膮co.