BoJo Family: Still in Poland!

It has been so long since we have posted anything on the blog. For that, we apologize. It just has been so crazy here for the past month.

When we first moved into our apartment in Krakow a few flights below a catering business just closed down and there was some renovation going on. After a few weeks a sign was put up saying "Sapphire" a Gentleman's Club. Great, we thought, but we hoped that the renovations would go on for a while longer and they would open long after we have left. However, the craziness started after Thanksgiving...

We decided to visit Warszawa (Poland's capital) for Thanksgiving. Our apartment in Krakow had no oven and we couldn't make a traditional Thanksgiving Turkey dinner so we thought traveling was the perfect thing to do. Besides, Joe took 2 days off work. Warszawa was great and we a had a great time. It is an amazing city which has been through so much during WWII. It was completely leveled to the ground and so many historical monuments were destroyed. In addition historical relics and National treasured were stolen by the occupying forces and destroyed, melted or taken out of the country. Poland has been trying to retrieve the things that have survived the war and get them back. Also, Poland has put in extreme effort into rebuilding its capital. The castle was 90% destroyed, but because of pictures and painting take before the war, Poland has been able to completely rebuild it and the old town to what it looked like before the war. I have to say that architecture outside of the old town is not very exciting. It has the typical communist "cement block" feel to it. But it is great city that is both fun and exciting to visit (wouldn't want to live there). I think we will go back there again sometime this spring. Maybe when our parents come and visit.

Our long month begins: the night we got back from Warszawa the club opened and they played loud music till 4am. Opening night, we thought. Well, we were very dissapointed to find out that the loud music continued every night starting at 9pm all the way till 4-5am. Along with the loud music we started to find awful and gross (too gross to mention) things in the hallway (one of the club's exits was onto our hallway). We started a back and forth with the rental office about it. They advised us to call the police next time it gets loud, which we did. The police came and the club owners of course turned the music down... for about 1hr and then back to loud again. This went on for about 10 days. We demanded that the rental office owners move us to a different apartment because we could not live like that. They did move us, but to an apartment that was basically a motel room and smelled like cigarettes. We thought we could adjust, but we couldn't. Just the thought of spending Christmas in that place made us miserable. So, we called the rental office yet again and told them that we would stay in the apartment until we found a new place to live. They were so unhappy with us breaking the contract we had with them till the end of the year that they told us we had to move out by noon the next day or pay some ridiculous amount. We had no choice but to move. Thank goodness for Bill and Janna, our new friends who are from Florida and who have been living here for a while. They offered to have us until we found a new place to live. They themselves have two kids (Bea who is 1.5yrs old and Solomon who is 3.5yrs old). They were so kind and made us feel very welcome in their home (even with all of our stuff) and offered us their home for as long as we needed. They insisted that they like having lots of guests and that they enjoy the chaos of two toddlers and a baby! Even though we loved staying with them, we felt like we needed a place of our own. Especially over Christmas. We were also anxious to find a place so that we can confirm our longer stay in Poland (yes, we decided to stay until end of June). After looking at numerous apartments, we finally found a place that seemed right. It was a bit run down and Aria didn't seem to like it at all, but we thought she was just being nervous and all messed up because of all that has been happening. Anyhow, we decided to take the place and we moved in only to find out that a crazy and scary man was living upstairs above us who listens to death metal all night long and told Joe to f-off (in Polish) when he tried to talk to him. We could not believe it. Out of all the places in Krakow, we happened to pick the one with the loud music and the scary guy. To top it all off, when Aria woke up in that apartment the next morning after we moved in she started to cry and said she didn't like it there - it was dirty. That was enough to convince us to move out of there. So, we packed our bags and moved back in with Bill and Janna. I think both Joe and I were ready to come back home. We thought Krakow had defeated us! But just the day we moved back with our friends, we got a phone call from one of the many real estate places we talked to saying that a two bedroom apartment has opened up in their building and if we were interested. The rent was affordable and it was in a neighborhood we have been trying to live in from the beginning (the old Jewish ghetto - very cool - similar to the SE Hawthorne area in Portland. It even has a park with a crater like Mt. Tabor). Anyhow, we went to look at the apartment and we loved it. We also met the owners who live in the building and we immediately liked them. So, we decided to take it. We got keys the very same day and moved in. Aria has been soooooo happy! She has a room of her own and her own bed and has been just very content. That was the day before Christmas. We went and bought a Christmas tree and baked cookies and had a small but tasty Christmas dinner. The apartment is quiet and cozy and it looks over the Wisla river. We live a few blocks away from the tram stop and it takes us about 5-7min to get to the main square and the old town. Life is good again!

So, we are in Poland and are still loving it and are happy to be here for another 6 months. Joe is starting to pick up the language and I am thinking of taking a Polish history class. We have made a few friends with kids and are enjoying their company. One of the couples invited us over for a Christmas day dinner. They even baked a whole turkey just to make it seem a little more American for us.

Other than that we are planning a trip to the mountains sometime soon. It has been very unseasonably warm here. Feels like Portland winter. With some rain, but mostly chilly with clouds. It snowed once and it doesn't seem like it will snow again for a while. Here are some pictures we have taken over this past month.

We miss and love all of you and wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year!

See you all in 2012!

WARSZAWA: