New Home and a New World

Happy poniedzałek = Monday, folks!

I have officially MOVED IN! :D Yay!  I tried last Monday to write this post, but technical difficulties, and then the busy-ness of life made it such that I have not been able to post anything about my new place yet!  It was a great first week in the new flat. 

• Times I have been late: a few. :/ Often my fault, sometimes not... there is a learning curve to using public transportation, and sometimes it just don't go right. 
• Kitchen items I have broken while washing dishes: one. Sorry, roomies! I'll replace the glass if you tell me how!
• Times I have fallen asleep before turning out my light: two! Ever try moving to a place where you can't speak the language?? It's exhausting! I keep thinking of all the times I've heard someone say, "You come here, you learn our language!"  I now cringe. But that's a topic for another time and venue.
• Times I have been grateful for all the home-making items I've been able to borrow from my team: innumerable!!  They've kept me warm and cozy. My room does feel like home. Maybe not the most glamorous place, but it is a reprieve.
• Items I've wished I brought: ? none so far.... Although, I will soon run out of my favorite smelling body wash... It was just too heavy!
• Items I feel silly I brought, considering the weight limit crunch: a few. Two pairs of sandals? I'm hoping the spring will make up for that. Five scarves? Three of which are in the same color range? Ah well. I'll make good use of them. 

So... here's the place!

I forgot to take pictures of the completely empty room, but a short way into the process, it looked like THIS:

         

 The kitchen (kuchnia):

The first meal I cooked. Yes, you can get tortillas here. Salsa's weak, though. The tomatoes are AMAZING! All the produce is great, in fact. Well, I'm not accustomed to the lettuce... iceberg is big here. They use a LOT of cabbage (kapusta) though. There are endless varieties.

The view from my balcony. Notice the clothes lines. Handy!

 

I was excited to move in! Didn't get as much room in the picture as I intended, but there you go.

So, one fun thing is that my street is called Nowy Świat, which means New World. :o) And indeed it is.

Funny story about moving day: I was staying with one of the families, and Lisa was driving me over in the morning. We loaded up and headed over.  It was well after 10 when we arrived. So I'm showing her the kitchen, my room, the bathroom... We're carrying on, commenting on everything, normal moving in stuff.  And then she notices in the hallway a pair of big, white sneakers. They don't seem to match the dainty girls' shoes... Much too large. And I'm thinking, oh, the boyfriend stays over often enough to leave a pair of shoes here. Good to know.  Then I remember to check my phone.  (SORRY! To everyone who ever needs to transmit an important message to me via phone, I'm sorry! I try to remember it! Honestly!)
Theresa had left me a message before eight that morning, explaining one of my roommates wanted me to know that her boyfriend would be there.  So I wouldn't be surprised.  Ha!
A few minutes later, a door opens, and out comes boyfriend, in his shorts. He said hello and then hopped in the shower. Funny!  Nowy świat, indeed.

So, on that note, pray for me!  :)

• Pray that I would be able to build relationships with my roommates in spite of language and cultural barriers, and especially in spite of needing my home to be restful. It's usually easier to come home after a long day in the city and shut my door.  Pray for energy to engage with them, and favor with them when I do.
• Pray for God to clearly show me a relationship I should cultivate in my language class. It's a diverse class with lots of nice people! (More on that later.) I am praying for a friend in that class to maybe meet with and work on Polish together.  Pray that God is preparing that person to see Christ through me.
• In a couple of weeks, we will have a short retreat for the leadership team of FoF (Foundations of Faith, the student organization at the university). Pray for retreat preparations (mostly Theresa, with some help from others, including me), pray for wise, God-led decisions to be made at the retreat, and pray for an increase in unity and love among the leadership.

Thank you all for praying! This week was full of lots of new things; I hope to put up more pictures and stories soon!

Grace and peace,
Steph