Really?

Nobody likes to deal with bureaucracy. Just think what it feels like when you need to renew a driver’s license, talk to the IRS about your taxes, or get paperwork from a previous school… No fun! It turns out than when you move to a foreign country, there is a lot of bureaucracy to deal with. Lots of paperwork to collect, copy, organize, turn in… The office I’ve been to most is the visa office. (I call it that… I’m not sure what the Polish name is! It’s something long and full of consonants. Shock!)

So, when I first arrived I went through the necessary processes to have documents to turn in for a visa application. About a month in, I turned in the application and all the paperwork I had. A few weeks later, I received a registered letter that asked for a few more documents. I had to bother my landlord and roommates for all kinds of stuff… I finally made it to the office. I wait.

It’s not right. I need such and such bill; I need to show the approximate costs of living each month. So I go bug landlord/roommates some more, collect more stuff. Copy more documents at my closest Ksero place. The girls who work there and I form a little friendship based totally on smiles and my broken Polish. They’re willing to repeat the cost several times. (Dwadzieścia dziewięć grosz, proszę.) I turn in the rest of the paperwork I collected.  Yay. 

Then! A few days after this I receive another registered letter, this time with only one request bullet-point, but more words bolded.  It was asking for the same financial paperwork I thought I had just turned in! Ack! What to do? My field leader tells me, well… print copies again of what you already took to them, then print more detailed financial documents, in case they really do want something more. He prepped me with the questions I needed to make sure I asked them. Back to the visa office I go.

I wait.

Thankfully I get the young lady who speaks good English, and does it gladly. (The older woman speaks good English also, but a little more grumpily. :))

I go in. I explain the situation. She says, “Hmm… It looks like you already turned this in!” (I KNOW! I thought so too!) “If you will wait a moment, I will call the woman in charge of your case.”

“Oh, it turns out, you DID already turn this in. The most recent letter was probably written a day or two before you came back. If you can wait a few more minutes, they can just check over your decision letter, have the director sign it, and I will bring it to you.”

What! Really? How funny! Yes, I can wait!

So, thanks God, for having a sense of humor, and for the visa! I get to stay in Poland now! Woohoo!!

Verified

So, you know how you always hear about snowflakes, and how they are each a unique creation of our awesome God? And you know how you’ve seen microscope pictures of the crystal structures and how totally cool they look? Today I verified their existence with my own eyes! It turns out there are actually big enough snowflakes, in REAL LIFE, to be able to see them land on your coat, as though they’re a tiny little paper-cut-out-snowflake. But they’re not paper. They’re tiny-ice-cutout-snowflakes, made by God, just for us!

I know my camera doesn’t really show it, you just have to trust me… I’ve never really been able to see snowflakes this big, with this clear of a crystal. They’ve always been snowclumps in TX.

    

So… in other news, here’s the new haircut… The one I got by saying (through Theresa’s translation into Polish), “Just not too short… otherwise… do whatever you want.” Learning how to style it. As the hairdresser said, “Bardzo seksowa, tak?”

 

This is me, today, wondering how I got talked into going onto Theresa’s balcony wearing only two layers. No shoes, even! But she, the girl from Montana, said it was “dry snow” and we could “just brush it off.” Hmmm… Let me know how well that worked out for your now wet living room floor, T!  :)

But! The mission of making snow angels was definitely accomplished.

 

You can see one of us has had a little more experience making snow angels… I’ll let you guess which one I made and which one Theresa made.

 

Happy December, all! I’m praying that we each find time to slow down in the busy holiday season to marvel over whatever snowflakes God puts in our path each day!

Light!

It’s amazing what a difference a layer of bright, white snow makes. Today I had a beautiful walk around the lake by my house. Lots of other people had the same idea! It was quite lovely.

   

And yes, the sun is beginning to set in these pictures. And yes, they were taken between 1 and 2pm.  Just glad it was bright and sunny today!

Giving Thanks!

So, since you all celebrated Thanksgiving a couple of days ago, I’d like to share my Thanksgiving celebrations… I was blessed with two different Thanksgiving meals. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted all my photographic evidence of the second one. It was Thanksgiving from church, and it was quite international! So fun!

The Fort Worth women show off their baking skills. That’s right, folks, I had a real, Texan-made pecan pie this year! And since mine turned out a little funky in coloration it’s hard to tell; it’s pumpkin. :) Made from actual pumpkin! They don’t sell canned anywhere. 

Speaking of cans… I found sweetened, condensed milk for said pie. (Thanks to my friend from Polish class who explained that when I shook it, I wouldn’t hear or feel anything… And thanks to the label in English on the back.) I got it home, made my crust, had the filling all ready, just needed to add the milk…  Enter the problem. Where’s the can opener? Hmm… Roommate #1? Do we have a can opener? Oh we don’t?! Funny. My roommate was so sweet and she asked her boyfriend to help. So Rafął saved the day and opened the can with nothing but the spring loaded pocket knife on the Swiss Army bottle opener. I was afraid he was going to slice his thumb open, but he’s a talented guy. Not a single injury. 

For the record, for the church Thanksgiving, I made another pie, and forgot about our lack of can opener. I had to employ the pocket knife method, and I came out injury-free too. :)

  

With the extra filling and pie crust, I made some little baby pies for the roommates to try. They liked them!

  

 

Another thing to be thankful for? On Wednesday, I walked outside and said, “Hey! This rain feels like snow!” And so it was. The first snow of the year! And I finally made it to the huge park very close to my house. It has this lake. Cool! I have a lot more exploring to do in this place. :)  

 

The results of the first snow: Not so impressive. Although, my friend’s balcony always looks cool since she came up with that awesome weaving for her fence!

But this morning I woke up to THIS! The second snow was much more fun! Sorry for the first-thing-in-the-morning pic… I was just so excited to see white outside! :D

 

Thankful for today and all its wonders! Thankful for you! Happy holiday weekend!

Lured in

 

Attractive, right? Can’t you just picture yourself going into this lovely establishment and really enjoying yourself? Really loving your time there? Doesn’t the inscription on the side, “Play! Fun!” just tell you you’re going to have a ball? Don’t you think Boobs McGee, who I had to black out, is just waiting to laugh at all your jokes and make you feel like a man? Or, ladies, can’t you just picture yourself in there, being all sexy like her?

Oh? No? You think it wouldn’t be so fun in the Las Vegas Shack? You’d probably enter a tiny room, full of stale smoke, with a scruffy old man, probably not bathed in a week, and maybe a slot machine? Oh, and don’t forget the wódka. Huh. That’s funny. That doesn’t sound fun at all…

The first time I saw this place I was caught off guard, because it’s not something you’d see in the States. I literally stopped in my tracks. I was amazed for a moment that anyone could possibly be allured by this dumpster-sized building. Who really thinks they might be able to go into that building and find any sort of enjoyment, any satisfaction? Who thinks life will get better after a couple hours spent there? No one in their right mind!

But I can imagine who would decide to frequent it anyway… I can imagine someone addicted to gambling, who just ‘needed’ the hope of hitting the jackpot. I can imagine someone who years ago, in their first forays into sin, saw it as a way to relax, have fun… Someone who soon became trapped and out of control.

I can imagine it, because I know what it’s like to feel trapped in sin. I've called mine "sin" for years, but not really. Not the kind of sin Jesus died for. Not the kind of sin that separates me from God.

One thing that strikes me about this place is that it can only exist because Las Vegas exists. No one would ever be allured by this place if they didn’t already have it in their minds that sexy women, drinking, gambling, etc. are just so much fun. And that’s the way sin works in our lives too. Whatever it is that we satisfy ourselves with- whatever it is we use for fun, comfort, pleasure, pride- anything that’s not Jesus, will start fun but end up enslaving us. It will be pleasurable at first, and end up making us like the drug addict who feels less and less high, but needs more and more drug. Like the alcoholic who sees the destruction and pain they cause, but still needs a drink. Sin, our addictions, may be fun for a (brief!) season, but will soon lead to destruction.

Thankfully I see how ridiculous the LV Shack is. God is gently pressing on me that those things which do entice me, the things I am lured in by, are equally ridiculous. Who would choose that pitiful facsimile of fun instead of peace and joy with God? 

Me.

I do.

We all have sin we struggle with. Whatever entices us is just as absurd as thinking you can go into that building and feel fulfilled.

God, I thank you that you came to die, even for the most absurd sins. While we were yet choosing our ridiculous little pleasures, you died for us. Thank you that you took the punishment that should by mine.

Food for further thought:

• Romans 5:8
• Romans 8:1-4
• Psalm 107
• Philippians 4:19
• John 3:16-21

Independence Day

Poland: Officially a country since 1918!

(The 123 years before that it was partitioned up by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. And before that it was, of course, Poland.)

Thursday, 11 November, was Poland’s Independence Day (Narodowe Święto Niepodległości).  In Poznań, they also celebrate St. Martin’s Day because it happens to coincide on 11 November. According to wikipedia, Święty Marcin was a Roman soldier turned monk who at one time cut his cloak in half because he could not pass by a beggar without giving him aid. And in Poznań, each year they make these croissant-looking pastries called rogale, which happen to be certified or patented with the EU.  They are geographically protected, so only Poznan can make them. Apparently when that happened a few years ago, the prices shot way up.  Funny!

Unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to see the parade well. Definitely not close enough to photograph the guy dressed up as St. Martin. But I caught glimpses- he was wearing Roman-looking armor, including a red cape.

The main area for the festivities are appropriately held at the corner of St. Martin’s Street and Independence Street, at the castle. It’s like someone planned this out or something!

    

On the left below is what I thought was some sort of bread/pastry, but it was grilled mountain cheese, we think from sheep milk? Turned out it was suuuuper salty. And on the right are another type of cookie. I tried these on All Saint’s Day, and they weren’t very good. Rather blah.

   

This puzzles me. There were two separate groups of Native American street musicians… I tried to listen for what language they were speaking as I walked past one group who were on break. I couldn’t tell. (Are you guys Polish? American? Do you live here? Do you speak your native language? And why did you dress that mannequin up in native garb?) It’s very odd to me. The Poles seemed to really like it. They were semi-circled around them 5 to 10 people deep!

 

Just after walking past these guys, I walked past some very excited Polish girls trading turns taking pictures with a man of African descent. He was apparently just a dude, out to enjoy the celebrations. Perhaps a student here. And some girls stopped him on the street and asked to take a picture pictures with him. They were all giggly. He was… smiling a little incredulously. Oh, Poland!

One of the most fun parts of Independence Day was when I met some friends and went back for the evening celebration. There was a band playing, and we caught the end of their concert… not bad! People were more festive, maybe it was just more young people and fewer young families…? But in any case, the mood seemed more celebratory. And then… the fireworks!! Yay fireworks! Although, I’ve gotta say, fireworks are best enjoyed on a warm summer night, preferably with very patriotic American music. :) If you can enjoy it in Yukon, America!, all the better.

Happy Independence Day!

Wszystkich Świętych – All Saint’s Day

Last Monday was a major national holiday for Poles. All Saint’s Day was November 1, followed by All Soul’s Day on November 2. It’s a big holiday to go home, spend time with family, eat lots of food, and visit the cemetery together. The day is significant because it is a time to honor dead loved ones, to pray to the saints, then especially on All Soul’s Day to pray for loved ones in purgatory, to help them get into heaven faster.  So for days before the big holiday, people are in the cemeteries, cleaning up leaves, scrubbing grave stones, leaving flowers and candles.

Here’s the huge seasonal section of Tesco with rows and rows of candles and fake flowers for sale.

  

The cemetery near my house, a few days before the holiday. Lots of people had already been here cleaning graves.

 

On the big day, the cemetery was packed. People were everywhere, and they were enjoying time with each other. The atmosphere was almost like a fair. As you entered the cemetery, people were selling food, candles, and flowers. People were walking quickly to their destinations within the cemetery, no thoughtful ambling like I expected. And they were fairly animated with each other. According to other Americans here, some other cities are more somber about the occasion.  Didn’t bring my camera for all the hoopla… Woops!

Then, a few hours later, what a sight!

         

Jesus

And Mary

The cemetery was beautiful with all the candles lit! At close to 10pm there was still a considerable number of people around; this time people were less in a hurry.

There are some beautiful things about this holiday. One thing I can say: it was definitely a different way to spend Halloween!