SATURDAY

We had a very busy day today. It didn't start out the way we would have liked but it ended up great. We wanted to go to the Jewish museum but when we finally found it (it's a bit off the beaten path) it was closed. Umm, yeah, a Jewish museum would be closed on Saturday. We then decided to attend the organ concert in St John's
Church. After a half hour concert of popular tunes ( edelweiss, Jesu, Joy, and Hallelujah chorus, we went down into the tombs underneath the church. The tombs were amazing to see, from the last Polish king to several bishops to the author of the book that Aleksandra is currently reading (The Deluge). We then went shopping for a bit in Old Town Warsaw.

At 3, we were invited to go to our friend's Barbara and Waldek's home in outer Warsaw for a barbecue. Barbara was our social worker/contact in Poland in both Daniel and Zosia's adoptions. It was great to see them, along with their son Rafael (8) and daughter Ada (18). Their oldest daughter, Paulina, (24), wasn't there but we learned that she has finished college and is engaged to be married next May. Waldek's cousin was also there. We had met him when we adopted Daniel. Interesting character who is fascinated with politics and cars.

Despite a couple of mishaps, we had an amazing time. Barbara had set up two tables in the back yard, and true Polish hospitality, the food did not stop for a long time. We started with a pork meat, 2 different types of salads, 3 different types of bread, fresh cherries, and tomatoes. Then came vanilla and chocolate ice cream, which turned out to NOT be dessert. We were then treated to kielbasa and spare ribs from the grill. We then rested our stomaches for a while and the kids played soccer with Waldek (who used to play on a professional rugby team for Poland). It was then that the mosquitoes came out and about ate us up alive. Alex has always been allergic to mosquito bites and these were pretty bad, swelling up the size of half dollars. The mosquitoes were so bad because of the incredible flooding that Warsaw had been experiencing. Barbara's home was only 3.5 km away from where the Wisla River was going over its banks. It was time to go inside to get away from the bugs.

Inside we watched one of the World Cup soccer games and were treated to about 6 different types of Polish candies/cookies/wafers, chips, and nuts. The next mishap occurred when we were watching the game, it had started to rain outside and Waldek and Barbara had gone to the back to grab some of the plates that were still outside. Barbara fells down about 7 stair steps and hurt her foot. It was swelling quite large by the time we left but we don't know yet how she is doing. While we were there, she refused to go go the hospital so we tried to make our exit quickly but not impolitely.


FRIDAY



Happy Birthday to Grandpa K today!! We miss you and promise to take good care of your bride while we are gone.

What an amazing day we had today. With the help of Ally's adoption agency in the states, we were able to contact her orphanage and arrange a meeting. We got to the orphanage around 9:30 this morning and met Agnieksa, one of the agency workers in Poland, the director of the orphanage (a very nice nun who had not been at the orphanage when Ally was but who knew of her), and (another) Agnieska, Aleksandra's court appointed guardian. The ladies were extremely excited to see Aleksandra as it is fairly rare for any of the children to come back and visit. We were treated to homemade apple coffee cake, and a large amount of ice cream. Aleksandra then got to meet one of the nuns who had been their when Aleksandra's family was at the orphanage and remembered all of the kids. As one would expect, they had lots of questions about Aleksandra and all her siblings and we tried to answer them as best we could.

We then took a tour of the orphanage and the surrounding grounds. Aleksandra said she could remember the stairway, the kitchen, and the director's office but that was about all. Much had changed and been repainted or upgraded. We took a lot of pictures for her scrapbook and to send them onto her stateside siblings. It was really nice for all of us to experience because it we now have a frame of reference when Aleksandra talks about some of her life her in Poland.

After the orphanage, we went back to our apartment because it was time to move to our next apartments which were directly in Old Town. After settling into 2 smaller apartments instead of just one large one, we decided to explore the shops and food in Old Town. We found another great place for pierogi and everyone ate their fill, including Daniel who ate everyones leftovers. Daniel has been eating every bit of Polish food he can get his hands on!




SUNDAY



Today we went to Lazienkowski Park to hear a Chopin concert (which is located on Ujazdowskie street for our plumber friends). 2010 is the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth and the people of Poland are celebrating. The concert was about an hour long. Grandma K, Alex, Daniel, Alexandra, and I went to the concert. We then walked though the park itself and saw the palace on the water.

Rob and Zoey stayed at the apartment. Zoey is starting to have very mixed feelings about being here in Poland. She had pretty much worn herself out with lots of thoughts of family and about seeing her foster mom next week. She literally slept until 2 pm when we called to meet up for lunch. The kids once again ate at Subway and the adults ate at the salad spot. More shopping and church viewing (there is one almost every corner, each one more beautiful than the last) took up the balance of our day.


Grandma K. had an adventure this morning as she went out for a couple of things for breakfast. The normal store we had been going to wasn't yet open...so she found a pub(!) that also sold a bit of groceries on the side. Leave it to Grandma to go to a pub on Sunday morning for bananas!!

Grandma would like everyone to know that we probably walked over 8 miles today and she is doing great!