Through the sands of time

I have been reminiscing a lot this week. Time here has passed ever so quickly. When I look at Thing 2, I can see how quickly. She arrived her at 7 months, drooling, teething and barely sitting up. She is leaving with a full set of teeth, running, and jumping. I can hardly get her to sit still. She has gone from babbling to being a non stop chatterbox and speaking PolSpanGlish, her own made up language. She can dress herself, put her shoes on and loves to role play with other children. Mini me in the making. She has no clue what is happening right now and if she is anything like me, it will hit her later when she realizes that she is going to a different preschool without her beloved Pani Kinga or Pani Ula. To them, I thank for making Thing 2's first preschool experience so rewarding.

Thing 1 arrived here 2 days after his 4th birthday. While he had learned basic writing, he was still trying to work out a deal where he would not have to write anything. Today, he writes sentences on his own, journals, and he can read most Dr. Seuss books to his eagerly listening sister. He has also learned to swim, speak a little Polish. He knows about many different cultures, languages and the boy can identify more flags and capital cities than I can. His simple awareness and acceptance of differences has made this entire journey worthwhile. Socially, he learned how to be a friend and found one of the best joys in life, a best friend who complements him very well. While he understands what is going on, he is a sensitive boy who intensely feels the loss of his friends. His friends gave him a book today with pictures of the past few months where they wrote all the things they liked about Thing 1 and wished him well. It was very sweet and I am sure he will treasure it when he looks back at his early school years in Warsaw.

As for for me, I am reminded of a verse in Rent's Seasons of Love - "how do you measure a year in the life? Or two and half years for that matter! In the short time I have been here, I have hopefully targeted every neuron and created so many new synapses that Alzheimer's better beware.

I learned a new culture, new language, new way of life. I learned to make triple U-turns with perfect strangers, ride up on sidewalks just because, and jump medians when I didn't feel like waiting. I mean seriously! I would sit there waiting to turn and then it would hit me - I can just jump this median and make my u-turn because no one cares! I also became a parallel parking queen. I have managed to squeeze my SUV into the tightest spots imaginable without even making a dent. Wish I could say the same about the stupidly placed columns in certain parking garages I will not mention and random untrimmed tree branches that have placed my car in need of a major paint job.

I recently learned that driving through Nowy Swiat is not allowed. The street is closed to buses and taxis only. Not that this stopped me as recently as this week from driving up that way to get into the Old Town. And probably, the most illegal thing I have done in this country is drive for the past two years without a license. When the Cat finally realized that our international driving permit just would not do, we applied. This was back in October. I am still waiting for my license. Lucky for us, we didn't get into any accidents with actual people. Just inanimate objects!

I learned to survive on a constant coffee drip and nothing more until after noon thanks to the Mums and Tots and AFW. I learned to perform mathematical somersaults for everything from currency to kilometers, pounds to kilograms and even decagrams. I learned the Metric System people! And this, folks, I must say makes us the odd man out. Why the heck aren't we on the metric system? It would make things so much easier.

I learned Polish. Sure, I have always had a knack for languages, but Polish is no easy feat. The other day, I was finally able to watch Borat and when he broke into Polish, it didn't even sound foreign to me. I did not know they spoke Polish in Kazakhstan. Who knew? I especially notice how much I learned when i listen to children speaking and can understand what they are saying. They are the best people to practice Polish with because their Polish isn't any better than mine.

Probably what I learned the most was from my international group of friends. We all live in our little worlds focused on everyones apparent differences. We fight wars over differences of religion and politics. But, the reality is that we are all more similar than we are different. I really believe that everyone should afford themselves such an experience if only for that reason. I can no longer look at an immigrant or foreigner in my own country without understanding the difficulty they may be going through and offering assistance. It has made me far more compassionate.

I have enjoyed my time here and it will take a while to readjust to my own country. Life went on there when we left too and I now need to try and catch up with it.