Easter Holidays

    The school where I work is currently closed for a couple different spring holidays, so I am in the middle of two full weeks of time off work. This time has been exactly what I needed to begin to feel really settled in to life here in Poland and also to reconnect with close friends I met back in 2012. The first several days of my holiday were spent near and in the city of Opole in the south of Poland, where I lived my first time here. I am still so incredibly grateful to have been able to spend time with good friends and in familiar places. In a lot of ways, I felt like I was able to go "home" for Easter and it was such a blessing.
     I've decided to share my holiday time through the photographs I've captured thus far. Enjoy!
     On Easter Sunday, a good friend of mine Anna, her brother, niece and myself went for a long walk in the forest near their family's home in a small village outside of Opole.
The weather was perfect and we had so much fun!
    

Take a look at this big funky tree! How cool is this?

      On Monday, Anna and I enjoyed a slow morning, breakfast and cake with her parents and then took off for an afternoon at Moszna Castle. This was one of my favorite places I was able to visit in 2012 and so, actually getting to visit this place again was surreal and awesome and wonderful. The day was perfect to sit in the sun, read and just be still before God, so that is exactly what we did all afternoon.

Horse stables on the castle grounds.

      After a few days at Anna's house, I was able to stay in the city with another good friend of mine, Ola. Tuesday we took advantage of another beautiful day and went for a visit to the zoo. We had so much fun looking at and talking to the animals. The animals seemed to enjoy acting quite smug and aloof towards us. So basically, everyone was happy and content.

"Come at me, bro" is the only statement I have to make regarding this photo.

      The little city of Opole is absolutely lovely in every way. I just love this place and I really do feel at home here. There are so many ways to volunteer and connect with the community there. I was so excited and grateful to spend Easter morning at the local Christian church, to be a part of the Easter breakfast, and really just to say "hello" to some of my very favorite people. There are so many locals I missed seeing this time, but hopefully will see again in the future. Opole is a place I look forward to going back to as often as possible.

The best place in the city to sit inside with a good book and watch the town bustling around outside.

      On Thursday, I returned to Warsaw via a very long train ride. Don't get me wrong, I think trains are great, but seven hours on a train requires some new ideas for making the time pass. During this last ride, I decided to stick my head out the window and take a couple shots of the countryside.

      This upcoming week is still open and free before work begins again on the 5th of May. I am looking forward to hopefully getting out and exploring this city a bit more. If you are among the people praying for my time here, I do have one request for this week. I am in the process of looking for a church in Warsaw with which to connect and serve. So far, I have tried two places, but I am just praying for peace and guidance from the Holy Spirit on exactly where God has set for me to be during this time. Thank you, so very much to everyone who has been praying, emailing, texting or writing. All your support and communications make this transition time feel much more calm and peace-filled.

The Palace of Culture and Science in the center of Warsaw

Getting On With Things

     This past week has been simultaneously filled with challenges and blessings. I began the week by being couch-bound for three days with a horrible cold and no voice. Obviously, I felt really bad to be calling out of work so soon after arriving here, but there was no way I was fit to be teaching. Still a bit in recovery mode today, I am hoping all the resting up I've done this weekend will provide me with the strength to get back into full swing this week.
     The blessings that occurred this week quickly overshadowed the frustrations of being sick. I was able to get the washing machine situation sorted out and I also finally was able to get a real bed set up in the bedroom. The apartment came fully furnished (which is common here), but for some reason there was only a thin mat on the bedroom floor for a bed. God really worked in this situation by providing me a free, almost brand new bed that my employer happened to have in storage at the school. Her brother was able to bring it over and do the assembly. Now that I am sleeping much better at night, I can feel a sense of energy and normalcy returning to my mind and body.
     Thankfulness and amazement are honestly the two words that come to mind when I look back over the almost three weeks of living here thus far. God has worked out one situation after another and has provided me with so much strength and guidance along the way. I am starting to feel quite comfortable with finding my way around and getting to know the area. It is a really peaceful feeling to watch God take control and know that I am exactly where He wants me to be at this point in life. I'm so excited to see this part of my journey unravel.
     Well, with any new step it is always fun to also take the time to learn new things. Two things I've decided to start bettering my skills in are baking and taking care of plants. Both of these activities have much, much room for improvement in my life. I know it's silly, but for me it is really helpful to have a couple hobbies to work on outside of work and adjusting to the different culture. When I moved into this apartment, there was actually already two plants living here. At first, I was like "oh boy...I kill all plants that are given to me",  but then I decided to take on the challenge of keeping these little guys alive and healthy. It's been going well, so today as I was walking home from church, I couldn't resist adding a new member to the plant family since so many fresh flowers are for sale on the streets here.

Yes, that is a tiny gnat already checking out the flowers.

What a happy little plant family

    

     As far as baking goes, I have been quite surprised at my relative success (so far). Friday night, I made this lovely little strawberry cake and it turned out well enough for me to comfortable share a food photo. Anyway, if you are still reading this and have gotten through my ramblings on plants and cakes without falling asleep, I would really like to once again thank each and every one of you who has been praying for me the last three weeks. Your prayers mean truly so much to me and I can feel His presence all the more because of your intercession. Thank you for walking this journey with me.

Walking Through Old Town

     Yesterday afternoon, I headed to Old Town, Warsaw to do a bit of exploring. Most of you may already know this, but in case you don't, I wanted to mention that Warsaw was largely destroyed during World War II. After the war, the city was reconstructed to resemble the same look as it had before the war.

 

     Today, the city is thriving and beautiful. There were so many more streets and alleys to explore than I had the time for this weekend, but please enjoy the few spots I was able to capture on camera.

This guy really did not want his photo taken. He kept trying to run away from me.

He eventually decided to turn his back in an apparent effort to make his message all the clearer.