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| Spodek in Katowice |
In the words of Lemony Snicket,
“the world is quiet here.” And no, I certainly do not mean to say that life is
quiet here in the bustling city of Katowice, because it doesn’t seem to be for
even one single moment of any given day. Whether it’s the lively voices of my
students laughing with one another over some childhood play, or their screaming
exclamations as they discover yet another snail or slug on the side of the road on the way to the park,
or the continuous Monday through Saturday sounds outside my flat windows of
unnecessarily loud construction, unexpected parades, rollerbladers, sirens,
trams or just really, really drunken individuals shouting on the streets at
roughly 4am, my physical world has yet to still or find silence.
What is slowly finding peace and quiet is
the noise in my soul. Not to be obvious or cliché, but moving across the ocean
is really rather a big deal. Relocating to a new city with a new job and brand
new human relations is overwhelming and exhausting in a very specific way. Even
though this is my third time coming to Poland, and I was able to anticipate
several of the proverbial mountains I would need to climb upon arrival, the
process still caught me by surprise in many unexpected ways and perhaps not
surprisingly, threw my inner rhythm off almost completely. This is evidenced to
me even by the fact that for weeks I have been searching for the words to write
here and have not been able to organize or sort through my thoughts enough to
do so until this weekend. From the moment the flight touched down, life was off
and running and I’ve been running right after it in a feeble attempt to keep up
with all these new realities.
In the first week or so of my time here in
Katowice, I came very close to wanting to book a one-way flight straight back
to home and predictability in the Northeast. Times were rough and circumstances
were not falling into place the way I felt I needed them to. From finding a
flat to understanding the system of life in Silesia, I honestly was beginning
to question if God really had a good enough reason for sending me here. Now,
seven and half weeks later, I can finally say that I am so thrilled, thankful
and confident about continuing on here. I could fill this space with boring
details, but I think it’s adequate to say that if God calls you to a place for
a new chapter in life, you can 100% trust that He will knock down any walls the
enemy attempts to construct and will show you His mighty hand if you’ll only
give the craziness of life over to the One who knows all, sees the big picture
and can and will grant grace in the midst of all the difficulties.
Besides all of that, I have already had
the opportunity to do so much exploring this summer. From visiting Krakow to
climbing a mountain to riding a cable car overtop a lovely park to visiting Ostrava, Czech, all
the stress and feelings of being overwhelmed have been speckled with plenty of
fun. And fun is good, right? Yea, of course, but what has actually been the
biggest motivation that’s kept me from fleeing or giving up here in Katowice is the beautiful human souls with whom I have been able to begin sharing life
a bit. Whether it’s my young students with whom I spend most of my week or new
friends and relations in other settings, I have already heard so many stories,
shared so many laughs and engaged in so many discussions on life in this
world-gone-wrong and what things we can do to try and help be a force of
positive change in our little corner of the world for the time that we’re here.
I am so thankful for the people I have met and the ways in which they’ve been
inspiring, challenging and encouraging to me here. There are days where I feel
I am slowly opening the best gift ever as I share life with brilliant souls who
hold common goals with me of trying to instill in the next generation an entirely
different and more wonderful way to live life.
I still haven’t quite been able to find a
specific, nicely worded reason for why I
am here in this slightly strange city
of Katowice, but I am not sure that we really always get to know the reasons
for God’s callings. There are still several days any given week when I wonder
why on earth I am here in this place or how my time here could possibly be of
any help to anyone, but maybe it’s not so bad not knowing. The changes I am
interested in being a part of in life don’t ultimately have anything to do with
me, but with other souls who are searching for hope and Light in this dark
place. I know the One who holds the power to work through me in His own ways
and timing to work real and lasting change in the world and I’m slowly learning
that my job is continuously to pursue my relationship with Christ and allow His
grace to grow me while He does through me what He has planned for my life.
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| Balcony on Wawel Castle, Krakow |
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| Park in Ktw |
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| Hiking a mountain outside Bielsko-Biala |
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| Ostrava |
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| Main Square, Ostrava |
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| Sometimes my friends and I wear the same clothes without planning... |
The thing is that
the past month or so has been quite difficult…no, honestly, really, really
difficult. I moved to Katowice because of a strong desire in my soul to spend
more time in Poland and see what more the Lord has for me to do in this chapter
in life. I LOVE Poland, really, and fortunately, I also have a great respect
for and interest in Montessori education, so combining these two factors and
watching as the Lord crushed barrier after barrier in the process of me moving
here all seemed like life was turning up roses. It’s not at all that I wasn’t
realistic and aware of the struggles of living in a foreign land far away from
family and surrounded by a language I still don’t know very well, because I’ve
done all that before. I knew what I was in for in that sense. At the same time, there are certain circumstances which I would rather not bore you with which have made life a struggle recently. I’m honestly not trying to complain. There’s not really much that I can do about it and at the end of the day, it
is in God’s hands and I can still hold on to the knowledge that for this year,
for whatever reason, God has placed me here and He will see me through.
