NOTE: I am posting this early Friday morning before leaving for Newcastle for the 3-day weekend. I have been writing this over about 3 days and was hoping to get it finished before I left, but no dice. However, I am posting it half-finished because I can't wait any longer to tell you the big news and if I didn't post now, I have no idea when I would... because as soon as I get back from Newcastle, I leave for Italy and then Carrie comes back here with me! So here is half a blog... all you're really missing is the second half of the Poland story, so enjoy and I'll catch up when I can!
So… remember a couple blogs ago when I said I might have some big news soon? Well… I got it yesterday!!! :-D I know the suspense is killing you (haha), so here goes: My request to extend my assignment here from 2 years to 3 years was approved, and I got the official notification yesterday that my new DEROS (end of the assignment) is now July 2012 instead of July 2011. WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
As you can tell, I am ecstatic, and I don’t even think the news has really sunk in yet. It’s such a huge relief… I have been so worried that my time here is flying by and that I will run out of time to do everything I want to do and have the experiences I want to have. Now I can relax and breathe because I’m not moving next summer. As of March 29th, I have been here 8 whole months (2/3 of a year!)… and it feels like the blink of an eye. I mean, at the same time, I know I have done SO much in those 8 months, but I think I still have trouble believing sometimes that this is all actually real. Does that sound stupid? Sigh… I wish I could think of a better way to explain it.
This extension also means that I will likely be deployed Jun-Nov of next year (2011). Nothing else to say about that right now, really, just putting it out there because that’s how the system works and it will probably happen. No reason to worry/elaborate until it does… just plan on visiting outside of that window. :-)
On to the Poland trip… what a blast! It’s so nice to have people to travel with. I’ll never give up a chance to travel or sightsee for lack of a travel buddy, but having one or two is definitely the preferred situation. Alex and Martin were so much fun, and both of them were way better at navigating the streets of Warsaw than I was! Our flight took off from London late Friday morning, and landed in Lodz, Poland, in the early afternoon. We caught a bus from the airport to the train station, then got on a train for the 1.5-hour ride to Warsaw. I was really excited that the train had compartments just like in the Harry Potter movies!
When we got into Warsaw, it was rainy and getting dark, so we took a cab to our hotel and checked in before heading to dinner. The hotel was really nice, and our “room” was more like an apartment. We were right off one of the major city streets, and there were an overwhelming number of restaurants and cafes to choose from. We picked a traditional Polish restaurant and enjoyed dinner including pierogies, kielbasa, and potato dumplings. Exploring further down the main street, we came upon a huge open park where an outdoor Good Friday service was being held. There was a huge lighted cross, a stage, choirs singing, and crowds of people packed in as far as we could see. Alex explained that Poland was very Catholic, so this type of event involved the entire community. We watched for a while, then explored a little more before heading back to the hotel for bed.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast at an incredible specialty chocolate store/café. The place was beautiful, and we were served a 3-course breakfast including croissants (plain and chocolate), yogurt and granola (with chocolate sprinkles), and rolls (with chocolate spread). And then there was the hot chocolate… want to know exactly what it tasted like? Imagine drinking a cup of warm brownie batter. Yeah, it was that amazing… and smelled like baking brownies! One thing I forgot to mention up to this point is that the exchange rate for the Polish zloty to American dollar is about 3-to-1, so everything is really cheap for us. Our fancy breakfast cost less than $9. Cool, huh? :-)
And this is where I run out of time... on the positive side, I did get pictures posted, so check these out for more from Poland: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=409265&id=701905001&l=e8cd2222ff
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