Walking Away, Wondering...

When I woke up this morning, I was thinking about what life was like for me in 8th grade...I don't know why, but as I lay in bed trying to wake up, all these words kept coming and found myself writing a poem in my head.  Later today, while sitting at a coffee shop in downtown Kolobrzeg, all the words flowed back to me and I put them down on paper...

Laughing in the dark, 

We turned somersaults 

Until our stomachs churned. 

Giggling, we landed in a heap

On the bright green grass

Where our hearts

Began to spill out

And beat in tune with each other. 

Our sides heaved

As we laughed. 

Our eyes cried out

For deliverance 

From the hot liquid

Running down our cheeks

And dripping onto our swollen hearts

Salting them with love. 

Our lungs expanded, retracted

And did not stop

When our laughter ceased.  

We looked out

Under brushed eyelashes

And painted eyelids

Manicured fingernails sifting through

Our professionally-styled hair.  

"10 years," you said. 

"10 years down the road

We will never be like this again." 

And I made empty promises

In the deep black night

Above the cool green grass

Under stars that were the only ones

Who knew how sincere

I was trying to be. 

How much I wanted 

To keep my promises. 

The night ended long after

We all went home. 

I laid in my bed that night

Into the early morning hours

And wept.  

The promises I had made...

Would be broken. 

-Ruthie 

December 18, 2009

12:10 pm

sitting in a coffee shop

(Photo:  Downtown Kolobrzeg at night; December 13, 2009)

Just a Note

Blogger has been acting weird lately for me.  So, some posts might have some line breaks that don't really make sense.  This is not because I am an idiot and don't know how to type.  It is because Blogger feels the need to enter another line break in random places.  Also, there are random extra spaces between paragraphs, which is also not because of me.  :)  Lol...so forgive Blogger.  It might do this for the rest of the year.  :)

And also, I wanted to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me in my mission in Poland this year.  It has been an amazing journey so far and it's incredible what God can and will choose to do if we let Him take control of our lives.  Something that I have to remember is to let Him HAVE control.  It's hard at times, as a lot of good things are, but it's so worth it!  Every day, I wake up and say "Wow!  I am in Poland."  And it is during these times that I remember how I got here (the help of you!) and Who made it happen (God!).

As of right now, December 6, 2009, I have 178 days left in Poland.  Here is what I plan to do for traveling.  The day after Christmas, I will be going way down south to the Tatra Mountain range.  I will be staying in a small town (28,000 people; about half the size of Kolobrzeg) called Zakopane.  It is the capitol city of Lesser Poland Province.  I hope to go skiing there, as well as some sight-seeing, which I am so excited about!  We will be down there for a week and then will be back in time for classes to start up again at the beginning of January.

The first two weeks of February are Winter Break for the schools in Kolobrzeg area (each province gets a different Winter Break to cut down on crowds at the most popular places to go during this break and on trains, because this is how most people travel in Poland).  I am planning a trip to Warsaw, Krakow, Oswiecim (where the concentration camps are located), possibly Tychy (where the Polish foreign exchange student we had at GSAA is from), and then the last stop will be Poznan.

Other than that, I might take weekend trips to Gdaynsk (about a 3-hour train ride away from Kolobrzeg), and to other close places.  I really want to see Malbork castle, which is (ironically enough) in Malbork, Poland.  Haha.  :)  The pictures look beautiful, so I'd like to see it for myself.

As far as classes are going, they are going pretty well.  Within the next two weeks, I will be losing 2 of my tutor students, but gaining 3, so that is ALWAYS exciting!  :)  One of them I am REALLY looking forward to meeting.  His name is Krystian and he has Cerebral Palsy.  He has a hard time speaking (in any language) because of this disability.  But, he really wants to learn English.  He is about 22 or 23 years old.  Starting December 7 (Monday), I will be going to meet with him with another teacher who speaks Polish and English.

The teacher's name is Derek and is about 25 years old.  He works for a local driving school and on holidays, he goes to different countries to hand out Adventist literature.  This next year, he will be going to Sweden (for the second time) as well as England.  He hopes to travel some more in the future.

Classes with the younger groups of students are also going very well.  I teach 4 classes a week to children ages 9-14.  It is a challenge at times, but I am getting used to being up front and am enjoying getting to know my students.  I will be doing a Christmas party in each one of my classes in the next few weeks, so that should be a lot of fun!  :)  I am looking forward to it!

Nick is still doing well in Ethiopia, Africa and is doing quite a bit of work with the outer clinics.  :)  I have gotten to talk to him about three times on the phone since being in Poland and he always sounds so happy.  Please continue to keep him in your prayers.  Please keep ALL the SMs in your prayers...that we will move the work forward and make a difference in other people's lives.  :)  Prayer does change things.  :)

Finally, I am doing very well, too.  I have only gotten sick once and that was "cured" by sleeping more and drinking lots of water.  It has gotten colder here as of late (dropped into the minus degrees Celsius), but I am surviving the best I can.  :)  Lol...  Life is good, God is amazing, and I am having the time of my life!  I don't know where Christmas Eve/Day will find me, but no matter where I am, know that I will be thinking of all of you and missing you!

Enjoy the holiday season and make sure to spend time with those you love!  :)  Thanks again for your support and your prayers.  It means much more to me than you will ever probably know (at least until you see me again!).  :)

Love to all,
--Ruthie

Happy Independence Day, Poland!!!

November 11, 2009 --  Poland's Independence Day

After 120 years of being controlled by other countries (Russia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine...) and being partitioned over and over again (basically not even existing as its own country) Poland gained its independence in 1918.  And yes, as you might imagine, it is definitely a big deal.  :)  A few days before the actual day of independence, the city put up a million and one (yes, that many) flags - for Poland and for the European Union.  

(Photo:  My apartment building is not pictured, but is right next to the one on the far right of this picture in the background.)

I woke up on this Wednesday morning with the sun shining and the birds singing...well, not quite.  The sun was doing its best to shine through the clouds and the birds were not singing.  The seagulls were squawking and calling out to one another, apparently also very happy to have another day to celebrate their independence.  :)  I got ready for the day, grabbed my notebook and headed to the church to have one tutor lesson with David.  It was going to be a longer one:  we were going to meet for an hour and a half (9:00-10:30 am).  It went quite well, and at 10:35, I was locking up the church and heading back to my apartment.  

(Photo:  Kolobrzeg SDA Church...yes, it's the brown box in the middle of the picture.  :)  I have lessons with my tutor students downstairs.  The large window at the top are at the top of the staircase and the two small windows are in the bathrooms.  The windows in the middle of the building are in the sanctuary part of the church.)

At 11 am, I walked over to William's apartment block to walk the 15 minutes with him to the Town Hall of Kolobrzeg.  There, we watched army men line up for the procession and waited for Magda, our Polish teacher, to arrive.  I took pictures while William looked around for Magda.  Finally, she showed up and then we decided to walk over to the local park in the center of downtown where the procession would end up anyway.

(Photo:  The Marching Band.)

We heard them before we saw them.  The marching band.  It was awesome!  :)  Small, but very cool.  Behind the band, marched the army men we saw.  Behind the army, we saw marines.  Behind the marines, we saw local dignitaries, and behind them marched people from various sections of Kolobrzeg's government.  They marched from the Town Hall to the park and then lined up in orderly fashion.

(Photo:  The rest of the marching procession; you will see the army later.)

As soon as they were settled in their places, the president of Kolobrzeg came to the pulpit they had set up and gave a speech.  Magda translated most of the speech for us so we could understand what was going on.  The speeches were made by a statue of a man who had the responsibility of commanding the military that fought for their Independence.

(Photo:  Taken a few weeks before Independence Day; the statue in the park where the program was held on Independence Day.)

Then, we watched as a general of some sort gave a short talk and then started calling out names or groups of people who had fought in the war of 1918 that gained Poland's independence.  Magda told us what was going on, but did not translate for us which groups he was calling.  One by one, people representing these groups (portions of the dignitaries we saw marching) came up to the statue and laid down a wreath of flowers at its feet.  All of a sudden, Magda said, "That man who is walking up to the statue right now is the last known  person who fought in the war of 1918."  Wow.  Talk about incredible!  He must be around 100 years old by now!

(Photo:  The crowd around us; if you squint, you might be able to see the white-haired gentleman in the middle of the photo in front of the statue. He is shorter than most of the others.  He is the last person alive who fought in the war of 1918.)

We stayed for the rest of the general's speech and then the army started moving.  Not marching, just making noise.  The crowd turned to see what was happening.  The general gave some orders, the men readied their guns, they pointed them upward, and BAM!  They cocked their guns again.  BAM!  And again.  BAM!  Three times, they shot into the air.  I could see the sparks from all the guns as they pulled the triggers and smoke filled the air.

(Photo:  A little blurry, but you can still see the army.  This was a few minutes before they fired their guns.)

After that display, the whole procession filed back into their places and filed out of the park and on down the main street through town.  Some of the crowd walked behind them, others dispersed to their homes, and still others stayed for the music that was about to be played.  A man played the bass cello (I think that's what it's called), another man played the accordion, and a woman sang along with these two instruments.  They played war songs from 1918.  Magda translated some of them.  They were hilarious!  Talking about men riding gallantly off to war on their steads, and serenading girls outside their windows...it was fun to listen to.  :)  And the songs were so upbeat.  It was awesome!

(Photo:  Isn't the bass cello gorgeous?  And the accordion player was so much fun to watch.  He kept on smiling and seemed to be having a lot of fun. They even took song requests!)

After the musicians left, Magda suggested William and I go with her to get some coffee or tea, so we agreed and followed her to the "New Old Town" of Kolobrzeg.  (It is called this, because during WWII, Kolobrzeg was flattened.  Literally.  Nothing was left.  But after it was reclaimed by the Poles, they rebuilt the Old Town as it had looked before the war.  Thus, the "New Old Town" name.)  We walked into a small cafe and search the menus for recognizable words.  "Kawa" and "Herbata" were popping out at me, but that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge of Polish at that point in time (that was almost a month ago!).  :)  I finally decided on a chocolate coffee (surprise, surprise, right?), William got something that I can't remember, and Magda bought herself some tea.  After we were finished with our drinks, Magda asked if we wanted something to eat as well, so William and I split a slice of cheesecake and a slice of chocolate cake.  Pretty good.

(Photo:  It was pretty good, but somewhat bitter.  Sad face.  Doesn't it look amazing, though?)

After this, Magda went back home and William and I walked back in the direction of our apartment buildings.  We decided to have lunch together, so we had noodles with a sweet tomato sauce (weird), peas, and corn, with Cola to drink.

(Photo:  The fountain in the local park.  It was awesome and kept changing colors... Needless to say, though, the orange was my favorite.)

Later that evening, William and I walked to the lighthouse to see if we could go up in it.  We had heard that there might be some different events happening near the lighthouse too.  On our way, we saw that one of the fountains in a local park lit up at night, which we hadn't known before.  We stopped to look at it and take pictures and then walked about 15 more minutes to the lighthouse.  As we went up to the entrance to the lighthouse, a whiff of alcohol rose to greet us.  As a result, we decided not to go up in the lighthouse that evening.  (The smell was atrocious!)

(Photo:  Lighthouse at night.  It is beautiful at night and in the daytime.)

Instead, we stopped by Retro Pizza to enjoy some "African Pizza".  Lol...you will laugh too in a second.  I asked William what was on the pizza and he said, "Kiwi, pineapple, bananas, and peaches.  Oh!  And oregano."  I thought it sounded interesting, so we got it.  It was pretty good, but strange to be eating cheese pizza with fruit on it.  :)  (I told my boyfriend, Nick - who is in Africa if you don't remember - about this pizza.  He started laughing and asked me what was on it.  After I told him, he said the pizza should just be crust with tomato sauce.  THEN they could call it an African pizza.  Apparently, Poland has a skewed vision of Africa.  Lol...).

(Photo:  The "African Pizza".)

We headed back to our separate apartments.  When I got back to mine, I can't remember what I did.  But, I stayed up for a few more hours.  I might have read a book or something.  Not sure.  But, it was definitely a fun day!  It was interesting to see how a different country celebrates their independence day, especially since this country has only been independent for 91 years as of November 11, 2009.  Crazy to think about.  The U.S.A. is twice as old!

(Photo:  Me being all patriotic for Poland's Independence Day!  Woohoo!)

Oh and just a note, the Baltic Sea is always a beautiful thing to see and experience.  But at night, it's so amazing...I tried getting a picture of it, but it wasn't working out too well.  The ocean always reminds me of how great, strong, and powerful our God really is.  It's an incredible thing.  Really.  :)

PS:  HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, POLAND!!!  :)

Pumpkin Prayer and a Thanksgiving "Feast"

I decided to make a pumpkin pie from scratch for Thanksgiving last two weeks ago.  I asked Erin (Nick's sister-in-law) for a pumpkin pie recipe.  She gladly typed up the recipe that she uses and even gave me the recipe for the crust (how nice of her, right?).  :)  This was Tuesday, I think--two days before Thanksgiving.  As I knew I wasn't going to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday (like everyone in the U.S.--needless to say, Europe does not celebrate this holiday, so I still had to teach that evening in Trzebiatow), I planned on making the pie on Friday afternoon.

Thursday afternoon found me writing down all the ingredients that I needed.  Flour, condensed milk, salt, butter, brown sugar, etc.  But, most importantly, at the very top of my grocery list was, indeed, a pumpkin.  On the way to the office later that day, I decided to see what the vegetable/fruit stands had in the way of pumpkins.  I saw one, but wasn't quite sure about it.  You'll understand why in a second.  When I got to the office, Tom was sitting at his desk, typing away on the computer.

"Tom," I interrupted him.  "I have a random question that you might laugh at."

With a confused smile, he looked up and said, "Ok?"

"What color are your pumpkins here?" I asked with a serious expression on my face.  (He, on the other hand, was cracking up laughing.)

"What color are the pumpkins in the U.S.?" he asked me, between bouts of laughter.

"Orange," I answered quickly, beginning to laugh too.

"They're the same color here," Tom replied, still chuckling.

"Oh," I said, but then I continued.  "The reason I ask is because I saw a pumpkin at one of the vegetable/fruit stands.  But it was green.  And I wasn't sure if you had orange pumpkins here or not."  This, as you probably have guessed already, set Tom off on another bout of laughter.

Then, I asked, "So...where can I find an ORANGE pumpkin?"  Tom proceeded to draw me a map of where the closest farmer's market was in Kolobrzeg and told me that I would probably find a good pumpkin there.  Thanking him, I made my way back to my apartment to gather my lesson plans and the books I would need in Trzebiatow.

The next day, after our teacher's meeting at Tom's apartment, I set off for the farmer's market in search of my pumpkin.  Going down one aisle, then the next, and the next, I moved in between food and clothing stands looking desperately for a dynia (pumpkin).  I could not find any!

A little disheartened and frustrated, I finally stopped to say a quick prayer.  "God!  I would REALLY like to make a pumpkin pie this afternoon.  But, you see, I can't find the main ingredient--a pumpkin!  Please help me find one!"  Right after I prayed, I kept walking.  A voice in the back of my head said, "Turn around and go back to the stand in the middle."  Shrugging it off, I told myself that I had already looked there.  But something was still telling me to "go back."  So I did.  Turning around and finding my way back to the food stand in the middle, I saw it--the perfect pumpkin.  Well...it was half a pumpkin, actually.  But it was perfect.  :)  I bought it for 5 zloty (about $1.65 USD) and even now, I am thinking that it was a good deal.

(Photo:  Left to right--cooked pumpkin, mashing the pumpkin,

pureed pumpkin; bottom--trashed pumpkin skins...lol.)

So, I went home, cooked the pumpkin in the oven until it got soft, mashed it into puree, added the other ingredients to the pumpkin for the filling, and then started in on the dough.  Everything was fine and dandy until I asked Halina using hand motions if she had a rolling pin.  Looking a little surprised, she said "Nie, nie" (No, no), and then she shrugged her shoulders as if to say "I'm sorry!"  So, instead of using a rolling pin, I used my hands.  I flattened the dough, spread it out, pinched, cut, "pasted", flattened, flipped....until I was satisfied.  Then, I flipped it into the round cake pan I had borrowed from Tom (haha...no pie pan for me!).

(Photo:  Pumpkin filling, pumpkin pie spice, crust)

Lining the bottom of the pan with the dough as well as halfway up the side, I poured the pumpkin filling into its cradle.  Setting it in the oven, I checked the clock and made a mental note to check the progress of the pie at 4:00 pm.  After it was finished, I made some homemade mashed potatoes, with milk, garlic salt, and butter.  I then made my way over to William's apartment for our mini-Thanksgiving dinner.  Though it was a small meal (mashed potatoes, cornbread with butter and fruit to put on top, sparkling white grape juice, and pumpkin pie for dessert), it was a delicious one (at least, I thought it was good).  :)

(Photo:  Our Thanksgiving "Feast"; cornbread, not pictured.)  :)

It turned out to be a day of thanking God for Farmer's Markets, for pumpkins, for that little voice in the back of my head, and also a day of alterations and making do with what I had.

(Photo:  My pumpkin pie spice and I are enjoying making pumpkin pie together.)