Apartment confirmed

We have an apartment in Lublin!  Our agent has finally confirmed that we have a place.  I'm still waiting for details - like the specific address - but I'm confident this and other details will be provided shortly.

A funny side note:  We spoke via phone/skype today and tried to exchange email addresses.  I hadn't realized how hard some 'techie' words are to translate.  I spelled my name carolyn.shaw and then got to the @ sign.  She seemed a bit flustered, and then proposed that she give me her address instead.  She carefully spelled it out and then said "monkey" (!)  I quickly realized this meant @ and sent her a test message.  She replied, and we so we successfully navigated an unexpected tech hurdle..."monkey" hahaha...they didn't teach that one on Rosetta Stone!  -Carolyn

Arrival plans

I heard from our Polish hosts at UMCS (University) this week.  They are planning to meet us at the train station when we arrive in Lublin.  They have also confirmed that my boxes can be shipped to the University (yea). -Carolyn

Shipping to Poland

I'm pleased to say that our 3 boxes are finally in the mail on their way to Poland!  It has cleared up some space in the bedroom, and is a general relief (I don't have to worry anymore about what to pack and what we have room for.)  At this point if it doesn't fit our in our suitcases, its not going.  Would you believe, however, that it cost more to mail the packages from Kansas to the shipping company in Boston, than to ship them all the way from Boston to Lublin?!  Hopefully we'll see them on the other end shortly after we arrive. -Carolyn

Shipping things to Poland

We have planned all along to pack our necessities in our suitcases and ship our others things by post to Poland.  Delivery by the shipping service (by boat) takes about 4-6 weeks, so my plan has been to ship things at the end of December so they arrive in Lublin shortly after we do in January.  I've packed three midsized boxes with the things we think we will need/want and feel pretty good about what we've decided to take.  (The harsh winter weather reports across Europe in recent weeks has resulted in packing more long underwear, etc.)  I'm ready to put these boxes in the mail and cross my fingers that they arrive in tact in Lublin...EXCEPT that I don't have an address to ship them to.  We don't have an apartment yet, so I can't ship them to our residence.  I've asked to ship them to my university department, but with the arrival of the holidays, I've not received confirmation that I can ship things there either.  I think I'll ask my Polish-American friend to place another call for me to the department to let them know the boxes are on the way and to please put them aside for me...Then all I need to do is make sure the address is accurate and complete the customs declaration form.  -Carolyn

Warm greeting

I received a second email from Delaney's teacher in Poland this week (Her name is Dorota - Dorothy).  I had emailed her letting her know when we were arriving and asking if the school would be open at  that time to visit.  She replied that the school would be open, but classes not in session.  We would be welcome to visit and she would show us around.  She also provided her cell phone number and invited us to call her when we arrived so she could show us around the city and help us locate the school.

She also noted that the children in Delaney's class were eager to meet their new American friend, especially the girls since there are just 4 girls and 8 boys in the class.  She said that with the students' basic English and her rusty English (which does not appear rusty in her email) that she believed they would all be able to communicate just fine.

This email message was very welcome and the generous offer to help us settle in was greatly appreciated.   -Carolyn

Apartment hunting

Much of my preparatory energy for the past two weeks has been devoted to securing a place to live.  Our initial real estate agent has been out of touch for almost four weeks, so last week I went looking for other alternatives.  Fortunately an academic friend of mine is from Poland and offered to help.  He and I looked for places together online, then he placed a skype call to another agent and arranged for us to talk with the assistance of her English-speaking daughter.  My first skype call to Poland was successful, but the agent had not been able to get in touch with the apartment owner yet.  She requested that I call back again next week and she would keep trying to reach the owner.  I'm pretty sure we will get this apartment and it will work out ok, but things are down to the wire and I'm starting to look at hotels just in case we still don't have a place when we arrive in 30 days.   -Carolyn

Learning Polish

We've had a lot of questions about learning Polish. I've really enjoyed my lessons and feel reasonably confident that I can navigate and engage in basic social exchanges. I thought it would be fun to post a few vocabulary words for anyone interested in learning some Polish...

The first thing to realize is that the letters do NOT make the same sounds as they do in English.
A common combination is "dzi" = "jee", as in dzien dobry (jean DOUGH bray). This means hello/good day. The "w" makes a "v" sound, as in do widzenia (dough veed ZAY nia). This means goodbye.

History of Lublin

There have been settlements on the site where Lublin exists today, dating back to about 500 AD. It has been the target of attack by Tartars, Lithuanians, and Ruthenes and has been destroyed a number of times. A large and vibrant Jewish community developed in the city in 1500's and remained a part of the city's culture until it was wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust. In 1795 when Poland was partitioned between the Germans, Austrians and Russians, it came under Austrian rule. From 1815-1915, it was under Russian rule. At the end of WWI, an independent Poland emerged and the capital was briefly located in Lublin. On the outskirts of the city is Majdanek concentration camp where thousands of Polish Jews were interned and killed by the Germans during the war. Today the city has six universities and is a cultural center.

Map of Poland

If you have been wondering where Lublin is, here is a map of the major cities in Poland. Lublin is in the southeast part of the country near the Ukranian border. You can see that Poland borders Germany, the Czech Republish, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia. Sweden is just across the Baltic Sea to the North. Lublin has about 350,000 people and is the 9th largest city in Poland.

Looking for housing

It is now mid November, and the real estate agent indicated that this was the time to start looking for housing. I've sent an email inquiry stating our preferences: 3 bedrooms, approx 100 sq meters (1000 sq ft) (this is a LARGE apartment by Polish standards), a washing machine (dryers are rare), and hopefully within walking distance of the University. I've surfed online quite a bit looking out what's available - Google Translate is a really cool tool! I think these preferences are do-able. I just need to wait patiently for a reply at this point (have you noticed a common theme here about patience and waiting?) I'm also hoping to have an answer about when my classes are scheduled...it would help in making a syllabus : ) - Carolyn

Airline tickets

We purchased our airline tickets in September and it somehow made the upcoming trip suddenly seem more real. We are scheduled to depart on Jan 19, flying Wichita > Chicago > Copenhagen > Warsaw. From Warsaw we'll take a train to Lublin. We've had a lot of discussions about what to pack in suitcases and what to ship in advance. Factors shaping our thoughts: If we bring it, we'll be sure to have it (it won't get lost, damaged, etc.); If we bring it, we'll have to lug it around with us until we get 'home' (wherever that might be). If we bring it, we don't have to pay the cost of shipping (approx $1/lb). If we want to take it home again, we have to carry it back, or ship it (more costly from Poland to the US than from the US to Poland). We are making a lot of decisions about 'needs' and 'wants'. I'm all for reducing the number of unnecessary consumer items that I depend on, but there are certain comforts that I'd really like to have along (my special foam pillow comes to mind). In the meantime, I keep gathering things in a box in my room that we want to have (in our suitcase or shipped by boat)...We'll see what the final pile looks like in the next month and make some decisions. -Carolyn

PS Our Visas arrived in the mail right on time - mid-October as promised.

School enrollment

We finally got in touch with the headmaster of the private school where the kids will go to school. He provided a list of classes for both Delaney and Adam. Adam will have a private tutor (in English) for Math, Physics,World and Polish History, and Biology, and also for Polish lessons. He will take English, Music, Art, Computer tech, PE and Spanish (yes, Spanish) with his Polish peers. He will have 12 other students in his classes. Delaney is in a primary class with 14 Polish students. Her teacher speaks English (we know this because she emailed us a few weeks ago to ask about Delaney's interests and personality). - Carolyn

Learning Polish is fun

This summer we purchased Rosetta Stone software for Polish and dove into the lessons. Adam was the first to create his own account and start the lessons. While he was away at camp, I started and caught up with him. Delaney expressed and interest and aptitude, so we created a personal account for her too. I am now just a few lessons short of completing the full course. I spent several hours a day during the summer, but had to cut back to 1/2 - 1 hr/day once the semester started. Adam makes progress in fits and starts. Delaney's favorite part is the voice recognition part where she gets to say the words when prompted. She really soaks it in quickly, but loses interest/patience quickly. David has reaffirmed his long time view that learning new languages is not his thing, but he's still working at it. -Carolyn

Visit with returning Fulbright Family

In July our whole family had the opportunity to visit with the Gartland family for the afternoon. Myles and his family had spent the 2009-10 year in Gdansk Poland and had just returned home to Olathe KS. The kids played while the adults talked about what we needed to know that wasn't necessarily in the Handbook. I gained a much better sense of what to expect with the students and how to handle textbooks, graded assignments, etc. There are apparently quite a few bureaucratic hoops to jump through immediately upon arrival...another physical courtesy of the university health care center, signing lots of papers (all in Polish) for stipends, getting bus passes, getting a tax id number, etc. They told us very clearly: you need to be flexible and patient. (Guess I'll keep working on cultivating these qualities - ha!) - Carolyn

University classes

Sometime during the summer, I received confirmation of the classes I would be teaching at UMCS...a graduate course on Post-Conflict peacebuilding, and International Relations theory (undergrad). My department contact indicated that he would be willing to schedule my classes in the middle of the week so we can have longer weekends to do some traveling. I was very pleased with these arrangements. I still don't know a lot about what to expect in the classroom in terms of student performance, etc. But at least I know what I'm teaching. -Carolyn

Official documents

I received the updated Fulbright Handbook in late May and read through it again, paying particular attention to the section on visas and passports. We completed the paperwork for Delaney to get her first passport, and renewed Adam's existing passport. When we received these back in the mail, it was time to apply for Polish passports (only necessary if staying in the EU for more than 90 days). We had been told you could get them upon arrival in Poland, but it was much easier to do it before hand. I went to the consulate web page and read the detailed directions carefully. The official process involved an in-person interview at the consulate (located in Chicago), and... the visas could not be processed until 3 months before your date of arrival. Thus this was not something that I could do before October, and it might involve the whole family taking a weekend trip to Chicago...so much for advanced planning. I contacted the consulate and they said 'just send in the paper work'. I took this to mean that an interview would not be required. I submitted the paperwork early (Sept) and received a call from the consulate letting me know that it could not be processed until October. I said that I just wanted it in early just in case he needed more documentation. He laughed and said mine was the most complete application he had received in months! (*sigh of relief*) He will process them in October and then return them to us. -Carolyn

Help from Lublin - April

In April I contacted Monika, the graduate student at UMCS who was assigned to assist me with travel and arrival details. She provided me with the name of a real estate agent and started looking for school options for the kids. A home and a school - my two biggest concerns. She eventually found a private school with an 'english track' offered in middle school - perfect for Adam. Kids Delaney's age learn some English so they can go into the English track once they get to middle school. -Carolyn

More info needed - March

Patience is not one of my strengths...
I finally started sending emails to the various contacts provided in the documents I received in Feb. 'Can you please tell me a bit more? Who should I contact for information about X?' Finally one person suggested that I look on the Fulbright web page and contact some of the current Fulbright scholars that were posted in Poland. The page didn't give locations or academic disciplines, so I randomly picked some names and sent out an email introducing myself and seeking any helpful hints about living and working in Poland. All of them responded quickly and with helpful info. One was living in Lublin and working at UMCS - very helpful! And one had brought his whole family (to Gdansk) and was originally from Olathe Kansas (it is a small world). We actually skyped several times and he sent me his Fulbright Handbook with lots of in-country information. This gave me a MUCH better idea of what to expect. -Carolyn

Further info - Feb

By February I was impatient to learn more about how this incredible trip was going to occur. I finally received an information pack with various forms and some FAQs. I read every page eagerly, expecting to learn about housing, teaching loads, and salary arrangements, etc. Instead I learned about the Fly America Act, which requires travelers using federal funds to use American carriers (since our trip was still 11 months away, this was not a high priority for me yet), and about HIV/AIDS transmission and global health alerts. We would all need to get physicals and send the appropriate forms in for health clearance, but this could not be done until 6 months prior to travel (July at the earliest). Again, more information would be sent shortly... - Carolyn

First contact

By mid December, I was pretty impatient to learn the status of my application. I was surprised when my first contact was from Maria Curie-Sklodoska Univ. (UMCS) in Lublin Poland, not from the Fulbright program itself. I was traveling and received an email asking if I would accept a position at UMCS. I responded that I would be delighted. When I returned home from my trip, there was the formal letter from CIES (Council for the International Exchange of Scholars) waiting for me with the official acceptance. Yes! The letter didn't say much more than congratulations and that additional information would be forthcoming. - Carolyn

The beginning

I submitted my application for the Fulbright program in August 2009. I had received letters of invitation from two universities, which was encouraging. I knew there was nothing to do but wait for the process to progress. Fulbright noted that applications would be reviewed in Oct and Nov. and notices sent after that. - Carolyn

Creating a blog!

Finally found time to create a blog for the first time. I'd like to record my thoughts about our upcoming family adventure to Lublin Poland. We are excited and anxious at the same time. So many preparations to make and just nine weeks until we take off (Jan 19, 2011). I'm going to keep working on figuring out the controls on this page so I can ad photos and other comments in the coming weeks and months. Before I move forward however, I think I'll go back and record events as they occurred following the submission of my application... - Carolyn