The Pickle Jar in Poland: We moved in!

Rags overlooking her new territory from
the garage.

So I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, fully intending to upload pictures and then post it, but that has not happened. Turns out moving into a big, old house in a foreign country with a baby who is into everything and a first grader who asks 500 questions a day is rather exhausting. Go figure! So here is what I wrote on the 14th with more to come very soon...promise!

Another week in Poland has passed. We have been here for 4 weeks now, a full month on Sunday! It is hard to believe.

We moved in last Thursday and Friday, the 6th and 7th. I wrote a long email to our parents and siblings on Thursday night I will post at the end of this if you want to read how that day went. Here's the short of it: a little over half was unloaded into the house on Thursday and were able to sleep here Thursday, and the rest was unloaded and unpacked on Friday.

The last week has been long and tiring, and we are still not done putting everything away. Part of this is hindered by the fact that we are still missing our unaccompanied baggage (UAB). Yes, that's right, the "early" shipment has still not been delivered. It is now 3.5 weeks past it's required delivery date. We did find out last week that it was still sitting IN COLORADO. Turns out there is a document they were waiting on for customs so that they could put it on a plane. A document that, first of all, no one told us at any point (much less when we packed out) was needed. And second of all, we've had a copy of this document in our possession since a few days after arriving in Poland. Sigh. So Charles sent that over and the shipment was flown to Warsaw on Monday, but there is still some delay with customs. It is increasingly frustrating. Matthew's crib is in that shipment. Our knives, can opener and other favorite and frequently used kitchen items are in it (since we expected to have it first). (Note, we did finally receive this shipment on the 20th, THANK GOONDESS!)

Anyways, so we don't have all our stuff, so part of me knows as we organize that still a more things will need to be put away. Plus, this house is a very different layout than what we have ever had before. The layout is more broken up than our last two houses, which is fine, but the rooms are bigger. Much bigger! The living room is about 21 feet across and the ceilings are at least 11feet. It is a big, old, beautiful, but very quirky house. Military families have to be good at making furniture, curtains, etc. work over and over again in different spaces, but sometimes (almost every time you move) there are new things that you have to buy because spaces are different.

This house is all hardwoods and tile and because the ceilings are so high, it is very loud. I've been anxious to get carpets down and curtains hung to help absorb some of the sound, and make it feel more homey. But, the curtain rings for the kids' room and our curtains are in the UAB. I also always love to get pictures hung up as soon as possible, but most of the walls are solid brick. We are going to hang things, but we want to have to put in as few holes as possible, so we are trying to be very intentional and get things arranged first.

I also think I was a bit slow to, say, set up the kitchen, because I wanted to be sure I was happy with it. I pregnant with Sara Hawley and feeling very sick when we moved into our CO house and there are things about how we unpacked I never liked, but I never had the energy to reorganize it. Of course circumstances are totally different, but I think I have also wanted to be sure we were mostly happy with it. Sounds weird, maybe, but I think that has been on my mind.

One of the many arrangements the living room went through.

We have rearranged the living room (or the salon, as Emmy likes to call it - which is what the Polish movers called it) like 6 times and we are still not 100% happy, but I think we're going to live with it, we have to try to work with what we have! But if anyone is good at interior design and wants to come fly out and help me, be my guest!

Here is our new dining table.

We did find a table for the dining room that we both like and we paid for it today and it will be delivered next week. We left our other dining room table in storage since it was my grandparents', along with the china cabinet that goes with it. This dining room has a lovely built in for storage and display, as well as a large piece in the living room that stays in the house. The dining room is very large so we hope this table will work. It is more rustic, something we could use as a kitchen table later on.

We also found a small round table for the kitchen. It has a nice little eating nook but needs something small and round. It is ordered and should be here in a couple of weeks, along with a bench we an use in the mudroom/entry way. In Polish culture you take your shoes off when you come into the house, even when you are visiting someone, so we want a nice bench that we can use, as can our guests. The mudroom (as we are calling it) is wonderful and large, but because it is the only way into the house (besides through the garage in the basement) we have to keep it neat! We even bought a little pack of inexpensive slippers to leave out for guests.

We borrowed a car last weekend and were able to do some looking for furniture and do a few errands. Charles had to go to Berlin on Saturday to pick up a new couple arriving that we were assigned to sponsor (long story, but we were not very well equipped to sponsor someone so soon!). My car arrived this week (yay!) but we are not registered yet (boo!). However, we do have insurance coverage in Poland (this is all also a very long story) so we are able to drive it, we are just doing so sparingly. Today we had a sitter scheduled for the afternoon so I could have some uninterrupted time to finish up some projects. I find I start things and get distracted (imagine that!) and don't get to finish. Anyways, the midday I found out that tomorrow is Polish Armed Forces Day and all the stores and most restaurants will be closed. We had planned to spend at least part of the day going back to order the table and do some shopping. Charles came home after lunchtime to go to our hometel to fix issues with our receipt. He ended up staying home and he and I went out and did the shopping today while the sitter was here. It was nice to do that alone!

Lots more coming soon!

Email to the parents' the day we moved in...

Hello all,

We just climbed into our own bed for the first time since June 14th and it was pretty incredible, especially after a long day.

So I know some of you were wanting an update so here goes...

We were scheduled to have Household Goods delivered today starting between 2&3 pm. Our new friend Katie had told us that when hers came, they unloaded it all and then returned to unpack the next day. We were advised to have them unpack EVERYTHING because they will not return to pick up boxes and paper later, like they will in the U.S., so getting rid of it would be difficult.

So, we went into today anticipating that might be the case, but just in case we left the bare minimum at the hotel with one suitcase ready to be picked up. We spent the morning packing up and then around Noon the TMP (the unit's vehicle, I have no idea what that stands for) driven by one of the NCOs came to the hometel to pick up our bags. Charles took everything and Rags and headed with him to the house. I waited with the kids in the lobby for Katie (our new friend) who had coordinated borrowing one of the LTC's extra vehicles for the weekend for us since they were going down to Graf. Sweet. So when she finally arrived (she was later than I thought) we put the kids' car seats in and headed over to the house.

Katie hung out with us and we all snacked on cheese, crackers, meats, fruit, etc I had stocked up on at the store the day before. (Side note: taking the tram to the store with the 2 kids and then bagging groceries -you have to bag your own here-with a sleeping baby strapped to my front and the other child whines about having to go potty and then taking the tram to the house carrying said groceries is not an adventure I wish to repeat.)

Charles was about to drive her home so we could keep the car when the movers arrived. So she just headed home and we said we would meet back up later.

They had un-crated 5 of our crates and loaded them in a smaller truck, easier to navigate on the narrow streets I guess. Andrew was in charge and he had led the crew that unloaded Katie's stuff a couple of weeks ago. (To her 5th floor walk up, I almost died walking up there twice on Sunday.) She had told us he was great so we were glad to have him. He speaks good English and he and one other member of his crew had driven with our stuff from Warsaw. The other 4 guys are local.

They unloaded it all and it went pretty fast. They showed up around 3:15 or 3:30 and were done by 4:45. They headed back to load up the rest. The driver was anxious to return to Warsaw.

In the meantime we took the chance to check out the rooms and rearrange a few things, get the furniture that was in already where we wanted it and clear a space for the beds. It was nice to have the break! I attempted to order pizza from a place called epizza that someone told me you could order and pay in English online and they would deliver, but that did not work so I texted Katie and she went and picked up pizza from a place down the street from Charles' office. It was good pizza, more NY style than anything we have had, we will get pizza from them again.

First meal in our new house!

Anyways, so the guys returned, but could not get the last crate plus a little on the truck. The driver wanted to leave, so they asked if they could unload to the garage and then go grab the rest and then put it where it goes. We said yes of course. Katie got there with the pizza just as they were done and about to leave again. I offered them to eat it hot, but they had to run. So we had a picnic the 5 of us in the living room. Matthew seemed very happy to be in his own high chair again and even fed himself some.

They returned and Charles and the kids took Katie home and I stayed to direct items to the proper rooms and to mark down the numbers. (Each item is number on and listed on and inventory so we have to mark them off as we go to make sure it all makes it).

They got that unloaded, then found all the pieces to our bed (which took awhile) and got our beds put together. They were very kind to make sure that all was done.

Andrew had left Warsaw at 5 am so he was exhausted and they had to go take the crates off the truck still, so they left about 9. They will be back at 8:30 tomorrow to take everything out of the garage and move it into it's proper place. Then they will unpack.

So, so far so good. Everything is wrapped in brown paper (except the boxes) so it takes awhile to get it all done. You should see the pile of paper. But they are very fast and we are quite happy with them.

We are not very happy, however, with the condition of some of our items. The movers here are appalled by the condition of some of our items. Nothing is destroyed (well, Emmy's mirror for her dresser is completely broken), but lots of things have some damage. The brass lamp that was in the basement that I specifically asked them to put in a box is all messed up at the switch, just to name one thing. Sigh. This never gets easier. It is just lots of dings and dents and scratches so we have to document it all.

Our unaccompanied baggage, we learned yesterday, is still in Colorado. Oh yes. They needed an employment letter from NATO translated into English in order to get the customs forms. Guess what? No one had told us or asked for that when we loaded, nor since we arrived. Charles has had just such a letter in his possession since the day or two after we arrived here. So he sent it over, and today he was told that it will be flown to Warsaw and delivered as early as next Thursday. Fingers crossed. Andrew said he is making a delivery here next week so maybe he will get to drop it off.

So there is our very long day. The kids are in bed and let's hope everyone sleeps all night. I am off to dreamland myself.