Nothing like a visit from Mom!

Our stream of visitors has continued with a wonderful visit from Tom's mom.  We were so happy to have her here over the Easter holiday.  We shared traditional Polish Easter traditions with her, including taking our Easter baskets to have them blessed at Church on the Saturday before Easter.  On Sunday we attended Easter mass and then shared a great brunch with friends.  The rest of her visit we spent showing her around Warsaw...both the touristy sites as well as our favorite local hangouts!  It was such a great visit and visits from family and friends make living 5,000 miles away a little easier!

Prepping Easter baskets for church blessings

Of course, Tom's Easter basket has beer in it!

Our friends, Sharon and Carl

The blessing of Easter baskets at church

Exploring Warsaw!

We love you!  Thanks for visiting.



Fun with Friends

We were fortunate to follow one visit from friends with another...Lauren and Alphonse, great friends from college, came to visit us for a whole week!  We were so blessed to have them.  We decided to spend part of their week visiting Amsterdam.  Both Lauren and Alphonse have always wanted to see the city and we were more than happy to join them!  We had a great time exploring the city and taking it all in.  We went on a canal cruise through the city, took them to the Van Gogh museum, and made trips to our favorite thai and indonesian restaurants. 

After our weekend in Amsterdam we headed back to Warsaw to show them around.  We, of course, introduced them to the different varieties of Polish vodka and made sure they got to see all of the historic sites too.  The funnies part of our trip was watching the Poles react to meeting Alphonse.  First, there is not a lot of cultural diversity in Poland so people are not used to seeing anything other than white people.  And, secondly, the name Alphonse is Polish translates to mean "pimp".  So, Alphonse definitely got some interesting reactions when he introduced himself.  It made for some funny moments!

Thanks for making the trip Lauren and Alphonse!



Lauren and Alphonse



Eseential Fuel during our trip

A walk up fast food vending machine restuarant

Bikes, bikes and more bikes!

Gorgeous canals

The famous Grasshopper

The women's bathroom was out of order so they had both men and women using the same bathroom.  Made it interesting and had to capture it on film!  Alphonse was not going to use the bathroom, but every single women in there told him to Go ahead!

Crooked houses

Off on our canal cruise

I am(sterdam) statue



A Great Visit and the Royal Castle...

My friend Catherine and her mom visited us in Warsaw a week or so again.  We were thrilled to have them for a few days and to show them around the city.  It was a whirlwind trip filled with a lot of sightseeing.  I had the pleasure of visiting Warsaw's Royal Castle with them.  I had not been there yet so it was great fun to experience the castle and see the amazing restorations to bring it back to its original look.  Catherine, Janice and I were so busy running around that I got pcitures inside the castle, but not of the three of us.  : (  I'll have to get some from Catheirne. 

Many thanks Catherine and Janice for making the trip and including Warsaw in your travels.  We loved seeing you!

The King's throne

Gorgeous floors

Murals on the ceilings

The Royal Castle



Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #21

Awesome Thing About Living in Europe #21:   1%

It is tax time in Poland right now just like in the states.  And, since we are residents living in Poland we are lucky enough to pay Polish taxes.  ; )  For those that are concerned, don't worry.  There is an agreement in place where we do not have to pay 100% of our  taxes in both countries.  But, the US government is also making sure they get their fare share. 

While filing our taxes we learned about the "1% Program" here in Poland.  This is a program that allows you to donate 1% of your taxes (money that the government is already taking) to any non-profit organization in the country.  A pretty cool concept if you ask me!  Once we learned of this we spent some time going through the list of organization and trying to choose just one...there were a ton of worthwhile causes.  We decided to go with Bread of Life.  An organization that we are familiar with that supports women and children in need throughout Poland.  We also know that Bread of Life has minor administrative costs and almost all of your donation goes to actually help someone. 

Think about the difference the US could make it they adopted a similar 1% Program.  If you've gotta pay taxes it makes a bit easier knowing some of the money is helping out this country!

As a side note, its visitor season here in Warsaw.  Our first set of guests just left and we pick up our next ones tomorrow.  So if blog posts are few and far between please understand that we are out enjoying the sights with friends and family!