Saturday, September 01, 2007
Mom's visit
Mom came to see us this past week and we had a really good time. The visit was far too short though. We kept pretty busy. We took Mom on a train all the way to Kraków in the heat of summer so we could go to the consulate. hehe. :) It was really hot the whole time, but we had a lot of fun
.We were able to finally get our Green Card petition approved. Having Mom their helped. The man didn't treat me so badly this time. He said it should be about 4-6 months for the process to reach its end. He then handed us a list of medical information for Greg. Greg then proceded to drag me all around town at a trot (in the heat) to get blood drawn there, here, get an x-ray of his lungs and then a medical examination somewhere else. It took all day, but we nearly got it all finished. Hopefully we'll have the Green Card soon and then we won't have to think about that anymore.
We visited a lot of people while Mom was here. All of the old men in Greg's family flirted outrageously with my mother. she left yesterday. Pastor Z drove us to the airport and then drove me across the border, since I have to cross ever 3 months to stay here legally until I get my residence permit. Hopefully that will be soon and I won't have to cross the border again.
That's all for now. I'll try to write again soon. I start working on Monday, so unfortunately I won't have a lot of
for writing.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
English Camp
Camp was almost a month ago and I'm sorry about the late update. Right after camp everything seemed to happen at once so I plain forgot about updating my blog. Anyway, Camp was really fun. I had a good group both for conversation and English, my conversation group made a killer video that was better than anyone else's. :) God still does work miracles and I see it every year at camp. People come in hating God and go out loving him, or at least wanting to. I'll post some pics as soon as I can. For some reason, I'm having problems. No surprise there. :)
Greg had to leave from camp early because he had to work, but he let me stay longer so I could converse with my compatriots some more, which was really nice, but if I had known what was going to happen, I would have just gone home when Greg did. I went home with a Polish family. To protect the identities of those involved I won't mention there names, but probably most of you could guess who they were in one or two guesses. We ended up getting in a really bad car accident. No one was hurt, thank God, but we were all quite upset. We had swerved a little to far to the leaft and hit the on-coming car. Glass shattered everywhere, and I really wasn't frightened because I hadn't been paying attention at all to the road. Just a little startled I was. Before I surveyed the damage, I'd had high hopes that the car was still driveable. Alas, it wasn't. The left front tire was completely blown out and coming off the car and the front axle was broken. We ended up waiting nearly two hours, beside the highway with two little kids who wanted to play in the street, in the hot sun for someone to rescue us. Eventually we made it home and I burst into tears when I saw Greg because I thought I was never going to see him again.
We also started working on an immigrants visa for me and a green card for him. I had to go to Kraków and apply in person for his greencard. The man whom I spoke with at the American Consulate, was Polish, and so disagreeable he nearly had me in tears, however, I was too offended to cry. He became suddenly angry with me for not having certain documents that I didn't know I needed. I had read and reread the instructions for petitioning for a greencard and was certain I had everything I needed, but I learned that when you petition in Poland, there are extra requirements. Finally the man got sick of arguing with me and told me to sit down and wait for the Consul. I was determined to leave with good news. The Consul, was of course American, and explained everything to me very nicely. He asked me questions and when he found out that Greg and I are planning to live here he turned to the Polish man and said, "See? They're living here, they're not just going to rush off to America right away." The Polish man looked so embarassed and treated me with much more respect after that. Apparently he had seen me as a little punk who was stealing Polish citizens. He even smiled at me when I told him thank you. All in all, it was successful. I need to send a few more documents to the consulate and then they'll accept my petition.
We're going to Legnica tomorrow to see about my immigrant visa. Hopefully everything will go well.
Greg had to leave from camp early because he had to work, but he let me stay longer so I could converse with my compatriots some more, which was really nice, but if I had known what was going to happen, I would have just gone home when Greg did. I went home with a Polish family. To protect the identities of those involved I won't mention there names, but probably most of you could guess who they were in one or two guesses. We ended up getting in a really bad car accident. No one was hurt, thank God, but we were all quite upset. We had swerved a little to far to the leaft and hit the on-coming car. Glass shattered everywhere, and I really wasn't frightened because I hadn't been paying attention at all to the road. Just a little startled I was. Before I surveyed the damage, I'd had high hopes that the car was still driveable. Alas, it wasn't. The left front tire was completely blown out and coming off the car and the front axle was broken. We ended up waiting nearly two hours, beside the highway with two little kids who wanted to play in the street, in the hot sun for someone to rescue us. Eventually we made it home and I burst into tears when I saw Greg because I thought I was never going to see him again.
We also started working on an immigrants visa for me and a green card for him. I had to go to Kraków and apply in person for his greencard. The man whom I spoke with at the American Consulate, was Polish, and so disagreeable he nearly had me in tears, however, I was too offended to cry. He became suddenly angry with me for not having certain documents that I didn't know I needed. I had read and reread the instructions for petitioning for a greencard and was certain I had everything I needed, but I learned that when you petition in Poland, there are extra requirements. Finally the man got sick of arguing with me and told me to sit down and wait for the Consul. I was determined to leave with good news. The Consul, was of course American, and explained everything to me very nicely. He asked me questions and when he found out that Greg and I are planning to live here he turned to the Polish man and said, "See? They're living here, they're not just going to rush off to America right away." The Polish man looked so embarassed and treated me with much more respect after that. Apparently he had seen me as a little punk who was stealing Polish citizens. He even smiled at me when I told him thank you. All in all, it was successful. I need to send a few more documents to the consulate and then they'll accept my petition.
We're going to Legnica tomorrow to see about my immigrant visa. Hopefully everything will go well.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Świadectwo
Hi Everyone!
As of yesterday, We've been married for a whole month. :) We had a nice day yesterday after church just spending some time together.
We've decided to buy some new furniture within the next few weeks so today I went to look and ended up getting rained on. Ahh life in Poland. Actually it felt good since I was getting kind of warm anyway.
I've been getting ready for English Camp. I'm planning on saying my testimony at the camp. We'll see if it works out. Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and post it on my blog. It's been translated and modified a bit from its original version, but this is almost the same
"About 5 years ago I started going to the English Camps. I never expected them to change my life. I loved Poland immediately and was fascinated with the language and the people, but at the same time I was afraid of everyone. I remember hiding in the bathroom because I was to shy to talk to anyone. Eventually, I overcame my fear and met lots of nice people. I knew that God wanted me to return to camp the next year and I continued to come every year to the English Camp. After a lot of prayer, God told me to move to Poland and learn PolishI already knew in my heart how special Poland was to me. I think I knew from my first visit to Poland that God would ask me to go and live here. Even to me though, it seemed like a crazy request, but I saw that it was the way that God planned for me.
I spent a year in Minnesota with my family, finished my first year of college and got ready to come to Poland. In June 2006 I left my country, with my mom, and we flew into Kraków. My mom stayed in Kraków one week only and soon I was alone in this big, strange country. I started language school a few days later.
I was disappointed because I couldn't go to English camp last summer. I really wanted to go, even if only for one day. I felt like I had to go to Szklarska Poręba. This feeling multiplied every day until I had no choice. I couldn't sleep I couldn't concentrate and all I thought about was camp. At last, I realized that I could either stay in Kraków and suffer, or go to English Camp and be at peace. I prayed and decided to go to camp on the last day. I bought myself a ticket and my train left at 10pm.
I didn't understand anything about trains or how to read the train schedules. I didn't know what the numbers 1 and 2 on the outside of the train meant. I learned (first class and second class). It was a terrible trip and very unsafe. Don't try it I don't reccomend it. I was in fear of my life so I was praying constantly, "Please Lord protect me! Save me! What am I doing on this train? What a dumb thing to do!" The trip was 10 hours overnight, but God was faithful and he protected me.
Eventually, I arrived safely in Szklarska Poręba. I was so tired and I don't remember a lot now, but I do remember this moment when I arrived at the camp and saw Pastor Zbyszek. I was so happy to see him again. I think I managed to surprise everyone since no one was expecting me to be at the camp.
Also at camp was Greg Zytka ( now my husband ). I had met him four years earlier but was not interested in him romantically, but something happended between us on this day. We were walking together in the woods. I don't remember why we were alone or if I even wanted to talk to him, but conversation came easily. He asked me, " So why did you come to Poland?" And I said, "Because God wants me here." In that moment I knew that I was going to someday marry him. We fell inlove and in October Greg asked me to marry him. This was a big surprise for my parents, especially my dad, but that's a different story. We got married on June 1 and now we live in Głogów. We believe that we are where God wants us.
As of yesterday, We've been married for a whole month. :) We had a nice day yesterday after church just spending some time together.
We've decided to buy some new furniture within the next few weeks so today I went to look and ended up getting rained on. Ahh life in Poland. Actually it felt good since I was getting kind of warm anyway.
I've been getting ready for English Camp. I'm planning on saying my testimony at the camp. We'll see if it works out. Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and post it on my blog. It's been translated and modified a bit from its original version, but this is almost the same
"About 5 years ago I started going to the English Camps. I never expected them to change my life. I loved Poland immediately and was fascinated with the language and the people, but at the same time I was afraid of everyone. I remember hiding in the bathroom because I was to shy to talk to anyone. Eventually, I overcame my fear and met lots of nice people. I knew that God wanted me to return to camp the next year and I continued to come every year to the English Camp. After a lot of prayer, God told me to move to Poland and learn PolishI already knew in my heart how special Poland was to me. I think I knew from my first visit to Poland that God would ask me to go and live here. Even to me though, it seemed like a crazy request, but I saw that it was the way that God planned for me.
I spent a year in Minnesota with my family, finished my first year of college and got ready to come to Poland. In June 2006 I left my country, with my mom, and we flew into Kraków. My mom stayed in Kraków one week only and soon I was alone in this big, strange country. I started language school a few days later.
I was disappointed because I couldn't go to English camp last summer. I really wanted to go, even if only for one day. I felt like I had to go to Szklarska Poręba. This feeling multiplied every day until I had no choice. I couldn't sleep I couldn't concentrate and all I thought about was camp. At last, I realized that I could either stay in Kraków and suffer, or go to English Camp and be at peace. I prayed and decided to go to camp on the last day. I bought myself a ticket and my train left at 10pm.
I didn't understand anything about trains or how to read the train schedules. I didn't know what the numbers 1 and 2 on the outside of the train meant. I learned (first class and second class). It was a terrible trip and very unsafe. Don't try it I don't reccomend it. I was in fear of my life so I was praying constantly, "Please Lord protect me! Save me! What am I doing on this train? What a dumb thing to do!" The trip was 10 hours overnight, but God was faithful and he protected me.
Eventually, I arrived safely in Szklarska Poręba. I was so tired and I don't remember a lot now, but I do remember this moment when I arrived at the camp and saw Pastor Zbyszek. I was so happy to see him again. I think I managed to surprise everyone since no one was expecting me to be at the camp.
Also at camp was Greg Zytka ( now my husband ). I had met him four years earlier but was not interested in him romantically, but something happended between us on this day. We were walking together in the woods. I don't remember why we were alone or if I even wanted to talk to him, but conversation came easily. He asked me, " So why did you come to Poland?" And I said, "Because God wants me here." In that moment I knew that I was going to someday marry him. We fell inlove and in October Greg asked me to marry him. This was a big surprise for my parents, especially my dad, but that's a different story. We got married on June 1 and now we live in Głogów. We believe that we are where God wants us.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Back Home Again
Hi Everyone!
Well, we got back a week ago Sunday at 11:30am. We flew into Wrocław and then we had an hour long drive back to Głogów. It wasn't so bad. I think I slept through the whole drive home in that hot stuffy little car of Stefan's (Greg's dad). Greg had to go to work the next morning at 6am. An that same day he came home early to take me to the doctor since i really wasn't feeling well, but I'm better now. We were so busy all last week since it was the last week of school an Greg had to teach an go to an awards ceremony and then to a teacher's party. I set to work unpacking an arranging our new home. It looks great and then wedding presents do add a bit of American flair to the place, which is nice for me.
The weather has been nice. Most days aren't too hot or too cold, but I know that is going to change soon. I remember last summer when I lived in Kraków I struggled with life without airconditioning. After awhile I realized that it wasn't so bad being sweaty since everyone else was sweaty too. I just got use to it. :)
Hey I gotta run. If any of you want to call Greg or I just dial 6122844476. It's our Skype number so it's free for you.
I'll post some pictures soon. :)
Well, we got back a week ago Sunday at 11:30am. We flew into Wrocław and then we had an hour long drive back to Głogów. It wasn't so bad. I think I slept through the whole drive home in that hot stuffy little car of Stefan's (Greg's dad). Greg had to go to work the next morning at 6am. An that same day he came home early to take me to the doctor since i really wasn't feeling well, but I'm better now. We were so busy all last week since it was the last week of school an Greg had to teach an go to an awards ceremony and then to a teacher's party. I set to work unpacking an arranging our new home. It looks great and then wedding presents do add a bit of American flair to the place, which is nice for me.
The weather has been nice. Most days aren't too hot or too cold, but I know that is going to change soon. I remember last summer when I lived in Kraków I struggled with life without airconditioning. After awhile I realized that it wasn't so bad being sweaty since everyone else was sweaty too. I just got use to it. :)
Hey I gotta run. If any of you want to call Greg or I just dial 6122844476. It's our Skype number so it's free for you.
I'll post some pictures soon. :)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Peace in Chaos
Hello my friends,
I decided to switch to blogspot since it's free and my webpiston provider wasn't always very good. This is even a little easier I think.
Oh my we're busy here. Greg and I are getting new kitchen cabinets, but what started out with just cabinets turned into a complete remodeling of the entire kitchen; new tiles on the walls because we had to rip the other ones out due to the unfortunate fact that they were stuck to the old sink, wallpaper also began peeling off so now we're going to repaint the walls. It should look nice once it is done, but right now it's really a mess. Should be done on Wednesday at the latest. I'm trying hard to keep things under control. Fortunately, I'll be pretty busy from now until Wednesday so I can occupy my mind with other things.
I decided to switch to blogspot since it's free and my webpiston provider wasn't always very good. This is even a little easier I think.
Oh my we're busy here. Greg and I are getting new kitchen cabinets, but what started out with just cabinets turned into a complete remodeling of the entire kitchen; new tiles on the walls because we had to rip the other ones out due to the unfortunate fact that they were stuck to the old sink, wallpaper also began peeling off so now we're going to repaint the walls. It should look nice once it is done, but right now it's really a mess. Should be done on Wednesday at the latest. I'm trying hard to keep things under control. Fortunately, I'll be pretty busy from now until Wednesday so I can occupy my mind with other things.
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