Red Tape in the Machine

Well things are semi-rolling along on my legality process. I got my work visa sticker in Chicago. I got my stamp when I landed back in Warszawa. The private office that's helping us then picked up my passport for I don't know what and returned it 4 days later with no comment.

Now this week I'm trying to get 'registered' with the infamous Wojewedon (Vo-ye-VE-don) office-the ultimate Communiste-era red tape machine. My landlord, who didn't know I was living in his place until today, and who also doesn't speak English, AND who also lives at least 2 hours away, will be required to come into this red tape plaza with me and sign off that I do, indeed, live in his abode in Warszawa.

As my dad would say, 'Asinine!'

After all this, then I'm allowed to apply for the 'legitimacja,' a residence card, and a driver's license.

Joy.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The West corridor

2Cs-Chihuly and Calatrava. A very similar piece is in the lobby of Seattle's Alexis Hotel, of which The North Face shares the same block with. Every glass piece is put in a perforated post, very delicately, and in a puzzling and exacting order!

2 statuesque women!

Fully outstretched wings, preparing for closure. Time 11:59 AM

Flappin' like a bird...

Almost there...

Wings fully closed-ready to brave the high winds if necessary!

The whole thing, southern facade (minus the pedestrian bridge stretching off to the left)

The prow, about to break through the concrete back into the waters whence it came

The 'stair-step' bevels here shows you how the 'wings' each nestle into their own groove, so they're supported on two sides by the main structure when the building is 'closed'. I want this thing on my rooftop!

Jill's bro, Develan, the master at work. He did a tremendous amount of work on both of our heads (as you'll soon see!) If you like what you see here, and you're going to be in the neighborhood, he's at The Beehive, 1547 N Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 414-277-7768. It's a cool neighborhood, too, with a good coffee shop and really good middle-eastern food further north up the street!

Woohoo! Check out the red! I like it!

Goo-ing and chopping-gulp!

oofda! That's the most hair I've had cut off in over 12 years!

The master and his fresh heads!

At Savannah's foreighn language banquet at her middle school-it's almost her German club's turn start their round of popular plays in the foreign tongue (there were even Polish pierogi at the dinner!)

Spanish language kids doing some crazy Mexican jumping bean song (check out the air the girl's getting in the back row!)

Savannah narrating Deutsch to the crowd very well!

2 Polska/Deutschland babes and their German mom!

Look, it's Jill's old Junior High locker! (Think she ever got stuffed inside there by her brother? ;-)

Hey you smokers! Remember!

Gettin' ready to play Spoons! (Jill and I did NOT lose this one!)

Handing out Polish zloty to the kiddies (and parents!)

Ah, Chicago! Surrounded by my familiar architectural wonders, artifacts and masterpieces. This is the massive and pyramidal John Hancock Tower (2nd highest in Chicago-96 stories), the historic Chicago Watertower (which helped save the rest of the city during the great fire), and then the not so beautiful Water Tower Place-a benign 70s structure that did break waves with having a high mix of apartments, condos, offices and filled the first 6 floors with heavy-hitter shopping. As a kid my family would take us there every year for Xmas and we'd beeline to the FAO Schwarz store. I was always anxious to see what new electric or gas kid car they had in the window next to the entrance, and I'd run around looking for the biggest lion stuffed animal (of which we could never afford :-( ). Today, it still has shops, but the big names have either entered other, newer high-rises, or they've made the super-investment and built their own retail space somewhere along the Magnificent Mile-Chicago's uber shopping district, where women wear down their fine shoes traipsing from store to store, a mile up, and a mile back down the other side. I've never seen so many taxis stuffed to the gills with shopping bags before. Gotta love this place!

Me, the Polish Consulate and my BRAND-SPANKIN'-NEW WORK VISA-WOO HOO, LEGALITY HERE I COME!!!! OK, so the Poles got it good with/in Chicago. This building is located in north Streeterville, along the Gold Coast and facing Lake Michigan. That 3+ story stone building has to be worth around $40 million or more right now...so I'm curious to find out how they nabbed such an incredible spot-as this area's been hot poop for over 150 years! Regardless, the interior for the paper pushers (in the back) was pretty crummy-cheap panelling and every single sign in the room (except the fire exit sign) was in Polish! Every person in there was speaking Polish! I was pretty nervous that I'd have to speak Polish, too (I don't know that much!) but fortunately they spoke just enough English to help me through the fairly painless, two-day process. The only fee was to rush the visa-$41-the visa was free (whereas the Poles have to pay a hefty fee to come our way, even for tourism-not fair!)

A different age, a different style. OLD Chicago row houses in Streeterville. This is the very rich part of the city where Oprah, Tom Cruise and other hot shots live. It happened to be lucky enough to not burn down in the great Chicago Fire close to the turn of the 20th Century. What's even more amazing is that we found free parking-on two different days-all day-unbelievable!?!?!

We need to post these signs in Polish-as there are Polish Land Mines everywhere-yuck-they NEVER pick up after their dogs!

Don't mess with a newly formed redhead! ;-)

A quick Thai lunch with Jill's aunt Pat (whom I met when her and Janice came to see us in Seattle the previous spring-shortly after we found out about us moving to Poland-it was nice to reminisce about the changes we've made within less than a year!

Always a mandatory stop for my when I visit Chicago-the famed Art Institute of Chicago, with it's two massive, poweful and ferrocious lions guarding it's entrance for over 105 years. One of the special exhibits this month was 12 different local architects' views on Chicago and how it's going to change in this century. Be prepared for a new floating airport on the lake, massive alternative energy towers with solar panels and wind turbines, car elevators that bring your auto INTO your living space (since we all LOVE OUR CARS SOOO MUCH!) and, hopefully, a newfound abundance of green space. Oh, lastly was a treatise on old Comiskey Park, now called some other corporate park. It's an eyesore and incredibly far from the friendly neighborhood Cubbies' field, Wrigley-so they're researching hard how to remedy that part of town. I love how much this city keeps you on your toes architecturally!

So, one sleepless morning before coming back to the states, I was lying in bed, knowing that we would likely go to the Art Institute, and I'd get another chance to see one of my favorite, massive paintings by Georgia O'Keefe. The painting of the clouds is part of the permanent collection, so I know it will always be there, as does every Chicagoan. While lying there forever I had a great marketing idea! People would love to be able to have a photograph made of themselves flying in front of this painting! You could be floating-but this painting inspires one to soar with arms outstretched, flying high above the earth. Well, Jill and I entered the museum and the painting caught my eye up one of the grand staircases. As I was going up the stairs I was telling Jill about my idea...and lo and behold, there was a new sculpture by a Japanese artist hanging with it's arms outstretched in front of my painting!!! Thiefs!

Off to Millenium Park! Heading to one of the new art installations. There is a gigantic, incredibly silvery/shiny bean-like thing ahead of Jill in that white structure-we were bummed we couldn't see it. Towering above is Prudential 1 and 2 and catching the sun is the Amoco/Standard Oil building-3rd tallest in Chicago. A few years ago, so much pollution had been absorbed into the granite on the bulding that they couldn't even clean it. Instead they dismantled the exterior, stone section by stone section-and added brand new granite, showing off their pearly whites when the sun decides to come out again! Talk about an expensive makeover! Jeesh!

This thing is freaky! There's 2 of them that face each other. The images are usually faces, but sometimes are more vertical-esque landscape images-always films-never stills. The head shots often morph into different faces-all from Chicago, showing off the city's diversity

It's all being projected through glass block-but my teeth seem to look that bad on their own!

Millenium Park Ionic Collonade. Chicago completed their new dream park a few years after the millenium-and with it they brought back a bit of the old. This collonade is a very close replica to what was situated here way back during the Columbian Exposition near the turn of the (20th) Century. Holabrid, Root, Sullivan and all the big guns helped design Chicago under the new 'City Beautiful' movement-going big, stone, classic and European...few things remain from their plan except for some of the great museums...and the two massive parks lining Lake Michigan-so the city felt they should at least bring a little bit back to honor their forward thinking planners that saved Chicago from building on every square inch of earth.

The new Frank Gehry outdoor orchestra hall-at the northern section of Grant Park. The weird spider looking things hanging aren't lights-but speakers spaced out to give a tremendous quality of sound throughout the grass seats-this place must be packed in the summer! Gehry did Seattle's EMP (Experience Music Project) and several other uniquely shaped museums and office buildings. I'm still waiting for Lego to make a model of one of his creations! Oh, people in Chicago like to use various forms of helium inflated balloons to help people find their groups...but I bet security won't let them fly the balloons through this framework.

Good to see you again, Chicago! Keep on building up, up, up! (but don't forget to add a few more trees and bike racks!)

Maddy and Wilbur (Filfur in Maddy-speak)-I'm not sure who pawed and drooled on us more?! :-)

Look out! Dad's taking over the cooking!

Mom putting her new Polish pottery to use (you West coasters recognize those bottles? Yum!)

Break-Dancing Maddy!

Continuing my Scrabble domination...even against my mother!-thanks to Jill for letting me keep up my winning average for the last year! ;-)

What a cute pair! Maddy playing with a matching chin on Jill

Kevvy Wevy, one of my good high school friends and Mini-(Super!) Kevvy Wevy got to pay us a quick visit just before we headed back to Warszawa. He did a fine job of mowing my families wood floors!

A fond farewell slobber from Wilbur!

And now we're back in Warsaw and it has snowed every day to some extent...we are definitely ready for spring!!!

Sofia, Bulgaria

A Bulgarian dance or play or something...the kids first night in Sofia, Bulgaria, being treated to some local entertainment before they got down to business at the highly competitive Math Counts European competition

Super smart math kiddies cranking away on their first Math Counts' questions-ooh, feel those butterflies!

Yep, Math Counts, didn't you know that?!

Aleksander Nevski Church, created between 1892-1912-built as a memorial to the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died fighting for Bulgaria's independence druing the Russian-Turkish War (1877-78)