Patty came for a visit!

After a delayed start...and jumbled and bumbled flights, Patty finally made it to Warsaw!
After meeting and holding Iza, she suddenly had this overpowering urge to have another baby... a girl again, no less ;-)


Jill's still on maternity leave and Patty came during her spring break. The burly girls got to spend lots of quality time together and Patty didn't mind at all helping with Iza!


The ladies headed south to Krakow, joining Iza and Patty on their first European train ride (Iza was great, of course ;-) Here they are touching the massive bell for good luck in the Wawel Cathedral, though I'm not sure if Iza made the reach!


Spring has fully sprung in Warsaw. I took a day off from work and Patty, Jill and I did a tour of Warsaw by bike. First stop was Wilanow Palace, which if you compare to earlier photos on this site, they've refurbished and repainted it to such an amazing state. Plus it looks even prettier with all the magnolias in bloom.





In Lazienki Park the peacocks were out struttin' their stuff on the first sunny day in a week or two.

King Sigusmund III Vasa high up on the pillar in Plac Zamkowy

Enjoying quiche and coffee at Kafka coffee house

Thanks for visiting, Patty, it was great having you here in Polska!

Kiitos, Finland!

"Finland, Finland, Finland... the country where I want to be,..." Monty Python

As leader of the ASW Outdoor Adventure Club, I got to go to Finland for our Winter Trip for 5 days!

(written on the snow, can you tell how?)

Along with 3 other teachers, we took 15 spirited kids and ran them into the dirt, uh, rather snow every day until late. These kids were exposed to a variety of outdoor activities and experiences, almost all of them for the first time: cross country skiing, snow shoeing, the true Finnish Sauna Experience, complete with temps nearly as high as 100 C and running and jumping into a hole in a frozen over lake, dog sledding, water fall ice climbing, watching the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), star gazing, and, yes, they even got to eat reindeer meat!

We first flew into Helsinki, Finland's capital on the semi-frozen Baltic Sea. We had some time between flights so we checked out the city, including seeing some of Alvar Aalto's architectural works:


Another 1 hour flight north brough us to Kuusamo and a bus shuttle to the Oivanki Outdoor Education Centre.


It's one of 10 state run youth centers that offer great services for youth groups at a great price, which includes full board, use of snowhoes, sauna, fantastic housing and play and meeting rooms. First day was XC-skiing and snowshoeing:

(Super Schwartz)

We even did some sunset and night skiing, too.

(Simon (Swedish) 'n Sarah (USA)

And afterwards we all did the sauna thing. Shower first, then sit in the 90-100 C sauna for 20 minutes, then put your sandals on, head outside in the frigid night air and head down the slippery steps to the hole in the lake and take the plunge! We got every teenage boy to do it the first night, and every girl tried it the next!

Here's a very weird, spooky shot of Schwartz coming out. Notice the 2 ghosts' faces on either side of him and the bright light? I think this is an award winning photo:

So I was one of the last ones to jump in since I was the photographer of the bunch. I or somebody noticed that the sky above was a bit green... so after I took my little ice swim, I stood outside for fifteen minutes in sub-zero temps photographing the Aurora Borealis.

It was awesome! And no one else was willing to stay out to watch them shimmer slowly in the night. Fortunately, me and all my outdoor epic experience came in handy. I was huddled in a ball while keeping my camera resting against the deck railing to steady the camera, which retained what little body heat I had left. However, after 15 minutes or so of shooting, I stood up and my head had 'frozen' itself at the angle I was holding it and I could tell my core temp had dropped considerably. I began to shiver violently. So, the show was ending and I hobbled up the slippery stairs, back in to the cold showers and somewhat hurriedly brought my core temp back up before I re-entered the sauna with the boys (guys and gals sauna seperately in Finland). I was easily at the second stage of hypothermia by the time I was back in the sauna... and thankfully no kid on the trip came close to my misery ;-)

The next day was full of more fun activities and perfect weather.

First up was dog sledding!

This is Susi, the owner of the dog sled farm. His season runs from October to May, usually. He has 140 dogs, mostly Alaskan and Siberian Huskies, but we saw a lot of muts, too.

One of my new Finnish friends

Next on the agenda:

Ice Climbing!

We took the kids to a 20 meter cliff with a guide agency. Lori was the main guide and they told me about a few other places in the region with some good ice climbing... just in case I return here some day for some climbing and skiing :)

The climbing was pretty easy, for the sun was out and the ice was soft. What made it most difficult was one set of tools they had us use were ANCIENT! They were easily from the 70s-short, straight shafts, bashed-in picks and crappy leashes. Mine actually eroded while climbing!

This was definitely a 'first' for every kid on the trip. There were all shocked at how much 'easier' it was compared to rock climbing! It's nice with ice tools in that you can 'create' your next hold. (What little they know what it's like to climb the ice when it's really hard ice and not slush ;-)
Kudos to them all for gettin' on it!

The last day was an epic one. We cross country skied about 20 kilometers. We had a rolly course and stopped about half way to cook our own lunch on the uber-quiet Trangia alcohol stoves.

(Matt and Dong Hun enjoying their meals)

When we headed to the airport in Kuusamo to head back home, it'd turned out we were there WAY too early. So Ken, Beth and Brooks geared up to make the most of it and got in one last ski session in. They also nearly missed their flight... going for a loop trip around a lake that was bigger than they thought ;-)

It was my first school trip abroad, and I think I'll forever be spoiled by it. Every teacher was amazed at how smoothly the trip went and how good the kids were. Of course, we got to partake in all the activities, too :)

Thanks ASW!

10 weeks and growing like a weed!

Summer Swap available!

Hi, any of you Seattlites want to come check out Poland over the summer? We're experienced swappers who want to do it one more time. Trade your nice Seattle area home or apartment for our nice row house in Poland's capital.
More info can be found at:
http://warsawswap.blogspot.com/

Dzienkuje bardzo!

J, J and I

Izabella Syrenka

January 30, 2007 15:05 2.55 kgs 49 cms

Apples 'R Us

At ASW we have a healthy group of bicyclists who like to get off the beaten path and venture in, around and out of Warsaw on 2 wheels instead of 4. Rolf has been at the command of most of these adventures this year, taking on the role after the recently belated Don Abbott whom retired from ASW a little over a year ago. We miss ya Don!

Every Fall, for the last 5 years or so, the riders have ridden downtown, hopped on a local train and headed south for an hour or so and got off at a small town called Warka (VAR-kuh)... which is more infamously known as the home of Warka beer and the same company's 'Strong Man' competition held annually... but it's also home to some of the largest apple groves in the central Poland area.



Fortunately, we had some jovial train conductors whom didn't seem to mind us piling on our bikes on the train. Apparently they've had some real assholes in the past... but it's legal to carry them on anyway. Our train was crammed, and it was quite a sight seeing the locals crawl over the bikes just to get to the toilet, too!



Warka's a small town, obviously with some WWII heritage. There were two memorials in town, one was a MIG fighter plane and this unique sculpture/memorial:



Perhaps there were several men in the Polish Navy and this represents a battleship's canon... but it also looks like inspiration for Freddy Krueger's claws to me!

Attending this fun trip was Jill and I, Rolf, Beth, Doug, Nic, birthday boy George, Theresa and Lisa. We also got some Polish assistance from Mary, who's Polish, to help us translate our desires to pick people's apples... and that we'd pay them for them, too. This was our first time on the ride and the group was returning to a nice man's home/orchard whom was kind enough to let them pick there last year. In fact, last year he wouldn't accept money, so this year Rolf and Beth baked him a classic American Apple Pie and gave it to him in a beautiful Boleslawiec dish. After Mary left (she had driven down to deliver the pie) I was the sole translator... which wasnt' so easy!



The kind, easy-going owner had 2 kinds of apples-one which was like a Macintosh and he had unfortunately just picked his Ligols, Poland's best, most crisp red apple. We were only allowed to pick from his orchard, but his neighbor's apples were a different variety and were just too good to resist... so we had to grab a few!





We thanked the man and said we'd see him next year, loaded our panier bags and headed on a ride through more scenic countryside and picked the occasional apple while still on our saddles cruising along the rural roads. The weather held out for us, not too cold, not too windy and just enough sun to soak up before the long, dark winter ahead. Plus, we had all the apples we wanted to eat. George and Beth were surely the most aggressive at nabbing (i.e. stealing) apples w/o permission!

We found a nice spot for a communal lunch and showed off our goods:



Bellies and bikes loaded, we continued our tour of the surrounding region, all doing our best to avoid the busier roads... and also avoiding central Poland's dreaded sand paths. The retreating glaciers during the last ice age made a mess of this country, pulverizing and removing its top layers of solid soil. I'm glad this isn't serious earthquake country. Rolf has a knack for finding the sandiest (hardest to ride) paths, so at one point the group split, one taking asphalt, the other gravel and dirt, not knowing the type of terrain ahead.



We lucked out this time and had a gorgeous route along an old road and pedaled not to far from the large Warka brewery, a place we'll need to try to arrange a tour of next time out here. After regrouping in town, hunting for food and settling on soft serve and frytki (french fries) we rambled back to the train station and lugged our now heavily laden machines back onto the train. One last jaunt through Warsaw to home and then Jill and I could unload and count our catch: 82 apples survived the bumpy trip and 4 didn't! This was easily the heaviest my panniers have weighed in a very long time, but it was totally worth the weight-we've been eating 2 apples a day, making apple deserts and also got to practice some still lifes with my camera. Smacznego!