A Very Blog Worthy Friday

Ok, I'll be honest. I thought I had seen it all, experienced it all, grew immune to it all or, heaven forbid, actually was fitting in. That was until last Friday.

It all started innocently enough with a trip to the vet for a well-dog check-up and pet passport validation so Oliver could enter the States. After a two mile walk to the clinic Oliver was anything but excited to be poked and prodded by a strange lady dressed in a lab coat with cold instruments. Even funnier than my dog shaking at a rate of 100 mph was the vet's attempt to take his temperature. After a botched attempt to lift his docked tail she looked at me and said, "where is his tail"? I replied, "he's American", and she gave me the "how could you hurt your dog like that" look. I really wanted to tell her his tail was in the same place is testicles are but wanted to avoid the wrath of all Polish vets so bit my tongue.

(This is Oliver shaking furiously after the mean vet took his temperature and insulted him for lack of tail - yes I photoshopped it).

15 minutes and 20 złoty later we were off to the bank to close out our bank accounts.

Armed with debit cards, passports and residency cards we thought we had it all covered. Simple process - sit down, check computer for balances, get cash and leave. An hour later we really weren't so sure...

Things were going swimmingly until Justyna discovered we still had money in our account. Guess you need to withdraw your money from a separate cashier before you can officially close out an account so Craig sauntered over to our new friend Małgorzata who was happy to assist us until she saw the five, heavy bags of coins we wanted to cash in. You see, Poland has a lot of coins. Demoninations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 grosz (pennies) and 1, 2 and 5 złoty (dollars). That makes for a lot of chingle, changling around in your pockets. Our solution? Don't bother carrying anything less than 50 grosz. Instead deposit the "baby" money into a jar for two years and cash it in when you leave town. Guess what, Poland doesn't have change counters. Oh wait, they do...it is Małgorzata!!! Oops...So Craig stood silently while the non-English speaking cashier tended to our coins, I sat silently while our sort-of English-speaking account representative sorted through paperwork and Oliver sat quietly in his backpack recovering from his temperature check. After about 20 minutes I had all my paperwork signed so I thought I could speed things up by switching places with Craig so he could sign his paperwork and I could keep Małgorzata company as she plugged away counting our coins. Good plan until she was done counting. Heaven forbid they could just give us cash for our coins. Nope...you have to deposit it into the account first. Our bff Małgorzata stormed over to get Craig who begrudingly joined me at the cashier line to sign the deposit slip. He returns to sign his paperwork and have his debit card destroyed - bad move! You need to swipe the card to withdraw cash. But wait...I have our passport and residency cards! Cindy to the rescue!!! Cash in hand, debit cards destroyed we are almost done!!! As we were getting ready to shake hands and head out the door Justyna noticed my no-longer shaking dog in his backpack and wanted to see him. As I bent over to unzip the backpack she bent over to get a closer look. Two moving objects heading in the same direction creates a crashing impact of heads as Oliver squirms for attention. What a fitting end to the banking fiasco. And if you really care we had nearly 150 złoty in coins!!!

Two plus hours after we left the apartment to run some simple errands we return only to find a notice from our local Police. A quick call to my bestest ever Polish friend and we are off to the Police to sort this all out. Guess someone got caught on the radar-cam - and it wasn't me!!!! 100 złoty later (we got the American discount) and we are on our way home to complete the last errand on my list - mailing a package at the Post Office.

I am far more used to standing in lines than my husband, so I left him off the hook so he could have a beer with a friend we ran into on the way to the Post Office. Let's just say I stood in the wrong line for the first 20 minutes, completed not one, but two incorrect forms while standing in the second line. Filled out two more correct forms only to find out I was 10 złoty short. One phone call later, cash in hand, package in the mail and only about 50 minutes in lines - I'd call that a success!!!

So how did our Polish day from you know where end???? We were escorted from a nightclub because we didn't take off our coats....don't ask....I'm still shaking my head over that one!

I love this town. I adore the people. I cherish the experience and am thankful everyday for the opportunity afforded me; however, there are some days I am most thankful for a sense of humor!

Sites and sounds from our home away from home.