Hi, My Name is Jessica and I'm a Bad Little Blogger...

So...um...ahem...sorry for being AWOL from Bloggerville for so long. I have a big cheesy grin on my face right now, if that helps. I just was bloggin' uninspired...but no worries! I'm re-inspired with all new pointless nonsense to share! =) Here's a little insight into what's been going on around here lately:

This may seem to be a rather ordinary picture, which is what I once thought as well...until I noticed the mound of chocolate in the middle of the table (some great guys we were with at the retreat last weekend--see below--discovered Paty's passion for chocolate and shared some of their favorites with her!). Friday night we went over to Patsy's for homemade veggie soup, followed by a second course of chocolate and coffee. We pretty much solved all of the world's problems over coffee and chocolate. I wonder if this is what they do in the oval office....

Ok, it is totally fair to be wondering at this point...why did Jessica include a picture of her hand and Amber drinking soda (did you hear that..."soda"...do you see the influence these midwestern/southerners are having on this Ohio girl?!?!). Valid question. This is to commemorate the only local eating establishment in Olsztyn that offers fountain sodas...with free, self-serve refills (granted, it is a KFC/Pizza Hut...but the vegetarian pizza is really good!). Betchya didn't know that there's no such thing as free refills or fountain soda here in Poland...it's true! I know, we're really suffering here.

These are two of the sweet girls we've gotten to become friends with here, Ala and Nina. They have been coming over on Tuesdays to meet with us to practice English and study the book of John. This past Tuesday, they came over with a beautiful flower, a pin (that says: Girls Need Polish Boys!!!!), and a beautiful silver bracelet...and sang Sto Lat--the Polish version of Happy Birthday to Amber (her birthday was the 11th)! How sweet are these girls?!?!?!

This past weekend, we went to Vilnius, Lithuania for a retreat. We met up with co-workers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Finland. It was an amazing time of fellowship, encouragement, worship, and lots and lots and lots of fun catching up with new/old friends. We went to a huge indoor waterpark on Saturday with a bunch of the kids (and some adults) and had a great time. It reminded me of having kids up to the beach...how much fun it is because the kids are having fun. My dad would have loved it =) We did have to say good-bye to two of our friends that are finishing their two years and heading back to the states. It's not like we even see them often at all, but I guess it's just a reality of the temporary-ness (did I just make up a word?) of this program. Kind of a bummer. It was also rough seeing the kids say good-bye to all of their friends that they rarely get to see. Sigh.

Now, you would think that I would have some pictures to share, right??? Well, sadly, this pathetic picture is honestly the ONLY picture I have from the whole weekend. I was just way too busy having fun to stop and take pictures!

And finally, another cultural food story. So, shortly after I posted the last post about the potatoes, Amber and I made the trek over to our local grocery store to stock up on water. (by the way, you may or may not know that the water here isn't drinkable. Actually, that's not true...the water is drinkable, but the pipes aren't safe.) We usually buy 4 of the big jugs at a time and that lasts us about a week. They only had 1 jug left, so we picked up that jug and went for three packages of 1 liter bottles instead. As we walked up to the register, the lady looked at us as though we had just landed from another planet. Apparently people don't stock up on water in these amounts, because she didn't even know how to ring all of this water up. She honestly sat there for a minute and did the classic Polish stare down (which I'm getting pretty good at if I do say so myself!), waiting for us to give up and walk away. From what we can gather, people typically buy one or two of the 1 liter bottles...not the whole package, and she really didn't know what to do with us. Moral of the story: we are clearly still Americans stuck in our Sam's Club mentality...buy in bulk!!!

So, there it is. Olsztyn in a nutshell. We are also really busy trying to pull together all of the details for starting some groups to meet with students. My Father has been doing some amazing things here lately: 3 people from a nearby town trusted Christ, there have been several new groups of people studying the Bible, we're looking at starting 2 new groups to study the Bible, Bryan has become our new University Team Leader, we are hoping to be working with two friends here, Iza and Asia, to meet students, we are meeting with Ala and Nina, we are spending time back out in Platyny, and are possibly going to be invited into several classrooms to invite students to meet with us. Praise God for His faithfulness!! He truly is gracious and kind and I know He has a plan and power to draw many Poles to know Him deeply and freely. Thank you for praying!!

Cultural Smack Down

Ok, so it's been about a week since I last posted...and I really do intend on writing a real post eventually. But, until then, I thought I'd share this little story with you all for a little laugh and insight into Polish culture.
Some of you have asked, or maybe haven't asked but lie awake at night wondering, what we eat here. Well, for the most part, we eat the same kinds of things that we'd eat in the States. Actually, I think I eat better here because we actually cook. Cereal and peanut butter sandwiches (or a trip down the street to my parent's house or to Brandi's house!) were o so convenient back in America. Also, there was always the luxury of jumping in my car and driving down to Subway or picking up some quick and easy pre-prepared meal at Wal-Mart. No such luck here. So, needless to say, we've been learning to cook, which has been great. We've got some great chicken recipes, some good soups, always enjoy Mexican (we can buy tortillas here and there is a World Kitchen store that sells refried beans...unless your other teammates beat you to the store and buy them ALL!), a veggie sandwich that's delish, a pear and feta sandwich, apple pie, homemade pretzels, peanut butter cookies, pastas...the list goes on. I've really enjoyed learning to cook and Amber and I will have quite a collection of recipes when we're through here. HOWEVER, while we eat foods similar to those in the States, the Poles typically eat just what you'd think they eat...meat, cabbage, and lots and lots of potatoes. Keep this fact in mind.
So, the other day we decided to finally make the trek across town to check out the market that's held bi-weekly in Olsztyn. It's a cross between a flea market (you know what they say: one man's trash is another man's treasure!) and a farmer's market. There were people selling antiques, old clothes, shoes, cosmetics, meat, and fruits and vegetables. It was a beautiful day and turned out to be a great opportunity for Amber and I to practice our Polish skills. We bought some fruit, made some new friends, and just enjoyed shopping around. Everything was going wonderfully. We were understanding some of the language and successfully managed to buy some peaches, apples, the head of a sunflower, and some pears. The only thing we were missing was potatoes. So, feeling fairly confident and impressed (if I do say so myself) with ourselves, we sauntered over to a man and a woman at a table selling potatoes. There were several tables selling potatoes, but we chose this particular table because there were no other customers (so maybe we weren't that confident in our language skills!). So, I give her my classic cheezy "I'm an American and I can hardly speak your language...please be merciful" smile and ask for 2 potatoes. Easy enough, right? WRONG! This is exactly where the cultural difference between two American girls and the Poles comes into play. I see the lady pick up a huge white bucket and the 2 kilo weight to put on the scale. At this point the alarm sounded in my head...she intended to give us 2 kilograms of potatoes!!! For all of you non-metric people, that's 4.5 pounds of potatoes for two girls...who are taking public transportation! Now, for the Poles, this is nothing...this is probably one meal. We just wanted two baked potatoes. I quickly spoke up and said "no, not 2 kilos, only 2". She stopped what she was doing, looked at me as though I had lobsters crawling out of my ears, and laughed quite possibly the loudest and hardest I've ever heard a Pole laugh...until her boisterous laughter was drowned out by the man with her.
This would be what Amber has coined a "cultural smack down...WWF Monday Night Raw style".

I'm glad we could provide a good story for the potato sellers to share around their dinner table that night...as they passed the potatoes.