Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Note: The daily diary and tip update will be suspended for about five weeks until late January 2006 as Wanda will be taking a mini-sabbatical. Go back and browse the old diary entries and tips, and check us out next year, as Wanda returns from Europe with lots of simple living ideas, and she and Frank work on an all new season three of the television series.

Today is a busy day and time for me and my family. We’re busy packing for our trip to Europe tomorrow, writing out and dispatching itineraries to loved ones, getting ready for two Christmas celebrations: one here in Mount Airy this evening and another in Poland next week. How excited Henry, Frank and I are by this wonderful opportunity: to take some time out of our schedule and go live in another land. Henry and I depart the Charlotte Douglas International Airport tomorrow at around 4 p.m., make two plane changes and arrive in Warsaw, Poland on Monday, December 19, just past noon. We will be met by my lovely cousin, Monika Malcher, who has lived in Warsaw her entire life and now occupies a large-by-Polish standards apartment that once housed her parents and sister. (The three of them moved to the United States in the 1980s.) Monika remains in Poland, a big-hearted, modest woman, living with her dog.

On Christmas Eve, Henry and I will take the train from Warsaw to Poznan, to spend the holiday with my dear first cousin Grzegorz Urbanski and his family. Henry will be armed with a camera and notebook and will be diligently at work on his report for the third grade class back at Jones Elementary School in Mount Airy.

Most of the time, we’ll be staying in Warsaw at an apartment belonging to a woman who lives in New York named Zosia whom I’ve never met. We correspond through the Internet and send packages back and forth. I call her my “Polish angel.” It’s a small modest place with lots of light, near a large park. I am looking forward to a hiatus from the telephone, the Internet and electronics in general. This will be a time of reflection for Henry and me, a time to read and think, and cook long slow meals. We are also working on learning the Polish language and doing our best to understand Polish culture. It will be a break from our plugged-in, wired-up American life.

Frank will be holding down the fort at the orchard and Mount Airy and will join us for 10 days toward the end of the trip. How fortunate we are to have this opportunity. How excited we are!