View of the Outdoors

River View
Skyline view
Garden
Rain Garden

Park at the end of the complex

Here are some photos of the outdooor area of this complex. It is truly a treat to walk outdoors to all this beauty. Last evening I realized I was about out of coffee and that wouldn't make Monday morning go well. Then I remembered Caribou is at the end of the complex. I walked down there and got some Daybreak blend. It is simply a joy to walk around here. The photos show the view of the Mississippi, the skyline view, a formal garden, and a rain garden. There are two rain gardens for each building. These can hold excess rainfall and let the water run off slowly and not go head long into the river, perhaps carrying contaminants such a oil on the streets directly into the river. Finally a photo of the small park. This will be a great place for my new granddaugher, and the older ones have a place to run off some energy too.

Cooking Adventures

I've tried out my new kitchen making a sweet and sour pork dish. I've also started Caramel French Toast for breakfast. I've managed to make banana bread. The kitchen is working good. The appliances and the general area are laid out quite nicely. Won't have to cook much now for several days.

Still making haste slowly with the sorting out of the final boxes.

It's nice to have some of my favorite things out of boxes finally. My wood carvings from Poland are now all on a cupboard top over the refrigerator.

Today I took my new granddaughter for a "walk" in her stroller while her mom ran the trails along the river. I found a lovely garden down the path that I didn't even know was there. Pictures soon.

Slowly Making Progress

I'm slowly making progress now on the hard stuff-- all the paperwork that needs to be filed in new places, the craft supplies to put away somehow, and the knitting supplies -- oh perhaps they can live inside a suitcase -- it shouldn't be put in the closet empty anyway. I've got the TV working. I bought a new HDTV monitor and have Direct TV, but still the problem -- 50 million channels and not much to watch. I'm working on getting a wireless connection set up for my computer. Right now I can't find any place to plug in the modem other than right by the dining table- which doesn't seem to be a good spot for that. Maybe when the bedroom gets empty I'll find another phone jack.

Getting my hair cut this afternoon. That's actually exciting. I've never before gone 2.5 months without a hair cut. Life was simply too busy in Poland to manage this task.

More Moving Adventures

I have about 10 boxes left to open and then the task will be to find a place for what comes out of those boxes.

I've been doing laundry almost continuously washing all the clothing that was packed and placed in storage as well as what I brought home from Poland. My older granddaughter begged me to do her laundry. Her mom has to take everything to the laundromat and my granddaughter got in trouble because she wore multiple shirts to Valley Fair. Well some from the little granddaughter was in the basket, too. I've just about emptied a box that started with 40 dryer sheets!

Yesterday I got a new flat screen TV monitor and today I got it hooked up. I know I'm visual from all the years I was in charge of videoconferencing for the health department. I went with a rather high end Sony monitor for it looked much better to me. A new monitor and high def-- it's a feast for the eyes.

Moving

Yesterday I moved into my new apartment. We completed the move in at about 12:30 pm and since then I've been unpacking and trying to find a new home for everything. It's nice just to be able to take trash down the hall and down it goes into the trash chute. I can take the empty cardboard boxes down to the garage in the recyling area, so I don't have to wait for the recyling day to get rid of things. However, since this area now has access to many people I'm thinking I'll have to get a shredder to shred up anything with personal data.

I also have to buy one new TV monitor before having my TV service reinstalled. When things are more organized, I'll post some pictures.

Back in Minnesota

I'm back in Minnesota after a fairly uneventful flight back. My seat lacked the entertainment center so that made the 8+ hour flight from Amsterdam every so much longer.

Breezed through passport control and customs. This year the question was not about just being in Poland like last year. When asked the purpose of my trip I said I was teaching English and got questioned about whether I was paid for this. Well, not in money!

I'm moving into my new apartment tomorrow and excited about this change in my life.

Last Day and Heading Home :(

I've finished my last class and now the next step is to clean up all my teaching supplies and get everything stored in a good place. We will have the final program with the parents attending at 6 PM this evening. After that I'll have to face putting the final things into the suitcase.

We will have breakfast at 7 AM tomorrow and then leave for Warsaw at 7:30. We will leave 2 team members in central Warsaw and then head to the airport. My plane leaves at 12:00 noon, I go to Amsterdam and then take a run across the airport to catch the 3:30 PM plane to Minnesota. That should arrive around 5 PM Minnesota time.

The next two days will probably find me quite jet lagged. I will also be moving my things out of storage to my new apartment on Monday. If I just live through next week, I'll have it made!