As much as I hate the Tennessee summer, I have to say that the weather in the fall is amazing. Unfortunately I was recovering from the trip for several PERFECT cycling days. I did Habitat builds on Friday and today. No need to sweat or excessively hydrate like in August before I went to Poland. I did learn that the sun still burns my skin in October. If I hadn’t committed to working at Habitat Friday and Sunday, I could have easily vegetated for a few more days – even though I wouldn’t have needed to.
I find myself looking at the headlines regarding Ukraine a bit differently now. One of he Ukrainian women we were with last Friday in Krakow was home in Ukraine on Tuesday. I hope she is able to stay there.
Carli and I are reacquainted and after her 3 weeks learning to be a dog with Brady, she will actually play with me for short periods of time now. She likes her little green dragon from Krakow – it is small and not too fuzzy. The bigger dragon I brought back for Brady was destroyed within a short period of time. It was not a dog toy. Carli had one of the wings in her mouth and a short, gentle game of tug of war opened the seam. Brady’s favorite thing is to take the stuffing out of toys so she was very happy. Now they have a dragon carcuss to play tug of war with.
It is hard to know what the follow-up to the experience in Krakow should/will be. I will be preparing a handout that can be used in presentations as well as a short slide deck and some collages of images that could be used in various venues. We are all trying to make outreach to Rotary groups to see if we can make some connections with the Krakow Rotary group.
Visiting a new city with the shared purpose of using the funds we had raised for Ukrainian refugees as wisely as possible was an amazing experience. I would like to say life-altering but I am not sure that is true. I hope that the recent victory in Lyman is the first of many and that need will turn to helping rebuild Ukraine – perhaps next trip will be to Ukraine to help rebuild with my Habitat acquired skills.
Tamara Unleashed 