Tamara Unleashed

I forgot to set alarm for 415 AM but fortunately woke up at 427 so we were out of the house at 5 AM and to airport before 530 AM. One bag checked, and went to the Allegiant desk to see if they would call Nashville and check about my bag. They did and bag was still with Allegiant and the woman said they would call someone to get it taken to FedEx.

We get into security check line only to discover Aunt Carol did not have her wallet with ID. She apparently keeps it under the seat of her car and not in her purse. Her car was parked at my sister-in-law, Karen’s about 25 min from airport. If Karen had gone straight home we might have been able to salvage the flight. However, after she dropped us at airport Karen started a drive to visit her husband 2 hours away from Des Moines. So she was 20 min the other direction from her house when I called. She had the keys to Carol’s car with her. She turned around and went home to get wallet and made it back to airport before 7 AM our original departure time – so close.

When I first went to desk to explain we needed to be rebooked, there were seats on the 11 AM flight to Dallas but agent couldn’t book it until we got Carol’s ID. By the time we had the ID, those seats were gone, but we got seats at 6 PM to Phoenix and then to SF. In the meantime Karen started on her way again. Upon hearing that our flight was at 6 PM, she turned around to pick us up and we are back at her home until 4 PM.

We had a good breakfast so I am feeling better and ready for a nap. As bad things happen in 3’s I am counting the alarm not set this morning as number 2 so we have had 3. I did call an confirm the hotel this morning. The checked bag will arrive on the original flight so we can pick that up as soon as we land and won’t have to wait for it – a silver lining.

All prayers and positive energy to the Allegiant and Fed Ex gods is greatly appreciated.

Upon awakening after a fitful night of sleep, I checked my AirTag and my last luggage location was 2 hours earlier at Nashville airport. I called James to see if that could me it was in the FedEx plane. He thought it might and I felt a bit optimistic. 2 hours later the bag was still in Nashville. To help manage his mother’s anxiety, James went out to airport and was able to get a screen shot of the FedEx screen with the tracking ID.

At the bottom I read package received by FedEx and I relaxed a bit.

We made it to Des Moines and I got a few things at drug store to get me to Monday. We had another wonderful family birthday/bon voyage dinner.

After getting back home I had a chance to check the tracking ID and I realize it does NOT say received by FedEx. The status is still “label made”. I will take a bit of Ambient tonight to help me get to sleep quickly because 415 AM is going to come very quickly.

Aunt Carol is 13 years older than I am and has been like a big sister to me. Last summer when I was visiting Iowa, I asked her what was on her bucket list and she said she wanted to cruise from the West Coast to Hawaii, stop on all of the Hawaiian Islands and cruise back. I had no idea if that was possible but it almost is. The 15 day cruise stops on 3 of the 5 islands. We are leaving from San Francisco on Monday. We will be on open water when Aunt Carol turns 80 next Thursday. I flew to Cedar Rapids from Nashville on Allegiant the only direct flight from Nashville. Tomorrow we drive to Des Moines which had better fights to SF and leave at 7 AM on Sunday morning. We spend Sunday night at Fisherman’s Wharf near where we board the Princess ship. I thought I had it planned out to allow for challenges with air travel.

I planned a family birthday/bon voyage dinner in Cedar Rapids for siblings and their kids in CR tonight and we will have another birthday/bon voyage dinner with those in Des Moines tomorrow night.

This morning, in addition to finishing packing for the nearly 3-week trip, I was preparing my condo to have the bathrooms renovated while I am gone. I was feeling pretty good when I got to the gate at the airport. All going according to plan. The flight was uneventful. The Allegiant plane seemed a little “stripped” down on the interior but was great – until my checked bag with all of my toiletries and 2 weeks of cruise clothes did not arrive in CR. I had an AirTag in the suitcase and knew it was still in Nashville.

Now the challenges with flying on a lower cost ticket become glaringly obvious. They employ fewer people at the airports. There is no baggage person. I was instructed to go to the ticketing counter which did not have anyone at it because the employees were getting a plane loaded. After about an hour, a person came and called Nashville and they were unaware all bags had not made the flight. I was told someone would call me later. There was no number I could call to follow-up. I was getting ready to panic around 930 PM. My plan was to have my son go to Nashville airport tomorrow and talk to Allegiant there to make sure they had the bag.

The call came from Nashville just after 930 PM. The next flight to Cedar Rapids is not until Monday. While Allegiant has a flight to Des Moines on Saturday – arriving at 730 PM, sometimes their weekend flights are cancelled. I could have had the bag Fed Exed to Des Moines for expedited, overnight but it wouldn’t go out until Saturday morning and Fed Ex doesn’t deliver on Sunday so it would arrive Monday. Next option is for it to be Fed Exed to the Hotel in SF to arrive at 1030 AM on Monday a couple of hours before we are to get on the ship. Fingers crossed it gets there as I won’t have a lot of time to shop.

On the positive side we had a great Italian food at Zio Johno’s with table decorations, singing and a cake – the first of 3 celebrations.

Tomorrow is another day of time with friends and family – and sending positive energy towards Fed Ex for the timely delivery of my luggage to Hotel Riu Plaza Monday morning.

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.

I got back to Kay’s in Spartanburg about 730 PM Sunday evening – about 21 hours after I had gotten up to go to the Krakow airport. I napped on the plane a bit but tried to stay awake. I forgot to use my No Jet Lag pills at the beginning but started in the middle of the trip. I do think they make a difference. I woke up at 5 AM yesterday but stayed in bed until about 830 hoping to get more sleep. I felt fine yesterday. I did not need to nap and even got an evening bike ride in.

Soon I will be packing my car and heading for Nashville – about a 5.5 hour drive. I will stop for coffee about 45 miles north of here with dear friends. Tomorrow I will meet with a bathroom designer to see if I can convert my Jack and Jill bathroom into 2 full baths. It is one thing that would increase the value of my condo for rent or sale. In the meantime, updated bathrooms will bring me great joy.

I am not looking forward to the unpacking but I need to get it done quickly as I have Habitat this weekend and I need to get ready to go to Iowa next week. Carli has been doing great at my son’s and I am anticipating she will miss Brady. They routinely wrestle several times a day now.

I really want to spend some time pulling together all of the information about various small organizations that are working to support Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. They are all working pretty much in isolation – with no or vague awareness each other. I am not sure here is a way to avoid that in a crisis circumstance. All energy goes to meeting immediate needs with no bandwidth think more strategically. Perhaps with all that we learned in Krakow, we can serve at a minimum catalogue all of individual efforts and share that list back with them as a first step.

Time will tell. First step is get back to Nashville and see how things evolve.

When I decided to be a part of this small effort to help Ukrainian Refugees in Poland (and support the Polish people providing the support), I really had no idea what this experience would be. I had never tried to raise money before. While Teresa had told us US dollars go a long way in Poland, I had really no idea how that would play out. I reached out widely to my friends and family. The response was so tremendous that I did not have to send out reminder emails to those that did not respond first time around.

In our conversation with Tamar Jacoby, the author of the book Displaced, she asked us what we were going to do to continue our efforts given our fundraising ability and all that we have learned about the needs here. Prior to coming Mary, Kay and I were thinking of this as once in a lifetime experience but that may be evolving.

The Polish people and Ukrainians we have met are very concerned about the winter and an anticipated influx of more refugees as a lot of the infrastructure that will provide heat is not there in Eastern Ukraine. Of course no one knows how long the war will last and there is a real sense that Poland and Ukraine are in this together.

Through our contacts with the Krakow Rotary, there will be ways to provide support by transfer of funds from the US. To help the Krakow run Central Pomocy Ukraine (Ukrainian Refugee Centers) support is best provided on the ground though purchasing of gift cards and supplies. We have learned of smaller organizations that are providing targeted help to the in-country Ukranian refugees and those that are fighting Putin’s army. I don’t like to refer to them as Russians as I don’t think (nor do the Polish and Ukrainian people) think the rank and file Russian people support this war.

I will start putting together a slide show that we can use with Rotary Clubs in the US as a starting point.

It is very helpful for both the Polish and Ukrainian people to visible see the support of the Americans. None of us anticipated how comfortable we would feel in Krakow and while it is very helpful to be able to speak Polish, you can easily be here without speaking or understanding the language.

Time will tell…..

This is day 11 of this trip. 4 days until we return home. I am the first one up today and I started reflecting forward. What it is going to be like to be back home for me. It will be challenging to go back to a quiet life after this camaraderie and shared purpose.

When I realized my trip to Iowa to receive my Distinguished Service Award from Luther College was shortly after I returned from Krakow, I thought it would difficult to turn around and get ready to travel again. Now I realize that getting ready for the car trip to Iowas will pull me out of the crash that is to come.

When I came back from the 10 days in Seattle, I was unprepared for the deep sense of loss I felt after having so much time WITH people. I am a profound introvert and have always needed time alone to recharge so I was expecting the same to be true after Seattle. But that was not the case. I am going to make sure I have a contact with the outside world planned for every day when I get back from Krakow.

The two women I am sharing the AirBnb with had not met (except on Zoom) prior to meeting up at Dulles. I knew both of them well and thought we would all get along and that has been the case. We have had many laughs. Doing laundry has led to many. Kay has a new rule. Never buy new underwear before a trip. As her laundry was new, she couldn’t tell what was hers versus others.

Yesterday evening, Mary asked if anyone had seen her pair of panties that were white with some black on it. Kay walked over and pulled the top of her pants down and said “like these”. We laughed so hard tears ran down our legs.

This morning Kay decided they had the same taste in panties. I do not think this will be the only adventure the 3 of us share.

While we were layered up in gray, windy Krakow yesterday with temps in the low 60’s our homes were in the mid to high 80’s. We read headline news and are glad QE is buried so that can stop dominating the new. None of us are Anglophiles.

Since kitchen renovation started in April, Carli has spent a fair amount of time with Brady my son’s dog who is now nearly 3. At the beginning, their interactions were limited to Brady wanting play and Carli nipping at her. In the backyard, Brady would chase toys and Carli would occasionally chase Brady – having no interest in the toy. Carli is clearly not pray motivated. The first time I dog sat Brady last fall – they each found their spot around me.

Starting a few months ago, Carli could be encouraged to play tug of war with Brady and would last 1-2 seconds. It gradually progressed to Carli holding on long enough to be drug around the floor by Brady.

They can now be found lying next to each other and more recently have wrestling matches that last for quite some time once to twice a day.

It is fun to see Carli learning to be more dog-like. She has a quirky little personality – lots of love but no interest in playing with toys or going for walks which makes her interactions with me pretty much limited to snuggling, eating or going outside (but not for a walk). She may have a new personality when I return.

The Auschwitz museum aspect of the tour Auschwitz-Birkenau was intriguing for several reasons. The tour wound through several of the existing “barrack” structures that existed prior to WW2. There were photos of the prisoners at the beginning but as the volume of Jews increased they could not keep up with photos so they turned to tattooing the numbers and their names disappeared.

The museum exhibits were of items found when the camps were abandoned including drawings done by the Nazi’s such as the one above depicting a doctor injecting phenol into a man’s heart to kill him. There were also photos that the Nazi’s took of their own activities that a prisoner discovered hidden in a wall before they left. They took the photos with them and kept them for several years before turning them over to the museum. They wanted to make sure they did not get into the wrong hands and get destroyed.

The prisoners from Auschwitz were used to build Birkenbau including the gas chambers and crematoriums. Most of them were worked to death. There was a never ending supply of new prisoners to do the work. The amount of resources that it took for the Holocaust was immense – both in manpower and physical resources to create the camps to try to keep what he was doing hidden as much as possible. It makes you wonder what might have happened if Hitler would have slaughtered people in the open or been satisfied with land/ resource acquisition without trying to create the perfect Aryan race as well.

The steps on the stairs between the floors between the exhibits in the museum were so worn in places by shoes, it was almost necessary to use the rail. While these steps might be a couple of hundred years old, they felt like were a thousand years old. It didn’t seem like soldiers or prisoners could be responsible for this.

There were 24 people in our group with one guide and the tour groups were spaced about every 5 minutes apart. Do the steps represent the wear and tear of millions of people who have visited the museum over the past 75 plus years bearing witness to this horror story of history?

After shopping for the pet supplies yesterday at the Galleria, which looks like any indoor shopping mall in the US – except perhaps more beautiful desserts we were walking to Airbnb on a different street and I found this piece of litter. It was day 6 of our trip and walking around in Krakow and the first piece of litter I have seen. I picked it up and threw it away. The lack of any trash on the streets is a bit disorienting.

There is also very little obesity and I have seen nothing I would consider morbid obesity. In general the vast majority of people young and old are normal weight with some overweight but obesity is very uncommon. Why? Perhaps they walk more and don’t eat while they are walking creating litter. Certainly the diet does have a fair amount of starch. The piergi are quite good – nice texture and some flavor. They do have quite a few without meat, but I think much of the flavor of Polish food come from meat and meat broth.

This is Polish borscht – beet broth with mushroom and cheese dumplings. I did get some sense of taste from the broth and dumplings. It was one of my more positive eating experiences here.

We discovered a shop on outdoor market that does only loaded baked potatoes – several without meat. The Polish really know how to do a baked potato. They seem to pretty much mash the potato in the skin and then load it up. The large one was 3 meals for me. It wasn’t as flavorful as I hoped but I had brought some Tony’s seasoning with me and that really helped.

Polish beer is quite good. There is a variety of other foods here as well. There are a lot of Pizza places, a few sushi, Indian, Vietnamese and vegan places. There are lots of desserts and ice creams. My companions are really enjoying the Polish meat dishes.

After seeing a fair bit of Old Town and new Krakow, we had not noticed anything that looked like low-income housing so we asked Teresa where the slums were and she emphatically indicated there were no slums in Krakow. We have seen a total of 5 homeless men in 6 days.

It almost seems too good to be true. It has only been 30 years since Poland became a democracy. Perhaps they have not had enough time to create the concentration of wealth we have in the US.