As we’re closing in on the end of our second year living abroad, I can’t help but reflect on the experience.

At first, things were very exciting and our days were extremely full.  Those sleepless nights in the scratchy dip-service beds, dealing with jet-lag for the first time ever on this magnitude and the fact that there were no screens on the windows.

Our days were spent walking the streets and riding the buses, going between historic places and beer gardens and museums.  And the few solid days chasing apartments will be permenantly etched into everyone’s memories, if not their feet!

As the days went on, one by one the herd thinned as we found and moved into our new apartments.  For some this was more of an ordeal than others, but we all got through it more or less unscathed.  And as the students arrived, we slowly faded away into our daily routines and were absorbed into our respective groups.

Except for me, that is.

At first, I thought that I’d be able to work my schedule and spend more time exploring both the city, and my own interests.  However, this turned out to be largely fantasy.

So what did I do over here?

Well, the short answer is a lot.  Not as much as some people, but a lot more than I would have done back in The States – in terms of travel and exploration, anyways.  Here are the highlights, broken down list-style:

• Learned Polish (well still learning, but made some significant progress!)
• Met a lot of really cool people!
• Drank a lot of beer, mead and mulled wine.
• Ate a lot of sausage, smoked cheese and zurek.
• Got a dog
• Passed out in the Veterinarian’s office, hit my head on the table and got stitches
• Made a bunch of websites (for work – but they turned out pretty good!  And I’ve learned a lot, too)
• Tutored 2 kids
• Taught 2 trimesters of middle school web design
• Saw George Clinton and Wyclef Jean at a free, outdoor concert set
• Went to Oktoberfest and saw lots of Munich, and made a trip to Neuschwanstein castle
• Took a really long bike trip to Czersk and visited the old castle there.
• Ate TONS of great sushi!
• Fought the crowds and skiied at Zakopane.
• Crossed over to Slovakia to soak in the hot springs.
• Missed the bus back from Slovakia and had to make a call for special pick up.
• Rode the train to Prague, Vienna, Krakow, Gdansk and Sopot
• Saw a lot of REALLY cool buildings
• Went to Egypt, Saw the Pyramids, the Sphynx, rode a camel, snorkeled on the reef, and of course; got sick.
• Enjoyed some Sheesha
• Visited several museums and learned a LOT of history
• Learned some magic tricks (which I’m sorely out of practice with now)
• Then got upstaged by an Aussie with a salt shaker (You know who you are!!)
• Met up with my sister and cousin in Mykonos, Greece
• Swam in the blue blue water in Mykonos, and ate a LOT of really great food!
• Went to London (twice)
• Saw Wicked, Avenue Q, and Phantom of the Opera (in London)
• Went to an Arsenal game at Emirates stadium
• Visited Wawel Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
• Spent Christmas in Rome, and saw The Pope at the Vatican.
• Found and joined a taekwondo club
• Tossed my coin into Trevi Fountain
• Said a prayer in Saint Peter’s Basilica
• Walked through the Colosseum
• Strolled through the Wilanow cemetery in silent reverence and awe at night on All Saint’s Day
• Ran house to house with numb toes during our Progressive Games night
• Bought a car
• Perused the venders wares while sipping mulled wine at the Old Town Christmas Market
• Became a squirrel jungle-gym at Lazienki park
• Went to the zoo and got smiled at by a Rhino
• Listened to piano concerts in Lazienki park
• And last, but certainly not least: MADE A BABY!!

Yep.  That about sums it up.  I’m sure I’ve probably left a few things out, but it’s been a long, full two years.  And next year promises to be even more exciting, but in a totally different way.  I’m very excited about coming home for the summer and seeing family and friends again, and sharing our experiences with them.

Today was a pretty good day, despite not really doing a whole lot.  After a rather lethargic start (I slept in after going to bed late and being woken up numerous times by the dog) I managed to accomplish a lot of things that I had either been putting off, or just hadn’t had the time to do.

I got a lot of our apartment cleaned up, which always makes me feel more relaxed.  When it’s dirty I feel anxious until I get it clean, but the actual act of cleaning tends to be surprisingly relaxing for me, too.  I think it’s something about transforming chaos to order.  But mostly it’s being able to relax in a clean apartment afterwards.

Yesterday was a good day, too.  I finally moved our extra tires down to the garage from our spare closet, and bought some stuff we’ve been needing.

Probably my crowning achievement was finally deciding to caulk the cracks in the bathroom.  Our apartment has a bunch of cracks that have showed up over the year, and some of them are in the bathroom wall, right next to the shower.  So the lower part of the wall has some growing water damage.  I had asked the landlord about it, but she said not to do anything because she’s going to have them work on it while we’re gone this summer, but I couldn’t wait any longer so I decided to do it myself. 

I also took some time to make some phone calls and called up my friend Pete and my parents.  It was nice to chat with them, and I need to make more of a point to call people. 

Other than that, it was a nice relaxing day watching tv with my pregnant wife.  The only real let down of the day is that we had rented a movie over iTunes, but when we went to watch it – it was gone!

I had planned on doing a little prep work for teaching tomorrow, but I think I’ll just get that done in the morning.  I’ve usually got more than enough time.  I think now it’s time to curl up in bed with a good book and drift away to tomorrow.

In keeping with my recent promise to myself, I need to do my writing for today.  And since it’s almost 10pm and I’ve just finished working, I figured I’d do an entry here.

This morning’s web design class went pretty well.  I had the kids take a break from working on their group project (and give myself a break as well) for something a bit more structured.  I gave them an introduction to javascript, so that they have a basic understanding and can hopefully not be completely lost when they look at some of the minimal javascript code we’re using.

It went well, and they were well behaved.  On Monday I’ll be finishing off the lecture and they’ll be going back to groupwork.  I may need to crack down on them, though.  Their groupwork has been a bit distracted lately.

After this, I bumped into a group of students with a few teachers headed to go bowling for the day.  I was tempted to see if I could join them, but I knew that even if I went, I have a lot of work to do.  It was a fun little detour from the usual ride home, though.  I finished off my usual podcast over the rest of the trip, which was enjoyable, too.

So now I’ve just put the finishing touches on my work for the day.  I’ve still got about another 5 1/2 hours to do tomorrow, but I got a lot of good stuff done today and feel pretty good about it.  Of course, now it’s effectively bed time, so I’m going to be spending my night with some tv shows in the background while I try to find a game to entertain myself, and maybe play with the dog a bit in between giving her eye drops.

I’ve been more than bad about writing on this thing.  But that’s nothing new, and practically every post I’ve written recently touches on this in some way or another.  So rather than complain about myself, I’ve decided to start writing every day.  Not necessarily on here.  Most likely it will be in one of the journals I have kicking around the house.  Good old pen and paper stuff.  I also want to write out some more letters and postcards.  And this time I’m serious about it.  Yeah, I’m super busy, but if I can’t still find time to do the important things, then what good am I? 

Part of the reason I haven’t written much lately, is that pretty much all I have to talk about is what I have to do, and how little time I have because of it.  Well, not only is that crap, it’s not getting me anywhere.  I’ve been re-reading one of my favorite books: Zen in the Martial Arts.  When I have a moment, this book is perfect to read one of the short chapters, then digest it.  Far more often than not, that section I read applies directly and immediately to an event or aspect of my life.  One of these sections I recently read basically boils down to the fact that you waste more time and energy complaining about your troubles and tasks than if you would just complete them.  Something I’ve long known and even demonstrated, but for one reason or another, had stopped practicing it.

So with that in mind, I’ve been tackling my chores and tasks with the ferocity and grace befitting a martial artist.  In addition, as of today, I’m setting aside time to do the things that really matter.  I’m not letting myself make excuses anymore. 

So moving forward from this point, I’ll be trying to write some meaningful stuff here more often, both for writing practice, and to share something truly meaningful.