Made it!!

I'm here!!  I'm using a public computer in my hotel lobby (Novotel Centrum if anyone is in the neighborhood and wants to stop by).  Just got back from a short visit to the PwC office and a surprisingly good Thai dinner, complete with real Asian chefs (not sure if they were actually Thai, but hey, at least they were the right skin tone).  I also walked past a pho place so just with that, pretty much all of my dreams came true.

It has been quite a day(s) and doesn't yet feel like I live here, but maybe it's because I am in the hotel until I can find an apartment (which I will do next week).  Or it's because I'm so tired and delirious I don't know what day or time it is.  I left the SF apartment at 7am Tuesday and thanks mostly to a long delay in Chicago, I arrived in my hotel in Warsaw on 4pm on Wednesday. 

Tweeder was nice enough to drive me to the airport 5 hours after we went to sleep (after a night filled with popcorn, shots, and bingo...and somehow the bartender got the entire bar to sing the only song he knows with my name in it...which was "happy birthday"). Kevin was in town too so it made for a fun last night in the city. I'd post a picture or two but cannot since I can't upload it to this computer (or am not smart enough to know how to).

With my 2 suitcases in tow, and equipped with several PB&Js and a gallon size ziplock bag of Stacy's pita chips, I was ready for the journey.  On my flight to Chicago, the guy next to me clearly wanted to chat, but I kept nodding off (afterall, the on-screen movie was Letters from Juliet). He asked if I was coming or going...I said going, to Warsaw, but for some reason told him I lived in Pacific Heights still rather than tell him I was moving. Was I still in denial???

But then during my layover, I called my credit card companies to tell them about then move...this time I told them that the address change was effective immediately! It was a strange feeling telling them I was moving...like moving there literally as we speak.

Overall, I was delayed in Chicago for nearly 5 hours. While waiting to check in, I scoped out all the Polish people in line at Lot airlines, wondering if anyone was going to be my neighbor and to look for any Asian-Poles. None. Then a lady tells me I get to go to the front of the slow moving line. Nice. The 2 girls working the ticket cuounter are cute girls in their 20s. Double nice. Hopefully Poland is filled with those (kinda kidding but not really). They tell me I get an $8 food voucher since the flight was delayed, but I still have 3 PB&Js left so don't really need anything.  I can't waste, so I get soup and a banana, which added up to about $5.50. The cashier says I don't get any change so I should just spend all $8. So I get 2 more bananas. Now my bag has 3 PB&Js, 2 bananas and 3/4 gallon of pita chips. Don't be jealous.

In the business lounge I pick up a Polish newspaper thinking my Rosetta Stone has paid off and I am magically fluent. Well, let me summarize all the words I recognized: nie (no), jest (is), marriott, and ha ha (which I assume means ha ha, otherwise I guess I don't really recognize it). I have a long way to go with my Polish. I get out my dictionary to translate, and now I know that "waluty" means currency and that someone on the front cover is being called a "fatygowal". I didn't bother looking that word up, because the word fatygowal is entertaining enough and it probably can't mean anything better than how it sounds. It's like a name that wives call their lazy husbands who won't leave the couch. From now on, that's what it will be. 

I was able to sleep a little on the flight between Chicago to Warsaw (it about 9 hours), but I was surrounded by a grumpy lady who kept giving me evil looks, and a big-bellied, drunk American who kept yelling out to his friend "Whoa, she's so hot. She took off her sweater".  WTF?  Gosh those Americans are obnoxious. 

That guy was definitely a fatygowal.

Poland, Oregon?

My official move is just a week away (yikes!) and while I'm still enjoying my vacation in Hawaii (Gorging myself on shave ice and spam musubi, hanging with old friends, and seeing relatives and my cousins' kids), it's starting to hit me that I'll be moving soon. I've been explaining more and more what I'll be doing in Poland, and when I first tell people, the first thing they think is "Portland? You'll be close to home in Seattle". After I clarify their geographical brain-fart, a couple common responses are "WHY???", "What's wrong with you?" and "Why didn't you pick London?". Possibly all valid questions. So here's what I'll be doing...and hopefully you'll understand!

For the next two years, I'll be working in PwC's Learning & Development group in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). My responsibilities will be to instruct different audit training, help develop the courses, work on the strategy of their implementation, train the various trainers, and have more fun that anyone should at work. The group is fairly new and the structure is still developing, so there is a lot of flexibility and opportunity for creativity in what I'll be able to do. I've already met most people I'll be working with (when I was out there last year), and we all get along great, which will be a big plus. It also means they have to be my friends.

My group will be responsible for delivering training to people from 26 (or so) different countries in CEE. That's 25 more countries than just Poland, so that's got me pretty excited. I'll be based in Warsaw, and will spend a lot of time in Poland, but this journey is much more than that. I'm very interested in Poland and its culture (it has a very interesting recent history with their Nazi occupation, concentration camps, and later being so-called "liberated" by the Russian communists), but I'm also looking forward to seeing the rest of the region I'll be working in.  I'll be in such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, and many others. I hope to also work closely with Borat in Kazakhstan.  Luckily I happen to speak the languages of all 26 countries, so this job was a natural fit. My language skills are like C3PO's. But since I don't want to show off, everyone else will go ahead and speak English around me.

Poland is also in a very good location in Europe, with easy access to Prague, Budapest, Germany, Russia, and Austria. Within Poland, Krakow (like a less-crowded Prague) and Gdansk (with beaches on the Baltic Sea) are very popular destinations, so as long as Google maps works out there, I'll be visiting them quite a bit as well.

With that said, I understand that Poland may not be a common first choice among travel destinations (yes, there's a good chance it gets cold in the Winter), but that's also why I chose it. I'll get to explore areas I would have never imagined visiting, and appreciate a lifestyle that has not yet been overly "Westernized". I hope you can find some time over the next two years to visit me anywhere in the region (don't delay!), because I can promise that you will enjoy an eye opening experience. That, and you will eat a lot of sausages.

Just remember you won't be near the Oregon coast!

Testing...testing. Does this thing work?

Why??? Why am I doing this, you may ask? There are so many blogs out there that neither of us has the time or desire to read, so why in the world would I start one and hope/expect that anyone else would read it? Well, partly because I anticipate having some free time at night since I don't think Glee or Gossip Girl will be showing in Poland, but also it gives me a way to "talk" to you so I don't miss you too much. So mostly, this is for me. If you read any of it, that's just a bonus, as I'd love to share my adventures with you. My flight to Warsaw is only two weeks away (assuming I get my visa back from the Polish consulate in time) and I'm not really nervous about the move yet. I think it's because I will be spending most of those 2 weeks in Hawaii, relaxing, eating and seeing my family on both Maui and Oahu (see the morning view from my condo). I have to fatten up for the Winter, after all. Life is tough.

The purpose of the "tortilla" blog is to share experiences, culture, a few pictures, and any enlightenment I come across. As you may know, at home I eat tortillas and salsa every morning for breakfast (for the last 8 years or so), and one of my big questions is if I can find that same breakfast in Poland (or if I can pry myself away from it??). Since there are so many other questions I have and customs I want to explore in Eastern Europe, I thought it would be a good name for the blog.

There are several things about my move that I am excited about:

- You visiting me

- Meeting people from all of the countries in CEE

- Finding my new "tortilla"

- Exploring Poland and the rest of Central/Eastern Europe (preferably on PwC)

- Eating "local" foods everywhere (especially Hungarian goulash!)

- Traveling even more

- Learning more about the Polish culture and history, including the prevalence of the Communist influence in CEE

- Learning another language well enough to communicate more than "Where is the bathroom?" and "No cheese please, or I will die"

- Having visitors like you

- Meeting a Polish girl named Dorota

- Poland hosting the soccer Euro Cup 2012

- Getting my own TV show on the Travel Channel

- Seeing you in Poland

So that's a little background of what this blog is all about. I'll be updating it periodically and if you want me to email you a link every time I update, please let me know and I'd be happy to. I still plan to post pictures on Facebook, and will also post a link to this blog there whenever I update...so you will probably be sick of me and my life very soon. Sorry.

Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon!