There I was, scanning the several rows of backpacks in a shop in the Arkadia shopping center, trying to spot the perfect one. Something functional, feminine, attractive, and most of all, of good value. I was already close to my budget for my two adopted Christmas kids, and wanted to save some for some little treats for them. Then I saw it, the perfect backpack. Red and black, with plenty of pockets (including one for a water bottle, which I love), and quite sturdy. Plus it was a great price. The fact that it was the last one of its kind on the shelf confirmed to me that yes, this was a great backpack, and today is my lucky day.
I reached out, checked the zippers and pockets just to make sure, and stepped back to admire my find. Just as I went to take it off the hanger, it happened. Another man, who had been lurking nearby for longer than I had been there, swooped in, said something like "ahh haa" with a slight grunt, grabbed the red backpack off the rack and took off running! I was hyena'd!! I, the skillful predator, had my prey, was ready to enjoy the kill, and some dude swooped in and claimed it for himself, running away laughing. Just like a hyena. I was so shocked that I didn't even give chase. I looked around, put my hands up looking for a flag on the play, and simply muttered in disbelief: "what the???"
*****************************************************************************
Last week my new assistant Kasia, informed me of some opportunities to get involved with the Polish community. She is involved in the community service activities of the office, and among other things, PwC works with local organizations to make some Christmas wishes come true for local children who don't have much. People respond to one or two of their "Letters to Mikołaj" (aka Santa), and get them some nice Christmas presents. This is a perfect way to help out some children in need for the holidays.
Upon scanning the database of letters, using my slowly improving Polish (and getting some help from Kasia), I realized that most of the kids were asking for things they NEED, not things they want. Winter coats, pants, and shoes were much more prevalent than books, toys or anything fun. I used to hate getting clothes for Christmas. Can you ever remember asking Santa for things you needed? It made me realize how lucky (aka spoiled) I was to ask Santa for Castle Grayskull and Nintendo games, rather than warm socks so my feet don't freeze when I walk to school in the snow.
I decided I needed to adopt a couple kids. Kasia helped me find two that I could help.
Here are their letters, translated:
"My name is Karolina, I am 14 years old and I go to first class of gymnasium (I'm not sure what that means). I live with 3 siblings and my grandmother. I really like to dance and many people tell me I do it well. For Christmas I would like a nice warm winter jacket (the best would be black with a hood). Or shoes, because I don't have any, and a backpack for school because mine is broken."
"Kamil is a lively and energetic 8 year old. I have 3 siblings and we live with our mother. I like to play soccer, and with Legos and cars. I would like a winter coat and warm pants for the winter."
How can you NOT want to help these kids?
So off I go to the mall, looking for coats. I decided to focus on coats because for me, this is the most important thing for surviving winter. It's been a while since I have bought clothes for anyone, even myself. So I don't know where to start. Plus, I'm not used to all of the brands/stores in Poland. I must have exchanged 20 texts with Kasia about the best places to buy children's clothes, what the budget should be, and what sizes I should get. She did some research and wrote back telling me that for coat sizes, I should be looking for 160 for the girl, and 140 for the boy.
So I find some stores with nice winter jackets. I find the styles and prices that I like and look through the sizes. There's one problem. The sizes are somewhere around 38, 42 and 44. And I'm looking for 140 and 160. What's going on here? Many questions go through my mind. Do I really need something 100 sizes bigger than what I have in my hand? Is the 1 at the beginning of Kasia's message a mistake? What's wrong with this Polish system??? So I decide to ask the clerk for help.
My first standard question is (in Polish) "Do you speak English?" (normally they say "no"). Of course, she said no this time as well. So here I am trying, in broken Polish, and out comes "dlaczego rozmiar jest 40, ale szukam na 140?" (trying to say "I need size 140, but this is 40...what the heck?" - while showing her the text from Kasia, which is in English). She kind of understands and skeptically explains to me that the jackets there are for "dorosły" (adults), and the size I want is for "dzieci" (kids). AHHH. Ok, so that makes sense. Kinda. But not really. Why are the kids' sizes 100 more than adult sizes? Well, it turns out that the 140 is the size of the kid, in centimeters...so actually, it does make sense! (unless the kid is really fat, then it probably wouldn't work...maybe that's why we don't use that system in the US).
After learning that this store doesn't carry kids' clothes, I searched for at least 2 more hours for something that would work (along the way I got distracted by a grocery store with American food, an electronics store, and an H&M where I bought a red velvet bow tie).
Finally, I found it: Reserved for Kids. This store had great looking puffy winter hooded coats, and they were all on sale...so I could buy the coats with spare room in the budget for some other things on their list.
After buying the coats, I went for the backpack for Karolina, as you already heard about. I actually ended up finding one similar to the one that got hyena'd, so that was nice. Damn hyena. I hope he chokes on some bones.
Finally, since Karolina had two gifts, I needed to get Kamil another one from his list. I thought about fulfilling his request for winter pants, but I have no idea how to pick pants. Especially winter pants. Does that mean snow pants? Or sweats? Or warm pants? How do I know if they are warm without trying them on? And how can I try on kid's pants? Who knows. I haven't even bought new pants for myself since I moved here (hopefully you can't tell), so I decided to get him something fun instead.
Have you been to a toy store lately? If not, you should go...because it was great! I spent a good 30 minutes playing with everything...until I started getting hungry. I looked for my mom to tell her I wanted to eat, then I realized that my mom isn't there and I'm 33 years old. Damn. So I decided to go with Legos, since he wrote about them in his letter (although he didn't ask for them, I'm sure he will enjoy them). And today at a workshop in the office, we played with Legos (really!). So it was a sign. The fire truck Lego set is perfect for an 8 year old...I kinda want one for myself, to be honest. It has a big truck, a trailer, and a little boat. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be inspired to be a fireman and he'll end up saving some lives (and cats from trees).
That's the kind of gift that keeps on giving.
Now I just need some help wrapping them!
I know many of you are involved with various charity events throughout the year, and that's GREAT. But if you haven't done so already, please consider doing something charitable this holiday season, since there are so many people in greater need than we are. Thanks! :)
I reached out, checked the zippers and pockets just to make sure, and stepped back to admire my find. Just as I went to take it off the hanger, it happened. Another man, who had been lurking nearby for longer than I had been there, swooped in, said something like "ahh haa" with a slight grunt, grabbed the red backpack off the rack and took off running! I was hyena'd!! I, the skillful predator, had my prey, was ready to enjoy the kill, and some dude swooped in and claimed it for himself, running away laughing. Just like a hyena. I was so shocked that I didn't even give chase. I looked around, put my hands up looking for a flag on the play, and simply muttered in disbelief: "what the???"
*****************************************************************************
Last week my new assistant Kasia, informed me of some opportunities to get involved with the Polish community. She is involved in the community service activities of the office, and among other things, PwC works with local organizations to make some Christmas wishes come true for local children who don't have much. People respond to one or two of their "Letters to Mikołaj" (aka Santa), and get them some nice Christmas presents. This is a perfect way to help out some children in need for the holidays.
Upon scanning the database of letters, using my slowly improving Polish (and getting some help from Kasia), I realized that most of the kids were asking for things they NEED, not things they want. Winter coats, pants, and shoes were much more prevalent than books, toys or anything fun. I used to hate getting clothes for Christmas. Can you ever remember asking Santa for things you needed? It made me realize how lucky (aka spoiled) I was to ask Santa for Castle Grayskull and Nintendo games, rather than warm socks so my feet don't freeze when I walk to school in the snow.
I decided I needed to adopt a couple kids. Kasia helped me find two that I could help.
Here are their letters, translated:
"My name is Karolina, I am 14 years old and I go to first class of gymnasium (I'm not sure what that means). I live with 3 siblings and my grandmother. I really like to dance and many people tell me I do it well. For Christmas I would like a nice warm winter jacket (the best would be black with a hood). Or shoes, because I don't have any, and a backpack for school because mine is broken."
"Kamil is a lively and energetic 8 year old. I have 3 siblings and we live with our mother. I like to play soccer, and with Legos and cars. I would like a winter coat and warm pants for the winter."
How can you NOT want to help these kids?
So off I go to the mall, looking for coats. I decided to focus on coats because for me, this is the most important thing for surviving winter. It's been a while since I have bought clothes for anyone, even myself. So I don't know where to start. Plus, I'm not used to all of the brands/stores in Poland. I must have exchanged 20 texts with Kasia about the best places to buy children's clothes, what the budget should be, and what sizes I should get. She did some research and wrote back telling me that for coat sizes, I should be looking for 160 for the girl, and 140 for the boy.
So I find some stores with nice winter jackets. I find the styles and prices that I like and look through the sizes. There's one problem. The sizes are somewhere around 38, 42 and 44. And I'm looking for 140 and 160. What's going on here? Many questions go through my mind. Do I really need something 100 sizes bigger than what I have in my hand? Is the 1 at the beginning of Kasia's message a mistake? What's wrong with this Polish system??? So I decide to ask the clerk for help.
My first standard question is (in Polish) "Do you speak English?" (normally they say "no"). Of course, she said no this time as well. So here I am trying, in broken Polish, and out comes "dlaczego rozmiar jest 40, ale szukam na 140?" (trying to say "I need size 140, but this is 40...what the heck?" - while showing her the text from Kasia, which is in English). She kind of understands and skeptically explains to me that the jackets there are for "dorosły" (adults), and the size I want is for "dzieci" (kids). AHHH. Ok, so that makes sense. Kinda. But not really. Why are the kids' sizes 100 more than adult sizes? Well, it turns out that the 140 is the size of the kid, in centimeters...so actually, it does make sense! (unless the kid is really fat, then it probably wouldn't work...maybe that's why we don't use that system in the US).
After learning that this store doesn't carry kids' clothes, I searched for at least 2 more hours for something that would work (along the way I got distracted by a grocery store with American food, an electronics store, and an H&M where I bought a red velvet bow tie).
Finally, I found it: Reserved for Kids. This store had great looking puffy winter hooded coats, and they were all on sale...so I could buy the coats with spare room in the budget for some other things on their list.
After buying the coats, I went for the backpack for Karolina, as you already heard about. I actually ended up finding one similar to the one that got hyena'd, so that was nice. Damn hyena. I hope he chokes on some bones.
Finally, since Karolina had two gifts, I needed to get Kamil another one from his list. I thought about fulfilling his request for winter pants, but I have no idea how to pick pants. Especially winter pants. Does that mean snow pants? Or sweats? Or warm pants? How do I know if they are warm without trying them on? And how can I try on kid's pants? Who knows. I haven't even bought new pants for myself since I moved here (hopefully you can't tell), so I decided to get him something fun instead.
Have you been to a toy store lately? If not, you should go...because it was great! I spent a good 30 minutes playing with everything...until I started getting hungry. I looked for my mom to tell her I wanted to eat, then I realized that my mom isn't there and I'm 33 years old. Damn. So I decided to go with Legos, since he wrote about them in his letter (although he didn't ask for them, I'm sure he will enjoy them). And today at a workshop in the office, we played with Legos (really!). So it was a sign. The fire truck Lego set is perfect for an 8 year old...I kinda want one for myself, to be honest. It has a big truck, a trailer, and a little boat. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be inspired to be a fireman and he'll end up saving some lives (and cats from trees).
That's the kind of gift that keeps on giving.
Now I just need some help wrapping them!
I know many of you are involved with various charity events throughout the year, and that's GREAT. But if you haven't done so already, please consider doing something charitable this holiday season, since there are so many people in greater need than we are. Thanks! :)
