Breaking the blog silence...WHOA!

(a sneak preview from the superwedding, by the fab cat norman)

I am sure you have all wondered, 'Will Megan ever blog again?' Well, I am here to tell you that, yes, I will indeed blog again (like it or not! :)). Life has been a chaotic-ally beautiful mess as of late between wedding planning, work (as a consultant for the Bohemian Hostels group), moving to a new place, finding a challenge to tackle in the future, etc. but now I am getting more of a chance to breathe. And, as I look back on the last few months, I realize more and more that the silence was quite necessary and purposeful.

On Thursday I will be heading back to Prague to manage the grand grand grand :) opening party for Mosaic House, continue to build out marketing materials for all properties and finish up that fancy-shmancy new Sir Toby's website! WOO-HOO! It's hard to believe that I've been back in the States for 4 months and equally hard to believe how much has been accomplished in those 4 months. I am starting to believe that my fiance...oops, I mean 'hubby' (still getting used to that) and I really are superheroes.

In the coming weeks I will detail my travel experiences as I return to a land I call 'home' (one of many) and reconnect with my team as well as some very special friends who I call my 'second family.' Then, I promise (you heard it here, folks) to take you through my planning process for the wedding and tell you all of the juicy details that I never would have dreamed of exposing prior to the wedding! SO many special surprises on the big day! We had a blast and are super-excited for this new leg of our journey together.

Oh happy day,

MEgan (suszynski!)

'mom magic'

Okay, so yes - I am stealing my brother's blog post today, but I just couldn't resist...because it is just THAT good. I couldn't have said it better (I never would have imagined I'd say this;)), bro.

Many of you know that it has been very difficult for me to keep in contact with my family (and specifically my mother) while I've been in Prague and this has not been easy for me. An ocean, and thousands of miles, have set us apart...yet I still seem to feel my mother's love. Tonight I was able to talk for my mom and I was reminded (as if I needed a reminder) of just how special she is. Her love and generosity was flowing across the ocean and thousands of miles and just so beautifully enveloped me, as one of her big hugs would. How did she do that?! It's mom magic...something that only mothers could do. Thank you for your magic, mom.

Thank you, mother, for being a constant source of love, support, encouragement and strength for me. I am blessed to call you my mother and...finally (after so many years)...my friend. I love you.

p.s. Oh, and thank you, brother, for writing such beautiful words and allowing me to recycle your eloquently stated post. You are incredible.

Love,

Me

_____________________________________

HAPPY MOM’S DAY!

Posted By zharrod on May 9th, 2010

Happy MOM’s day to every Mom out there, but especially to my Rock Star, Diva of a mom, Kate Harrod! Below is one of my fav pics of my mom!

So here is my Mom’s Day post for you Kate Harrod!

I pray you have a great day and know that your kids one-third of the world away from you miss you and adore you so much!

Thanks for everything you have done for you us and will do for us!

As I was thinking about you this morning, I thought of many things about you that have insprired me (or us) in our lives, so I thought I shared them with you and the two readers of zACHhARROD.com! Mom, thank you for inspiring us to…
…put our whole hearts into anything we did!
…love.
…not be afraid of emotions. It’s okay to cry.
…be in touch with our roots, your roots.
…travel. My mom would take us kids with her to her midwifery conferences all over North America. I think this is where her kids’ travel bug came from. (So mom, I guess , in some ways, it’s kind of on you that we live overseas! Thank you for taking us with you!)
…work hard.
…never quit.
…be good citizens, even if we voted differently than you voted!
…never settle for mediocrity.
…dream.
…strive to excellence in all do!
…make the most of what we have.
…love learning.
…be more than the status-quo.
…and much, much more….

I love you so much Mom! Thank you for everything you are and more over thank you for being my friend! Happy Mom’s Day!

i just drank my spin class...

I know just what you're thinking. Well, it's two things, actually. #1: first REAL blog post in a while...where the heck have you been, girl?! and #2: she doesn't even make sense anymore...what does that title even mean?! Well, allow me to explain myself.

First of all, I must apologize for my little blog hiatus. I know I keep telling you I have all of these amazing blog entries up my sleeve and then I come up short. NAWT GOOD! :) Well, now I hope to make it up to you with some amazing blog entries in the coming days...starting with this one, "i just drank my spin class." Phew...this one has been a long time coming!

So, I ventured to Praha with some high hopes for my physical shape during my stint here. All this talk of saugages, fried cheese, potato dumplings, beef in gravy, strawberry dumplings, schnitzel and etc. didn't scare me. I was determined...

...that is, until I realized that there were a) very few suitable gyms (hey, I have high standards...for a reason. two words: The Firm) and b) eating dumplings is a way of Prague life.

Wonderful Greg (he's a pastor and he rocks!) holds the Firm float's sign!

(11 July) I just got this note from my dad, "Please take care of yourself and get some sleep and exercise." Yikes...he knows I've been eating too much syr (cheese) and dumplings too. :)

So, it is sad - but true - that I haven't worked out consistently in 6 months. Who would of thought?! But, when I went home for vacay a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to dive back into The Firm. And man, did I dive! First of all, my amazing Firm family accepted me with open arms and let me clean while I was home so I could do the whole workout thang on the cheap. Thank you to Laura, Doug, Kelly and Neal for being the best gym managers and owners a slightly-soft-missing-the-gym gal could have:). It was so refreshing to be around these people - these people who have become some of the most special people in my (and Tom's) life.

me, tom and John (who has been such an amazing friend + hairstylist to me/us!)

I feel blessed to be a part of this family...mostly because I feel like it's a rarity to find a 'home' in your gym. I mean, not just in a sense that the gym was my 'home away from home' (but it really was)...but in the sense that it was truly a safe haven for me, a place where I have been able to build real relationships with my fellow fitness fanatics. When I go to the gym, I don't just go to the gym. I get a chance to do what I love, among people who love me and love working out.

dressing up and working out=two of my favorite things!
80s week at the firm!

There were countless times when I would be lying on my couch or in my bed, not wanting to do anything when I would get up and force myself to go to the gym. And, inevitably when I'd get there, I'd feel like a rock star. After a long day at work, the gym provided me with undying energy and a unique zest for life. And, I went through some really rough stuff in life, I spent a majority of my "free" time at the gym...I was not only in the best shape of my life, but I also had the chance to meet some of my (now) absolute best and loyal friends. I remember the first conversation I had with my friend, Brian Blake. I think we spent two hours at the top of the stairs just talking. These moments are moments I've cherished and will continue to cherish. Those two hours blossomed into a meaningful friendship...many, to be fair...as I gained a big gay (both literally and figuratively:)) family.

me and Brian - goofing off at one of Andrew's fabulous dinner parties!

My very gracious and loving fairy godmother, Andrew (at Ingrid!)
(he's coming to visit me next week!)

the boys + megs at dinner at Andrew's

My fab Tony...has a killer smile...and does killer color (I call him and John the "dynamic duo" - couldn't live without 'em. Seriously...not sure how I am doing it now in Prague!)

my bday celebration at the Loop - me and my boys!

I'd be on my way from work to the gym...late for class (duh...my instructors all know this wasn't rarity) with near-empty tank of gas, about to run out and end up stranded on the side of the road, but I'd keep on truckin' (actually, car-in') in order to make it to what was, without a doubt, my absolute favorite part of the day. I always figured it out post-gym. Because, of course I didn't care if I ran out of gas post-workout...for I knew I'd be flying on a euphoric endorphin-abundant cloud.

What I thought of a 'cult' at first, spin class turned out to be my addiction. There's nothing better than a kick-ass workout with Kelly on Sunday afternoons, Terry on Mondays (paired with Funk, of course), Laura on Thursdays, Kiki on Fridays, TJ and his ghetto rap on Saturday AM (after a long night out...detox it was...literally) and Sunday morning with LVB (Oh goodness, LVB...she killed me, even when she was 6 months pregnant...it was inevitable that I would feel nauseated at least once every class, as if post-class spewage was right of passage - although that could have been from the previous night's cosmos! Sorry...I had a thing for 'em!)! Sweat-spillin', energy-surgin' endorphin-swirlin' workouts. I loved it and lived for it.

Laura is totally wonderwoman. She rocks the spin bike!

Rebecca both amazed me and challenged me on Thursday when we'd move our hips to the sweet sounds of Olivia Newton-John and Prince. Brad conditioned my muscles on Friday. Jessica's lil' yogi body - and big personality - were perfect compliment to Saturday and Sunday AM spin. And, when on the verge of falling over with exhaustion, Jess would utter the craziest little antecdote (comparing the feeling that comes from a yoga pose to an orgasm, for instance) that would make us all giggle.

And then there's Doug...'Diva Doug' as we like to call him. There's no one else quite like Doug. He is the man whose legs and booty every woman and man wants...but for different reasons (it makes us women green-with-envy way...we'd die to have a booty like that. and, as for the guys...well you know...). He's crazy, cool and an inspiration to many. Best of all, he makes people laugh. Having fun while working out is so important. For me, they go hand-in-hand. I mean, there can't possibly be anyone else as shiny as Doug...check him out!

Doug as...a big sparkly, rainbow-colored superhero
(Rebecca in background on left as rainbow bright. I love her.)

And, as if it couldn't get any better, there's Kelly. She's the owner and she kicks ass (excuse my language - but amazing people deserve strong adjectives!). One of the best business women I've met, Kelly simultaneously dazzles us with her spin skills and smile. She is the very reason the Firm vision turned into a reality...the very reason I am able to call this place 'home'. I owe her lots and lots of 'thank you's'...and then lots more.

My gym friends always joke about the gym and refer to it as "church."As silly as this may sound, I realized the other day after not having gone to the gym in a while, that it is actually a place where I do a hefty amount of my thinking...reflecting...and praying. I love the feeling after a good, sweaty spin session when the cool down music comes on and I just give thanks to God for giving me the legs to spin and the fine people who surround me. I'm truly blessed.

With all of that said, you can imagine why I had a massively difficult time coming to Prague and leaving my gym behind. It's not just a gym. It's the people. I was asked not too long ago what I miss most. Without thinking too long, I uttered, "my gym!" My friend started giggling and said, "YOUR GYM?! WHAT ABOUT YOUR FIANCE?!" Ha ha ha..."Well," I said, "Tom would laugh if he heard me say that." And he did. Because he knows I love him and miss him greatly, obviously (more than the Firm, of course:)). I have been here nearly 6 months and haven't worked out consistently the entire time. My mind is groggy and I miss the over-stimulation the Firm added to my days.

Everyone asks me what gyms are like here, and well...let me paint a picture for you: about 1 month into my time here, I decided to check out a bikram yoga studio so cleverly named 'Bikram Yoga'. ha. I got into the class and was surprised to see the instructor not dim the lights at all - we were in a gigantic room with neon lights and I was seemingly surrounded by Eastern euro men in banana hammocks. Sweet. The class was heated to a balmy 43 degrees celsius, because (duh) it was bikram. But the difference was, I felt like we were going through the poses a mile a minute without any relief, and on top of that he sounded like an auctioneer (not-so-soothing) and was yelling "hey you - in the red shorts - don't give up...push through it!" Um...excuse me...last time I checked, this was bikram yoga, not the marines. Dang. Oh, and class cost me the equivalent of 20 dollars. I knew then that I was in for a ride.

So, what's this whole 'i just drank my spin class' blog title, you may ask? Well, the fact of the matter is that the night I started writing this post I had just had a cosmo...which costs about 100 Kc in the Czech Republic (equal to about 5 USD...which sounds cheap, but it is expensive here!) -and coincidentally, spin classes here cost around 100 Kc too. Moral of the story? Spend your Kc on spin class rather than cosmos.

I miss the Firm, but I am finally getting over it and readying myself for some good, consistent workouts and good (non-dumpling-filled) eating while here in Praha. The detox was an experiment...and I passed, so I know I can do it. I'll get there, slowly but surely! :)

Here's to workouts (or not so much) in the good ol' CZE!

Na Zdravi!

Love,


me

p.s. I was excited to see a majority of the pics above out on facebook - they come from the most recent Pride parade in Minneapolis, which happened the week after I left Minni for Prague. They all look like superheroes! That's becuase they are!

p.s.s. I can't possibly name every special Firm friend here, because if I did the list would be endless and this blog would turn into an even longer novel than it already is. But, you all know who you are. I love you.

Seth Godin's the Man

I know...it's been a while. And I know that all of you eager zmena blog followers have been patient and now deserve a treat in return. I owe you many blogs...about my detox, my workouts (or lack thereof, I should say) here, my recent voyage to the mothership and then the immediate (upon return) quick Berlin hipster/kings of leon trip, the adventures of planning a wedding from afar and more. Patience is a virtue...I'll make time soon enough:). I'll even post some good pics.

I will just say that I had a magical trip home - it was a whirlwind, but it was great and so nice to see my family, fiance and friends...thank you for making time for me, friends, and for making it so special. I love you guys.

Also...Seth Godin, marketing extraordinaire, posted this blog a few weeks back and I loved it, so I thought it was worth a shout-out here on my blog. Yep, that's right...I am re-bloggin' it. Read it and then reflect on it. I did.

You matter

When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

You all matter. I love you!

smiles,

me

my bro is 30 (-1)!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ZACHARY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! (vše nejlepsi k narozeninám!)

I know I am a day late (or a couple of days) and a dollar (or Koruna:)) short, but I still mean well...I promise! (Actually I am getting back at my bro for giving me grief in his blog for being born the day before his third birthday...hee hee, just kidding!). As you can see from the picture below, the years are taking a toll on my brother and he is indeed nearly the BIG 3-0. Yowza! Where has all of the time gone?! He is getting so old he can't even stay awake on the metro anymore! ;) (giggle)
But, really, in all seriousness, I have had so much fun with my bro over the last 26 years. He has been a great example of a strong follower of Christ for so many...especially me! Read more at my bro's rockstar blog in this reflection post about his 29th bday...lots of shout-outs for Tom and me in that one! I feel so blessed to be living in the same city (a European city, at that!) as my bro for this period of my life. He's right...we don't see each other as much as I'd like, but I know he is there for me at the drop of a hat if I need him and I am so thankful to have such an awesome bro.

Below are a couple of pics of Zach and me from the European vacay last Fall...near Prazky Hrad and in Zach's place representing our amazing father in the District Assembly election. I love my bro for so many reasons...but most of all for his faith and drive, ability to humble himself, to be silly and to love on others.
Speaking of being silly...Zach must be so silly sometimes, because when I meet people (who Zach knows) for the first time, they always ask if I am older. HA! That's silly.
Bro...Sto lat! Nazdravi (sp?!)...or should I say Nadrazi!? ha (that joke never gets old! it's like the gift of jokes that keeps on giving!)! You are the best big bro a gal (or 3rd-bday-ruinin'-lil'sis) could ask for!

Lotso' love bro (and all),

me

1 long (unexpectedly longer) weekend. 44 hours of enjoyment. 44 hours of travel. unlimited frustration and joy.

the path less traveled by most (but very well traveled by yours truly...

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(May 2nd)First of all, I'd like to apologize to all of my loyal fans out there who have been deceived by yours truly, as I have been promising this story - in its full and crazy/beautiful glory - for the last few weeks. I do have an excuse, though, (okay, well sort of an excuse) which is the fact that it is that detox time of year! It is better that I am writing this now, anyway, as I have had some time to get over the slight (and I do mean just slight, cause I actually was laughing a bit at the time too...believe it or not:)). So what I will do is go ahead and give you a visual play-by-play of my chaotic polish travel adventures so you too can experience what it is like to experience every kind of language barrier travel miscommunication imaginable. Fabulous. I hope you enjoy the journey as much (or I should say "more") than I did. :)

(side note, connected to the last point: one of the very important life lessons I learned long ago that was not to dwell on misadventures for a few reasons, 1) there are millions of people out there who have worse things happen to me...I am incredibly blessed, 2) I learn gobs and gobs o' good 'character-building' stuff from these experiences and 3) perhaps maybe - just maybe - I could fulfill one of my many life goals by bringing enjoyment and smiles to the face of at least one individual through my life mishaps. See, I told you they'd be good life lessons:)!)

So as the story goes...I was heading to Poland for a fun-filled weekend of Easter and baptism adventures with Tom's extended family. Super-over-joyed-and-uber-excited (albeit a little rushed), I quickly packed after work and made my way to the train station, grabbing one of my last Starbucks coffee treats before I would take another kind of train (the detox train:)) on the way. Luck was on my side - I was catching every metro in my path by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin (hmm...) - I had a feeling this was going to be a pretty darn good weekend! Positivity was on my side at this point, as you can see.

Made it to Hlavni Nadrazi and found my train...maneuvered through the train cars and tried to communicate with the czech/polish/ukranian train attendants. Despite already obvious language barriers, I figured out which train car was mine and found my way to my private (woo-hoo!) sleeping car. I would soon find out that the train's end destination was Kiev - what tipped me off was the Russian writing all over the place. It was actually a bit eerie (transsiberian-esque) of an atmosphere. Tom had kindly brought me the 4th and final (tear, tear) book of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn (I love vampires!), so I excitedly settled into my creepy train car and began to shuffle through my bag, looking for my book. As I was doing so, I instead located my Polish phrase book, gifted to me by Tom's amazing mother, Elizabeth.

I had been praying all week for ease in communication with Tom's family, as I was going by myself, void of anyone to help translate. Last time we visited Poland (in October), I had Tom there and he translated everything. Literally. So, needless to say I was a bit nervous to travel all by lonesome for an entire weekend of traditions and 40+ Polish family members. But, of course I was super-excited and ready to tackle the challenge. I would soon find out that I should have been praying for ease in communication with everyone I encountered while in transit, not solely Tom's family. So I began to study some Polish phrases. Polish is very much like Czech, but there are many differences too. Czechs think Poles sound drunk while talking because there are a lot of soft sounds, and Poles think Czech is a not-so-pretty language. It is quite funny to hear both sides, actually. Anyway, after a bit of language study, I decided I wanted to dive into Breaking Dawn. I have taken a pretty intense liking to this series and there are a lot of haters out there who think it is silly, but I know that if they were introduced they'd become closet Twilight lovers. ha.

So I read for a little while and then decided to hit the hay. I was grateful to not have to worry about bunking with some randoms. The whole situation would have felt even more transsiberian-esque if that had been the case. The way my luck turned out, I would have been sharing a car with drug trafficking murderers. ha, okay, maybe that is a stretch. :) Before I fell asleep I made an effort to locate my phone in the mess that was my bag...to no avail. I had forgotten my phone. Super. I was going to another country where not many people spoke English, without my phone, an address for Tom's family, or even a phone number for the family. Very poor travel planning. I figured I would be fine, though, so I shrugged it off and was on my way to catchin' some zzz's. I awoke early in the morning as the sun rose and had estimated it was about 6 or 7 in the morning. We were stopped...I had no idea where. Maybe west of Krakow? Hmm. So I quick snapped a pic (notice me in the mirror giving a peace sign?!) and opened my sleeping car door to the outside world.

I saw no one. Strange. I realized I hadn't seen any other passengers on the entire journey yet. And, when I went to ask the attendant where we were she was less-than-helpful and didn't really care that I looked utterly confused. I used the nasty train toilet (uggh, I shutter just thinking about it), and made my way back into my humble abode. A couple of hours passed and we still hadn't moved. It had to be about 8am, which was supposed to be my arrival time to Tarnow (of course I didn't have a watch either, so I didn't know exactly what time it was...I know, a nightmare). Major travel miscommunication #1 - I thought we were arriving to Tarnow at 8:30am (that's what the idos.cz AND the Cedok travel agent told me), but this was apparently not the case, and of course I couldn't talk to the attendant to figure anything out. I knew there was nothing I could do to inform anyone (Tom, brother, Tom's fam, etc), so I decided to take a nap. I must have slept 2 or 3 hours and when I awoke we were still sitting in the same place. Hmm. Very interesting(/annoying).


MHTV#10 - 17 hour voyage to Tarnow? unheard of! from megan harrod on Vimeo.

I started thinking about how I was going to get a hold of Tom's family when I did arrive to Tarnow. In the meantime, I knew I was missing all of the important Polish traditions tied to Easter - the preparation of the Easter baskets (Swieconka) that would be taken to the church for a blessing. Darnit! As I was pondering this, the train started moving slowly on the tracks. 'FINALLY!' I thought. Grrr. We soon passed Krakow Glowny and I knew I was on the right track (hee, no pun intended)...guess what time it was?! 1:30pm. Crazy. How had this seemingly easy, breezy 9-hour overnight trip turned into a 17-hour journey to Poland?! Wow. Just as I was pondering this thought, there was a knock on my door. Three relatively young men asked me, in Polish, for my documents. 'Documents' was the only word I could understand. They weren't wearing uniforms, so I was a bit hesitant, but thought maybe they were undercover and didn't want to get arrested in a different country, so decided I'd comply. After 15 minutes of sketchy-ness (i.e. reviewing my passport, making calls to God knows who and talking about my Visa-in-progress), they gave me my passport back and I said 'dziękuję' ('thank you' in Polish). They smiled. And then they were gone. Phew.

I arrived to Tarnow at around 2:45pm, phoneless, watchless, mobileless, phone numberless, addressless, mindless;). I hopped off of the train and into the deteriorating Tarnow train station (it is in serious need of a makeover). I decided to make my way over to the information desk, where I soon found out English wasn't spoken. At all. Fabulous. Meanwhile, the "document checkers" were huddled near a restaurant in the train station looking at me and giggling. Freaks. I was not in the mood. I made sure my bag (which has a picture of a boy and a girl, and the boy saying "Hi-" and the girl replying, "Don't bother trying. I'm way out of your league!") was in full view. Not that they could read it anyway, but Tom would be happy:).

Where was I?! Lost my train (again, no pun intended) of thought...oh yes, there it is! Found it! So, I went to the info desk and the lady speedily said something in Polish to me that sounded like this to my virgin polish-language ears, "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, Megan, blah blah blah?" My face lit up with glee...and she could tell. She looked delighted for having made the connection, and then handed me a piece of paper with what I assumed was Jarek's (Tom's cousin Kaska's husband) phone number. Wonderful! Well, it would have been if I had a mobile phone. I tried to inform the woman that I didn't have a phone. Her smile quickly faded and she no longer seemed amused. She used her personal mobile to call the number and then handed it to me. Jarek's voice greeted me, "Where were you," he said. I explained it to him, and then he was on his way to pick me up. Glorious. What a great impression.

He graciously made the journey back to Tarnow from Tuchow to pick me up. He told me about what I missed and then we made our way to the liqour store before it closed (this was a very important trip to the store...as we had to buy about 10 bottles of vodka for the following day's festivities. That's how the Poles roll:).)

We arrived to Tuchow and I was greeted by sweet little Nina, Kaska's daughter. After a few minutes, Nina and I picked up right where we had left off in October when we visited. We had a great time playing, being silly and interacting with very simple Polish words all weekend.

And I also met little Feliks (which means 'happy' in German...and he was indeed a very happy lil' babe!), who was in Kaska's tummy when I last visited. Feliks would be getting baptised at the Resurrection Mass on Sunday.

I feel so incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to celebrate Easter as well as Feliks' baptism with Tom's family. Tom and I both agree it is very important for me to experience things like this with his family in Poland, and I am so grateful that I can act as a tie to his family in Poland in this way. The Resurrection Mass and baptism were wonderful, despite the fact that I couldn't understand anything at the service (I know, I need to learn Polish...preferably from Tom's amazing mother, Elizabeth!). :) The church, like many Catholic churches across Europe (and especially in Poland), was marvelous and very elaborately decorated.

After the service I walked out with Marysia (on the left of this pic, is Kaska's younger sister, also Tom's cuz) and met up with Anna and Karolina (the two girls on the right in this pic)...Karolina is Marcin's girlfriend (Marcin is Kaska and Marysia's brother, so Tom's cuz). They were both wonderful and we instantly were giggling and getting along as we hopped into Karolina's small car and made our way to Jurasowka (Jurek's - Tom's uncle and Elizabeth's brother - ski hill and the family's business). Anna's English was mucho impressive and I had such a good time chatting with her. She studied in Prague during Fall '08, so we had lots to chat about. The picture below was taken inside the cozy lil' lodge. We settled in for gobs o' good food, laughter and time with friends and future family members. It was unreal...a truly unforgettable experience.

I was already full aware that the Polish know how to make a good spread, as I have had many a good, hearty dinner at my childhood best friend, Amy Gorz's house as well as at Tom's house, but this spread was unlike anything I had seen before. We overindulged in the food that had been blessed the previous day, including hard-boiled shelled eggs, ham, sausage, salt, horseradish, fruits, bread and cake. We also had Zurek, a traditional Polish Easter soup. It was all so filling and amazing. After it was all said and done (or so I thought), the desserts were brought out. And desserts they were. Wow. Mmm. Can you imagine if I had gone on detox when I was originally planning to? I think the family would have thought I was crazy...I take that back, they definitely would have thought I was crazy.

Sometime after dinner Marcin, Karolin, Anna and I decided to take a walk. I was uber-excited to get the chance to take a gander at the Tatra Mountains, but it was foggy just like my last visit. Nevertheless, it was gorgeous as we had a beautiful view through the valley and the fog.


Just when I thought my stomach was full and couldn't fit any more food, Uncle Jurek brought me this Polish dish (below). Hmm. I am still not exactly sure what it is called, but my initial reaction was that it looked like turkey dinner enclosed in jell-o...two things that didn't quite make sense to me combined into one. It reminded me of those Chinese donuts with pork in them (when I studied abroad at Lancaster, England, one of my neighbors was Chinese and she encouraged me to try one of these 'donuts' one day...I took a bite before I knew what was in it. As I took the bite, she told me that it had pork in the middle of it. I almost spit it out all over the table, but figured that would have been rude, so I stomached it. Uggh. *Chills*.). My second thought was that perhaps this was not actually a gelatin-base, but was actually fat. Uggh. And, it was served cold. Anna assured me that I didn't have to try it, but of course I was going to try it...Jurek gave it to me! So, I poured some vinegar over it (because Jurek informed me that is how you do it) and dove in! Mmm. Actually not bad.

After many courses and also many glass of wine and shots of Polish vodka, family members who did not normally speak English were showing off their English-speaking skills. It was quite funny and we were all laughing hysterically! In time, we encouraged Jarek's sister's son to show off his guitar and singing skills...so after locating a guitar and playing doctor by taking some strings from one guitar and adding them to the more suitable option, the singing and banter began.

tarnow - easter celebrations with the polish fam #1 from megan harrod on Vimeo.

easter celebrations #2 - singing with the fam! from megan harrod on Vimeo.

Somewhere in the mix, Jurek took me back to this room full o' vintage goodies, and gifted a 2.5 ft. wooden sculpture of Jesus to me. I second guessed taking it for a moment, as I wasn't sure how I was going to travel the following day with this Jesus affixed to my bag, but I shook it off and thanked him with a big hug and an "I love you". Let me just say that Polish hospitality is unparalleled. Okay, I sort of take that back, becasue I remember being dazzled by the Irish hospitality as well, but I will say that Tom's family took such good care of me and I am so thankful for everything they did.

Late that night (or early the next morning, I should say), I made sure to check (and double check) the train times so I wouldn't encounter any problems on the way back. All looked good and I'd be leaving at 10:30am. Kaska graciously packed me some snacks and they drove me to the train station...Jarek even walked me to the platform to make sure I got on the right train. ha ha. All smiles, I hopped on the train with my buddy, Jesus, and we were on our merry way back to Praha!

I took a nap, did some reading, etc. - of course I was mapless, so I didn't know where the heck we were, but it seemed like I was on the right track. My train car filled up with women young and old, but I wasn't sure if any of them spoke English because no one attempted to speak with me. We hit Wroclaw and I started to get a bit skeptical about the direction I was going, but thought someone would have told me by then if I had been going in the wrong direction. I figured we were just going south from Wroclaw, since it was a near straight shot. The ticket checkers came by at various points throughout the journey, sometimes inspecting my ticket for longer than others, but I just wrote it off. That is, until I was about an hour past Wroclaw and the sweet ol' ticket checker said something to me in Polish, seemingly questioning my ticket specs. I quickly scanned the train car and asked if anyone spoke English. A beautiful Polish girl sitting kitty-corner from me nodded and then informed me that I was heading toward the Baltic Sea. Hmm...well, that doesn't sound right. 'How did this happen?" I asked myself (in my head, of course)?! Where was I? I politely asked the girl where we were headed and she said something that began with a "P"...I prayed that the word she had uttered was "Pilsen" rather than what I soon found out actually came from her mouth ("Poznan" - WHAT?!?!). Where the heck is Poznan (frantically searching for some answer, I dug in my bag and pulled out the phrase book Elizabeth had bought me, hoping it had a map on it. Turned to the back. Sure did. And, it told me that Poznan was a city about midway through the country - on the same plain as Warsaw, but a on the west side of the country. What have I done? Ugh. The girl informed me that she too was going to Poznan, so she'd guide me in the right direction.

About 20 minutes later we arrived at Poznan and the wonderfully amazing girl (whose name I have since forgotten...serves me right for writing this post so late!) took me to the info desk to ask about trains back to Prague. 'Thank God for this girl!' I thought. She was so darn sweet. The man printed out the train times and I braced myself. She informed me that the next train didn't leave for a while...midnight. By this time it was around 7:30pm and I was supposed to have been home in Prague. Grrr. Bad travel luck this trip. I asked if she was sure if it was 12am. She said "yes." So, it was a bummer that I had to wait that long for the next train, which had a 5am connection in Berlin. Wow. At least it was better than the next train, which left at 3am from Poznan. Ugh...creepy train stations late at night. I thanked the nice Polish girl and gave her a big hug.

Having learned a little something from previous travel experiences (ahem, like on the way to Poland), I decided to go to the ticket counter and double check train times. I waited in line, realized I was in the wrong line and then finally found my way to the right ticket desk. Trial and error. Luck was on my side when I realized the clerk spoke English. YAY! She confirmed travel times with me, and also told me I wouldn't need to buy a ticket until we got on the train. Perfect. So, I jumped online at one of those old-school(ish) internet point things to inform the masses that I had once again encountered travel woes and then proceeded to KFC to hang for a little while. I look absolutely thrilled, don't I?!

A few hours passed and I decided to go check the train times on the board. On my way I was thinking I should just spend the day in Berlin - 3 countries in 3 days, that could be pretty sweet. This wasn't turning out so bad afterall! Huh. No train to Berlin. Very interesting. And by 'interesting' I really mean 'are you kidding me?! how could something more possibly go awry?!' So I went to the info desk to ask the man, who it turns out spoke English, and he looked at me like I was absolutely crazy and asked me why I was taking that train...because it turns out that train actually left at 9pm (while I was in freaking KFC eating food that I shouldn't have been eating...I think God was punishing me! ha!). NO WAY!!! WHAT?! But the lady said...oh goodness...this was NOT fun. Sure enough, I had missed the train to Berlin while I was in KFC eating greasy chicken. Next train, 3am...to Wroclaw and then Wroclaw at 6:30am to Prague. Wow.

Needless to say, I wasn't entirely thrilled to be spending 7+ hours in a train station, hanging with randoms, witnessing prostitute acquisitions, homeless individuals fighting with each other, random drunk girls attempting to talk to me, etc.

And then it was time. I walked to the board, and there was my train (jelenia gora - I was unsure at first, because it didn't make sense to me, but I asked about 5 times to confirm)!! Thrilled, I made my way to the platform, but made sure to ask the info guy, "I know this may be a really dumb question, but what direction will my train be going? I want to make sure I don't miss my third train of the day." He pointed me to the right direction. No, I mean the real right direction this time...

...and I arrived to Wroclaw (phew) very early in the morning...with enough time to spend some of my last hours outside of detox eating with Jesus at McDonalds.

And everyone was staring at me, carrying this big sculpture of Jesus around, so I strapped him to my timbuktu for easy carrying...

...and we made our way to the train...the right train...FINALLY!

And I cracked open my book and settled in for the journey.

reading - my most favorite part of train travel

nasty euro train toilets - my not-so-fav part of train travel

After a 27-hour travel journey, I was rewarded with a glimpse at the funkiest rat tail I have seen since I have been in Eastern Europe. And trust me, I've seen some funk.

After all was said and done, I did the calculation in my head and realized that it was true I spent exactly 44 hours in Poland enjoying my time with the family, and exactly 44 hours in transit to and from Poland (cozying up to Polish trains and getting some good quality time with Jesus!). It took me 27 hours to get back from Tarnow. Wow. What a weekend. What an experience. Happy to be alive:) and able to tell the story!

Thank the Lord for adventure!

Love,

me

about to embark on a detox adventure...in eastern europe?!

I am pretty sure I am about to embark on an adventure very few (if anyone) has experienced...a gluten-free, caffeine-free, sugar-free, processed foods-free, dairy-free, soy-free, red meat-free diet in Prague. Sweet.

Was going to start the journey April 1st, but I April Fools-ed all y'all. ha...right. Actually, what happened was that I've planned a trip to Krakow and Tarnow, Poland next weekend for Easter to hang with the future fam, and there is no way I can head to Polish Easter festivities all detox-ed up. The food is just too good to resist! :) So, stay tuned for more on this subject!

Until then, I'll enjoy some magically delicious ice cream from "cream-n-dream" and then go for a run/yoga session.

Yay!

love,

me