The Last Days in Warsaw

 As 2021 wound down and 2022 began I was once again looking to the horizon, thinking of what adventures may be in another land. Our time in Warsaw had been fun and productive, but like many people during the height of the pandemic, we had a mind shift. I'd seen people in my school get sick, and some died from covid or other reasons. Education had a whiplash change that I think was positive on the whole, but the constant tension of the past few years weighed heavily on myself and the profession. As the summer ended and I returned to work we started to formulate a plan. Apply to only X,Y, and Z jobs because they were place I really wanted to go to. If that didn't work out, take the other option. 

As it turned out we took the other option. So we would both working remotely/ from home and that would free us to live anywhere we wanted. At the same time it meant that we decided to make that space the best possible for us since we would be working and living in the same space. That, and like many of the international community we work with, we had begun to have a yearning for a forever home to find a place of refuge in. By January we had decided, we were heading to Sapporo. 

We laid plans for Aya to go first to buy an apartment and to set up renovation. Everything was in place and she was about to fly when the war broke out with the Russian invasion. The following months were quite tense in Warsaw, but she rerouted to fly south of Russia and made it to Sapporo to begin our move mission. As she toured apartments and sent back pictures and videos, Ukrainian refugees poured across the border to Poland and elsewhere. For a time we were not even sure if she would make it back before my contract ended in June and it was time to go. Throughout the spring we kept our options open and in Warsaw I continued to work and help out with the refugees where I could. What started as going to the central station to hand out some envelopes of cash turned into a near every weekend routine of going to wholesale stores to donate and volunteer, then spending time updating everyone on what was happening on the ground in Warsaw and how funds could be put to good use. I teamed up with my friend and co-worker Rebecca whenever possible and she has since done much much more work in helping. I think by last tally she had collected over 100,000usd.  

Most weekends we would load up Rebecca's car with whatever was listed as needed. This included all sorts of things like diapers, sanitary pads, juices, apples, etc. Whatever was needed, we got it. 

Rebecca also was coming up with other ways to donate. She hosted families in her apartment, giving up her bedroom to sleep on the couch. She bought backpacks and school supplies for refugee kids in Warsaw, books in Ukrainian to send across the border for kids still there, and medical supplies for those were were dealing with the wounded in directly on the front lines of the war. Money was coming in for her so fast that at times it was difficult to spend it fast enough, but she is now a fixture of volunteering and relief and she has been featured in her hometown paper as well as local news channels in upstate NY. 

I also gathered a lot of donations during that time, but nothing like Rebecca. Still, I did a lot of volunteering and large donations from my family and their extended networks rolled in over the spring. In total I believe we gathered about 20,000 usd in donations that went directly to people in Warsaw who needed it most.

The community at American School of Warsaw also made a massive effort. Everyone kicked in to high gear and within a couple weeks there were massive amounts of food and clothing for refugees coming in as well as sending it across the border. The school community also took in hundreds of refugees to their homes. By May Warsaw had absorbed about 400,000 refugees. There was so much attention on this that the vice president came to the city and while here stopped by our school to meet with a group of refugees and talk to our kids and staff (See Rebecca, right of photo). 

And the Poles? Polish people have been uniquely steeled against Russia by half a century of occupation. While relations in recent years has improved, the Poles have not forgotten and when the war started they opened their arms to those in need. Though the country is now overflowing with Ukrainians, they are welcomed. Their resilience in the face of tragedy has continued to inspire me and hold them closer in my heart. 

As May came around Aya secured our apartment and set up the renovation plans. She was clear to come back and the war seemed to be grinding to a stand still with Ukrainians putting up fierce resistance. By the end of May Aya was back and we were winding down our belongings and getting our documents in order. Both of the cats had to make multiple visits to the vets for vaccines and documentation. No one was happy about that. The final day of work came and I said goodbye to my school community. The end of a three year chapter. While I was sad to leave I was also excited as the new chapter was taking another step forward. 

At the end of June my mother came to visit. A much welcome and overdue event. I'm sure if the pandemic hadn't occurred she would have come sooner and we would have travelled more. Still we spent time in Krakow and Warsaw and got some good mother - son time together. She even met the ever famous Rebecca and we managed to make a run to pick up a load of goods for the refugees at the central train station. Of course, as many tourists to Poland do, we went to Auschwitz and many sites around Warsaw from WWII. The past was not so far from the present and that was certainly not lost on either of us. 

By the beginning of July we were almost ready to go but decided on one more trip before leaving Europe, to Norway. It was very beautiful and I'm glad we went. We rented a car and did a loop out from Oslo, nearly reaching Bergen but turning back around to return by a different route. 

Even in Norway, the echos of the holocaust were not far away. Here you can see gold plates in the streets of Oslo, each with a name of someone who was taken by the Nazis. 

Finally, in the last days of July our flight time came. We packed up our luggage, caught the cats and put them in their carriers, and cleaned the apartment. Time to go, to turn the page.