Shocking!!

Once the fog of jet lag lifted in Krakow, we fell in love with that city. Everything was wonderful and interesting and beautiful. The food was delicious, the old buildings were full of character and history and the people seemed friendly. When we got to Warsaw, something changed. Suddenly, Poland seemed full of broken sidewalks and grafitti. The grocery stores were hard to navigate, there was always broken glass in the parks and the people were downright grouchy. Nobody here seemed particularly tolerant of children, especially in groups of more than 2, and I cannot count the amount of times we were publicly shushed (in the bathroom at the mall, on the bus, at the pool...) When you combine those things with the amount of illness we endured, it amounted to some pretty dark days. There were a few times when we (mostly me) considered going home early. Seriously considered it. However, things have really turned around here in the last couple of weeks and we (mostly me) are glad that we stayed. All of those things I mentioned above are still true of Poland, but they no longer bother us so much. Maybe it is because we know our journey is coming to an end, but I think there was also something else going on. I think we suffered from a classic case of culture shock. I was reading about it, and the article I read explained that initially in a new country you go through a honeymoon period (our time in Krakow) and then all of the differences between your home country and the new one really start to drag you down (our initial time in Warsaw) and then you adjust and start to see things more clearly and enjoy yourself again (our last few weeks in Warsaw). Sounds about right to me. How very shocking!