We’re officially back in Poland. Life finally slowed down once we reached Grajewo, our first stop. We spent about a week at Marzena’s house before heading to Mościce, where our condo had been patiently waiting for us. The week in Grajewo was quiet and easy — we caught up with family, the boys got to blow out their birthdays candles again with Marzena’s homemade cakes, we had a cozy bonfire with Artur, and I stopped by the cemetery with Darek to light candles and pay my respects. We didn’t pack much into the days, and by Sunday morning, it was time to load up the Altima for the six-hour drive home.
Before leaving, we stopped by my aunt Gosia’s to say goodbye and managed a quick breakfast and a few sandwiches to go. Then we hit the road, making a quick stop at Piecuch right as they opened at 11 a.m. to pick up our order of pierogi and kałduny (kartacze) that we’d placed the night before. We knew we’d be rolling into Tarnów late and didn’t want to worry about dinner, especially since all grocery stores in Poland are closed on Sundays.
On these long drives, Sylwia and I usually split the driving — I start off, and she takes over halfway. This time was no exception. Everything was smooth until just past Warsaw, near Grójec, when I got pulled over by an unmarked BMW on the highway. My second time being stopped in Poland — the first was in Tarnów last January for window tint.
The first clue something was up was when traffic behind me suddenly slowed down. Then I noticed a car with police lights on pass everyone, pull in front of me, and flash a digital sign in its rear window telling me to follow. After a couple of miles, we exited near a gas station where two officers approached my window. They said I was driving 14 km/h (8.7 mph) over the limit. I asked if the limit was 100 km/h, and the officer said it was 120 km/h — meaning I was doing 134 km/h (about 83 mph). Not exactly a crime on a highway where others had just flown past us minutes earlier, but I wasn’t about to argue.
They issued a 100 zł fine (about $28), payable on the spot by cash or card, and added two points to my—until now—impeccable record. In Poland, you start with zero points and collect them as violations add up; once you reach 24, your license is suspended — I’m not sure for how long, and I don’t plan to find out. Luckily, the points reset after a year of clean driving. Fine paid, lesson learned, and I can officially cross “getting pulled over for speeding in Poland” off my list.
In Poland, you make do with what you have, even if it means exceeding every load limit on your vehicle.
We finally pulled into the condo around 5:30 p.m. Everything was just as we’d left it. I turned the water back on, we unpacked, and the kids dove straight into their toys. Damian, however, decided he was sleeping in the closet his first night back. Despite our best efforts to convince him otherwise, he insisted, asking only that we leave the door cracked so he could breathe. We figured he’d change his mind after ten minutes — but when I checked twenty minutes later, he was out cold. I let him sleep a bit longer before moving him to his actual bed.
The next morning, I hit Lidl for a much-needed grocery run. After breakfast, we were about to run some errands when Sylwia got an email from the kids’ school director saying that she expected our boys to start school that day, not the next. The kids’ classmates were excited to see them, and Grayson’s friend Laura had even baked him a welcome-back cake. Apparently, Sylwia’s earlier email about their return date hadn’t been clear — to the director or to me.
Our first stop was the condo management office to let them know we were back so they could resume regular billing for water. Then we drove straight to the school to say hi and handle any admin tasks. But the moment the kids saw their friends and teachers, they were gone — just like that. The director invited them to stay the rest of the day, which worked perfectly since Sylwia and I had errands to run, including a grocery trip to Auchan (our “Polish Walmart”).
After shopping, Sylwia dropped me off at home so I could replace the reverse osmosis water filters under the sink while she picked up the kids and went to the mall for some school essentials — indoor shoes, lunch boxes, the usual.
Later, I headed out to pick up our weekly 8 liters of raw milk and grab dinner from our favorite Ukrainian spot, Ukraińska Kolorowa Kuchnia. On the way, the tire pressure light came on — 25 psi in one tire. I stopped at a gas station, topped it off, and found a small screw lodged in the tread. I decided to leave it in overnight and hope for the best.
Thankfully, by morning, the pressure was holding steady. We dropped the kids off at school and stopped by a tire shop on the way home. They patched the hole and rotated all four tires — something I’d been planning to do at the next oil change anyway. Total damage: 143 zł, plus a nice souvenir screw.
The school year had technically started a month earlier, but for our kids, it was their first full day back — and they couldn’t have been more excited. Grayson started first grade and finally got his own big locker. Damian rejoined his old kindergarten group but in a separate class from Grayson this year. So far, he’s handling it like a champ.
We celebrated by grabbing some homemade barszcz and kapuśniak and a few dinners to go from Ukraińska Kolorowa Kuchnia— can’t stay away for long.
The next day, before picking up the boys from school, Sylwia and I made a quick stop at a food truck next to “Walmart” — she grabbed a hot dog while I couldn’t resist a zapiekanka. Later that afternoon, we visited Sylwia’s aunt and uncle and picked up our houseplants from Ciocia Basia, who had been taking care of them while we were gone. She welcomed us with a warm bowl of pickle soup — the perfect comfort meal after a few busy days of settling back in.
Earlier on Saturday, Sylwia took the boys to the mall, Galeria Tarnowska, to pick up a dress shirt for Grayson. His class is celebrating Pasowanie na ucznia on Monday. Later that day, we all decided to get out of the house and stretch our legs with a walk around town. The weather’s been less than ideal — gray skies and light rain — but that’s just typical October here. You can feel fall in the air, with damp leaves scattered across the sidewalks and trees slowly shedding their colors. We stopped by the Centrum Sztuki Mościce to check what movies were playing, then walked through the park, stopped at the church, and finally made our way to Lidl to pick up some groceries before heading home.
