I am thinking of those now waiting to leave for Poland to be group XIII. At this point last year, nothing was really firm (I think), but I was already sure that I would be leaving in May or June. It is probably too soon for anyone (including staff) to know all that much. Still, someone must surely get as excited as I did when I suddenly found myself pacing the hall, trying to imagine what live in PC would be like.

Now that I am here and settled, I have difficulty remembering what the waiting and uncertainty were like. And I certainly have trouble trying to imagine what my return will be like.

Lately I’ve been particularly pleased with my life in Lipnica. I am comfortable here, for a number of reasons: I feel much more confident in my teaching. I also feel much better about my Polish, and I think these two factors contribute the most to my present contentment. I enjoy what I do, and I have reason to believe that I do it well; and I do not feel as challenged by my environment. Other factors are surely my friends. I am not lonely in the way that I was when I first got to Lipnica. Lastly, I am just generally settled in, with a routine and a degree of organized regularity: I know what’s going on.