Driving In Poland

Here are some pictures of our new family car. It is called a Nissan Almera Tino. You've probably never heard of this model because it is only sold in Europe. The best way to describe it is a cross between a car and SUV. One of our prayer requests as we came over was wisdom for finding a car here in Poland. They don't track vehicles through VIN numbers like they do in the States, so there seems to be a greater propensity for fraud in the used car market. One thing in our favor was with Poland joining the EU the borders opened up and the market here is now flooded with cars. A man in our church here in Siedlce by the name of Thomek Glinka deals with cars and brought this one to our attention. It is a 2001 with 65,000 miles, one owner, a clean and traceable track record, proof of service every 3,000 miles, and a reputation for being highly dependable. The owner was originally asking $35,000 zloty ($12,500 US), but with interest focused on cars from other countries he had not found a buyer. This is where Thomek was an awesome answer to prayer, long story short, after some serious negotiating by Thomek, we bought the car for $27,000 zloty ($9,500 US).

I don't know if the pictures do it justice, but it can easily seat five adults. You can see that there are three captains chairs in the back seat and to give you an idea of the trunk size we were able to put four full-size tires in there with ease. A couple nice features are the trays behind the front seats that allow the kids to color and play. Also, it has a very sensitive parking assist, this is very helpful in Poland as you always find yourself squeezing into tight places.

Another adjustment for us is the driving here. It is comparable to the way people drive in Chicago after the Cubs have lost. . . . .AGAIN. Highways are not frequent here so most of the driving is done on simple two lane roads. What is different is that people pass all the time though there is oncoming traffic. In fact, its the responsibility of oncoming traffic to pull over on the shoulder if neccessary. Now imagine coming around the corner and seeing a huge semi, coming from the opposite way and in your lane. I think Ginger has actually spoken in tongues a few times when this has happened but we are adjusting. You simply cannot drive to relax like you do sometimes in the states. I think one of the craziest things we have seen to this point is when I went to pass a truck and someone behind us decided to pass us and the truck. We were THREE WIDE on a TWO LANE road!! I know some of you NASCAR buffs are foaming at the mouth, but you'll have to come visit to experience it for yourself. Well, this is all for now, I think I'll go enjoy a nice glass of ICE water before I go to bed.

Jason Stover