Thursday, June 28, 2007

Language School Pays Off!!


Four or five different restaurants deliver pizza in Siedlce. Personally, I like them all, we Stovers have never been picky when it comes to food though you'd probably never guess it. Now Ginger, she grew up in Chicago (when not in Thailand) and Chicago is the pizza capital of the world, its hard to duplicate the kind of pizza they turn out there. Through three years of trial and error the Layers' have managed to find a place that is close. Well, you have to ask for thick crust, extra sauce and double cheese. But when all of it comes together, its a masterpiece my friends. The pizza is so good in fact that it even satisfies the tastebuds of my Chicago born wife and children. The major hurdle is in ordering the pizza, because its over the phone and because asking for all of the extra stuff only complicates the process. Up to this point we have called the Layers and asked them to order it for us, but that stopped TODAY.

We have learned many of the words in the first two weeks of language school that are needed to place a pizza order, of course putting them together in an intelligible way is a different story. I had Ben send me an email of what needed to be said and then I called them up. If you've ever attempted to speak a second language you know the fear and trepidation one faces when forced to use it. Fortunately my "hunter/ gatherer" instincts took over. The conversation went suprisingly smooth, she understood everything I said and I understood most of what she said. There were a couple of questions she asked that I did not understand so I just said "tak" (yes) and hoped for the best. 25 minutes later we had our pizza and just like we ordered, (ok so I didn't ask for the onions, but at least they weren't anchovies). To celebrate the momentous occasion Ginger took a picture of the pizza man as he delivered it. You can tell by the picture that he was thrilled. He may never come back again after being bombarded by camera flashes as the apartment door opened. At least he has a story to tell his colleagues about the crazy Americans taking pictures and cheering over ordinary pizza. However, you and I know that this wasn't ordinary pizza, this-this was the taste of freedom. It reminds me of a poem I learned in highschool, "two pizza joints diverged in a yellow wood and I--I took the one with more cheese, and that has made all the difference!"

12 comments:

heatherlyn11 said...

congrats!! that's awesome, and Jonas would whole-heartedly agree that nothing beats the windy city's pizza!
I am going to relate your ingredients to him and maybe we'll try it here in Boston....in English.

The Stover Family said...

I don't know if you can call that Boston accent English (Heatha)---but its close. This pizza was no Giordanos but beggars can't be chosers.

Kim and Jon Kelsey said...

glad you guys enjoyed your pizza! I don't know if Ben told you or not about Sara. But she is in the hospital at 31 1/2 wks pregnant. Her water broke on Wednesday and now they are holding off on a c-section as long as possible (up to 34 weeks).

Glad you guys are adjusting well in Poland. God Bless!

Anonymous said...

We enjoyed some "pie" with Luke,Leah and their friend, Caden on Friday. Elon and Gideon keep asking about your kiddos-I guess it is hard for them why they could not have just "flown over" to join us.
Peggy was kind enough to share the blog address with us.We will keep ourselves updated on your "adevntures" via this site.

Matt & Nicki said...

See, now being from the east coast, I am always trying to find a good New York Style pizza place, but Matt would probably agree and take the Chicago style!

Kim and Jon Kelsey said...

Yes. Probably will wait til baby is safe and sound at home. He'll probably at least be in there for a week (that's how long my little guy was in for anyway) We will probably go down at the end of July.

The Burlison Family said...

Hip hip hooray for the Stover Family!!! You always need a good slice of pizza!! I am so glad you are getting to really live it up over there! Keep up the good work, and the pictures. I don't care what the pizza man thinks, I love seeing the pictures of your life story.

Lisa said...

That pizza looked great!! I am so happy that with each post you write you can see you are adjusting more and more. Praying that you do well on your test. Let me know. I miss you so much Ging. You are on my mind so much.

Lisa said...

OK, I left a comment here no problem. Don't know why, but the one post where we were asked about our background prior to becoming a Christian, I had A LOT to say about that but tried and tried and could not get it posted. Is worth another try? Maybe it was too long?

Anonymous said...

Your pizza dear friend is only "Świństwo" you must eat more vegetables, your friend Tomek Glinka from Bojmie City

Anonymous said...

Hey,
It's Amber and her family..
We just thought we would say hello and that we are praying for you guys! it is neat to see the work you all are doing there in Poland. We are praying for you!
Amber and the gang.

The Stover Family said...

Nicki,

I like New York style and they have one shop here that has a good version of it---but I'm the only one in the family that likes that style. They sell it in "hole in the wall" for a store, it reminds me of Philly and NYC.

Thomek,

I often order onions on my pizza---that's a vegetable