Fall in Warsaw

October 8-- Paul Errickson

Today, I started my classes off with the question, “What is your all-time favorite...smell?” Such fun were the responses; everything from the smell of their homes, parents, and kitchens, to some more obscure responses like Ikea candles, gasoline (came up in every class), or many, many variations of rain. Perhaps the most common responses were linked to the fall - cinnamon, wood, leaf piles, and the upcoming holiday smells (pumpkin pie, turkey in the oven, or holiday cookies baking).

Poland really knows how to do the fall. There are pumpkin stands everywhere. Apples are (apparently) one of our top exports, and Poland is one of the top exporters of apples, worldwide! As the temperature drops into the single digits (celsius), and our daylight starts to dwindle, we continue to settle in and learn more about our new home.

Over the past week, I have been fortunate enough to experience two amazing fall pastimes here in Poland - Football (soccer) and riding through the countryside. For me, fall has always meant soccer season, and here in Poland, that certainly seems to also be the case. Our local team, Legia Warszawa, qualified for the Europa League, which means we welcome teams from Europe (and Russia) to compete against; and Legia has started really, really well with the competition.

Last Thursday night, our school secured a block of tickets for the Legia vs Leicester Europa League game here in Warsaw. It was amazing! From the pre-game bratwurst, beer, and cheer to the endless songs, chants and anthems that the Legia fans wailed all, game, long.

Legia won. 1 - 0. With a backup goalie who grew up 5K from here. It was epic, and it gave me a much better sense of why I see signs of Legia everywhere...literally, everywhere, we go.

At first, the signs of “Legia” were similar to “Listy” to me. I was curious what they all meant, and why the green, red, white and black were so important to folks around here. There were flags, and “L” symbols in random places. And then, I started to get it - Just like the Terrible Towels in Pittsburgh, and the “Allen/Diggs for President” signs in Buffalo, we have our own hometown here. Legia it is...

And, On Saturday, I was so excited to get out on my bike with some colleagues/friends to take advantage of Poland’s bike paths and dirt paths in order to ride over 100K north of Warsaw to the town of Ciechanow.

This ride was an important event for me, because every fall, for the past 15 years or so, I have riden to raise money and awareness for folks who are physically challenged. This is a cause that is important to me as I have been fortunate enough to see, firsthand, the impact that organisations that help to support this work can have. For example, 20 years ago, I was a part of this amazing experience (Northeast Passage Hike to Galehead Hut) ; Here's another inspirational video reflecting on that experience, 20 years later.

This year, and for the past 5 years, I have been a part of a team that supports the Kelly Brush Foundation; an inspirational organisation based in resilience and kindness. There's an amazing story here about Kelly, her injury, and her desire to help others and raise awareness, funding, and accessibility to equipment, training and access to the outdoors; and I am happy to share it during our ride, next weekend. The ride this year was a few weeks ago, and raised over $800,000, but I was not able to attend. I raised close to $3500; my team raised over $25,000 this year; and I vowed to them (and all of my supporters) that I would still get in some Kilometers to support the ride.

So, a huge thank you to my colleague, Pawel for putting this together. And, thank you to everyone who is able to join us.

We miss you all.