Waking up in Warsaw

This heartwarming, funny and entertaining story of living as a foreign family in Warsaw highlights some of the charming traditions and emerging struggles of Poland from January 1994 into the new millennium. A recently freed nation beckoned this young English family, keen for adventure. The book follows their challenges as they integrate, first into the freshly arriving international expat community and gradually into local village life. They share the journey of the Polish people who are navigating a whirlwind pace of change, as society in the capital city of Warsaw emerges from the shadow of the iron curtain. Centuries-old traditions run alongside new lifestyles, making every day for this enterprising family an experience full of unexpected delights and equally unexpected obstacles. For the villagers, old-style farming with a single cow and a horse-drawn cart runs alongside the new disciplines of marketing and advertising, bringing faster, smarter cars that are delivered with seats already installed and mobile phones that put households, who could never get a landline, suddenly in touch with the rest of the world. The landscape and art of this nation form the backdrop to the story, which includes how these expats found themselves owning part of a rare private lake, participants in a new wave art installation and honoured guests at a village wedding in the heart of Chopin country.