This diary is a collaboration submitted by Nicole, Genny, Maxine, Kaleigh & Nicole and their chaperone, Agata Krolikowska.

August 19th – August 31st

Diary Entry - Days 1 & 2

Guten Tag from a very hot and sunny Berlin!

Our plane trip was "interesting" because it started with a one hour delay at Halifax Airport and while we were sitting in the departure lounge the sign outside our gate said "departed"!

Everything went smoothly after that. Some of us slept, but some of us were too excited or a little bit stressed at the beginning of our adventure to sleep. Because of the delay in Halifax we only just made the next plane from Frankfurt to Berlin. When we arrived in Berlin we took the bus from the airport to the main train station and from there we walked to our hotel, checked-in and left our bags. The weather was gorgeous and it was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. When we went out for our walk around Berlin the city was boiling hot :-) Halifax's weather was nothing by comparison to this because there is no ocean to cool it down.... We love Berlin. The architecture is stunning and it is such a busy city!

First we walked to the Parliament Building (the Reichstag), which we also saw from inside. Then we went into the "iconic glass dome" to view the city - this was very, very interesting. Agata told us a lot about World War II and the Berlin Wall and what it was like to live under communism. Next we made our way to Brandenburg Gate and walked further to Unten den Linden and Friedrichstrasse - one of the most famous streets of Berlin.

Then we took a boat tour, which was fantastic, but... after a while we all fell asleep :-) - it must have been very comfortable ride.

Afterwards we made our way back by subway to the hotel to freshen up before supper and then after our first German meal we decided to just stay in the hotel and get a good night's sleep. The heat and the overnight flight were so tiring that we all wanted to be fresh for tomorrow - especially as we have a very early start in the morning - and we'll see more of Berlin on our way back.

We really are looking forwards to the train ride to Poland - for some of us, the train is another "first"!

Diary Entry – Day 3

Dobry wieczor from sunny Warsaw!

Today was a veeery long day.

We had to wake up at 5.00am to catch our train at the HauptBahnhof (the main railway station, the biggest glass building of this kind in Europe). We all woke up on time, even if some of us were a little grumpy, then we packed, took our breakfast to go - and walked to the station.

There we had to wait for a few minutes for our train. This was particularly exciting for three of us, who had NEVER EVER taken the train before. The day before we had some time to chat about it - the girls were trying to guess how the train looked like and they were very happy to learn that it was just like the “Harry Potter train”, with cabins inside. They soon started to appreciate our cabin and enjoyed the train crew passing by with a trolley full of chocolate bars, sandwiches and soft drinks, because it really felt like being in Harry Potter.

Can you imagine that we missed the border! Since Poland joined the European Union there is no real border and no checkpoint between the EU countries, so we only knew that we had traveled from Germany to Poland when the language of the station names changed.

We were all very much excited to be in Poland, but soon the sleeping beauties 'disease' hit us again and we fell asleep. All of us, even our chaperone!

We arrived in Warsaw just after mid-day and reached the hotel, first taking a tram and then a bus. Feeling rejuvenated after a shower and a change of clothes, we started our discovery of the Polish capital.

We first went for lunch to an amazing place, in very old Polish style, where we ate...in a bed. Actually, it wasn't a real bed, but two benches and a table made out of a bed. The interior was awesome and we really enjoyed the meal. The most courageous amongst us (Kaleigh and Nicole) shared a plate with Polish specialties: They had pork ribs, pork gulash, a cabbage and meat stew (called bigos) and potato pancakes and they really loved it. The only thing the girls left on the plate was a hot sausage made of pork blood: this was too much, even for them. Being very reluctant at first, Nicki and Maxine also tried some of Kaleigh's and Nicole's meal and liked it as well.

Full as eggs we started our visit of Warsaw with the most characteristic buildings of all in this city: The Palace of Culture and Science, also called by some of the expatriates living in Poland: “The Russian Wedding Cake”. This building was built in the early 1950's by thousands of Russian workers who came especially to Poland to build this sole construction. It was a gift from the Soviet dictator, Stalin, for the Poles and it is very much hated by lots of Poles, because it reminds them the time where they were slaves in their own country, under Russian communist domination.

We nevertheless enjoyed this huge building and took an elevator to the top, which is on the 30th floor.

Can you imagine that there is a special elevator-lady, sitting in each of the two elevators going to the top, whose job is only to press 1 and 30 for the whole day! As we had been talking a lot about our plans for the future, we all agreed that we couldn't think of a more boring job that this one. Up there the view was stunning and we could see the whole city at a glance. We were also fascinated by some alpinists who were working on the top of the building, repairing it, and secured by one rope. What a dangerous job!

From the Palace of Culture we went to check out the strange building located on the other side of the street, resembling to a big bubble gum. This was the mall, with a roof entirely made from pieces of glass. It took us half an hour to see the place from the inside and to get some gifts for our family. Then we took the tram again and went for another meal (we promised Genny a real vegan meal) and so we went to a veg canteen, ruled by a foundation which promotes the healthy lifestyle in Poland!

Our visit went on with a stop in front of the Umsclagplatz Memorial. This place commemorates the Jews, former inhabitants of the city, who were deported from Warsaw to death camps by the Nazis. The next memorial we saw on our way to the old town was a strange monument, a replica of a train carriage with lots of crosses and some Jewish tombstones on it, which has been erected to remind people of all those who were killed near the Eastern border and in the Eastern Polish territory after Russia invaded Poland, on the 17th September 1939.

Starting to feel really tired we finally reached the Old Town, passing by one of the buildings of the Polish Mint. The funny thing about the Old Town is that it's almost brand new. As Poland had been 80% destroyed by German bombs during WWII the government decided to rebuild the Old Town to the exact same design as the 18th century original. Today the Old Town is divided in two parts: an Old and a New town. We all enjoyed this part of the town a lot, very touristic but nevertheless very cute. Our legs needed a rest, so we decided to sit down on the stairs of the column holding the sculpture of one of the Polish kings, famous for all the things he did for the city, King Sigismond the Third, and watch a few people wandering all around the Royal Castle square.

Soon after we sat we had the opportunity to enjoy a hip hop show presented by a group of very energetic Polish teens. We of course couldn't resist and put some money in their hats after the show. Passing by the Residence of the President of the Polish Republic, we then walked all the way along the most beautiful boulevard in town, Krakowskie Przedmiescie and Nowy Swiat.

We went for a delicious ice-cream to the most ancient pastry shop in Warsaw, Blikle, existing since the 19th century and then finally met our second chaperone, Ada, who we were dying to meet after all we've heard about her.

Then, Ada took us to the Polish Parliament but we were so tired that we forgot to take any pictures of the place! As we reached the hotel Ada showed us all the different Polish banknotes so we could understand their value.

Can you imagine that we could fit so many things into one single day? We were surprised ourselves, but really happy. Warsaw is a huge city and we'll have the opportunity to discover some more of it tomorrow before our work begins.

Diary Entry – Day 4

Dobry wieczor from sunny Warsaw!

First thing today, after a delicious breakfast we all enjoyed a lot, we drove (yes, we do have our minibus now – a red one with a huge lady-bee on the side, we call “The Buzzer”) to the museum of WWII and the Warsaw Uprising. We visited the museum with Ada, who had to translate all the way along because all of the English speaking guides were on holidays. We've never been in such a museum before, so it was an amazing and very interactive experience. Maxine even said that it was the best museum ever!

On our way back we took the subway, which has only one line. It was perfectly enough for us though and we enjoyed it before reaching the restaurant where we were expected for lunch.

Ole! Today we tried another kind of European cuisine, after German and Polish: a Spanish one. The cook had prepared for us a great amount of food, but we didn't know it, so we finished all the appetizers – and then the biggest plate ever was brought to our table! We were astonished by the waitress, who wanted to be sure that there was enough food for us. Enough? Remember when we were all sitting at Halifax's airport? This meal could have fed ALL OF the people gathered there!

After lunch Agata came to pick us up with the Buzzer and we went to the Foundation's office to wrap the gifts for the children. First of all we went through the albums of the 1,100 + wishes that the Foundation has granted to terminally-ill children during the past 5 years - it was quite emotional to see. Kamila's Foundation in Poland is called Fundacja Dziecieca Fantazja (Children's Fantasies Fulfilled) and by the time we get home we hope to be able to pronounce it!

It took us a few hours to wrap and pack the presents. We all felt like it was Christmas. We didn't giftwrap all the presents because they would get damaged during our trip. So we wrapped the ones which are the fantasies to be presented during the first three days and then we'll wrap new presents everyday after that.

We struggled a little to put the scooter that we have for one of our children into the car, but we stopped a young father who was passing by with his son in a stroller, and asked him for help. While we were babysitting the kid, he helped us to put the scooter in The Buzzer. Then the packing became a piece of cake, even if it took us another couple of hours. We didn't only pack the minibus, but also cleaned the windows so we could see a beautiful Poland on the road tomorrow. We also managed to find a perfect stash for the snacks we're taking with us for the trip.

Once very professionally packed we headed to a gigantic mall, one of the biggest in Europe. We wandered around for a while and had a meal at....McDonald's, which has different menus from Canada and only one size of McFlurry (how disappointing- their iced desert is even smaller than the Canadian small size one). Kaleigh was very surprised when she ordered her Happy Meal, because in Poland you get it with a free toy. She ended her day with a Lego Hummer, and we all had fun with it.

Tomorrow we have to wake up really early, because our work – the purpose of our visit – now begins. We're going to see three kids and it's going to be a long day.

Diary Entry – Day 5

Dobry wieczor from Lodz!

Today, we surprised our chaperone Agata by appearing at the breakfast table all wearing our “Hope” T-shirts. We were ready to leave at 9.00am, as our second chaperone, Ada, arrived then with the last presents and our GPS.

This uncommon GPS of ours made us look for our first child, living in Kutno, for about an hour! As told to us later by Paulina's father, who's a truck driver, all GPS go crazy in these surroundings. No wonder that we couldn't find our way. Finally, guided by the voice of Paulina's mother on the phone, we managed to get to the house of the 15 year old girl, who has leukemia.

Paulina's dream was to get a keyboard. She doesn't know how to play yet, but her uncle, who runs a music company, is a player and he'll teach her. We made her promise that if we return she'll play something for us. Someone had to try the keyboard out though, and Kaleigh was happy to help. What a player! We were all fascinated and we are pretty sure that Kaleigh became Paulina's hero and now she has a goal to reach.

Paulina was very pleased as well by the rice necklace she got from Nicky: she couldn't believe that Nicky did it herself and immediately put it on.

We chatted a lot and cuddled Toffi, the silver Yorkshire terrier Paulina got as soon as her parents discovered she was sick. As Paulina doesn't speak English, but only a little German, we had our chat translated by our two chaperones....and discovered that we shared the same fascination for Harry Potter. As Paulina is going for chemotherapy in the hospital in Lodz soon, she'll watch the movie and she is really looking forward to it (there is no movie theater in Kutno, where she lives).

A lot of smiles and best wishes later we hit the road again, in order to reach our second child of the day, 15 year old Adrian, who lives in Kalisz and suffers from bone cancer. We had a great meal in a fancy looking restaurant near a castle on our way.

As we arrived in front of our second child's home we were shocked by the state of the house: there was graffiti everywhere on the walls and on the staircase and the place looked almost like a slum. But we learned a great lesson today, that we shouldn't judge the inside only by the outside, as a handsome, blue-eyed, dark haired and very sweet Adrian welcomed us into his home.

Adrian wants to become a professional DJ and he knows from documentaries and TV interviews he saw that the best ones start learning when they're between 15 and 17. That's why his biggest dream was to get a real DJ Mixer. His eyes were full of sparkles of joy when he opened his gift and realized that his biggest wish really came true. Ours were as well as we looked at this handsome and sweet Dreamer.

Our chat wasn't that easy, because it was more of a teenagers 'shy' meeting but the adults helped a little and we eventually managed to have a great conversation. We've also been invited by the whole family to visit Kalisz again, and of course to come for Adrian's first DJ party.

We also had a very special ice cream specially prepared for us by Adrian's mother, with two flavours of ice cream, strawberry syrup, peaches and whipped cream. What an ice cream it was! We loved it!

Unfortunately we had to leave sooner than we'd have liked to, because we still had a last child to visit, in Lodz, and we had a long way to go to get there. Nevertheless, before leaving we took Adrian's whole family to see our Buzzer and of course took a family picture.

We arrived at Jakub's house just after 8 p.m. The whole family was expecting us and waving to us from the window. We were welcomed by a cup of tea and some Polish pastries (cheese cake and apple pie) and a great smile from Jakub, who knew that we'd come to fulfill his secret wish for a laptop. First of all we found it strange that a 10 year old had such a strong wish for a laptop, but we understood better the exact reason of this wish when Jakub's mom told us that Jakub has spent two years in the hospital (and during these 2 years only 3 months were spent at home). Hospitals are a terrible place to be in, and it's not only a painful, but also a boring experience. Jakub has a very severe form of kidney cancer and has already had one kidney removed - the second one being saved, so far, thanks to a surgery. We could also see, that he's not only a computer, but also soccer, fan - as he welcomed us wearing a full soccer outfit.

Jakub so much enjoyed opening and trying out his new laptop. Unfortunately something happened and the laptop we checked at the office which was perfectly working back then suddenly turned black. We tried some things to repair it, but we didn't succeed. That's why tomorrow we'll start with a change of schedule and do everything we can to exchange Jakub's new laptop for him. We just can't leave him disappointed, even if he's been very brave today, watching us taking away his freshly fulfilled wish.

Oh yes, so many things happened today that we forgot to tell you that Jakub has some very special pets: two rats (one is bald) and one young boa constrictor snake. We didn't run away but when Jakub's father asked us if we wanted to see the snake out of its cage, we suddenly started to speak perfect Polish, because somehow he understood perfectly well that it wouldn't be such a good idea. Was it because of our Polish or the look we had? We’ll let you guess.

We reached our hotel very late and tired but very happy and we ordered a pizza and took some pictures of ours rooms. The hotel in which we're staying tonight is awesome...And guess what: the pillow colours and some of the furniture are in Maxine’s favorite colour, lime. 

Diary Entry – Day 6

Dobry wieczor from Torun !

As we had to fix Jakub's computer today, we couldn't leave Lodz as soon as we had planned. This delay allowed us to visit some of the main spots of this industrial city built at the beginning of the industrial era (end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century), which is a beautiful example of art nouveau architecture.

We started by walking on the biggest pathwalk in Europe (almost 5km long), called Piotrkowska Street. We had some time to admire the houses, but also to take pictures with a statue of one of the greatest piano players in the world, Arthur Rubinstein, who was born into a Jewish family in Lodz. Then we took a photo of the world famous Polish director's Roman Polanski star on the walk of fame, which has been created in Lodz, because that's where the most famous Polish movie school is located.

On our way we met Jakub, our Dreamer from yesterday, who was walking on the street with his rat (YES! BALDY, as he calls him, was with him), because his mother works in a newspaper kiosk nearby.

As Agata went to exchange the defective computer for a brand new one, we went with Aga to see the former Fabric factory (the biggest ever built in Lodz), which now has been transformed into a small village, in which you can find an art museum, as well as a fancy five stars hotel, restaurants, a movie theatre, and a mall. It was an astonishing place to see.

We left Lodz 3 hours behind schedule on our way to see Natalia, an 18 year old teen who suffers from leukemia. (She has recently left hospital where she spent 8 months in a white room, because of the failure of her immune system due to her treatment). She’s still skinny but she's full of energy, even if weak.

Natalia opened her present, a camcorder, with delight and immediately tried it out. It was a great occasion for us to learn the Polish Happy Birthday song (a real tongue twister!) and to sing it to Natalia, who turns 18 on the day of our flight back to Halifax.

Then we taught Natalia how to sing the same song in English and had lots of fun singing it together. Natalia showed us her room and her photos from before the disease hit her, and we chatted about all her plans for the future. Natalia wants first to pass her driving test and she would like to become a masseuse as well. The children always have hope.

We didn't really want to leave her home but we had to because another teen, Klaudia, 15, suffering from cystic fibrosis was waiting for us in Torun.

Torun is a very special city, the hometown of Copernicus and of Polish gingerbread. It’s an old town (a real one, really old, not rebuilt after WWII, as in Warsaw) and is stunning, especially by night, as we saw it.

Klaudia lives at the gateway of the old town, in an old building with the steepest staircase than we've ever seen.

Klaudia's dream was to get clothes and a laptop: she got all this and even more, but she was totally overwhelmed by our presence and all these gifts, so the communication was difficult....She was also very shy, but we could see sparkles in her eyes and her mother told us that her daughter would probably spend the whole night trying on her new clothes.

Even if our visit was short it was also very emotional. Especially for Maxine, who was stunned to learn that in Poland kids with cystic fibrosis have such a short life (average life expectancy, 17 – as in Canada, 37) because the government isn't wealthy enough to provide the best care and cures.

On our way to the hotel we went to pick up the electric guitar that we will give to one of the children in a few days, and we finally reached the hotel at 11 pm., really exhausted.

Tomorrow is another day and we're looking forwards to live it to the fullest, but at the moment we can only think about one thing: - our beds!

Diary Entry – Day 7

Z Bydgoszczy

This time, after a night in a hotel which seemed very different to the girls, and just very simple and old fashioned “Polish” to the chaperones, we had a lazy touristic morning and went to see the Spa village of Ciechocinek. There we walked along a special path near a huge wooden construction in which salty water was slowly dropping through wooden branches, working as a gigantic inhalator. The smell of the air was kind of funny and salty, like at the seaside, but we courageously went through the whole thing. Then we had an ice cream and bought some souvenirs for our families.

In the early afternoon we reached the house of our first Dreamer. Pawel is 14 and has leukemia, but he's in remission now and so you don't even notice that he's ever been sick, which is really good to see. He lives in the countryside (we had to do some off road driving to arrive to his house). He has nine siblings, but some have already left home. The family is extremely poor. There is no bathroom in the house at all, and it is clear to see that they have to make every zloty count. Pawel's younger brother is mentally disabled, which doesn't make things easier for the mother, divorced, who courageously raises her children by herself.

Then we went to see our next protégée, Klaudia, who lives in the countryside as well, about 50 km from Pawel.

We went to check if the tiles, the bathtub and all the materials needed to build a bathroom in Klaudia’s house had arrived (no bathroom here either, as in Pawel's house - that's why it was Klaudia's dream to get one). They were all here and we could admire the beautiful green tiles for her new bathroom. Unfortunately we also got some bad news about Klaudia's health. Klaudia suffers from muscular atrophy and she will very soon be confined to a wheelchair with very little time left to live. When we first saw her she was still walking strong but the doctors think that the atrophy is getting much worse. The whole family has to go to Warsaw to check it out in September. They will also check out Klaudia's young, one year old sister, because they think she might have the same genetic disease.

We were very sorry to leave Klaudia so fast, but we had to go visit Sylwia in Bydgoszcz. Sylwia is 16 and has cystic fibrosis, but unfortunately also suffers from a severe heart failure as well. She's considered as being too weak for a heart transplant (she applied a few times but her demand has been rejected). She's been home-schooled since she was 7 and rarely goes out. For her our visit was like the whole school came home. You have to know that Sylwia loves everything that is American or Canadian....maybe because the only way she could travel is on the Web and she loves travelling far (she took the plane once in her life and it ended badly for her health).

We brought Sylwia her dream: an LCD TV 42'' wide, which was her biggest dream, because she can't go to the cinema. She wanted the cinema to come to her and that's what happened. Nevertheless, the sweet teen couldn't stop crying for the first 20 minutes we were here. She feels things so strongly, that she was totally overwhelmed by her own emotions. After a chat and plenty of pictures, taken by her mother and by us, and a lot of answers and questions about how Canada was, we left Sylwia to her happiness, even though we could have stayed forever. We almost all had to stop the tears from running out: it was a very emotional visit.

At the end of our very long day we went to see the island of the Old town in Bydgoszcz and had a meal there, on the terrace of an elegant restaurant. Finally we reached our very fancy, four star hotel and went to sleep.

Tomorrow is again a long day and we have to get prepared, since we will visit a hospital and travel to the Polish sea-side.

Diary Entry – Day 8

Dobry wieczor z Gdanska!

After an amazingly tasty breakfast in our hotel, we went to the pediatric hospital, where we were expected. We had five huge cardboard boxes full of presents for the kids and for the hospital's school. The children and wonderful hospital employees in charge of them were waiting for us. There were some journalists as well, national TV and a local Radio. We were warmly welcomed and before the children opened what we had brought for all of them we were given a very emotional surprise. Graciela, who suffers from brain damage, which slowly turns off her sight, sang for us for ten minutes. She had such an incredible voice and she put loads of heart in the lyrics and expression. Actually, we can say that all the children threw a party for us: there were cookies, soft drinks and we even danced together.

The department of neurology which we visited is going to be destroyed at the end of the year. In theory there is enough money to re-build, within the next three years, a beautiful, brand new building with three floors, big class rooms and even a winter garden. The city is not sure though about this investment, because, even if the hospital is very much needed, the ground could be sold for a huge amount of money to build condos on, which seems to be a very tempting solution for some of the greediest city administrators. We just couldn't understand that and we still can't and won't accept that way of thinking. 

We weren't the only ones to give presents, we were given some as well. We were presented with teddy bears and hand made diplomas especially prepared for us by the kids. As usual, we didn't really want to leave, but we had to, because Rafal and Milosz were expecting us in Gdansk.

Even if they live in two completely different cities, both boys go to the same hospital in Gdansk. It's one of the most beautiful pediatric hospitals in Poland, and has cheering murals on every wall. When we planned our journey, we were supposed to meet both Rafal, 5 years old, suffering from leukemia and cerebral palsy and Milosz, 10 years old, struggling with a leukemia, at their homes. Unfortunately they both had to go into the hospital at short notice. The good news was that straight after we met they were able to go home, which is always a joy for kids who spend a lot of time in hospitals.

We organized a family gathering in the hospital's lobby and gave all the presents to the two boys at the same time. Then we didn't really have much left to do, because both Rafal and Milosz were so fascinated by what they got that we could just watch them and smile at their happy faces. Rafal got books, cars and also Play Dough sets. Milosz got a camcorder, a real electric a guitar with an amplifier and also a voucher for clothes that he's going to get in a shop with his parents. He also had something special prepared for us: a drawing made with perfumed pens.

We didn't want to keep Milosz, Rafal and their families too long at the hospital, because they had a long way to go home, but we took all the pictures we could and also shared our hope for their fast recovery. At the end of the day we arrived at our lovely hotel, a modern and brand new place in a very central place within Sopot, one of the Tri- Cities. Tired after the last couple of very long days, we enjoyed this lazy late afternoon, spent wandering around the sea-side.

We walked all the way along the longest wooden pier in Europe, did some tourist shopping to buy presents for our families, and went for a meal to a restaurant called BAD WOMAN (Zla Kobieta in Polish), where we had salads and Italian pasta. We finished our day with a waffle with whipped cream (a must eat at the Polish sea) and then watched a Woody Allen movie in the open air movie theater set at the very beginning of the half kilometer long pier.

We loved every minute of this day and we are now waiting for tomorrow, very impatient to meet Kasia and Michal, who's going to get the biggest dream of our journey: a motor-scooter. Michal doesn't know that we're coming and it might be a huge surprise for him.

Diary Entry – Day 9

Witajcie z Gdanska, hello!

We are still very lucky with the weather here. We slept in the most beautiful hotel ever and we are so full of stories to tell you when we get be back, that you have no idea. We also practiced a little of our Polish (Kaleigh now has a masters degree in saying 'dzien dobry'- good morning, now). We also get along so well together and we really love it, we've become good friends despite of our different ages. We're also very sorry to have to tell you that we're not really homesick, but we're always thinking about our beloved ones back home.

We began our day with visiting our first dreamer, Kasia, who lives in Tczew, a city located 40 km from Gdansk, but who has been living at the hospital in Gdansk since October last year, when she was diagnosed with a leukemia. Kasia is much better now, but after taking steroids her joints, especially her knee joints have started to swell. The doctors don't really know what the reason is, but happily, after a biopsy taken last week, they have excluded a new attack of cancer. Still, 14 year old Kasia is in lots of pain and she has to take strong painkillers everyday.

Her mother told us that Kasia was so excited that we would come that she woke up at 5 am today. She couldn't believe that her dream was going to be fulfilled so quickly. Unfortunately it sometimes takes a year or two to make every child happy but this time we managed to do things very fast and Kasia received her camcorder only a few months after she applied for it.

The shy but talkative girl has plans to film all her friends and the ants in the forest where she goes for short walks with her mum. Unfortunately her beloved dog died a month ago, hit by the neighbour's car, and she's still in lot of sorrow at the moment, because Luna (Moon in latin) would have been the first hero of her movie.

We actually became the first people Kasia filmed. This will leave wonderful memories from our visit. We very much enjoyed this quiet visit full of warm emotions. Ada didn't come inside the house with us but just waved at Kasia from a distance, because she has a sore throat and we didn't want to risk Kasia's health. This was a really lovely thing to see though: Ada waving to Kasia from one side of the street, and Kasia waving back.

Our second Dreamer of the day was also the one who got the biggest present of all. Michal's dream (he is 14) - was to get a motor scooter. As Michal's parents only told him that we were coming a couple of days ago, we decided to play the game a little bit longer and didn't bring him the scooter straight away. We first spent almost an hour at his house and gave him loads of matchbox cars that he loves and some other stuff he liked a lot. According to his parents Michal is a boy whose mouth never shuts, but this time he was so overwhelmed by our presence and the gifts that he didn't know what to say. It may also be the fact that Michal has had to spend the last two years secluded in his house and in hospital. Now he's slowly recovering and even thinks of going to school.

After a lot of chatting and eating Polish pastries (you have no idea what Polish hospitality is) we asked Michal if he wanted to see our red Buzzer. As his parents didn't tell him that he would get a scooter, Michal didn't know that it was waiting for him in our minibus. He didn't really believe it even when he saw the scooter and when we told him that THIS scooter was really for him. It took us a while to unwrap the machine, and once it was done we spent a lot of time taking pictures from each side (beside us the whole family was taking pictures so it was looking like the paparazzi had arrived).

But we still had some more things for Michal: a helmet, some clothes to keep him warm on the scooter and of course a trunk for the machine and the keys. Michal was so stunned and so happy that we spent a long time together. We hugged at the end and we felt as if we'd known each other for much longer than we actually did.

In the late afternoon, we wandered around Gdansk, the city where WWII started 65 years ago, did some shopping and had a meal and a desert (Genny is very happy because the most famous national ice creams producer, Grycan, makes lots of non-diary, vegan fruit sorbets). Tomorrow we'll hit the road again, to go to Szczecin, located near the German border, at the sea, in Western Poland.

Diary Entry – Day 10

Dzien dobry ze Szczecina!

After a night spent in the campus of the medicine academy which made us discover how some students live on Polish campuses we hit the road early in the morning, to reach Szczecin. There was lot of driving today.

On our way we fulfilled two dreams. Adrian is a four year old who suffers from Wilms Tumor (a kidney cancer) and his dream: a game boy. Having a game boy may sound a little bit strange for a 4 year old, but Adrian has spent a lot of time in the hospital and he really wanted to have something to take his mind away from the chemotherapy and other painful treatments.

Adrian opened all his presents with great pleasure, the huge box of different games we brought him and of course the game boy.

Two press journalists were there to witness our visit at Adrian's and one came as well to Aleksander's home, our second Dreamer of the day. Aleksander is 7 and suffers from leukemia. He lives on the last floor of a very old building and his family is very poor. We could see though that there is love in the house and Aleksander loves very much his younger sister, 5 year old Zuzia (Susan) who was here when he was opening his presents. We really don't want to disappoint the siblings so when we come to fulfill someone's dream we of course have some gifts for siblings as well.

Aleksander was the happiest child in the world when he discovered his brand new Playstation 3 with joystick, pad, wheel and games. He also started to use his new camera straight away. Then he danced a dance of happiness with his sister, because he couldn't really believe that his dream had really been fulfilled.

We could hardly leave this house full of joy, but we are now starting to become very tired and happy that we are making our way back home soon, even if we still don't really miss Canada. There are so many wonderful memories we're going to share with all of you.

The singing in the car, the Polish words we learned, the funny and excellent meals we had, the very different hotels in which we slept, but best of all - the children we've met. These amazing kids with so much joy and hope.

Our journey isn't over though. After a good night of sleep we're leaving Szczecin in the morning to reach Zielona Gora, where we're going to fulfill our two last dreams. On our way to Zielona Gora, we're going to travel with a 5 month old puppy, which is one of the dreams we're going to fulfill tomorrow.

The time has flown by and we're already starting to talk about what we enjoyed the most and what was strange or unusual for us. We'll of course share all of our reflections with you.

Diary Entry – Day 11

Witamy z Zielonej Gorze!

Tonight is our last night in Poland. We had a long journey from Szczecin to Poznan, where we picked up the Yorkshire terrier which Weronika, our second last Dreamer, was dreaming of.

Weronika is 15 and she has already gone through 4 operations. The Polish doctors are afraid to treat her and even before her first surgery they told her parents that 'she wouldn't make it', but Weronika is still here, very energetic and full of life. During her surgery she was given a special Japanese medication, not paid for by the Polish social security system, which seems to be working. Weronika was really happy to see us...and the 5 month old puppy we brought her. If it wasn't for the bruises on her neck we wouldn't have known that she's sick. Weronika is starting to attend a professional school in September, where she'll learn how to become a hairdresser. She also works as a waitress to earn some money for herself. What a girl!

She's a very warm person and we were all happy to see her joy and her kindness with her new friend, who she'll probably call Mikey.

Our second dreamer of the day (and the last of our journey, which made us really sad until we realized that there were still many things we could do once this JFAL trip is over) also lives in Zielona Gora. His name is Dawid, he suffers from cystic fibrosis and is 7. Dawid's dream was to get a mobile phone and a game called the jumping frogs. He was really overwhelmed by the presents he got (because we of course tried to bring him much more than he wanted) and he was fascinated by the Nova Scotia flag that Nicky brought. Actually the flag was almost as big as the boy's room.

We ended our day playing jumping frog with Dawid for a while, and then left to have our last meal with Ada, who's leaving us tomorrow, and go to our hotel.

Later in the evening Weronika's mum called us to tell us that she had some presents for us. She's going to bring them tomorrow morning before we leave town. Unfortunately Weronika can't come, because she's on duty at the restaurants she works in.

We can't really believe it's our last day in Poland. So many things happened. We've all learned so much!

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