Monthly Archives: February 2014

Finding gluten free food in Poland.

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Gluten free food in Poland is generally found in specialist stores, health food shops or delicatessens. In larger towns you will find some basics in the supermarkets, and mostly it will be in its own (very small) section. Piotr i Pawel has more then most, Alma usually has a few things, my local Intermarche has TONS, but you can usually find bits and bobs even in Carefour and Real and Auchan. As mentioned previously on this blog, tesco has nothing.

I live in a small town outside of Poznan, and even in this town there is a small delicatessen selling gluten free goods, and unlike other countries, it is NOT super expensive.

– Linda

Wroclaw, I think I love you!

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Have you ever visited somewhere and felt instantly at home? You know, that almost ‘in love’ feeling where you walk around with a silly smile on your face and just want to inhale the air even further in to your lungs, almost inhaling the actual place? If you’ve never felt that way, then feel free to think I’m a lunatic, and I wish you luck in finding your ‘at home’ place.

We went to visit Wroclaw because the school situation here in Poznan was getting to a point where we have to leave. So quick, we must find another town, another school! I didn’t expect to find another ‘at home’ place in the process, a city that Im sure will always live in my heart.

Where Poznan at times feels half asleep, Wroclaw feels alive, pulsating, moving! Where at times I feel like Poznan is in black and white, Wroclaw is totally 100% in colour! And they have gnomes! (I will have to do a full post about the gnomes one day, they are awesome!)

Poznan is nice, I like our house here and its been fine, but is fine enough? I guess that if the school had lived up to our expectations, and our children had been educated well, cared for well and been happy, then fine would have evolved to good. But unfortunately the school situation has been a total disaster. We visited two schools in Wroclaw and my kids would be lucky to go to either one of them.

So, we are moving to Wroclaw!   – insert jumping up and down exited smiley here –

-Linda

Did you lose friends over Celiac?

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I think if you didn’t, you might be one of the lucky ones. Don’t we all have them… the people who don’t take Celiac seriously, who get slightly embarrassed when we start questioning a waiter or a manager, the not so discreet eye rolling when we start wiping crumbs from a table in Starbucks or tell our Celiac kid not to touch anything. Then they blame us, because WE changed. Well of course we bloody changed! We had to! And Celiac is hard enough without us needing people in our lives making it harder! It doesnt bother me to wipe tables in cafes, so why should it bother anyone else?

Haven’t we all heard it all?

‘A little bit of Gluten wont hurt’

‘You need to expose her so she can get used to it and grow stronger’

‘I know a family where a kid was allergic to bla bla bla and they started….’ (SHUT UUUUUUUP!!!!)

‘Oh comon, of course there wont be gluten in -insert ice-cream, dried fruits, chewing gum, crisps etc here – ‘

Why is it that people who hardly know what gluten is all of a sudden consider themselves total experts?

But then there is the good side, the best bit about Celiac! The instant friendships with other families like yours, the Celiac buddies. The ones you can call from the supermarket aisle and they do as much researching as you and can tell you in 2 seconds which salad dressings are safe. The people you can 100% relax with. Wipe tables, hands, ask the strangest questions around, and then offer them your baby wipes so they can do the same.

The truth is, for us, we gained far more friends then we lost. Sure, we lost some, but again, we don’t need people in our lives who try to ridicule or belittle our situation. So if you lost friends over Celiac, then get out there, go to your local Celiac meet up and meet others like you. For me, this is the very reason I started Gluten Free UAE, I wanted my child to not feel so different. And by having a huge network of Celiacs around us, being gluten free is as normal to my kids as it is to wear glasses. Some people eat gluten, some don’t. But I will NOT have people in our lives eye rolling near my daughter when we are doing things we have to do to keep her safe. I don’t make a big deal about Celiac, neither should they.

-Linda

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I write blog posts in my head…..

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Every night its the same story, I cant sleep, my mind is whizzing and swirling like crazy, so I write, in my head, and some totally amazing oscar winning material style blog posts are written some nights. Of course, by morning, I dont remember a word and dont feel inspired at all.

I realised I haven’t written much on here about life, and about the things around us. The truth is, I rarely write unless its positive. Why? Surely people who want to share our lives by reading here want the good with the bad? Or is it just that living for so many years in the Middle East has made me unable to write negative things out of fear of being told off? Freedom of Speech is a great thing, but I actually set far harsher limits on myself then any government. I still – even though I can speak openly – don’t speak badly of people, companies, brands, institutions etc. I am pretty sure if I had, there would have been a ton more traffic here, but I also don’t write for traffic.

I do however owe you all some posts, about another move we are about to make (yes I know!). About hospitals in Poland, about people who speak perfectly good english refusing to do so, about the school which we decided to pull the children out of, about Poznan, about Wroclaw (my new love!). All those topics have been covered extensively – at night – in my head. Sorry about that, I will try to get them on to paper (can you even say that nowadays? on to an electronic devise?) asap, I promise!

I leave you with a picture of a road sign – deep in the middle of the Polish wilderness, just because, blog posts with pictures are nicer then blog posts without 🙂

-Linda

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Carefour gluten free sweets (Poland)

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Im amazed at how many of the sweets in carefour in Poland have Gluten Free written on them, or Bezglutenowy. Having never seen them in the middle east I can only assume they have non halal beef gelatine in them. Being a non muslim this  doesn’t matter to me, and although the kids rarely eat shop bought sweets, its nice to be able to give them a choice so they too can feel ‘like everyone else’ at times 🙂

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Do you have a carefour where you live? Would love to know what gluten free sweets they have!

-Linda

Im totally obsessed with house hunting!

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In the past 8 years Ive moved country (twice) and house ehm…. 6 times. Lucky for me then that trawling house websites has turned in to a bit of an obsession! By now, I know exactly what I want / need in a house. I know the average price for buying and renting in several cities, not to mention countries! And whats more, I re check my information frequently! I would make a superb estate agent! When Im stressed, I play computer games and house hunt. You lot can keep the wine (or whatever your vice is)!

I have documents (I’m not actually sure I should be admitting to this, LOL), listing different cities and the average house price with school information and current school fees included. This is a rather new addition to my obsession, and its what happens when you look for a place to live with only 2 things in mind 1. Financially viable. 2. No dust.

My husband is an architect, and he really helps me feed my obsession, I find plots, he draws me my dream house, I move some walls, he asks how I want the kitchen. Aaaah. If only we had the funds!!

Im still researching. Why? Im not sure. I guess I want to keep all options and doors open, and how can you if you are not informed? Poland is a 2 year plan, then a new plan will form, that plan may very well be to stay in Poland longer, or who knows, maybe we pick a new country? Something closer to the dust! I find myself staring at google earth maps for hours, trying to figure out where would work, gluten free wise, many get crossed off in my mind instantly. Although my friend Melanie would laugh at me and say, ‘but Linda, YOU if anyone, can CHANGE that’ (meaning gluten free awareness and availability of foods). But Im just not sure I have the energy to do it all again? Im still running GlutenFree UAE more or less full time, with some help nowadays, but its still mainly me.

Im super super keen on New Zealand. I have no ties. The world has no borders. Im feeling incredibly lucky 🙂

-Linda