What I miss about Y'all...

I write this post from my favorite place to sit in the whole wide world... the left side of the living room couch in my house in The Woodlands, Texas. I have my laptop on my lap, chair reclined, and a glass of water (with ice!) on the table by my side. Obviously, I have taken a blog break for the last few weeks. Since my last post on July 10, I have had sad goodbyes to say to my students, had a crazy one-day trip to Warsaw, reunited with some of my favorite people in the world, and partied in one of modern history's most watched cities. Although my favorite place to sit is not located in Poland, some other really awesome things are.

1. People

The most important impression I got of Poland was that of the people who live there. I watched how the Poles lived, how they treated me, and how they viewed their own lives. I think that there is only so much that you can learn from landmarks and pretty views, but there is always potential to learn something more from people.

A. "The Neighborhood Kids"

I miss the kids that play on my first host family's street. Not to sound too up-ety here, but I was pretty much an instant star with the neighborhood kids-the younger ones, at least... maybe because I was practically from another planet. We could not speak with each other, but we played volleyball and had running races just about every day. (Several of the little kids did not get the concept of speaking another language. They were speaking to me in Polish and expecting an answer in Polish till the very last day.) A certain good-looking guy, Dominik, caught my eye right away. One day, all of the neighborhood kids were having a running race and went out by the street where Dominik is not supposed to be, unattended. I took his hand and we became a team. We beat the other kids in the race. (A rare feat for a five-year-old when the other kids as old as 12.)

He looked up at me, smiled, said "Emilee," and kissed my hand. The next day, he gave me this weird looking rice/corn snack while I was in the middle of a volleyball game with theother kids. I scarfed it down so that my hands would be free for the game. He saw that I had eaten it and gave me another one. Later he showed me a booboo on his finger… the finger he gave me the rice thing with. J Whenever I would see him out in the street, he would say "Heeyyy Emilee" and come and visit me. Yep, it was pretty much love from the get-go. Give Dominik about 20 years of growing time and he and I will be like peas and carrots. :)

B. My host family

Woah, they gave up a lot for me to stay there and for them to show me around. I think that my mom would get really frustrated just thinking about how she would have to work at getting the house clean before someone came. I enjoyed getting to know the parents in my first family... They are the kind of people that make me really wish I knew Polish. They were very friendly and a lot of fun.

We seemed to have a lot in common. I would love to have a good, free-flowing conversation with them. Is it totally ridiculous that I feel like I know them well even though we haven’t actually talked? No, I don’t think so. (I have learned over the last couple of months that) You can learn about a person without even speaking their language… it just takes more time. I also miss my host sisters, Natalia and Kinga. Kinga is the cutest girl ever! I really miss her asking me if I am tie-red. :) I feel like I know what Natalia is thinking in some situations because it has not been so long since I was 15. If I am remembering correctly, being 15 really sucks from time to time. I wish her the best. That is what she gave me while I was there. I hope she knows that she deserves it. :)

C. School Kids

Ok, I am not going to lie... there were times when I did not really want to plan out the next lesson, or times when I got frustrated with the kids that were "too cool" for the activity I had spent all night preparing. But, I miss them! I really do! Some of them were so sweet. Some gave me little pictures they had drawn or little flowers they had made. Even them saying thank you on the last day meant a lot. There were two girls that came up to me on the last day, and kindof hesitated a little bit and then they said in English: "We love you Emilee" and one of them cried. I almost cried, too. That was like the sweetest thing ever. ever ever! Also, I don't think that I will ever forget the girls in my second class that were soooo excited to go shopping. I would love to hang out with them again. :)

^ This is my third class reciting "Yo? Sup? Y'all in da hood?" after a slang lesson. I only teach quality material.

2. Food

Can anyone make me some Polish Barscz and piorogi, please!? My fave is piorogi ruskie, with piorogi z mieskie in a close second and blueberry piorogi for dessert! I attempted piorogi here at home... with little success. Another thing about their food is that they grow a lot of it themselves. If I didn’t have a black gardening thumb and actually had a yard, I would give this a whirl. Well, maybe even with the black thumb…that food is so good!

3. Three words : Favorable Exchange Rate

Tennis shoes - $5

A nice dinner - $4

Really awesome jeans - $17

A taxi ride - $2

The Zloty is worth 1/3 of a dollar, so shopping in Poland doesn’t feel nearly as guilty.

4. My name in Polish

My name is pronounced “Emeelee” and when you are calling it out, the ending changes, making it “Emeelka.” I love that. J

5. Doda Ice cream

A yogurt and strawberry ice-cream-on-a-stick named after a Polish pop star and shaped like a crown. Delish. Deserves its own category.

I also loved Tarnow and the ability to safely jump on the bus and head into town alone without speaking the language. J

I feel that my traveling experiences as a whole have each given me a new, more precise view of myself, the world, and of my country. There are things I see abroad that I think could better my life or country, and there are things that I am thankful to have in my life at home just as they are. One of those things is a certain mentality that I saw in the Poles. Very few of them that I talked to wanted to see things outside of where they lived, and certainly did not want to ever live in a different place. Their aspirations had more to do with what would make their family happy than anything else. I think that this is just a difference in priorities. In the U.S, careers are on top of or equal to families in importance, which alone is not something that I support, but is important to recognize. Generally speaking, we don’t mind moving for a job, or going to school for a long time after high school. I think that the Polish people have gotten their views of life from their past. They were part of the communist Soviet Union from 1961 to 1989, and I think that they are still getting over of mentalities that they were forced to accept during those times. This is something that I am glad we do not face in the U.S. I think that there is something to be said for taking your time in life and most certainly for holding your family in high esteem, but I think that the Polish people have so much more to offer than what they use. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I think that it is a shame if only nurture, rather than nature, is keeping them from dreaming and using their gifts.

I said a very sad goodbye to my two host families and the school principal as I boarded the train to Krakow. It was a great month I had spent in Wola Rzedzinska. (Say that three times fast!) I hope to go back there soon.

Back in Krakow, the group did some clubbing. (Clubs in Krakow make College Station’s “Northgate” look like a po-dunk ant farm.) We toured Krakow’s old Jewish district and saw Oscar Schindler’s factory. (That was pretty fascinating.) We also recapped our time in the villages.

I had wanted to see Warsaw before I left Poland and so did Ginger, another American on the trip. Others all over Krakow and Tarnow had told us that Warsaw was nothing to see (mainly because everything was destroyed in WWII, taking all old,

historically valuable buildings down), but how could a big, European city be “nothing to see?” We made a crazy, quick trip on our last day in Poland. I am really glad that we jumped out there and did go to Warsaw. It was a good time, and there were interesting things to see. Plus, I have seen and walked another city. J

I know I am sounding pretty mushy here, but I am going to miss the other Americans on the trip, too. I can honestly say that there is not one of the 15 of them that I would not like to hang out with. I don’t think that very many groups our size hang out for as long as we did and not get tired of each other or at least have some kind of quarrel.

As far as teaching a foreign language goes, I remember not caring one iota about things like what the French word “chat” meant in English. How many French people was I going to use that with in Texas? Um, none. Maybe if someone that I actually wanted to speak with and only spoke French came to my class, it would light a spark within me to go and study it. I hope that I have been that person for some of my Polish students.

I had an absolutely fabulous, unforgettable time in Poland. I experienced milking a cow for the first time, sailing on a sail boat for the first time, and teaching a class for the first time. I just hope that my kids had a some fun and learned a lot of English, or at least had a spark lit within them.

What a great 5 weeks.

Cześć!

So the first event of Tuesday was a kid jumping out the window. Ok, so we are on the first floor, the kid is 13, and it was really kindof funny looking back, but I was embarassed when the principal came and talked to him and another teacher came and told me that maybe that wasn't a good idea. Ok, duh! We were playing a life-sized board game. I asked the kids to come up with what to do on each space, and one of them said "jump across the window." I told them that they could not do that, but they could sit in the window sill. Oops. Too tempting...

I love my haircut! I was kindof nervous, but the stylist seemed to really know what she was doing and everything turned out well. My hair is now about two inches shorter, and thinned out in layers so it feels much lighter. I also have swept bangs. It turned out just the way I had envisioned. Yay for successful haircuts!

Yesterday after school, my host mother took the host siblings and I too an indoor pool. I haven't been to a public pool just to splash around anytime lately, but I had a really good time. They had a big, waterpark-style slide. Is it sad that I had a ton of fun with this? I went frontwards and backwards, laying down, and sitting up, trying to run into Anna, David or Ola...everything. Later we went to a huge store. Like Walmart super center size or bigger. I got some stuff to make legit chocolate chip cookies for the food lesson next week. (I have not yet seen these in Europe.)

Today, I met the girls in my second class to go shopping in the city. They are all about 12. When I mentioned to them that we could do some shopping when we went into the city, they all screamed like crazy! It was pretty much hilarious. They are at just the right age to take... young enough to where going shopping is a super fun event that they are not "too cool" for, and old enough to know what is going on and feel free to have fun with it. I invited my host siblings and their 16-year-old cousin to come along. They didn't seem to enjoy themselves but I think that they felt obligated to be there. That kinda sucks... I wish that they had not felt that way and just gone on home. One memorable moment was when we were on the bus on our way to the city. There was a guy who started talking to my girls and he was wearing a shirt that said:
Boys
On
Stag
Shitfaced
and that he was. Like a good teacher, I gave the "he's drunk" signal to them and made sure they didn't give out any names... but that was pretty funny.

Tomorrow, we will go to Zacopane. (I guarantee that that is spelled wrong.) I am not sure what exactly is there, but it is supposed to be beautiful. It is far away and will take all day, so I think that the family is really putting themselves out. That is very nice... just makes me feel kinda bad because there is no way that I can repay them for everything that they have done.

I have slacked off in the picture department so here are some from the past weeks:








Here is my little classes "class monster." They named it "Emily." How endearing. ;)













My little class














View from Dagmara's man's sailboat on Lake Rożnów










Asha and her kids in the Old castle ruins atop a big hill













The view from atop that hill. Um, can you say "good place to take a date?"













Anna and me in Sanok






















Some of the the neighborhood kids outside of the Merchut's house







My girls today in the city









-------Some noteworthy things I have discovered about Poland---------



Alcohol - Beer and Vodka are big. You can drink them when you are 18, and they will actually ask for your ID, unlike some other european countries. However, drinking is socially acceptable, and most adults seem to do it quite a bit. I have been offered beer or Vodka almost every day. I like this. Don't judge.


Catholisism - Everyone is Catholic. Like 97% of the population. (An actual statistic) When I went to church with the family last week, it was full and there were people outside. They sat there the whole time. I am pretty sure that they could not tell what was going on. I would have gone home. Why waste your time sitting and picking grass? Is church an obligation thing? A ritual? Not so sure how I feel about this one... it seems like you lose some of christianity when it is a ritual... like everyting. However, this is not my place to judge... I do not know for sure what those people think or believe. I just don't plan to be a part of it myself.


Food - Great. I will be recipe-clad when I arrive in Texas.

History - People seem to be open about talking about communism in Poland and other historical things. You can definitely tell when you come across something left over from then.

People - Generally very warm. The people working in the school and my host families have been absolutely wonderful, but they are not the only ones. People everywhere have been nice... unlike some experiences I had in Hungary...

Style - The girls dress up a lot, especially those in the city. I think that they start from a young age being taught how to dress and that it is important.
---------------------------------

Signing off!
Emily

More from Wola Rzędzińska!

sporatic internet access = sporadic blog entry

That means I have lots to tell!

Lets see, so I got to go sailing last week with Piya, her host sister, Dagmara, and Dagmara's boyfriend. He had a sailing liscence, so we went out to a lake about an hour from here and rented a boat. That was a lot of fun! I have never been sailing. Good thing to have tried. I think that I will give learning how to work the sails a shot sometime.

I finished out my first two weeks of school with celebrating the 4th of July with my classes. Piya and I got the ingredients for American flag cakes. (You know, the kind that has blueberry stars and strawberry stripes.) Finding that stuff was a trip. Apparently, fruit is a little more hard to come by in these parts... especially in Wola Rzędzińska. We ended up getting to a larger store to find the sought after supplies, and ended up getting home around 10:30. I then realized that I had gotten myself into another one of those hmm-I'll-cross-my-fingers-now-because-this-was-probably-a-stupid-idea situations. (Those are actually good because if they don't work out, they end up making fabulous stories.) I had some makeshift ingredients, five cakes to bake, and no means by which to measure. (They don't have measuring cups.) Luckily, Natalia and Kinda were glad to help and we got it done pretty fast. Other than a little juice runnage of the frozen blueberries, everything turned out fine, and the kids seemed to enjoy having cake in class. In fact, it was kindof a big deal... the little kids asked for recipes. Even though I knew that that was probably because all things taste amazing when you get to in class, and that this was merely a classic yellow cake recipe, and that these were 7-year-olds , I was a little bit flattered. We colored flags, put them on sticks, and talked about holidays in class.

I left Wola Rzędzińska the next day for LE Poland's "midpoint break" in Sanok. The region that Sanok is in is really beautiful... lots of hills, lots of green-ness. However, there is not a whole lot to do in Sanok. After you look at the hills for a few minutes and enjoy some Piorogi, you have pretty much done what there is to do in Sanok. It was nice being back with the group. Odd, too, to switch from being waited on "like a king"/babysat, to being on your own and speaking English. It was nice. We exchanged lots of teaching ideas. I needed this! I think that pretty much everyone was running out of ideas, and this way we were able to tell each other what worked and what didn't etc. After a relaxing weekend, I was ready to go back to Wola Rzędzińska... mainly because the lustre of Sanok had worn off.

So far this week, we have colored ideal boyfriends or girlfriends and described them, talked about clothing... run around the parking lot playing sharks and minnows clothing/land edition, and picked out words from common songs that they knew. I am really looking forward to doing the food days... one day talking about kinds of food and making paper cookies, the next having a (Walmart-style) food/clothing store.

Monday afternoon, I changed host homes... moving from the Merchut's to the Usien's. This was the original plan... for me to change houses midway though, but I was still a little sad to leave the
Merchut's. I will still see them around, though, so that's good. So far, I have had a a really good time with the Usien's. They had a new toothbrush, toothpaste, razors, and a loofa in the bathroom. They drove me to school today and had Russian style Piorogi ready when I came home. Yum! My favorite! I am a foodie, but anyone would love this stuff. It takes forever to make, too, so that was really cool that she did that.

I met up with Piya, Ginger (another American), Ginger's host sister, and Dagmara in town today. We had a beer and then went shopping a bit. They have this beer here called Redd's. It is really good... definately a woman beer, but very tasty. I bought some shoes. They are pretty cool heels. Shoe shopping is so fabulous when you have a favorable exchange rate!

As we were leaving, I asked Dagmara about places to get a haircut. I made an with a place in town, but when I got home, my host family insisted that I go to a place in Wola Rzędzińska.... they said that it was really good and was no problem... I hope that that doesn't mean they are going to try to pay for it... I will keep my fingers crossed on the turnout of my haircut! I have it tomorrow. We will see.... :)

"I can do that. It's my name day."

^ My host family :)

< A view of Krakow's city-center from the bell tower









Oh Wow! Sooo much has happened in the last week since I arrived in Wola Rzędzińska. It has been a fantastic week. I know that I will not soon forget this trip!

Due to the fact that so much has happened since my last post, I am going to stick only with highlights, rather give the play-by-play I had originally intended.

Host Family:

I have had a great time with the Merchut's. They have daughters Natalia (15) and Kinga (11), and have been really great. Natalia has given up her room for me to stay in and helps me at school with translations. She also translates while we are at home, as she is the only one in the family who knows much English. Kinga is super sweet and learning english, (I kinda wish I could just take her back home with me) but the parents know about as much English as I know Polish... not much. If you had a view of the house from outside, you would think that we really like to play charades. We are getting better at pantemiming and figuring out what the other is saying, but I really wish that I could talk to them outright. From the communication we have had, though, I have percieved that they are really cool people. The father even gave me beer and taught me curse words in Polish!

Another thing I like about the family is the rest of their family. Several Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and grandparents live on their street. There are about 10 kids and they range from about 5-12. We have played volleyball over the fence several times and had races in the streets. I miss that.

Last weekend, the Merchut's took me to a museum for the history of Poland and it's dolls over the years. There were some really old ones and it was funny to see the dolls dressed in stereotypical Polish costumes. They also took my to Zalipie... a town in which the houses are pained with flowers. The significance is in the fact that it began in the early 1900's when women would whitewash their kitchens where the strove left soot on the walls. It became a thing, and soon they were painting flowers and all kinds of things. I guess this was the first type of interior decorating. :)

Fear not, I have been fed well while I have been here. The custom is to have a light breakfast, a "second breakfast" around 10, a large dinner around two or three, tea or dessert around 5 or 6, and a small supper around 8. Whew. I suppose that the key is small portions and the fact that the big meal is earlier in the day. I still have to wonder though... "How are all of the Polish people so skinny?"


Location:

Wola Rzędzińska is a small, everybody-knows-your-name type of villiage. It has a church, a school, a covenience store, a small grocery store, a cemetary, a bakery, a post office, and some chickens. That is all. If you think about it, that is pretty freakin small. It is very nice to be able to walk to school or any of the aforementioned stores in about five minutes. The problem is that there is a reasonable chance that you won't find what your looking for. Thats when you hit the bus stop for Tarnow. For about 45 cents, you can go into a larger city, about 10 minutes away.


School:

I have 80 kids! Four hours a day, four groups, separated by age, each for one hour every day.
It has only been one week but I have already learned quite a bit about teaching. Here are some major points:

1. Kids are tiring. I teach from 9 to 1 and that nearly does me in. I am ready for a nap at the time that I normally wake up.

2. Kids do not have patience. Better have something to occupy all of the younger ones at one time or your class will become a free-for-all. This has happened... not good.

3. Letting them do things that they don't normally get to do is they way to go. This includes sitting on the desks, throwing things, running around, and just having fierce competition. (Organized craziness, of course.) They will be so excited that they aren't on a leash that they won't realize they are learning. Haha, sneaky, sneaky!

4. Kids will do just about anything for a sticker. Don't even get me started on pencils.

I was shocked to find out that I have 80 kids! Four hours a day, four groups, separated by age, each for one hour everyday. I have a hard time pronouncing Polish names... like very hard, so I had the kids come up with names in English like we did in language classes in high school. We would brainstorm a bunch on American names and the kids would pick one. The last class is my youngest group. I sent Natalia around to get their names, and it came back that of the 22 kids in that class, we had 6 Emilys and several Mileys. I thought that was a hoot... and I'm not gunna lie, I was alittle bit flattered. The biggest challenge in teaching to me has been lesson planning. It is kindof hard to think up things that they will understand, learn from, and have fun with. Luckily, one of the other voluteers, Piya, is staying just down the street. We have been able to hang out a little bit and share lesson-planning thoughts.

Other Stuff:
The English teacher at Piya's school is 24 and really nice and lots of fun. She invited Piya and I to have drinks with her English-teaching friends last week, and to go clubbing last Saturday. This was a lot of fun! I really like her friends and it is always great to party in another country... especially one that allows drinking by 18.

Last week, I had my name day. Because the Polish are so into Catholisism, each saint has a day of the year, and on the day that the saint with your name has, you get to celebrate. It is like a second birthday! The 24th was deemed "Emilii's" day, so the principal came in with a box of chocolates for me. How cool is that??? I think we need two birthdays in America, too.

Off to Wola Rzędzińska

Today is the day that that we all leave Krakow for our host family's homes, each in a different town. I will be heading to Wola Rzędzińska. How do you pronounce that? I have no idea! I am excited and certainly a little nervous. We begin teaching tomorrow!

Since my last entry, we have gone to Auschwitz, eaten traditional Polish and Georgian food (who has ever heard of that?), and gone to the Lenny Kravitz concert as part of a yearly festival here.

Honestly, Auschwitz wasn't exactly what I had expected. Somehow it was too museum-y. Don't get me wrong, it was pretty crazy and certainly a little eerie being in that place... but it was't like it hit me hard that THIS was the place. It seems to me like the horridness of this place, the unspeakably hateful crimes that were comitted, and the pure evil need to be realized. This genicide really happened. I don't know why... but I wanted to get a glimpse of how the prisoners felt while they were at the camp. I guess that that would make the whoe thing come to life. Maybe I felt removed from this site because it has always been such a far off thing... I thought that I would never get to go there, it has always been "something in history" only to read about in books, and also I was a little tired. It would be a shame if I didn't experience it fully because of the last thing... but I don't think that that was it. Most barracks in Auschwitz 1 were cleared out and made into a themed building. There was one that talked only about the Polish prisoners, one about criminals, one showing the logistics of how the whole operation was pulled together. There was one thing in the camp, though, that got to me a little bit. There was a themed barrack that contained things that prisoners had left behind. I walked into one of the first rooms and there was a huge, lighted area full of hair. Women's hair was shaved off of their heads and used to make rugs and other things after they had gone through the gas chamber. Traces of gas chamber chemicals were actually found in the carpets. Talk about sick! That was a pretty horrible thing to see. Other things in the building included glasses and shoes and braces from the prisoners. There was also a large room of suit cases. Each prisoner was to label their suit case with their name, address, and date that they entered the camp. It was so eerie to see those, knowing their fate. Really really saddening. We saw one barrack that was preserved as the way it was when prisoners stayed there. Obviously, living conditions were horrid.
We had a tour guide that told us about the camp and then took us to Aushwitz 2-Birkenou. This was much larger than Auschwitz 1, but we say less of it. Quite a bit of it had been burned to the ground by the Nazis when they knew that they were going to be invaded.
This is one of the most horrible things that I have ever known of... really of the devil, and it should be remembered so that something like this would be stopped before it gets started. There will always be horrible people in the world...

After our trip to Auscwitz, we went to a restaurant in the historic, original part of Krakow which used to be the "green baloon cabaret." "Cabaret" had a different meaning then. It was a comedy show and this one was apparently a big deal. The owner would send people that he didn't want seen at his place to the "dark room." It is funny to me that they did that. Its so different from anything that would be allowed to happen today!

After five nights of sleeping nearly none, I crashed back at the hostel after dinner. Some of the others went to a cool pub. There were apparently huge tubes of beer that four or more people had to share and you would get the beer out of a spout on the bottom. Later, they went dancing. Sounds like it was a great time. I was sorry I missed it, but it was so good to sleep!

Yesterday began with rain outside, so we had our "lesson teaching lesson" inside. Later we went to eat and then had free time. A group of five of us went up to the top of the St. Mary's cathedral tower, and watcher the trumpeter play his song. There is a story behind that, but I don't remeber what it is. Hehe, we got pictures with him and his autograph. We didn't need to know why he was a big deal, just that he was. ;)

Shopping came next, an essential part of traveling. There are some really cool stores in Krakow. Later came Georgian food. It was really good! There were different spices and dipping sauces for these "cheese and meat pies" and flat bread sandwiches. I know, cheese and meat pie sounds disgusting, but it tastes great! Who knew?

The weather was bad, so Anna and I decide to go to her favorite cafe before time for the concert. Oh my goodness, this place was right up my alley! If I was to resort to my career plan B and open a coffee shop, this is very similar to how it would be. The decorations were awesome. There were big tree sculptues with lights at the end, a huge skylight, and a loft area with places in the floor that you could see through. It was very chill, and very popular. We sat down and had a look at the menu. Well, Anna had a look at the menu and told me what it said. We ended up with something called "Drunken Chocolate" in Polish. Can you say "emotional-eating material?" It was the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted! Hands down. Swiss miss has got nothing on this stuff. It was creamy, but has some texture where you could feel the thickness of the chocolate. It had a dark chocolate flavor... rich, but not too strong, and my choice was added coconut liquer. (Rum was the other choice.) It was so good!

We went back to the hostel, met up with some of the others, and headed to the concert. It was super crowded! He took a while to come out and people started yelling his name. Only, instead of Lenny Kravitz, it sounded like Lenay Claviiiits. Pretty funny stuff. He finally came out and gave a good concert. it was a lot of fun and way cool to get to see him in Krakow.

This time in Krakow with the group has been a great introduction to Poland. I hope that the rest of my time here will be just as great.

Dzien Dobry!

Wow, this has been an eventful two days! Or was it three days? Or was it one day plus 41 hours? Maybe it was a Tuesday/Wednesday hybrid, plus Thursday.

It all started with me saying goodbye to my mommy at the Houston airport and boarding the Lufthansa flight to Frankfort, sans any legroom at all. It was a nine-and-a-half hour flight and I managed to sleep though none of it...despite the fact that I had slept for four hours the night before and had taken a Dramamine. The redeeming things about the flight were Bob and Michael... the people who sat in my row. Bob is a 16 year old kid who was with a school program headed to France and England... he's a nice kid. Unfortunately, I think that the program leaders are going to keep the whole group on a pretty tight leash while they are on their trip. Bob reminded me of what it was like to be a 16-year-old. It was a decent year but hey, I am not particularly dissappionted that I am past it. I suppose that that happens at every age... you can look back and say "Hey, I was really stupid when I was 16 (or 20, or 35, or 42, etc.). Michael was about 35ish and it was pretty clear that he had not been on a short leash...ever. He is really into taking risks and doing crazy things. He is a "why not?-er" rather than a "why-er". I like that in people... although I would be worried to do some of the things he has done. It was neat to talk to them and get their takes on things. I think that that was the most I have ever talked to the people sitting beside me on the plane. They were great. We had a good time...except for the legroom thing.

I landed in Frankfort and decided to walk around a bit because I had a seven hour layover. Not too eventful...I looked in all of the little shops and tried to figure out a way around the airport, but that wasn't easy... the airport there is crazy! Anyway, I had a fairly relaxing time and then I went to the gate to meet up with Andrew, another teacher in the program. He is my age and is from San Francisco. We talked for a good, long time and then toured the terminal a bit. Later, Agatha from Boston came and met up with us. She has a bit of an advantage on the trip because she speaks Polish. :)

Then, we got on the plane to Krakow, arrived in Krakow, took a bus to the train station. This was eventful because the train didn't come to our bus stop at that time of day so we were told in Polish that we had to take another bus to another train stop. Agatha stepped in. Good thing, too. I am pretty sure that Andrew and I had dumbfounded looks an our faced when he came up and started speaking in Polish.

Sooo eventually the three of us got to the hostel (very lovely, by the way), went out and got a doner kebab (yay!!!), and then met up with Anna and the other 14 in the group.

That was the Tuesday/Wednesday hybrid.

Thursday began with me waking up at 5:00 AM. Go figure. :/ I guess it was my body trying to tell me that I had it all wrong. It was 10:00PM in Texas and I was supposed to be awake! I couldn't go back to sleep so I decided that I would go out and get some breakfast. It was beautiful weather today, so that made for a nice walk. In the process of getting my salami sandwich from the little grocery store down the street, I learned two things.
1. Study the English/Polish phrasebook. Motions and facial expressions don't always get the message across.
2. It is okay to let the cars get close to you while you walk across the sidewalk. They will not squish you. Just look for the pedestrian signals and follow them. Patience is not a vurtue of Polish drivers.

Later, the whole group got together and went to the park. We talked a little bit about Learning Enterprises (the program we are with) and ideas for teaching the kids, even if you don't know Polish. It was helpful in easing my nerves!

We then went for lunch and met back up for a 2-hour walking tour of Krakow. It was interesting, although there are a lot of facts I don't remember. One important thing is that Krakow was not destroyed in WWII, some of the buildings inside of the original town wall are hundreds and hunders of years old. Krakow is a really beautiful city. ( Pictures to follow)

We finished there, walked around for a bit and ate some perogi (it was great!), and headed back to the city center where the "man on the wooden horse" came out. He looked really funny with that horse costume attached to him. It is a once-a-year-thing and is kindof a big deal , so the odds of us being there on the right day were crazy! Legend has it that if the man touched you with his gavel looking thing, the you will have good luck for the next year. I donated a zwola, and touched the gavel, so I have high expectations for the coming year. I may just have to enter in the lottery and cash in on my good luck. ;)

The final event for the night was a pub crawl. For just about 7 or 8 bucks each, a guide takes you around to three pubs and one club, all characteristic of Krakow. Cory, our tour guide was great and told us all about the nightlife and what is popular in Krakow, etc. I think that I was most impressed with how each pub/club was decorated. They were all underground and had a unique theme. I particularly liked one that had stone walls, red lights, and played Polish reggae. (I didn't know that that existed, either.) The final stop, the club, was fantastic! It was called club "Cien." It's Anna's favorite club and is a big deal, accoring to some of the other people in the group. It has a really cool look on the inside and has one dance floor for hip-hop and one for house music. It had two bars and and really cool lights. ( I suppose the lights are a must.) That was a fantastic end to a great day in Krakow.

Stay tuned! Friday, we will be going to Auschwitz. That is going to be insane. I have been very interested in going for a long time, but it will simply be insane. I don't really know how I am going to feel about it when I get there. I went to Buchenwald a couple of years ago and it was really eery, but there is so much more left of Auschwitz. On a lighter note, Saturday there is a festival in Krakow, and Lenny Kravitz will be playing! Yay!

Preparation

This summer, I have an awesome opportunity to teach English to a class of Polish children!  I get to make the lesson plans and carry out activities for a group of 7 to 13-year-olds in Wola Rzędzińska, Poland.  The adventure begins June 16 and I am super excited, partly because I don't exactly know what to expect.  I am running up on two major things that I haven't experienced before:

A)  I have never been to Poland.  I don't know a lot about Polish culture, but more importantly I don't speak a word of Polish.  I have found that communication is not a problem for english speakers in other parts of europe, especially among the younger crowds, who have had english lessons in school.  I am hoping that this will be the case in Poland, although being in a place with no other english speakers around has potential to be a really cool experience.

B)  I have never taught a class.  I love babysitting and coming up with fun things for the kids to do, but I have never had a large group of kids looking to me for the next activity, and a goal for them to have learned something by the time they leave the room. 

I guess there is a first time for everything.    

My good friend, Anna, introduced me to the program.  She participated last year, and is the Poland program coordinator this year.  It will be nice to have a friend along, although she will not be in the town that I will be in for the majority of the time we are teaching classes.

Also, I will be staying with two different families during my time in Wola Rzędzińska.  The first family has three children, a 14-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 10-year-old girl.  The second has a 15-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl.   My opinion is that living with locals the best way to experience a culture, and I am looking forward to meeting them.

That is a background of events to come.  For now I will be packing and planning!