"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!