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.
No comments:
Post a Comment