So, today was my last day of classes and is my last day and night in Ostroleka. Tomorrow I will take myself and my giant bags on the 11:30 bus to Warsaw. I am very sad to be leaving actually. I think the fact that I am leaving so soon is making me see all the things I will miss about Poland and Ostroleka, even stupid things like the bad pop music and the good kebab place. I think I am not noticing the things that might have bothered me before because I will be leaving soon. But it is good that I am going back to school when I get home and really really really looking forward to that because it will make leaving less sad. Its weird though because at this point I am starting to have a life and relationships with other people here. Like if I was not leaving, I would have commitments and things to look forward to in the upcoming days, like Olga's sister's wedding, and Asia's BBQ and some concert that is either saturday or sunday.
Anyway, for the last day of class I played jeopardy with my students and then we just sat around and talked for about 2 hours. I think they have gotten better at english this summer or at least gotten more confident, which makes me feel happy. Even if their grammar is pretty atrocious, i think they learned something. I don't think they could have talked to me for 2 hours at the beginning of the summer. I will miss them alot, but they all have joined facebook so we can keep in touch. (and penpals, lookout, because i gave them your email addresses).
Oh! So the big triumph of my day is that I sucessfully purchased a kebab, not only a kebab but a small kebab with spicy sauce, without giving away that i dont speak polish. Trust me, ordering a kebab is very complex and this is the only time i havent ended up flustered and waving my arms. So see, I'm finally getting the hang of this country.
I don't really know what else to write. I am currently sitting in an internet cafe trying to kill time until I meet up with Asia and Karol, for the last time ever : ( . I will miss them a lot a lot. Yesterday I said goodbye to Julie because she is flying home thursday. She promised that if i continued to keep in touch with her she would invite me to her wedding someday so i cant say that we will never see each other again. I would go outside and sit on a bench and read right now but it just rained so everthing is wet and i don't want to get my butt wet.
on that note, I guess I will end this somewhat depressing entry-thingy. I will see you all and talk to you all soon! But if you want to email me or even comment on what I have written, then I very much approve of that action.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Lakes are Beautiful OR I really like bathrooms
So, I have returned from my adventures at the Mazurian lakes. I stayed a day longer than I was supposed to. Meaning, Julie had to teach my class, which was OK because she owed me 2 classes anyway. My students, who now have facebook, apparently did come to class but were upset that I was not there, because "Juliet doesn't like us."
The lakes are really nice and pretty. I took pictures. Wojtek's family has some land there where they are in the process of getting approved to build a cottage. In the meantime they have a little trailer thing. I liked the trailer thing, it meant i didnt have to sleep in a tent, and there was a kitchen and beds.
The downside, the bathrooms were on a campsite that was a 5 minute walk away. Now, this is not bad, persay... except that I am pretty sure that I go to the bathroom 2 to 3 times as often as the average Polish person. So you see, it was very awkward to excuse myself to go to the bathroom because it took so long AND because no one else was doing it ever. And in the night you can not walk there by yourself. So I tried to wait for when other people were going to the bathroom, but seriously, Asia and I went to the bathroom when we woke up around 1030 and then she had not gone again by the time we were leaving to go home at 7. I think this is not normal. And then also, because I know taht I do not have regular access to the bathroom, I feel like I have to go to the bathroom all the time. In conclusion, I enjoy houses, where there are bathrooms, that I can slip away to without informing the world of where I am going and allowing them to monitor my bathroom habits. I hope you all enjoyed this probably overly personal glimpse into my mind.
The lakes are really nice and pretty. I took pictures. Wojtek's family has some land there where they are in the process of getting approved to build a cottage. In the meantime they have a little trailer thing. I liked the trailer thing, it meant i didnt have to sleep in a tent, and there was a kitchen and beds.
The downside, the bathrooms were on a campsite that was a 5 minute walk away. Now, this is not bad, persay... except that I am pretty sure that I go to the bathroom 2 to 3 times as often as the average Polish person. So you see, it was very awkward to excuse myself to go to the bathroom because it took so long AND because no one else was doing it ever. And in the night you can not walk there by yourself. So I tried to wait for when other people were going to the bathroom, but seriously, Asia and I went to the bathroom when we woke up around 1030 and then she had not gone again by the time we were leaving to go home at 7. I think this is not normal. And then also, because I know taht I do not have regular access to the bathroom, I feel like I have to go to the bathroom all the time. In conclusion, I enjoy houses, where there are bathrooms, that I can slip away to without informing the world of where I am going and allowing them to monitor my bathroom habits. I hope you all enjoyed this probably overly personal glimpse into my mind.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
This country is somewhat ridiculous.
So, I don't really feel like writing a blog entry, but seeing as I have lots of things to write about and a good deal of time right now, I should probably get it over with. So yes.
1. Friday (yesterday) was Reid's last day of class because next week he is going to Prague and Berlin(possibly?) and so I will be on my own next week. In honor of his last day, we played baseball during class. We had had a lesson about baseball a couple of weeks ago. It wasnt a very formal game, considering there were 6 people playing. My favorite part was how we were using a bottle of coke as second base, so that if you got to second, you could have a refreshing drink. We also ate ice cream and our students gave us presents. By presents I mean they gave us ceramic cow piggy banks that are wearing Poland scarves. I have a sneaking suspicion that they will not be returning next week, in which case I will just help Julie out with her class.
2. Ok, so now is the big thing that I havent felt like writing about/chose not to write about because
a. I do not think I can convey how ridiculous this is in words
b. Mom would have worried about my safety if she knew about my participation in this
Last week, Karol told Reid and Asia and I that he had signed us up for a "Playing with fire workshop". And really after a week of witnessing this workshop, I really cannot come up with a better descriptive term for what this workshop was. Reid and I kind of gave up on the participating because it took entirely too much time and we decided that we were both too clumsy that continuing on in the workshop would be a bad idea. So anyway they 2 days we attended (monday and tuesday) the workshop lasted about 5 hours. We made it an 2.5 hours those days. Those days also did not involve any fire. Mostly you just learned to spin a stick around. (because see eventually the ends of the big stick would be lit on fire). So I learned some cool stick twirling moves but thats about it. Also on tuesday the instructor felt it was necessary that everyone "do the worm" as a warmup. After having seen the "fire show" that was the product of this workshop, I still do not understand why we were required to do the worm. The instructor himself was an interesting guy. He was pretty much alway shirtless and liked to rub his stomach while he gave instructions, We think he was trying to unspokenly communicate "Look how nice my abs are." Our other theory was that he is a super hero and he activates his powers by rubbing his belly. Anyway on wednesday, after our Makow friends had left, Karol told me and Reid that we should come down to the river so that we could "play with real fire." Do you guys understand how ridiculous that statement is? The scene down by the river was even stranger. There are all these kids with big sticks and they are cutting up pairs of jeans and wrapping them around the ends of sticks and securing them with wire. Then pouring oil over them and lighting them on fire. Then there are kids with chains that they spin around and on the ends are fire. And best of all, there are all these kids who are practicing spitting water and making like a big mist, because...they will then fill their mouths with the oil stuff and spit it into a flame to make it look like they are breathing fire. Apparently if you mess this up the fire will fly back onto your face and hair. Surprisingly, no one was injured at all over the course of the week. Probably because Reid and I declined to participate. We DID each spend about 30 seconds twirling one of the flaming sticks, but really I only did it so now I can say that in the past I have twirled a flaming stick. On thursday, at practice down by the river, "fire hands" made their appearance was well. These are like gloves with wires on the ends of the finger and at the end of each wire is a piece of fabric that can be lit on fire. Seriously the whole thing is ridiculous. Reid and I just watched it like "this would never ever ever happen in the united states, this would never happen in the united states..." Apparently fire twirling is popular in this country though. We told Ola about it when she came to visit and she said that Makow, which has about 10 -20,000 people and 1 restaurant, has not one, but two fire clubs that learn these sorts of things. Last night was the fire show, where the kids from the workshop showcased what they learned. I look lots of pictures and videos since my words alone can not adequately convey the strangeness of this adventure.
3. I am going to the Mazurian lakes in a few hours, to you know, spend my last weekend in Poland in style.
So, please write me emails to keep me amused during my last week here. I'm SOO excited that I will be seeing you all so soon.
1. Friday (yesterday) was Reid's last day of class because next week he is going to Prague and Berlin(possibly?) and so I will be on my own next week. In honor of his last day, we played baseball during class. We had had a lesson about baseball a couple of weeks ago. It wasnt a very formal game, considering there were 6 people playing. My favorite part was how we were using a bottle of coke as second base, so that if you got to second, you could have a refreshing drink. We also ate ice cream and our students gave us presents. By presents I mean they gave us ceramic cow piggy banks that are wearing Poland scarves. I have a sneaking suspicion that they will not be returning next week, in which case I will just help Julie out with her class.
2. Ok, so now is the big thing that I havent felt like writing about/chose not to write about because
a. I do not think I can convey how ridiculous this is in words
b. Mom would have worried about my safety if she knew about my participation in this
Last week, Karol told Reid and Asia and I that he had signed us up for a "Playing with fire workshop". And really after a week of witnessing this workshop, I really cannot come up with a better descriptive term for what this workshop was. Reid and I kind of gave up on the participating because it took entirely too much time and we decided that we were both too clumsy that continuing on in the workshop would be a bad idea. So anyway they 2 days we attended (monday and tuesday) the workshop lasted about 5 hours. We made it an 2.5 hours those days. Those days also did not involve any fire. Mostly you just learned to spin a stick around. (because see eventually the ends of the big stick would be lit on fire). So I learned some cool stick twirling moves but thats about it. Also on tuesday the instructor felt it was necessary that everyone "do the worm" as a warmup. After having seen the "fire show" that was the product of this workshop, I still do not understand why we were required to do the worm. The instructor himself was an interesting guy. He was pretty much alway shirtless and liked to rub his stomach while he gave instructions, We think he was trying to unspokenly communicate "Look how nice my abs are." Our other theory was that he is a super hero and he activates his powers by rubbing his belly. Anyway on wednesday, after our Makow friends had left, Karol told me and Reid that we should come down to the river so that we could "play with real fire." Do you guys understand how ridiculous that statement is? The scene down by the river was even stranger. There are all these kids with big sticks and they are cutting up pairs of jeans and wrapping them around the ends of sticks and securing them with wire. Then pouring oil over them and lighting them on fire. Then there are kids with chains that they spin around and on the ends are fire. And best of all, there are all these kids who are practicing spitting water and making like a big mist, because...they will then fill their mouths with the oil stuff and spit it into a flame to make it look like they are breathing fire. Apparently if you mess this up the fire will fly back onto your face and hair. Surprisingly, no one was injured at all over the course of the week. Probably because Reid and I declined to participate. We DID each spend about 30 seconds twirling one of the flaming sticks, but really I only did it so now I can say that in the past I have twirled a flaming stick. On thursday, at practice down by the river, "fire hands" made their appearance was well. These are like gloves with wires on the ends of the finger and at the end of each wire is a piece of fabric that can be lit on fire. Seriously the whole thing is ridiculous. Reid and I just watched it like "this would never ever ever happen in the united states, this would never happen in the united states..." Apparently fire twirling is popular in this country though. We told Ola about it when she came to visit and she said that Makow, which has about 10 -20,000 people and 1 restaurant, has not one, but two fire clubs that learn these sorts of things. Last night was the fire show, where the kids from the workshop showcased what they learned. I look lots of pictures and videos since my words alone can not adequately convey the strangeness of this adventure.
3. I am going to the Mazurian lakes in a few hours, to you know, spend my last weekend in Poland in style.
So, please write me emails to keep me amused during my last week here. I'm SOO excited that I will be seeing you all so soon.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Some Things
A Collection of Random Thoughts
1. The door to the toilet room (separate from the bathroom) does not shut completely. I feel this is just a potential awkward situation in the making. Especially as I almost walked in on someone this morning...
2. My host brother owns two types of hair gel made by the same company. One is "Chaos Look" and it is described as "modelling gel". The other is "Titan Look" and described as "extreme gel." Other than these descriptions I can not tell the difference between the two and this is what i think about every time I wash my hands.
3. From the first two items, can you guess what the last thing I did before I began writing this blog entry was?
4. Earlier today I drank strawberry, raspberry, loganberry tea. What the heck is a logan berry?
5. Yesterday Asia had a really awesome barbeque. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately, since I dont live there anymore I had to find a way home. I was going to take a taxi with one of Asia's friends who apparently lives near to my new house. So, my host sister sent me the address via text message. However, Karol's older brother ended up driving everyone home. This posed a problem as I don't ACTUALLY know where I live. We (Karol, Karol's brother Tomek, Asia's friend Worczek [Vorchek], and our friend Olga) ended up spending 45 minutes driving up and down every street in the area looking for "Staffa Street" which is evidently my street. We couldnt find it and had to go to Worczek's house and print a map, which finally got me home. I felt so bad to make everyone waste so long trying to get me home. Also I am very tired today. I took a nap at Karol's apartment for about an hour in between doing different things today.
6. Reid and I tried to rent Enchanted to watch in class today. Unfortunately, after spending half an hour at the movie store trying to pick out a movie we found out we could not rent one because we did not have a membership. At this point Reid realized that the other times he has rented movies he had been with Peter (his old host sisters boyfriend) whose family had a membership to the store. grr. We ended up watching the Pianist because my first host family gave it to me and so it has Polish encoding on the disk. I didnt want to watch this though because 1. ive already seen it and 2. its about poland, not america so the kids already know this stuff.
7. Tomorrow Ola and Sarah are coming to visit from Makow, I am so excited! Not the least of which because I will be able to break my 100 zloty bill (like a $50) that no one in the city has let me use in 3 days. You would think people would want me to buy things. But they would rather not have me buy anything than give me change. Its very frusterating because I have no other money and am not going to go to an ATM when I have 100 zlotys. Reid has had to lend me money on several occasions, but I never spend enough money in one place to merit the hundred geting broken. Tomorrow though, I will buy ice cream for many people, and they will finally break my 100. Also, I love Ola and Sarah.
8. My host dad said I was too skinny and need to eat. I disagree with that because I am getting fat in this country. I have had to change the hole on my belt that I use and everything. I may actually have to start excercising when I return to america. We will see. I'm hungry...
Ok that is all for now. Guess what? I will be in America in 11 days!!!!!!!!!!!! But you should keep emailing me anyway.
1. The door to the toilet room (separate from the bathroom) does not shut completely. I feel this is just a potential awkward situation in the making. Especially as I almost walked in on someone this morning...
2. My host brother owns two types of hair gel made by the same company. One is "Chaos Look" and it is described as "modelling gel". The other is "Titan Look" and described as "extreme gel." Other than these descriptions I can not tell the difference between the two and this is what i think about every time I wash my hands.
3. From the first two items, can you guess what the last thing I did before I began writing this blog entry was?
4. Earlier today I drank strawberry, raspberry, loganberry tea. What the heck is a logan berry?
5. Yesterday Asia had a really awesome barbeque. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately, since I dont live there anymore I had to find a way home. I was going to take a taxi with one of Asia's friends who apparently lives near to my new house. So, my host sister sent me the address via text message. However, Karol's older brother ended up driving everyone home. This posed a problem as I don't ACTUALLY know where I live. We (Karol, Karol's brother Tomek, Asia's friend Worczek [Vorchek], and our friend Olga) ended up spending 45 minutes driving up and down every street in the area looking for "Staffa Street" which is evidently my street. We couldnt find it and had to go to Worczek's house and print a map, which finally got me home. I felt so bad to make everyone waste so long trying to get me home. Also I am very tired today. I took a nap at Karol's apartment for about an hour in between doing different things today.
6. Reid and I tried to rent Enchanted to watch in class today. Unfortunately, after spending half an hour at the movie store trying to pick out a movie we found out we could not rent one because we did not have a membership. At this point Reid realized that the other times he has rented movies he had been with Peter (his old host sisters boyfriend) whose family had a membership to the store. grr. We ended up watching the Pianist because my first host family gave it to me and so it has Polish encoding on the disk. I didnt want to watch this though because 1. ive already seen it and 2. its about poland, not america so the kids already know this stuff.
7. Tomorrow Ola and Sarah are coming to visit from Makow, I am so excited! Not the least of which because I will be able to break my 100 zloty bill (like a $50) that no one in the city has let me use in 3 days. You would think people would want me to buy things. But they would rather not have me buy anything than give me change. Its very frusterating because I have no other money and am not going to go to an ATM when I have 100 zlotys. Reid has had to lend me money on several occasions, but I never spend enough money in one place to merit the hundred geting broken. Tomorrow though, I will buy ice cream for many people, and they will finally break my 100. Also, I love Ola and Sarah.
8. My host dad said I was too skinny and need to eat. I disagree with that because I am getting fat in this country. I have had to change the hole on my belt that I use and everything. I may actually have to start excercising when I return to america. We will see. I'm hungry...
Ok that is all for now. Guess what? I will be in America in 11 days!!!!!!!!!!!! But you should keep emailing me anyway.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
I have moved. again.
So, I just moved, maybe 20 minutes ago, to my final host family. There are several plusses and minuses to this situation.
The Positives
1. Computer with internet access in my room.
2. My new host brother is on the Polish Junior National Volleyball team. Thats right. He's a teammate of my future husband. And supposedly he speaks english (host brother). But He also had to carry my ridiculously heavy bag up the stairs so I don't know how disposed he is to have friendly feelings towards me.
The Negatives
1. My new house is a million years away from Karol and Asia. bleh.
2. I just don't feel like doing the whole starting over with a new family thing again. It requires a lot of pushing myself to be outgoing and come out of my shell. And im just kind of tired and just want to go back to America.
But I am and will be ok. After all it is only 2 more weeks. And really only a week and a half left in Ostroleka and Asia promised me we would hang out everyday. So it should be ok.
In other news, I went to Warsaw this weekend. Asia and I stayed with her older sister who is a student/english teacher there. It was pretty fun. I saw the new batman movie, which was very intense. and long. By th end I was pretty exhausted just from having to be so alert the whole time.
So one additional funny story for the road.
Yesterday, I ate scrambled eggs. without bread. Wait, it gets better. The other day, Reid ate 2 leftover chops. without bread. Isnt that ridiculous. Ok, so. Apparently this is ridiculous. So ridiculous in fact that my host sister has been telling this story to random people and earning wide eyes of shock in respose. In Poland, you do not eat without bread. The reason I ate the scarmbled eggs without the bread was that Asia's sisters boyfriend had eaten all the bread. and it was suppertime, and this caused a crisis. Because they had no idea what we could eat if we didnt have any bread. Asia ended up eating cereal and I was going to too, but her sister had made really good scrambled eggs the night before, so I asked if I could have them again. After explaining that Americans do, on occasion eat scrambled eggs without bread, I got my scrambled eggs, but since then, Asia has been telling everyone this story.
The Positives
1. Computer with internet access in my room.
2. My new host brother is on the Polish Junior National Volleyball team. Thats right. He's a teammate of my future husband. And supposedly he speaks english (host brother). But He also had to carry my ridiculously heavy bag up the stairs so I don't know how disposed he is to have friendly feelings towards me.
The Negatives
1. My new house is a million years away from Karol and Asia. bleh.
2. I just don't feel like doing the whole starting over with a new family thing again. It requires a lot of pushing myself to be outgoing and come out of my shell. And im just kind of tired and just want to go back to America.
But I am and will be ok. After all it is only 2 more weeks. And really only a week and a half left in Ostroleka and Asia promised me we would hang out everyday. So it should be ok.
In other news, I went to Warsaw this weekend. Asia and I stayed with her older sister who is a student/english teacher there. It was pretty fun. I saw the new batman movie, which was very intense. and long. By th end I was pretty exhausted just from having to be so alert the whole time.
So one additional funny story for the road.
Yesterday, I ate scrambled eggs. without bread. Wait, it gets better. The other day, Reid ate 2 leftover chops. without bread. Isnt that ridiculous. Ok, so. Apparently this is ridiculous. So ridiculous in fact that my host sister has been telling this story to random people and earning wide eyes of shock in respose. In Poland, you do not eat without bread. The reason I ate the scarmbled eggs without the bread was that Asia's sisters boyfriend had eaten all the bread. and it was suppertime, and this caused a crisis. Because they had no idea what we could eat if we didnt have any bread. Asia ended up eating cereal and I was going to too, but her sister had made really good scrambled eggs the night before, so I asked if I could have them again. After explaining that Americans do, on occasion eat scrambled eggs without bread, I got my scrambled eggs, but since then, Asia has been telling everyone this story.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
MIA
Sorry Guys. Im not dead. I just have much less access to the internet. See, I moved to my new host family, who is SUPER AWESOME AND AMAZING; however, we have been very busy running around and having fun and also the only computer is in my host sisters room, so it is kind of awkward to use it. Which is bad because I really need to send the penpal emails. But they are ridiculously long. So anyway, I realized that this blog has gotten away from its main purpose, which was to tell you the interesting things I have been doing and I have just been talking about everything. Which i think is kind of boring. However, since I have not written in a LOOONG time I will just give a short recap of the awesome events of my awesome life.
1. On the last day with my old host family, host mom and dad went mushroom pickin gin the forest. Then they cleaned and cooked the mushrooms and they were probably one of the best things I have ever eaten. Mushrooms. from the forest.
2. When I got taken to my new host family, my whole old host family came along and there was this awkward like 30 minute conference where they were telling hte new family all about me, and I had no idea what they were saying.
3. My new host family has a cat. I love cats. It is white and fluffy. Also, one day we saw some puppies that a woman was selling at the market and they were soo cute. They were all sleeping in a duffel bag and we got to play with them and one almost peed on Reid.
4. Oh, so my new host sister's name is Asia (Asha) which is a nickname for Joanna (Yoanna) and she is really awesome. Today is her 18th birthday. Also, Reids future host brother is her best friend and they decided to do this hosting thing together which is good because Karol (polish version of Charles, kind of pronounced like a 2 syllable Karl) is my new favorite person ever. He is a dancer and does hip hop and ballroom dancing and tried out for the Polish version of "So You Think You Can Dance"
5. Karol and his friend Lukasz (who is the 2nd best ballroom dancer in Poland) are teaching Julie and Reid and I a hip hop dance routine. We have been having dance classes after our English classes. We are going to bust out our moves at the mid program conference this weekend at Zakopane. I am so excited.
6. Also, I have met my future husband. I do not know his name, but he is number 4 on the Polish Junior National Men's Volleyball team. and he is beautiful. And I took 2 pictures with him yesterday after the Poland vs. Argentina Volleyball match, and will be attending his match tonight as well.
7. Today was probably our best lesson we have ever taught the whole time we have been here. Yesterday we watched the movie "Hot Fuzz" which is a really funny Police movie. So today we talked about law and the courts and things like that. Anyway, so we did like a short lecture on courts and they had a worksheet to fill in as we talked and then they had like a few minutes afterwards to finish it up, and during that time Reid (who had brought his guitar to class) hid his guitar, then pretended it went missing, then we accused one of the students of stealing it and pretended to put her on trial. And we had people be like the prosecutor and defense attorney and witnesses and the jury. Reid was the judge and I got to do all the "please rise" and "do you swear to tell the truth stuff." But anyway all the students got really into it and it was really fun and they actually spoke English and proved that they understood what we ahd been talking about earlier in class, so yes. Awesome. (Oh yes, also the fake trial thing was my idea)
I think that is it for they awesome things I have been doing. I think I figured out though, that like at my old host family, my host mom was the one who had wanted an English speaker in the house and here my host sister was the one who wanted me ehre. So, it is much better because she is like excited to like do stuff with me and wants me to have fun and talk to me, wheras Karolina nd Ewa jsut kind of didnt really know how to fit me in their lives. Also, my new host parents are really cool. My host dad is a retired vet who writes poetry (like he is published) and my host mom is a teacher. And they are really nice and stuff. So yes, I am doing fantastically and am not dead, but will probably not be writing in here as much as I was before.
HOWEVER, while I was not on the internet FOR A WEEK, I recieved 1 email (2 if you count the super long comment from Youngjoo, which I do, thank you to the 2 of you). This is upsetting. I am pretty sure you ahve not all just been sitting around doing nothing for a week. Keep me updated, yo.
1. On the last day with my old host family, host mom and dad went mushroom pickin gin the forest. Then they cleaned and cooked the mushrooms and they were probably one of the best things I have ever eaten. Mushrooms. from the forest.
2. When I got taken to my new host family, my whole old host family came along and there was this awkward like 30 minute conference where they were telling hte new family all about me, and I had no idea what they were saying.
3. My new host family has a cat. I love cats. It is white and fluffy. Also, one day we saw some puppies that a woman was selling at the market and they were soo cute. They were all sleeping in a duffel bag and we got to play with them and one almost peed on Reid.
4. Oh, so my new host sister's name is Asia (Asha) which is a nickname for Joanna (Yoanna) and she is really awesome. Today is her 18th birthday. Also, Reids future host brother is her best friend and they decided to do this hosting thing together which is good because Karol (polish version of Charles, kind of pronounced like a 2 syllable Karl) is my new favorite person ever. He is a dancer and does hip hop and ballroom dancing and tried out for the Polish version of "So You Think You Can Dance"
5. Karol and his friend Lukasz (who is the 2nd best ballroom dancer in Poland) are teaching Julie and Reid and I a hip hop dance routine. We have been having dance classes after our English classes. We are going to bust out our moves at the mid program conference this weekend at Zakopane. I am so excited.
6. Also, I have met my future husband. I do not know his name, but he is number 4 on the Polish Junior National Men's Volleyball team. and he is beautiful. And I took 2 pictures with him yesterday after the Poland vs. Argentina Volleyball match, and will be attending his match tonight as well.
7. Today was probably our best lesson we have ever taught the whole time we have been here. Yesterday we watched the movie "Hot Fuzz" which is a really funny Police movie. So today we talked about law and the courts and things like that. Anyway, so we did like a short lecture on courts and they had a worksheet to fill in as we talked and then they had like a few minutes afterwards to finish it up, and during that time Reid (who had brought his guitar to class) hid his guitar, then pretended it went missing, then we accused one of the students of stealing it and pretended to put her on trial. And we had people be like the prosecutor and defense attorney and witnesses and the jury. Reid was the judge and I got to do all the "please rise" and "do you swear to tell the truth stuff." But anyway all the students got really into it and it was really fun and they actually spoke English and proved that they understood what we ahd been talking about earlier in class, so yes. Awesome. (Oh yes, also the fake trial thing was my idea)
I think that is it for they awesome things I have been doing. I think I figured out though, that like at my old host family, my host mom was the one who had wanted an English speaker in the house and here my host sister was the one who wanted me ehre. So, it is much better because she is like excited to like do stuff with me and wants me to have fun and talk to me, wheras Karolina nd Ewa jsut kind of didnt really know how to fit me in their lives. Also, my new host parents are really cool. My host dad is a retired vet who writes poetry (like he is published) and my host mom is a teacher. And they are really nice and stuff. So yes, I am doing fantastically and am not dead, but will probably not be writing in here as much as I was before.
HOWEVER, while I was not on the internet FOR A WEEK, I recieved 1 email (2 if you count the super long comment from Youngjoo, which I do, thank you to the 2 of you). This is upsetting. I am pretty sure you ahve not all just been sitting around doing nothing for a week. Keep me updated, yo.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
You know, I always try to log into the blogging website with my facebook password. Which is my only password that is different from all the other ones. All my passwords are the same except the facebook one. I think the reason i always try to use my facebook password here is ebcause i have to type out my whole email address, and it just feels so natural totype the facebook password after I type @duke.edu. I'm sure everyone out there really feel priveledged to now know that information.
I dont really feel like writing a blog entry right now, so pardon me if this is not the most thrilling and captivating thing I have written. But, I feel like I should because otherwise more and more stuff will happen that I have to write about and I will just have to write a really long entry and keep putting it off and putting it off and that is something I am not allowed to do. At least not until I am not in Poland anymore.
I have been doing lots of serious-type stuff lately. Yesterday, my host sisters, Julie, and I went to the Warsaw Uprising museum, which was really really interesting. Because, you know, I am a history major. Also because its a brand new museum and interactive and about an event in history that more people should know about. But yes, required lots of serioiusness. Also, I watched The Pianist today. So, I have been very inundated with Polish World War II history lately. It has made me do some serious thinking, but the products of my serious thinking I do not think I will share with the world, because I do not think I could phrase my thoughts appropriately.
My less serious activities ahve included that I was supposed to go to the swimming pool with Eva and Karolina on tuesday night, but I dont particularly like swimming pools. Like the whole getting wet thing without the awesomeness of the ocean, or a waterslide, or even a rainstorm, is not for me. So instead i hung out with Reid and his host sister and her friend, and when I came back I found out that Ewa's 10 year old turtle had died and no one had gone to the pool because they were all very sad.
Also, while we were in Warsaw yesterday, we ate lunch at the mall food court. I did not realize Polish mall's have food courts, but apparently they do. I ate McDonalds, Ewa ate KFC, Karolina got some polish plum dumpling things, and Julie decided to test the mexican food. I was afraid of the mexican food because the Polish people were just completely not going at all to either the Mexican food or the Chinese food. I am not sure if this is because the Polish palatte is not a fan of these tastes or because they were really bad. Julie said her food was OK. I did not want to risk it though.
My class at school continues to frusterate me. This is mostly because at this point in their English education, what these kids really need is help with grammar. Which I am really not the best person to provide them with. One of their Polish English teachers who had to learn English grammar to be able to speak the language is. I would be very good at helping them with vocabulary/conversation/and American Culture; however, our kids no such a limited amount of English that is very close to impossible to teach these thigns. Its very frusterating because I feel pretty much like our lessons are useless. Like the only benefit they are getting is listening to a native english speaker talk for a bit. And, really, they could rent a movie for that. Also, Reid was saying that like he has been talking to other volunteers and like their class are more advanced so they are getting to like lead debates and have their kids create skits and these are just all things that our kids are not capable of at all. Its just very GRRRR. I dont know what to do though except keep trying and hopefully they will learn something this summer?
This is not a particularly upbeat post thingy, but I swear I am pretty happy. In an effort to end on an upbeat note, I think tomorrow I am going to see the Sex and the City movie with Reids host sister and her friends. This will be like my fourth opportunity to see this movie, I have turned it down all the other times, but really the movie theater in Ostroleka plays one movie at a time, and there is very little else to do here...
In closing, thanks to those who have emailed me. You brighten my day. To those who have not emailed me, you should. because you like me. or thats what I tell myself anyway.
I dont really feel like writing a blog entry right now, so pardon me if this is not the most thrilling and captivating thing I have written. But, I feel like I should because otherwise more and more stuff will happen that I have to write about and I will just have to write a really long entry and keep putting it off and putting it off and that is something I am not allowed to do. At least not until I am not in Poland anymore.
I have been doing lots of serious-type stuff lately. Yesterday, my host sisters, Julie, and I went to the Warsaw Uprising museum, which was really really interesting. Because, you know, I am a history major. Also because its a brand new museum and interactive and about an event in history that more people should know about. But yes, required lots of serioiusness. Also, I watched The Pianist today. So, I have been very inundated with Polish World War II history lately. It has made me do some serious thinking, but the products of my serious thinking I do not think I will share with the world, because I do not think I could phrase my thoughts appropriately.
My less serious activities ahve included that I was supposed to go to the swimming pool with Eva and Karolina on tuesday night, but I dont particularly like swimming pools. Like the whole getting wet thing without the awesomeness of the ocean, or a waterslide, or even a rainstorm, is not for me. So instead i hung out with Reid and his host sister and her friend, and when I came back I found out that Ewa's 10 year old turtle had died and no one had gone to the pool because they were all very sad.
Also, while we were in Warsaw yesterday, we ate lunch at the mall food court. I did not realize Polish mall's have food courts, but apparently they do. I ate McDonalds, Ewa ate KFC, Karolina got some polish plum dumpling things, and Julie decided to test the mexican food. I was afraid of the mexican food because the Polish people were just completely not going at all to either the Mexican food or the Chinese food. I am not sure if this is because the Polish palatte is not a fan of these tastes or because they were really bad. Julie said her food was OK. I did not want to risk it though.
My class at school continues to frusterate me. This is mostly because at this point in their English education, what these kids really need is help with grammar. Which I am really not the best person to provide them with. One of their Polish English teachers who had to learn English grammar to be able to speak the language is. I would be very good at helping them with vocabulary/conversation/and American Culture; however, our kids no such a limited amount of English that is very close to impossible to teach these thigns. Its very frusterating because I feel pretty much like our lessons are useless. Like the only benefit they are getting is listening to a native english speaker talk for a bit. And, really, they could rent a movie for that. Also, Reid was saying that like he has been talking to other volunteers and like their class are more advanced so they are getting to like lead debates and have their kids create skits and these are just all things that our kids are not capable of at all. Its just very GRRRR. I dont know what to do though except keep trying and hopefully they will learn something this summer?
This is not a particularly upbeat post thingy, but I swear I am pretty happy. In an effort to end on an upbeat note, I think tomorrow I am going to see the Sex and the City movie with Reids host sister and her friends. This will be like my fourth opportunity to see this movie, I have turned it down all the other times, but really the movie theater in Ostroleka plays one movie at a time, and there is very little else to do here...
In closing, thanks to those who have emailed me. You brighten my day. To those who have not emailed me, you should. because you like me. or thats what I tell myself anyway.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Mostly Food, again
So, if you had told me before I left that I would consider a breakfast of hardboiled eggs, peas, and mayonnaise a good breakfast, I probably would have laughed. But that is what we had for breakfast today, and it was pretty good. You like put the egg through this wire thing that cuts it in little squares, then you add peas, then you miz it with mayonnaise. So I guess, like eggsalad with peas in it. for breakfast. Well, I liked it. It broke up the monotony of eating sandwiches for breakfast and supper everyday well.
Additionally. For Lunch/Dinner today we had potato pancakes! OHMY GOODNESS! I love latkes. soooo much. I ate so many, it was only me and my host mom because my host sisters (who have returned home, more on that later) went out to get pizza with their friends. I think that they are tired of having me around. I heard what I guessed was a long conversation of my host mom forcing them to invite me out to pizza, but i did not want to go. They had tried to slip out of the house while my host mom was driving Julie home and i went along for the ride, because i wanted to see the outside of Julie's house. But they were leaving right as we got back and were forced to invite me. But I got to eat potato pancakes, instead of pizza, which is awesome. and also I am watching a movie I borrowed from Reid so I am in general pretty happy right now.
In Poland, when people get married, the next day they have a giant party that is like "The Wedding Reception: Part Dwa" where all the guests who live in town come to another party to eat the leftovers and their is music and dancing and stuff. Yesterday, I went to this with my host parents for the wedding taht was on saturday. It was really fun! I had a good time, even though I could basically talk to my host mom and then the girl I was sitting next to had been placed beside me because she knew some english too. It was funny because the family gathering felt very familiar and seemed to have the same kind of feelings and sounds and stuff as like a gathering of our family, the only difference being that I didnt know these people and they werent speaking English. There was lots of food. First there was soup, then chicken and potatoes and really good coleslaw (i like coleslaw a lot more than i thought i did, which is probably good because they eat so much of it here, cabbage is good for you right?) and then there was cake. Apparently all the femal relatives make different cakes so I had to try 2 of them, but they werent like american cake so I liked them ok. Especially this one that was like pure melty chocolate for an inch of the top. There was also wedding cake but I didnt try that because. cake. So basically at that point i figured dinner was over, because we had gone through the whole dinner thing and reached dessert, right? But no, they kept bringing out more meat. This included chicken stuffed with pork, pork stuffed with pickles and radishes, something that looked a lot like a deep fried ham sandwich, and then this giant (like the size of my half a cow brisket) piece of meat (most likely pig) that had been baked inside an even bigger loaf of bread. I turned down everything except the last kind of meat, which i had to try because it was a regional dish. I am always required to try the regional dishes.
Anyway, after all the eating, we are just sitting and talking, the girl next to me, who is 27 and has a broken leg from a motorcycle accident is telling me how all the older people are talkign about how she needs to get married and thats all they ever talk about but she is still young and doesnt want to. Then my host parents are like, we have to go pick up eva and Karolina from the bus back from camping. So we went and picked them up and then bruoght them back to the party, they had to change in the bathroom and like deoderize and stuff. They did not enjoy the party, i believe we only brought them so that they would get fed. So after my host sisters were done eating, we watched people dance for about 10 minutes which was very fun and then we left.
When we got back (at like 6pm) almost everyone fell asleep. Because my host parents ahd been at the wedding til 4 am the night before (and my host dad was up before 10 in the morning) and Eva and Karolina were tired out from scout camp. But it was funny just because everyone crashed all around the house. I worked on my lesson plans and got 2 done and then watched some Office on my computer and read a little. It was a pretty fun day. Also Eva and Karolina insisted yesterday that they were too tired to even try to speak english. I think they are happy that i am leaving in a week. I am not. I will miss my host parents a lot, they are really awesome. If oudn out that my next host family is not the family I thought iw ould be staying with. Not that i knew anythign about that family either, but I am scared. My host family didnt know anything about my next host family either, except their name, which was Polish and said to fast for me to catch.
Oh, one more funny story. So I think one of the boys that went ot scout camp had a crush on me. He was like 16ish I would guess and had a funny haircut where the the sides of his head were shaved but the top was not, like a really wide mohawk. Anyway, I didnt take any notice of him for all of camp, except that he seemed to like the weird canned meat spread at mealtimes. When I was leaving though, I was shaking everyone who was arounds hand and he came up and hugged me. I thought he was just trying to make his friends laugh or something, ebcause he hugged me again when I was like walking away. Then when we went to the bus to pick up Ewa and Karolina, he smiled and waved, and none of the other kids did, even the ones I had talked to while I was there. And he was staring at me the whole time as I stood their awkwardly while my host parents helped the girls with their big backpacks. Then when he was leaving he came up and shook my hand. My host mom called him my "lover boy". It was so awkward.
Also, I have not ehard much from you people lately. I know a whole weekend has happened since i got emails from most of you and fun and exciting things tend to happen on weekends. or you know, just anything, like sitting at your computer, learning to count cards for vegas. or listening to Protomen. or studying MCATs. or being in London. or something. Anyway, the point of this is email me, yo. Peace Out.
Additionally. For Lunch/Dinner today we had potato pancakes! OHMY GOODNESS! I love latkes. soooo much. I ate so many, it was only me and my host mom because my host sisters (who have returned home, more on that later) went out to get pizza with their friends. I think that they are tired of having me around. I heard what I guessed was a long conversation of my host mom forcing them to invite me out to pizza, but i did not want to go. They had tried to slip out of the house while my host mom was driving Julie home and i went along for the ride, because i wanted to see the outside of Julie's house. But they were leaving right as we got back and were forced to invite me. But I got to eat potato pancakes, instead of pizza, which is awesome. and also I am watching a movie I borrowed from Reid so I am in general pretty happy right now.
In Poland, when people get married, the next day they have a giant party that is like "The Wedding Reception: Part Dwa" where all the guests who live in town come to another party to eat the leftovers and their is music and dancing and stuff. Yesterday, I went to this with my host parents for the wedding taht was on saturday. It was really fun! I had a good time, even though I could basically talk to my host mom and then the girl I was sitting next to had been placed beside me because she knew some english too. It was funny because the family gathering felt very familiar and seemed to have the same kind of feelings and sounds and stuff as like a gathering of our family, the only difference being that I didnt know these people and they werent speaking English. There was lots of food. First there was soup, then chicken and potatoes and really good coleslaw (i like coleslaw a lot more than i thought i did, which is probably good because they eat so much of it here, cabbage is good for you right?) and then there was cake. Apparently all the femal relatives make different cakes so I had to try 2 of them, but they werent like american cake so I liked them ok. Especially this one that was like pure melty chocolate for an inch of the top. There was also wedding cake but I didnt try that because. cake. So basically at that point i figured dinner was over, because we had gone through the whole dinner thing and reached dessert, right? But no, they kept bringing out more meat. This included chicken stuffed with pork, pork stuffed with pickles and radishes, something that looked a lot like a deep fried ham sandwich, and then this giant (like the size of my half a cow brisket) piece of meat (most likely pig) that had been baked inside an even bigger loaf of bread. I turned down everything except the last kind of meat, which i had to try because it was a regional dish. I am always required to try the regional dishes.
Anyway, after all the eating, we are just sitting and talking, the girl next to me, who is 27 and has a broken leg from a motorcycle accident is telling me how all the older people are talkign about how she needs to get married and thats all they ever talk about but she is still young and doesnt want to. Then my host parents are like, we have to go pick up eva and Karolina from the bus back from camping. So we went and picked them up and then bruoght them back to the party, they had to change in the bathroom and like deoderize and stuff. They did not enjoy the party, i believe we only brought them so that they would get fed. So after my host sisters were done eating, we watched people dance for about 10 minutes which was very fun and then we left.
When we got back (at like 6pm) almost everyone fell asleep. Because my host parents ahd been at the wedding til 4 am the night before (and my host dad was up before 10 in the morning) and Eva and Karolina were tired out from scout camp. But it was funny just because everyone crashed all around the house. I worked on my lesson plans and got 2 done and then watched some Office on my computer and read a little. It was a pretty fun day. Also Eva and Karolina insisted yesterday that they were too tired to even try to speak english. I think they are happy that i am leaving in a week. I am not. I will miss my host parents a lot, they are really awesome. If oudn out that my next host family is not the family I thought iw ould be staying with. Not that i knew anythign about that family either, but I am scared. My host family didnt know anything about my next host family either, except their name, which was Polish and said to fast for me to catch.
Oh, one more funny story. So I think one of the boys that went ot scout camp had a crush on me. He was like 16ish I would guess and had a funny haircut where the the sides of his head were shaved but the top was not, like a really wide mohawk. Anyway, I didnt take any notice of him for all of camp, except that he seemed to like the weird canned meat spread at mealtimes. When I was leaving though, I was shaking everyone who was arounds hand and he came up and hugged me. I thought he was just trying to make his friends laugh or something, ebcause he hugged me again when I was like walking away. Then when we went to the bus to pick up Ewa and Karolina, he smiled and waved, and none of the other kids did, even the ones I had talked to while I was there. And he was staring at me the whole time as I stood their awkwardly while my host parents helped the girls with their big backpacks. Then when he was leaving he came up and shook my hand. My host mom called him my "lover boy". It was so awkward.
Also, I have not ehard much from you people lately. I know a whole weekend has happened since i got emails from most of you and fun and exciting things tend to happen on weekends. or you know, just anything, like sitting at your computer, learning to count cards for vegas. or listening to Protomen. or studying MCATs. or being in London. or something. Anyway, the point of this is email me, yo. Peace Out.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Guys I'm So sleepy
So I guess I will first answer questions that people wrote in the comments.
1. As compared to Russia, I think the culture shock ahs definitely been more. Just because, I WAS very homesick for the first part of Russia, but I think that was mostly because school had just ended and I missed people. But my experience in Russia was very American since i was living and interacting almost exclusively with the other Americans in the program. So, while we were in Russia we werent really immersed in Russian life at all. I did have some frustration that things that would be simple to do in America were a big mess of difficulty. But here it has definitely been much more difficult. I feel like this is a more worthwhile experience though probably as I am getting much more exposure and better, more realistic experience of life in Poland.
2. Youngjoo, i dont really have any ideas for you. I dont think my classes are that good and my students are 13-17. I guess, the best advice I would have is to keep activities short. So like break a lesson down into 10ish minute activities. And come to class very prepared, and have back up activities incase your run out of stuff. (I really need to take my own advice here)
Ok, so my life of late. I am very tired. This is because I woke up at 630 am. On a saturday. Actually the latest I have slept since I have been here is 10 and I had trouble sleeping that late. I think this is because when I was adjsuting from the jetlag i had to get up every morning between 7 and 8 so that my body got on a good rhythm, unlike the go to bed at 3am and wake up at 1pm one that I am often on in America.
Yesterday, my host mom took me to Warsaw. I did not know how long we were going for so I had to pack my bag for all weekend and all weather, plus all school stuff, so my bag was very heavy. Plus, as most of you know my backpack is semi-broken, so it does not distribute the weight healthily upon my back. So I find out that we are only going to Warsaw for friday night, spending the night at my host Aunts house in the Warsaw 'burbs and then coming back to Ostroleka early in the morning. Unfortunately, I could do nothing about the heft of my bag at this point as we left for the bus station straight from school.
Reid was actually going to Warsaw for the weekend to meet his dad and he was taking the same bus as me and my host mom. Initially i was sitting next to my host mom and Reid was sitting next to some "hot girl" but my host mom decided that since she was going to read the whole time Reid should sit next to me, so she changed seats with him, just as he was about to offer the "hot girl" some of his paprika chips and he as stuck sitting with me. Then my host mom spent the whole 3 hour ride to warsaw talking to the "hot girl." In Warsaw first we walked Reid to his hotel. Then we walked around the city. I was carrying my giant heavy uncomfortable bag. It made seeing the sights of Warsaw less pleasant. ALthough it was a very cool city.
Also I was very hungry. It figures this was the one time my host mom wasnt asking me if I was tired or hungry. Anyway eventually my host mom told me that we were going to this place that she knew, that she liked very much that was very good. Do you know where we ate? Pizza Hut. It was much classier than Pizza Huts in the US though. They had a full menu with Salads and Pasta. I got pasta, but the portion was so small that my host mom and the waitress had this whole conference about how i needed more food, so i tried to order a salad with mozzerella balls and cranberries but they didnt let me because it didnt have meat and apparently I needed meat. The waitress decided I needed a chicken caesar salad and brought me that. It was mediocre.
After that we walked some more and it started to rain. I had to pee so we went inside this little tea shop that was very pink and very packed with decorations. The tea costed 10 dollars. I did not get any. My host mom got some coffee which was like 3 dollars. I dont know who would pay 10 dollars for a cup of tea. RIDICULOUS. So we waited out the rain, and then we walked more. My back hurt soooooo much. Finally we met my host uncle(? I guess) and he drove us to their house where i got to leave my bag. Then we went to the mall, where we went to the movies and saw 21. It was in english with Polish subtitles which was nice for me. The movie was ok. I kind of guessed how it would end 10 minutes in but it was still fun to watch a movie. After that we went back and I slept til 630 in the morning when I had to wake up because we were taking a bus at 8.
The bus we took only took us to Pultusk which is an hour from Ostroleka. From there we were supposed to get another bus. We got in at 9:25 and the bus was supposed to come at 9:55. It finally arrived at 10:35 but was so full that it wouldnot take on anymore passengers. My host mom went to the station and found out the next bus was too full also. So, my host dad drove down to Pultusk and picked us up. But not before I got to walk around some more with my giant bag! On the way home We stopped and ate pierogi. Which were kind of like knishes i think. They were meat wrapped in potatoey dough and served with coleslaw. We eat a lot of coleslaw here. They also had buttery fried onions on top of them. It was all pretty good.
This afternoon I went into town to meet Julie because we were supposed to hang out because my host parents were going ot a wedding and we need to buy gifts for our host parents at some point because we move to new families next sunday. We discovered that apparently all teh shops in Ostroleka close at 2pm on saturday and are not open sunday, due to Poland being 95% Catholic. I really dont understand when people buy things, as the shops close the same time people get done work on weekdays. Anyway, we met at 3:45 and were not being picked up til 9, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. All the food places were, of course, still open. So I got ice cream. Then Julie got a kebab. Then I got a kebab. Then we sat at the kebab place and talked for a while. Then Julie got ice cream. Then we decided to explore ostroleka a little. We found a movie store and looked around it for a little bit. Then we went back to the center and sat around and talked some more. It was a day full of intense excitement.
Now I am home alone and using the internet. I wish people were online so that I could talk with them. I miss you all VERY MUCH. Im probably going to go eat something and then go to bed. Tomorrow will probably be devoted to some major lesson planning. yippee.
1. As compared to Russia, I think the culture shock ahs definitely been more. Just because, I WAS very homesick for the first part of Russia, but I think that was mostly because school had just ended and I missed people. But my experience in Russia was very American since i was living and interacting almost exclusively with the other Americans in the program. So, while we were in Russia we werent really immersed in Russian life at all. I did have some frustration that things that would be simple to do in America were a big mess of difficulty. But here it has definitely been much more difficult. I feel like this is a more worthwhile experience though probably as I am getting much more exposure and better, more realistic experience of life in Poland.
2. Youngjoo, i dont really have any ideas for you. I dont think my classes are that good and my students are 13-17. I guess, the best advice I would have is to keep activities short. So like break a lesson down into 10ish minute activities. And come to class very prepared, and have back up activities incase your run out of stuff. (I really need to take my own advice here)
Ok, so my life of late. I am very tired. This is because I woke up at 630 am. On a saturday. Actually the latest I have slept since I have been here is 10 and I had trouble sleeping that late. I think this is because when I was adjsuting from the jetlag i had to get up every morning between 7 and 8 so that my body got on a good rhythm, unlike the go to bed at 3am and wake up at 1pm one that I am often on in America.
Yesterday, my host mom took me to Warsaw. I did not know how long we were going for so I had to pack my bag for all weekend and all weather, plus all school stuff, so my bag was very heavy. Plus, as most of you know my backpack is semi-broken, so it does not distribute the weight healthily upon my back. So I find out that we are only going to Warsaw for friday night, spending the night at my host Aunts house in the Warsaw 'burbs and then coming back to Ostroleka early in the morning. Unfortunately, I could do nothing about the heft of my bag at this point as we left for the bus station straight from school.
Reid was actually going to Warsaw for the weekend to meet his dad and he was taking the same bus as me and my host mom. Initially i was sitting next to my host mom and Reid was sitting next to some "hot girl" but my host mom decided that since she was going to read the whole time Reid should sit next to me, so she changed seats with him, just as he was about to offer the "hot girl" some of his paprika chips and he as stuck sitting with me. Then my host mom spent the whole 3 hour ride to warsaw talking to the "hot girl." In Warsaw first we walked Reid to his hotel. Then we walked around the city. I was carrying my giant heavy uncomfortable bag. It made seeing the sights of Warsaw less pleasant. ALthough it was a very cool city.
Also I was very hungry. It figures this was the one time my host mom wasnt asking me if I was tired or hungry. Anyway eventually my host mom told me that we were going to this place that she knew, that she liked very much that was very good. Do you know where we ate? Pizza Hut. It was much classier than Pizza Huts in the US though. They had a full menu with Salads and Pasta. I got pasta, but the portion was so small that my host mom and the waitress had this whole conference about how i needed more food, so i tried to order a salad with mozzerella balls and cranberries but they didnt let me because it didnt have meat and apparently I needed meat. The waitress decided I needed a chicken caesar salad and brought me that. It was mediocre.
After that we walked some more and it started to rain. I had to pee so we went inside this little tea shop that was very pink and very packed with decorations. The tea costed 10 dollars. I did not get any. My host mom got some coffee which was like 3 dollars. I dont know who would pay 10 dollars for a cup of tea. RIDICULOUS. So we waited out the rain, and then we walked more. My back hurt soooooo much. Finally we met my host uncle(? I guess) and he drove us to their house where i got to leave my bag. Then we went to the mall, where we went to the movies and saw 21. It was in english with Polish subtitles which was nice for me. The movie was ok. I kind of guessed how it would end 10 minutes in but it was still fun to watch a movie. After that we went back and I slept til 630 in the morning when I had to wake up because we were taking a bus at 8.
The bus we took only took us to Pultusk which is an hour from Ostroleka. From there we were supposed to get another bus. We got in at 9:25 and the bus was supposed to come at 9:55. It finally arrived at 10:35 but was so full that it wouldnot take on anymore passengers. My host mom went to the station and found out the next bus was too full also. So, my host dad drove down to Pultusk and picked us up. But not before I got to walk around some more with my giant bag! On the way home We stopped and ate pierogi. Which were kind of like knishes i think. They were meat wrapped in potatoey dough and served with coleslaw. We eat a lot of coleslaw here. They also had buttery fried onions on top of them. It was all pretty good.
This afternoon I went into town to meet Julie because we were supposed to hang out because my host parents were going ot a wedding and we need to buy gifts for our host parents at some point because we move to new families next sunday. We discovered that apparently all teh shops in Ostroleka close at 2pm on saturday and are not open sunday, due to Poland being 95% Catholic. I really dont understand when people buy things, as the shops close the same time people get done work on weekdays. Anyway, we met at 3:45 and were not being picked up til 9, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. All the food places were, of course, still open. So I got ice cream. Then Julie got a kebab. Then I got a kebab. Then we sat at the kebab place and talked for a while. Then Julie got ice cream. Then we decided to explore ostroleka a little. We found a movie store and looked around it for a little bit. Then we went back to the center and sat around and talked some more. It was a day full of intense excitement.
Now I am home alone and using the internet. I wish people were online so that I could talk with them. I miss you all VERY MUCH. Im probably going to go eat something and then go to bed. Tomorrow will probably be devoted to some major lesson planning. yippee.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I'm pretty sure I'm not an outside person
So, Scout camp was absolutely terrible. I tried to go into it with a good attitude but really, I came to the conclusion that I would not have enjoyed it had everyone spoken english and had everyone been my friend, therefore the fact that everyone spoke Polish and I barely knew anyone just made it doubly terrible. I DO think that it is good that I went though, because this way I will not regret it which I might have done had I decided not to go.
Anyway, since there was barely anyone for me to talk to for 2 whole days, I got to do a lot of thinking about how I felt about Scout camp which I will now relate. This will probably be really whiny, but I swear I tried as hard as I could to have fun.
Daddy, I would like to add that I think it is amazing that you were a boy scout and thank you for never making any of us go through that.
Ok so, to go to Scout camp, I had to wake up at 5:45 in the morning because we had to get on the bus at 7:00. So to begin with I was very tired. The bus ride was 3 hours long. This was not really the bad part yet. I had my iPod and I was ok. So what scout camp looks like, is you know in the fourth Harry Potter book when they go to the Quidditch World Cup and they talk about the campsite and it just being a field with tents as far as you can see. That is kind of what this looked like. Except the tents werent magic so the tents were not nice inside. Also, the areas were roped off so like scouts from Mazura were in one section, scouts from Silesia in another, etc. Each area had a wooden archway thing to enter it which some scouts guarded at all times, though I really have no idea why as their only purpose seemed to be to salute people who walked through the archway...sometimes.
My major issue with scout camp was that everything was in Polish. So I never had any idea what was happening, so all these people would be bustling around me doing things and I would be confused. I tried to ask my host sister Karolina but she just seemed annoyed by all my questions, and did not seem to understand how frusterating i found it that I had no idea what was going on. I felt bad because i knew she wanted to be doing whatever everyone was doing and having me there was keeping her back sometimes. I don't really understand why she was so gung-ho about me going because a lot of the activities she was like "oh you cant do this because you dont speak polish" even like some of the games that i totally figured out how to play just by watching. Anyway, it is very confusing and frusterating when you have no one to talk to and feel like an annoyance.
The other problem I had, was that I do not like being outside. There is not much furniture outside and i dont like sitting on the ground. There are bugs under you and you dont know where and it is gross. Also, there is no temperature control. In Poland the weather is very erratic, i dont know if I have mentioned this. At one point it can be sunny and hot, while 5 minutes later it is cloudy and cool, then it gets sunny and hot again, the next minute it is pouring down rain. Then at night it gets so cold you can see your breath. For example, the first day I was there for parts of the day I was comfortable outside in a tank top, by the end of the night I was barely warm even though I was wearing a tank top, a t-shirt, a button down shirt, a wool sweater, my duke sweatshirt, a turtleneck wool sweater, and a raincoat. 7 shirts. I could barely move. (the sweaters were borrowed because one of the girls was really sweet and realized i was going to freeze to death. I didnt understand because some of the scouts were just running around in skirts and knee socks. It was SO cold.
Anyway, the worst moment of the whole time is that on the first night there was an ognisko. At this point during the day, all i have eaten is a sandwich for breakfast at 6:30 in the morning, a peach on the bus ride, and 2 pieces of bread with sour cream for lunch. So i am starving. And I think, at least their will now be Kielbasa. But apparently I was wrong. The traditional scouting ognisko does not involve food. What it did involve was sitting uncomfortably in wet grass facing the wrong way on a hill. You know how if you sit on a hill you should face downward so you are not fighting gravity. Well we were facing upward, and you have to sit a special way, which makes your legs numb and then they all sung songs in Polish, then this guy spoke for a really long time. All of this is very boring and awful when you can not understand so it is like sitting uncomfortably and freezingly in the wet grass doing nothing for an hour and a half. I did not have all of my sweaters yet and was not close enough to the fire to feel its warmth. And then there wasnt even any food. I was basically on the verge of tears because I just wanted to go home, and if i hadnt known that I was leaving the next day I probably would have fallen apart. And no one could even see how I felt because it was too dark to see anything. Luckily at this point, one of the girls got me the other sweaters and i felt a little better once I was warmer.
After the ognisko we walked to the Medieval battle grounds in the dark for a "Scouts Promise" ceremony. It was very strange and cultlike (actually all of scouts is kind of cult like, there is a lot of marching and rules and uniforms) They had flaming torches and people cried and my host sister told me it that it was the most important moment in the life of a scout. I didnt really understand what was going on, but was glad that afterward I finally got to go to bed. Sleeping outside was one of the better parts, because i curled inside of my sleeping bag so the bugs couldnt get me and going to sleep doesnt require me to understand any Polish.
The tents got really gross after only 2 days there. There were so many flies. at one point a guy fell asleep during, i guess, a break and i counted 10 flies on his pants alone. It was so gross. Also there was this giant bug like the size of my palm that just fell from the ceiling and at that time I was the only person in the tent besides this guy that was sleeping, so i had to kill the bug. It was the scariest thing ever. It just wouldnt die. I had to step on it like 10 times til its guts came out and its legs stopped moving. uueeerrgh. There were about 3 times in the day where they made us take all of our stuff out of the tent and gave us 15 minutes to put all of our things in our bags, and then collected all the leftover stuff and would assign jobs to the people it belonged to. This was supposed to help keep the tents clean, but it didnt really. Oh also, there were 2 tents, one where everyone slept and one where everyone kept their stuff. Both had lots of flies. By everyone i mean like 30 people, in one tent. I have pictures of the tents.
Also, so since I was a visitor from the united states. I had to raise the US flag in a special ceremony. and they announced that I was there, it was really weird because i guess i stood out a lot because random people would say "Hi Kate" when i passed, which weirded me out, mostly because kait is the name I am called by family, and even friends call me Kaitlin so like that all these random people i didnt know was calling me Kait weirded me out. (My host family calls me Kait because they have a lot of trouble saying kaitlin).
Everyone there played guitar. And they played Polish army songs. I dont know.
By the end, a couple of people who took some english, plus the nice girl who got me the sweaters tried to help me out (more than my host sisters) which made me feel a little better, but mostly i was focused on going home.
I was so glad when my host parents came to pick me up. It was very nice to be in car and then we went to a restaurant and I got coke and soup which was amazing because all we had been eating was bread with different spreads on it and i was so cold and hungry. Then we went home and I got to shower bath and being clean was amazing. My hair had been so gross and i smelled so bad. I can not imagine camping for a lot of days. Especially if there was no bathroom. We had a bathroom, it was gross and you had to bring your own toilet paper (luckily I was prepared) but we had a bathroom.
Today Jo and Andzrej (The coordinators of our program) came to do a site visit and observed us teach and made sure we are happy and healthy. It was fun to see them and to hang out with Julie and Reid because they speak english and I have gotten to do so little of that. Class went ok, we talked about written communication. I got to use the "How to send flirtatious text messages" article from my 17 magazine but they had a lot of trouble understanding the word flirtatious, even when i demonstrated by hitting on one of the students... Then we talked about writing notes, and had groups become experts at writing different types of notes (postcards, thank you notes, requests, invitations, rsvps, etc) and tomorrow they will get to present to the class. Then we talked about penpals. And a select few of you, i have emailed asking if you would be willing to a be a penpal. If anyone else would like to be a penpal to a Polish kid, let me know as some more will probably show up and we are trying to make this an summer-long project. If you do though, you will have to be VERY responsible and timely in the sending replies.
Well i think that is all for my scouting adventure. This weekend, i think i might be going to Warsaw with my host mom, i am not sure. Also, she wants to take me to see things, but does not speak that much English so that will be interesting. I am with this host family through the 20th and then i move to my next one, which i know nothing about other than that they have a 17 year old daughter. It will kind of suck to move because I am just starting to get comfortable here.
I hope everyone back in the US or in other countries are doing awesomely and that you send me emails to let me know exactly what you are doing. I would like to to thank everyone who has sent me emails lately, and hope that you will continue doing so.
Anyway, since there was barely anyone for me to talk to for 2 whole days, I got to do a lot of thinking about how I felt about Scout camp which I will now relate. This will probably be really whiny, but I swear I tried as hard as I could to have fun.
Daddy, I would like to add that I think it is amazing that you were a boy scout and thank you for never making any of us go through that.
Ok so, to go to Scout camp, I had to wake up at 5:45 in the morning because we had to get on the bus at 7:00. So to begin with I was very tired. The bus ride was 3 hours long. This was not really the bad part yet. I had my iPod and I was ok. So what scout camp looks like, is you know in the fourth Harry Potter book when they go to the Quidditch World Cup and they talk about the campsite and it just being a field with tents as far as you can see. That is kind of what this looked like. Except the tents werent magic so the tents were not nice inside. Also, the areas were roped off so like scouts from Mazura were in one section, scouts from Silesia in another, etc. Each area had a wooden archway thing to enter it which some scouts guarded at all times, though I really have no idea why as their only purpose seemed to be to salute people who walked through the archway...sometimes.
My major issue with scout camp was that everything was in Polish. So I never had any idea what was happening, so all these people would be bustling around me doing things and I would be confused. I tried to ask my host sister Karolina but she just seemed annoyed by all my questions, and did not seem to understand how frusterating i found it that I had no idea what was going on. I felt bad because i knew she wanted to be doing whatever everyone was doing and having me there was keeping her back sometimes. I don't really understand why she was so gung-ho about me going because a lot of the activities she was like "oh you cant do this because you dont speak polish" even like some of the games that i totally figured out how to play just by watching. Anyway, it is very confusing and frusterating when you have no one to talk to and feel like an annoyance.
The other problem I had, was that I do not like being outside. There is not much furniture outside and i dont like sitting on the ground. There are bugs under you and you dont know where and it is gross. Also, there is no temperature control. In Poland the weather is very erratic, i dont know if I have mentioned this. At one point it can be sunny and hot, while 5 minutes later it is cloudy and cool, then it gets sunny and hot again, the next minute it is pouring down rain. Then at night it gets so cold you can see your breath. For example, the first day I was there for parts of the day I was comfortable outside in a tank top, by the end of the night I was barely warm even though I was wearing a tank top, a t-shirt, a button down shirt, a wool sweater, my duke sweatshirt, a turtleneck wool sweater, and a raincoat. 7 shirts. I could barely move. (the sweaters were borrowed because one of the girls was really sweet and realized i was going to freeze to death. I didnt understand because some of the scouts were just running around in skirts and knee socks. It was SO cold.
Anyway, the worst moment of the whole time is that on the first night there was an ognisko. At this point during the day, all i have eaten is a sandwich for breakfast at 6:30 in the morning, a peach on the bus ride, and 2 pieces of bread with sour cream for lunch. So i am starving. And I think, at least their will now be Kielbasa. But apparently I was wrong. The traditional scouting ognisko does not involve food. What it did involve was sitting uncomfortably in wet grass facing the wrong way on a hill. You know how if you sit on a hill you should face downward so you are not fighting gravity. Well we were facing upward, and you have to sit a special way, which makes your legs numb and then they all sung songs in Polish, then this guy spoke for a really long time. All of this is very boring and awful when you can not understand so it is like sitting uncomfortably and freezingly in the wet grass doing nothing for an hour and a half. I did not have all of my sweaters yet and was not close enough to the fire to feel its warmth. And then there wasnt even any food. I was basically on the verge of tears because I just wanted to go home, and if i hadnt known that I was leaving the next day I probably would have fallen apart. And no one could even see how I felt because it was too dark to see anything. Luckily at this point, one of the girls got me the other sweaters and i felt a little better once I was warmer.
After the ognisko we walked to the Medieval battle grounds in the dark for a "Scouts Promise" ceremony. It was very strange and cultlike (actually all of scouts is kind of cult like, there is a lot of marching and rules and uniforms) They had flaming torches and people cried and my host sister told me it that it was the most important moment in the life of a scout. I didnt really understand what was going on, but was glad that afterward I finally got to go to bed. Sleeping outside was one of the better parts, because i curled inside of my sleeping bag so the bugs couldnt get me and going to sleep doesnt require me to understand any Polish.
The tents got really gross after only 2 days there. There were so many flies. at one point a guy fell asleep during, i guess, a break and i counted 10 flies on his pants alone. It was so gross. Also there was this giant bug like the size of my palm that just fell from the ceiling and at that time I was the only person in the tent besides this guy that was sleeping, so i had to kill the bug. It was the scariest thing ever. It just wouldnt die. I had to step on it like 10 times til its guts came out and its legs stopped moving. uueeerrgh. There were about 3 times in the day where they made us take all of our stuff out of the tent and gave us 15 minutes to put all of our things in our bags, and then collected all the leftover stuff and would assign jobs to the people it belonged to. This was supposed to help keep the tents clean, but it didnt really. Oh also, there were 2 tents, one where everyone slept and one where everyone kept their stuff. Both had lots of flies. By everyone i mean like 30 people, in one tent. I have pictures of the tents.
Also, so since I was a visitor from the united states. I had to raise the US flag in a special ceremony. and they announced that I was there, it was really weird because i guess i stood out a lot because random people would say "Hi Kate" when i passed, which weirded me out, mostly because kait is the name I am called by family, and even friends call me Kaitlin so like that all these random people i didnt know was calling me Kait weirded me out. (My host family calls me Kait because they have a lot of trouble saying kaitlin).
Everyone there played guitar. And they played Polish army songs. I dont know.
By the end, a couple of people who took some english, plus the nice girl who got me the sweaters tried to help me out (more than my host sisters) which made me feel a little better, but mostly i was focused on going home.
I was so glad when my host parents came to pick me up. It was very nice to be in car and then we went to a restaurant and I got coke and soup which was amazing because all we had been eating was bread with different spreads on it and i was so cold and hungry. Then we went home and I got to shower bath and being clean was amazing. My hair had been so gross and i smelled so bad. I can not imagine camping for a lot of days. Especially if there was no bathroom. We had a bathroom, it was gross and you had to bring your own toilet paper (luckily I was prepared) but we had a bathroom.
Today Jo and Andzrej (The coordinators of our program) came to do a site visit and observed us teach and made sure we are happy and healthy. It was fun to see them and to hang out with Julie and Reid because they speak english and I have gotten to do so little of that. Class went ok, we talked about written communication. I got to use the "How to send flirtatious text messages" article from my 17 magazine but they had a lot of trouble understanding the word flirtatious, even when i demonstrated by hitting on one of the students... Then we talked about writing notes, and had groups become experts at writing different types of notes (postcards, thank you notes, requests, invitations, rsvps, etc) and tomorrow they will get to present to the class. Then we talked about penpals. And a select few of you, i have emailed asking if you would be willing to a be a penpal. If anyone else would like to be a penpal to a Polish kid, let me know as some more will probably show up and we are trying to make this an summer-long project. If you do though, you will have to be VERY responsible and timely in the sending replies.
Well i think that is all for my scouting adventure. This weekend, i think i might be going to Warsaw with my host mom, i am not sure. Also, she wants to take me to see things, but does not speak that much English so that will be interesting. I am with this host family through the 20th and then i move to my next one, which i know nothing about other than that they have a 17 year old daughter. It will kind of suck to move because I am just starting to get comfortable here.
I hope everyone back in the US or in other countries are doing awesomely and that you send me emails to let me know exactly what you are doing. I would like to to thank everyone who has sent me emails lately, and hope that you will continue doing so.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Disappointed
I have to admit, I did not check my email all weekend, so when I got on the computer today I was looking forward to a mailbox full of awesome emails; however, all my emails were about penis enlargement. Then I was like, well maybe someone has commented on my blog. But no one had, so that is very sad.
Other than that, I am doing pretty well. This weekend has been rather eventful. On Friday night Ewa, her friend Pioter and I all went to the cinema to watch the U2 3D concert, which was...ok. Ewa fell asleep. They did the songs I liked/knew/didnt find boring at the beginning. I have to say that I think Bono is a little annoying. I spent the whole movie trying to form an opinion on him, having no knowledge beforehand about him other than he is really famous, the lead singer of U2, and does some humanitarian stuff. Here is what I came up with. He seemed really small, but seemed like he had so much energy trying to push his way out of his body that at times it looked like he might explode. He also seems to think he is really cool. Which makes sense because the world for the most part thinks he is really cool, but a lot of times he looked silly and like he was trying to hard, and maybe should laugh at himself a little more. However, maybe he does this and I just dont know about it. I think that the guitar player "The Edge" (i learned from the credits) seemed more actually cool.
So yes, on saturday I woke up and my host sister Karolina (Karohleena) told me to pack my bag because we were going to the Mazura lakes. So we went to their grandparents house in the Mazura lake region which is about 2 hours away. We swam in the lake, it was not warm outside. The water was really clean though. I am glad I know how to swim because after how poorly I bike rode i needed to prove that I could do something. Oh, so a really awkward moment was that my host sister assumed there would be places to change into our bathing suits near the lake. There were not. Which resulted in us trying to cover ourselves with our towels and change into and out of bathign suits. Of course in the process of doing this the only attractive Polish boys i have seen since Warsaw walk by. I would also like to change my previous statement, and say that while Warsaw did seem to have a good number of attractive boys, the rest of the country seems to be lacking. All the really hot Polish girls that Reid is always hitting on seem to be paired up with really unattractive boys. Also, they seem to be into the Speedo's here.
The grandparents house seems to be set up so that it can be family vacation headquarters and can sit and sleep about an infinite number of people. There are a million chairs and sofas and they all fold out into beds. Each of the three upstairs bedrooms can sleep between 3 and 7. There is a futon on the balcony. There is a tent in the yard. They have a million towels and toothbrushes and toys for kids. While we were their, my host moms sister Ewa was there with her 4 year old daughter Paula. Paula was afraid of me. Oh! Also, you know how some people claim animals hate me (cough hannah cough). Today my host family was talking about how much the dog is going to miss me when I am gone.
One other thing I wanted to talk about was the lack of the concept of "ruining your dinner" here. I first noticed this when everyday after school Ewa and I stopped to get ice cream (sometimes twice!) even though we were headed home to eat dinner (they eat dinner meal around 1 or 2 ish). Then while we were at Mazura we were leaving the lake and headed home to have an ognisko,but the Aunt Ewa was like, I really want some french fries. So we all went and got fries and then went home and had an ognisko. I just find this really funny because in america there is so much "dont eat dessert before dinner" and "dont have a snack now, we are eating soon" that it is funny how much that concept does not exist at all here.
So this week, i think I am going to the Scout camp Jamboree on tues/wed. and then coming home and teaching thurs/fri. Then going to Warsaw with my host mom on the weekend. I think. See they wanted me to go to scout camp through sunday, but 1. i did not want to live outside that long and 2. the whole reason i am in poland is you know to be a teacher at the school here, and if i am at scout camp i am not doing that and will feel guilty. So i think that is the arrangement that was decided upon, but i am never really 100% sure of what is going on here. Going with the flow has become very essential to my life.
Oh! also, so i hadnt seen my host mom since wednesday night, and I was very confused as to where she was, but I know on wednesday she had been sick, so i thought maybe she had just been asleep and staying in her room or something. Then when we went to the lakes she didnt come. Then they kept talking about picking her up from the bus. I later found out that my host mom had been in Berlin for the latter portion of the week, when i thought she was home sick in bed....
I have learned to eat carrots! not like the uncooked kind, but when they are cooked and mixed in with something else I have finally been able to not pick them out. Because everyone has told me that when they are in something like this, you cant taste them and they just taste like the rest of the food. But my mind always made up the carrot taste and then i would be grossed out, but since I have been here, and a little before (when I made crab soup) i have gotten really good at not imagining the carrot flavor. I think this is really good because carrots are good for me.
So that is all for now. Its very difficult to write both this and emails, because a lot of times i dont have enough information for both. But i still really like getting emails, because I miss everyone back in the states (and in other places like London, Korea, and China) a lot and getting emails makes me smile.
Have a wonderful day, and if I dont update tomorrow you will have to wait a few days because I will be in the wilderness.
Other than that, I am doing pretty well. This weekend has been rather eventful. On Friday night Ewa, her friend Pioter and I all went to the cinema to watch the U2 3D concert, which was...ok. Ewa fell asleep. They did the songs I liked/knew/didnt find boring at the beginning. I have to say that I think Bono is a little annoying. I spent the whole movie trying to form an opinion on him, having no knowledge beforehand about him other than he is really famous, the lead singer of U2, and does some humanitarian stuff. Here is what I came up with. He seemed really small, but seemed like he had so much energy trying to push his way out of his body that at times it looked like he might explode. He also seems to think he is really cool. Which makes sense because the world for the most part thinks he is really cool, but a lot of times he looked silly and like he was trying to hard, and maybe should laugh at himself a little more. However, maybe he does this and I just dont know about it. I think that the guitar player "The Edge" (i learned from the credits) seemed more actually cool.
So yes, on saturday I woke up and my host sister Karolina (Karohleena) told me to pack my bag because we were going to the Mazura lakes. So we went to their grandparents house in the Mazura lake region which is about 2 hours away. We swam in the lake, it was not warm outside. The water was really clean though. I am glad I know how to swim because after how poorly I bike rode i needed to prove that I could do something. Oh, so a really awkward moment was that my host sister assumed there would be places to change into our bathing suits near the lake. There were not. Which resulted in us trying to cover ourselves with our towels and change into and out of bathign suits. Of course in the process of doing this the only attractive Polish boys i have seen since Warsaw walk by. I would also like to change my previous statement, and say that while Warsaw did seem to have a good number of attractive boys, the rest of the country seems to be lacking. All the really hot Polish girls that Reid is always hitting on seem to be paired up with really unattractive boys. Also, they seem to be into the Speedo's here.
The grandparents house seems to be set up so that it can be family vacation headquarters and can sit and sleep about an infinite number of people. There are a million chairs and sofas and they all fold out into beds. Each of the three upstairs bedrooms can sleep between 3 and 7. There is a futon on the balcony. There is a tent in the yard. They have a million towels and toothbrushes and toys for kids. While we were their, my host moms sister Ewa was there with her 4 year old daughter Paula. Paula was afraid of me. Oh! Also, you know how some people claim animals hate me (cough hannah cough). Today my host family was talking about how much the dog is going to miss me when I am gone.
One other thing I wanted to talk about was the lack of the concept of "ruining your dinner" here. I first noticed this when everyday after school Ewa and I stopped to get ice cream (sometimes twice!) even though we were headed home to eat dinner (they eat dinner meal around 1 or 2 ish). Then while we were at Mazura we were leaving the lake and headed home to have an ognisko,but the Aunt Ewa was like, I really want some french fries. So we all went and got fries and then went home and had an ognisko. I just find this really funny because in america there is so much "dont eat dessert before dinner" and "dont have a snack now, we are eating soon" that it is funny how much that concept does not exist at all here.
So this week, i think I am going to the Scout camp Jamboree on tues/wed. and then coming home and teaching thurs/fri. Then going to Warsaw with my host mom on the weekend. I think. See they wanted me to go to scout camp through sunday, but 1. i did not want to live outside that long and 2. the whole reason i am in poland is you know to be a teacher at the school here, and if i am at scout camp i am not doing that and will feel guilty. So i think that is the arrangement that was decided upon, but i am never really 100% sure of what is going on here. Going with the flow has become very essential to my life.
Oh! also, so i hadnt seen my host mom since wednesday night, and I was very confused as to where she was, but I know on wednesday she had been sick, so i thought maybe she had just been asleep and staying in her room or something. Then when we went to the lakes she didnt come. Then they kept talking about picking her up from the bus. I later found out that my host mom had been in Berlin for the latter portion of the week, when i thought she was home sick in bed....
I have learned to eat carrots! not like the uncooked kind, but when they are cooked and mixed in with something else I have finally been able to not pick them out. Because everyone has told me that when they are in something like this, you cant taste them and they just taste like the rest of the food. But my mind always made up the carrot taste and then i would be grossed out, but since I have been here, and a little before (when I made crab soup) i have gotten really good at not imagining the carrot flavor. I think this is really good because carrots are good for me.
So that is all for now. Its very difficult to write both this and emails, because a lot of times i dont have enough information for both. But i still really like getting emails, because I miss everyone back in the states (and in other places like London, Korea, and China) a lot and getting emails makes me smile.
Have a wonderful day, and if I dont update tomorrow you will have to wait a few days because I will be in the wilderness.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Its friday!
So, I have been a teacher for a whole week now. I am so tired. It is like 2:30 and i just took an hour and a half nap and really, i could go to bed right now. Im very glad to have 2 days off before I have to do any more lesson planning.
Today, being the 4th of July, we talked about Independance day. I did a lot condensing and writing on the board to try to give them some background for what Independance day is in America. Then they did a crossword puzzle. We also talked about holidays and how they are celebrated. I dont know if the kids were being shy or what but they kept telling me that Polish people didnt do or eat anythign special for holidays. They were just like, yea we go for walks, watch tv, eat dinner (a bigger dinner than normal? No) So i dont knoe about these Polish kids. Then we had them all make up holidays and present them to the class and then vote on which one they would want to celebrate. The winner was "natural day" in which you sleep in a tent and go outside and help clean up the environment and only eat fruits and vegetables. Did not really sound like my kind of holiday.
Speaking of sleeping in tents, apparently I am going to some sort of scouting jamboree thingy with my host sisters. I might miss teaching classes for a week? I dont really understand what is going on? or how long i am going? or what it is really? But i believe it involves living in a tent and there is going to be a reenactment of a medival battle and people come from all over Europe and i really hope there are bathrooms. I am scared.
Tonight I am going with my host sisters to see a 3D U2 concert at the cinema, so that should be interesting? Well I guess that is all for now. Adios amigos.
Today, being the 4th of July, we talked about Independance day. I did a lot condensing and writing on the board to try to give them some background for what Independance day is in America. Then they did a crossword puzzle. We also talked about holidays and how they are celebrated. I dont know if the kids were being shy or what but they kept telling me that Polish people didnt do or eat anythign special for holidays. They were just like, yea we go for walks, watch tv, eat dinner (a bigger dinner than normal? No) So i dont knoe about these Polish kids. Then we had them all make up holidays and present them to the class and then vote on which one they would want to celebrate. The winner was "natural day" in which you sleep in a tent and go outside and help clean up the environment and only eat fruits and vegetables. Did not really sound like my kind of holiday.
Speaking of sleeping in tents, apparently I am going to some sort of scouting jamboree thingy with my host sisters. I might miss teaching classes for a week? I dont really understand what is going on? or how long i am going? or what it is really? But i believe it involves living in a tent and there is going to be a reenactment of a medival battle and people come from all over Europe and i really hope there are bathrooms. I am scared.
Tonight I am going with my host sisters to see a 3D U2 concert at the cinema, so that should be interesting? Well I guess that is all for now. Adios amigos.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Bike riding and teaching
Yesterday I rode a bike. It is very sad that no one from america was there to see this. See my host parents were like, you know how to ride a bike, right? and i said yes but i havent ridden a bike since i was like 12. I never rode a bike that had like different speeds and breaks on the handles. My bike had streamers on the handle bars and you pedaled backward to stop. It was also much smaller than the bike i was expected to ride yesterday. So i made a fool of myself for a while. I fell into some bushes and almost got hit by a car infront of the house. Stopping was very difficult because i had to get off the seat for my legs ot touch hte ground so every once anda while instead of sucessfully stopping i would jump out of the way and the giant bik ewould crash to the ground. Its so terrible that i feel like i needed to be teased during this whole event but my host family was just trying to be nice and like worried andI just kept laughing and what a fool i must have looked like. SEE HOW BAD THE ENGLISH IS!!!
Yes but anyway, they are like we are going to ride bikes, and i have no idea where or what, but i ahvent started my lesson plan and i will still need to take a shower bath and it is already 8 pm. But anyway we ride our bikes about im going to guess 2.5 miles (it takes 40 minutes to walk, if you walk about 15 min miles) to school to visit my host sister at the science camp. The there is this presentation from a guy who went on a trip to Turkey and Iran and pcitures of his trip and it is all in Polish, so i am tired and dont understand and it was very hard to stay awake and i still needed to shower and plan my lesson and my partner teacher guy is supposed to call and i was scared my phone was going to go off in the middle of the room. The presentation enver ended, but my host mom asked if i wanted to go and i said yes. When I got back I decided that iw ould only shower bath and go to bed and wake up early in the morning to lesson plan.
Unfortunately when I woke up in the morning i felt really nauseous and lesson planning did not want to happen, so class today really sucked. We did show and tell which lasted about an hour and went over some work they turned in yesterday and played a question game (because we were trying to encourange speaking english). I thought class was really boring and I am the teacher. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.
Yes but anyway, they are like we are going to ride bikes, and i have no idea where or what, but i ahvent started my lesson plan and i will still need to take a shower bath and it is already 8 pm. But anyway we ride our bikes about im going to guess 2.5 miles (it takes 40 minutes to walk, if you walk about 15 min miles) to school to visit my host sister at the science camp. The there is this presentation from a guy who went on a trip to Turkey and Iran and pcitures of his trip and it is all in Polish, so i am tired and dont understand and it was very hard to stay awake and i still needed to shower and plan my lesson and my partner teacher guy is supposed to call and i was scared my phone was going to go off in the middle of the room. The presentation enver ended, but my host mom asked if i wanted to go and i said yes. When I got back I decided that iw ould only shower bath and go to bed and wake up early in the morning to lesson plan.
Unfortunately when I woke up in the morning i felt really nauseous and lesson planning did not want to happen, so class today really sucked. We did show and tell which lasted about an hour and went over some work they turned in yesterday and played a question game (because we were trying to encourange speaking english). I thought class was really boring and I am the teacher. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Shower Bath
So my host family, in the bathroom that I am to use does not have a shower curtain. There is a shower head. But not shower curtain. Apparently I am supposed to take baths. I have no idea how to take baths. Like at all. It is awkward and involves me making a huge mess of the bathroom and not really feeling clean when I am done. I hope my next host family ahs a shower.
There are 3 volunteers teaching at my school and about 20 students needing to be taught. Anyway, that is definitely not enough for 3 classes, so me anr Reid (other volunteer) are teaming up to teach the pre-intermediate class. Which is the suckier class to have because the other class is upper-intermediate and knows english much better. We talked about family trees today and divorce being common in america and creating weird family situation. They want us to teach one class for three hours everyday, which is ridiculously long, so we are teachign 2 hours and saying people can stop by for extra help after class if they want. No one wants.
Yesterday we were hoarded onto a bus with our host siblings and people from the science camp to go on a field trip the science camp was going on. We went to a tower in the middle of the forest, and then to a wooden village and then we off roaded in the bus to a place where we had an ognisko. The kielbasa was better at this one than the other one. I managed to fall off a bench and stick my elbow in a puddle of ketchup at the ognisko, so all in all it was a sucess. Then we went to another museum and then we went home. I was very tired by the end. Also i felt sick last ngiht. I guess the kielbasa did not agree with me.
Today we walked home from school (40 min, i am going to be in such good shape by the end of this) and go ice cream on the way.Reid walked with my host sister and I because he lives 5 minutes away and his host sister is not in our class. I feel bad because my host sister has to wait around for me everywhere, like after class and stuff and when i just want to talk to reid and julie because i know them and they speak english. But yes, my host sister taught reid how to say "hey baby" and "hows it going baby" in polish to the hot girls in the street. Before he had just been saying hi and she told him they probably thought he was stupid.
Its weird staying with a host family, just like you know how when youa re a guest at someones house and you feel awkward like you are interrupting the rhythms of their and the familys life with your prescence. That is kind of how i feel, plus there is a language barrier. I know that if I was the host I would be happy to act how my host family is acting and not feel weird at all, but I guess taht is just how it is.
I totally knew Spain won the Eurocup. I watched Torres score a goal yo. I spent the whole time I watched trying to figure out which team was hotter. I decided they were both mediocre. The goalie for Spain was pretty attractive though.
ok. I am gonna go email people now, so email me.
adios.
There are 3 volunteers teaching at my school and about 20 students needing to be taught. Anyway, that is definitely not enough for 3 classes, so me anr Reid (other volunteer) are teaming up to teach the pre-intermediate class. Which is the suckier class to have because the other class is upper-intermediate and knows english much better. We talked about family trees today and divorce being common in america and creating weird family situation. They want us to teach one class for three hours everyday, which is ridiculously long, so we are teachign 2 hours and saying people can stop by for extra help after class if they want. No one wants.
Yesterday we were hoarded onto a bus with our host siblings and people from the science camp to go on a field trip the science camp was going on. We went to a tower in the middle of the forest, and then to a wooden village and then we off roaded in the bus to a place where we had an ognisko. The kielbasa was better at this one than the other one. I managed to fall off a bench and stick my elbow in a puddle of ketchup at the ognisko, so all in all it was a sucess. Then we went to another museum and then we went home. I was very tired by the end. Also i felt sick last ngiht. I guess the kielbasa did not agree with me.
Today we walked home from school (40 min, i am going to be in such good shape by the end of this) and go ice cream on the way.Reid walked with my host sister and I because he lives 5 minutes away and his host sister is not in our class. I feel bad because my host sister has to wait around for me everywhere, like after class and stuff and when i just want to talk to reid and julie because i know them and they speak english. But yes, my host sister taught reid how to say "hey baby" and "hows it going baby" in polish to the hot girls in the street. Before he had just been saying hi and she told him they probably thought he was stupid.
Its weird staying with a host family, just like you know how when youa re a guest at someones house and you feel awkward like you are interrupting the rhythms of their and the familys life with your prescence. That is kind of how i feel, plus there is a language barrier. I know that if I was the host I would be happy to act how my host family is acting and not feel weird at all, but I guess taht is just how it is.
I totally knew Spain won the Eurocup. I watched Torres score a goal yo. I spent the whole time I watched trying to figure out which team was hotter. I decided they were both mediocre. The goalie for Spain was pretty attractive though.
ok. I am gonna go email people now, so email me.
adios.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Ostroleka
Hey y'all
Im finally with my host family. Exciting huh? Im really tied because i rode in a van for over 8 hours today and for the same amount of friday. Thats a lot of van riding. I have, however, mastered the art of picking the best seat in the van. See our vans are not air conditioned, so temperature control is very important. So the left side is the only one with a window, so if you sit directly next tot eh window the wind smack your face and hurts and youa re cold the whole ride. So as far as wind, the back row, behind the window is best. This is altered depending on the direction the van is going and the time of day. See you DO NOT want the front row of the van because the sun beats down on you as you ahve no protection from the other rows of passengers. Then you do not want to sit on the side of the van that the sun is on, or you will be hot. Wind or not. So basically, now you all know which seat to select if you are faced witrh an 8 hour ride in a na unairconditioned van through the Polish countryside.
I also had my first sucessful independant Polish encounter today. I was able to get the key to the bathroom from the lady at the gas station. Pretty awesome huh?
Krakow was fun. I walked like a million miles. There is a castle there which i took lots of pictures of for ashley. there are also like a million kebab stands. Kebabs are like pitas filled with mass quantities of junk. By that i mean meat and cabbage and tomatoes and cucumbers and sauce. I had one that was as big as my head and i made such a mess. I had to eat with a towel on me. I took pictures of that too.
Today I moved in with my first host family that i am with for 3 weeks. They are a mother and father and 2 daughters, one who is 15 and one who is 17. The daughters speak passable english, the mother speaks a little and the father understands a little. They also have a dog who looks just like Dolce but it is a boy. He barks a lot, but I like having a dog around. Most of what i have done since I got here is eat but that was OK because i didnt eat the whole car ride. They have current bushes and a cherry tree so you can eat cherries right off the tree which is really cool.
One of the other volunteers, Reid, lives 3 minutes away. We saw him and his host sister when my host sister and I went to get ice cream in the town center. His host sister wanted him to buy her beer because she was too young. The ice cream was really good. I had yogurt flavor with strawberries. Yesterday in Krakow i had ice cream too. There I had blueberry and strawberry. There are 2 other volunteers in this town. Julie who i am friends with is also teachinga t the same school as me ( so is reid) so she should be around here somewhere. And then the other girl, Ellen, is teaching at another school that is further away.
Everyone is all excited about the EuroCup which i guess is tonight. My host parents went to someone elses house to watch it. My host family is cheering for Spain, Reid's was cheering for Germany. Thanks to Eric, I was all prepared to know what this was. But I did not voice the idea that it just narrowly missed being a reenactment of WW2.
Last thing, my room is covered in Harry Potter stuff! isnt that awesome. Its like they knew me.
(Ostroleka is pronounced Ostrowenka)
Im finally with my host family. Exciting huh? Im really tied because i rode in a van for over 8 hours today and for the same amount of friday. Thats a lot of van riding. I have, however, mastered the art of picking the best seat in the van. See our vans are not air conditioned, so temperature control is very important. So the left side is the only one with a window, so if you sit directly next tot eh window the wind smack your face and hurts and youa re cold the whole ride. So as far as wind, the back row, behind the window is best. This is altered depending on the direction the van is going and the time of day. See you DO NOT want the front row of the van because the sun beats down on you as you ahve no protection from the other rows of passengers. Then you do not want to sit on the side of the van that the sun is on, or you will be hot. Wind or not. So basically, now you all know which seat to select if you are faced witrh an 8 hour ride in a na unairconditioned van through the Polish countryside.
I also had my first sucessful independant Polish encounter today. I was able to get the key to the bathroom from the lady at the gas station. Pretty awesome huh?
Krakow was fun. I walked like a million miles. There is a castle there which i took lots of pictures of for ashley. there are also like a million kebab stands. Kebabs are like pitas filled with mass quantities of junk. By that i mean meat and cabbage and tomatoes and cucumbers and sauce. I had one that was as big as my head and i made such a mess. I had to eat with a towel on me. I took pictures of that too.
Today I moved in with my first host family that i am with for 3 weeks. They are a mother and father and 2 daughters, one who is 15 and one who is 17. The daughters speak passable english, the mother speaks a little and the father understands a little. They also have a dog who looks just like Dolce but it is a boy. He barks a lot, but I like having a dog around. Most of what i have done since I got here is eat but that was OK because i didnt eat the whole car ride. They have current bushes and a cherry tree so you can eat cherries right off the tree which is really cool.
One of the other volunteers, Reid, lives 3 minutes away. We saw him and his host sister when my host sister and I went to get ice cream in the town center. His host sister wanted him to buy her beer because she was too young. The ice cream was really good. I had yogurt flavor with strawberries. Yesterday in Krakow i had ice cream too. There I had blueberry and strawberry. There are 2 other volunteers in this town. Julie who i am friends with is also teachinga t the same school as me ( so is reid) so she should be around here somewhere. And then the other girl, Ellen, is teaching at another school that is further away.
Everyone is all excited about the EuroCup which i guess is tonight. My host parents went to someone elses house to watch it. My host family is cheering for Spain, Reid's was cheering for Germany. Thanks to Eric, I was all prepared to know what this was. But I did not voice the idea that it just narrowly missed being a reenactment of WW2.
Last thing, my room is covered in Harry Potter stuff! isnt that awesome. Its like they knew me.
(Ostroleka is pronounced Ostrowenka)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Zubr
So in Poland they have a beer called "Zubr" except the Z has a dot over it. It is pronounced zh( as in garage) oobr. This means ...wait for it... BISON. It is green and has a picture of a bison on it.
Yesterday we had an "ognisko" which is like a bonfire picnic thing! it was superfun. The girl, Ola, whose mom is the headmaster of the school we are staying at right now just turned 18 last week so it was partly in celebration of us, and partly in celebration of her birthday. At the ognisko first we ate lots of salads and stuff. Then this guy had this big bucket of meat that he kept cooking on the grill and bringing over to us. First there were these black sausages that had meat and some kind of barley type thing in them. They were weird. Then there was seasoned pork neck, which was very fatty but very good. After that we were all full and they brought out a giant birthday cake, like wedding cake sized, for Ola. There were giant sparklers on it and it was awesome. After all that eating it was time to roast sausages in the fire. kielbasa, yo. I was one of the only girls that roasted a sausage in the fire. It was really fun, but i didnt really like my sausage, which is not allowed so i hid it and then threw it away. They also buried potatoes and apples in the fire, and the potatoes were AMAZING!!! They were small and buttery and roasted tasting and delicious. Also hot. we played hot potato with real hot potatoes. We also taught the Polish kids how to make smores.
Later some of the girls were talking to the Polish kids about rap and they were rapping, and i was like "oh I must join in" so i went over and did the first verse of GoldDigger and then Ola informed me that I had depressed the Polish kids. Depressed them, because they could not understand the words. It was so sad. My rapping depressed polish teenagers.
Thats really all there is to tell about the ognisko.
Today I smell bad right now. That is because today was a long day.
This morning we met the mayor of Makow and it was fun. We had tea with him and he was very nice and friendly and told us "You will teach the Polish youth English, and we will teach you how to eat." After that we went to Warsaw aka Warszawa (Varshava) to meet the American ambassador. He was not particularly friendly and was from Tennessee. He didnt know anything about the program even though he has met 2 other groups in the past. We were very disappointed in him. He gave a speech that was kind of interesting but also focused a lot on how the US was super awesome because woodrow wilson included a free and independent Poland as point 13 of his 14 points, even though he ahd never left America. Apparently, according to one of the other kids here (the ambassador didnt mention this part), Woodrow Wilson had a Polish Pianist friend and thats why he was so gung-ho Polish rights.
We walked a little in Warsaw, but that wasnt particularly fun because my shoes hurt a lot because i had dressed to impressed the ambassador. I have lots blisters now. We then had another million hour ride back. Then dinner. Then 15 of us had to present 10 minute lesson plans. Which took forever and now I am very tired.
This may be my last blog entry for a while because tomorrow we are going to Krakow (pronounced Krakov). We will be there til sunday when we leave to go to our host families. I do not know if we will have internet where we are staying, so it may be a while before I am able to relate my adventures to y'all again. I may even be a teacher by that point, omg.
So, as you may have predicted, I would like emails especially from those of you who have not yet felt motivated enough by your love of me to email me. Those of you who have emailed, you are wonderful people and you can attest to the promptness of my replies.
In addition, to those of you who asked, the Polish boys are definitely more attractive than the russians. I would say that there are about an equal percentage of attractive Polish boys as of american boys, possibly higher, but Stephanie (if you are reading this) they all seem to have light hair. I have not seen a single dark haired Polish boy. so good luck with that.
Yesterday we had an "ognisko" which is like a bonfire picnic thing! it was superfun. The girl, Ola, whose mom is the headmaster of the school we are staying at right now just turned 18 last week so it was partly in celebration of us, and partly in celebration of her birthday. At the ognisko first we ate lots of salads and stuff. Then this guy had this big bucket of meat that he kept cooking on the grill and bringing over to us. First there were these black sausages that had meat and some kind of barley type thing in them. They were weird. Then there was seasoned pork neck, which was very fatty but very good. After that we were all full and they brought out a giant birthday cake, like wedding cake sized, for Ola. There were giant sparklers on it and it was awesome. After all that eating it was time to roast sausages in the fire. kielbasa, yo. I was one of the only girls that roasted a sausage in the fire. It was really fun, but i didnt really like my sausage, which is not allowed so i hid it and then threw it away. They also buried potatoes and apples in the fire, and the potatoes were AMAZING!!! They were small and buttery and roasted tasting and delicious. Also hot. we played hot potato with real hot potatoes. We also taught the Polish kids how to make smores.
Later some of the girls were talking to the Polish kids about rap and they were rapping, and i was like "oh I must join in" so i went over and did the first verse of GoldDigger and then Ola informed me that I had depressed the Polish kids. Depressed them, because they could not understand the words. It was so sad. My rapping depressed polish teenagers.
Thats really all there is to tell about the ognisko.
Today I smell bad right now. That is because today was a long day.
This morning we met the mayor of Makow and it was fun. We had tea with him and he was very nice and friendly and told us "You will teach the Polish youth English, and we will teach you how to eat." After that we went to Warsaw aka Warszawa (Varshava) to meet the American ambassador. He was not particularly friendly and was from Tennessee. He didnt know anything about the program even though he has met 2 other groups in the past. We were very disappointed in him. He gave a speech that was kind of interesting but also focused a lot on how the US was super awesome because woodrow wilson included a free and independent Poland as point 13 of his 14 points, even though he ahd never left America. Apparently, according to one of the other kids here (the ambassador didnt mention this part), Woodrow Wilson had a Polish Pianist friend and thats why he was so gung-ho Polish rights.
We walked a little in Warsaw, but that wasnt particularly fun because my shoes hurt a lot because i had dressed to impressed the ambassador. I have lots blisters now. We then had another million hour ride back. Then dinner. Then 15 of us had to present 10 minute lesson plans. Which took forever and now I am very tired.
This may be my last blog entry for a while because tomorrow we are going to Krakow (pronounced Krakov). We will be there til sunday when we leave to go to our host families. I do not know if we will have internet where we are staying, so it may be a while before I am able to relate my adventures to y'all again. I may even be a teacher by that point, omg.
So, as you may have predicted, I would like emails especially from those of you who have not yet felt motivated enough by your love of me to email me. Those of you who have emailed, you are wonderful people and you can attest to the promptness of my replies.
In addition, to those of you who asked, the Polish boys are definitely more attractive than the russians. I would say that there are about an equal percentage of attractive Polish boys as of american boys, possibly higher, but Stephanie (if you are reading this) they all seem to have light hair. I have not seen a single dark haired Polish boy. so good luck with that.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Failure
So I just tried and failed miserably to get pictures onto the computer. The reason for this is possibly that I do not speak Polish and all the stuff on this computer is in Polish. This is sad for you all because I just took some AMAZING pictures. AMAZING! not really. but I will tell you the stories of some of them.
Yesterday some of us went on a walk around Makow to have an adventure, but it was not a particularly huge adventure because Makow was a pretty boring place.
1. The things that happened were that we saw this park with a weird cement fish fountain and I wanted to take a picture of it because it was strange. However as I walked into the park there was a bench that had been concealed by some bushes and there were scary Polish teenagers sitting on it. They were smoking and glared at me and one of them had a mohawk so I turned around and did not take a picture. It was sad. Also, the people with me laughed at me.
2. Also, there was a big dog. In a yard that was fenced in. So I decided to take a picture of the dog and when the flash went off it started barking and was scary and when it started barking other dogs that we couldnt see because they were enclosed in yards with cement fences with barbed wire on the top. It was very scary. So we ran away. After that I decided not to take any more pictures of dogs.
3. Lastly, i saw a dachshund crossing the street and i wanted to take a picture of it, breaking my previous rule. I did take a picture of it and nothing happened to me, but right after i took the picture the dog ALMOST got hit by a huge truck. I ALMOST captured the last moments of the dog's life.
Thats all the stories. The rest of the pictures were of the boring look what this stuff looks like, like a church and a street and the school where i am staying and this weird creepy cat made out of crumpled up brown paper that is scary in the dark.
OK, well that is all for now. I am supposed to tell Youngjoo that mimi says to contact other people. Everyone else should email me.
Yesterday some of us went on a walk around Makow to have an adventure, but it was not a particularly huge adventure because Makow was a pretty boring place.
1. The things that happened were that we saw this park with a weird cement fish fountain and I wanted to take a picture of it because it was strange. However as I walked into the park there was a bench that had been concealed by some bushes and there were scary Polish teenagers sitting on it. They were smoking and glared at me and one of them had a mohawk so I turned around and did not take a picture. It was sad. Also, the people with me laughed at me.
2. Also, there was a big dog. In a yard that was fenced in. So I decided to take a picture of the dog and when the flash went off it started barking and was scary and when it started barking other dogs that we couldnt see because they were enclosed in yards with cement fences with barbed wire on the top. It was very scary. So we ran away. After that I decided not to take any more pictures of dogs.
3. Lastly, i saw a dachshund crossing the street and i wanted to take a picture of it, breaking my previous rule. I did take a picture of it and nothing happened to me, but right after i took the picture the dog ALMOST got hit by a huge truck. I ALMOST captured the last moments of the dog's life.
Thats all the stories. The rest of the pictures were of the boring look what this stuff looks like, like a church and a street and the school where i am staying and this weird creepy cat made out of crumpled up brown paper that is scary in the dark.
OK, well that is all for now. I am supposed to tell Youngjoo that mimi says to contact other people. Everyone else should email me.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
This post is somewhat food centric.
Sup homies,
So this is like 2 days in a row I am posting on here. To you know, keep my loyal readership entertained. And by that I mean, thank you Youngjoo for commenting because it makes me happy to see things from people at home and not be like the loser that everyone has forgotten about because she left the country.
Anywayz, I think my jetlag is slightly better. I was very tired this morning but then I took a nap between class this morning and lunch and resultantly I have been less tired today.
Now I am going to tell two stories from yesterday.
Last night we went to this bar/restaurant place for dinner. It was really cool. I ate sausage and hardboiled egg soup. which was surprisingly good. But the awesome thing was that in the backyard outside part there was a set of tire swings and a trampoline and see-saws. So after dinner five of us went on the trampoline and it was super awesome! We played the "break the egg" game where one person curls up in a ball on the trampoline and the other people jump around and bounce them in the air and try to uncurl them. I ended up kneeing my self in the head. Like alsmost the back of the head. which
1. I didnt think was possible
and
2. I didnt get hurt so it was ok.
I also went on the seesaws.
The second story was that during dinner there were these amazing potatoes that were a cross between french fries and potato chips in that they were thick like french fries but shaped like potato chips and still had a bit of crunch. So we were having dinner and a fly landed in the ketchup and we passed the ketchup down the table so everyone could look at the fly and it got to this guy who was like Polish government dude in charge of education and development or something and he looked at the fly, scooped it up carefully with his fork and put it on his pierogi (a lot like a dumpling) and ate it. Then he passed the ketchup back down the table, like "ok you can use it now"
Our program coordinater assured us that polish people dont usually eat flies.
Other things that have been happening is today we had recess, because they thought we were eating lunch at 1 and we thought 12 so we ended up having a break to go outsife and play. We played knockout and I made it to the final three! I think this means I must be super awesome at sports now. Or you know, the other people here are just as bad at sports. you know, harvard kids. spend too much time in the books. I mean what... Actually they 2 people that did better than me were from UNC and a grown up guy who I dont know what he does but played basketball in high school.
THey eat a lot here. They keep complaining that we dont eat enough but seriously they give us MASS QUANTITIES at every meal. Like if we ate all that, the plane couldnt carry us back. And they are sad like thinking that we dont like their cooking. For example at breakfast today there was bread, rolls, cheese, tomatoes, butter, yogurt, cereal and tea. We were supposed to eat everything. Then at lunch there was cabbage soup (all lunches are 2 courses, soup and then some type of meat, potato and salad). and then there was pork and chicken cutlets (fried meat stuffed with other meat) cauliflower with breadcrumbs and butter, mashed potatoes, pasta with fresh strawberry sauce, mashed beets, and i think that was it. Then right now we just had tea whioch was fruit and cake adn then at 6 we are eating dinner which will be more meat and potatoes and vegetables. And apparently when we go to our host families there will be a second breakfast between breakfast and lunch. I really dont understand because the people here are very skinny. But we are supposed to not only eat all these things but lots of these things. Oh well, at least mostof it tastes better than it sounds.
Im trying to think if anything else of interest has happened, but i think no. We had some teaching classes but they were relatively boring. We practiced making lesson plans. My groups involved a superawesome fashion show, but then when the teacher was having the groups present she forgot our group existed. And we were all ready to show everyone else up too, but she was like "No go have tea" then afterward when we went to use the internet, she stood there blocking the door and told us "No, go finish the cake" but we jsut kind of went upstairs and waited for something else to distract her.
The fruit and vegetables are actually better here. Like the tomatoes are really pretty and red and the peaches were juicy and delicious. Ok now that i am talkign about the quality of the produce here, i think it is really really really time to be done.
So thats all for now. I would like e-mails.
p.s. oh also they have like some sort of polish version of veggie tales that is a cartoon where there are fruits and vegetables that serve as the main characters. I dont know anymore than that because I just saw it on the TV and dont speak Polish.
EMAIL
So this is like 2 days in a row I am posting on here. To you know, keep my loyal readership entertained. And by that I mean, thank you Youngjoo for commenting because it makes me happy to see things from people at home and not be like the loser that everyone has forgotten about because she left the country.
Anywayz, I think my jetlag is slightly better. I was very tired this morning but then I took a nap between class this morning and lunch and resultantly I have been less tired today.
Now I am going to tell two stories from yesterday.
Last night we went to this bar/restaurant place for dinner. It was really cool. I ate sausage and hardboiled egg soup. which was surprisingly good. But the awesome thing was that in the backyard outside part there was a set of tire swings and a trampoline and see-saws. So after dinner five of us went on the trampoline and it was super awesome! We played the "break the egg" game where one person curls up in a ball on the trampoline and the other people jump around and bounce them in the air and try to uncurl them. I ended up kneeing my self in the head. Like alsmost the back of the head. which
1. I didnt think was possible
and
2. I didnt get hurt so it was ok.
I also went on the seesaws.
The second story was that during dinner there were these amazing potatoes that were a cross between french fries and potato chips in that they were thick like french fries but shaped like potato chips and still had a bit of crunch. So we were having dinner and a fly landed in the ketchup and we passed the ketchup down the table so everyone could look at the fly and it got to this guy who was like Polish government dude in charge of education and development or something and he looked at the fly, scooped it up carefully with his fork and put it on his pierogi (a lot like a dumpling) and ate it. Then he passed the ketchup back down the table, like "ok you can use it now"
Our program coordinater assured us that polish people dont usually eat flies.
Other things that have been happening is today we had recess, because they thought we were eating lunch at 1 and we thought 12 so we ended up having a break to go outsife and play. We played knockout and I made it to the final three! I think this means I must be super awesome at sports now. Or you know, the other people here are just as bad at sports. you know, harvard kids. spend too much time in the books. I mean what... Actually they 2 people that did better than me were from UNC and a grown up guy who I dont know what he does but played basketball in high school.
THey eat a lot here. They keep complaining that we dont eat enough but seriously they give us MASS QUANTITIES at every meal. Like if we ate all that, the plane couldnt carry us back. And they are sad like thinking that we dont like their cooking. For example at breakfast today there was bread, rolls, cheese, tomatoes, butter, yogurt, cereal and tea. We were supposed to eat everything. Then at lunch there was cabbage soup (all lunches are 2 courses, soup and then some type of meat, potato and salad). and then there was pork and chicken cutlets (fried meat stuffed with other meat) cauliflower with breadcrumbs and butter, mashed potatoes, pasta with fresh strawberry sauce, mashed beets, and i think that was it. Then right now we just had tea whioch was fruit and cake adn then at 6 we are eating dinner which will be more meat and potatoes and vegetables. And apparently when we go to our host families there will be a second breakfast between breakfast and lunch. I really dont understand because the people here are very skinny. But we are supposed to not only eat all these things but lots of these things. Oh well, at least mostof it tastes better than it sounds.
Im trying to think if anything else of interest has happened, but i think no. We had some teaching classes but they were relatively boring. We practiced making lesson plans. My groups involved a superawesome fashion show, but then when the teacher was having the groups present she forgot our group existed. And we were all ready to show everyone else up too, but she was like "No go have tea" then afterward when we went to use the internet, she stood there blocking the door and told us "No, go finish the cake" but we jsut kind of went upstairs and waited for something else to distract her.
The fruit and vegetables are actually better here. Like the tomatoes are really pretty and red and the peaches were juicy and delicious. Ok now that i am talkign about the quality of the produce here, i think it is really really really time to be done.
So thats all for now. I would like e-mails.
p.s. oh also they have like some sort of polish version of veggie tales that is a cartoon where there are fruits and vegetables that serve as the main characters. I dont know anymore than that because I just saw it on the TV and dont speak Polish.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Hey Everyone!
Ok, so big news from THIS VERY MOMENT, someone just told me that Facebook is blocked on the computers that we are on. WHAT.
I just dont know how I will survive now.
Actually, I'm really busy and will not be here forever,so hopefully this will not have too large of an effect on me.
The biggest event that is happening to me right now is, whats the word, the thing where time is all screwed up because I traveled for a milion hours.
My head must just be soooo full of Polish that I dont know any english anymore.
yea.
I did learn how to say "I am fatally bad" in response to the question of how am I doing though. So that is good.
Getting here took a very long time. I flew to boston. Then I hung out in Boston for a million years. I did not get to eat breakfast in McDonalds though. Then there was a 7 hour flight to Paris where the Paris airport was the most confusing place on the planet. We had a 6 hour layover, but were very very tired at that point. It got very much like you know in the movies when like the person is moving slow and the people allaround them are going in hyperspeed. That is how I felt. Then we flew from Paris to Warsaw for 2 hours, then we had a 2 hour vanride to Makow Masowiecki (Pronounced Makov Masovietski). During the bus ride i kept falling asleep sitting up and then waking up when we went over bumps and making a big snorting noise because I guess my mouth was open.
We are staying at a school place and it is for kids so there are lots of toys in our room. We have a giant stuffed Winnie the Pooh, a barbie, a finding nemo, a betti spaghetti and lots of other things. We ate too. There was lots of things like cabbage stuff with some type of meat. and chicken stuffed with something. And pasta salad. The grossest food was definitly egg filled with mushroom and the best was this like giant ball of dough covered in strawberries. I had 3 of those.
Yesterday night when we were crashed because we had been awake and gross traveling for a million hours there was a giant thunderstorm and lightning came right up near the building and shook it. I ams o tired, im not sure this is coherent.
We have 2 Polish lessons today, and evidently that is all the Polish we will need for, you know, life because the rest of our lessons this week (we are at orientation) will be teaching lessons. I can figure out a lot of words based on Russian, but not when people talk fast, and definitly not all words. LIKE AT ALL. So yes, this wilil get much more confusing and frusterating when there arent lots of Americans around.
One of the major issues thus far has been liquids. Like on the plane they were very stingy with the water plus we didnt want to have to go to the bathroom too much. Then here they are more big on sparkling water, which we are not. And there is no where to get water between meals and stuff. I had to dry swallow my medicine this mornign which was awful. But today at breakfast they told us we could take juice and cups with us to our rooms so I stole a whole container of grapefruit juic, because it was one of the only ones left). Then we talked to our person in charge and they got us some voda niegazowana, which means regular water. So that will be very good to have.
I feel like this is not a particularly amusing entry, but I was much to tired to put thought behind the words that were flowing out of my brain.
Email me back y'all. FOREALLZZ.
Ok, so big news from THIS VERY MOMENT, someone just told me that Facebook is blocked on the computers that we are on. WHAT.
I just dont know how I will survive now.
Actually, I'm really busy and will not be here forever,so hopefully this will not have too large of an effect on me.
The biggest event that is happening to me right now is, whats the word, the thing where time is all screwed up because I traveled for a milion hours.
My head must just be soooo full of Polish that I dont know any english anymore.
yea.
I did learn how to say "I am fatally bad" in response to the question of how am I doing though. So that is good.
Getting here took a very long time. I flew to boston. Then I hung out in Boston for a million years. I did not get to eat breakfast in McDonalds though. Then there was a 7 hour flight to Paris where the Paris airport was the most confusing place on the planet. We had a 6 hour layover, but were very very tired at that point. It got very much like you know in the movies when like the person is moving slow and the people allaround them are going in hyperspeed. That is how I felt. Then we flew from Paris to Warsaw for 2 hours, then we had a 2 hour vanride to Makow Masowiecki (Pronounced Makov Masovietski). During the bus ride i kept falling asleep sitting up and then waking up when we went over bumps and making a big snorting noise because I guess my mouth was open.
We are staying at a school place and it is for kids so there are lots of toys in our room. We have a giant stuffed Winnie the Pooh, a barbie, a finding nemo, a betti spaghetti and lots of other things. We ate too. There was lots of things like cabbage stuff with some type of meat. and chicken stuffed with something. And pasta salad. The grossest food was definitly egg filled with mushroom and the best was this like giant ball of dough covered in strawberries. I had 3 of those.
Yesterday night when we were crashed because we had been awake and gross traveling for a million hours there was a giant thunderstorm and lightning came right up near the building and shook it. I ams o tired, im not sure this is coherent.
We have 2 Polish lessons today, and evidently that is all the Polish we will need for, you know, life because the rest of our lessons this week (we are at orientation) will be teaching lessons. I can figure out a lot of words based on Russian, but not when people talk fast, and definitly not all words. LIKE AT ALL. So yes, this wilil get much more confusing and frusterating when there arent lots of Americans around.
One of the major issues thus far has been liquids. Like on the plane they were very stingy with the water plus we didnt want to have to go to the bathroom too much. Then here they are more big on sparkling water, which we are not. And there is no where to get water between meals and stuff. I had to dry swallow my medicine this mornign which was awful. But today at breakfast they told us we could take juice and cups with us to our rooms so I stole a whole container of grapefruit juic, because it was one of the only ones left). Then we talked to our person in charge and they got us some voda niegazowana, which means regular water. So that will be very good to have.
I feel like this is not a particularly amusing entry, but I was much to tired to put thought behind the words that were flowing out of my brain.
Email me back y'all. FOREALLZZ.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Point of this Whole Idea
sup homies?
Since, you know, I'm leaving the country in 3 days, it has been decided (by myself) that it would be in the best interests of the world for me to start a blog to keep those of you who are amused by the happenings of my life apprised of these happenings.
The problem with this is that blogs are journal-esque, correct? and I have a lot of problems with journals. Actually, I have two main problems with journals
1. I don't think I have ever kept one for more than about two entries. The reasons for this is both my dislike of writing and my lack of desire to have to fit a time for writing into my life.
2. Every time I have ever looked at a journal that I wrote in (like, years later) I realized what an idiot I was at that point in time and destroyed the journal, in order to pretend that I was never an idiot.
So!
In order to avoid these issues, my plan is to make this more like writing emails about the happenings in my life while I am off adventuring. This way I wont have to write an email to 50 billion (or like 5) people if I fall asleep in a museum and wake up to a sketchy man taking my picture. or something...
However, just because I am writing this does not mean that emails are not expected from every single person I know. Because they ARE! Because I like to know everything that ever happens to everyone ever, and to do that when I am in another country, I need people to inform me of everything that ever happens ever. Also, I will email back.
Additionally, DukeEngage wants us to reflect and stuff about our experience. But, I do not think I am a particularly reflective person. So they keep emailing us with all these prompts for us to consider in our reflection, and they make me think of essays and school which is upsetting. However, since they are not actually forcing us to answer these questions, if they ask me whether I have been reflecting, I can be like
"Yea man, just check out my blog, yo."
And hopefully they
1. will just be satisfied with that answer and not look.
2. do and are satisfied.
3. do and I manage to spontaneously reflect in the midst of just relating the happenings of my adventures (which is all I'm trying to do).
Well, that is all I really have to say because I feel weird writing about things in my life when at this point I could pick up a phone and call to tell people about them, I am going to be done writing. I leave for Poland on Saturday and the only Polish words I can seem to remember right now are "tak" (yes) "nie" (no) and "nie rozumiem" (I don't understand). So basically, I am totally set.
Since, you know, I'm leaving the country in 3 days, it has been decided (by myself) that it would be in the best interests of the world for me to start a blog to keep those of you who are amused by the happenings of my life apprised of these happenings.
The problem with this is that blogs are journal-esque, correct? and I have a lot of problems with journals. Actually, I have two main problems with journals
1. I don't think I have ever kept one for more than about two entries. The reasons for this is both my dislike of writing and my lack of desire to have to fit a time for writing into my life.
2. Every time I have ever looked at a journal that I wrote in (like, years later) I realized what an idiot I was at that point in time and destroyed the journal, in order to pretend that I was never an idiot.
So!
In order to avoid these issues, my plan is to make this more like writing emails about the happenings in my life while I am off adventuring. This way I wont have to write an email to 50 billion (or like 5) people if I fall asleep in a museum and wake up to a sketchy man taking my picture. or something...
However, just because I am writing this does not mean that emails are not expected from every single person I know. Because they ARE! Because I like to know everything that ever happens to everyone ever, and to do that when I am in another country, I need people to inform me of everything that ever happens ever. Also, I will email back.
Additionally, DukeEngage wants us to reflect and stuff about our experience. But, I do not think I am a particularly reflective person. So they keep emailing us with all these prompts for us to consider in our reflection, and they make me think of essays and school which is upsetting. However, since they are not actually forcing us to answer these questions, if they ask me whether I have been reflecting, I can be like
"Yea man, just check out my blog, yo."
And hopefully they
1. will just be satisfied with that answer and not look.
2. do and are satisfied.
3. do and I manage to spontaneously reflect in the midst of just relating the happenings of my adventures (which is all I'm trying to do).
Well, that is all I really have to say because I feel weird writing about things in my life when at this point I could pick up a phone and call to tell people about them, I am going to be done writing. I leave for Poland on Saturday and the only Polish words I can seem to remember right now are "tak" (yes) "nie" (no) and "nie rozumiem" (I don't understand). So basically, I am totally set.
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