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.