Guys. This is my last night in Krakow. I love this city. We have to come back and visit.
I just got home from enjoying my last night in this city at the local establishments. We had so much fun. I love these people. I love LE. I love Krakow. Love all around!
I really cannot believe this is the end. I don't think it's hit me yet. I thought it hit me as we were walking home. I thought to myself "this is the last night I will walk down this street with these people. This is the last time I will be drunk in Krakow in these circumstances." Then I realized that it didn't actually hit me yet. I hope those thoughts weren't true!
Holy shit I can't wait to get home. I'm going to miss this group of people so much. But the thought of turning on my cell phone and texting and my apartment and my bed and my bathroom are so enticing. I miss lambykins. SO to those of you who know who lambykins is. SO to those of you who know what SO means.\
Is this real?
WOWZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA this is so amazing. I'm sad to leave. But so happy too at the same time. It's a strange sensation. Or am I just drunk?
Whateva fools I'll see your face boobs in like a few hours so get ready YOW
Love love love love,
Page
Monday, July 26, 2010
So much
I am having so much fun. Even though the weather is awful, Krakow still hasn't failed me. I think everyone in our group is on the verge of getting sick, and the rain and cool temperatures are not helping.
Krakow is so amazing. And I'm having so much fun going out with the rest of the volunteers in the group. I'm going to be sad when this ends.
I can't believe this is the start of my last day here! We're going to an LOTR club tonight. I'm not sure if it's LOTR-themed, or just bears its name, or perhaps the type of crowd that frequents the bar participate in larping. I'll find out tonight and report back!
Holy crap I'm going to be home in like 30 hours.
Krakow is so amazing. And I'm having so much fun going out with the rest of the volunteers in the group. I'm going to be sad when this ends.
I can't believe this is the start of my last day here! We're going to an LOTR club tonight. I'm not sure if it's LOTR-themed, or just bears its name, or perhaps the type of crowd that frequents the bar participate in larping. I'll find out tonight and report back!
Holy crap I'm going to be home in like 30 hours.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Ukulele kids
One quick post before I head to the train station to catch a train to Krakow. I've finished packing up all my things and am waiting for my last hour in this house to pass. I'm sure I'll be fed one more time and probably be handed a bag of goodies from my host mother. They've already given me some nice things but they take up way more space in my suitcase than I allotted for. One is a really fancy tea cup and saucer that is housed in this large wooden box. I think I'll have to ditch the box, even though it's really cool and I know someone who would love to have it when I get home. They also gave me a pierogi making set - three different sized plastic contraptions that stamp out the shape of the pierogi and allow for mechanized folding of the dough so you can't mess up. Unfortunately they also came in a big cardboard box. I'll probably end up taking them out and stuffing them in the sides of my luggage until it bursts.
No matter how well planned you are, how detailed your itinerary and packing lists, there is always some anxiety that comes with packing up and moving out. Do I have everything? Did I double check? Did I get all the small things that are easily forgotten? My alarm clock? My toothbrush? My sandals by the door? Part of me really loves that feeling. It's a rush and it makes me feel real and here in the moment. I can feel the pace of my heartbeats increasing, and my stomach feels empty even though I've just had a meal. I'm grabbing on to that anxiety with both fists and keeping my eyelids open as far as they will go. It's like grabbing onto a tire swing and getting a running start to jump into a big lake. You have to make sure there is a clear path before you start and don't let yourself slip on any rocks or mossy wet grass when you run. But I think I'm ready. I'm definitely ready to leave my host family behind and enjoy the few hours in Krakow with the rest of the volunteers.
Part of me wants the next 48 hours to fly by, and part of me hopes that they go slowly so I can soak up every minute. I know that everything will be the same when I get back to the states and it won't take me long to run through my litany of stories and photos and feelings. I can settle back into my routine seamlessly. I wonder if I'll regain my old feelings about life and people and humanity right away, or if the introspection that has happened on this whole trip will cling to my innards for a long time, like a parasite. But more of a symbiotic relationship. I kind of hope that the latter will turn out to be true, since I really have enjoyed learning about myself and living at my limits each trying day. I think I'm a better person now, not to say that I needed a world of improvement before I left, but I like the things I've seen in myself and am happy about how I have handled the tests of teaching, living with a host family, and homesickness. It's like talking about tribes in Papua losing their culture due to televisions and mainstream media exposure. What happens when they've lost all their culture? Do they become cultureless? Anyone with a left brain and a right brain should know that it's not possible for any being to be without culture - the reality is that their lives have shifted and changed. They haven't lost anything.
Will write more when we get to Krakow. Can't wait!
Page
No matter how well planned you are, how detailed your itinerary and packing lists, there is always some anxiety that comes with packing up and moving out. Do I have everything? Did I double check? Did I get all the small things that are easily forgotten? My alarm clock? My toothbrush? My sandals by the door? Part of me really loves that feeling. It's a rush and it makes me feel real and here in the moment. I can feel the pace of my heartbeats increasing, and my stomach feels empty even though I've just had a meal. I'm grabbing on to that anxiety with both fists and keeping my eyelids open as far as they will go. It's like grabbing onto a tire swing and getting a running start to jump into a big lake. You have to make sure there is a clear path before you start and don't let yourself slip on any rocks or mossy wet grass when you run. But I think I'm ready. I'm definitely ready to leave my host family behind and enjoy the few hours in Krakow with the rest of the volunteers.
Part of me wants the next 48 hours to fly by, and part of me hopes that they go slowly so I can soak up every minute. I know that everything will be the same when I get back to the states and it won't take me long to run through my litany of stories and photos and feelings. I can settle back into my routine seamlessly. I wonder if I'll regain my old feelings about life and people and humanity right away, or if the introspection that has happened on this whole trip will cling to my innards for a long time, like a parasite. But more of a symbiotic relationship. I kind of hope that the latter will turn out to be true, since I really have enjoyed learning about myself and living at my limits each trying day. I think I'm a better person now, not to say that I needed a world of improvement before I left, but I like the things I've seen in myself and am happy about how I have handled the tests of teaching, living with a host family, and homesickness. It's like talking about tribes in Papua losing their culture due to televisions and mainstream media exposure. What happens when they've lost all their culture? Do they become cultureless? Anyone with a left brain and a right brain should know that it's not possible for any being to be without culture - the reality is that their lives have shifted and changed. They haven't lost anything.
Will write more when we get to Krakow. Can't wait!
Page
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Bye bye blackbird
Tonight was pretty awesome. I’m not sure, but I could be drunk and getting drunker as this post progresses. Is drunker a word? More drunk? I think it’s more drunk.
I was hanging out in the rynek with a handful of other volunteers. We had some dinner and drinks. The bars here are so cool. They’re cellar bars – I’ve written about them before. You have to duck your head when you go inside because the doorways are low and the steps are uneven. I guess the steps being uneven wouldn’t really make you have to duck your head, but it’s fun either way.
I’m writing this post so that I can stay up late and thus sleep in late tomorrow. You see, I have nothing to do tomorrow. No lesson plans to make, no work to do. Maybe I’ll do one last load of laundry and pack up the remainder of my things. Hopefully my suitcase doesn’t go over the weight limit but I have a bad feeling about it.
Today Agnieszka and I made pierogi ruskie from scratch. It took forever and we were both sweating by the end of it, but my god if they weren’t delicious. It’s pretty easy to make except for the dough part. Let’s make some when I get home.
There was another outdoor concert tonight and it was really fun and awesome. They even sang some songs in English, including Bye Bye Blackbird. I sang along! I know the lyrics because that was one of the songs I used to play over and over again when I was taking piano lessons from Ryan Mueller’s grandma. At the end of the concert, there was a New Orleans style parade around the rynek and we got sucked in, singing and dancing our way around the square. It was so much fun! I wish you guys could have been there with me. I got some pictures but haven’t bothered to see how they turned out. I guess I’ll find out in the morning.
Thank goodness for spell check! Can you imagine me doing an Edna Krabappel-style laugh right now? It would be best if I had some drambuie too and was throwing my head back and had a massive overbite and a yellow head.
My class was so sweet today. We made friendship bracelets and they asked if I have Facebook but I said no, I am too cool for that shit, and sorry but until their coolness level breeches mine we will never be able to be friends. Just kidding, I didn’t really say that. I did give them my street address though, but I didn’t write my full name. They gave me this plaque thing and my last name was spelled wrong, so I felt bad writing my full name out for my address because then they’d see that they messed up the plaque and feel bad.
I really don’t feel like flossing right now. What do you think? Should I do it? Does it count if I do it in the morning?
See your beautiful faces in just a few hours!
Page
I was hanging out in the rynek with a handful of other volunteers. We had some dinner and drinks. The bars here are so cool. They’re cellar bars – I’ve written about them before. You have to duck your head when you go inside because the doorways are low and the steps are uneven. I guess the steps being uneven wouldn’t really make you have to duck your head, but it’s fun either way.
I’m writing this post so that I can stay up late and thus sleep in late tomorrow. You see, I have nothing to do tomorrow. No lesson plans to make, no work to do. Maybe I’ll do one last load of laundry and pack up the remainder of my things. Hopefully my suitcase doesn’t go over the weight limit but I have a bad feeling about it.
Today Agnieszka and I made pierogi ruskie from scratch. It took forever and we were both sweating by the end of it, but my god if they weren’t delicious. It’s pretty easy to make except for the dough part. Let’s make some when I get home.
There was another outdoor concert tonight and it was really fun and awesome. They even sang some songs in English, including Bye Bye Blackbird. I sang along! I know the lyrics because that was one of the songs I used to play over and over again when I was taking piano lessons from Ryan Mueller’s grandma. At the end of the concert, there was a New Orleans style parade around the rynek and we got sucked in, singing and dancing our way around the square. It was so much fun! I wish you guys could have been there with me. I got some pictures but haven’t bothered to see how they turned out. I guess I’ll find out in the morning.
Thank goodness for spell check! Can you imagine me doing an Edna Krabappel-style laugh right now? It would be best if I had some drambuie too and was throwing my head back and had a massive overbite and a yellow head.
My class was so sweet today. We made friendship bracelets and they asked if I have Facebook but I said no, I am too cool for that shit, and sorry but until their coolness level breeches mine we will never be able to be friends. Just kidding, I didn’t really say that. I did give them my street address though, but I didn’t write my full name. They gave me this plaque thing and my last name was spelled wrong, so I felt bad writing my full name out for my address because then they’d see that they messed up the plaque and feel bad.
I really don’t feel like flossing right now. What do you think? Should I do it? Does it count if I do it in the morning?
See your beautiful faces in just a few hours!
Page
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Banana phone
I'm getting ahead of myself and have already started packing my things. I think tonight I'll set out everything I need to get me through Sunday when I head to Krakow. I might end up having to ditch my suitcase with the broken wheel. That would be okay - one less piece of luggage will make my life so much easier when it comes time for the train ride and hauling my ass to the airport.
My host siblings have gone away for a two week camp near the Baltic Sea. I said my final goodbyes to them yesterday afternoon. I had walked into my room and had just applied a dallop of zit cream to the pad of my finger to take care of the newest crop when the whole family walked in and told me they had something to say to me. It was like being broken up with by my first boyfriend in 6th grade. They gave me the labored thank-yous and sad, solemn hugs goodbye and then handed me a little box with some jewelry. It was a pair of earrings - roses carved from amber and a silver stem on each. Probably way too fancy for me to wear, ever, but I'll wear them Sunday on my way out the door.
Later that day I had a meeting with Important People. It was supposed to be a thank-you to all the volunteers, and the Important People turned out to be the administrator of the village schools. We drove about 30 minutes out to some party arena place. I was glad I went because about 7 or 8 of the other volunteers were there and we made plans to go out on Friday night. Anyway, this place was odd. They had goats. And those giant inflatable bouncy things. There was a dinner in this cabin structure and it was so ungodly hot. The dinner was some bread and tray after tray of meaty meat. Big sausages, fried chicken, and other charred blocks and blobs of salty muscle fiber that I'm too ignorant to know the name for. We asked for something vegetarian and they brought us bowls of pickle spears.
There were lots of awkward pictures. The other volunteers and I sat together at a table, and every so often someone would come up and stand behind one side and have a photo taken, and then go over to the other side and take have another picture taken. We'd be eating only to look up and see some random woman with spiky blond hair jabbing her camera phone in our faces. Cheese?
It was so damn hot in there, but we waited and waited, knowing there would be dessert. Eventually I couldn't handle sitting there so I got up to leave, just in time to see two big carts of cake being wheeled out. We had already said our goodbyes and were headed for the door so I ultimately decided it wasn't worth it and we left anyway. A few calories saved, right? Actually not, because after we went to the sklep and I bought like 725323 things of candy and ate them ALL that night.
I'm going to go lay in the sun and read and indulge my lethargy.
Oh - and see you in 5 days!
Page
My host siblings have gone away for a two week camp near the Baltic Sea. I said my final goodbyes to them yesterday afternoon. I had walked into my room and had just applied a dallop of zit cream to the pad of my finger to take care of the newest crop when the whole family walked in and told me they had something to say to me. It was like being broken up with by my first boyfriend in 6th grade. They gave me the labored thank-yous and sad, solemn hugs goodbye and then handed me a little box with some jewelry. It was a pair of earrings - roses carved from amber and a silver stem on each. Probably way too fancy for me to wear, ever, but I'll wear them Sunday on my way out the door.
Later that day I had a meeting with Important People. It was supposed to be a thank-you to all the volunteers, and the Important People turned out to be the administrator of the village schools. We drove about 30 minutes out to some party arena place. I was glad I went because about 7 or 8 of the other volunteers were there and we made plans to go out on Friday night. Anyway, this place was odd. They had goats. And those giant inflatable bouncy things. There was a dinner in this cabin structure and it was so ungodly hot. The dinner was some bread and tray after tray of meaty meat. Big sausages, fried chicken, and other charred blocks and blobs of salty muscle fiber that I'm too ignorant to know the name for. We asked for something vegetarian and they brought us bowls of pickle spears.
There were lots of awkward pictures. The other volunteers and I sat together at a table, and every so often someone would come up and stand behind one side and have a photo taken, and then go over to the other side and take have another picture taken. We'd be eating only to look up and see some random woman with spiky blond hair jabbing her camera phone in our faces. Cheese?
It was so damn hot in there, but we waited and waited, knowing there would be dessert. Eventually I couldn't handle sitting there so I got up to leave, just in time to see two big carts of cake being wheeled out. We had already said our goodbyes and were headed for the door so I ultimately decided it wasn't worth it and we left anyway. A few calories saved, right? Actually not, because after we went to the sklep and I bought like 725323 things of candy and ate them ALL that night.
I'm going to go lay in the sun and read and indulge my lethargy.
Oh - and see you in 5 days!
Page
Monday, July 19, 2010
Bread
Refined wheat flour, not that awesome band. So much bread. Too much. Please no wheat flour when I get home. I think bread is, like, the default for vegetarians who don’t know any better. Luckily I do - but my host family doesn’t. The two Satan items that are now a huge part of my life that were rare just a mere five weeks ago: refined wheat and dairy. Have I crossed the threshold of too-late-to-tell? Just a few more days until I’m drowning in the sweet bliss that is raw veggies from my Moms garden.
I canceled class today. I could have gone. I didn’t feel like dealing with the handful of kids that would show up and sleeping in was too tempting. At least I have an extra lesson plan now. It’s raining today and awfully gloomy, and last time the weather was like this nobody showed up to class anyway. Except now I don’t know what to do with myself. It’s only a matter of time before I go and take a nap.
I lied to my host family and told them I was writing applications for grad school and doing grant research to justify how much time I spend on my laptop. Makes me feel better. Whenever I feel guilty for avoiding conversations or being a loner I just tell myself that I’ll never see these fools again in my life and I shouldn’t worry about how they feel. I’m the guest, right? Does this make me an awful person?
In other news, I look damn good today. Wish I had someone to show off to other than the 14 year old cow boy. Not cowboy, which could be sexy, but cow-boy. Part of it is the effortlessness that constituted getting dressed. Sometimes the simplest outfits are the most flattering. I swear I didn’t do anything more than tousle my newly long hair and it’s fucking perfect. I tried to avoid using the work fucking just now but the sentence didn’t have the same feel. I think I’m going to try to give up swearing when I get home. I am also deeply in love with this solid perfume my Mom gave me and I can’t wait to get home and leave it all over some boy. Sorry mom.
The bad part is that I think I ate some lotion. The soap this family uses makes my hands dry, so I slather lotion on quite frequently and then later on lick food from my fingers. Now my mouth feels like it’s coated and tastes bad.
Wow, this is narcissism at its finest. This is the kind of thing that makes me ashamed and feel like removing this whole Leafy Greens creation from its silly cyber existence. Good thing you guys don’t judge me, right? Lovers?
I know, I’ll make a list.
Things I miss:
1. Mom
2. Katie
3. Peanut butter
4. Raw things (not skin though)
5. Tilda, Lola, Oliver and Iko (but mostly Oliver my secret lover)
6. Food autonomy
7. Regular autonomy
8. Texting
9. James Madison Park
10. The Terrace
11. Driving north on John Nolen at night
12. Sushi
13. The porch
14. The Office
15. The square
16. Friends, I guess
17. Clothes in my closet right now
18. The rest of my underwear
19. Garden
20. New bras
21. Pink hair
22. Wax on my lip and brow
23. Bangs
24. Tanning
25. Black eyeliner
26. Fall
27. Boys
28. Girls
29. Live music
30. Hopalicious
I recently experienced a purge in my music library. Please suggest some new music to me! They don’t even have to be new bands – they could be old bands too. Say something that you love be it a genre or group or a solo artist. Go forth, inspire!
Virtual hugs for the next few days but then real hugz!
Page
P.S. A note on materialism. I’m struggling with fighting destructive capitalism and slipping into full-blown domination by it. Why does buying new things and spending a few hundred zloty make me happy? Why does my brain swim in happy chemicals when I find and purchase a cute outfit? And when I’m feeling unattractive, how is it that my whole day is sluggish and slow and dreary?
I think I just don’t know who I am yet. Dammit, Poland, you were supposed to help me find myself, not make me dig deeper into the big giant hole that is my existence. I’m not a real grown-up person. I’m a mixture of like 30 different things and one day if I’m lucky, i.e. if I grow up, I’ll learn to be the same person in every situation in which I find myself. I feel like I am supposed to fit into one category like Smiling Girl on the cover of Fill In the Blank. But it’s not like that for me. Sometimes I want to be sporty, or a princess, or know everything about which colors work best for you, sometimes I want to be a boy, sometimes I want to punch you in the face but then sit in a circle and hold hands, sometimes I want to wear all black, be vintage, be mod, sometimes I want to be organic, raw, ripe, dew-covered, sometimes I want to be a hermit and shrivel up in my room, sometimes I want to be a socialite that the media tells me girls my age should be, and sometimes I want to be that weird girl that wears lace-up boots in every season.
I hate that material things make me happy. Is this just because I’ve been a little out of touch and out of town lately? Is it because I entered the world of blogging and clicked the next blog link too many times? I found a well of rosy happiness that came from waking up early and looking out over a misty garden and the fields beyond. Not to say that doesn’t exist for me any longer, but I haven’t experienced it over the last few weeks. The idea of feeling empowered and pure from spending time at a mall makes me sick, but it is reality. Is this part of a new wave of feminism or some other ism that says its okay to spend your hard-earned money on a $6,000 yoga retreat in the name of health and wellness? I feel like this same logic says it doesn’t matter whether you get happiness from buying organic food or a hunk of yellow diamond as long as you’re exercising some femme mentality of kicking ass while wearing heels.
These thoughts are inspired by Bitch magazine. In a recent article one author used the term Oprahspeak to describe this new trend of working women who are supposed to demonstrate their empowerment and fuck you attitude by spoiling themselves rotten with jewelry from Tiffany and a day trip to Saks, topped with a black earth mud wrap and cucumber slices over your eyes. I think I feel sick -- I mean cynical -- I mean cyclical. I know I’ve felt this before and it happens like a wave. Or like you’re in a canoe paddling on one side and the other person is just sitting there. Your view changes a little with each stroke but after a few moments you're in the same place again. Any other ladies, or gents I guess, feeling this pressure? Let’s have a tea party where we wear structured dresses and sip dandelion tea with our pinkies out and our legs crossed at the ankles like gentlepeople. We can deconstruct these and other social issues.
I canceled class today. I could have gone. I didn’t feel like dealing with the handful of kids that would show up and sleeping in was too tempting. At least I have an extra lesson plan now. It’s raining today and awfully gloomy, and last time the weather was like this nobody showed up to class anyway. Except now I don’t know what to do with myself. It’s only a matter of time before I go and take a nap.
I lied to my host family and told them I was writing applications for grad school and doing grant research to justify how much time I spend on my laptop. Makes me feel better. Whenever I feel guilty for avoiding conversations or being a loner I just tell myself that I’ll never see these fools again in my life and I shouldn’t worry about how they feel. I’m the guest, right? Does this make me an awful person?
In other news, I look damn good today. Wish I had someone to show off to other than the 14 year old cow boy. Not cowboy, which could be sexy, but cow-boy. Part of it is the effortlessness that constituted getting dressed. Sometimes the simplest outfits are the most flattering. I swear I didn’t do anything more than tousle my newly long hair and it’s fucking perfect. I tried to avoid using the work fucking just now but the sentence didn’t have the same feel. I think I’m going to try to give up swearing when I get home. I am also deeply in love with this solid perfume my Mom gave me and I can’t wait to get home and leave it all over some boy. Sorry mom.
The bad part is that I think I ate some lotion. The soap this family uses makes my hands dry, so I slather lotion on quite frequently and then later on lick food from my fingers. Now my mouth feels like it’s coated and tastes bad.
Wow, this is narcissism at its finest. This is the kind of thing that makes me ashamed and feel like removing this whole Leafy Greens creation from its silly cyber existence. Good thing you guys don’t judge me, right? Lovers?
I know, I’ll make a list.
Things I miss:
1. Mom
2. Katie
3. Peanut butter
4. Raw things (not skin though)
5. Tilda, Lola, Oliver and Iko (but mostly Oliver my secret lover)
6. Food autonomy
7. Regular autonomy
8. Texting
9. James Madison Park
10. The Terrace
11. Driving north on John Nolen at night
12. Sushi
13. The porch
14. The Office
15. The square
16. Friends, I guess
17. Clothes in my closet right now
18. The rest of my underwear
19. Garden
20. New bras
21. Pink hair
22. Wax on my lip and brow
23. Bangs
24. Tanning
25. Black eyeliner
26. Fall
27. Boys
28. Girls
29. Live music
30. Hopalicious
I recently experienced a purge in my music library. Please suggest some new music to me! They don’t even have to be new bands – they could be old bands too. Say something that you love be it a genre or group or a solo artist. Go forth, inspire!
Virtual hugs for the next few days but then real hugz!
Page
P.S. A note on materialism. I’m struggling with fighting destructive capitalism and slipping into full-blown domination by it. Why does buying new things and spending a few hundred zloty make me happy? Why does my brain swim in happy chemicals when I find and purchase a cute outfit? And when I’m feeling unattractive, how is it that my whole day is sluggish and slow and dreary?
I think I just don’t know who I am yet. Dammit, Poland, you were supposed to help me find myself, not make me dig deeper into the big giant hole that is my existence. I’m not a real grown-up person. I’m a mixture of like 30 different things and one day if I’m lucky, i.e. if I grow up, I’ll learn to be the same person in every situation in which I find myself. I feel like I am supposed to fit into one category like Smiling Girl on the cover of Fill In the Blank. But it’s not like that for me. Sometimes I want to be sporty, or a princess, or know everything about which colors work best for you, sometimes I want to be a boy, sometimes I want to punch you in the face but then sit in a circle and hold hands, sometimes I want to wear all black, be vintage, be mod, sometimes I want to be organic, raw, ripe, dew-covered, sometimes I want to be a hermit and shrivel up in my room, sometimes I want to be a socialite that the media tells me girls my age should be, and sometimes I want to be that weird girl that wears lace-up boots in every season.
I hate that material things make me happy. Is this just because I’ve been a little out of touch and out of town lately? Is it because I entered the world of blogging and clicked the next blog link too many times? I found a well of rosy happiness that came from waking up early and looking out over a misty garden and the fields beyond. Not to say that doesn’t exist for me any longer, but I haven’t experienced it over the last few weeks. The idea of feeling empowered and pure from spending time at a mall makes me sick, but it is reality. Is this part of a new wave of feminism or some other ism that says its okay to spend your hard-earned money on a $6,000 yoga retreat in the name of health and wellness? I feel like this same logic says it doesn’t matter whether you get happiness from buying organic food or a hunk of yellow diamond as long as you’re exercising some femme mentality of kicking ass while wearing heels.
These thoughts are inspired by Bitch magazine. In a recent article one author used the term Oprahspeak to describe this new trend of working women who are supposed to demonstrate their empowerment and fuck you attitude by spoiling themselves rotten with jewelry from Tiffany and a day trip to Saks, topped with a black earth mud wrap and cucumber slices over your eyes. I think I feel sick -- I mean cynical -- I mean cyclical. I know I’ve felt this before and it happens like a wave. Or like you’re in a canoe paddling on one side and the other person is just sitting there. Your view changes a little with each stroke but after a few moments you're in the same place again. Any other ladies, or gents I guess, feeling this pressure? Let’s have a tea party where we wear structured dresses and sip dandelion tea with our pinkies out and our legs crossed at the ankles like gentlepeople. We can deconstruct these and other social issues.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Slovavas
Lots of time spent in the car today with cow-eye boy falling asleep on me. His head is spherical. I can add another country to my list of countries I've visited though!
First we went to downtown Slovakia-city. I can't remember the name. It was pretty dead though, but apparently it hasn't always been that way. It felt strange to be perusing a downtown area that would normally be bustling and full of shops and shoppers. But most of the shops were closed, and there were very few people on the sidewalks. We had some obiad (lunch) and they bought me an entire pizza. I told them I couldn't eat the whole thing, and I don't know why they insisted on doing that. I explained about getting half and half, that is half meat and half sans meat, but they weren't down for that either. Leftovers? They are weirded out when I eat cold pizza.
After wandering the market square got lame, we went to the mountains. Which mountains, you ask? The Tetras of course! Ever heard of it? It's okay if you haven't - you can still pretend that you have.
It was pretty neat to see. I enjoyed the part where we first saw it in the distance, and then drove closer, and then took a cable car up. It was pretty gradual and you don't really realize how far up you're going until you turn around and look back and see huge machinery that looks like caterpillars. All the land is divided up into pretty small parcels because it has been split by fathers among their sons for too many generations. At least they want to be fair about it. Fair according to the patriarchy I mean.
Naturally it's a pretty popular ski destination, and there was lots of construction going on while we were there. They were either working on the slaloms or creating new resorts on the mountain. The whole place was really gorgeous, except for all the machinery, deforestation, bright red and orange cords running everywhere, and huge piles of dirt and gravel surrounding barren pits in the earth. Nice!
I looked out across the hills when we were headed up in the cable car, and noticed a gentle slope not too far away that was being logged. There were vertical strips of trees missing from the woods, and those that had been harvested were messily strewn where they had once stood, looking like toothpicks from a tipped-over jar. It reminded me of how I shave my legs: one neat strip at a time, taking away the stubble and leaving only brown freckled earth behind. Then sometimes I forget to finish one leg and leave some hair behind for the next time, and it's like an oasis in a barrage of smoothness.
The lower soft hills of the Tetras were a brilliant, luscious green color, pimpled by freshly sawed tree stumps. The color of the stumps was even more brilliant, the orange wood fresh and wet against the ground, probably still alive. Some of the stumps had been gored out like a trimmed deer during hunting season, missing their veins and guts and life. I felt sad and heavy like the machinery that would come to haul the logs away.
While seeing the destruction in the name of profit happening all around me made me quiet, I did feel renewed by all the people I saw on the top of the mountain once we exited the cable car. I saw one family with a few kids, fairly young, all wearing hefty hiking boots and other clothes that you wear for hiking, I guess. They were eating their lunch out of round silver pans and it was like a picnic. After, I saw them rinsing their dishes and it included a few skillets and other pots and pans, so it became obvious to me that they had brought all their necessities with them. It made me want to become one of those nature people who goes hiking and cooks their lunch in the woods! Then I noticed all the gear they had with them and thought about how much of an investment that is, and decided I'd look pretty dorky in those bulky hiking boots. I decided to settle for living vicariously through them, which is enough for me.
I have some cool photos of the mountains, but my feelings about that remain the same in that you should probably just look online at some professional photographer's work and appreciate it just as much, if not more. I'll still share my photos when I get home, though.
I am getting pretty pumped for the garden and to be home and done with teaching! I decided teaching is not for me, by the way. We can talk about that later. I don't know how teachers do it. It's so frustrating to me how little they get paid and how absolutely painstaking and crucial their jobs are. Not to mention the hours of outside work that must be done: lesson planning, grading papers, organizing trips, and more. And the fact that most kids are disrespectful and have no idea how much work goes in to running a class successfully and how emotionally tolling it can be. Amiright?
Anyway - the bounty of the garden will be mine to enjoy in just over one fair week! One fair week!
Loves to you all.
Page
First we went to downtown Slovakia-city. I can't remember the name. It was pretty dead though, but apparently it hasn't always been that way. It felt strange to be perusing a downtown area that would normally be bustling and full of shops and shoppers. But most of the shops were closed, and there were very few people on the sidewalks. We had some obiad (lunch) and they bought me an entire pizza. I told them I couldn't eat the whole thing, and I don't know why they insisted on doing that. I explained about getting half and half, that is half meat and half sans meat, but they weren't down for that either. Leftovers? They are weirded out when I eat cold pizza.
After wandering the market square got lame, we went to the mountains. Which mountains, you ask? The Tetras of course! Ever heard of it? It's okay if you haven't - you can still pretend that you have.
It was pretty neat to see. I enjoyed the part where we first saw it in the distance, and then drove closer, and then took a cable car up. It was pretty gradual and you don't really realize how far up you're going until you turn around and look back and see huge machinery that looks like caterpillars. All the land is divided up into pretty small parcels because it has been split by fathers among their sons for too many generations. At least they want to be fair about it. Fair according to the patriarchy I mean.
Naturally it's a pretty popular ski destination, and there was lots of construction going on while we were there. They were either working on the slaloms or creating new resorts on the mountain. The whole place was really gorgeous, except for all the machinery, deforestation, bright red and orange cords running everywhere, and huge piles of dirt and gravel surrounding barren pits in the earth. Nice!
I looked out across the hills when we were headed up in the cable car, and noticed a gentle slope not too far away that was being logged. There were vertical strips of trees missing from the woods, and those that had been harvested were messily strewn where they had once stood, looking like toothpicks from a tipped-over jar. It reminded me of how I shave my legs: one neat strip at a time, taking away the stubble and leaving only brown freckled earth behind. Then sometimes I forget to finish one leg and leave some hair behind for the next time, and it's like an oasis in a barrage of smoothness.
The lower soft hills of the Tetras were a brilliant, luscious green color, pimpled by freshly sawed tree stumps. The color of the stumps was even more brilliant, the orange wood fresh and wet against the ground, probably still alive. Some of the stumps had been gored out like a trimmed deer during hunting season, missing their veins and guts and life. I felt sad and heavy like the machinery that would come to haul the logs away.
While seeing the destruction in the name of profit happening all around me made me quiet, I did feel renewed by all the people I saw on the top of the mountain once we exited the cable car. I saw one family with a few kids, fairly young, all wearing hefty hiking boots and other clothes that you wear for hiking, I guess. They were eating their lunch out of round silver pans and it was like a picnic. After, I saw them rinsing their dishes and it included a few skillets and other pots and pans, so it became obvious to me that they had brought all their necessities with them. It made me want to become one of those nature people who goes hiking and cooks their lunch in the woods! Then I noticed all the gear they had with them and thought about how much of an investment that is, and decided I'd look pretty dorky in those bulky hiking boots. I decided to settle for living vicariously through them, which is enough for me.
I have some cool photos of the mountains, but my feelings about that remain the same in that you should probably just look online at some professional photographer's work and appreciate it just as much, if not more. I'll still share my photos when I get home, though.
I am getting pretty pumped for the garden and to be home and done with teaching! I decided teaching is not for me, by the way. We can talk about that later. I don't know how teachers do it. It's so frustrating to me how little they get paid and how absolutely painstaking and crucial their jobs are. Not to mention the hours of outside work that must be done: lesson planning, grading papers, organizing trips, and more. And the fact that most kids are disrespectful and have no idea how much work goes in to running a class successfully and how emotionally tolling it can be. Amiright?
Anyway - the bounty of the garden will be mine to enjoy in just over one fair week! One fair week!
Loves to you all.
Page
Hot
It's almost unbearable. Sleeping is a chore and I find myself waking up once or twice in the middle of the night every night now. I just want a fan or some a/c! I'd even take an Egyptian man in a loin cloth fanning me with a giant palm leaf. That would do, I guess...
It was especially bad trying to sleep last night because I had this awesome sunburn - tan lines are pretty awful - that made it 10x worse to try to get to sleep. I wanted to wear as few clothes as possible but still keep my door open to allow for cross ventilation but those two things don't combine very well especially when there's a 14 year old boy in the house.
You know that awkward unspoken relationship that forms when you see someone in their underwear that you weren't supposed to see in their underwear? Yeah... Last night I opened by bedroom door to let in some cool air and whoops! There was Marek across the hall in the bathroom, skivvies only. Hahaaaaaaaa... there was a split second of eye contact and I pretended not to see anything and quickly removed myself from sight. I stood alone in my room with my hands out and eyes open wide, eyebrows raised, not moving for a few seconds until I figured out what to do with myself. In the same moment, he pretended to have something important to say to Jarek and called him into the room. I know that move, though. I've done it before. There was nothing important to be said. It was a cover-up, an instinctual reaction to neutralize the awkwardness and provide some explanation as to why he had the door wide open while he was doing his pre-bed routine.
I'll leave you with that thought. I'll write more later about my Slovakian adventures! How often can you say "yeah...just went to Slovakia for the day. No biggie."
Lots of love and guess what only 9 days fools!
It was especially bad trying to sleep last night because I had this awesome sunburn - tan lines are pretty awful - that made it 10x worse to try to get to sleep. I wanted to wear as few clothes as possible but still keep my door open to allow for cross ventilation but those two things don't combine very well especially when there's a 14 year old boy in the house.
You know that awkward unspoken relationship that forms when you see someone in their underwear that you weren't supposed to see in their underwear? Yeah... Last night I opened by bedroom door to let in some cool air and whoops! There was Marek across the hall in the bathroom, skivvies only. Hahaaaaaaaa... there was a split second of eye contact and I pretended not to see anything and quickly removed myself from sight. I stood alone in my room with my hands out and eyes open wide, eyebrows raised, not moving for a few seconds until I figured out what to do with myself. In the same moment, he pretended to have something important to say to Jarek and called him into the room. I know that move, though. I've done it before. There was nothing important to be said. It was a cover-up, an instinctual reaction to neutralize the awkwardness and provide some explanation as to why he had the door wide open while he was doing his pre-bed routine.
I'll leave you with that thought. I'll write more later about my Slovakian adventures! How often can you say "yeah...just went to Slovakia for the day. No biggie."
Lots of love and guess what only 9 days fools!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Blitz
I feel like this blog is sinking into narcissism. Isn't that what a blog is about though? I guess its real purpose is so I don't have to write 234598342 e-mails to each one of you anytime you get curious about what I'm doing. Yeah, that works.
Wow, only 10 days left! How and when did that happen? I'm getting really excited to come home. I can't wait to wake up on my last day here and bolt out of bed, full of energy.
Yesterday Gosia and I went to Krakow for some shopping. There is a brand new and absolutely huge mall there, and we killed the whole afternoon. I spent some zloty and came home with a few bags on my arm. One dress I got is really nice and I wore it to school today, but its transparency is a problem that I'm not sure how to solve. I realized that after I got home. Whoops! Sorry kids! All 9 of you! The train ride made me feel grimy and I was so glad to be home and take a bath and down a big bottle of water, filled in secret of course.
I'm pretty sure my hair is causing problems in this house. For one, I have a ton of it, so I shed twice as much as the next guy. Not only is it thick but the individual strands are thick too. They stick out like a sore thumb when contrasted to the clean, shiny tile and blonde hardwood floors in this house. I try to scoot them under the table or chair with my foot when I see some strands littering the ground, and have even hastily swept the floors when the family leaves the house. And I'm pretty sure my hair has clogged the bathtub drain... They won't be happy when they have to reach in and pull out a big clump of my red strands.
I am getting really. really. excited to come home to my mom's garden. I hear it's bursting with veggies. Let's have a vegetable party when I get back. We can overdose on homegrown produce and have some beer too.
Tonight some of us (the LE Tarnow group) are meeting in the main square in the city for some dinner and drinks. We're celebrating Claire's birthday, but it's really an excuse to get away from our host families and help break up the time a little. I'm getting tired of living here (I really hope they're not reading this!) and having to constantly deny food and assure them of my comfort. It's so exhausting! I'm getting frustrated and I think they can sense it. The kids weird me out. One is really loud and has dreadfully annoying speech even though I can't understand it. The other always stares at me and I pretend not to notice. I get stared at when I'm eating, or sitting on the couch reading, or sitting in my room and he walks by the door. Pretty soon I'm going to start staring back because I can't handle it anymore. He has these big cow eyes and that goddamned unibrow. I swear I'm going to take my tweezers to this entire family in their sleep. Do they not know how bad it is? The dad seriously has a hardcore unibrow - it's not even faint or lightly connected. I'm talking full-blown Muppet-style unibrow! All four family members have it but the dad's is the worst by far.
The girls who are in love with me in my class have become assertive and are creating Polish lessons for me. So awesome. I can just sit down and repeat words that they write on the board. Today I learned about the household and things in each room. They get a kick out of my bad pronunciations and I like that they get a taste of teaching and can see how hard it is. It was perfect because I had no lesson for today - was too tired last night to make one and just stopped caring. I have lots of leftover games and items to talk about that can get me through a good chunk of next week. One girl Magda will be gone next week, so today was her last day in class. At the end of class she did something very sweet: she handed me a gift and said that she wanted to say thank you to me for being a fucking awesome person. It was a box of fancy cherries covered with chocolate and swimming in liqueur, half of which I've eaten already. Best. Gift. Ever.
Something else cool: I made the cover of a Polish newspaper! The article isn't about LE though, it's about traveling by rail for summer vacation. Either way, check me out! I'm bringing home the real clipping in case this link doesn't work. I'll try to post an image here, too, but no promises. The photo was taken when our group met at the train station to head to Warsaw for our midpoint break.
I'm going to go lay in the sun and read now. It's extremely hot today. Sunburn!
Wow, only 10 days left! How and when did that happen? I'm getting really excited to come home. I can't wait to wake up on my last day here and bolt out of bed, full of energy.
Yesterday Gosia and I went to Krakow for some shopping. There is a brand new and absolutely huge mall there, and we killed the whole afternoon. I spent some zloty and came home with a few bags on my arm. One dress I got is really nice and I wore it to school today, but its transparency is a problem that I'm not sure how to solve. I realized that after I got home. Whoops! Sorry kids! All 9 of you! The train ride made me feel grimy and I was so glad to be home and take a bath and down a big bottle of water, filled in secret of course.
I'm pretty sure my hair is causing problems in this house. For one, I have a ton of it, so I shed twice as much as the next guy. Not only is it thick but the individual strands are thick too. They stick out like a sore thumb when contrasted to the clean, shiny tile and blonde hardwood floors in this house. I try to scoot them under the table or chair with my foot when I see some strands littering the ground, and have even hastily swept the floors when the family leaves the house. And I'm pretty sure my hair has clogged the bathtub drain... They won't be happy when they have to reach in and pull out a big clump of my red strands.
I am getting really. really. excited to come home to my mom's garden. I hear it's bursting with veggies. Let's have a vegetable party when I get back. We can overdose on homegrown produce and have some beer too.
Tonight some of us (the LE Tarnow group) are meeting in the main square in the city for some dinner and drinks. We're celebrating Claire's birthday, but it's really an excuse to get away from our host families and help break up the time a little. I'm getting tired of living here (I really hope they're not reading this!) and having to constantly deny food and assure them of my comfort. It's so exhausting! I'm getting frustrated and I think they can sense it. The kids weird me out. One is really loud and has dreadfully annoying speech even though I can't understand it. The other always stares at me and I pretend not to notice. I get stared at when I'm eating, or sitting on the couch reading, or sitting in my room and he walks by the door. Pretty soon I'm going to start staring back because I can't handle it anymore. He has these big cow eyes and that goddamned unibrow. I swear I'm going to take my tweezers to this entire family in their sleep. Do they not know how bad it is? The dad seriously has a hardcore unibrow - it's not even faint or lightly connected. I'm talking full-blown Muppet-style unibrow! All four family members have it but the dad's is the worst by far.
The girls who are in love with me in my class have become assertive and are creating Polish lessons for me. So awesome. I can just sit down and repeat words that they write on the board. Today I learned about the household and things in each room. They get a kick out of my bad pronunciations and I like that they get a taste of teaching and can see how hard it is. It was perfect because I had no lesson for today - was too tired last night to make one and just stopped caring. I have lots of leftover games and items to talk about that can get me through a good chunk of next week. One girl Magda will be gone next week, so today was her last day in class. At the end of class she did something very sweet: she handed me a gift and said that she wanted to say thank you to me for being a fucking awesome person. It was a box of fancy cherries covered with chocolate and swimming in liqueur, half of which I've eaten already. Best. Gift. Ever.
Something else cool: I made the cover of a Polish newspaper! The article isn't about LE though, it's about traveling by rail for summer vacation. Either way, check me out! I'm bringing home the real clipping in case this link doesn't work. I'll try to post an image here, too, but no promises. The photo was taken when our group met at the train station to head to Warsaw for our midpoint break.
I'm going to go lay in the sun and read now. It's extremely hot today. Sunburn!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Secret taps
One of the best parts about being in Warsaw as a group was realizing that we all miss tap water. Those of us who brought along our plastic and metal canteens revealed that each of us secretly fill them at night in our bathroom sinks! One girl takes a plastic bottle to keep in her bedroom and will drink it and then refill it, making sure to note the level of the water in the bottle and refilling it only up to that amount. This way she can disguise from her host mother that she has been drinking from the tap!
I was pondering this scenario and wondering why Europeans only drink bottled water. Sure, in some areas it might not be safe to drink directly from the tap, but we’re in a fairly modern place here. I know that my family back home has our tap water tested regularly for safety – why is that not standard practice here? It seems like Europeans do a decent job at conservation as is – smaller cars, great public transportation, elimination of plastic bags, recycling, no air conditioning, and more. Why have they not recognized the problems with bottled water?
I can hear a storm coming. Thank god! I hope it provides some relief from this heat. Lately I’ve really been enjoying reading in bed, and utilize the cat-shaped lamp on my desk by which to read. I must then choose between a stuffy room or fairly consistent mosquito attacks. If I leave the window open, it cools down my bedroom but the bugs are drawn to the cat lamp. Why can’t life be complete and simple?
The rain smells so good here. I’m not sure if it’s any different than at home, really, but after a storm the air feels clean and everything is refreshed. And suddenly snails appear everywhere! Last time it rained, I saw one on the patio and took a few macro photos. Then I looked around and noticed they littered the floor of the garden and were clumped together on the posts of the railing.
The storm is really going now. The thunder and lightening are intimidating and it’s kind of scary. I wish I could leave my window open ever so slightly to allow in some cool fresh air, but the rain pounded the panels too harshly and wetness appeared on the sill. I’ll wait for that reward in the morning when the leaves in the garden are still wet and the sun hasn’t had a chance to bake Tarnow and its buildings.
Today, class was rough. More students showed up, so I’m learning that I can’t really plan for anything too specific from now on. I was feeling a little under the weather and the kids were just not participating. They said they understood something, but then the corresponding activities went terribly wrong and it was revealed they actually knew nothing. They were giving me nothing to work with today – nobody answered my questions and I was forced to pick students from the group. Even then they didn’t participate. I felt my patience being overtaken by frustration. I imagined a fiber thread holding an anvil off a cliff like in Loony Toons, and with each failed exercise another fiber snapped until it was one measly thread. But hey – tomorrow is another day right? I get another chance to make it work. Hopefully I didn’t scare them all off today…
And now, folks, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Great American Silverware Smackdown Challenge!
So normally you hold your fork in your right hand, right? Unless you’re a lefty, but most lefties aren’t really real people – we all know this. And if you need to cut your steak, you put your fork down gently and switch your knife over to your dominant hand to commence sawing the muscle fiber into a chewable size. Then when you’re done cutting, you put the knife down gingerly and pick up the fork again. Back and forth for the entire meal until your bellies are swollen with food babies. People in Europe figured out a solution to this nonsense, and it involves the knife in the right hand and fork in the left, regardless of which hand is dominant. You are not allowed to scoop your food and you must turn your fork upside-down to stab your morsels. Go ahead, try it yourself. I’ve been attempting this new eating style for a meal here and there, and it usually includes some loud screeching of metal on porcelain, or some chunks of food being propelled from my plate and flopping onto the perfectly white table linen. I feel like a kindergartener learning to write with those giant crayons, fisting the whole thing and pressing way too hard on the paper. I should probably stop pretending to be European and accept my American status.
For some reason, I can’t successfully access certain websites on the wireless here. It’s not consistent though, and if I hit refresh enough times it will work. Half the time I can’t see my blog, and then the Shout Outs won’t load, and Google rarely works. I learned just to keep important pages like my e-mail and the LE blog open, but even that fails at times. I started using Bing as a substitute for Google, and it works every single time. I feel like a traitor using Bing. I get a little twinge every time I type it in and it appears in my address bar history. My most recent Bing search was to find lyrics for a Katy Perry song that I’m using in my lesson tomorrow on opposites. I had to buy the damn song on iTunes, too. I can’t believe I just paid $1.29 for it! Considering it’s a rather awful song – Hot n Cold. I have to be careful to skip the first stanza because it has a swear word!
I hate the whole idea of swear words. How do you explain that to a kid who is learning to speak? I remember when Isaac was way little and he’d repeat the word “damn” or some other swear word and we all got a good laugh from it. He saw us laughing, and that triggered something in his synapses about the word damn being some sort of silly, unique word. Now of course this is true for any type of learning across all ages, not just Isaac. It’s ridiculous when you think about it that a word is taboo or wrong to say. It’s a word – any word can be made taboo in the right context. Have you ever seen that Friends episode? They’re talking about how anything can be made suggestive. Joey says “Grandma’s chicken salad” and “there’s always room for Jell-o”. Sara would laugh right now.
I just finished a delicious dinner of ruskie pierogi – that’s dough pockets stuffed with potato and cheese. They’re served swimming in melted butter and some chopped chives. I ate way too many since I’m never able to make my own plates for dinner. I probably ate 15 or 20 of them. After, I felt pretty awful and Googled – or Binged (not binge, Bing – although the wordplay is rather fitting here) to find out just how many calories were in one pierogi. Wow, that was the worst idea I’ve had in a long time. I think I just consumed two days’ worth of calories in one meal! Expect me to look a little curvier when I get back…
Twelve days left! It’s like that Christmas song! I think I’ll make up my own to help keep track and nudge the time along.
On the twelfth night of blogging my readers gave to me…twelve e-mails for me to read!
With that, I bid you goodnight. More tomorrow. Maybe. I’m doing some shopping in Krakow so it will be a long day for me. Then Friday the LE group is meeting for a girl’s birthday in Tarnow, so perhaps no blog then either. But Saturday! Wait, Saturday I’m going to the mountains in Ukraine. Sunday? Not making any promises. I'll think of you when I'm traipsing though. Nah, not really. I just wanted to use the word traipsing.
Goodnight!
Page
I was pondering this scenario and wondering why Europeans only drink bottled water. Sure, in some areas it might not be safe to drink directly from the tap, but we’re in a fairly modern place here. I know that my family back home has our tap water tested regularly for safety – why is that not standard practice here? It seems like Europeans do a decent job at conservation as is – smaller cars, great public transportation, elimination of plastic bags, recycling, no air conditioning, and more. Why have they not recognized the problems with bottled water?
I can hear a storm coming. Thank god! I hope it provides some relief from this heat. Lately I’ve really been enjoying reading in bed, and utilize the cat-shaped lamp on my desk by which to read. I must then choose between a stuffy room or fairly consistent mosquito attacks. If I leave the window open, it cools down my bedroom but the bugs are drawn to the cat lamp. Why can’t life be complete and simple?
The rain smells so good here. I’m not sure if it’s any different than at home, really, but after a storm the air feels clean and everything is refreshed. And suddenly snails appear everywhere! Last time it rained, I saw one on the patio and took a few macro photos. Then I looked around and noticed they littered the floor of the garden and were clumped together on the posts of the railing.
The storm is really going now. The thunder and lightening are intimidating and it’s kind of scary. I wish I could leave my window open ever so slightly to allow in some cool fresh air, but the rain pounded the panels too harshly and wetness appeared on the sill. I’ll wait for that reward in the morning when the leaves in the garden are still wet and the sun hasn’t had a chance to bake Tarnow and its buildings.
Today, class was rough. More students showed up, so I’m learning that I can’t really plan for anything too specific from now on. I was feeling a little under the weather and the kids were just not participating. They said they understood something, but then the corresponding activities went terribly wrong and it was revealed they actually knew nothing. They were giving me nothing to work with today – nobody answered my questions and I was forced to pick students from the group. Even then they didn’t participate. I felt my patience being overtaken by frustration. I imagined a fiber thread holding an anvil off a cliff like in Loony Toons, and with each failed exercise another fiber snapped until it was one measly thread. But hey – tomorrow is another day right? I get another chance to make it work. Hopefully I didn’t scare them all off today…
And now, folks, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Great American Silverware Smackdown Challenge!
So normally you hold your fork in your right hand, right? Unless you’re a lefty, but most lefties aren’t really real people – we all know this. And if you need to cut your steak, you put your fork down gently and switch your knife over to your dominant hand to commence sawing the muscle fiber into a chewable size. Then when you’re done cutting, you put the knife down gingerly and pick up the fork again. Back and forth for the entire meal until your bellies are swollen with food babies. People in Europe figured out a solution to this nonsense, and it involves the knife in the right hand and fork in the left, regardless of which hand is dominant. You are not allowed to scoop your food and you must turn your fork upside-down to stab your morsels. Go ahead, try it yourself. I’ve been attempting this new eating style for a meal here and there, and it usually includes some loud screeching of metal on porcelain, or some chunks of food being propelled from my plate and flopping onto the perfectly white table linen. I feel like a kindergartener learning to write with those giant crayons, fisting the whole thing and pressing way too hard on the paper. I should probably stop pretending to be European and accept my American status.
For some reason, I can’t successfully access certain websites on the wireless here. It’s not consistent though, and if I hit refresh enough times it will work. Half the time I can’t see my blog, and then the Shout Outs won’t load, and Google rarely works. I learned just to keep important pages like my e-mail and the LE blog open, but even that fails at times. I started using Bing as a substitute for Google, and it works every single time. I feel like a traitor using Bing. I get a little twinge every time I type it in and it appears in my address bar history. My most recent Bing search was to find lyrics for a Katy Perry song that I’m using in my lesson tomorrow on opposites. I had to buy the damn song on iTunes, too. I can’t believe I just paid $1.29 for it! Considering it’s a rather awful song – Hot n Cold. I have to be careful to skip the first stanza because it has a swear word!
I hate the whole idea of swear words. How do you explain that to a kid who is learning to speak? I remember when Isaac was way little and he’d repeat the word “damn” or some other swear word and we all got a good laugh from it. He saw us laughing, and that triggered something in his synapses about the word damn being some sort of silly, unique word. Now of course this is true for any type of learning across all ages, not just Isaac. It’s ridiculous when you think about it that a word is taboo or wrong to say. It’s a word – any word can be made taboo in the right context. Have you ever seen that Friends episode? They’re talking about how anything can be made suggestive. Joey says “Grandma’s chicken salad” and “there’s always room for Jell-o”. Sara would laugh right now.
I just finished a delicious dinner of ruskie pierogi – that’s dough pockets stuffed with potato and cheese. They’re served swimming in melted butter and some chopped chives. I ate way too many since I’m never able to make my own plates for dinner. I probably ate 15 or 20 of them. After, I felt pretty awful and Googled – or Binged (not binge, Bing – although the wordplay is rather fitting here) to find out just how many calories were in one pierogi. Wow, that was the worst idea I’ve had in a long time. I think I just consumed two days’ worth of calories in one meal! Expect me to look a little curvier when I get back…
Twelve days left! It’s like that Christmas song! I think I’ll make up my own to help keep track and nudge the time along.
On the twelfth night of blogging my readers gave to me…twelve e-mails for me to read!
With that, I bid you goodnight. More tomorrow. Maybe. I’m doing some shopping in Krakow so it will be a long day for me. Then Friday the LE group is meeting for a girl’s birthday in Tarnow, so perhaps no blog then either. But Saturday! Wait, Saturday I’m going to the mountains in Ukraine. Sunday? Not making any promises. I'll think of you when I'm traipsing though. Nah, not really. I just wanted to use the word traipsing.
Goodnight!
Page
Monday, July 12, 2010
Insert a soapy finger
Today I woke up and really surprised myself. As I descended the staircase to meet my family for breakfast, I thought what a wonderful day it was to be alive. The morning weather was so pleasant that I could put a stick in my eye (sorry KT). I knew breakfast would be delicious and I had a good lesson for the day. It probably helped that my outfit was cute and was having one of those accidentally great hair days.
Can you believe I actually had that thought? That it was a wonderful day to be alive? A year ago today I never would have thought that. I probably would have laughed at myself. It felt a little out of character for me to be so happy. I ran with it, though, and it’s been smooth sailing so far.
It made me think of this popular song. Can you guess where it’s from? 10 points to the first correct guess in the comments!
It's such a good feeling to know you're alive.
It's such a happy feeling - you're growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say:
I think I'll make a snappy new day
It's such a good feeling, a very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we're friends.
Did anyone glance at the title of my last post and read it as lap dancer? I definitely did as I was proofreading it later on. I went back to edit it but then thought that I could disguise it as intentional. Now you know my secret. Lap dander just sounds gross.
Maybe 25% of my normal students showed up today. The group of older girls that adore me were there, as well as some of my younger pets, and a two boys who I’m sure had parents that made them come. My translator was absent today. She’s getting married soon and has a lot of work to do for her wedding, so I bet she was working on stuff for that. The younger kids, my second group, didn’t even come.
When my first class was over, I told them it was time to go home and said goodbye. None of them moved. I thought they didn’t understand me, so I told them class was over, told them to go outside and enjoy the weather, maybe go swimming. I did some pantomiming so they would understand, and opened the door and motioned them out, exaggeratedly waving goodbye. No reaction. They all wanted to stay! This made me nervous because I really had nothing prepared for them, only a lesson for the 5 – 8 year old kids who would normally show up at that time. That wasn’t going to fly because it involved learning left and right, the hokey pokey, and playing some simple and energetic games.
I decided to ask what they really really wanted to do for the rest of class. Turns out they really really wanted to play shark tag outside in the sweltering heat. They always want me to be the shark, and since there were so few kids today I really had no way out. Of course I’m wearing a pencil skirt and dressy shoes – perfect outfit for running around and getting sweaty. We made it work, though, and had fun. When that became boring, we played hide and seek and I did a photo shoot. I think I’ll have them give me 5-minute Polish lessons every day now. I can already count to five! They found it rather entertaining to hear my awful pronunciation and enjoyed correcting me. Success!
I’m pretty sure there was just a big misunderstanding with the advertisement of the class to the community. Initially I was told it’d be a four-week period. Then two two-week periods. Then they said the same kids would probably show up for all four weeks. I noticed on the school website that the dates for the class advertised only a two week period. So now I think that the second half of the class was never really advertised, and the kids who showed up today were just taking a chance or had ignorant parents. Either way, I’m really frustrated with all of this especially because of the amount of work I put in already and will have to put in over the remaining class time. My long-term project ideas are fluff now. All the supplies that I divvied out for the classes will probably remain unused because I’ve already done the lessons that require them. I know this isn’t supposed to be a vacation, and it’s certainly not, but hopefully next year it will be a little more organized. I’m thinking about applying for a leadership position with the organization, so maybe I can really make it happen!
On my drive to school every morning, we make a quick stop to pick up Magda. On the corner of her street is a man selling fire extinguishers. He has his little tent and lawn chair, and a display rack lined with bright red fire extinguishers of varying sizes. The little baby canisters are mixed up with the mammoths, and the bright red color is strange there on the side of the road. The handle and spigot parts look like broken limbs that were badly bandaged or awkward elephant trunks. In a way the color feels refreshing against the brown sand, dirty road and dingy faded buildings. But it also seems to be an invasion of industrial harshness into the lovely rolling green hills of Zawada. (If you're pronouncing that in your head, it sounds like Zavada.) Let me tell you, the view from the playground at school is absolutely breathtaking. Every time we go outside to play and round the corner of the building, I get soaked with brilliant vistas in all directions. It’s almost too much to take in at once, and I secretly face each direction for a few minutes to absorb everything when the kids are really into a game of shark tag.
I was in Warsaw over the weekend. It was exhausting. Over half the time was consumed by travel. Trains. Hot. Sticky. Dirty. Awful. So many hours. On the trip there, we couldn’t find seats and had to split up and stand the entire way. A few other volunteers and I were in the car with the toilet. Imagine being inside a handicapped sized Port-a-Potty during an 85 degree day. The refuse runs directly on to the train tracks below, and although I didn’t see it for myself, my friend who braved the bathroom said that if you look down into the toilet you can see the rail passing by beneath you.
In my opinion, Warsaw wasn’t worth the train rides there and back. Krakow is so much better! Everything in Warsaw was bombed in the war and rebuilt during 1945 – 1955. So nothing is spectacular and new, really. The old town district is made to look older than it is, and instead of using real stone blocks on building facades, they are just painted with a stone pattern. The architecture is purposely jagged and uneven so it has that old authentic feel, but the colors are too bright and crisp and do not align with the building structures. It made me feel irritated that they tried to copy a popular style in order to capitalize on it. I feel like Warsaw is an impostor city.
I should talk about the good things too. It wasn’t awful. The tallest building in Poland (don’t hold me to this claim) was there, called the Palace of Culture and Science. It was initially constructed by Josef Stalin and was previously known by his name. The people of Warsaw changed the name as soon as they possibly could, which was actually fairly recently if you’d believe it. We went up to the very top and enjoyed a great panoramic view. They also had a photo showcase of this display that I’ve seen before and really love: four different families photographed with all the food they consume in one week. Really a thought provoking display!
While we were at the top of the tower, someone made a comment about how well the city was planned out and arranged. I thought about this for a while, and then realized they had a second chance to create the city since everything was destroyed in a grim tale only six decades ago! A do-over, if you will.
It was, however, so amazing to see my group again. We shared teaching ideas with one another and had a great time partying in the evenings. We found a club called Tomba Tomba and bargained the cover charge down to half price to get in. We even met some girls from Chicago! It had maybe 6 floors and a basement, and different rooms designated for certain, ahem, activities. In order to find the entrance to the club, we circled the building about seven times before realizing we had to climb up a spiral staircase and weave through some castle ruins to get to the main entrance. A few of us decided to wear our sunglasses while dancing and it made me feel really cool, although my face was so sweaty that they kept sliding down my nose so I'd have to shove them back up with my index finger every five seconds like a librarian.
After the club we walked home together through the main part of the city. It was late but the downtown rynek was still busy. As we walked through the town square we noticed some people laying a man down on the ground and stopped to snoop, or rather investigate. He was inebriated in some fashion or another, and was making strange breathing noises. It seemed like he was unconscious. Then he started seizing on the ground and produced noises that were stranger yet. I thought we were going to have to perform an exorcism. That stopped after a minute, and he awoke and still wasn’t fully aware, but realized that there was a group of people staring at him and became angry. We left at that point but some people were really worried and felt the need to pray. I think it was a good excuse to draw attention and occupy the good Samaritan position. I’m probably just cynical though. The ambulance eventually came for him – we watched as it sped down the sidewalk and a group of people were forced to scatter and didn’t know which way to run. It was like that experiment when you take a bowl of water and put pepper on top and then insert a soapy finger and the pepper runs away.
We also took a bus tour that ended up lasting about 4 hours. I was tired from sitting by the end of the tour. We did get to do some walking for about an hour through a nice park. Warsaw has 86 parks including one called Bathroom Park, in Polski of course. Chopin was French and Polish and Warsaw was all about him. This year is the 200th anniversary of something related to him, but there are permanent parks in his name that have his music playing, his favorite flowers, a sculpture of him covered by a willow tree that is shaped like a hand resting on a piano, and more. The most interesting part of the tour, though, was when I met some nice people named Timbak and Piotr. They noticed our tour was speaking in English, and asked me what we were doing in Poland (I happened to have fallen to the back of the group and was strolling at a slow pace, making it more feasible for them to approach me.) We started talking about LE and Timbak shared some of his background. He was also an English teacher there, giving private lessons. He was raised in Canada, but spent many years living in Israel and even served in the military there. Of course the service is mandatory in Israel and he willingly moved there for the experience. After he decided he didn’t want to hold a gun, he was placed in military jail for a few weeks and then became a cook to finish his time. He said he ended up deserting the service, though.
We talked more and I hung back from my tour group, but stayed close enough so I could still hear parts of what the tour guide had to say and keep comfortably close to the group. Timbak was really excited about the LE program and shared some NGO ideas of his own, including a syndicated journalism project for Polish schools. We talked about my job at CMD and he said he had heard of us! We had some videos online that were pretty popular and of course some fame chalked up to W. Potter when he testified before the Supreme Court. It was a rather refreshing conversation for me!
The program director Katie and I found a neat map at the hostel that had various points of interest within walking distance, including a Riot Grrrl Club. If you don’t know what Riot Grrrl is, you should probably look it up, but if you’re too lazy it’s a feminist group with a punky feel. We really had no idea what the Riot Grrrl Club would hold for us: is it a dance club? is it a store? but the description made it sound like an infocenter. We walked a good two kilometers (metric, folks! I know that a 5K run is like 3.3 miles or something, so use that for a reference point) to the listed address, and found some type of warehouse with broken windows and tons of graffiti. To be fair, graffiti was everywhere so it’s not that unique to mention. The address system is so strange here and I still don’t get it – like six buildings can have the same address – so it took us a rather long time of running up each flight of stairs in each building and then down each dark hallway to try to find this place. We really kept looking and exhausting every possible building and strange hallway for a good hour. We even asked several different groups of people and no one had heard of it. Hearing native Polish speakers pronounce Riot Grrrl was awfully hilarious and we had a good laugh about it on the way home. It came out sounding like reee-oat garl club. Later we gave up and decided to find the vegetarian restaurant that was listed on the same map, but was nearer to our hostel in familiar territory. We walked all the way back and circled around the block with the vegetarian place’s address, and it was also nonexistent. We concluded that the map was outdated and gave up on it. Starving, we searched for a veg-friendly restaurant, passing about a dozen before finding a hip café with writing on the windows that specialized in fresh juice and smoothies. So worth it.
Oh, boy, I have so much more to write but I’m losing my will rather quickly. I didn’t bring my laptop to Warsaw so in order to salvage my thoughts I jotted them down on scraps of paper, and am marking them off one by one as they are transformed from bits and fragments into paragraphs. I suppose I will save the rest for tomorrow. Get ready for some exciting things, including a silverware challenge and descriptions of odors that I’ve never encountered before and are impossible to have been made by a human.
Goodnight.
Page
Can you believe I actually had that thought? That it was a wonderful day to be alive? A year ago today I never would have thought that. I probably would have laughed at myself. It felt a little out of character for me to be so happy. I ran with it, though, and it’s been smooth sailing so far.
It made me think of this popular song. Can you guess where it’s from? 10 points to the first correct guess in the comments!
It's such a good feeling to know you're alive.
It's such a happy feeling - you're growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say:
I think I'll make a snappy new day
It's such a good feeling, a very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we're friends.
Did anyone glance at the title of my last post and read it as lap dancer? I definitely did as I was proofreading it later on. I went back to edit it but then thought that I could disguise it as intentional. Now you know my secret. Lap dander just sounds gross.
Maybe 25% of my normal students showed up today. The group of older girls that adore me were there, as well as some of my younger pets, and a two boys who I’m sure had parents that made them come. My translator was absent today. She’s getting married soon and has a lot of work to do for her wedding, so I bet she was working on stuff for that. The younger kids, my second group, didn’t even come.
When my first class was over, I told them it was time to go home and said goodbye. None of them moved. I thought they didn’t understand me, so I told them class was over, told them to go outside and enjoy the weather, maybe go swimming. I did some pantomiming so they would understand, and opened the door and motioned them out, exaggeratedly waving goodbye. No reaction. They all wanted to stay! This made me nervous because I really had nothing prepared for them, only a lesson for the 5 – 8 year old kids who would normally show up at that time. That wasn’t going to fly because it involved learning left and right, the hokey pokey, and playing some simple and energetic games.
I decided to ask what they really really wanted to do for the rest of class. Turns out they really really wanted to play shark tag outside in the sweltering heat. They always want me to be the shark, and since there were so few kids today I really had no way out. Of course I’m wearing a pencil skirt and dressy shoes – perfect outfit for running around and getting sweaty. We made it work, though, and had fun. When that became boring, we played hide and seek and I did a photo shoot. I think I’ll have them give me 5-minute Polish lessons every day now. I can already count to five! They found it rather entertaining to hear my awful pronunciation and enjoyed correcting me. Success!
I’m pretty sure there was just a big misunderstanding with the advertisement of the class to the community. Initially I was told it’d be a four-week period. Then two two-week periods. Then they said the same kids would probably show up for all four weeks. I noticed on the school website that the dates for the class advertised only a two week period. So now I think that the second half of the class was never really advertised, and the kids who showed up today were just taking a chance or had ignorant parents. Either way, I’m really frustrated with all of this especially because of the amount of work I put in already and will have to put in over the remaining class time. My long-term project ideas are fluff now. All the supplies that I divvied out for the classes will probably remain unused because I’ve already done the lessons that require them. I know this isn’t supposed to be a vacation, and it’s certainly not, but hopefully next year it will be a little more organized. I’m thinking about applying for a leadership position with the organization, so maybe I can really make it happen!
On my drive to school every morning, we make a quick stop to pick up Magda. On the corner of her street is a man selling fire extinguishers. He has his little tent and lawn chair, and a display rack lined with bright red fire extinguishers of varying sizes. The little baby canisters are mixed up with the mammoths, and the bright red color is strange there on the side of the road. The handle and spigot parts look like broken limbs that were badly bandaged or awkward elephant trunks. In a way the color feels refreshing against the brown sand, dirty road and dingy faded buildings. But it also seems to be an invasion of industrial harshness into the lovely rolling green hills of Zawada. (If you're pronouncing that in your head, it sounds like Zavada.) Let me tell you, the view from the playground at school is absolutely breathtaking. Every time we go outside to play and round the corner of the building, I get soaked with brilliant vistas in all directions. It’s almost too much to take in at once, and I secretly face each direction for a few minutes to absorb everything when the kids are really into a game of shark tag.
I was in Warsaw over the weekend. It was exhausting. Over half the time was consumed by travel. Trains. Hot. Sticky. Dirty. Awful. So many hours. On the trip there, we couldn’t find seats and had to split up and stand the entire way. A few other volunteers and I were in the car with the toilet. Imagine being inside a handicapped sized Port-a-Potty during an 85 degree day. The refuse runs directly on to the train tracks below, and although I didn’t see it for myself, my friend who braved the bathroom said that if you look down into the toilet you can see the rail passing by beneath you.
In my opinion, Warsaw wasn’t worth the train rides there and back. Krakow is so much better! Everything in Warsaw was bombed in the war and rebuilt during 1945 – 1955. So nothing is spectacular and new, really. The old town district is made to look older than it is, and instead of using real stone blocks on building facades, they are just painted with a stone pattern. The architecture is purposely jagged and uneven so it has that old authentic feel, but the colors are too bright and crisp and do not align with the building structures. It made me feel irritated that they tried to copy a popular style in order to capitalize on it. I feel like Warsaw is an impostor city.
I should talk about the good things too. It wasn’t awful. The tallest building in Poland (don’t hold me to this claim) was there, called the Palace of Culture and Science. It was initially constructed by Josef Stalin and was previously known by his name. The people of Warsaw changed the name as soon as they possibly could, which was actually fairly recently if you’d believe it. We went up to the very top and enjoyed a great panoramic view. They also had a photo showcase of this display that I’ve seen before and really love: four different families photographed with all the food they consume in one week. Really a thought provoking display!
While we were at the top of the tower, someone made a comment about how well the city was planned out and arranged. I thought about this for a while, and then realized they had a second chance to create the city since everything was destroyed in a grim tale only six decades ago! A do-over, if you will.
It was, however, so amazing to see my group again. We shared teaching ideas with one another and had a great time partying in the evenings. We found a club called Tomba Tomba and bargained the cover charge down to half price to get in. We even met some girls from Chicago! It had maybe 6 floors and a basement, and different rooms designated for certain, ahem, activities. In order to find the entrance to the club, we circled the building about seven times before realizing we had to climb up a spiral staircase and weave through some castle ruins to get to the main entrance. A few of us decided to wear our sunglasses while dancing and it made me feel really cool, although my face was so sweaty that they kept sliding down my nose so I'd have to shove them back up with my index finger every five seconds like a librarian.
After the club we walked home together through the main part of the city. It was late but the downtown rynek was still busy. As we walked through the town square we noticed some people laying a man down on the ground and stopped to snoop, or rather investigate. He was inebriated in some fashion or another, and was making strange breathing noises. It seemed like he was unconscious. Then he started seizing on the ground and produced noises that were stranger yet. I thought we were going to have to perform an exorcism. That stopped after a minute, and he awoke and still wasn’t fully aware, but realized that there was a group of people staring at him and became angry. We left at that point but some people were really worried and felt the need to pray. I think it was a good excuse to draw attention and occupy the good Samaritan position. I’m probably just cynical though. The ambulance eventually came for him – we watched as it sped down the sidewalk and a group of people were forced to scatter and didn’t know which way to run. It was like that experiment when you take a bowl of water and put pepper on top and then insert a soapy finger and the pepper runs away.
We also took a bus tour that ended up lasting about 4 hours. I was tired from sitting by the end of the tour. We did get to do some walking for about an hour through a nice park. Warsaw has 86 parks including one called Bathroom Park, in Polski of course. Chopin was French and Polish and Warsaw was all about him. This year is the 200th anniversary of something related to him, but there are permanent parks in his name that have his music playing, his favorite flowers, a sculpture of him covered by a willow tree that is shaped like a hand resting on a piano, and more. The most interesting part of the tour, though, was when I met some nice people named Timbak and Piotr. They noticed our tour was speaking in English, and asked me what we were doing in Poland (I happened to have fallen to the back of the group and was strolling at a slow pace, making it more feasible for them to approach me.) We started talking about LE and Timbak shared some of his background. He was also an English teacher there, giving private lessons. He was raised in Canada, but spent many years living in Israel and even served in the military there. Of course the service is mandatory in Israel and he willingly moved there for the experience. After he decided he didn’t want to hold a gun, he was placed in military jail for a few weeks and then became a cook to finish his time. He said he ended up deserting the service, though.
We talked more and I hung back from my tour group, but stayed close enough so I could still hear parts of what the tour guide had to say and keep comfortably close to the group. Timbak was really excited about the LE program and shared some NGO ideas of his own, including a syndicated journalism project for Polish schools. We talked about my job at CMD and he said he had heard of us! We had some videos online that were pretty popular and of course some fame chalked up to W. Potter when he testified before the Supreme Court. It was a rather refreshing conversation for me!
The program director Katie and I found a neat map at the hostel that had various points of interest within walking distance, including a Riot Grrrl Club. If you don’t know what Riot Grrrl is, you should probably look it up, but if you’re too lazy it’s a feminist group with a punky feel. We really had no idea what the Riot Grrrl Club would hold for us: is it a dance club? is it a store? but the description made it sound like an infocenter. We walked a good two kilometers (metric, folks! I know that a 5K run is like 3.3 miles or something, so use that for a reference point) to the listed address, and found some type of warehouse with broken windows and tons of graffiti. To be fair, graffiti was everywhere so it’s not that unique to mention. The address system is so strange here and I still don’t get it – like six buildings can have the same address – so it took us a rather long time of running up each flight of stairs in each building and then down each dark hallway to try to find this place. We really kept looking and exhausting every possible building and strange hallway for a good hour. We even asked several different groups of people and no one had heard of it. Hearing native Polish speakers pronounce Riot Grrrl was awfully hilarious and we had a good laugh about it on the way home. It came out sounding like reee-oat garl club. Later we gave up and decided to find the vegetarian restaurant that was listed on the same map, but was nearer to our hostel in familiar territory. We walked all the way back and circled around the block with the vegetarian place’s address, and it was also nonexistent. We concluded that the map was outdated and gave up on it. Starving, we searched for a veg-friendly restaurant, passing about a dozen before finding a hip café with writing on the windows that specialized in fresh juice and smoothies. So worth it.
Oh, boy, I have so much more to write but I’m losing my will rather quickly. I didn’t bring my laptop to Warsaw so in order to salvage my thoughts I jotted them down on scraps of paper, and am marking them off one by one as they are transformed from bits and fragments into paragraphs. I suppose I will save the rest for tomorrow. Get ready for some exciting things, including a silverware challenge and descriptions of odors that I’ve never encountered before and are impossible to have been made by a human.
Goodnight.
Page
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Lap dander
Tomorrow is Friday! That means a fresh episode of Mel and Floyd. I could definitely catch up with the last few episodes I've missed, but I think I will really enjoy killing an entire afternoon relaxing and listening to that show. Is it weird to call it a show when there is nothing to watch?
I had the Gaga-girl's birthday party tonight. Before the party, I offered to do her hair and she wanted it curled. It was kind of gross but it made her really happy and she looked nice. When I was finished, I looked down at my thighs and they were speckled with her dander. Did I just gross you out? Because I definitely was.
The party was a pretty typical birthday party, except that they ate the birthday cake immediately when the party started. Then there were hors d'oeuvres (man, SO close with the spelling on that one - just had the e and u mixed up) that were cute enough to take a picture, but I didn't. Then cupcakes. Then some toasted baguettes with mushrooms and peppers and onions and some other stuff. Then tea. Then jelly in a cup, aka jello.
The cake was worth a picture. I'll show you later. It was fondant-covered and had an edible photo that the birthday girl created. It was Gaga's face from the Telephone video, and then her own head wearing the same telephone hat. The cake was white layers with cream in between. And the cream was fluffy but also had coconut inside, and chunks of blue jello. It was...interesting for me. I've noticed a trend of putting jello in with odd things. Before the cake was cut and served, she kept putting her hands all over it and touching the picture on top. When she leaned over to blow out her candles, her long hair was resting atop the cake, covering the surface. THEN, the cupcakes. They were heart-shaped and had blue cherries resting on top. Randomly during the meal she would reach over and fondle them. She might press a cherry into the cake or turn one around in its place several times. What?!? Really?!? Why??? And the loud chewing...mouth open...teeth... I was severely sickened by the combination of all these things. I kept close watch on which items had been fondled and made sure to steer myself away.
Is it wrong for me to chastise others for doing something in a manner different from my own? Or is it the nature of our being? Perhaps only my being? It would probably be best for you to leave that question unanswered. I wouldn't want to create a wormhole or anything here. Because if you answered it, you may be criticizing me for criticizing others. It's like having a discussion about colors and realizing that what I consider to be blue may not be the same blue that you see. Amiright?
I'm a little delirious because of this throbbing in my face area and also ears. And my poor body is sleep deprived. The castle tour yesterday did not help that situation and it was cold and wet, and my feet were damp for a good several hours.
Ah! I forgot to tell you the best part about the castle. Maybe not the best part, but definitely worth noting here. We had to wear these awesome boot things over our shoes during the tour. There were two sizes available - child and giant. They were awful looking and awfully slippery. It was rather difficult to maneuver around the uneven floors and especially stairs while wearing these things. Stairs were a weird shape from that era. They force you to take awkwardly sized steps and move your legs in an unnatural manner. So instead of actually walking, we skied everywhere. It was fun to do the run-and-slide move that we did when we were kids on the hardwood floor right after it had been oiled. You had to have the right socks though. But by the end of the day my back was aching from all the standing, walking, and makeshift skiing. It felt good to sit down and have some lumbar support on the long train home.
Okay, pals. It's late here. I'm overtired and am thinking that this post is disorganized and might be a little silly. I'm not proofreading it either. I have to get up and pack for Warsaw in the morning and then take a train from Tarnow. I'll be there until Sunday afternoon. Ugh...then when I return I have to plan a lesson. Boo!
I miss you all! A little over two weeks from now I'll be back on American ground. God bless. Wait...what?
PEM
I had the Gaga-girl's birthday party tonight. Before the party, I offered to do her hair and she wanted it curled. It was kind of gross but it made her really happy and she looked nice. When I was finished, I looked down at my thighs and they were speckled with her dander. Did I just gross you out? Because I definitely was.
The party was a pretty typical birthday party, except that they ate the birthday cake immediately when the party started. Then there were hors d'oeuvres (man, SO close with the spelling on that one - just had the e and u mixed up) that were cute enough to take a picture, but I didn't. Then cupcakes. Then some toasted baguettes with mushrooms and peppers and onions and some other stuff. Then tea. Then jelly in a cup, aka jello.
The cake was worth a picture. I'll show you later. It was fondant-covered and had an edible photo that the birthday girl created. It was Gaga's face from the Telephone video, and then her own head wearing the same telephone hat. The cake was white layers with cream in between. And the cream was fluffy but also had coconut inside, and chunks of blue jello. It was...interesting for me. I've noticed a trend of putting jello in with odd things. Before the cake was cut and served, she kept putting her hands all over it and touching the picture on top. When she leaned over to blow out her candles, her long hair was resting atop the cake, covering the surface. THEN, the cupcakes. They were heart-shaped and had blue cherries resting on top. Randomly during the meal she would reach over and fondle them. She might press a cherry into the cake or turn one around in its place several times. What?!? Really?!? Why??? And the loud chewing...mouth open...teeth... I was severely sickened by the combination of all these things. I kept close watch on which items had been fondled and made sure to steer myself away.
Is it wrong for me to chastise others for doing something in a manner different from my own? Or is it the nature of our being? Perhaps only my being? It would probably be best for you to leave that question unanswered. I wouldn't want to create a wormhole or anything here. Because if you answered it, you may be criticizing me for criticizing others. It's like having a discussion about colors and realizing that what I consider to be blue may not be the same blue that you see. Amiright?
I'm a little delirious because of this throbbing in my face area and also ears. And my poor body is sleep deprived. The castle tour yesterday did not help that situation and it was cold and wet, and my feet were damp for a good several hours.
Ah! I forgot to tell you the best part about the castle. Maybe not the best part, but definitely worth noting here. We had to wear these awesome boot things over our shoes during the tour. There were two sizes available - child and giant. They were awful looking and awfully slippery. It was rather difficult to maneuver around the uneven floors and especially stairs while wearing these things. Stairs were a weird shape from that era. They force you to take awkwardly sized steps and move your legs in an unnatural manner. So instead of actually walking, we skied everywhere. It was fun to do the run-and-slide move that we did when we were kids on the hardwood floor right after it had been oiled. You had to have the right socks though. But by the end of the day my back was aching from all the standing, walking, and makeshift skiing. It felt good to sit down and have some lumbar support on the long train home.
Okay, pals. It's late here. I'm overtired and am thinking that this post is disorganized and might be a little silly. I'm not proofreading it either. I have to get up and pack for Warsaw in the morning and then take a train from Tarnow. I'll be there until Sunday afternoon. Ugh...then when I return I have to plan a lesson. Boo!
I miss you all! A little over two weeks from now I'll be back on American ground. God bless. Wait...what?
PEM
Three down, tutu go
Dominika and her friend Magda are the cutest little ballet dancers. They made up a silly routine and keep doing the opening leap whenever anyone is looking their way. As they were dancing around the house one night before dinner, I shared that I had been in ballet classes when I was younger, and that I had also taken a course in ballet in college. They got really excited and started showing off their moves. Then they got out the DVD player.
Just last year the two of them were in a rather large ballet recital together. And I got to see the whole thing! Even the interludes and segues between scenes. Which were completely in Polish. Every time they were on stage they'd point and say "it is me" and leave a greasy little fingerprint on the screen. I was really surprised that these young girls are already en pointe and doing pretty well at it! I couldn't even manage that. Then again they probably had months of professional training while I only had one college semester and a fairly casual ballet class over ten years ago. I was impressed!
Did you like that title? Aren't I clever? I can't believe I only have two weeks left here in Tarnow, and then just a few more days in Krakow. I'm gonna miss you, Poland!
I'm sitting outside in the garden right now and it's so lovely. The bench I'm on is shaded by some curly vines, and there are wonderful colorful blooms surrounding me. The only ones that I recognize are a bleeding heart basket and a white orchid. Other plants have hot pink flowers which, if not for the color, blend right in to the rest of the foliage. They have the same shape and texture. There is another plant that I recognize but can't think of the name...I feel like it starts with an H though. Its leaves are low, wide, and lined with lighter green than the rest, and the flower shoots up tall over the leaves and has delicate purple blooms. 10 points to whoever can guess it! My mom has these next to the driveway in the fairy garden.
I love the smell and feel of the air right now. The sprinkler is running near me and I can smell the grass. When the wind blows I feel a little mist from the water and it feels good on my skin. Agnieszka keeps bringing me little treats and delicious coffee. Really amazing coffee. Will I be a coffee snob when I get back home?
I can't wait to be back at my Mom and Dad's house and wake up early when it's foggy and wet from dew. I'm going to take a long walk in the garden and eat some vegetables right from the earth, and then pick a flower to wear in my hair. I'm sure the dogs will come along to keep me company.
Yesterday I toured another palace. It was originally from the 13th century but had since been rebuilt many times by its many different owners. It was forbidden to take photos but I have a nice guidebook to show you. There was an orchid house which was the most memorable, in my opinion. After the tour, we visited a restaurant within the castle. It was very elegant and equally delicious. What I really want to tell you about, though, was the dessert. It's supposedly famous and was a favorite of the princess. We have to figure out how to make it.
It consisted of a small apple, peeled, and either baked or boiled. The core was removed and the remaining space was filled with some sort of fruity jam and a single walnut. Then it was turned upside down and covered with a white vanilla sauce, and garnished with some fruity thing and a mint leaf. This is now my new favorite dessert.
After the castle tour, I was tired. It had rained all day and was cold, and I wasn't prepared for the weather. The train ride to get home took about two hours, but luckily we had a car that had closed off seating so we had our own little section and I took a nap. It was not fun planning the lesson late at night once I got home.
I think my lesson today sucked. Some girls yesterday asked about learning animals, so that's what our lesson was. Turns out they all already knew all the animals I had pictures of, so I tried to teach them about the food chain and animal habitats. I think it failed because my translator wasn't there today and they didn't understand, or were excited for their three day weekend. I tried doing an activity like hot potato and even brought in my laptop to play some music. We had three balls going around the circle and it ended with the boys throwing them at one another as hard as they could. I told them to sit down because they obviously couldn't handle it, and then realized I was running out of material with at least half the class period left.
I felt myself waning today. This is partly chalked up to me being a little sick, but mostly I'm losing my patience with these kids. I don't know how I'm going to make up stuff for another two weeks of class and keep them interested. I only have so many ideas for lessons! It's a real test on my endurance and my patience. I don't like to yell at them and have only had to do it two or three times, but only because they were having fun and forgot to pay attention to me. I yelled at them twice today, and the boys really were rough on me. They kept throwing things at each other and just would not listen when I was talking. I took away some of their bean bags and football, and singled them out when I saw who was misbehaving. Why is it that the boys are always the awful ones!? The girls are so pleasant and kind, and always attentive. But the goddamn boys... This is a message to any boys reading this to be nice to your teachers!
With that said, I am so glad there is no class tomorrow. I could technically still have class and be able to make it to Warsaw on time, but I seized the opportunity to sleep in and not have to plan a lesson. I'm SO glad I don't have to make a lesson tonight, you have no idea! Hopefully this weekend in Warsaw I will be able to garner some successful ideas from other volunteers.
We're taking a three hour bus tour of Warsaw on Saturday. That's a long time! Hopefully there is a break scheduled in there somewhere. After that, we'll have free time to explore the city on our own and see what interesting things we can discover. I guess there is a real tension between people from Warsaw and people from Krakow, so I'll see how it measures up. I guess I'm on Team Krakow right now, but how can I choose when I haven't explored Warsaw as well?
Tonight there is a birthday party for Kinga. It will be Gaga-themed. I got her a pretty birthday card and a gift card for a store at the mall. I really hope I can take a nap before the party, otherwise I'll surely die. This sinus problem I'm having has really got me dragging today.
Send me your love! And comments! Who is reading this thing, anyway? Anybody?
Page
Just last year the two of them were in a rather large ballet recital together. And I got to see the whole thing! Even the interludes and segues between scenes. Which were completely in Polish. Every time they were on stage they'd point and say "it is me" and leave a greasy little fingerprint on the screen. I was really surprised that these young girls are already en pointe and doing pretty well at it! I couldn't even manage that. Then again they probably had months of professional training while I only had one college semester and a fairly casual ballet class over ten years ago. I was impressed!
Did you like that title? Aren't I clever? I can't believe I only have two weeks left here in Tarnow, and then just a few more days in Krakow. I'm gonna miss you, Poland!
I'm sitting outside in the garden right now and it's so lovely. The bench I'm on is shaded by some curly vines, and there are wonderful colorful blooms surrounding me. The only ones that I recognize are a bleeding heart basket and a white orchid. Other plants have hot pink flowers which, if not for the color, blend right in to the rest of the foliage. They have the same shape and texture. There is another plant that I recognize but can't think of the name...I feel like it starts with an H though. Its leaves are low, wide, and lined with lighter green than the rest, and the flower shoots up tall over the leaves and has delicate purple blooms. 10 points to whoever can guess it! My mom has these next to the driveway in the fairy garden.
I love the smell and feel of the air right now. The sprinkler is running near me and I can smell the grass. When the wind blows I feel a little mist from the water and it feels good on my skin. Agnieszka keeps bringing me little treats and delicious coffee. Really amazing coffee. Will I be a coffee snob when I get back home?
I can't wait to be back at my Mom and Dad's house and wake up early when it's foggy and wet from dew. I'm going to take a long walk in the garden and eat some vegetables right from the earth, and then pick a flower to wear in my hair. I'm sure the dogs will come along to keep me company.
Yesterday I toured another palace. It was originally from the 13th century but had since been rebuilt many times by its many different owners. It was forbidden to take photos but I have a nice guidebook to show you. There was an orchid house which was the most memorable, in my opinion. After the tour, we visited a restaurant within the castle. It was very elegant and equally delicious. What I really want to tell you about, though, was the dessert. It's supposedly famous and was a favorite of the princess. We have to figure out how to make it.
It consisted of a small apple, peeled, and either baked or boiled. The core was removed and the remaining space was filled with some sort of fruity jam and a single walnut. Then it was turned upside down and covered with a white vanilla sauce, and garnished with some fruity thing and a mint leaf. This is now my new favorite dessert.
After the castle tour, I was tired. It had rained all day and was cold, and I wasn't prepared for the weather. The train ride to get home took about two hours, but luckily we had a car that had closed off seating so we had our own little section and I took a nap. It was not fun planning the lesson late at night once I got home.
I think my lesson today sucked. Some girls yesterday asked about learning animals, so that's what our lesson was. Turns out they all already knew all the animals I had pictures of, so I tried to teach them about the food chain and animal habitats. I think it failed because my translator wasn't there today and they didn't understand, or were excited for their three day weekend. I tried doing an activity like hot potato and even brought in my laptop to play some music. We had three balls going around the circle and it ended with the boys throwing them at one another as hard as they could. I told them to sit down because they obviously couldn't handle it, and then realized I was running out of material with at least half the class period left.
I felt myself waning today. This is partly chalked up to me being a little sick, but mostly I'm losing my patience with these kids. I don't know how I'm going to make up stuff for another two weeks of class and keep them interested. I only have so many ideas for lessons! It's a real test on my endurance and my patience. I don't like to yell at them and have only had to do it two or three times, but only because they were having fun and forgot to pay attention to me. I yelled at them twice today, and the boys really were rough on me. They kept throwing things at each other and just would not listen when I was talking. I took away some of their bean bags and football, and singled them out when I saw who was misbehaving. Why is it that the boys are always the awful ones!? The girls are so pleasant and kind, and always attentive. But the goddamn boys... This is a message to any boys reading this to be nice to your teachers!
With that said, I am so glad there is no class tomorrow. I could technically still have class and be able to make it to Warsaw on time, but I seized the opportunity to sleep in and not have to plan a lesson. I'm SO glad I don't have to make a lesson tonight, you have no idea! Hopefully this weekend in Warsaw I will be able to garner some successful ideas from other volunteers.
We're taking a three hour bus tour of Warsaw on Saturday. That's a long time! Hopefully there is a break scheduled in there somewhere. After that, we'll have free time to explore the city on our own and see what interesting things we can discover. I guess there is a real tension between people from Warsaw and people from Krakow, so I'll see how it measures up. I guess I'm on Team Krakow right now, but how can I choose when I haven't explored Warsaw as well?
Tonight there is a birthday party for Kinga. It will be Gaga-themed. I got her a pretty birthday card and a gift card for a store at the mall. I really hope I can take a nap before the party, otherwise I'll surely die. This sinus problem I'm having has really got me dragging today.
Send me your love! And comments! Who is reading this thing, anyway? Anybody?
Page
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Admission
This may be a little embarrassing for me, but I'm going to share with you some of the things I've learned about packing for a long trip like this one. I hope you find amusement at my discomposure.
I must first state that before arriving here, I had no idea whether I'd be staying in the back corner of a barn or put up in a European hotel (which one guy from my group is). I had no idea if certain things would be accessible or if the brands would be weird or what I'd be eating. Here I go.
I'll start with things I brought but totally don't need:
40 million hair ties. I left about half of them at home stuffed in a drawer and brought seriously a good year's worth of them. I don't think I've used more than two since I've been here.
An entire thing full of bobby pins. Really? I only use four at a time, at most. Why did I need to bring all the bobby pins I own?
About 50 band-aids, scattered in different places throughout my various luggage. Granted I have this one pair of shoes that can give me blisters, but I made sure to wear them in before I left. I knew I'd be doing a lot of walking in the airport so I made sure to pack some band-aids in my carry on, and in my toiletries, and another bundle in my regular luggage. Luckily they don't take up much space.
Enough fiber supplements for most of the five weeks here. Some of you who know me better know that my digestion is really not in good shape, and I was worried that the strange food would exacerbate the problem. I was wrong and things seem to be working properly now. I guess a little extra fiber never hurt anyone, right?
Not one but two curling irons. I had to leave my flat iron at home because it wasn't rated for the electricity here. I was reading up about the electrical differences between Europe and the States online, and heard horror stories of heating implements just giving out halfway through, or not supplying full power. So I thought it would be a good idea to bring two, apparently? I ended up buying a flat iron last week anyway but am a little shy to admit how much I spent on it - something that I'll only be able to use for a few more weeks. My host sister really wants it though, so it will make her happy to have when I leave. I can chalk it up to generosity, right?
Like seven black skirts. Granted they are varying lengths and some have embellishments, pockets, etc. But really? Is anyone going to notice if I wear the same black skirt every day or if I switch to a different one? I think not, especially a bunch of kids. Do they really care?
Enough razor blade replacements for twice as long as I'll be here. They're so expensive, so I try to stretch their life as is. I'm not sure if I thought I would be extra concerned about having smooth legs while in Poland, but it doesn't matter because they're generally half-covered by one of the black skirts anyway.
Sunscreen. Come on, who really uses sunscreen? I'm going to leave it here when I go. I only use sunscreen on my face, and my make-up has SPF already so I was good from the start.
Enough jewelry to fill a curio cabinet. I like colorful things, and packing for this was fun because I got to pick all my favorites and stuff them into a bag. It wasn't fun to open my special jewelry thing to see all my necklaces knotted up and everything jumbled together in one heap. I spent a good amount of time last week undoing that mess. I always end up wearing the same four things anyway, so what's the point? AND I'm buying even more at the markets here. Gifts, right? ...
A million too many post-its and highlighters. Sometimes they do come in handy for certain activities, but I have a feeling the school will be getting a big donation of yellow highlighters and sticky notes when I leave.
About 352893 granola bars. They came in handy on the plane when I realized I had forgotten to request vegetarian meals, but now they're sitting in my suitcase getting all melty. I also kept some spearmint gum in the same bag so now everything tastes and smells like mint.
My two dictionaries and phrase books. I only used one of them once. My host family has a pretty hefty English-Polish dictionary, plus the majority of people I've encountered speak English anyway, and there were a handful of people in the group who speak Polish as well. So it's pretty unnecessary, but it's nice to know I have them just in case. I suppose they could come in handy when one of you comes to meet me here at the end of July...
Things I really wish I brought:
Different clothing. Tank tops and dresses and at least one fancy outfit for special events. I guess I'll just have to buy some here.
Bronzer powder. I used it every day! Why didn't I think I'd use it here? Silly.
Stuff to make my hair shiny. Also used daily. Universal miracle product. Now absent from my life.
Better markers, pens, and pencils. The school has one sad little pencil box with broken crayons and markers that barely write. Luckily I was able to pick up a fresh box of markers and colored pencils and it has made life so much easier.
Organizational boxes. You know how I am about organizing things. I have these canvas containers that you can collapse to be flat and they'd take up barely any space in my luggage. A bunch of stuff is scattered on the floor of my bedroom and I would really like to have it contained in some way, but I can get by without it for now.
Some little portable iPod speakers. This would be so great for my class. I can always bring my computer to class with me, but it's kinda risky and the speakers really aren't that great.
Perhaps a DVD or more books or magazines. Sometimes at night I just want to relax and watch a movie or do something other than have labored conversations and surf the internet. I only have one book and I'm trying to stretch it out so I can read it when I'm desperate or without electricity or internet. Magazines would be useful for mindless reading, but I don't really care for them too much. They'd be really great for salvaging for classroom projects, though. I actually had a bunch to bring with me but decided to leave them out last minute because they're pretty heavy and took up too much suitcase room.
More body lotion or oil. I prefer the oil but was worried about it being too messy. Now I have to ration my lotion and I think I'll only be able to use it in desperate times.
A better loofah. I need to exfoliate! I can get by with what I have, but am really looking forward to getting home and purchasing a nice one that will make my skin glow. I don't know why I didn't just do that in the first place - it's not like it would take up so much more room in the suitcase that it's not feasible.
Things I'm really glad I brought:
My laptop!
My camera and all the cords for it.
Extra paper and pens for myself - really handy for lesson planning.
Sandals, Chucks, and wedges.
A case for toiletries. Really handy in the hostel.
A prize box full of mega-cool prizes to use as incentive in the classroom. I put some of my old jewelry in there, and it was the first to go!
Bathing suits - although I haven't had a chance to wear them yet. I hope they still fit...
Well, there you have it. Did you learn anything? I sure did. Hopefully you can laugh at this but also take some tips away for when you come to gallivant the rest of Europe with me!
Page
I must first state that before arriving here, I had no idea whether I'd be staying in the back corner of a barn or put up in a European hotel (which one guy from my group is). I had no idea if certain things would be accessible or if the brands would be weird or what I'd be eating. Here I go.
I'll start with things I brought but totally don't need:
40 million hair ties. I left about half of them at home stuffed in a drawer and brought seriously a good year's worth of them. I don't think I've used more than two since I've been here.
An entire thing full of bobby pins. Really? I only use four at a time, at most. Why did I need to bring all the bobby pins I own?
About 50 band-aids, scattered in different places throughout my various luggage. Granted I have this one pair of shoes that can give me blisters, but I made sure to wear them in before I left. I knew I'd be doing a lot of walking in the airport so I made sure to pack some band-aids in my carry on, and in my toiletries, and another bundle in my regular luggage. Luckily they don't take up much space.
Enough fiber supplements for most of the five weeks here. Some of you who know me better know that my digestion is really not in good shape, and I was worried that the strange food would exacerbate the problem. I was wrong and things seem to be working properly now. I guess a little extra fiber never hurt anyone, right?
Not one but two curling irons. I had to leave my flat iron at home because it wasn't rated for the electricity here. I was reading up about the electrical differences between Europe and the States online, and heard horror stories of heating implements just giving out halfway through, or not supplying full power. So I thought it would be a good idea to bring two, apparently? I ended up buying a flat iron last week anyway but am a little shy to admit how much I spent on it - something that I'll only be able to use for a few more weeks. My host sister really wants it though, so it will make her happy to have when I leave. I can chalk it up to generosity, right?
Like seven black skirts. Granted they are varying lengths and some have embellishments, pockets, etc. But really? Is anyone going to notice if I wear the same black skirt every day or if I switch to a different one? I think not, especially a bunch of kids. Do they really care?
Enough razor blade replacements for twice as long as I'll be here. They're so expensive, so I try to stretch their life as is. I'm not sure if I thought I would be extra concerned about having smooth legs while in Poland, but it doesn't matter because they're generally half-covered by one of the black skirts anyway.
Sunscreen. Come on, who really uses sunscreen? I'm going to leave it here when I go. I only use sunscreen on my face, and my make-up has SPF already so I was good from the start.
Enough jewelry to fill a curio cabinet. I like colorful things, and packing for this was fun because I got to pick all my favorites and stuff them into a bag. It wasn't fun to open my special jewelry thing to see all my necklaces knotted up and everything jumbled together in one heap. I spent a good amount of time last week undoing that mess. I always end up wearing the same four things anyway, so what's the point? AND I'm buying even more at the markets here. Gifts, right? ...
A million too many post-its and highlighters. Sometimes they do come in handy for certain activities, but I have a feeling the school will be getting a big donation of yellow highlighters and sticky notes when I leave.
About 352893 granola bars. They came in handy on the plane when I realized I had forgotten to request vegetarian meals, but now they're sitting in my suitcase getting all melty. I also kept some spearmint gum in the same bag so now everything tastes and smells like mint.
My two dictionaries and phrase books. I only used one of them once. My host family has a pretty hefty English-Polish dictionary, plus the majority of people I've encountered speak English anyway, and there were a handful of people in the group who speak Polish as well. So it's pretty unnecessary, but it's nice to know I have them just in case. I suppose they could come in handy when one of you comes to meet me here at the end of July...
Things I really wish I brought:
Different clothing. Tank tops and dresses and at least one fancy outfit for special events. I guess I'll just have to buy some here.
Bronzer powder. I used it every day! Why didn't I think I'd use it here? Silly.
Stuff to make my hair shiny. Also used daily. Universal miracle product. Now absent from my life.
Better markers, pens, and pencils. The school has one sad little pencil box with broken crayons and markers that barely write. Luckily I was able to pick up a fresh box of markers and colored pencils and it has made life so much easier.
Organizational boxes. You know how I am about organizing things. I have these canvas containers that you can collapse to be flat and they'd take up barely any space in my luggage. A bunch of stuff is scattered on the floor of my bedroom and I would really like to have it contained in some way, but I can get by without it for now.
Some little portable iPod speakers. This would be so great for my class. I can always bring my computer to class with me, but it's kinda risky and the speakers really aren't that great.
Perhaps a DVD or more books or magazines. Sometimes at night I just want to relax and watch a movie or do something other than have labored conversations and surf the internet. I only have one book and I'm trying to stretch it out so I can read it when I'm desperate or without electricity or internet. Magazines would be useful for mindless reading, but I don't really care for them too much. They'd be really great for salvaging for classroom projects, though. I actually had a bunch to bring with me but decided to leave them out last minute because they're pretty heavy and took up too much suitcase room.
More body lotion or oil. I prefer the oil but was worried about it being too messy. Now I have to ration my lotion and I think I'll only be able to use it in desperate times.
A better loofah. I need to exfoliate! I can get by with what I have, but am really looking forward to getting home and purchasing a nice one that will make my skin glow. I don't know why I didn't just do that in the first place - it's not like it would take up so much more room in the suitcase that it's not feasible.
Things I'm really glad I brought:
My laptop!
My camera and all the cords for it.
Extra paper and pens for myself - really handy for lesson planning.
Sandals, Chucks, and wedges.
A case for toiletries. Really handy in the hostel.
A prize box full of mega-cool prizes to use as incentive in the classroom. I put some of my old jewelry in there, and it was the first to go!
Bathing suits - although I haven't had a chance to wear them yet. I hope they still fit...
Well, there you have it. Did you learn anything? I sure did. Hopefully you can laugh at this but also take some tips away for when you come to gallivant the rest of Europe with me!
Page
Interesting Day
I had a great class with my kids today. It’s weird for me to call them my kids. Should I call them the kids instead of my kids? I remind myself of my third grade teacher for some reason. I can still remember all my teachers’ names and what they looked like. Can you?
K-1 Mrs. Blackburn
2 Mrs. Freitag
3 Mrs. Johnson-Roidt
4 Mrs. Boesler
5 Mrs. Crawford
6 Mr. Hanson.
Mrs. Freitag’s class was awesome. I remember it was my first day at public school after going to the private school and it was so scary. I had already learned everything that we would learn that year, because private school kids are naturally smarter, and I really resent the public school system for not letting me go into the grade ahead. I still feel that way. That class is where the clique formed that remained for the next ten years! Except for Kelci, she was in Mrs. Welch’s class. Mrs. Welch always yelled and looked scary. But Mrs. Freitag was like a combination of your grandmother and some divine being. She was awesome because she used colored chalk on the blackboard! We played some hardcore heads-up 7-up in that class. I totally cheated by looking at the reflection on my desk of whoever was walking by, or looking at their shoes but that was a little more obvious. In Mrs. Freitag’s class was Sara, Noah, Andy, Megan A., Doug, Siah and who else? Wasn’t Neil in Mrs. Welch’s class?
Megan Sanders came in 3rd grade but I knew her before then from an art class we took together. Then she dated Doug for.ev.er and Sara and Siah did too. Kelci and Megan Arndt had awesome haircuts. Once in 3rd grade I had awful allergies and I sneezed and a big string of snot shot out and connected from the desk to my nose. And who was that kid… Jess knows… Tim Robinson? He had a round head and was red-faced and had round glasses to match his round head. He laughed at me the loudest and Brittany Bugles or Biggles or Baggles went and grabbed some tissue for me. Later on she became stepsisters with Kayla Hensley. We had to do those standardized reading tests and I got 100% on mine. Later on Mrs. Johnson-Roidt was talking about the grade results and said that one student did so well that she and another teacher had thought that they (I) cheated! I can’t help it that I went to a private school and had an advantage. I remember feeling ashamed at being smart and even tried to appear dumber than I was after that!
In 4th grade the class was divided into reading group A on the right side and reading group B on the left side. Group A consisted of myself, Jess, Andy, Alix, Doug, Neil and who else? We had to write stories about the geographical features of the United States, and Doug’s stories were always the best. He had one story with some characters named Justin Time and Maiden China. How clever! He said that the Grand Canyon was made because of a giant sad toddler dragging his teddy bear, and his tears flowed to the east and filled in the Great Lakes. Did I just blow your mind or what?
Anyway, I think my lesson today was rather successful. First, I need to say that most of this lesson was stolen and modified from the Indonesian Teacher’s Handbook from Heather Akin. What a wonderful resource!
We talked about culture and stereotypes. First I told them to think about culture and what things comprise culture. We came up with a list of food, music, clothing, language, religion, and traditions. I told them to rank those items according to what was most important to them, and many put religion first. Language and tradition were always near the top, and music, clothing, and food were near the bottom. We tallied the results for the entire class, and then I had them make another list of how their grandparents might answer. Many of them put religion first, always followed by language. We tallied these results and compared them, which led to a wonderful discussion about cultural change over time. We talked about how language has changed in importance because their grandparents and their parents were forced to learn Russian in schools. Now people are learning English instead of Russian.
Next we talked about stereotypes. To get them started, I showed a map of the United States and pointed to different areas and imitated different regional dialects, which was funny and made them laugh. I showed them which areas are thought to be lazy, fat, rich, and black. When I talked about black people I think they were a little shocked and taken off guard, because it’s more offensive for them to use that term than to say Negro. I was glad that last night after dinner Marek and I had had a conversation about the different terms so I was a little prepared for their reactions.
We made a list on the board with two columns labeled group and judgment. I started them off with the groups boys and girls, and the judgments that boys like sports and girls like pink. They picked up on it pretty quickly from there and ran with this activity. This was probably the most successful classroom activity I’ve done so far.
I wanted to see what kind of stereotypes they had about Americans and if they knew what stereotypes they themselves had placed upon them. I told them to draw or write some stereotypes for Poles and for Americans, and the results were so interesting that I saved their work and would love to show it off when I get home.
Without giving any prompts, many of the results turned out to be quite similar. Many polish stereotypes revolved around alcohol and work ethic, and the American ones were fast food and fat people. I was really impressed!
I told them that in the States, kids their age are only educated about Poland in the context of the holocaust. I had them make a list of five things: where they are from, something they like, something they don’t like, something they love, and something they believe. Then I said if they could have their voices heard around the world, what would they say about being Polish? How could they tell people that Polish life isn't all about the holocaust? They used their prompts from the list I had them make and each wrote a letter to the world that said “Dear World, I am Polish and…”. I went around to each student and corrected their sentences and told them to write a final draft on a nice piece of crisp paper. I had each of them hold up their letters and I photographed their smiling faces. The younger kids did a similar activity, except I had them write I AM POLISH! And draw a picture of some feature of Polish life. They will be sent to the printer and I’ll post them around the classroom hopefully next week!
That's all for now. I need to take a nap! Leave me comments or send me an e-mail, please!
Do widzenia,
Page
K-1 Mrs. Blackburn
2 Mrs. Freitag
3 Mrs. Johnson-Roidt
4 Mrs. Boesler
5 Mrs. Crawford
6 Mr. Hanson.
Mrs. Freitag’s class was awesome. I remember it was my first day at public school after going to the private school and it was so scary. I had already learned everything that we would learn that year, because private school kids are naturally smarter, and I really resent the public school system for not letting me go into the grade ahead. I still feel that way. That class is where the clique formed that remained for the next ten years! Except for Kelci, she was in Mrs. Welch’s class. Mrs. Welch always yelled and looked scary. But Mrs. Freitag was like a combination of your grandmother and some divine being. She was awesome because she used colored chalk on the blackboard! We played some hardcore heads-up 7-up in that class. I totally cheated by looking at the reflection on my desk of whoever was walking by, or looking at their shoes but that was a little more obvious. In Mrs. Freitag’s class was Sara, Noah, Andy, Megan A., Doug, Siah and who else? Wasn’t Neil in Mrs. Welch’s class?
Megan Sanders came in 3rd grade but I knew her before then from an art class we took together. Then she dated Doug for.ev.er and Sara and Siah did too. Kelci and Megan Arndt had awesome haircuts. Once in 3rd grade I had awful allergies and I sneezed and a big string of snot shot out and connected from the desk to my nose. And who was that kid… Jess knows… Tim Robinson? He had a round head and was red-faced and had round glasses to match his round head. He laughed at me the loudest and Brittany Bugles or Biggles or Baggles went and grabbed some tissue for me. Later on she became stepsisters with Kayla Hensley. We had to do those standardized reading tests and I got 100% on mine. Later on Mrs. Johnson-Roidt was talking about the grade results and said that one student did so well that she and another teacher had thought that they (I) cheated! I can’t help it that I went to a private school and had an advantage. I remember feeling ashamed at being smart and even tried to appear dumber than I was after that!
In 4th grade the class was divided into reading group A on the right side and reading group B on the left side. Group A consisted of myself, Jess, Andy, Alix, Doug, Neil and who else? We had to write stories about the geographical features of the United States, and Doug’s stories were always the best. He had one story with some characters named Justin Time and Maiden China. How clever! He said that the Grand Canyon was made because of a giant sad toddler dragging his teddy bear, and his tears flowed to the east and filled in the Great Lakes. Did I just blow your mind or what?
Anyway, I think my lesson today was rather successful. First, I need to say that most of this lesson was stolen and modified from the Indonesian Teacher’s Handbook from Heather Akin. What a wonderful resource!
We talked about culture and stereotypes. First I told them to think about culture and what things comprise culture. We came up with a list of food, music, clothing, language, religion, and traditions. I told them to rank those items according to what was most important to them, and many put religion first. Language and tradition were always near the top, and music, clothing, and food were near the bottom. We tallied the results for the entire class, and then I had them make another list of how their grandparents might answer. Many of them put religion first, always followed by language. We tallied these results and compared them, which led to a wonderful discussion about cultural change over time. We talked about how language has changed in importance because their grandparents and their parents were forced to learn Russian in schools. Now people are learning English instead of Russian.
Next we talked about stereotypes. To get them started, I showed a map of the United States and pointed to different areas and imitated different regional dialects, which was funny and made them laugh. I showed them which areas are thought to be lazy, fat, rich, and black. When I talked about black people I think they were a little shocked and taken off guard, because it’s more offensive for them to use that term than to say Negro. I was glad that last night after dinner Marek and I had had a conversation about the different terms so I was a little prepared for their reactions.
We made a list on the board with two columns labeled group and judgment. I started them off with the groups boys and girls, and the judgments that boys like sports and girls like pink. They picked up on it pretty quickly from there and ran with this activity. This was probably the most successful classroom activity I’ve done so far.
I wanted to see what kind of stereotypes they had about Americans and if they knew what stereotypes they themselves had placed upon them. I told them to draw or write some stereotypes for Poles and for Americans, and the results were so interesting that I saved their work and would love to show it off when I get home.
Without giving any prompts, many of the results turned out to be quite similar. Many polish stereotypes revolved around alcohol and work ethic, and the American ones were fast food and fat people. I was really impressed!
I told them that in the States, kids their age are only educated about Poland in the context of the holocaust. I had them make a list of five things: where they are from, something they like, something they don’t like, something they love, and something they believe. Then I said if they could have their voices heard around the world, what would they say about being Polish? How could they tell people that Polish life isn't all about the holocaust? They used their prompts from the list I had them make and each wrote a letter to the world that said “Dear World, I am Polish and…”. I went around to each student and corrected their sentences and told them to write a final draft on a nice piece of crisp paper. I had each of them hold up their letters and I photographed their smiling faces. The younger kids did a similar activity, except I had them write I AM POLISH! And draw a picture of some feature of Polish life. They will be sent to the printer and I’ll post them around the classroom hopefully next week!
That's all for now. I need to take a nap! Leave me comments or send me an e-mail, please!
Do widzenia,
Page
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Bettie Page Elizabeth
Punny, right? I kind of want to be Bettie Page. I mean look like her, not be her (don't worry Mom!). Maybe I'll have Val give me her haircut when I get back. In 23 days! What what!
I had a busy day today! I saw two castles. Tropsztyn was first. There is only one road to get there and it winds around a lake. Remember when there was really bad flooding in Poland about a month ago? Probably not. The rains were torrential and destroyed part of a hillside near the castle along with many other things, causing some rocks and debris to spill onto the road. Much of the drive was closed and a one-way pass only, so it took us about twice as long to travel there. On the way, Marzhina and I talked about Poland's changing borders and how it affected the culture and those surrounding it. The river initially marked the divide between Hungary and Poland, and many castles dotted along the banks of the water. Too many to count or maintain. On the drive there, the scenery became very hilly and wild. You'd see a tower mounted with a flag jutting up from some trees to the left, and an old decrepit mansion foundation on the right, peeking from behind some hills. It continued in this manner for the duration of the ride.
The entire castle is restored so nothing is original, which isn't as cool, but it was still pretty awesome. The souvenir shop had Inca-themed trinkets because one of its last Hungarian princes had fallen in love with an Inca princess. It has a tall tower and Marzhina and I climbed up to the top. We were both out of breath. I got some really nice pictures there of the wonderful view over the water. After we left the castle, we walked around a winding path that contains the castle grounds. It was built up on a hill, of course, and the shady path was bound only by a wobbly wooden fence. It really was gorgeous.
Some of the big rocks surrounding the castle had wide vertical cracks in them, with a handprint painted on the side motioning toward the crack. Supposedly you are to insert your hand into the crevice and you'll feel a draft from within the rock. Now it's roped off so you can't really get that close, but I'm sure if you were adventurous enough it would be pretty cool to experience.
The second castle Debno was much more astonishing. The tour was only in Polski but Marzhina and I stood at the back and she whispered the important parts to me in English. The castle was small, for a castle anyway, and was filled with wonderful things. The rooms were decorated as they would have been when it was in use centuries ago. My favorite rooms were the pantry and the kitchen, although everything was extraordinary.
The floor of the courtyard was composed of uneven stones that had been rounded and smoothed on the tops from years, no - centuries of feet stepping over them. The doorways were big and heavy, and steps leading up to them were worn from a thousand footprints, with a trough in the same spot on each stone level. (Okay, I realize they have probably been stepped on way more than 1,000 times but it sounded very poetic in my head.) Around the inner edge of the courtyard was a wooden veranda with an elegant iron railing. This was for the servants to use because they were not allowed to enter from the normal front doors.
Each room was unique, but they were all tied together with similar features including exaggerated archways, oversize vaults, and two sets of doors. Everything was intricate, yet I didn't feel overwhelmed as I had at Wawel. The wooden floors would creak and groan with every step. In some areas, the staircases were awkwardly positioned, forcing the tourists to sidestep and duck their heads while hopping from one place to another. The large stained glass windows opened up like french doors and had big heavy stone benches in their nooks - a great place for gazing into the forest and daydreaming. I'll admit that I totally fantasized about being a princess with porcelain cheeks, sighing with boredom while I sat gazing from the window wearing some magnificent heavy gown.
In the pantry, real herbs were hanging to dry and it smelled rather amazing. It reminded me of being at my Mom's house in the evening when the chamomile that grows in our driveway smells the strongest. They had a cabinet with different concoctions and remedies and tonics, and a pharmacy table with an old prescription. The drawers were labeled with things like menthus and hyssopus. Eggs were kept in bowls of sand to keep them fresh. There was a candle burning in its sconce on the wall, and it served to foretell whether a person's illness would be cured or not. They held the burning candle next to the body, and if the smoke was smooth and straight they would live. If the smoke curled and scattered, they would not. At that point, the sick person was generally executed - they were going to die anyway, right? It's no wonder why the life expectancy was so short.
In the kitchen, the fire was kept burning 24 hours per day. They actually had most of the original copper pots and pans and other utensils from when the castle was in use. I can't imagine those items surviving from the 13th and 14th centuries, so they must have been from the 18th century. It really was quite the operation though.
In one of the salons was a table made from wood and ivory. It was really breathtakingly beautiful and had taken over ten years to restore! All the armoires and wardrobes were huge and bulky, yet delicate and so very pretty. There was a huge safe that was unable to be opened, and a traveling case with exotic animals carved on the surface. Shelves lined the perimeter of a room and were filled with delicate teapots and dishes with birds painted on them. There was an entire room shelved with shallow pans made of silver, which supposedly holds a temperature rather consistently. The pans were filled with oil so the oil would maintain its temperature throughout the night. I think something was lost in translation there - does anyone reading know why they did this or what the oil was used for? Why was it important that the temperature of the oil be maintained? I'm curious to find out. Leave a comment!
It was quite hot out today, but down in the cellar of the castle it was pretty cold and gave me goosebumps. Prisoners from insurgent groups were kept there and probably tortured. A gangly iron hook hung from the ceiling, and there was a chair of nails as well as Spanish boots. The tour guide joked that the schoolchildren say the nail chair is a good place for the teacher. And do you know what a Spanish boot is? It's an iron contraption that is placed into a fire for a while, and then when it is taken out, the foot belonging to the incarcerated is placed inside. I think it has pokey things on the inside as well, but can't be sure.
Of course, every castle has a ghost. There was a young princess there who was forced to marry a man she did not love. The King, or whoever had power over her, told her she had three options for her life: She must marry him, be killed, or a mysterious third option. She chose the third option and was placed in the corner of the hall. A tower was built up around her and she died there from hunger, thirst, and loneliness. Of course they had a mannequin of a bride with flowing white gowns in the corner of the room, hidden behind a screen. It actually did creep me out a little at first. She walks the halls at night looking for her love or to take revenge on the man who ruined her life, one of the two. I'm just guessing here. The mannequin had long blonde hair, and it is said that the prize for winning this woman would be her lengthy golden locks.
I didn't take any pictures of the inside of Debno because I'm pretty sure it wasn't allowed. No one else in the group was taking photographs, anyway. You can probably see pictures online if you search it.
I really liked spending time with Marzhina today. I know I'm not spelling her name correctly, pity. Her English is probably better than mine and we had great conversations. She has seen upwards of 30 countries and told me that Prague is her absolute favorite, followed closely by Spain. Hence the previous plea for someone to come gallivant Europe with me. We talked about how different people have different priorities in life, and she said that she doesn't care about updating her furniture every five years or having the best jewelry and newest car; what's important for her is to travel and enjoy the earth. I like that philosophy!
After the castles, she took me to a restaurant called Soprano. Yes, it is Italian. I had a Greek salad there and it was pretty delicious. The feta cheese is different here I think. Normally I don't care for it and will leave it on the side, but I suppose it's done differently here in Poland. There is also this tasty beer called Redd's and it has sweet flavors like lemon and raspberry, so everyone calls it the woman's beer. Great - now I'm patronizing sexist beer. Perhaps I'll have to teach my kids about gender roles to compensate.
So who's been watching the World Cup? Eh?
I had a busy day today! I saw two castles. Tropsztyn was first. There is only one road to get there and it winds around a lake. Remember when there was really bad flooding in Poland about a month ago? Probably not. The rains were torrential and destroyed part of a hillside near the castle along with many other things, causing some rocks and debris to spill onto the road. Much of the drive was closed and a one-way pass only, so it took us about twice as long to travel there. On the way, Marzhina and I talked about Poland's changing borders and how it affected the culture and those surrounding it. The river initially marked the divide between Hungary and Poland, and many castles dotted along the banks of the water. Too many to count or maintain. On the drive there, the scenery became very hilly and wild. You'd see a tower mounted with a flag jutting up from some trees to the left, and an old decrepit mansion foundation on the right, peeking from behind some hills. It continued in this manner for the duration of the ride.
The entire castle is restored so nothing is original, which isn't as cool, but it was still pretty awesome. The souvenir shop had Inca-themed trinkets because one of its last Hungarian princes had fallen in love with an Inca princess. It has a tall tower and Marzhina and I climbed up to the top. We were both out of breath. I got some really nice pictures there of the wonderful view over the water. After we left the castle, we walked around a winding path that contains the castle grounds. It was built up on a hill, of course, and the shady path was bound only by a wobbly wooden fence. It really was gorgeous.
Some of the big rocks surrounding the castle had wide vertical cracks in them, with a handprint painted on the side motioning toward the crack. Supposedly you are to insert your hand into the crevice and you'll feel a draft from within the rock. Now it's roped off so you can't really get that close, but I'm sure if you were adventurous enough it would be pretty cool to experience.
The second castle Debno was much more astonishing. The tour was only in Polski but Marzhina and I stood at the back and she whispered the important parts to me in English. The castle was small, for a castle anyway, and was filled with wonderful things. The rooms were decorated as they would have been when it was in use centuries ago. My favorite rooms were the pantry and the kitchen, although everything was extraordinary.
The floor of the courtyard was composed of uneven stones that had been rounded and smoothed on the tops from years, no - centuries of feet stepping over them. The doorways were big and heavy, and steps leading up to them were worn from a thousand footprints, with a trough in the same spot on each stone level. (Okay, I realize they have probably been stepped on way more than 1,000 times but it sounded very poetic in my head.) Around the inner edge of the courtyard was a wooden veranda with an elegant iron railing. This was for the servants to use because they were not allowed to enter from the normal front doors.
Each room was unique, but they were all tied together with similar features including exaggerated archways, oversize vaults, and two sets of doors. Everything was intricate, yet I didn't feel overwhelmed as I had at Wawel. The wooden floors would creak and groan with every step. In some areas, the staircases were awkwardly positioned, forcing the tourists to sidestep and duck their heads while hopping from one place to another. The large stained glass windows opened up like french doors and had big heavy stone benches in their nooks - a great place for gazing into the forest and daydreaming. I'll admit that I totally fantasized about being a princess with porcelain cheeks, sighing with boredom while I sat gazing from the window wearing some magnificent heavy gown.
In the pantry, real herbs were hanging to dry and it smelled rather amazing. It reminded me of being at my Mom's house in the evening when the chamomile that grows in our driveway smells the strongest. They had a cabinet with different concoctions and remedies and tonics, and a pharmacy table with an old prescription. The drawers were labeled with things like menthus and hyssopus. Eggs were kept in bowls of sand to keep them fresh. There was a candle burning in its sconce on the wall, and it served to foretell whether a person's illness would be cured or not. They held the burning candle next to the body, and if the smoke was smooth and straight they would live. If the smoke curled and scattered, they would not. At that point, the sick person was generally executed - they were going to die anyway, right? It's no wonder why the life expectancy was so short.
In the kitchen, the fire was kept burning 24 hours per day. They actually had most of the original copper pots and pans and other utensils from when the castle was in use. I can't imagine those items surviving from the 13th and 14th centuries, so they must have been from the 18th century. It really was quite the operation though.
In one of the salons was a table made from wood and ivory. It was really breathtakingly beautiful and had taken over ten years to restore! All the armoires and wardrobes were huge and bulky, yet delicate and so very pretty. There was a huge safe that was unable to be opened, and a traveling case with exotic animals carved on the surface. Shelves lined the perimeter of a room and were filled with delicate teapots and dishes with birds painted on them. There was an entire room shelved with shallow pans made of silver, which supposedly holds a temperature rather consistently. The pans were filled with oil so the oil would maintain its temperature throughout the night. I think something was lost in translation there - does anyone reading know why they did this or what the oil was used for? Why was it important that the temperature of the oil be maintained? I'm curious to find out. Leave a comment!
It was quite hot out today, but down in the cellar of the castle it was pretty cold and gave me goosebumps. Prisoners from insurgent groups were kept there and probably tortured. A gangly iron hook hung from the ceiling, and there was a chair of nails as well as Spanish boots. The tour guide joked that the schoolchildren say the nail chair is a good place for the teacher. And do you know what a Spanish boot is? It's an iron contraption that is placed into a fire for a while, and then when it is taken out, the foot belonging to the incarcerated is placed inside. I think it has pokey things on the inside as well, but can't be sure.
Of course, every castle has a ghost. There was a young princess there who was forced to marry a man she did not love. The King, or whoever had power over her, told her she had three options for her life: She must marry him, be killed, or a mysterious third option. She chose the third option and was placed in the corner of the hall. A tower was built up around her and she died there from hunger, thirst, and loneliness. Of course they had a mannequin of a bride with flowing white gowns in the corner of the room, hidden behind a screen. It actually did creep me out a little at first. She walks the halls at night looking for her love or to take revenge on the man who ruined her life, one of the two. I'm just guessing here. The mannequin had long blonde hair, and it is said that the prize for winning this woman would be her lengthy golden locks.
I didn't take any pictures of the inside of Debno because I'm pretty sure it wasn't allowed. No one else in the group was taking photographs, anyway. You can probably see pictures online if you search it.
I really liked spending time with Marzhina today. I know I'm not spelling her name correctly, pity. Her English is probably better than mine and we had great conversations. She has seen upwards of 30 countries and told me that Prague is her absolute favorite, followed closely by Spain. Hence the previous plea for someone to come gallivant Europe with me. We talked about how different people have different priorities in life, and she said that she doesn't care about updating her furniture every five years or having the best jewelry and newest car; what's important for her is to travel and enjoy the earth. I like that philosophy!
After the castles, she took me to a restaurant called Soprano. Yes, it is Italian. I had a Greek salad there and it was pretty delicious. The feta cheese is different here I think. Normally I don't care for it and will leave it on the side, but I suppose it's done differently here in Poland. There is also this tasty beer called Redd's and it has sweet flavors like lemon and raspberry, so everyone calls it the woman's beer. Great - now I'm patronizing sexist beer. Perhaps I'll have to teach my kids about gender roles to compensate.
So who's been watching the World Cup? Eh?
Please come meet me in Europe
This is a plea. A cry for help. Perhaps wishful thinking? Here's my plan:
I will meet you at the airport in Poland on July 26 or 27, whichever works best for you. You can fly in to Krakow or Warsaw; check the prices because one might be a little more affordable than the other. We'll stay at a hostel in Krakow for a night or two and then take a train to Prague. We can hostel there for a few more nights. Then we can take a train or a really cheap flight ($30) to Amsterdam and stay there for a few days. The whole trip could take less than a week, really. I'd have you home by midnight.
The hostels are dirt cheap. Getting around in Europe by train is also super affordable and how awesome would it be to spend a few hours on a train with me? Getting there is half the fun. Several airlines offer disgustingly cheap flights throughout Europe. I wasn't exaggerating with the $30 figure I threw out before. And we can eat like kings for $5. No lie! I just got back from a wonderful restaurant and my meal plus a beer was really no more than $5.
I know a few of you adventurous folks have a couple hundred to spare in your bank accounts. This is the chance of a lifetime. I'm not kidding! I've already been checking out airlines and watching prices. Sometimes if you check them a day or two before the flight is scheduled to leave, the price drops by several hundred dollars.
I want you to seriously consider this. Everyone I've talked to says Prague is a must-see place. But if you don't want to go there we can talk about other destinations. This trip can be tailored to your needs, wants, and desires. Maybe we can just stay in Krakow and then head up to Amsterdam or Portugal or Spain. Haven't you heard how marvelous the lifestyle is in Spain? Come on, who wants to travel Europe? Rick Steves style? If you are really wiling to do this I would even subsidize your plane ticket. For rizzle!
Please please please come meet me in Europe. Act now! Take a leap! We're young and life won't wait for us!
I will meet you at the airport in Poland on July 26 or 27, whichever works best for you. You can fly in to Krakow or Warsaw; check the prices because one might be a little more affordable than the other. We'll stay at a hostel in Krakow for a night or two and then take a train to Prague. We can hostel there for a few more nights. Then we can take a train or a really cheap flight ($30) to Amsterdam and stay there for a few days. The whole trip could take less than a week, really. I'd have you home by midnight.
The hostels are dirt cheap. Getting around in Europe by train is also super affordable and how awesome would it be to spend a few hours on a train with me? Getting there is half the fun. Several airlines offer disgustingly cheap flights throughout Europe. I wasn't exaggerating with the $30 figure I threw out before. And we can eat like kings for $5. No lie! I just got back from a wonderful restaurant and my meal plus a beer was really no more than $5.
I know a few of you adventurous folks have a couple hundred to spare in your bank accounts. This is the chance of a lifetime. I'm not kidding! I've already been checking out airlines and watching prices. Sometimes if you check them a day or two before the flight is scheduled to leave, the price drops by several hundred dollars.
I want you to seriously consider this. Everyone I've talked to says Prague is a must-see place. But if you don't want to go there we can talk about other destinations. This trip can be tailored to your needs, wants, and desires. Maybe we can just stay in Krakow and then head up to Amsterdam or Portugal or Spain. Haven't you heard how marvelous the lifestyle is in Spain? Come on, who wants to travel Europe? Rick Steves style? If you are really wiling to do this I would even subsidize your plane ticket. For rizzle!
Please please please come meet me in Europe. Act now! Take a leap! We're young and life won't wait for us!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Unibrow
I think I will nonchalantly leave a pair of tweezers in a conspicuous place around the house. You get the idea, no?
All in all, not a bad day today. Got to sleep in, bubble bath, wonderful food, good company, and even got to help in the kitchen (sort of - I kind of stood and watched while Kinga did all the work). I spent some time with the neighbors and have started casually helping them learn English, although it's a little scary for them I think. Very gratifying for me though. It wasn't as warm as I had hoped it would be today, but weekends are nice regardless of the weather. I was hoping to get a lesson plan done so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow, but laziness took the front seat today. It's okay because I always have a back-up plan that consists of having everyone in the class do an art project and lots of games. Candy is also a sure-fire life saver.
Tomorrow I am to tour around Tarnow with Marek's former English teacher. I'm not sure how to spell her name but the English equivalent would be Mary Jane. It never made sense to me that a person's name could change depending on the language and culture. I mean, my name is Page, and it's Page in English, and it's Page in Portuguese, and French, and Polski, and any other language. My name is Page and it stays the same regardless of whichever culture I'm visiting. I was talking with the neighbors and Asia was telling me about a scenario at school in which a teacher had trouble pronouncing names, so he began calling the students by their English name equivalent. I would be so offended if I were in that position!
When I was in Krakow, one of the girls in the group who had familial ties to Poland and its culture was showing off some Polish music to me and a few others. There was an artist name Doda and we watched her music video. I was so extremely flabbergasted and offended by the material that I saw that I could not be polite, and had to make a comment in hopes of drawing attention to the serious problems with her music video. It opened with Doda dressed in girlish pajamas, messy pigtails, and thick-rimmed nerdy glasses. She wakes up and eats her cereal but spills it everywhere, walks around her apartment clumsily, and when she goes to her office wearing a frumpy outfit all the attractive secretaries giggle at her. Then her life is transformed when she gets a new style that includes no glasses, blond hair, more makeup and brand new clothes (think thigh-high leather boots, cotton-spandex blends, scant clothing). She gets the job, is longingly stared at by her secretary peers, and exudes general happiness in all other scenes. Now here's the kicker: the theme of the song is that she doesn't care what people think, and the title roughly translates to "it doesn't matter". I told my friend how offended I was at this and she didn't have much to say, nor did anyone else in the group. I was a little relieved when I was talking with the neighbor girls, aged 14 and 15, about Doda and her music. They said they thought it was stupid, but the sad part is that many younger girls in Poland are wild about her music. They had asked me what it meant to call something low brow (Lady Gaga uses the phrase "pop music will never be low brow") and I used Doda as a perfect example. Lesson learned, I hope.
In other news, I am really enjoying this old city; it's a unique experience because everything in the states is so young and new. I do feel a little overwhelmed at times by the sheer amount of glory this city has to offer. There are dozens of castles here and I know I'll see at least a few tomorrow. What I'd really like to do is visit a market square or flea market so I can get trinkets for all you folks (which is code for buying things for myself in the guise of gift-giving). It will be nice to have a solid conversation in English though, and I'm looking forward to discovering new parts of the city and hopefully coming home with good stories for all you lurkers out there.
Here I must interject: I really need ideas for 4th of July lesson plans. Gina, Heahter, Mom, anyone else with ideas... now is time for a call to action! Summon the troops! Sound the alarm! If I can't think of anything cool, these poor Polish kids will be stuck learning about body parts and playing Simon Says. You don't want to be responsible for that, do you?
Today was also a good day because I got to talk with some very important people in my life. Katie, Mom, Megan, Amanda... I love you gals. You make my world go round. Looking forward to a powwow with each of you when I return.
Yesterday I met a cool chick who's around my age. Her name is Gosia and she studied in England, so her English comes out with a really great British accent and it's adorable. She offered to take me to Krakow (yes please! love that city) to do some shopping and perhaps find a cinema. She said the theaters there use the much more preferred subtitles instead of dubbing. She also warned me about going to clubs in Tarnow so I'm glad to have met her and learned that before making any mistakes. Hopefully our friendship will blossom and we'll be able to enjoy the company of one another throughout my stay.
I must report to you readers that I've fallen in love while abroad. Yes, I know it's fast, and yes, I know you probably won't believe me. But here are the facts: Her name is Rusia. She's gorgeous, and her slender body is always soft and warm. She keeps herself clean with frequent baths, and kneads me with her tender palms when she knows I'm sad and need it most. At night she sits at my door and cries for me longingly. She and I could sit for hours together birdwatching from the living room window. No other romance can compare to our tryst. She adores my massages and if I catch her in the right mood, she'll really start purring for me.
I also like to call her Beeping Cat. Her meows are short: quick and punctuated and staccato-like. Sometimes I can get her to give me several quick meows in a row and I wouldn't be surprised if it were confused with some sort of Morse code. Is anyone else imagining ridiculous scenarios involving Schutzstaffel cats right now? And yes, I did have to look that word up because I didn't know how to spell it and didn't want to be a hypocrite per my Blogger profile.
Did you guys read that Blogger has now partnered with Amazon? One can supposedly make money by linking to Amazon items in your blog. I guess I'm not surprised...the new direction of web 2.0. Here's a big Ha Ha! to all you suckers who have Facebook.
And now I bid you all goodnight, my lovlies.
Au revoir! Adieu! Do widzenia!
All in all, not a bad day today. Got to sleep in, bubble bath, wonderful food, good company, and even got to help in the kitchen (sort of - I kind of stood and watched while Kinga did all the work). I spent some time with the neighbors and have started casually helping them learn English, although it's a little scary for them I think. Very gratifying for me though. It wasn't as warm as I had hoped it would be today, but weekends are nice regardless of the weather. I was hoping to get a lesson plan done so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow, but laziness took the front seat today. It's okay because I always have a back-up plan that consists of having everyone in the class do an art project and lots of games. Candy is also a sure-fire life saver.
Tomorrow I am to tour around Tarnow with Marek's former English teacher. I'm not sure how to spell her name but the English equivalent would be Mary Jane. It never made sense to me that a person's name could change depending on the language and culture. I mean, my name is Page, and it's Page in English, and it's Page in Portuguese, and French, and Polski, and any other language. My name is Page and it stays the same regardless of whichever culture I'm visiting. I was talking with the neighbors and Asia was telling me about a scenario at school in which a teacher had trouble pronouncing names, so he began calling the students by their English name equivalent. I would be so offended if I were in that position!
When I was in Krakow, one of the girls in the group who had familial ties to Poland and its culture was showing off some Polish music to me and a few others. There was an artist name Doda and we watched her music video. I was so extremely flabbergasted and offended by the material that I saw that I could not be polite, and had to make a comment in hopes of drawing attention to the serious problems with her music video. It opened with Doda dressed in girlish pajamas, messy pigtails, and thick-rimmed nerdy glasses. She wakes up and eats her cereal but spills it everywhere, walks around her apartment clumsily, and when she goes to her office wearing a frumpy outfit all the attractive secretaries giggle at her. Then her life is transformed when she gets a new style that includes no glasses, blond hair, more makeup and brand new clothes (think thigh-high leather boots, cotton-spandex blends, scant clothing). She gets the job, is longingly stared at by her secretary peers, and exudes general happiness in all other scenes. Now here's the kicker: the theme of the song is that she doesn't care what people think, and the title roughly translates to "it doesn't matter". I told my friend how offended I was at this and she didn't have much to say, nor did anyone else in the group. I was a little relieved when I was talking with the neighbor girls, aged 14 and 15, about Doda and her music. They said they thought it was stupid, but the sad part is that many younger girls in Poland are wild about her music. They had asked me what it meant to call something low brow (Lady Gaga uses the phrase "pop music will never be low brow") and I used Doda as a perfect example. Lesson learned, I hope.
In other news, I am really enjoying this old city; it's a unique experience because everything in the states is so young and new. I do feel a little overwhelmed at times by the sheer amount of glory this city has to offer. There are dozens of castles here and I know I'll see at least a few tomorrow. What I'd really like to do is visit a market square or flea market so I can get trinkets for all you folks (which is code for buying things for myself in the guise of gift-giving). It will be nice to have a solid conversation in English though, and I'm looking forward to discovering new parts of the city and hopefully coming home with good stories for all you lurkers out there.
Here I must interject: I really need ideas for 4th of July lesson plans. Gina, Heahter, Mom, anyone else with ideas... now is time for a call to action! Summon the troops! Sound the alarm! If I can't think of anything cool, these poor Polish kids will be stuck learning about body parts and playing Simon Says. You don't want to be responsible for that, do you?
Today was also a good day because I got to talk with some very important people in my life. Katie, Mom, Megan, Amanda... I love you gals. You make my world go round. Looking forward to a powwow with each of you when I return.
Yesterday I met a cool chick who's around my age. Her name is Gosia and she studied in England, so her English comes out with a really great British accent and it's adorable. She offered to take me to Krakow (yes please! love that city) to do some shopping and perhaps find a cinema. She said the theaters there use the much more preferred subtitles instead of dubbing. She also warned me about going to clubs in Tarnow so I'm glad to have met her and learned that before making any mistakes. Hopefully our friendship will blossom and we'll be able to enjoy the company of one another throughout my stay.
I must report to you readers that I've fallen in love while abroad. Yes, I know it's fast, and yes, I know you probably won't believe me. But here are the facts: Her name is Rusia. She's gorgeous, and her slender body is always soft and warm. She keeps herself clean with frequent baths, and kneads me with her tender palms when she knows I'm sad and need it most. At night she sits at my door and cries for me longingly. She and I could sit for hours together birdwatching from the living room window. No other romance can compare to our tryst. She adores my massages and if I catch her in the right mood, she'll really start purring for me.
I also like to call her Beeping Cat. Her meows are short: quick and punctuated and staccato-like. Sometimes I can get her to give me several quick meows in a row and I wouldn't be surprised if it were confused with some sort of Morse code. Is anyone else imagining ridiculous scenarios involving Schutzstaffel cats right now? And yes, I did have to look that word up because I didn't know how to spell it and didn't want to be a hypocrite per my Blogger profile.
Did you guys read that Blogger has now partnered with Amazon? One can supposedly make money by linking to Amazon items in your blog. I guess I'm not surprised...the new direction of web 2.0. Here's a big Ha Ha! to all you suckers who have Facebook.
And now I bid you all goodnight, my lovlies.
Au revoir! Adieu! Do widzenia!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Gaga Fever
Hello all!
What a wonderful day I'm having today. It started off a bit rocky in that I overslept and don't even remember my alarm going off. I scrambled to get dressed and slammed my coffee (well, it's actually espresso - what we consider to be espresso is coffee for them) and was out the door. Agnes gives me a ride to school every day and my host siblings as well as another girl who lives down the street now join the class.
My lesson was a big hit today! We talked about foods and restaurants. I was surprised that they knew most of the vocab already, but I taught them a few new words like bakery, deli, lettuce and produce. Last night as I was planning the lesson I realized that what I really needed were some flash cards to drill the vocab. I had very sparse supplies with which to create the flashcards, but I ended up drawing pictures on index cards and coloring them in with whatever pens I could find in the room. I only had red, green, orange, and yellow but it turned out very well. The pineapple was the most difficult for them, so I had them shout it as loud as they could several times in a row, telling them I couldn't hear them and they had to say it louder. They loved that!
I had the older class pretend they owned a restaurant and told them to make menus with at least three meals. The girls went wild for that activity when they saw the glitter and stickers I brought with me. The menus that the boys made were so funny. I saved them all and would love to show them off when I return. Then we turned the classroom into a restaurant and I was their server, running around to take orders. I told them that the magic phrase in a restaurant is to say "I would like a ____", and as I dashed around the room to write down their orders I summoned my server experience and pretended to be overwhelmed. I'd say things like 'Are you ready yet? I have tons of customers here.' although I'm not sure if they understood my shtick. It was fun either way.
More and more of the older kids have started staying for the younger class that follows theirs. The lessons are too easy for them and they often shout out the answers without giving the younger students a chance. It is helpful for me though because I can pair them up and have the more experienced kids help those who aren't. Dominika (my host sister) and her friend Gabi made me a lovely decorated note that said "You are a very nice teacher. We love you!" and handed it to me after class. I definitely saved that too.
They are still wild for a game called hatchi-patchi but I am starting to find it boring, so today we went outside and I taught them shark tag. One of my best ideas yet. The kids love love love having class outside and are really well behaved to my surprise. They desperately wanted me to be the shark and hollered Pani Pani Pani! when I agreed. They wanted to continue playing even after class was over!
Last night for dinner Marek made some grilled cheese sandwiches with red pepper strips and onion. It reminded me of my Mom and being a kid again. I'm pretty sure they're just googling ideas for vegetarian foods. I am definitely absorbing a lot of Polish and European culture in general, but I really was hoping to be able to dig my hands in a little deeper. That's okay though because I have a hunch that traditional Polish food is not very vegetarian-friendly.
Tonight Marek, Jarek and I went to the old town square in Tarnow. We walked around and I had a wonderful conversation with Marek. We talked about prejudice against Jews in Poland, American stereotypes, and the American attitude that they should volunteer in exotic places and fix other peoples' problems. It was really great! The original part of the city was contained within a big thick brick wall and much of it is incorporated into the modern architecture. When I say modern I mean Renaissance. What a beautiful beautiful place it is. He showed me interesting parts of the city including notable buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and something called a great staircase - pretty self-explanatory. There was one small part of a synagogue remaining in the Jewish quarter from several centuries ago: a groin vaulted archway (thank you, Art History 334) that stood stoically under a protective pavilion. There was a plaque resting in front of the arch that read "The "Biwa" is the only remnant of the magnificent "old" synagoge [sic] of Tarnow destroyed by the Germans on the 11-XI-1939"... I bet you can guess what I thought of those quotation marks! I just had to take a picture as soon as I saw that. After that we went to get some dinner at a pizza place. He bought an entire pizza covered in delicious vegetables for me (including corn - anybody had corn on a pizza before?) and a meaty pizza for himself and Jarek. Oh - and a half liter of piwo (that's beer, folks). Delicious! Doesn't it sound like a lot when I say half liter? To be fair, I was feeling kinda toasty after drinking it. :)
I think this weekend there will be a wedding, but I wasn't clear on whether or not I am to attend. I hope we can go to the mall before then because I really don't have anything appropriate to wear. I'd be able to get by without it, but everything is so cheap here so I'd like to do some shopping anyway.
We will probably go to the salt mines this weekend. I was going to go with my group at the end of July but we're not sure if that will happen, and I wouldn't mind going twice anyway. It sounded kinda lame at first but I checked out the website and it actually seems pretty neat. I'll take lots of pictures. Actually, no I won't. You can just look at pictures on the website if you want to see what it looks like.
My homesickness is waning now. My house is really luxurious and I'm treated like royalty here. It helps that the kids think I'm awesome too. 26 more days...
Oh, Gaga! She has quite the presence here. The neighbor Kinga is really obsessed... this girl is nuts. I went in her room and oy! is it ever done up right. She likes to make Gaga paraphernalia: two disco sticks, razor glasses, crystal glasses, orbit hat, that black pointy crown from Bad Romance, and a crystal dress in progress. She also loves Madonna and has 40 of her CDs. That must be nearly everything she's ever released. She made a miniature replica of a Madonna stage from one of her tours and even has paper dolls with many iconic Madonna styles. I could go on about this but you get the idea. Dominika, Kinga, and Kinga's friend Asia (sounds like ah-sha) watched a million of her music videos and learned the dance to Bad Romance together. Being a kid is way fun!
So, does anyone out there have any cool plans for the 4th? I'm sad that I can't celebrate with you all. And by celebrate I mean overeat and get wasted while pretending to like fireworks and telling myself that the mosquitoes aren't that bad. Do any teachers reading this have suggestions or ideas for a 4th of July themed lesson plan?
Until later,
Page
P.S. Hi Mom! I love you so much and miss you even more! Can't wait to get lots of hugs and kisses from you. xoxo
What a wonderful day I'm having today. It started off a bit rocky in that I overslept and don't even remember my alarm going off. I scrambled to get dressed and slammed my coffee (well, it's actually espresso - what we consider to be espresso is coffee for them) and was out the door. Agnes gives me a ride to school every day and my host siblings as well as another girl who lives down the street now join the class.
My lesson was a big hit today! We talked about foods and restaurants. I was surprised that they knew most of the vocab already, but I taught them a few new words like bakery, deli, lettuce and produce. Last night as I was planning the lesson I realized that what I really needed were some flash cards to drill the vocab. I had very sparse supplies with which to create the flashcards, but I ended up drawing pictures on index cards and coloring them in with whatever pens I could find in the room. I only had red, green, orange, and yellow but it turned out very well. The pineapple was the most difficult for them, so I had them shout it as loud as they could several times in a row, telling them I couldn't hear them and they had to say it louder. They loved that!
I had the older class pretend they owned a restaurant and told them to make menus with at least three meals. The girls went wild for that activity when they saw the glitter and stickers I brought with me. The menus that the boys made were so funny. I saved them all and would love to show them off when I return. Then we turned the classroom into a restaurant and I was their server, running around to take orders. I told them that the magic phrase in a restaurant is to say "I would like a ____", and as I dashed around the room to write down their orders I summoned my server experience and pretended to be overwhelmed. I'd say things like 'Are you ready yet? I have tons of customers here.' although I'm not sure if they understood my shtick. It was fun either way.
More and more of the older kids have started staying for the younger class that follows theirs. The lessons are too easy for them and they often shout out the answers without giving the younger students a chance. It is helpful for me though because I can pair them up and have the more experienced kids help those who aren't. Dominika (my host sister) and her friend Gabi made me a lovely decorated note that said "You are a very nice teacher. We love you!" and handed it to me after class. I definitely saved that too.
They are still wild for a game called hatchi-patchi but I am starting to find it boring, so today we went outside and I taught them shark tag. One of my best ideas yet. The kids love love love having class outside and are really well behaved to my surprise. They desperately wanted me to be the shark and hollered Pani Pani Pani! when I agreed. They wanted to continue playing even after class was over!
Last night for dinner Marek made some grilled cheese sandwiches with red pepper strips and onion. It reminded me of my Mom and being a kid again. I'm pretty sure they're just googling ideas for vegetarian foods. I am definitely absorbing a lot of Polish and European culture in general, but I really was hoping to be able to dig my hands in a little deeper. That's okay though because I have a hunch that traditional Polish food is not very vegetarian-friendly.
Tonight Marek, Jarek and I went to the old town square in Tarnow. We walked around and I had a wonderful conversation with Marek. We talked about prejudice against Jews in Poland, American stereotypes, and the American attitude that they should volunteer in exotic places and fix other peoples' problems. It was really great! The original part of the city was contained within a big thick brick wall and much of it is incorporated into the modern architecture. When I say modern I mean Renaissance. What a beautiful beautiful place it is. He showed me interesting parts of the city including notable buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and something called a great staircase - pretty self-explanatory. There was one small part of a synagogue remaining in the Jewish quarter from several centuries ago: a groin vaulted archway (thank you, Art History 334) that stood stoically under a protective pavilion. There was a plaque resting in front of the arch that read "The "Biwa" is the only remnant of the magnificent "old" synagoge [sic] of Tarnow destroyed by the Germans on the 11-XI-1939"... I bet you can guess what I thought of those quotation marks! I just had to take a picture as soon as I saw that. After that we went to get some dinner at a pizza place. He bought an entire pizza covered in delicious vegetables for me (including corn - anybody had corn on a pizza before?) and a meaty pizza for himself and Jarek. Oh - and a half liter of piwo (that's beer, folks). Delicious! Doesn't it sound like a lot when I say half liter? To be fair, I was feeling kinda toasty after drinking it. :)
I think this weekend there will be a wedding, but I wasn't clear on whether or not I am to attend. I hope we can go to the mall before then because I really don't have anything appropriate to wear. I'd be able to get by without it, but everything is so cheap here so I'd like to do some shopping anyway.
We will probably go to the salt mines this weekend. I was going to go with my group at the end of July but we're not sure if that will happen, and I wouldn't mind going twice anyway. It sounded kinda lame at first but I checked out the website and it actually seems pretty neat. I'll take lots of pictures. Actually, no I won't. You can just look at pictures on the website if you want to see what it looks like.
My homesickness is waning now. My house is really luxurious and I'm treated like royalty here. It helps that the kids think I'm awesome too. 26 more days...
Oh, Gaga! She has quite the presence here. The neighbor Kinga is really obsessed... this girl is nuts. I went in her room and oy! is it ever done up right. She likes to make Gaga paraphernalia: two disco sticks, razor glasses, crystal glasses, orbit hat, that black pointy crown from Bad Romance, and a crystal dress in progress. She also loves Madonna and has 40 of her CDs. That must be nearly everything she's ever released. She made a miniature replica of a Madonna stage from one of her tours and even has paper dolls with many iconic Madonna styles. I could go on about this but you get the idea. Dominika, Kinga, and Kinga's friend Asia (sounds like ah-sha) watched a million of her music videos and learned the dance to Bad Romance together. Being a kid is way fun!
So, does anyone out there have any cool plans for the 4th? I'm sad that I can't celebrate with you all. And by celebrate I mean overeat and get wasted while pretending to like fireworks and telling myself that the mosquitoes aren't that bad. Do any teachers reading this have suggestions or ideas for a 4th of July themed lesson plan?
Until later,
Page
P.S. Hi Mom! I love you so much and miss you even more! Can't wait to get lots of hugs and kisses from you. xoxo
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