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,

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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