Pietrzykowice is beautiful:

view from my friend Maciek's home

My host family has a cow, chickens, turkeys, and baby ducks

My host sisters, Ania, 15 (purple), and Ewa, 12 (pink)

I get to look at this everyday.

xoxox,
Leah

One of the Best Things About Poland:

Zywiec z sokiem beer (beer with juice, or grenadine I'd say), made 10 minutes away from me. Zywiec beer is one of the most popular in Poland, and it's so delicious. Great with juice too.

Finally in Pietrzykowice

My Entrance

My School

So I got to my host city only a few days ago, and it feels like I've been here for weeks. The area I live in is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The ride in, which is only about 2 hours or so by bus, was so beautiful. I'm very lucky to have been placed in this region, because it is surrounded by the Beskidy Mountains (part of the Carpathians) and in the center is a large lake where you can canoe, sail and rent paddle boats. Pietrzykowice is my village and Zywiec is a neighboring town with the most famous Polish brewery. I will take pictures of the land soon.

My host family is very sweet and hospitable. There are two daughters, Ania ,15, and Ewa, 12, and Ania is the only person in the family who speaks English. The parents speak less English than I do Polish, so she is our translator. We often employ English/Polska dictionaries, which helps immensely. They let me borrow one which I use in class and with school staff. I'm basically a charades professional now.

My family is trying to make me as comfortable as possible, even though I live at the school. I was sad to be living alone at first, but I enjoy the independence and alone time when I can get it. I have my own personal side entrance and my own classroom. I am fed three meals a day by the kitchen staff, who must think I'm a 300-pound man because they feed me so much, which is clearly a Polish tradition.
My Room:

For this reason, I'll be returning to America looking something like a barrel. Poles eat fattening foods and lots of it. Obiad, or lunch for us, is their biggest meal of the day and usually has two courses. The soup is delicious here. Bread with every meal. The kitchen staff asked if I was a vegetarian because I don't eat the meat they give me at breakfast, which was funny. I can usually barely eat breakfast because I'm so nervous before teaching. Hopefully, that passes.

I was lucky enough to be connected with some university students who are home for the summer. They picked me up on my second day and took me to play basketball (i was in a skirt, like an idiot). I kinda just stayed in one place and shot the ball here and there. They were nice enough to pass it. I felt silly but they're all really nice and are eager to show me around and spend time with me. The first night, we went to dinner where I ate a crepe-like thing that was supposed to be "mexican." Strange mix but good. Yesterday, the girls picked me up and we drank wine that Ania's grandfather made two years ago. It was a light orange color, very sweet and very strong =) The students speak English quite well, which is a relief because no one at the school can speak with the exception of a few words. They have promised to take me to the Zywiec brewery, which I'm very excited for.

My classroom:

I guess I should talk about my classes as well. I teach for about 4 hours each day, and I have three groups. Group 1 is about 15 7-10 year olds, Group 2 is about eight 12-year olds, and Group 3 is about seven 14-year-old girls. The little ones won't stop hugging me, which is adorable, but they're the hardest group. There's a lot of them and it's hard to keep them all interested and quiet. They speak very little English, so I can't give them commands at all really. They know numbers, the ABCs, and some body parts. They know dog and cat. That's about it. So I just try to get them moving as much as possible. They love to draw, so we do that everyday.

The older kids really like games and speak much better English. I can explain games with them and they understand me pretty well. The oldest group speaks very well and can understand everything with little dictionary use. The oldest group never wants to leave, which is sweet. They took my picture and are adding me on Facebook, haha. That could be bad.

Polish children are really beautiful and I like them a lot. They're funny and really smart and I think they like me. It seems like it anyway. I'm like a celebrity here, which is really strange for me. Apparently Polish people love Americans, which is nice, but I don't like too much attention so it's different.

This post is too long,
Leah

Orientation Week

I've been avoiding writing this first post because it will have to be so long, but mostly I haven't written because I have had such little free time. This will be the short version:

Orientation locations: Warsaw, Stare Jablonki, Makov, Krakow. Orientation was a lot of fun. I got to know the other volunteers very well and became close with a few. They're all nice people. All girls and one boy. Lucky him.

Old Town, Warsaw

Anyway, we traveled to four places in one week and it was exhausting, especially considering how much luggage we all had. Luckily, men in Poland are very willing to pick up suitcases for some helpless American girls. In Warsaw, stayed in Hostel Helvetia we walked around the Old Town area with our coordinators, Olga and Ola, who were two of the greatest people I've ever met. They took us around the entire week, translated, and answered endless questions about Poland. Sadly, Warsaw isn't a very pretty city due to the effects of communism and its destruction during WWII.

Next we stayed in Hotels Anders in Stare Jablonski where we participated in an English teacher's conference with hundreds of Polish English teachers from small villages. We had lectures to attend each day, some were good and some weren't so great, but it was helpful overall. We swam in the pool, went to the lake (which you can actually swim in without fear of amoebas) and rode bikes around the village. Plus, there was free beer, dancing and karaoke each night. This was definitely one of the best parts of the trip so far.
Hotel Anders, Stare Jablonki

Next was Makov, where we stayed in Ola's mother's boarding school. There's not much to say about Makov except that we ate lots of ice cream (lody) and had polish culture lessons. On the last night here, the people at the school threw us a barbeque with kielbasa and grilled apples.

Finally, we went to Krakow, which was, by far, my favorite city. I think it was everyone's favorite. Krakow is a young, hip city that's much prettier than Warsaw. It was once the capital of Poland. We only had a day and a half here, but we spent it well. We visited the castle where the late president (and other Polish heroes) is buried and spent a lot of time in the main square, where there's pretty churches and beer gardens. Polish people are extremely devout Catholics, but still love their alcohol. One of the many reasons I love it here.

Main Square, Krakow

Wawel Castle, Krakow

Me with my friends Christina and Ola in Hostel Momotown, Krakow.


More to come,
Leah