Pretending to Be Polish: 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.