The First Monthish

So I made it to Poland!!  I'm just a little slow on getting this started, but better late than never I suppose.  I will try to be good about posting, but we shall see....

Boring Get You Informed Details:
I have a one bedroom apartment.  It is really nice and pretty cute.  I live in the same complex (it's huge) as 3 other teachers from my school.  My school is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment.  My school goes Pre K-4th grade and then there's another campus that is 5th-10th that is about 10 minutes away tram time.  There is one teacher per grade, which leaves me with lots of planning, but at the same time gives me lots of freedom.  All of the teachers are amazing and super helpful!! 

School:
School started last week.  We're already in week 2.  It's crazy!  I'm like a real grown-up big kid teacher now!  I LOVE my kids.  They are adorable and so funny!  I think I have 10 different ethnicities out of 13.  Imagine 5 year old lingo with French, Swedish, Finnish, German, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and the other accents that I'm forgetting.  I want to post a pic of my kids, but I think it's not allowed...  Anyways, they are great, obviously not perfect, but really fun and I'm really enjoying them and figuring out how little kinders know :)

Poland Life:
Everything is slow and the laws are a little crazy.  It is a huge joke that when people don't want to let you do something they say you can't because of Polish Law and sometimes it's true and sometimes it's not.  For instance my landlord claiming he cannot give me a 2nd key and finally saying (through interpretation of the school secretary) that he can't because of Polish Law....sounds a little sketchy to me....  I am finding that I can find almost every food I could in the U.S.  I have peanut better!!  I found black beans and CHEDDAR CHEESE!, but the black beans are a little weird.  I think my quessadilla eating is going to have to take a break for awhile.  Everyone at the school has informed me of all the secret places to find cheddar cheese though and actually one of the parents.  I didn't realize I was so attached to it lol.  Polish food is pretty good, although there's really not that many Polish restaurants around.  They have every kind of food here.  My co-workers are getting me hooked on sushi...never saw that one coming.  Not having a car and having to take trams and buses everywhere is a new experience I am starting to get used to.  Going to the grocery store is not a quick thing.  It needs to be planned ahead of time as I am learning.  There's a square called the Rynek here and everything is in it.  It's pretty much where you go to eat, go out, meet up with people.  It has the coolest old buildings and churches.  It's gorgeous and reminds me of why I so desperately wanted to come to Europe!  There are so many bars, clubs, and restaurants in it that I don't think I'll ever be able to go to all of them.  The people in Poland are amazing!  They feel bad when they can't speak English to me, which is crazy to me because I'm in their country.  A lot of people speak English though and I'm finding that it's really not that hard to get around without speaking it.  I'm good at gesturing and pointing.  There's a lady in the store under my apartment that teaches me words every time I come in.  She is super patient and so nice without ever understanding anything I am saying.  They park cars on the sidewalks here.  I ran into a curb pretty hard one night because I forgot that the middle of the car, not the front, is where the curb begins.  Cars are normal size here, there are some little smart cars, but it's more like the U.S.  And obviously from the the boringness of these last few topics I am running out of information, so I will end this.  I will try to take pictures soon!

P.S.  It's looking like my first trips are going to be 1. Munich for Oktoberdest 2. Barcelona 3. Scotland!!!!!   I'm getting so excited!!! :)

P.P.S.  The city is pronounced like "Fros-swoff" not like "Row-claw" HAHAHA  It's taken me awhile, but I'm finally starting to think it the right way when I read it now...if that even makes any sense.