School:
This week was good, but so tiring. It was the kids first week of going all day and it was a little rough for them. By the end of the week I realized we needed to just play at the end of the day and we needed rest time. I literally turned off the lights and told them to just lay down on the carpet and relax. Poor little guys! We also had Parent Night on Wednesday. I was a little nervous about it, but so tired by the time it came that I couldn't even think. It actually went well minus that the parents didn't want to leave and pretty much had to be kicked out (nicely obviously lol). I wasn't too nervous and I knew the answers to all their questions. I'm realizing they are really supportive, they just want to be fully informed about everything that is going on and how their child is doing, which makes sense. The kids are still hilarious. There little 5 year old words mixed with their accents are so funny. I find myself talking to them with some random mix of their accents with the poorest grammar ever because I'm around them so much. Definitely need to work on this considering I'm supposed to be teaching them English along with the curriculum. In my defense another teacher said she found herself doing the same thing. I'm actually getting freaked out that when I come home I'm going have weird grammatical speaking skills. Advanced warning so no judging!
Me Time:
Jeff got here on Friday night so I've been showing him around a little bit. I don't know the city that well myself yet, so I'm not a great tour guide, but I try. We went to the Rynek (town square) and walked around the city. Saturday we went out with a couple other teachers. They took us to a bar called "Mexico Bar". It had Mexican food and it was amazing!! I seriously didn't know I would miss Mexican food so much, but I do! Actually, Mexican Independence Day is on Wednesday (it's not Cinco de Mayo like we think) and some of the teachers from last year are good friends with some of the Mexicans here (there are like 15 total in the whole city). Well, the Mexicans are hosting a big party and they invited us! I'm so excited for real authentic Mexican food! I know enough about food. Sorry! So, I'm doing that on Wednesday, which will lead to an interesting Thursday I'm sure. That's why I'm here though, to experience everything possible. Maybe we'll need an extra long rest time on Thursday :). Today (Sunday) was the most beautiful day I think since I've been here! It's definitely fall and the weather has been pretty cold and kind of rainy. Today was sunny and about 70 degrees. It was the perfect fall day! Jeff and I met up with two of the teachers and went kayaking on one of the rivers here. It was awesome! We were kayaking right by Cathedral Island, which is this place in Wroclaw that's not really an island, I don't think... Anyways, it has a couple of huge, beautiful churches, neat old buildings, and a really cute bridge where you engrave locks with your name and the name of the person you love then hook the lock on the bridge and throw the key in the water to signify that your love will be forever. Sappy yes, but really cute and fun! I know a little weird that I like it so much, maybe Poland's making me soft lol. Then we walked around the Rynek and got beers with the teachers at this neat pub I'd never been to where they have all kinds of crazy different beers (honey, caramel, chocolate). Oh, side note, in Wroclaw, and I think maybe the rest of Poland, lots of people order beer with raspberry suki (translated juice, but really syrup) in the beer. It sounds gross, but it is SO good! I'm hooked! It was such a fun and relaxing day! It did make me miss home a little, just because Portland and Eugene are just so pretty in the fall. I've decided if I could just have Duck football games and pumpkin spice lattes it would be perfect here :) And obviously all of my friends, but those are the materialish things that I find myself missing.
P.S. It is my goal today to post pictures on facebook, so if your wanting to see my classroom and some of Wroclaw check there. I haven't figured out how to put them on here/if it is possible.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
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.
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.
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