Here comes the sun

Are you there, sunshine? It's me, Leah!

THE SUN HAS RETURNED TO MY LIFE! Most days this week that magnificent yellow ball in the sky has made an appearance. It even has some kick to it. And it's supposed to continue for the rest of the weekend. The weather has been mild, temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, give or take. People in Radom dress for the month though, and not the weather. Yet they look at me like I'M the crazy one. I'm not the one sporting my twelve layers of winter clothing.

Why I'm the best (worst?) teacher ever - last week I taught my 8 year old students "fart". It was all in context though. We were practicing the "ar" sound, with words like star, park, dark, shark, sharp. I just wanted to add my own touch to their repetoire. And they especially enjoyed my acting it out.

With this same class this week, we were talking about farm animals. Before I knew it, they were doing to chicken dance!! And then yesterday, walking through the old town in Radom, the accordian man (that plays everyday) was playing the chicken dance!!! Of course I did the dance, while Heather was inside the bank. Maybe people have a right to think I'm crazy...

It's been 5 weeks at the gym now, with a constant rate of 4 times per week. Woo! Go Heather and Leah! It's clear the men there are more and more comfortable with our presence - giving us training tips with the little English they know, which always includes a game of charades. Heather and I always stretch in the aerobics room after our workout. For whatever reason, some of the guys leave their stuff there, instead of in the change room. On Tuesday, one of the regulars comes in with his stuff and says hello. Before we know it, he is changing RIGHT THERE. And he was wearing tighty-whiteys...except they were purple. No kidding. Heather unflinchingly carried on chatting with me, our heads down, avoiding any eye contact with the man. I'm impressed by our ability to keep down our laughter.

Yesterday us English teacher's celebrated American Thanksgiving at Irene's...what has to be the earliest dinner party I have ever attended. 11am folks! Haha It was either that, or after our day of teaching at 10pm. It was very delicious - complete with turkey, stuffing potatoes, cranberry sauce, veggies, bread, and pumpkin pie. We ate ourselves silly. Mmmm.

So I've made a new Stanley. If anyone asks, he had to have an operation after the Portuguese abduction. Or he's been coming to the gym with me and has slimmed out significantly.

WOO! It's Friday!! Hope it's fabulous! xo

(Pictures - Monday Kozienice teachers: me, Peter, and Dominika; Stanley the second; a church in Radom; Irene taking the pumpkin pie from the oven!)

Have you seen this boy?

Stanley: missing since November 2009.

We think he was kidnapped by the Portuguese tourists.

Some background - you are probably very confused right now: At the KW Bilingual school, Claire's class has a project involving a character, named Flat Stanley. Each student made a Stanley to send to different parts of the world, so he can learn about different cultures. I was hosting Claire's Stanley, here in Radom. We had a lovely time - he met my students in Kozienice, we went to the market together, and he even came to Warsaw with me on the weekend. We captured many highlights on camera. Unfortunately, Stanley did not make it back to Radom with me. He is somewhere in Warsaw, we think on the Wilanow palace grounds, hopefully living like a king. The Canadian address is on his back, so fingers crossed some kind-hearted soul finds him and sends him back! Thankfully I still have his journal and have been recording our adventures. This, along with pictures and postcards, will get sent back to Claire's class.

I teach a group of upper-intermediate teenagers (mostly boys) on Mondays in Kozienice. They met Stanley last week and were very fond of him. They are going on a field trip to Warsaw tomorrow. They are making it their mission to find Stanley! It was very sweet to hear this from them. The reason I was reminded to tell them about the loss of Stanley was because I heard one of my students say, "epic fail". Haha How amazing is that? So yes, my losing Stanley was an epic fail, indeed. (We were using future tenses in discussion today, making predictions about our lives: tomorrow, a month from now, a year, 5 years, 10 years. I said that in ten years from now maybe I will be married. One of the boys groaned, and said "oh man!". I asked him what he had against marriage. His friend said, "I want to tell you something, but if I do he [the first guy] will punch me". Then they told me that if I get married, they will lose me. Awwwwwwwwwww. My 15/16 year old boys are crushing. Maybe their efforts to find Stanley is their way of winning my heart. Teehee. Regardless, I had a most excellent class with them today. They are always so talkative, opinionated, and up for a good discussion. They are passionate about their views. It's refreshing!)

I still adore the group of power plant men I teach on Fridays in Kozienice. Even though they are an elementary level, they try so hard. Our topic last week was "at the hotel" and they had some pretty amusing questions - regarding a double room but with one bed, tipping, double whiskey, and asking for their room number in case they forget (likely relating to the previous comment). We were discussing jobs as well and they noted that "lawyer" and "liar" sound the same. Coincidence? These are clever men. So many laughs. I told them how much I enjoy teaching them. Once I am settled in a job somewhere, whenever and wherever that may be, I think I will teach adult ESL classes one or two evenings a week. I really love all my adult classes - it's social, the students want to be there, and you can have a lot of fun with them. It's a special thing to be a part of. I was so terrified when I first found out I'd have not one, but five adult classes. Now I look forward to them daily!

So I heard through the grapevine (Radom is small, remember) that I have an admirer at the gym. Teehee

Heather and I went to Warsaw on Saturday. We met up with Mariusz, the guy we met on the train coming home from Berlin. It was great! He showed us around the city - we went to Wilanow Palace and the park grounds (a palace built in the 1600s for the king of the time...it wasn't completely destroyed in the World Wars, but like most things, lots of restoration work had to be done). It was very lovely. We also walked around the Old Town at night. This was beautiful as it was all lit up, and the Christmas lights and decorations have been put up too. We saw the changing of the guards at the war memorial for the unknown deceased. And we went to a really cool little pub - it looked like a cave inside. Very low ceilings and dim lighting. Mariusz' friend, Ania, met up with us there. In Poland, at many bars you can get a flavour squirt in your beer. I had only tried the raspberry before. We had the ginger squirt on Saturday evening. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS!!

In advance of our arrival, Mariusz had arranged for us to stay over at Ania's if we needed to. So thoughtful of him! We did take the last train back to Radom that night, however. But we left on a note that we would likely meet up again. Yey for new friends!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Tata for now!

Sweet sweet music

Yesterday in Kozienice, my 7 year old students started singing "Honey, Honey", by ABBA. Obviously, I joined in.

In the car ride home last night, Peter and I were talking about movies. He mentioned "Remember the Titans" and went on to say how much he loves "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", which he started singing. Obviously, I joined in. (The radio/any music player in the company car has been broken for who knows how many years, so this interlude was extra excellent.)

Today in Radom, my 8 year old students started singing "Wake me up before go go", by WHAM! Obviously, I joined in.

Do you see why I love my students?

13

Today marks 13 weeks since my departure in August. Just saying.

I feel so loved by my students. They give me really great hugs (the 7/8 year olds that is). I appreciate them for it. In one of my friday classes (11/12 years old), there are three boys that like to cause some trouble and they get off task easily. They are smart though, and they ALWAYS show up to class half an hour early! So I hang out with them and they talk to me. I adore it.

I had a very candid conversation with one of my adult students last week. She nailed Polish men to a tee - traditional. They like their Polish food, their beer, watching TV/sports and going to the pub. No travel. Very simple. I have noticed this about some of the men I have met here/teach/work with. If that's the case, a Polish man is not for me!

There are no laws here about pooping and scooping. This shocks me.

Last night I watched Lost in Translation, and at times felt I could relate. I then dreamt that I got engaged to a guy that I met in Japan. Perhaps this will be my next teaching destination.

I think as an English teacher I should be teaching "dreamed" rather than "dreamt", but I prefer the latter. I am learning so much about the English language while teaching it. There are so many crazy rules. I am grateful that it is my native language. I can't imagine trying to learn it. And unfortunately sometimes when the students ask "why?" I have to answer, "because that's the way it is!" So many exceptions. Bah!

There are some juicy plot lines in some of the texts I use for the adult classes. And by juicy I mean boy-meets-girl...will they end up together? Haha I find myself flipping through the units to find out!

Random, I know. Happy Sunday.

Remember

Today I listened to the latest episode of the Vinyl Cafe (CBC show) and it was about Remembrance Day - stories were shared about Dieppe and Vimy Ridge. It was a nice way to reflect on Canada's contributions in World War, and to be thankful and appreciative for our freedom today. I am so proud to be Canadian. And lucky.

(Thanks to Heather for getting me hooked on the Vinyl Cafe!)

Today is Polish Independence Day. I don't think much is really going on here. Plus it's very rainy and damp outside. One of my students yesterday explained that many Polish holidays are spent in church. There may be some celebrations going on in Warsaw - parades or something like this. For me, it's a day off, a day of rest, and getting things done. A day of rest because I have been under the weather since our return from Berlin. I am almost back to normal though! I was able to get some echinacea at the pharmacy here. This is my healer. Sadly Irene and Heather are not doing so well. They were hit worse than I was. Fingers crossed they recover soon! We blame the Swedish girls in our hostel in Berlin...for the messy state they kept the room. (This just in: there IS a parade here in Radom today!)

I suppose our sleep schedule (or lack thereof) on the weekend weakened us...it went something like this:
-Saturday up at 3:30am to catch an early train to Berlin
-Saturday night/Sunday morning Heather and I got to bed at 4:30am
-left Berlin Sunday evening at 8pm - slept on the train but had a transfer at 1am, so disrupted sleep, then on the second train we made a friend in our car so we were up til about 3am chatting...then just dosed in and out of sleep...up at 6am for our arrival in Warsaw, then slept on the train to Radom (7am - 9am)...eesh!

Berlin. I underestimate my love for big cities. I always say that I prefer smaller towns for living. Perhaps Waterloo is the exception to this, because I absolutely love Waterloo. But there is something about a big city...there is a feeling I have that I thrive off of. I already knew I loved Berlin from last summer, and this weekend was just a reminder. The people, the food, the history, the culture - it's multicultural. Everything so easily accessible on the S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains (I sure love the efficiency and reliability of German trains!). I could move to Berlin...like tomorrow.

Saturday we arrived early afternoon. Heather, Irene and I literally jumped up and down on the train as we approached our Berlin Ostbahnof station. The city was not new to any of us, so we all had our own sentimental reasons for being excited. We dropped our stuff at our hostel in the East and headed out for some food - CURRYWURST! This was one of my favourite discoveries from last summer. The girls even let me take them to the place where I ate last year. Yey! After this we took a leisurely walk along the East Side Gallery (it was the weekend two days before the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down, after all...how amazing is that?!) - so fantastic. After this we wandered the east neighbourhood - looking in some boutiques and second hand stores, and settled for some dinner. Sushi!!! This is not something we can get in Radom. (Irene opted for Sudanese food which unfortunately left her feeling ill for the rest of the night.) Our waitress was amazing. Here is the Haiku I composed for her (while waiting for the S train):
Our dearest tranny
Led us astray in Berlin
But we still love her....or him

You see, she told us there was a concert going on at Brandenburg Gate that night. She said there would be many hot men! Haha So we went and checked it out. (I had a Kirsch beer in hand, of course! That's for Catrina and Martin!) Unfortunately they were just setting up for the festivities for Monday, but we were not too disappointed. Seeing the gate at night was awesome, and there were other "wall" structures on display. There were food and drink stalls set up, so it was still fun. After this we went back to our hostel to get ready for a night out. Heather and I went to Fritz club. Our hostel was really close to where I stayed last year, and these are both close to the club - an old warehouse with separate rooms for different music types. Heather and I rocked all three rooms - the electro room, the dance/pop room, and the alternative room. We were total rockstars. We especially loved the latter room. Such a good time. Around 3:15am, Heather checked her watch. We both agreed that we could keep dancing, but decided to be sensible and head back. No night out dancing is complete without a food stop though. Falafel. Mmmm. We chatted with some people there. Some guys thought we were French. He said we looked the stereotype. Nope. Sorry.

Sunday Heather and I went back to the area around Brandenburg Gate, Friedrichstrabe, to wander. We spent about two hours in a big book store. At the same time we each had a different St Germain album in hand and Heather asks "Have you heard this band?" Weird. We had a HUGE laughing fit (well, we do that ALL the time somehow) looking through a book called "101 Ways to Kill Your Boss". Like the laughing that hurts SO much and everyone is staring...you're trying to be quiet so you make funny noises and you cry...and then if you're me you fart. ANYWAYS. It was fantastic. We went took a special trip to the Hauptbahnof station for Millie's cookies - Heather's choice. SO worth it. THESE ARE THE BEST COOKIES EVER! Do you know how hard it is to find baked cookies in Radom? Cookies that aren't from a package? It's pretty much impossible. So we bought a baker's dozen...each. Mmmm...heaven. We wandered the Hackescher Markt area - to visit the Ampelmann shop and check out other little shops. We returned to the currywurst stand (for something else) for dinner, met up with Irene at the hostel, and headed for the train station for our long (and unwilling) return to Radom.

The guy Heather and I met on the train from Kryzy, Poland to Warsaw (Mariusz) was SO great. We commented on how decent the train actually was, and he said it's really not that great. Heather replied, "We're from Radom", to which our friend BURST out laughing. It was the most genuine reaction ever. Anyways, it was so fun chatting with this guy. We were telling him our many travel/train anecdotes, as well as some stories from our classes. We now have his phone number, so next time we're in Warsaw he can show us around!

I was relieved with how good cooperative my 7/8 students were on Monday, as I was beyond exhausted. My voice was almost gone. Having to speak really quietly keeps them quiet though! They were little angels for me. My other classes went well too. The last two nights I have slept for 10 hours. Much needed.

Berlin was totally worth it. Not a lifestyle I could maintain, but every once in a while it is good for my soul. I need to be crazy. I will definitely be staying put for the next little while though! Time to save up for Christmas travels!

I've been trying to put up pictures for my previous post but it hasn't been working today. I'll keep trying! xo

It's November already??

And it's Wednesday already? My goodness when did that happen?

The weather here has been chilly...but the last four days were sunny! Temperatures peaking around 2 to 5 degrees each day. Today it's back to overcast skies however. And what a nasty wind we have...brrr. Send warmth please!

What a weekend I had! It started bright and early Saturday morning, catching a train at 7:24am, en route to Krakow. We (me, Heather, Irene, and Jo) eagerly hopped on our train when it rolled into the Radom station, and before we knew it, we were on our way...or so we thought. We settled in our spots, and were just commenting on how we had very little time to board the train! Next thing we know the conductor is yelling at us in Polish, clearly not impressed with our stealthy ability to board the train so quickly. We were not supposed to. It was empty. It was moving out of the way for another train to come into the station. So he stops the train about 100m away from the station and kicks us off. Of course this meant we missed our 7:24 train. Thanks goodness there was a train at 7:42! It really never fails!! And we actually arrived in Krakow 20 minutes early. We had stopped at a station, and were chatting away. (Jo was in the bathroom.) Then we realize we're at our destination of choice, and with lightning speed gather our things and Jo's, run through the train, and bang on the bathroom door to get Jo's attention. Haha What a start to the day!

We met up with Irene's friend, Kelly (who we met in Warsaw) and went on our way to the hostel we had booked. It was super cute and clean and very centrally located, and an excellent price! Really can't complain. So after dropping our things, we wandered through the old town, and through the Jewish quarter. I spent the best 7pln ($2. 50ish) of my life on lunch. Open-faced sandwiches are a vendor specialty here. And they do it well. On a toasted baguette I had sausage, goat's cheese, pickles, and mustard. Mmmm. After lunch and the Jewish quarter we made our way to Wawel Castle. Heather and I got distracted in a store full of bags and jewellery and clothing and knitted things - all created by local artists (and lots of it done with recycled material). You KNOW this is my heaven. So we got separated, but we still all had a chance to explore the castle. Unfortunately we got there too late to see the dragon's den, but I will return. The castle is stunning. And with the bright sunshine we had, and the autumn colours...wow. Heather and I went into the "Lost Wawel" exhibit and saw the state rooms. (We even danced with each other in the ballroom.) The whole gang met up for drinks before dinner (mmmmint hot chocolate). A man came into the cafe and asked if we would give candy (that he gave us) to his kids who would be in to trick or treat. It was so cute!

With the early morning and the Halloween party Thursday night, Heather and I just grabbed a quick dinner and returned to the hostel for an early night and a good, long sleep. The other girls rolled in around 3am I think...? I was sound asleep before 10pm! Haha

Sunday morning we were up at 6am to get ready and catch a train to Oswiecim, the town where Auschwitz is located. We started the day off at the Auschwitz Jewish Centre (which is affiliated with the Holocaust Museum in New York that Irene worked at). As Irene pointed out, it was nice to start the day focusing on the life of the Jews, both before and after the Holocaust. One portion of the centre was dedicated to stories of survivors. There was a film montage playing of survivors telling their stories.

Next stop, Auschwitz camp I. If you didn't know where you were, you would swear it's beautiful. And I hate that I think that. They way the sun was shining on the brick barracks...hauntingly lovely. I can't express to you the feeling of sickness I carried in my stomach all day. The hair, the shoes, the suitcases, the clothing of babies and young children, the identities of these people....all lost yet all on display. There was information about Witold Pilecki, the Pole that is currently on display in downtown Radom. A very emotionally overwhelming day. I would like to return to see Auschwitz-Birkenau camp II...there is only so much one can take in in one day.

Heather and I left while the others ventured on. The thought of getting back to Radom after midnight on Sunday night was not appealing so we caught an earlier train. Well, these things are never as simple as planned. There were no more trains from Oswiecim to Krakow that would get us to the train to Radom in time for the earlier train, even though we had already purchased our ticket. So...we used our Polish and figured out a bus that got us back to Krakow instead. After Heather stopped one bus, opened its door to have the driver get very angry at her, and in the process get her glove caught in the door while trying to close it (and to have about 10 people witness this, while I peed my pants laughing), everything else was smooth sailing. (See? Heather and I are meant to be friends. That's totally something that would happen to me!) It did feel nice to laugh after a very solemn, sad, and bitterly chilled day. Training through Poland Sunday evening (in the dark) was beautiful, as we passed many cemeteries. November 1, All Saints Day, is an important holiday here. People go to the cemeteries and light (SO MANY) candles for their loved ones, praying for their arrival in heaven. Seeing all the light was magical.

In other news, Irene and I have less teaching hours than the others, so we will be teaching demo lessons in the locals schools from time to time, to advertise the school and expose students to Native speakers. I am very excited about this! I am always open to a change in my routine. Keeps things interesting.

Heather and I are still rocking the gym.

Berlin this weekend!! WOO! Very excited.

Pictures will come. I promise.

More travel plans? Heather's sister is coming for Christmas and the three of us are going to travel together - Budapest, Vienna, and Bratislava are the plan. Of course, these things can change. I am thinking I will go to Spain in February when I have a break, and Latvia early April when we have time off for Easter. I feel so lucky every day for this experience!!

That's all for now. Almost time for work!

(The first photo is from the Jewish quarter, the second and third from Wawel Castle, and the fourth and fifth from Auschwitz.)