Footloose and fancy-free

It was an unexpectedly AWESOME weekend in Radom! With the sunshine and mid-teens temperatures we had all week, Heather and I had high hopes for some quality patio time on Saturday. However, the skies were clouded over (but have yet to give way to the rain that was forecasted all weekend) so we opted for lunch at the Sushi Room. Not only were we given some sushi on the house, we were also presented with a VIP card, which gives us 10% off EVERY TIME we go! Woo! They obviously recognise us/our language from the couple times we've been there. Yey! And the sushi is really really good there!!

Then - get this - on our way back to Heather's place, I spotted an Indian restaurant!! Will report back soon.

Film 101 this weekend consisted of Footloose (which I thought I had seen, but I hadn't!), Strictly Ballroom, and Reality Bites. I have such a love/hate thing for Ethan Hawke. So good. As an intermission to our movies, we celebrated Earth Hour, by the light of a single candle, having an hour-long dance party in Heather's living - complete with lint brush and TV remote microphones for Aretha Franklin's Respect, scarves for some Coldplay interpretive dance, and everything else in between. It will be a tough Earth Hour to top.

I am really really tired right now. Lost an hour of sleep last night (thank you, British Summer Time) but was up bright and early with the sun this morning. And what aa beautiful day it was! Heath and I changed things up and did our groceries today as opposed to Saturday, at a different store. Instead of waiting for the bus back we did the 45 minute walk - we need all the vitamin D we can get!!

I swear I had more to say. Too sleepy to think. Night night!

A most amusing day

The sunshine and warm temperatures have the folks of Radom out of hibernation. Walking to work today, a guy around my age said "hello" (in Polish) to me. This completely caught me off guard. People rarely smile, let alone greet others. And it wasn't a grunt or a man talking AT me, rambling on in their foreign tongue as they sometimes do. A genuine hello. Refreshing! Surprise number two happened when I got to the school in Radom. I had time to spare, so I sat on a bench with my book. The guy sitting beside me (again, around my age) turned and asked, in perfect ENGLISH, what I was reading and what kind of book it was. Then I noticed his book and I had read it a couple years ago so we just chatted about it. I HAD A NORMAL CONVERSATION WITH A STRANGER IN THE STREETS OF RADOM. Definitely unexpected. Of course there were kids throwing wads of paper at him/me/us from the top floor of a building. It was too sunny and nice out for me to be annoyed. My eyes caught them red-handed and they knew it. I just grinned at them and shook my head. I kept looking up at them, and they weren't fast enough to shy away from the window. The little buggers.

I had my first "story time" class today. One kid showed up. Oh Oskar. He's a good kid and I like him. It probably wasn't as fun/exciting for him without other kids too, but he liked the story, understood it, and we did some games with the new words I taught him from the story.

SPOILER ALERT!
In the text book I use for my adult classes, there is a story that is carried over the span of multiple levels (i.e. elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate), as a practical English section. It's a story of two people, Mark and Allie. They meet in London, England, as they work for the same company - Allie in the London office and Mark at the San Fransisco office. He invites her to a conference in SanFran; they ultimately both end up at the Paris office. ANYWAYS, the story ended in one of my classes...it ends with Mark proposing to Allie. Awww.

As if I just wrote about a text book story. Oh dear.

Spring forward

I don't want to jinx it but I think spring is here for good! The weekend was absolutely beautiful - temperatures in the mid-teens!! Heather and I did our usual grocery shop together Saturday morning, at the "mall". We decided to take our time and not rush for the next bus back. With the extra time we had, we took a walk around the parking lot, with our shopping cart, riding it and singing and laughing. We also pondered why everyone else in the city was still sporting their winter jackets. We baked oatmeal M&M cookies (can you believe we can't find chocolate chips anywhere here???) in the afternoon. Then we had another successful "Film 101" weekend (where Heather and I watch movies that she is typically shocked and appalled that I haven't seen). Sunday morning I went for my first run of the year (ahhhh, SO nice) and Heath and I met up at the gas station again for coffee, followed by an early afternoon movie. Very relaxing indeed.

Heath and I decided we want to start meeting up after work to go for evening strolls. We had our first date Monday. It's a really nice way to end the day, especially with the weather we've been having.

I went running yesterday morning as well. It's another one of those things that causes people to look at me like I have five heads. With a high of 17, I walked to work in a t-shirt; PEOPLE WERE STILL WEARING THEIR WOOL JACKETS! I don't understand. My turn to stare, thank you.

Yesterday was my first "Story time" session. No one came. Hahaha

A Turkish girl came to the school yesterday afternoon, looking for someone who could speak English, and to find out about working opportunities. Apparently there is a guy from France living here now too, and an American guy from Virginia (to be a player for the "American" football team that is starting up). Random Rado is always full of surprises.

If it's a summer day...

GORGEOUS day outside. I walked to the gym in my shorts and hoodie. Ahh...that last snow didn't last long. Thank GOODNESS.

A pretty uneventful week, nothing story-worthy. But I thought I ought to post. Something. Anything. Just the usual classes...exams in some of the classes. Lipsko is officially out. So the "storytime" reading club will start next week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I'll let you know how that goes!

I've been distracted with trip-planning and South Korea paperwork. Heath and I have another weekend planned of - you guessed it - movies and pizza, and baking more cookies! We're itching to get to Riga, but in the mean time we must save!

Wow...lamest blog ever. I apologise! Must jet off to work now. xo

Snow falling on Radom

Surprise! Snow has been falling since Friday. Despite the grey, the temperature is quite pleasant, so I'll take snow over rain.

The rest of my teaching week was a success. I came home from classes feeling upbeat and happy, still genuinely loving my job. The dedicated and passionate students, and the laughs make up for all the bad moments. Truly.

It's a lazy day here for me. Last night Heather and I watched Gigi and The Philadelphia Story. Wonderful classics. Well-mannered frivolity, if you will. We successfully ordered pizza (the gal on the other end spoke English!) from a new place, and it was delicious. We'll definitely be ringing them again. Between films we did a petrol station run to grab some snacks, and jokingly we said we should meet THERE for coffee, instead of having to make the thirty minute trek to the centre, as this place is between our flats, less than ten minutes walk. Anyways, we peed our pants laughing about "how the mighty have fallen", how we really were going to meet for coffee at the petrol station - they have seating and everything. You know what we did this afternoon? We met for espresso, and spoke French. Is this what our lives have come to? We sure do miss being able to go to a chain coffee shop...there was a slight chance of hitching a ride to Warsaw this weekend. We wanted to, just so we could sit at Coffee Heaven (it's like a Second Cup chain). Is that sad? That would be like Waterloo having no coffee shops, and taking a trip to Toronto, just to go for coffee. Seriously.

I had a riot with my Wednesday adults. We were practicing "should" and giving advice, so I gave them an Oscar-worthy performance, about how I just met this guy, and that I really liked him. He said he'd call, but he hasn't yet. I just keep waiting and waiting...what should I do? After gathering their advice, I told them I was just pretending. I don't think they believed me. Also, we were talking about making decisions. I asked what they do to help them. One student said he checks his wallet, to which I said, "One beer or five more beers?" The class laughed. I'm so funny.

There were lots of laughs with my Koz power plant men on Friday, as usual. We successfully had a murder mystery as part of the class! I started teaching one-on-one lessons to the secretary in Radom, the one I bus home with/get a ride home with her husband on Thursdays. We have really bonded over time. Anyways, it's fun to teach her. She knows a lot more English than she lets on! Once I got her talking about the book she is currently reading, she had lots to say! It was wonderful.

ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF MY WEEK - as I entered the gym on Wednesday morning, Will Smith's Wild Wild West was playing. I told Maciek (our front desk friend) that I hadn't heard that song FOREVER. He said, "well, there are 17 more tracks on the album!" WILL SMITH WAS THE MUSIC OF CHOICE AT THE GYM. YES.

FYI...I am on British Summer Time here, and therefore do not "spring forward" for another couple weeks. The time difference between us has lessened!

"To our queen..."

The words spoken by my Monday teenage boys, as they presented me with Polish pastries for International Women's Day. Awwww.

I'm happy to report that I cannot remember the last morning that I was not woken by the sun. Come on, spring!

Last Wednesday, I totally did my pig noise for my adult class. Why, WHY??? (Perhaps it was the knowledge that Heather's moose call was such a success in her class!) They were impressed!

On Saturday, Heather and I went out for sushi (in Radom) and then to the movies. Whoa - we actually went out! The power went out while we were at dinner...there was no apology or explanation on behalf of the staff. Nothing. They carried on as if nothing had happened. Standard Saturday night practice? Is this what we have been missing every weekend? I saw one of my adult students at the restaurant - she also happens to be the mother of one of my kiddies. It made me really feel like a teacher, to have a student see me "out" and perhaps think, "ok, so my teacher has some sort of life!" Haha. As we left the movie theatre, I saw her again! Apparently we had the same idea. P.S. We saw Alice in Wonderland. I found it so very magical. Alice was so perfectly pure. Save one minor detail (I won't tell you), I loved the film.

On Monday there was a parent meeting with one of my classes and the Polish teacher. I just sat and looked at all the mothers, and could clearly see which child belonged to which mother. I was also observed by one of the directors in another class. She said it was excellent. *phew*

I think I have become English College's new project/guinea pig. I have yet to hear back about this teaching in Lipsko plan with the company I gave a demo lesson to a couple weeks back. Now, I am being told that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays there will be a "Leah reads to the kids" session - a time where students can come and listen to stories. Haha It could be fun, as long as it doesn't turn into some sort of after-school babysitting thing. Man oh man, they are trying everything to give me more hours!

Damsels in distress

Flat. Tire.

Driving to Koz today with Eva and Gosia (my Friday Polish friends/colleagues) we had to pull over due to a spontaneous flat tire on the oh-so-trusty company car. So we pulled over in the middle of the middle of nowhere, Poland. LUCKILY we were able to do so in one of the few clearings there are on the tree-lined roads leading to Kozieniece. We also happened to be across from a petrol station...if you can even call it that. The three of us get out of the car, waving our cell phones around, desparately trying to get reception. As soon as Gosia does, she calls one of the bosses to let her know the situation. Our boss has to teach and her husband is at the mechanic himself, so she sends one of her friends who lives nearby to check out the situation. In the mean time, three (very well-built and macho-looking) men - ahem, perfect numbers, anyone? - walk over to assess the damage. They hear me speaking English and ask the girls if I am on vacation/what I am doing here. I tell them (in Polish) that I am a teacher and I'm Canadian. The rest was all Greek to me, but according to the girls, I amused them. Meanwhile, the school in Koz was alerted to our late arrival. The men thought we should cancel all our classes and grab drinks with them. Anyways, our boss' friend comes by and sees that all is well and these other now three plus one men have got it under control. They're laughing and joking and doing all the dirty work as the three of us watch. The spare tire we had in the trunk actually doesn't match the other three tires - swell eh? - and the others haven't been changed in years. Really nice and helpful guys and overall a hilarious experience. We were only an hour late to work. Would it be funny on our ride home?? Totally not.

I've started a new game that I like to play. I don't have a name for it, but it involves me and the hairdresser women who work in the same building as the Radom school. You see, they like to smoke INSIDE the building. It's disgusting. Whenever I see them in the act, I glare and cough and stomp my feet as I walk by. This week, I haven't seen them, but I have seen the plastic cup filled with water and cigarette butts just sitting inside. So, when I arrive at the building, I put the cup outside. It has been SO mild out. There is no reason for them to smoke inside. There is no reason for them to smoke inside regardless. I had to run an errand on Tuesday and when I got back to the school building, the cup was back inside. So I moved it out again. Wednesday, the same. Thursday, the cup was nowhere to be found. Coincidence? Probably. Even so, I felt good.

My Wednesday 8-year-olds were in the mood for dancing. I told them that if they finished the activity then we could do the Macarena together. We did. And I sang.

Other musical highlights from this week include the Cure's Friday I'm in Love, Abba's Dancing Queen, and the Beatles' Yellow Submarine.

Forgot to mention the mountain that was climbed trying to order pizza over the phone last weekend...I called and the people on the line kept passing me off to speak to someone new. No one wanted to speak to the anglo! There was hysterical laughing on both ends. So ridiculous.

Like I said to Heather the other day, I am just waiting for someone to jump out of nowhere and say, "Gotcha!" This experience just seems so nutty at times...Ok. I think that's enough out of me for now!

Victory

It's another fresh and sunshine-filled day. I'll take it.

You'll (hopefully) be happy to hear that I graciously accepted Sidney Crosby's marriage proposal. Seriously though, what a proud proud Canadian moment. I was lucky to find live streaming online to watch the game (although it took me the first two periods to find a working link); I really only saw the third and overtime periods. I was on the Vancouver 2010 website though, for live updates, and Heather was on Skype to keep me posted, reacting to both highs and lows. I must have woken my neighbours with my screaming, shortly before midnight on Sunday, as with the time change, that's when I saw Sid the kid score the gold-medal goal. I can't imagine the energy that must have filled Canada's streets and skies at that very moment. I sure wish I could have been in the country for it. Nevertheless, I'm quite excited to be introduced into the hockey world, you know, with the engagement and all. If it doesn't work out with Sid and me, I'm hoping he can introduce me to Cam Ward....

Last Friday I went to Lipsko, a town about an hour from Radom, to teach (with my boss) a demo lesson at a construction company. My boss did the first part of the lesson, and I, the second. With me, I wanted them to practice the questions that my boss had revised with them, to find out information about me. Rather than sticking to the set questions, however, I was asked things like, "Why are you in Poland?" "What do you do in your free time?" "How old are you?" "Do you like Polish men?" (Hardly) (N)ever a dull moment. It's still not confirmed yet whether or not I will be teaching here on a regular basis...oh English College. Don't get me started.

"Leah, what is the beach where you don't wear?", asked one of my power plant men on Friday. Ahh yes, a nude beach. This class was also filled with talk of "in sexy clothes", "I sleep naked" (to which I walked out of the class), all because the textbook section was about "a girl's night out". Always a laugh (or ten) with this group.

After speaking with a friend on the weekend, I realised that some things I see every day here, I don't really think about. However, saying them out loud to someone not living here, they sound quite strange. What I am referring to are the women of the forest. On Mondays and Fridays when I go to Kozienice, I always see women, wearing fishnets and tall boots, standing along the side of the road. The road, a single-lane back road, is lined with trees and forest. The women separate themselves, and stand alone. Friday was especially busy, with the nice weather. Me and the Polish teachers I drive with were so tempted to pull over and ask them some questions:
-is this a reliable source of income? -who stops for these women? -how do they get there? -where do they come from? -do they have tents on hand? -what are the hours like?
Such a curious thing.

Heather and I baked up a storm on Saturday afternoon. SO MANY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES! Please don't ask how many are left. (Big thanks again to Elise for the recipe!!)

My 4 and 5 year olds' behaviour has been slowly on the decline as of late. They really like to run around and turn the overhead fan on and off. Yesterday I introduced a sticker chart. They get a sticker for, say, opening their books, or answering a question, or working quietly. Let me tell you, as soon as one student has more stickers than another, all the others are at attention because they want one too. SUCH a 180. We accomplished so much! Not sure why I didn't do this before...I know it's not rocket science, but I was so much happier after that class yesterday!

On Monday, my teens were so great as to indulge me on their thoughts about their religious education system, and their thoughts on the church as an institution.

I apologise if my classroom tales are not that exciting, but this is my life right now. Travel is limited, as I am saving for some trips - Riga in April, Berlin in May, and Italy for June/July. Lots to look forward to! I am also currently applying for jobs in South Korea for an August or Septemeber start...! I will keep you posted! xo