Hi kids!

Gosh, the past two weeks have gone by super quickly! I’ve spent them doing lots of different things, including getting to know a lot of you. Thank you for all your brilliant class introductions. I’ve tried to remember names and favourite colours, but please forgive me if I muck them up every once in a while.

I hope you liked learning about Australian animals this week. I really like animals and they are one of my preferred topics. For the record, my favourite animal is the Great White Shark. Although they are very scary and have giant sharp teeth, I am very impressed by how big and powerful they are. In the next couple of classes I would love to hear which animal was your favourite, if you would like to tell me.

Last weekend I took my first trip outside of Warsaw. I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in beautiful Krakow. All of my volunteer friends came with me and we had a lot of fun. I am now addicted to pretzels, they are so delicious!

I went for a walk on Friday evening around Old Town and saw the big Market Square. Apparently Krakow has the biggest square in all of Europe, so I’m very glad I saw it. I think it’s really cool how all the buildings are lit up at night. It looks like the statues and decorations on the buildings are glowing.

On Saturday I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. This was a very sad and moving experience, but also very informative. It was very surreal* to walk around on the same ground where so much terrible history has taken place. I went with 4 other volunteers, so we were able to comfort and support each other. Returning to the hostel that evening we were all very worn-out from the day.

That night we all ate at the hostel restaurant and I was starving. I had a big, delicious pizza. It may have been the best pizza of my life. It had lots of cheese and delicious vegetable toppings. 5 stars for that pizza.

The next day I got up early to explore some of the town. It was a lovely, bright, sunny day. I visited the beautiful cathedral in Wawel Castle and a market near the Market Square. At this market I saw some traditional Polish singing and dancing, along with some traditional games. My favourite game was one where the competitors used a broom to push a cabbage along the ground. I thought that that was pretty funny, but also looked like a lot of fun too!

Although I did a lot over that weekend, there was lots I missed out on. I will have to go back to Krakow again soon.

I look forward to seeing lots of you in class next week. We’ll be learning about Australian schools which should be pretty fun.

I’ll be sure to write again soon!

Sarah