Hello, Warsaw 306!  This is my inaugural blog post and I am so excited to be starting on this 5-month adventure with all of you.

I have met many of you over the past week, but for those of you whom I haven’t yet met – my name is Allyson, I am 25 years old and I hail from Washington, DC in the USA.  I am 3 years removed from university and had been working full-time in Washington as an advertising sales professional up until August of this year -- when I decided to come to Bemowo and teach English! 

My first week here in Bemowo has been a roller coaster ride of emotions.  First of all, meeting my host family – the wonderful Krawczyk clan – and integrating into life with them has been an exciting challenge.  I am the youngest in my family at home, so having two younger host-siblings has been a new experience.  So far Kasia, Maciek and I have been getting along very well.  But, the highlight of this week for me was absolutely my 25^th Birthday celebration on Tuesday, September 18^th! My host-parents organized a fantastic party complete with raspberry meringue cake, Polish ‘Delicja’ cookies (which Kasia couldn’t get enough of), and a load of gingersnaps.  I enjoyed the traditional singing of ‘Sto Lat!’ by my host family & two of our neighbors’ children, and then we dug into the goodies.  It was a great way to ring in my 26^th year on Earth!

My Polish 25^th birthday celebration!

After my first full week of teaching, I was very anxious to reunite with the other Lattitude Volunteers on Friday to compare our experiences, hear the funny stories of our placements so far, and to generally catch up.  The eight of us met up at Coffee Heaven at Centrum and gabbed for nearly 2 hours before walking to Lazienki Park to take in the sights.  The weather, which was supposed to be dreary and cold, held out for us and allowed us a beautiful day of sightseeing!

 

The Lattitude Fall 2012 Volunteers in front of The Palace on the Isle, Lazienki Park.

Saturday was spent with the Krawczyks – I was able to watch Kasia and Maciek practice their swimming and successfully make dinner with Michal, which was a true feat as neither of us are great cooks!

 

Kasia and I at swim practice.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to reconnect with the other volunteers at the Warsaw Uprising Museum.  This museum was incredibly impactful, although there was almost too much information to take in on one day.  It is hard to fathom just how much of Warsaw was lost during World War II…as a history lover, myself, this exhibit really hit home.

And there you have it – my first week (and weekend!) in a nutshell!  See you all this week in and around Bemowo.

Cheers,

Allyson