What a difference a week makes!  Back in good health this past week, I had a great time with the kids at school – learning about American sports! – and a fantastic weekend away in Wroclaw.

 

As I mentioned, this week’s focus was on American sports, which happens to be a subject I am very fond of!  It was interesting to see the difference in knowledge-level between different classes and grade levels when it came to sports in America.  One third grade class was FULL of boys who loved baseball and basketball, going so far as knowing some of the popular professional teams in the US!  Other classes, however, had never seen or played any of the American sports we were discussing.  Each group made for a very different, but equally lively conversation and presentation…

 

After a wild week of sports in the classroom, it was off to Wroclaw for a weekend getaway with some of the other Lattitude Volunteers in Warsaw – Emily, Maddy, and Nicole.

 

We left late Thursday afternoon on the Polski Bus and arrived in Wroclaw just after 10pm.  After grabbing a very late dinner (the bus never stopped for food as expected!), we headed to bed in anticipation of two long days of sightseeing on Friday and Saturday!

 

On Friday we started off with an amazing breakfast – my first meal of eggs and bacon since coming abroad – and then spent the afternoon roaming around the Wyspa Piasek and the beautiful botanical gardens before finishing up the day with a (very tiring!) climb up Mary Magdalene Church’s tower.

 

On the Wyspa Piasek with Emily, Nicole and Maddy.

Day two of our weekend getaway was more on the lighter side.  We got an early start on Saturday morning – with our “Dwarf Map” in hand – and set out to find all 79 dwarf statues scattered around the city.  Let me tell you – Dwarf hunting can be exhausting!  We walked around for 3 hours and had only found 36 dwarfs…feeling accomplished enough, we took a break for lunch and wrapped up our day at the Raclawicka Panorama.

 

In the middle of a fierce day of dwarf hunting!

The trip back to Warsaw on Sunday seemed to take ages – the bus was crammed, the wifi went in and out the entire ride.  But, alas, we finally arrived back “home” at 4pm and settled in for another fun week of teaching ahead…

 

‘Til next time!

Allyson

Well, Warsaw 306 – not much to report on from last week!  Both Beata (my mentor at school) and I were well under the weather as I mentioned in my last blog (Strep throat and Tonsillitis got the best of me), and as a result we both stayed home from school for the week.

My sick week included a LOT of sleeping, and barely leaving the house for 7 days.  But, come Friday I was feeling a bit better and ventured out to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, with two of my volunteer friends.  I came away impressed with the movie (it’s great!) as well as the movie theater…who knew you could reserve seats for a movie??  That is a genius idea!

Other than recovering and Skyfall, however, my week was extremely low key and uneventful…hopefully there will be more to share next week!

Allyson

Happy Halloween, Warsaw 306!

I was a bit delinquent last week in my blogging (my apologies!) so this installment will cover two wild weeks in one… 

Last week started off pretty standard.  I spent a second weekend in a row here in Warsaw, finding some time to go to the Warsaw Zoo on Friday the 19^th, and dining at an American/Asian fusion restaurant, called Sphinx, with some of the other Lattitude volunteers on Saturday.  Although the temperature said it was supposed to be in the 60’s that weekend…it was becoming very obvious that cold weather was near!

The zoo was by FAR my favorite part of the weekend, although it was a challenge to find at first!  We hopped on Tram 4 after meeting at the Palace of Culture and after my inaugural tram ride across the Vistula, the four of us finally made it to our destination after asking no less than five polish folks for directions.  The words lewo and prawo were key in getting us there!  Thank goodness for the brief ‘directions’ lesson from orientation week…

With the chilly weather, many of the animals had been moved indoors (read: horrible smelly buildings through which zoo-goers were allowed to walk); but in just over an hour at the zoo we were able to see the vast majority of the animals – save the elephants whom I think have already been shipped to warmer climates for winter.

 

Bri, Maddy, Casey and I having some fun at the photo wall!

Maddy and I having dinner at Sphinx.

 

After our Zoo and Sphinx adventures it was back to school for us.  The school week (October 22-25) was definitely the coldest yet, although still very much bearable.  With some of the teachers having to be absent, and other classes going on excursions, my class schedule was a bit jumbled – with me even teaching my own lesson altogether under the guidance of Mr. Kuvalchek (sp?).

Last week’s topic was Halloween!  And for a country that doesn’t celebrate Halloween with any regularity, I was stunned by how much the kids knew about the fun holiday! After an interactive presentation with each class, we had fun coloring jack-o-lanterns, and completing Halloween-themed word-finds to complete the lesson.

Now for an update on week 2 of this two-week blog post…

If the school week of October 22-25 was considered normal, this week (October 29-November 1) was anything but… 

My “week” started off with a fun weekend trip to Budapest with the seven other Lattitude volunteers from Poland.  We took a cheap flight from Modlin (which is surprisingly far out of town…) and got into Budapest in the early evening on Thursday, 10/25.  All went well with the weekend for the most part – we did a dinner cruise along the Danube, created our own self-walking tours of the city, and ate traditional Hungarian foods. Budapest is really gorgeous; it has a truly eastern European feel to it that I have never experienced before.

On my self-guided tour of the city: Standing in front of Heroes Square!

In front of the rolling his of Buda…

 

But, all good things must come to an end, right?

My “good times” came to a crashing halt on Saturday afternoon as I came down with Strep Throat and Tonsillitis.  My incredibly sore throat, pounding headache and achy muscles made for a less than ideal flight and bus ride back home to Warsaw on Sunday, but lots of rest was in my future... 

Coincidence would have it that my mentor, Beata, was also out for the count after losing her voice earlier in the weekend. With both of us sick, we were given the week off from school to recuperate.  And that leads me to today:  Halloween Day.  I guess you could call my costume that of a sick, pale ghost, but in reality that’s exactly what I feel like.

So until next time – and hopefully with better health! – Happy Halloween, Warsaw 306…

It's hard to believe that I've been in Poland for more than a month now, but having just wrapped up Week 5, that is in fact the case...

We had another fun week at school with the kids - spending time revising my presentation on America from last week, learning about the US flag, and ending the week with an introduction to Columbus Day.  I think - or at least hope! - that the students are enjoying our interactive lessons and the break from normally-structured English classes.  I'm certainly having fun with all of them!

 

Rather than jet-setting off for another weekend traveling adventure, this past weekend I chose to stay in Warsaw for some rest, relaxation...and further exploration of the city!  I started with a historical walking tour of Old Town and the former Jewish Ghetto on Friday. 

The walking tour group outside the Warsaw Royal Palace

Although I have seen many of the buildings and monuments we passed before, Michal - our fabulous tour guide - told us the COMPLETE history of each sight, beyond anything I have learned thus far in Poland.  It was an extremely informative day, setting my perspective on how MUCH history Warsaw really has...

Saturday and Sunday were very relaxed.  I spent some time with my host family - playing an unimaginable number of games of "memory" with Kasia and Maciek - and enjoying some much needed time at the gym.  These past few weeks have not been kind to my waistline :)

 

Until next time,

Allyson

Well, week three is in the books and what a fun week it was!  From teaching about my home country – The USA – to touring Auschwitz and the beautiful city of Krakow, this week was action-packed and extremely exhausting…

Although I had Monday off from school because the 2^nd grade had an excursion, this week was by far my fullest week of teaching yet.  I had the opportunity to really take the reins of my classes – along with the fabulous teachers, of course – and share a fun and interactive presentation on the USA.  My presentation covered everything from the size and number of states in the US, to our unfortunate reputation for eating fast food.  The kids really enjoyed the “What is America Known For” portion of the presentation during which they could yell out people or things they thought were “American”.

 

I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that ALL the kids – regardless of age – were able to name each American fast food restaurant that existed in Warsaw…  But, I guess our reputation could be worse, right?!

 

After a fun-filled week at school, I headed to Krakow on Thursday night for a weekend trip with the other Lattitude Volunteers.  There were 8 of us in total and while the 7 others decided to take the train down to Krakow, I gave Polski Bus a try after booking the ticket deal of the century – 1 zloty for the trip from Warsaw-Krakow!

The bus trip ended up taking nearly 6 hours – we hit a small snag when we found ourselves behind a 5-car accident just outside of Krakow – but I arrived safe and sound late Thursday night, ready for a wild weekend of fun!

 

On Friday, all 8 of us decided to tour the former concentration camp:  Auschwitz-Birkenau.  I can’t put into words how impactful that tour was…6 hours of horror is what comes to mind at first, but I think it was important for us to see this history and how it impacted Poland and Europe.

On the way to tour Auschwitz-Birkenau with my fellow volunteer, Bri.

 After a heavy day on Friday, we headed to the Krakow salt mines early Saturday morning.  Although it was an amazing feeling to be 135 meters under the earth, the tour left me wanting more…  Apparently our guide decided not to take our group to the underground lake area, so we missed out on one of the mines BIGGEST attractions.

The Lattitude Volunteers outside the Salt Mines with our tour guide, Sebastian.

 

After wrapping up at the mines, we went back to Old Town to be one with the locals – shopping in the market square, taking a golf cart tour around the city, and exploring the famous Wawel Castle! 

Now onto Week 4!!

 

 

Is Week 2 of teaching really already complete?  Time is flying here in Bemowo!

 

This week I got a MUCH bigger taste of my teaching duties at Warsaw 306 and was able to escape for an amazing weekend getaway to Torun.  The week started out with a healthy dose of the younger children at school…and it still amazes me how nice everyone is!  Hugs and hallway “hellos” are more commonplace here than anywhere I’ve been in the US. 

 

During our classes we did the now-standard “Intro to Allyson” lessons where the kids got to ask me questions (in English!) about where I’m from, what I like to do, what my favorite food is, etc.  The kids were shy at first – with the exception of the Grade 1 youngsters – but after a few minutes everyone got involved.

 

Once Thursday came, it was time to depart on my first weekend trip during my time here in Poland.  This weekend’s destination was…Torun!  Beata, the fantastic volunteer mentor at school, is from Torun and I jumped at the chance to visit her hometown after her selfless promotion of the city during our downtime at school.

 

…and Torun didn’t disappoint!

Hello, Torun!

I was supposed to travel with a couple other Lattitude Volunteers, but after last minute conflicts came up with them, I was left to go solo up to Torun.  Not to worry, though – I had my tripod in tow and a strong desire to see the whole of Poland – I was excited for the weekend either way.

 

I arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and returned to Warsaw on Sunday morning.  My absolute favorite part of Torun was the Leaning Tower!  Not only is the obvious slant of the building something to behold, but I met an American couple while in line to take a picture!  Jan and Carol were there names; and they hail from Portland, Oregon.  We chatted for nearly an hour outside of the Leaning Tower before parting ways so I could explore the city.

My new American friends!

On Day 2 I knocked off the usual tourist destinations in Torun’s Old Town.  The Town Hall Clock Tower (scary to climb!), Copernicus House (neat to step foot in his home!), exploring the Teutonic Castle ruins, and the Church of The Virgin Mary were only a few of the highlights!

Prowling around the Teutonic Ruins…

After a fantastic weekend up North, I returned to Warsaw mid-morning on Sunday to the big celebration of my host-Dad’s Names Day!  The entire family – Michal’s parents, aunt, brother and sister-in-law – joined us for a feast of chocolate cake, fruit and…Torun gingerbread!

 

It was a fantastic week and weekend.  Here’s to more fun to come in Week 3!

 

Cheers,

Allyson

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