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

Nasza nowa wolontariuszka:)

Allyson ma 25 lat i przyjechała do nas ze Stanów Zjednoczonych:)

This weekend I spent time with my host family ☺ My host sister Agata had her 8th birthday party. It was good to see that birthday parties are the same everywhere no matter what country you are in. I didn’t do much on Sunday although I did enjoy getting a bit of sun ☺

During the week I said goodbye to Betty as she left to go home. Betty and I have lived together for this entire experience so it’s very weird not having her at the house anymore.

Classes as always have been lots of fun this week. I just can’t believe I only have 6 more working days with you all and then I’m finished and you kids (and teachers are all on holidays).

Caitlyn:)

This weekend saw the beginning of the Euro Cup. This was an interesting experience for me as Australian Rules Football (AFL) is our most popular sport so I’ve never really sat down and watched a proper game of soccer. On the Friday Betty, Robert (Betty’s German friend) and I watched the soccer at a restaurant so that we could watch the games on a big screen ☺ however I much preferred on the Saturday when we went to the fan zone in Warsaw where we were surrounded by people cheering for there teams ☺

All week I had students asking me who I was going to barrack for in the soccer and of course I’m going for Poland ☺ Hopefully this year will be the year they win ☺

Caitlyn:)

During the week I didn’t really do a lot with most classes off on excursions I had a lot of free time. During this free time I caught up some reading. I read all 3 hunger games books which I enjoyed a lot ☺

I also went Pole Mokotowskie park this weekend to catch up with all the Lattitude girls that are placed in Warsaw. It was a nice day so we spent the afternoon just hanging out ☺

Caitlyn:)

This weekend I celebrated my 19th Birthday. I got to speak with many of my family and friends but I plan to celebrate my birthday with them when I get home in July. Betty took me out to celebrate my birthday and it was fun night ☺

This week during school I got to read some aussies books to my classes. Teaching them Aussie slang like “Aussie, Mozzie, Croc and Roo”. We had lots of fun with it ☺ I’m hoping to have some new aussie books sent to Beata by the time you all start back at school after the summer holidays☺ 

Caitlyn:)

This week was pretty normal! Prague was so beautiful! I would love to go back some day! In some of my classes we learned more about Canada and actually made some arts and crafts! The younger classes made Beavers ( Canada's national animal) and one of my older classes made dream catchers, a traditional art made by the Canadian First Nations People. They all turned out GREAT! hopefully I get more chances to make some more beavers and dream catchers Betty :D

This week I was home for my three days of work and then Betty and I were off to Prague with some of our Latittude friends. We had a great time. Everyone had been telling us how beautiful Prague was and it definitely lived up to my expectations.

We explored a lot of Prague but the old town was definitely my favourite place. I am still fascinated by all of Europe’s old buildings. We also made the hike up to the Prague Castle and got there in time to see the changing of the guards which was pretty cool ☺

Overall it was a great weekend and was good to catch up with other people and hear about there placements ☺

Caitlyn