Second Week of Polish Camp

Hello again everyone. If you're reading this I'm going to assume that you are interested in hearing about the second part of my language camp.

To start off, the first Thursday of Language Camp we had a test on everything we had learned up until then. If you know me personally you can already guess that I did pretty well on the test, I got a 95 of of 100. Honestly though I would say that had more to do with me being good at testing than Polish. But because of this I was moved into the advanced group with people who more or less knew what was going on. One of my new classmates had already been here for 6 months (Southern Hemisphere has their seasons at opposite times of the year so their school year is different.) and another kid who fluently spoke 4 different languages and could speak Polish well enough to have conversations with random Polish people cutting grass. My new teacher was nice but she taught almost the entire lesson only using Polish so I almost never knew what was going on. The only English she used was when she was translating a word directly for us because she couldn't really find a way to do that in Polish. But towards the end of the week she just had the people who knew a fair amount of Polish translate the word for her and kept speaking Polish. I learned a little bit, but my classes were really difficult and my lack of understanding made me space out more than a few times. But on the last Thursday of Language Camp we had another test and I got a B so I guess I was doing better than I though.

Now enough of my difficulties with the language, the only thing you really know about Polish is that it is really difficult to learn if you an English speaker and that there are a lot of rules that pretty much make no sense. So, the more fun parts of the second week were the events we got to do. Rather than taking us on little trips every day, we had a little more free time and generally had games, or something else to do during our nights.

One of them were kind of like the Polish Camp Olympics, they split us up into our various countries, though the US had two teams, the USA team and the International team which was the extra US kids, Canada and Taiwan. I was on the latter one. The games went from medicine ball throw, egg toss, tug-a-war, dressing men up like idiots (I'll go more indepth in that one later because it was funny), and a water ballon fight. The USA team won almost every single event, though Brazil won one, and Mexico kept up with them. My team was so far behind that in the last event, the water balloon fight, we gave up on winning and ignored the rules. Basically we played dodge ball with water balloons, the tug-a-war rope made the center line that we weren't allowed to cross and if you were hit by a balloon you were out. First the USA team played the Mexico team, and the Mexico team was destroyed, making the US team the final victors. After that my team played Brazil and instead of playing dodge ball, my team grabbed balloons and stormed over the line, throwing our balloons at them even after we were hit and even taking some of their balloons to throw at them. It was a lot of fun and the looks on the RA's faces were priceless.

Now to explain the dress-up contest. Basically each of the four teams chose a guy and the idea was to make him look as stupid as possible. We all spent a while trying to make these guys look like women, idiots, or a combination of both. We all did really well. At the bottom I'll post a picture of 3 of the 4 models, you'll hear why the last wasn't in the picture in a moment. Anyway, after we dressed them up, each had to have either their team introduce them to the judges, or they had to themselves. The catch was that they had to introduce them in Polish. So the first few did a few awkward sentences we learned from the week before but my team had the guy who basically spoke fluent Polish as our model. So we had him go up and he spoke really well. But at the same time he gave the judges a strip show, pulling off everything we had worked so hard to put on him. Honestly it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He ended up in just his boxers blowing kisses to the judges. And since he wasn't all dressed up that is why he wasn't in the picture.

Other than that, we watch another Polish movie that I mentioned before. This one was a chick flick call "Just Love Me" but the title was in Polish. To me it seemed like a less funny version of the Adam Sandler movie "Big Daddy". But anything beats Suicide Room so most of us didn't really complain.

Another night we went back to the mall, where my group decided to make a McWhopper by putting a Big Mac into a Whopper. The two who did it said it was delicious. We just kind of messed around at the mall other than that and it was actually kind of cool. Since bread and cheese gets old when you have it twice a day for nearly two weeks I brought a couple McDoubles back from the mall for supper.

The biggest thing we got to do is one night they said that they had a surprise for us and they pulls us all out to this little pasture. We found out that we were going to make lanterns that worked as hot air balloons. If you've seen the movie "Tangled" I think they have lanterns like I'm talking about in those. It was so cool to light each of our lanterns, hold it until the inside filled with hot air and then let it go into the sky.

On our final night of Polish Camp we played some random games with German kids. The first was called "Emergency". It was basically freeze tag but to unfreeze someone four people had to pick them up by their arms and legs and carry them to the mats that served as bases. It was really funny to watch the mall German kids try to lift me, they ended up needing 6 people to do it and they were still pretty much dragging me. The second was kind of stupid so I'm not going to explain it, and at the end we played volleyball, but I played basketball with some of the kids from Mexico instead.

On our last day of Polish camp we had a little ceremony were a girl from my Rotary club (one of the only two times I've seen her.) came down and basically handed us a certificate that said we finished the Intensive Polish Curse. (In Polish course is kurse so the translation got mixed up in a really ironic way because the polish language is a curse.) We all got dressed up in suits and wore our blazers, except for me because I left my blazer with my host family on accident.

Then last Sunday we all returned to our host families, most people having about 10 hour train or bus rides to get home. I was with them all until the end because my host sister had to stay until they were all gone and I stayed with her.

The "Models"

 

McWhopper

Lanterns

Wieliczka Salt Mines

Well I have finally got around to telling y'all about the Wieliczka Salt Mines, one of the biggest attractions in Krakow. I went there a week ago tomorrow with my Polish Language Camp. And just to warn you, when I post pictures they probably aren't ones I took, my camera died before we got to the good parts.

Now I should start off by talking about the stupid dare I did the morning before I went. To make a long story short, some of the girls dared me and two other guys to paint our fingernails like Polish flags for the whole day. So for the entire trip to the salt mine I was mostly complaining that my fingernails were bright red and white. But true to my word I didn't get that stuff off until the end of the night. And yes, Polish people did look at me like I was crazy periodically, especially my host sister.

After we got the the salt mines we had to wait until our group was allowed to go down in them so we had some free time. This was basically spent as souvenir shops where I looked at things and eventually got a pin for my blazer. Later we got some Polish popsicles and sat around in a very pretty park until it was time to go down.

Then we got to enter the mine. We had to go in two separate groups, with about 20 people each. I was in the first group. The first thing we had to do is go down about fifty flights of stairs. It was actually amazing to look at because there was a little hole between them where you could look straight down. At the end of it there was a little black dot which I found out at the bottom was just another fifty flights of stairs with the lights turned off. Then we started into the salt mine.

I'm not really sure how to describe what it looked like. It was a big tunnel with dark rocks, wooden beams supporting it, and what looked like glass in some of the rocks, but that was actually salt. Honestly if you really want to understand just what it looks like though the only way is to come to Krakow and go yourself. Anyway we went through various tunnels, at several points we made out with walls to taste the salt, and got to see magnificent carvings of salt that told a bunch of different stories. We saw a lot of really old methods of moving salt through the mine and learn a lot about the history of the mine. But I still have two more blogs to do until I've caught up to where I am at now so you will just have to look it up or just be content that I know and when I get back to the US you'll have to beat me with a shovel to get me to shut up about it.

We got to see two churches while in the mine, the churches were actually places where people cut a big room out of the rock and carved statues of Jesus into the walls. That might make it sound like a cave, but the first one was pretty, and the larger one was one of the nicest churches I have ever seen, all about a hundred yards beneath the ground and carved out of salt hundreds of years ago. We were even told that rarely proms are held in the church, which caused my group to talk for about ten minutes about how cool it would be if our Polish proms were in the salt mine.

Some other things we saw were underground lakes where the water is so dense that it is impossible to drown in it without specifically trying to kill yourself. Because there is so much minerals in the water, instead of sinking your body would float so well that you couldn't even swim under the water. But sadly we weren't allowed to swim in them, though I did throw of couple coins into it like a giant wishing well.

There was a lot more things that we saw, but most were just different ways to move salt, more history, more stories and legends about the mine, and more salt and lakes. Since I don't have time to tell you about all of that, and I already explained what those things were I'll just move on to exiting the mine.

At the end of the mine there were of course big gift shops for souvenirs and as we kept going through the tunnels that led to the exit (which is all several hundred feet underground) we saw a buffet, a fine dining restaurant, and even a bank, all in this mine. It was actually really funny. Sadly we only went to the third of 9 levels, the rest either being too dangerous or, as in the case of the 9th and last level, flooded with water. Instead of going back up several hundred flights of stairs to leave the mine, they shoved us into these little three story elevators and told us to scream so that our ears will pop. Then the elevator shot us up really fast and before we knew it we were back on the surface. After that me and two of my new friends here got these really tall ice cream cones and we all went to see one of those 3D sidewalk paintings. It was really cool, but I also thought that they look better in pictures.

From there we went back to the camp. Now I'll show you some pictures the other exchange students took.

The Tunnels of the Mines

Statues Carved of Salt

They tell a story that has to do with the mine.

The First Underground Church

(The tiles on the floor are just carved out of salt)

The Second Underground Church
The chandeliers are carved out of salt.

 

The 3D Painting

Krakow

Hello again from Poland. I hope everyone reading is enjoying their lives in the US while I am here. Last Sunday I finished Polish Language Camp and returned to my host family, but I figured I'd fill everyone in on what happened after my first week of Language Camp.

The first Saturday, or Sobota, of Language Camp the exchange students were taken to see the Krakow Main Square. This is what I talked about visiting before with my host parents. I got to see some of the same things and saw a few new things as well. One of them was the castle in Krakow where ancient kings used to live. I couldn't take any pictures inside because we weren't allowed to, but it was an amazing place. I did get to take pictures of an ancient bell though, only used on extremely special occasions, the last of which was when the Polish Pope John Paul II became a Pope, which was a historical event for the extremely catholic Polish people. On a side note, it is actually difficult to go five minutes without seeing something Pope related here in Krakow. But after that we returned to the main square and got free time to explore it. During that day there was actually a pierogi festival going on in Krakow so the first thing most of us did was follow my host sister to where the pierogies were being sold. I ate five of the traditional Polish dumplings, though I had already had them with my host family my third afternoon in Poland. With my host family I had pierogies filled with mashed potatoes and a kind of Polish cheese, but in Krakow I had strawberry filled pierogies and meat filled pierogies. So far my favorite are the meat filled pierogies. After finishing our pierogies, my new friends and I (the four of us are from different places in the US) got on a horse drawn carriage. I was actually only $15 dollars for the four of us. That took fifteen minutes, after which I showed my group some of the things I had already seen in the town square. After getting some souvenirs we all went up this really tall tower that is older than the US to get a great view of the city. The problem was that the stairs were steep, the ceiling was low and I was clumsy. I spent most of the climb up complaining that I was going to trip, roll down the stairs, and kill myself and everyone below me..... my friends made sure to climb in front of me. But I managed to make it to the top without dying or killing anything and was rewarded with a spectacular view of the city.....then we had to go back down. This time I did trip though I only tweaked my ankle. The rest of the climb down was painful but manageable. From here we went to see some art and had some really fancy ice cream before meeting up with our group.

From here we went to see some more of Krakow, including the Jewish portion of it. They explained some of the scenes from the movie Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg were shot at some of the places we went to as well as that the movie was entirely shot in Krakow. We got to see many many historical things, more than I have time to write about. After that we went to a portion of the Jewish Quarter where there are a lot of clubs and such that college students hang out at. My friend Luis from Chicago found a kind of sandwich you can only get in Krakow and got mad that I live here and not him after eating it. We found some shops that were interesting, one sold butterfly knives, I thought was interesting to see something that is illegal in the US sold for 45 zloty (50 zloty is about $15 for comparison.), and I also found one of the head massagers from Mrs. Szczepaniak's class. I spent the next hour going around and sneaking up on the other exchange students and using it on them, laughing when the jolt it sends down their backs made them jump. After that though we had to return to the castle where our bus was waiting for us to take us back to the school.

Well I was going to write about everything I did this last week, then I realized that just Saturday (Sobota) took a novel to explain, and the Polish Salt Mines will probably take another one. So I'm going to write about that tomorrow.

Giant Bell

View From the Tower

Polish Language Camp

Well, now that I have a little more time I figured I'd fill anyone who is reading in on my time here at Polish Language Camp.

First of all, Polish is a very hard language to learn, the first day of classes felt like an eternity and I barely understood anything we were learning. But the days that followed it got easier and easier. At the end of the first week we had a test, it was on Thursday. I actually did really well on it, I've always been good at tests. So sadly I was put in the most advanced group, which is much harder. I made a very important realization, I am a lot better at universal languages like math than I am at foreign languages.

But at the same time as that I've met all the other exchange students, most being from the US or Brazil but we have one from Canada, one from Argentina, two from Taiwan, and a handful from Mexico. Most of them are really nice, and it was good to see people who didn't mind me speaking a lot of English. I've learned a lot about different cultures here, and it is really interesting to see the different ideas, morals, and behaviors from each of the different countries. One of the best things is being able to sit down with someone and discuss what someone's country is like and how it is different from your stereotypical impressions of the country. Hell, even with all the Mexicans in Arizona, I've learned a lot about Mexico while being here.

We go on a bunch of little field trips to see different things. One of them was to a monastery on a national Polish holiday, one of the only 12 times every year that women are allowed to enter the monastery. It was really nice, I took a bunch of pictures but there I realized that my camera was dying, so from that point on I have had to take pictures by turning my camera on and then quickly turning taking a picture and turning it back off. The coolest thing about the monastery though was a room where you can stand in one corner and whisper and a person in the opposite corner of the room can hear you as if your were standing right behind them.

We spent some time at a Polish mall in Krakow, where I bought some clothes and realized that even Burger King tastes better in Poland. I think they actually use beef in their burgers here, and they are big enough to actually be called Whoppers. I made my host sister, who is basically an RA here, teach me how to use a Polish ATM, which was sadly harder than it should have been.

We saw a really depressing Polish move about a kid who becomes depressed and kills himself at the end, I'm about to watch another and even though they said it won't be a sad movie, after the crappy movie they showed us, I will never trust films made in Poland again. That really was the worst part of Language Camp so far.

And lastly we had a dance, before supper we all showed dances from our countries, and learned two Polish dances, one was a very formal one that are used at Polish "proms" on the entrance where you basically walk around in beat, and the other is a really fun one where you jump around in a circle and send the girls around the circle to dance with each guy.

With all the fun stuff explained I should tell you about my schedule here. I usually wake up at 7:00 AM, which since I'm 9 hours ahead of Arizona is probably about 10:00 PM where you are, go back to sleep until one of my roommates gets out of the shower at about 7:30, 10:30, and then I shower, get dressed, and go to first breakfast at 8:23, 11:23. From here I have class at 9:00, 12:00AM, and second breakfast starts at 10:30, 1:30, and I go back to class at 10:50, 1:50. This second class lasts until 12:20PM, 3:20, and I have a fifteen minute break. At 12:35, 3:35, I go back to class until 1:20, 4:20. After this we have free time at 2:00, 5:00, until 3:00, 6:00, when we have to study. I get all of this done before most of you even consider waking up. From there we have random activities until supper and then after supper we have random activities to make sure we don't have too much free time. We'll finish just before 10:00, 1:00, and be in bed by 11:00, 2:00. So basically I finish my whole day before anyone is out of school in Arizona.

The Monastery

 The View from Polish Language Camp

My First Few Days in Poland

Alright, so now onto the more exciting stuff, well more exciting for you, I'd still rather be eating. My first time in Europe was when I got off the plane in Munich, Germany. I spent a little bit wandering around the airport trying to navigate everything that was written in German. But eventually I found my terminal and waited for my flight. I also explored some of the gift shops while waiting, and they were all about 50% German alcohol, 25% German chocolate, and 25% other German stuff. Then I got on my plane where instead of telling you to fasten your seat belts in English they first said it in German, then Polish, then English. The next thing I noticed was that instead of giving you honey roasted peanuts in the airplane, they gave me a small loaf of bread with some kind of cheese in the middle. I prefer the bread. Then I landed, and in the small airport in Krakow, or Krakoov as I now say, rather than having those little bridges from the terminal to the plane they hooked up a set of stairs to my plane and put us on a little bus to get us to the airport. Then I met my host family.

The next thing I noticed about Poland is the driving, they drive on the right side of the road like us.....sometimes. There are really only lines and things like that on highways and freeways. On normal roads you just have asphalt and crazy Polish drivers. My host dad drove us home in the middle of the road, only moving a few feet to the side when another car came. Plus the roads in Poland are about 3/4ths as wide as they are in the US. Getting into a car here is one of the scariest things you can do. But I found my house, which is exactly what I had seen when I searched my address on google maps and got shown a picture. It is 3 stories tall and the roof is really slanted. And in the middle of it a brick wall runs over the roof splitting the house in two, which is kind of odd, but realizing that your house is only on one side of the brick wall and the other side is actually an entirely different house is pretty easy to get used to. For the next four days I mostly laid around my host family's house, finished two books, watched Iron Man, Iron Man II, Captain America, Thor, and the Avengers with my host sister that speaks perfect English.

On Friday my host family took me to see downtown Krakow, where just about everything is older than the US. I had a great time there, found out that Polish ice cream is good, and that instead of hot dog stands on the streets they had pretzel stands, which have very good pretzels. I got to see the castle, heard the story about the dragon in Krakow, saw the statue about the story which actually breaths fire. I got to see my school, which looks like a college compared to Parker High. And too many other things to name but I'll post some of my favorite pictures here so you can see what I'm talking about.

My School

The Dragon Statue

FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I finally got to Poland. I've been here for just over a week but it already feels like I've spent a year here. I'll do another post after this about some of the stuff I've done so far, but I realized after getting here that the first post on my blog must be entirely devoted to Polish food.

First I should explain Polish meals. We don't have breakfast, lunch, and a big dinner here. We have breakfast in the morning, second breakfast at about 11, dinner at about 3 which is the largest meal of the day but I usually just think of dinner as lunch because of when we have it, and finally we have a small meal at about 8 called supper. I don't really know the polish names for all the meals, and I doubt you would know what they meant if I named them. For now most things I talk about will be English translations. Now on to how the food tastes.

THE FOOD HERE IS SO F***ING GOOD! I'm a little scared to go back to America because the food here is so much more fresh. All the bread is cooked that morning, all the meat is slaughtered that day, and Polish food in general is delicious. So far the best thing I've had here was what my host mom cooked for me the first afternoon I was here. It was chicken rolled up like a tortilla with cream cheese filling, so something like cream cheese. It was so hot when they served it that I had a burn mark on the room of my mouth, but after that it was so good. Since getting here though I have only not liked two things, one was part of a dessert I got from my host parents, it was this sugary cake that was really really good, it tasted like honey, chocolate, and sugar. But served with it was almost like cinnamon whipped cream, which I ate all of, but it wasn't very good. The second kind was this rectangle of white goop that I couldn't even swallow, luckily it wasn't around my host parents, I got this at the language camp I am at currently. Other than those though, even things I didn't like in the US are delicious here. And I still can't get over just how fresh everything is here. Rather than going to a supermarket once a week or so like in America, Polish families go every morning to a small store right down the street and get their food for the day, which is all butchered, baked, or whatever else they need done to it fresh that day.

Just above this I'll post about all of the things I've been doing since I got here, but for now I'm done ranting on the deliciousness of Polish food.

Where I'm going.

Today I found out what city I'm going to and who my first host family will be. The town is Zielonki, a city a couple miles out of Kraków which is a major city in southern Poland. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO WRESTLE NOW!  And my first host parents will be Robert and Iwona Pierzchała.