Halloween in Poland

Things have gone much more smoothly over these past few days than they had been going, which is a very welcome change. The weather was much nicer this week, although somedays like today it got a little hot. On Thursday we had a Halloween party for the kids, and that was a lot of fun. The kids here in Limanowa have never experienced Halloween before, so they were very excited when they heard about it. For the party, we first had the kids participate in various Halloween-related activities. These included Halloween themed games and relays, spooky stories, and even a haunted house in the school's locker rooms. We had the party inside, and so we didn't have to worry about weather, and everything went much smoother than things had gone on American Day. The activities were fun game activities, and so I think the kids really enjoyed the party. After the party and the activities themselves, we had a dance for all the kids, or as they call it here, a disco. We have had several discos so far, and I can say that they are a lot of fun for both students and staff. Finally at 11 the disco ended and the kids (and I) went to bed very tired. Overall, the entire day was a great success. Meanwhile, this week has been nice because I have been teaching kids art with my mom. She is a great teacher, and so working with her is a lot more fun and is easier for me. The kids also seem to appreciate having something to do other than writing sentences in English, and I think the class is fun for the kids. Today the entire camp went on a trip to Krakow, which is a couple of hours away from Limanowa. After a rough start (I very nearly missed the bus), the day turned out to be a lot of fun, although the weather was very hot and dry. When we arrived in Krakow, we took a short tour of the city, which included some of the monuments, the main square in the city, and some other buildings. Then, we visited several prominent churches throughout the city. Some of these churches are over 1000 years old, and it was very interesting for me to see buildings like these because there is nothing like them in America. Then, after the tour was over we got a couple of hours to explore a giant five-story mall in downtown Krakow. There were many stores to see inside the mall, and it was good to walk around and see all the shops, even if everything was very expensive. Tomorrow we will be taking a trip to see a bunch of smaller towns around the Limanowa area. I am not overjoyed about taking this trip (I would much prefer some free time to rest and explore the town more), but I think that it will still be interesting to see the types of buildings and people that will be in these small villages. I will take lots of pictures and hope to write back soon.

Bad Weather and Good Times

Things have been going very well here in Poland over the past week, even if not everything has gone quite according to plan. I haven't been able to post in a good while because the computer lab I'd been posting from kept malfunctioning, but now its finally up and running. I also haven't been able to upload pictures yet (sorry), but hopefully those should be coming soon. The past week we have experienced several delays due to weather. Last Friday we had American Day, which was a special day in which we taught the kids all about different American cultures like African Americans, Jewish-Americans, and others. The beginning of the day was just teaching the kids about the cultures, and went fairly slowly, but I was looking forward to having a baseball game, a water-balloon fight and a campfire in the evening. However, those plans were ruined by heavy rain. So, we postponed the activities to Monday night. Then, it rained on Monday night, and we postponed everything again to Tuesday afternoon. Finally we got a beautiful day, and everything went fairly smoothly. Meanwhile, between Friday and Tuesday we had several very enjoyable field trips to a couple of places around the camp. On Saturday we took a tour of the Polish countryside and visited a large Polish market in the town of Zakopane. There were many things to see and buy here, but unfortunately we were only able to stay for about an hour, so I didn't get much chance to look around. However, it was still a fun trip. Then, on Sunday, the American staff alone took a raft ride on the Dunajec river, a long river that serves as the border between Poland and Slovakia. The scenery was very beautiful, and there were many tall mountains as well as several small towns that we saw on the ride. I have also begun to learn Polish from one of the other teachers here at the camp, Margaret. The kids here don't think so, but Polish seems to be a pretty difficult language to learn. There are so many different letters and symbols than in English, and the letters that are the same are pronounced completely differently, so it has been difficult for me, although I think I'm learning more easily than some of the other Americans here. The food has also been getting more varied, which is a welcome change. Although there is still ham, bread, and cheese at every meal, there are other options too, like chicken and fish (and hot dogs :D). I am having a great time here, and while I'll be happy to go home and see my family I think I'll also be sad when I leave here. I hope to write back and post pictures within the next couple of days, so stay posted.

Busy Days

The past several days have been very busy for me and all the other Americans here in Poland. The Polish students have arrived, and me and the teacher I'm working with, Annette, have been working hard every morning to help teach the students better English. We are teaching the students about American foods, and so each day we have a lesson that tells about American breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which are very different from the Polish meals. In Poland, they eat some similar foods for breakfast, but they also eat some very different foods. For example, they eat tomatoes, cucumbers, and ham and cheese sandwiches with their breakfast. At just about every meal I've been to since I've gotten here, there have been ham and cheese sandwiches, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Needless to say I am begginning to get very sick of ham. Another difference in Polish eating is their meals have different names and different sizes. Like in most of Europe, in Poland their three meals are breakfast, dinner, and supper, and they eat their largest meal at midday during dinner, as opposed to Americans eating their big meal in the evening. The food has taken some getting used to, as has, getting up at 7 in the morning during the summer. But there are a lot of fun things to do here, especially after supper. Between supper and the time we go to bed, we have both several hours of free time to spend visiting Limanowa (or go to sleep, in my case) and a couple of hours for an activity we do with the Polish students. So far, all the activities I've done with the Polish kids have been sports. The first day, the activity I volunteered for was Soccer, or Football as they call it here. Needless, to say, there wasn't much to teach. However, yesterday I volunteered for baseball, which was a different matter entirely. Only three or four of the kids had ever played baseball, which was surprising to me. We spent two hours teaching the kids how to throw and catch, as well as some of the basic (very basic) rules of the game. Then, the kids played and impromptu game in front of the school. After being amazed by their mad Futbol skillz, it was very satisfying to see them attempt to play a game that I've grown up playing. They are getting better, but they are no Cleveland Indians. Today was also a lot of fun. Me and my friend Pete, another teacher at the camp, taught a group of the kids Ultimate Frisbee. Not many of the kids had ever played Ultimate Frisbee before either, but the rules are much simpler than baseball, so it was easy to just explain and then play. Me and Pete joined the game, on opposite sides (nothing like friendly competition), and the kids soon got really into the game and we had a great time. Today we also went to the local movie theatre to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and were happy to find that it was english with only Polish subtitles, instead of Polish sound dubbing. I would recommend the movie, as long as you don't watch the last 20 minutes or so. On Friday, the 4th of July, we will be having American Day, where we will be having various activities related to America like a baseball game, American lessons, etc. It should be a lot of fun, so I will try to write back then.

Here at Last!

After a long two long days and a night, I am finally here in Poland! The plane ride didn't go quite as well as I would have hoped: our flight to Chicago was delayed by weather, and we nearly missed our connection at O'Hare to Krakow. Also, our checked baggage didn't have time to transfer from our first flight, so right now I only have my carry-on baggage with me and have 3 pairs of clothes to last me the entire month! However, the important thing is we are here and I'm sure our baggage will find us eventually. Limanowa is in the mountains, and the scenery is very beautiful. The houses and buildings here are very interesting and decorative. The camp itself is not very big, but it is located within the town, so we have easy access to shops, banks, etc. in the town. As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures on the computer I will post some on this blog. The students should arrive tomorrow and Monday, so I hope to write more then.

The Saga Begins

The day has finally arrived! In 7 short hours we will be leaving for Poland. The past few days we have been very busy making preparations for our trip. My mom's been the busiest, because as a teacher she has to plan out all her lessons and get together supplies for them. She has an entire suitcase nearly full of paper, paint, and other supplies for the camp. We will be leaving at 5:00 for Hopkins Airport in Cleveland. Our plane will leave at 7:00 for Chicago's O'Hare Airport, and we will arrive around 7:00 Chicago time. That's going to feel very strange- leaving at 7:00 and arriving at 7:00? Must be a pretty fast plane. After a 2 hour wait, we will finally board a plane for Krakow. During the 11 hour flight, we will cross 7 times zones, so that when we arrive in Krakow it will be 2:00 Polish time. There we'll meet with the rest of the group going to the camp, and then we'll leave for Limanowa. Once we reach Limanowa and I can get to a computer, I'll update the blog with pictures, descriptions of the camp, etc. Until then, thanks for reading.

About this blog

Hey everybody. I'm Malcolm Cole, and this blog is about my family's trip to Poland. We will be leaving on June 26th, and we won't be getting back until July 31st, so this should be quite an adventure! My mom, my sister Jackie and I are going to Poland to work at a camp where we will teach Polish kids about America and help them develop their English. In the meantime, we will be doing jobs to help maintain the camp and taking lessons in Polish (I know some German already, so that may make things a little easier for me). Also, at the end of three weeks we'll get to take a tour of Poland provided by the camp. My mom's a teacher so she'll be teaching lessons, and me and my sister will be teaching assistants. I already know I'm going to be very busy working at the camp, but whenever I get free time I will update this blog with information about what I'm doing, pictures, videos, etc. I will also be checking my email whenever I can, so if any of you back home have any questions for me about the camp, Poland, or whatever you can email me at gsc8907@sbcglobal.net. My email address is in my profile as well. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the blog!