A Christmas Party (of course)

Once I used the phrase 'of course' when I was speaking to my students and they asked me to explain what it meant. Now, one 3rd grade boy has decided it is his new favorite English phrase, or so I have inferred from his frequent employment of the phrase.

"Are you finished with your snack?" I'll ask him.
"Yes, of course."

Later, "Do you have your homework?"
"I have the homework, of course."

The students wrote about their favorite school subject and I get a paper that says, 'P.E. is my favorite subject. Of course.' I knew who wrote that one right away. It's so funny what the students pick up. But it also reminds me to be very deliberate with whatever I say in class!

A trip to Stockholm from Gdansk costs about $20 round trip so I decided that this would be an excellent destination for my first trip outside of the Poland in Europe (of course). But more about this trip later.

The day before I left for Stockholm was the school Christmas party. I was told that the Christmas party was quite the shindig, so I was excited to see how the Poles celebrated and to eat all the traditional foods. I was teaching the entire day, but I brought a fancy dress in my backpack, changed into some not-so-practical-for-teaching shoes, and did a quick transformation at the school as everyone was arriving for the party. My boss arrived looking beautiful in a floor-length dress and her husband was decked out in a fancy suit, so I immediately knew they weren't kidding about the party being a formal occaision. The main room in the school was transformed into a dining room for the night, and it was absolutely beautiful! Formalities were completed, important school members introduced, and then dinner was served. Except 'dinner' doesn't quite do justice to the incredible meal that was served. The Polish people celebrate Christmas with twelve traditional dishes, and the tradition is that you must eat each dish, otherwise you run the risk of having bad luck for the year! Well, trying all of the food was by no means a problem for me! The main course was wild boar, hunted by the school director himself. This was accompanied by pierogis, salads, meats and cheeses, potatoes, beets, soups, chestnuts, Silesian dumplings known as kluski, and more that I can't even remember! And dessert (of course) of gingerbread, apple pie, and chocolate! If it sounds like a huge meal, be assured that it was!

During the meal, the school director collected money for a children's charity, and did a raffle for prizes if you donated. I won an adorable fox mug that I'm pretty sure was made for me and... a giant bottle of whiskey. My boss told me, "Jenny, everyone likes you, but now that you have whiskey they like you even more!" I had no idea what to do with a giant bottle of whiskey though, so I offered to trade with a Polish co-worker. He agreed, but only if I did it in Polish (luckily he was willing to teach me the Polish way to trade, I guess the whiskey was good motivation)! Maybe if I get more whiskey I can get myself a Polish tutor!

It was pretty late by the time we finished eating and partying. A coworker drove me home (which was greatly appreciated considering my not-so-practical-for-teaching shoes) and I attempted to pack for Sweden while fighting off the urge to sleep off the giant meal. But the entire Christmas party was really lovely and so exemplary of the wonderful hospitality and generosity of all the Polish people I've met and spent time with. I am reminded again how lucky I am to have found such a great school to work at for my first job abroad!

My Buddy Copernicus

 Frombork is about 20 miles from Elblag situated right on the coast of the Baltic Sea. After a Saturday morning teaching at school, I hopped on a bus to Frombork hoping to make the most of the rest of the day and do a little exploring. Frombork is a very ramshackle little town; there are docks and fishing boats along one end, and houses and buildings in various states of disrepair as you walk your way up from the coast.. As you turn and face southward, however, you see a different side of town - Cathedral Hill - the centerpiece of Frombork.

Cathedral Hill

Copernicus the bodyguard

Cathedral Hill, aptly named after the gigantic cathedral dedicated to St. Mary and St. Andrew that sits atop it, is guarded by a giant statue of Nicolaus Copernicus. Frombork gains its fame from the astronomer who lived and worked as a church cleric in the town in the 16th century, and used it as a site for many of his scientific observations. The cathedral and buildings on the hill are encircled by a fortified 14th century wall. I climbed my way up the hill and infiltrated the castle fortifications (by infiltrated I mean I walked through the gate). Except for a group of older Polish men and women with their tour-guide, I was the only other tourist there, so I followed the group around in order to see what places I was allowed to go inside. I saw the beautiful (and massive) cathedral, the belfry with its Foucault's pendulum, and Copernicus' tower which is arranged to resemble Copernicus' study.

Invading the castle

The Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Andrew

And the overwhelming interior

Castle fortifications

Frombork, like Elblag, suffered massive damage after WWII, so a great deal of the town was reconstructed towards the end of the 20th century. Interestingly, the reconstruction effort was lead by Polish boy scouts.

I walked to the coast and enjoyed the picturesque ocean view until I decided that the freezing wind made the scenery slightly less picturesque. I spent the rest of my time hanging with Copernicus in the town square before heading back to Elblag on the bus.

Ocean view

My buddy Copernicus keeping warm

The Polish Capital

 Teaching English continues to be both challenging and amusing. The other day a boy told me he had a 'turntable' as a pet (he meant a 'turtle'). My own experience speaking the Polish language continues to be frequently aided by the use of enthusiastic charades.

I visited Warsaw in November for a brief day trip. Warsaw is about a four hour drive from Elblag, so I hopped on a Polskibus really early on a Saturday morning and set out for a visit. No one I've met in Elblag is a fan of Warsaw. Most of my friends and students have told me it's dirty and there's not many interesting sights there. I found this description to be true for the most part. Warsaw has a smallish Old Town, rebuilt after the war, a large shopping selection, and a handful of museums, but for the most part I felt like I had seen most of the sights worth seeing after only a day traversing the city.

I started off in the Old Town, in the rebuilt Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy). Both the square and the Royal Castle for which it is named were rebuilt after WWII with the bricks from the original buildings (and some shipped from places around Poland like Elblag). The Royal Castle is a copy of the original which had been built in the 14th century, became a royal residence for Polish and later Russian monarchs, and later served as the residence of the president after WWI. These days it's a museum full of historic art and furniture from the days of royalty.

Plac Zamkowy, the main square

Branching out from the main square is Ulica Nowy Swiat, the main historical street that was a part of the 'Royal Route' that runs from the Royal Castle to the (17th century royal residence at Wilanow). The street is packed with shops and restaurants. Along my way down the street, I happened to pass by the Presidential Palace at exactly noon, as the bells were ringing the hour and the changing of the guard was taking place.

King Sigismund's Column and impending rain

Changing of the guards

 Later in the day, I visited the National Museum, full of art and sculpture from famous Polish artists through history, and the notorious Palace of Culture and Science. The Palace of Culture and Science, a 'gift from the Soviet people' in 1955 has been viewed with varying degrees of dislike by the Poles since it was built. According to one of my Polish adult students, "The best view in Warsaw is from the top of the Palace of Culture and Science because that's the only place you can't see the darn thing." I remember having a Polish professor at Loyola who expressed a similar opinion. Originally named after Stalin, the palace was disliked for the suggestion it presented of Soviet control, as well as simply because many residents thought the Socialist Realist architectural giant ruined the aesthetic of the city. The palace is still the tallest building in Poland, and inside there are museums, theaters, and recreational centers. The Polish people frequently refer to the palace using various nicknames, including 'pajac' (clown) and 'patyk' (stick) which are similar to the word for palace, 'palac,' and more colorful names like 'Stalin's syringe' or the 'Russian wedding cake.'

Warsaw's National Museum

The Palace of Culture and Science

A street or two behind the Palace of Culture and Science, sequestered within a cluster of flats, is the last remaining piece of the Jewish Ghetto Wall. The wall now is a small monument and historic reminder of Warsaw's past.

It was too late to get into another museum and too cold and wet to enjoy the parks, so I opted for a cup of coffee in a cafe on Nowy Swiat before making my way back to the bus station, humming Chopin for thematic atmosphere.

 

Gingerbread Town

November was a busy month! I've been working a few Saturdays for a test prep class at my school, I've done a little substitute teaching, and I've gotten two new students for separate tutoring sessions, so I've been in high demand at work. Even though I'm new to full-time teaching and by no means an expert yet, being one of the native English speakers at the school automatically makes me really useful, which is a nice thing to be! I'm catching up on the last few trips I took over the past month, so stay tuned!

I've gotten pretty comfortable here in Elblag, and now that I know my way around public transportation, I'm starting to venture out a little farther from town on the weekends. For my first trip, I visited Toruń, a town about 4 hours south of Elblag. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. It was the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus as well as a former hangout of the Teutonic Knights who built Malbork. It survived most of the destruction of World War II, so much of the architecture in the Old Town dates back to the medieval times. There are three huge Gothic churches, St. John's, St. Mary's, and St. James', the Old Town Hall in the city's main square which dates back to 1274, and the ruins of another castle used by the Teutonic knights in the city.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty foggy the day I went, but I still managed to find all the major sights. Along with the old churches and buildings in Old Town, Toruń has a famous leaning tower which was built in the 14th century. When it started leaning in the Middle Ages thanks to the unstable ground, no one bothered to do anything about it. Luckily, it's been stable ever since. The tradition is to lean against the wall with the back of your feet touching the bottom of the tower and try to keep your balance. It's actually really hard!

Torun's leaning tower

Yep, definitely leaning

Stare Miasto - Old Town

A church choir practicing with Copernicus

Some miniature Teutonic Knights

Old Town Hall

I spotted these funny figures on top of one of the old walls

St. Mary's Church

I also wandered into the other castle built by the Teutonic knights. Toruń's castle was much smaller than the one in Malbork, but I climbed around on the ruins and looked at the exhibits for a little while. I went into the basement of the castle to look at some exhibits, and as I was wandering through the rooms, I walked right into the most terrifying mannequins I'd ever seen. It turns out that the castle hosts a haunted house every year around Halloween, and they had yet to take the decorations down! I laughed about it, but only after I ran out of there!

Besides its historical sights, Toruń also happens to be famous for 'pierniki' known as gingerbread in English. There's a museum dedicated solely to the making of gingerbread in the town. It's quite an art form. Apparently when the composer Frederic Chopin was visiting Toruń back in the 1820s, he said something like, 'All these famous historical sights in Toruń are cool, but it's the gingerbread that's impressed me the most!' You can get really elaborate gingerbread designs from the bakeries in Toruń. I went into a bakery to buy some gingerbread, and was overwhelmed by the selection. I ended up asking for one of each type of gingerbread cookie to try (each one had a different filling like marmalade inside). It was my souvenier!

Unintentionally Funny

Teaching English has its challenges. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is trying to keep a straight face when a student unintentionally says something funny during a lesson. Mistranslations and pronunciation mistakes yield some interesting sentences and situations in class.

The other day I was teaching my third graders transportation words and the word 'ship' was on the vocab list. I held up the flashcard, pronounced the word, and gestured for the students to repeat. Unfortunately, about half the class apparently misheard me and thought the /p/ sound was a /t/. So it was that half of my third graders proceeded to unintentionally and collectively curse in class. I was quick to correct that error!!

The Poles are especially cute when I try to teach them to pronounce the /r/ sound (which always comes out as a /w/) or the /th/ which is always mispronounced as an /f/. I had to try so hard to stay serious as I tried to teach my class of adults to pronounce the word 'rare.'

"Repeat: rare," I directed them.
"Wawe," they said.
"Rrrare," I demonstrated.
"Wwwawe," they said.
And so it went.

A misused preposition never fails to have my class of teenage boys in an uproar (yes, the class is all boys).

Maybe it's my English teacher humor, but this video had me cracking up:

 Just remember: don't cry over spilled chickens before they're hatched.

All Saints' Day

While Halloween may not be an important day for the Polish, the two days after - November 1st and 2nd - are big holidays in Poland. The 1st and 2nd are the Catholic holidays of All Saints' and All Souls' Day. All Saints' Day (Wszystkich Swietych in Polish) is an official public holiday in Poland so everything is closed. The day is specifically intended as a day of memorial for family members and friends who have passed away. In the days leading up to the holiday, people go to the cemeteries and clean the graves of their family members. On All Saints' Day, special church services are held and family members get together to celebrate. Everyone gathers at the cemetery and graves are decorated with flowers and candles and pine branches.

I didn't know about this holiday until I asked why all the stores were suddenly selling so many candles. My school director told me that I must go visit the local cemetery on the weekend to see how beautiful it all was. When I set out on Sunday, I wasn't actually quite sure where the cemetery was located, but found that it was easy to locate by following the crowds of people headed there. By late afternoon, all the graves had already been decorated. Not a single one was left empty. My boss told me that strangers decorated the graves that were bare because family members could not visit. Yellow, purple, white, and red flowers blanketed the graves, and candles and lanterns were arranged in careful displays. People were everywhere, praying and talking. While the holiday seems very solemn, the mood was actually quite joyful. Families were gathered, laughing and chatting, little kids were roaming around, and there was even a stall set up selling food and cotton candy outside the cemetery. It was a memorial, but also a celebration.

I stayed until the sun starting setting and all the candles were lit. There were thousands. Light overflowed from the candles and lit up the whole cemetery. Candles glowed steadily on every grave. Hundreds more were placed around a crucifix in the center of the cemetery for loved ones who were buried far away. People continued to gather and say prayers.

When I left the cemetery, I could still see all the lights from blocks away. All the candles were lit again the following day for All Souls' Day. It was really one of the most beautiful holiday traditions I have ever observed.

Just Like Medieval Times

Last week was filled with activities related to Halloween. Halloween's really not much of a holiday here in Poland, in fact it's even a little controversial with people who are very religious. The kids who do wear costumes usually dress up as angels or saints. The school director encouraged me and my American co-workers to do Halloween-related games and activities in our English classes as a sort of 'culture class.' I had my younger students make construction paper headbands of either a spider, a cat, or a pumpkin as their 'costume' and then we went trick-or-treating from classroom to classroom, which the kids absolutely adored. The school secretaries followed us around taking pictures because the kids looked so cute!!

I personally didn't do any specific Halloween-related things, but on the 31st I decided to take a daytrip to visit Malkbork, which is about 30 minutes by train from Elblag. Malbork is another small Polish town in the north. It's known for the famous Malbork castle, which is an old medieval castle originally completed in 1406. The castle is pretty massive, in fact it's the largest castle in the world by surface area. It was first constructed when Malbork was a part of Prussia. The builders were the Teutonic Knights, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders, who intended for the castle to be a fortress. They named the castle Marienburg (Mary's Castle) and the town of Marienburg (now Malbork) grew around the fortress. Over the years, the castle's been used for everything from housing soldiers, serving as a makeshift hospital, and acting as a destination for pilgrimages of the Hitler Youth in the 1940s. During World War II combat, over half the castle was destroyed and restoration has been ongoing since 1962.

Guys look I found a castle!

Despite the fact that so much of the castle has been restored, when I stepped into the castle courtyard I immediately thought that if everyone there was just wearing more 1400s-style fashion it would feel just like medieval times. The castle's quite big and it was hard to know where to start (unfortunately I didn't get an audio guide because they were all in Polish). I just generally poked around, which was ridiculously fun considering that the castle has plenty of doors that seem like you shouldn't be allowed to go into, but actually open if you try them and lead to rooms with displays. Some of the halls were a little dark and creepy, so it felt appropriate that it was Halloween. I spent several hours wandering inside the castle, and then walked around the outside walls enjoying the beautiful fall day! There were plenty of views to appreciate.

Creepy...