Teaching

My classes are going fine.  Its been interesting as I prep each week's lessons to think of examples that are not US-centric.  Its always more meaningful to have examples that you can relate to, so I've been trying to put things in a European context.  I'm also learning more about politics and culture in Poland as they relate to my courses.

I find much of my interaction with students is similar to my students at home.  Some turn in assignments on time, others don't.  Some are in class regularly, others are not.  Some are deeply engaged in the materials, others only marginally so.  Its not too much of an adjustment.  The biggest challenges are administrative.  I don't have an official list of students who are enrolled in my classes.  The students simply have me sign a sheet of paper stating the date by which they must complete their final. I've passed around a sheet for students to sign to provide their email addresses.   There is no online course system where I can post weekly assignment grades.  I've posted an excel sheet on my own class webpage instead.

Tastes of home

We've been enjoying various tastes from home that I shipped over.  I brought spaghetti sauce mix, taco mix, instant oatmeal, and a few other things.  Adam has been eating the oatmeal each morning.  He has enjoyed it so much that when grandma asked what she could bring him from home, he requested more packets of oatmeal : )  The other night I fixed tacos for the first time and at one point during the meal, Adam closed his eyes and said "For one moment there, I imagined that I was back at home eating around the kitchen table".  Its amazing the memories we associate with certain tastes.

Goodbye Grandma - Hello McFall's

We were all sad to say goodbye to Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Meg on Wednesday.  Delaney had a good cry after they left.  But we were excited to welcome Kelly and Jenna to Lublin on Friday!  Jenna is a real trooper - she stayed up all the way across the Atlantic from Dallas to Frankfurt, but finally crashed from Frankfurt to Warsaw.  David met them at the airport and got them back to Lublin by train.  We enjoyed dinner and the kids are now chilling in the living room watching How to Tame Your Dragon.

Lublin Castle and Museum

We visited the Lublin Castle and Museum with the Shaw's.  The highlight of the site is the Trinity Chapel, which has been restored to its 12th century design after being severely damaged over the years by vandals and exposure.  The chapel was for worship of the castle inhabitants. More on the castle

Outside view of the chapel from the museum window (the courtyard was closed for construction).

 Icon on display in the museum.

 Carved wooden statues in the Museum.

Care package from Home

A care package from Delaney's Sunday school class arrived this week - what a fun surprise!  All the kids made cards for her and sent the bible verses they are studying.  The cards are now decorating our refrigerator.  It is wonderful to know that others are praying for us and care for us.  We miss everyone at Grace Presbyterian very much!

Lions in Europe

I love to collect photos of lion statues in Europe.  Here are the lastest to add to my collection:

Clothing misadventures

One of our ongoing challenges in shopping is finding clothes that fit.  I've had a hard time with the European sizing labels.  Some are numbers, some are S M L XL, but none of them are US-equivalent.  Delaney has done the most clothes shopping and because she is so tall, she almost doesn't fit in many of the children's clothing, especially in the shoes.  She wears a woman's size 7 US!  To add to the challenge, Delaney is rather picky about how clothing feels on her body.  The need to find larger underwear (which you cannot try on in most stores), resulted in us purchasing at least 4 pairs that were deemed "unsatisfactory" before finally finding some that don't cause a screaming fit.  Although this was cause to celebrate, they are 'Barbie' which would be very low on my selection list if I had any choice at all.  Oh well.  [My apologies to Delaney for discussing her unmentionables...I'm sure the rest of the family will have similar set backs, but we've avoided doing much clothes shopping thus far.  With spring on the way, however, we will need some warm weather clothes since we only brought winter gear with us.]

Wild West in Lublin??

We saw the strangest thing in the Old City the other day...There was a small filming crew recording these two guys dressed up in Old West attire.  They were miming a gun battle and there was a sound track playing that they were synching their actions with.  The backdrop appeared to be the old castle in Lublin (not the apartments seen in the background from this angle).  Very odd, and kind of entertaining.

Visit from Family!

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Meg arrived in Lublin last night and we spent the day showing them around the city.  We walked around the Old City (Stare Miasto), visited the local flea market, and went shopping for some clothes for Delaney as an early birthday present.  Delaney had fun showing grandma the local grocery store by our apartment.  Tomorrow she will get to  see Delaney's school, and Majdanek (concentration camp), and possibly the old cemetery (depending on the weather).

Birthday party observations

It was fun to watch the kids play at the birthday party that Delaney attended this weekend.  It was pretty similar to a birthday party at home.  The candle on the birthday cake, however, was the coolest candle I have ever seen!  No one else seemed to find it remarkable, so I guess its pretty common here.  It was kind of a combination firework/candle.  It looked like a closed up flower.  When lit, a giant (8 inch) flame shot out of the top for a few seconds, then the whole flower part opened up with a lot of smaller lit candles on the inside.  

I was looking forward to hearing the Polish birthday song, but didn't get to.  I asked one of the mothers if there was a special song sung at birthdays and she said "oh yes, but we forgot!"  Delaney has received two more invitations, so maybe we'll get to hear it then.

One interesting side note:  At one point during the party, one of the girls spilled some juice on herself.  The hostess went over to the bags she used to bring stuff in, and pulled out...a hair dryer!  I was a bit puzzled about why a hair dryer would come to a birthday party (although it was convenient for the girl who spilled).  At the end of the party, however, several of the kids were using it to dry the sweat from their brows.  There were even two more drying devices by the entry way where kids put their shoes back on.  Delaney and I both chuckled about this particular 'convenience', especially since they were blowing hot air!  She opted to go for the "air dry" method.

Delaney's update

I got to go to a birthday party today for one of my classmates: Adam!  It was a lot of fun, except Mom and I got there an hour early! (Europe doesn't change their clocks until the last week of March).  Adam's parents put out lots of yummy treats in the party room.  We got to play on the inflatibles and climb all over the playscape.  The party lasted for 2 1/2 hours.  I was a little disappointed that Adam didn't open the presents at the party.  I wanted him to see the Lego warrior that I picked out for him.  I was pretty tired when we got home.

Lots of yummy treats!  Mom and I found this new kind of chip we want to look for at the store.

I was pretty good at throwing the balls through the target (and at mom!)

This was a really cool narrow beam that you could walk across from one side to the other.

These are some of my classmates:

Brain short-circuit!

Today I tried to short-circuit my brain by having a conversation in French with the mother of one of Delaney's classmates!  

Delaney was invited to a birthday party (pictures and details to follow) and I tagged along.  The parents sat around in the 'cafe' area with tea/coffee and cake while the kids exhausted themselves on the inflatibles and massive jungle gym. Nearly all of the conversation was in rapid Polish, although several parents spoke a little English and had short conversations with me.  One mother came up and asked me if I spoke French.  I said yes and the conversation continued in French.  It turns out that she is a high school German teacher.  The conversation we had was by far the most in depth that I had throughout the party and pretty enjoyable.  I was pleased that I was able to understand nearly all of what she said and make myself understood as well.  She asked if Delaney would like to come over to play at some point and I said that would be nice.  I believe she also extended an invitation to me to visit her classroom during their English studies (but I'm not quite sure I have the details right).  It was soooo weird trying to draw on Polish and French vocabulary to make myself understood.  After spending so much time trying to get my brain working in Polish, it was hard to switch gears to French!

Girls' day out

David and Adam headed to Warsaw yesterday to meet Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Meg.  Everyone made it in safely, although Meg's flight was delayed.  While they explore Warsaw today, Delaney and I are just relaxing.  We did some fun shopping this morning...we both got several new spring time scarves, some seeds and pots for the window sill, and a gift for a school friend who has a birthday party tomorrow.  We also found two necklace chains for the necklaces she got in Rome.

We took a few minutes to wander through a local market to see what was for sale.  It was a really interesting combination...the odor of onions was very strong, along with other vegetables and fruits. (I need to remember to tell David to look for our apples at the market instead of the store - the apples looked delicious!)  There were also a variety of clothes, many of which were nightgowns and lingerie.  Kind of weird experience...onions and bras.

Preparing for spring

We've seen groundskeepers working around the apartments in our neighborhood - first sweeping (with real twig brooms), then picking up trash and raking, and most recently pruning back the shrubs.  The grounds will look so nice as everything starts to turn green and bloom.

Delaney and I are headed to the store tomorrow to indulge in the purchase of some flower seeds/bulbs to plant on our south facing window sill.  (We can give them to our neighbor with a green thumb when we leave, or present them as a gift to some of our wonderful hosts here.)

Delightful visit and play date

Delaney and I were invited over to a school friend's house after school yesterday.  She and her friend Daniel ran around his house, played a board game, played 'futbol' (soccer) in his attic playroom, and watched Scooby Doo (in English!)  Daniel's mom teaches English, so she and I were able to visit while the kids played.  We sipped tea and enjoyed homemade cheesecake that her mother made that week.  They live in the "countryside" (about .1 miles beyond the city limit as far as I can tell).  Its funny how the city ends rather abruptly here with farms/fields immediately where the end of the bus line is.  The house was roomy and pleasant and the kids had a great time running up and down the very steep stairs (aka ladder) to the attic playroom.  They have a large shaggy dog named Magnus who was happy to greet us, but since it had been raining and he was wet, we didn't give him the chance : )

Although I've had a hard time understanding children when I hear them speaking Polish, I didn't have too much trouble with Daniel's little brother Adrian (age 3) because he repeated everything he said lots of time to make sure everyone heard him (haha!) When we pulled in the driveway: "To jest nasz dom, to jest nasz dom!"  (This is our house).  He kept talking to Delaney and expecting her to answer and seemed a bit puzzled when his mom explained that she didn't speak Polish.

We'd love to have them visit our apartment for another play date in the near future...

Housekeeping

Interesting experience figuring out what cleaning supplies to use for the bathrooms and kitchen etc., but we've managed thus far.  The tap water is very hard and leaves lots of calcium deposits within just a few days.  The 'calciclean' stuff takes them right off though!  Its strange how attached you get to certain cleaning products at home and how weird it feels not to be able to use them.  Even the smells of the products are different (and don't always combine pleasantly I've discovered).  Bleach and lemon scents always smell 'clean' to me, lavender...not so much.   I was astounded at how many choices of fabric softeners there were - one brand offered about 20 different scents!  We picked a pink one that David thinks looks like Peptobismol (ha!)  Although we have only a few patches of carpet, I really miss my strong beater-brush vacuum.  The small unit we have doesn't get the job done without repeated passes over the same spot : (

Costume Party pictures

Here are pictures from the kids costume party two weeks ago.  The boy with Delaney is Daniel, who likes her company a lot.

There were lots of princesses and other fun costumes!

Random kindness

I stopped by the post office for some post card stamps today.  I had one with me and needed some extra stamps for the ones at home.  The woman behind the counter provided the two stamps needed for my one post card, but didn't understand my request for more stamps (probably because I couldn't remember the word for "more"!)  I said "I have 2 postcards" and gestured toward the stamp drawer, but she just looked confused and shrugged.  I tried several times in different ways to convey that I needed more stamps and was about to give up when a man behind me kindly said "Can I help you?".  I explained to him, and he clarified my request to her.  I got the stamps I needed.  My thanks to the Polish stranger at the post office today!

Super Cuts in Poland!

No.  There is no "Super Cuts" salon in Poland, but David and I did find a place to get our hair cut.  Its a neighborhood salon just around the corner from our apartment "Haircuts: Women, Men, Children".

We both were badly in need of a haircut and were kind of placing bets about which one of us could go the longest without insisting on a haircut.  Neither of us won, we took the plunge together.  We walked in and I first asked if she spoke English (nie). She managed to convey to us that she was busy but had an opening at 3:00.  (I had some trouble with this at first because pietnascie is fifteen.  I was thinking 15 minutes after the hour, she was saying 15:00 hours.  We figured it out and returned.

David was pleased with his cut.  Mine is fine too.  She took off a bit more than I had indicated, but its ok.  I've had very short hair before and it always grows.  I won't have to go in for another cut for a while : )

(It won't be getting this crazy again for a while!)

Celebrating Women's Day - March 8

Delaney, her teacher, and all her female classmates received a nice gift of flowers from the boys in her class today in celebration of Women's Day.  Thank you men for honoring us today!

Video about Int'l Women's Day

Writing home

Delaney's gymnastics teachers at home asked her to be sure to send postcards, so last night Delaney finally sat down to write one.  She did an excellent job all by herself.  Now all it needs is a stamp and we can send it on its way...

Polish / English lessons

I recently took a little break from my tutorials with Delaney's classmates because we were traveling, and then several of the kids were sick.  I was a bit anxious about continuing it, not knowing if the kids enjoyed it or not, so I emailed Delaney's teacher and she said the kids liked it, so I should keep doing the lessons.  This morning I asked Delaney if she wanted to and she did, so I asked her friend Martina who immediately smiled and grabbed her bag to head up to the classroom with me.  We worked on some words for items around the classroom - pencil, paper, notebook.  I pointed to the carpet in the corner, expecting to get the word "dywan", but Delaney seized the bean-bag instead and we both learned the word 'poof-ek'. We both had a good laugh over this word.  Its fits the item so much better than 'bean bag'.   I don't know how you spell it, because google translate only does a literal translation (ha!).  Some words in Polish are just fun to say, but smaczne (smach-nay) "tasty" is still my favorite!

Broken down bus > detour required

The bus service in Lublin has been very reliable thus far.  Buses run within 5 minutes of their schedule most of the time.  Routes are clearly marked, etc.  Today I was on one of the oldest buses in the system, coming home from dropping Delaney at school.  One stop after getting on, the bus jerked strongly then came to a stop.  The driver said something and everyone moaned a bit and got off the bus.  I just followed them.  I hadn't been at this particular stop before and didn't know what my other options were.  I assumed another bus for the same route would be by eventually, but it would be nice not to have to wait.  I looked closely at the schedules that were posted and saw that another bus came within two stops of our apartment, so I hopped on that one and made it home, discovering a new neighborhood in the process.  Its always an adventure : )

Pickpockets have standards too - apparently

Heard a funny story the other day from an American who had been traveling...
He got on a train and stepped into his compartment.  Two guys joined him and one offered to help him lift his luggage onto the overhead rack.  As they were lifting, his helper 'accidentally' dropped his end, making the traveler bend over to catch it.  After the luggage was up, the two men said "oh, we're in the wrong compartment" and left.  The traveller went to sit down and noticed that his cell phone, which had been in his back pocket, was now sitting on the seat across from him.  The second man had snagged it out of his back pocket when he was lifting his suitcase and he never even felt it. Fortunately his wallet was in his front pocket and was untouched.  He laughed about later because he keeps a very cheap/low tech phone and apparently the pickpocket was able to tell that in the brief moment when he lifted it and then rejected it!

Bus stop - opps!

In Rome, Delaney was curious about why people kept pushing the red buttons after each bus stop.  I explained that it was to make sure the driver stopped.  If no one wanted to get off on a stop, he would drive right on by.  In Lublin they stop at every stop without having to push a button.  However, the other day David and Delaney stepped up to the door to get off, the bus stopped and the other two doors opened but not the back one where they were standing.  David tried to get the driver's attention and failed.  They ended up riding to the next stop and walking back...good thing it was a nice day : )

Trash cans

Note the difference in our recycling bin (blue bag) and our regular kitchen trash can...Nearly everything here is recyclable and is thus recycled.  No sorting, no extra payment, no bother.  What a concept!  Wish we could do this is Wichita.

Dinner in the Old Town

David and I enjoyed dinner out with two other Fulbrighters in town last night.  We tried out another restaurant in Old Town - Magia.  I had spinich lasagne with eggplant and chicken.  David had pasta with lamb.  Both were quite yummy.  It was nice to visit with Dave and Gary.  Gary is in Lublin for the second time as a Fulbright and really likes the city and the people.  We traded notes and experiences - laughing over some of our common early mistakes including getting on private buses (cash only, passes not valid), and taking an unmarked taxi in Warsaw.  It was the first time I had been to the Old Town at night and it was well lit and quite attractive.

 Shopping avenue before reaching the old city

 Kracow gate: entrance into the old city

From Delaney

On Friday I FINALLY got to show my classmates my pictures and books from Rome!  I had substitute teachers on Tuesday, Weds, and Thursday and I was so glad when Pani Dorota returned.  None of my friends had been to Rome before.  They liked the pictures on Mom's computer, especially the ones from the top of the Bascilica.  I also demonstrated my 'splat pig' for them, which made everyone laugh.  I read from one of my books about Rome and Pani Dorata helped translate.   

Things we are enjoying...

•  Pre-warmed towels on the heating rack after a bath/shower.

•  Black grape juice and BANANA juice - yum!

•  Pierogies: Lubeliskie (with cottage cheese) and Ruskie (potato and onion)

•  Nalesniki - Polish crepes with cottage cheese and jam for dessert

•  Liebnitz cookies/crackers - "you can't just eat one" -every time we open a box, we eat the whole thing!

• Bakery fresh bread.  (Adam asked if we could stop buying pre-sliced loaves when we return home and just get large loaves of french bread-haha).
•  Iceskating

University classes

Classes are going fine.  My graduate class has 15 students who seem engaged and willing to contribute to our discussions, even though its more challenging to do so in English for most of them.  My undergrad class is very small, and I won't be able to do the in-class simulations that I had hoped to do, but we are getting into the material in that class too.

I never realized, until I started to lecturing to people whose first language is not English, how many idioms I use in my daily speech.  Trying to explain the Prisoner's Dilemma...the two prisoners are pressured to "rat on each other" oops.. "to sell the other one out" no... "tell the police that the other guy is guilty".  Its pretty obvious when I use phrases that are unfamiliar - students immediately get kind of confused looks on their faces and I know I need to find a different way to say things.

Fat Thursday

David and I accidentally celebrated Fat Thursday yesterday with many others in Lublin.  When we went to the store, we saw a huge line in front of the bakery but weren't sure what the occasion was.  On our way I home, I suggested that I stop by our local bakery and get us donuts for a treat.  The corner bakery was also more full than usual and only had 2 kinds of donuts (instead of the variety I had seen in the past.)  We learned later in the day that it was "Fat Thursday":  "a traditional Polish, Greek and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent.  Because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast is not until Easter. It is similar to the French festival of Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"). Traditionally it is a day dedicated to eating, when people meet in their homes or cafés with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals forbidden during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade and faworki."

paczki

faworki

First signs of spring

Yesterday was above the freezing mark - yeah!  We are looking forward to warmer weather and it is on its way (not that we won't probably get a late storm, at least that's the way it is at home).  The grocery store has put up new (fake) spring flowers around the store, and put out lots of gardening supplies in its seasonal section.  We also saw a crew of workers picking up all the trash along the side of the street that had been buried in snow for months.  I'm hoping that there will eventually be a heavy rain, or a sidewalk sweeper that will remove much of the sand on the sidewalks that constantly makes it into our apartment : )

Taxes

Its that time of year again when we start thinking about taxes (at least in the US, where the deadline for filing is April 15).  I decided not to try to tackle this hurdle from abroad and filed for an extension...but I still have the joy of paying taxes in Poland apparently.  The Fulbright money will be taxed as US income, but the stipend that my University is paying me gets taxed locally.  25% was taken out of my stipend to enroll me in the Polish health system and provide for my Polish retirement account.  I bit disappointing since I have health insurance through the Fulbright program (AND continuing coverage through my home university), and don't plan to retire in Poland...oh well.

Culture in Rome

What's wrong with this picture?

Street Vendors in Rome

There were the usual street vendors selling to tourists at all the major sites.  We were a bit surprised by the uniformity of what they were offering:  “Splat pigs” (requires a demo), camera tripods, scarves, and images of the historic sites in plastic cubes.  At one point all the vendors scooped up their wares and headed down the street.  Right behind them was a policeman casually strolling.  The cop reached the end of the walk and turned around and all the vendors returned immediately on his heals.  Not quite sure what his stroll accomplished.  David was purchasing a ‘splat pig’ for Delaney from a vendor the next day and almost got it for free when a cop car pulled up and the vendor ran for it…

Buses/Metro

There are only two metro lines in the city, which really surprised us.  They basically run East/West and North/South.   The “A” line appears much newer and cleaner (all the cars are joined together so that you can walk from one end to the other without passing through any connecting doors.  It looks like a giant snake winding when you make turns along the track.)  We only rode the “B” line once, but the entire train was covered in graffiti from one end to the other – quite colorful!   There are too many bus lines to even count and the system is not very intuitive.  We found  our local bus stop, but could not interpret the signage beyond the fact that it did run to and from the metro station.  (Lublin’s system seems far more user-friendly).

Have you ever seen a metro this clean?  And this was at the end of the day!

Last day in Rome

It was a bit cold and rainy on our last day in Rome.  We went to the National Museum and the Baths.  We we disappointed by the baths, we had expected to see empty basins, old aquaducts, etc.  All we saw was a giant vaulted room with a concrete floor.  The museum had lots of remains from burial sites around the city.   Jewelry, pots, etc.  There was also a pretty garden with lots of sculptures in it.

We walked over to the Trevi fountain and took some pictures.  It would have been nice to hang out if it wasn't raining.

We found some pizza for lunch and strolled down a bunch of small shopping streets, eventually making our way to the Pantheon (not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece).