Hello,
When I came back from Spain I had three days of lessons with my students. After being gone for about a week, it was very nice to get back and see them all. I don't think I could write enough good things about the students I have the opportunity to work with. There are so intelligent and so kind to me. Some are still a little hesitant to speak with me in English, but they are becoming more confident every week.
The weekend led me to spending the day in Krakow at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This salt mine is one of the oldest mine in the world. It opened sometime in the 13th century. When I arrived at the mine, I had to walk down a staircase that was around 350 steps down into the mine. The tour guide was very informative about the mine and shared a lot of different information. One thing I was surprised to see in this mine was all of the chapels that are down in the mine. They even have regular church services on Sundays in the mine. There is also a restaurant you can stop at and eat during your tour. They even had an event hall where people get married. This mine was massive to say the least.
Following the visit in Krakow I made my way back to Krosno. I prepared for a week’s worth of lessons. The support here at NCCS has been absolutely amazing. The teachers here are very willing to help us with anything I need. The students are usually excited about the lesson topic and are very interactive during the lesson. It is amazing how brilliant and hardworking these students are in Krosno.
The next weekend led me to the town called Zakopane. I first had to take a bus from Krosno to Krakow. While I was in Krakow a former Iowa State student who participated in the program took me to a restaurant not too far away from the bus station. When we were looking at the menu I noticed they had a lot of burger options. Since being in Poland, I was having a hard time finding a good tasting burger. They are just not the same back home in America. I decided to give it another try and order one off of the menu. It was DELICIOUS!!! I could not believe that I finally found a good tasting burger.
After getting dinner I took another bus to Zakopane. When I got into town, I took a taxi to the hostel I was staying at for the weekend. The hostel was tucked back off of the main road. It provided a very nice relaxing feel. The reason for going to Zakopane was because of the nice mountains they have in the area. The first day was going up to the top of the Tatra mountains. I took a cable car to the very top because I think if I would have tried hiking it, I would still probably be somewhere on the mountain right now. The top of the mountain offered a very nice view of the town. There were a lot of people taking advantage of the nice day by skiing and snowboarding down the mountain.
After coming down from the mountain, I spent the rest of the day walking around and exploring the town. It is a very nice town for tourists who love winter sports and the mountains. The day ended with a nice (smaller) hike on a smaller hill/mountain area not to far away from the hostel. Overall this was a very fun weekend to get out and enjoy the nice scenery and have a relaxing travel weekend.
I came back to Krosno and prepared for the weekly lessons and also a few presentations I would be giving to some o the students. This week I also got invited to a dessert café by one of the classes at the school. They wanted to take me out for a nice treat and just talk with me. This was a lot of fun because talking with the students is always a great experience. I get the opportunity to learn more about the Polish culture and lifestyle, and then they get to ask me questions about my life back in America. This class was one of my guide teacher’s classes (Gosia). She treated me to a milkshake that I had to try. I was a little nervous about it because I am a really picky eater and not really a fan of sweets. When the waiter came by he had this massive shake in his hands. It was a Snickers shake with a donut and a lot of other sweets on the top. I was very surprised that I like it. It was something I had never seen before.
This past week I also got the opportunity to go to our head teachers home (Beata) for dinner. She wanted to make us a traditional Polish dish called Bigos. The easiest way to describe this is meat and a lot of cabbage. I really am not a fan of cabbage, but I told myself before coming over to Poland that I would try everything at least once. I wish I could say that I enjoyed it, but it just was not the meal for me. Luckily, Beata had some very delicious bread to go along with the Bigos. So, it is safe to say that I ate almost all of the bread. While eating dinner I got to talk about my experiences so far in Poland with her and a few other guide teachers from the school. It really hard to imagine that I only have a little less than two weeks left student teaching at NCCS. I have had a lot of laughs and have made a lot of memories.
I think that is all for this blog. I hope that as my time is winding down, I can stay on top of updating everyone during my last two weeks in Poland. I hope everyone has been enjoying the blog and the updates. Today (Thursday) I have some very exciting events happening. I also will be traveling this weekend. Make sure you check back next week for another update.
Take care everyone!