Poland: Week 2

So this is a continuation of last week's post. I don't think I included specifics on my trip to the Baltic sea and Stutthoff Concentration camp. So without further ado, here are the deets :-)

Welcome to Gdańsk

Despite the three hour commute to this beautiful town, I could honestly say it was worth the wait. We started our day with a historic tour of the town.

It's amazing to think back about how much we were able to see on this tour though! From the minute we got there, it was really great to see Poland's version of "street musicians" (See photo below) To be honest, I thought the music would have made for a pretty good substitute for the opening scene of Harry Potter.

Before closing out the tour we had a chance to also learn about some the pivotal locations and events in regards to Poland's Solidarity movement. 

According to the guide, leaders of this powerful movement often met at the shipyards to conduct business and make plans amongst each other.

As you walk past the gate, and into the shipyard, these pictures line the fence further describing some of the photos in detail.

After the tour we were afforded the opportunity to do our own sight seeing. The lovely Mishal and I managed to navigate through the streets and came across a lot of really neat hidden gems throughout the town. I think my favorite spot to stumble across was, "Cafe with a Soul". The coffee and desserts were delicious.

 Disregard our shiny and dishelved appearances.

We found this undercover art gallery by chance...

Saturday-Fun day!!

So our day started with a walk on the longest boardwalk in Europe and a quick dip in the Baltic Sea.

On my way out I even met Spider-man :-D

To close out our Saturday, we visited one of the first concentration camps created in Poland by the Germans. It was a beautiful exhibit and a breathtaking experience.

Sunday was pretty uneventful with the exception of a trip to the store. On Monday, however, I taught for the first day and learned to make a modified version of Pierogis. 

Tuesday came and went. It was quite a blur, and I was tired from teaching. I did get to indulge in some pastries made by my host mom though :-)

Wednesday can be best described with one photo and a few words- An accordion, vacation eager teachers, and their relentless tolerance for their Vodka was involved lol.

On Thursday, we took our students bowling and swimming. Despite my lack of bowling skills it was a real treat to see the kids having a good time as well. I finished the day with some Polish zumba. If Zumba alone wasn't difficult, attempting to decipher it in Polish was even harder.

Friday was quite the busy day! I not only met one town mayor, but a neighboring town mayor as well. I got to hear more about Poland's need for a quality education in English, and my principal's thoughts on having me at her school. I was not only humbled by her gratitude towards my methods of teaching, but grateful I got to start my placement with her and my current students. After the interviews and "meet and greet" with the local officials I finally had a chance to redeem myself in a game of soccer with my host dad and his buddies. And I say redeem, because the night before I "attempted" to keep pace with my host dad on one of his night runs, and failed miserably lol. It resulted in sporadic shortness of breath, one too many butt cramps, and an alternate method of getting back home (I cheated and had my host mom lend me her bike). Overall, our game of soccer went well, and I even managed to score two goals :-D (See sweaty photo below) 

I woke up Saturday to find myself in the historic town of Casimir (I might have mispelled), Poland. A couple visits to remains of castles, the town square, and some palaces I found myself transformed to a human pillow as my host sister and another teacher attempted to try and sleep comfortably on the drive back. Check out the pics :-D

Ruins of castle that was currently under construction ( We still went in as per my host mom's persistance lol)

The Vistula river in all it's glory!

The palace of some of the royals of Poland

And last but not least, the town square :-)

Sunday has proved to be a pretty mellow day. I went to church with my host fam, witnessed my host brother's first driving lesson, and am currently prepping for a feast of a BBQ with my host family and their friends. 

Till next time...Happy Sunday folks :-)

Ps: FYI I do in fact miss all my friends and fam back home. I'm certainly counting down the days till I get to see everyone again!!