Hey ya!
Sorry about the slackness of me writing recently. And this is only a quicky too. Just saying that I had 6D today, which is the worst class in the history of Warsaw 61. And according to Zosia I did great. All I did was yell, talk about rugby and threaten a trip to the school director. This shows how much you actually need in life. Being scared, sports and a even bigger and scarier lady waiting for you at the end of the hall!
Talk soon
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
The Great Flood
"Teaching" today was fun! My first class was at 10.45, and it was a P.E. class. So we went to the ice skating rink next to the school, and spent 30 minutes there! My next class was a 2nd grade class, where they had to, again, draw a poster of me, after asking what I liked. The third class was Switzliza (I think that's how you spell it), and that is a kind of after school care for kids that don't have any more classes for the day. We, again, went ice skating. Both times I decided against making a fool of myself, as the kids can skate as well as they can walk! My fourth and final class of the day was given to Hugh as his host brother was in that class, and they have to take the bus home together. It was a very cruisy Tuesday (Hugh and I have Mondays off. Iwana is very excited because she is going to show me off to her classes on this coming Monday. She teaches Polish at the local high school).
So because I finished at 1.30, I came home and did some laundry. What Iwana forgot to tell me when giving me the rundown on the washing machine was that it is essential to put the pipe for the water into the bathtub. When Iwana and Suzie came home later in the afternoon, we all got a big fright when Suzie discovered the swimming pool in the bathroom. I assured Iwana that I would clean it all up on my own, as it was my mess, but she gladly decided to give a hand when the man in the flat below came upstairs and mentioned that there was a bit of dripping coming from his roof! (I really wanted to know Iwanas excuse, as he was off quickly, and I couldn't understand a word they said, but I decided it was for the best not to.)
After the whole incident was over, Iwana took the words right out of my mouth and exclaimed "at least the floor is clean now!", and we had a good giggle over a cup of tea.
Today also brought Magda's English tutor, Paul (I think). He spoke English very well, as I would imagine you would have to to tutor it, and also commented that New Zealand accents are much more clear then the Australian accent, as we actually pronounce our words and don't just run all the syllables together.
I have my first 8am start tomorrow, so I shall be off.
P.S. Comments are always appreciated
*ryan
So because I finished at 1.30, I came home and did some laundry. What Iwana forgot to tell me when giving me the rundown on the washing machine was that it is essential to put the pipe for the water into the bathtub. When Iwana and Suzie came home later in the afternoon, we all got a big fright when Suzie discovered the swimming pool in the bathroom. I assured Iwana that I would clean it all up on my own, as it was my mess, but she gladly decided to give a hand when the man in the flat below came upstairs and mentioned that there was a bit of dripping coming from his roof! (I really wanted to know Iwanas excuse, as he was off quickly, and I couldn't understand a word they said, but I decided it was for the best not to.)
After the whole incident was over, Iwana took the words right out of my mouth and exclaimed "at least the floor is clean now!", and we had a good giggle over a cup of tea.
Today also brought Magda's English tutor, Paul (I think). He spoke English very well, as I would imagine you would have to to tutor it, and also commented that New Zealand accents are much more clear then the Australian accent, as we actually pronounce our words and don't just run all the syllables together.
I have my first 8am start tomorrow, so I shall be off.
P.S. Comments are always appreciated
*ryan
Monday, 25 February 2008
First Day
Why does it seem that whenever you would like to sleep in and actually have the chance to, you are never able to? I was not needed at school until 11.30 today, and yet I could not go back to sleep at the ungodly hour of 8.00! It turns out that this gave me plenty of time to get ready, check the internet and do some dishes for Iwana.
Today was my first day of teaching. Well, I didn't really teach. Zosia (the teacher in charge of Hugh and I) directed the class, which was all about Yours Truly. The kids i taught were about 9 maybe, and it was the integrated class, which meant that some of them where special needs. The topic of today was, as mentioned before, me, and their assignment was to draw a picture of me and my family, knowing what to draw by asking me questions. And now i have my first marking to do. I may scan and upload the highest scoring one!
The school was a lot better then I expected it to be, and the principal much nicer. Plus the food was not bad at all. There was vegetable soup for starters, and spagbol for seconds with a strange gherkin salad.
It rained today, which means it is not nearly as cold as it was in the first week. And signs of spring are budding everywhere from the sprigs on the balcony to the beginnings of blooms on the bushes downstairs.
I got lost on the tram today. Iwana told me that trams 7, 9, and 25 go to Centrum (the centre of town). I decided it was time to pay Joanna, who works at reception at Nathan's hostel, a visit, so I got on the number 9 tram as it was the first to come, and I find myself in some suburb that the 25 was not in yesterday as I took the tram to town. So to keep from getting too lost, I got off the tram that had signs indicating that it was indeed the number 9, and stupidly got onto the next tram which was also the number 9. The tram then passes the stop Metro Pole Mokotowski, which is the stop some of the other gappers and I used to get to Galaria Mokotow, one of the malls in Warsaw. Realising I was in the complete wrong part of town after a couple more stops, I got off the tram, and got back on another one heading the opposite direction back to Metro Pole Mokotowski, where i could take the underground metro to Centrum. By the time I finally got to Nathan's, the journey had taken an hour instead of 20 minutes, and i had to be home in another hour.
That was the majority of my day, and now something new I am adding to the blog. It is called The Collection. Many of us gappers have taken to possibly getting away with a beer glass after a quiet one at the local. Here is a photo of my collection as of now. I will be updating it every time i manage to get something new.
Goodnight, and enjoy.
(As the camera is out of batteries, I will post a pic up tomorrow.)
Today was my first day of teaching. Well, I didn't really teach. Zosia (the teacher in charge of Hugh and I) directed the class, which was all about Yours Truly. The kids i taught were about 9 maybe, and it was the integrated class, which meant that some of them where special needs. The topic of today was, as mentioned before, me, and their assignment was to draw a picture of me and my family, knowing what to draw by asking me questions. And now i have my first marking to do. I may scan and upload the highest scoring one!
The school was a lot better then I expected it to be, and the principal much nicer. Plus the food was not bad at all. There was vegetable soup for starters, and spagbol for seconds with a strange gherkin salad.
It rained today, which means it is not nearly as cold as it was in the first week. And signs of spring are budding everywhere from the sprigs on the balcony to the beginnings of blooms on the bushes downstairs.
I got lost on the tram today. Iwana told me that trams 7, 9, and 25 go to Centrum (the centre of town). I decided it was time to pay Joanna, who works at reception at Nathan's hostel, a visit, so I got on the number 9 tram as it was the first to come, and I find myself in some suburb that the 25 was not in yesterday as I took the tram to town. So to keep from getting too lost, I got off the tram that had signs indicating that it was indeed the number 9, and stupidly got onto the next tram which was also the number 9. The tram then passes the stop Metro Pole Mokotowski, which is the stop some of the other gappers and I used to get to Galaria Mokotow, one of the malls in Warsaw. Realising I was in the complete wrong part of town after a couple more stops, I got off the tram, and got back on another one heading the opposite direction back to Metro Pole Mokotowski, where i could take the underground metro to Centrum. By the time I finally got to Nathan's, the journey had taken an hour instead of 20 minutes, and i had to be home in another hour.
That was the majority of my day, and now something new I am adding to the blog. It is called The Collection. Many of us gappers have taken to possibly getting away with a beer glass after a quiet one at the local. Here is a photo of my collection as of now. I will be updating it every time i manage to get something new.
Goodnight, and enjoy.
(As the camera is out of batteries, I will post a pic up tomorrow.)
Sunday, 24 February 2008
The Tabakas
Oh, and the cat. It has two names, both in Polish, and I can't remember either of them. The turtle (that I nearly stood on last night) was nowhere to be found.
Friday, 22 February 2008
Surprises
Today has been a day full of surprises, starting at 8am this morning.
I woke up to find Hugh (my placement partner) packing his bags and saying farewell to me for a weekend in Krakow (pronounced Krakov).
The second surprise of the day was finding a reasonably priced pair of shoes. It seems like life's essentials any where else are always either a pain to find, or impossible to pay for. Where's a good Target or Warehouse when you need one??? (Don't worry Mum and Dad, I actually did NEED the pair of shoes, I can feel the snow on my feet in the old ones.)
The best surprise of the day was arriving home and actually getting hot water through the taps! (I think the cold showers are what gave me the flu), but this was not long lived, as someone in the other lav also decided to take a hot shower! How rude!
The second best surprise is the phone call i just got off the line with. My host mum Iwana just rung me, and told me that I was being picked up a day early, which hopefully means only one more semi warm/cold shower.
As it is now nearly 7pm, I can confidently say that the last surprise of the day is that the computer in this dismal hostel is close to being able to be described as "working". Despite the 5 or so second delay in the type appearing on the screen, and the occasional glitch in the system that leaves me hanging on for five minutes, stressing that everything written so far will be lost, everything else seems to be in order.
Today I went to the American Embassy, it is all very impressive, but the amount of security is actually embarrassing. Take note that this is not a lack of security, but rather a waste of tax payer's dollars in the over indulgence of security in a country such as Poland. Especially when the personnel sitting behind the desks in Citizen Services aren't even American natives.
Now to address some of the comments left...
More than one person as requested that I go into detail about what is so different.
First off is the architecture. In both of the hostels that I have stayed in so far, and from what I can see, each apartment building is about three to four stories high. Each have a gate that is monitored by either an alarm system or a camera and watchman. There is a great courtyard with in each of the dismal grey walls, and each flat takes up a 1/4 of the whole floor.
Next is the weather. Yes, it is freezing, but I love it. While out at one of the other GAPpers 18th birthday, it started to snow at about 2am, and it was awesome to see the streets blanketed. Today it was not cold enough to snow, so it only sprinkled rain.
Third is the public transport. You can get to practically any part of the city by taking the metro, tram, and bus, or all three in accordance. A week ticket is 12,4pln, which is about $6.20usd, and this lets you on the metro, tram and bus. The best part about these is that they show up on time, and you know that they'll get you there fast because you have to hold on for dear life when they take off, especially if standing up.
Lastly is the people. As we were warned on our orientation day, the Polish are very non-emotional. It is very rare that you walk down the street and see a smiling Pole. I think that most of us have gotten used to it, and sometimes I even find myself walking down the street all zombie like. Maybe its a natural reaction so the bloody beggars leave you alone.
Well that is all for now, as I have to be off to sort out some tea.
I woke up to find Hugh (my placement partner) packing his bags and saying farewell to me for a weekend in Krakow (pronounced Krakov).
The second surprise of the day was finding a reasonably priced pair of shoes. It seems like life's essentials any where else are always either a pain to find, or impossible to pay for. Where's a good Target or Warehouse when you need one??? (Don't worry Mum and Dad, I actually did NEED the pair of shoes, I can feel the snow on my feet in the old ones.)
The best surprise of the day was arriving home and actually getting hot water through the taps! (I think the cold showers are what gave me the flu), but this was not long lived, as someone in the other lav also decided to take a hot shower! How rude!
The second best surprise is the phone call i just got off the line with. My host mum Iwana just rung me, and told me that I was being picked up a day early, which hopefully means only one more semi warm/cold shower.
As it is now nearly 7pm, I can confidently say that the last surprise of the day is that the computer in this dismal hostel is close to being able to be described as "working". Despite the 5 or so second delay in the type appearing on the screen, and the occasional glitch in the system that leaves me hanging on for five minutes, stressing that everything written so far will be lost, everything else seems to be in order.
Today I went to the American Embassy, it is all very impressive, but the amount of security is actually embarrassing. Take note that this is not a lack of security, but rather a waste of tax payer's dollars in the over indulgence of security in a country such as Poland. Especially when the personnel sitting behind the desks in Citizen Services aren't even American natives.
Now to address some of the comments left...
More than one person as requested that I go into detail about what is so different.
First off is the architecture. In both of the hostels that I have stayed in so far, and from what I can see, each apartment building is about three to four stories high. Each have a gate that is monitored by either an alarm system or a camera and watchman. There is a great courtyard with in each of the dismal grey walls, and each flat takes up a 1/4 of the whole floor.
Next is the weather. Yes, it is freezing, but I love it. While out at one of the other GAPpers 18th birthday, it started to snow at about 2am, and it was awesome to see the streets blanketed. Today it was not cold enough to snow, so it only sprinkled rain.
Third is the public transport. You can get to practically any part of the city by taking the metro, tram, and bus, or all three in accordance. A week ticket is 12,4pln, which is about $6.20usd, and this lets you on the metro, tram and bus. The best part about these is that they show up on time, and you know that they'll get you there fast because you have to hold on for dear life when they take off, especially if standing up.
Lastly is the people. As we were warned on our orientation day, the Polish are very non-emotional. It is very rare that you walk down the street and see a smiling Pole. I think that most of us have gotten used to it, and sometimes I even find myself walking down the street all zombie like. Maybe its a natural reaction so the bloody beggars leave you alone.
Well that is all for now, as I have to be off to sort out some tea.
Monday, 18 February 2008
first week in sum
Well this has been a week and a half. One of the kinds where you don't even know where to start.
I got into Warsaw on the 9th of Feb, which was my first time ever being in Europe. Everything about Poland that I have seen so far is so incredibly undescribable. Everything is different! I am in love with the buildings built right after the war, the coolest being the ones with the choice courtyards.
So, back to the airport, we arrived about 15 mins late, and cruised through the (lack of) customs department. In the arrivals hall Beata was waiting with Magda, soon to become the best resource in Warsaw ever. Us awesome Kiwis then had to wait about an hour and a half for the bloody Ozzies to come out, and by that time Willy T and I were tired of holding the GAP sign (I felt like a taxi driver ahahaha). We then had to spend an extra half an hour waiting for someones guitar that had been missplaced. After that whole ordeal, we promptly loaded a bus, and started making our non-virtual connections.
For the first week we all stayed in an incredible youth hostel called Nathans Villa that really made the first week a blast. With all the people coming and going, it was like the airport all over again, but I managed to find some spanish speaking people, also some peeps that went to UCI, which was pretty cool.
From 10am to 6pm all 34 of us had TEFL training, which was cool because we got to interact with students of all ages, and also get pointers from experienced teachers.
Now, to the part that you are all most likely interested in:
ALCOHOL
There have been a couple of big nights, but nothing major. Between the 34 of us, we managed to scope out the whole of Warsaw in a week. The best district being Nowie Swiat (New World), and the most prefered club being Klaps/Dildo, or Patricks, the local Irish Bar. The other thing we can all pretty much agree on is Kamikazee...what I consider the official GAP Poland 2008 drink.
It is a concaution of vodka, Blue Bols Vodka, and lemon juice. You can have it in four shots, or as a cocktail (I prefer the later, as it is nice to taste).
And then there is the beer (pivo in Polish). It runs from about 6 to 10 Zloty (arround 3 to 5 USD) for half a litre of beer. And thats about it for the booze.
So everyone dispersed two days ago to either a temp host or to the actual placements, but Hugh, my GAP partner, and I got stuck in some grotty hostel, that we were promised was nice. It has started to grow on me at least, but mainly because, once again, the people are great to talk to.
The biggest let down is the lack of wireless (which Nathans had), and the Windows 98 on the excuse of computers that they have. Also, we are not allowed in the hostel between 10am and 5pm, so if you forget anything, thats it for the day! (My conspiracy is that there is a brothel being run out of it by day ahahaha.)
So right now I am sitting in an OK 24 hour net cafe, with American hits playing in the background...deffinately feels like home! My time is about to run out, and I really should be off to bed, so I wish you all well and thanks for reading!
Ryan
I got into Warsaw on the 9th of Feb, which was my first time ever being in Europe. Everything about Poland that I have seen so far is so incredibly undescribable. Everything is different! I am in love with the buildings built right after the war, the coolest being the ones with the choice courtyards.
So, back to the airport, we arrived about 15 mins late, and cruised through the (lack of) customs department. In the arrivals hall Beata was waiting with Magda, soon to become the best resource in Warsaw ever. Us awesome Kiwis then had to wait about an hour and a half for the bloody Ozzies to come out, and by that time Willy T and I were tired of holding the GAP sign (I felt like a taxi driver ahahaha). We then had to spend an extra half an hour waiting for someones guitar that had been missplaced. After that whole ordeal, we promptly loaded a bus, and started making our non-virtual connections.
For the first week we all stayed in an incredible youth hostel called Nathans Villa that really made the first week a blast. With all the people coming and going, it was like the airport all over again, but I managed to find some spanish speaking people, also some peeps that went to UCI, which was pretty cool.
From 10am to 6pm all 34 of us had TEFL training, which was cool because we got to interact with students of all ages, and also get pointers from experienced teachers.
Now, to the part that you are all most likely interested in:
ALCOHOL
There have been a couple of big nights, but nothing major. Between the 34 of us, we managed to scope out the whole of Warsaw in a week. The best district being Nowie Swiat (New World), and the most prefered club being Klaps/Dildo, or Patricks, the local Irish Bar. The other thing we can all pretty much agree on is Kamikazee...what I consider the official GAP Poland 2008 drink.
It is a concaution of vodka, Blue Bols Vodka, and lemon juice. You can have it in four shots, or as a cocktail (I prefer the later, as it is nice to taste).
And then there is the beer (pivo in Polish). It runs from about 6 to 10 Zloty (arround 3 to 5 USD) for half a litre of beer. And thats about it for the booze.
So everyone dispersed two days ago to either a temp host or to the actual placements, but Hugh, my GAP partner, and I got stuck in some grotty hostel, that we were promised was nice. It has started to grow on me at least, but mainly because, once again, the people are great to talk to.
The biggest let down is the lack of wireless (which Nathans had), and the Windows 98 on the excuse of computers that they have. Also, we are not allowed in the hostel between 10am and 5pm, so if you forget anything, thats it for the day! (My conspiracy is that there is a brothel being run out of it by day ahahaha.)
So right now I am sitting in an OK 24 hour net cafe, with American hits playing in the background...deffinately feels like home! My time is about to run out, and I really should be off to bed, so I wish you all well and thanks for reading!
Ryan
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Hey all, hope everyone at home is doing great!
I got into Warsaw yesterday afternoon, and it has been great! So far, I absolutely LOVE it here. Unless you have been to Eastern Europe, it is something near impossible to describe. It is as I can imagine it is 60 years ago. I am sitting here in our hostel for the first week, which is called Nathans Villa. The outside is run down as if it has been shot at and bombs have exploded next door, but it is amazing on the inside. I should be posting photos soon, and comments are much appreciated.
I got into Warsaw yesterday afternoon, and it has been great! So far, I absolutely LOVE it here. Unless you have been to Eastern Europe, it is something near impossible to describe. It is as I can imagine it is 60 years ago. I am sitting here in our hostel for the first week, which is called Nathans Villa. The outside is run down as if it has been shot at and bombs have exploded next door, but it is amazing on the inside. I should be posting photos soon, and comments are much appreciated.
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