oops, a new problem

Monday 09:21 (local time)   Well, as I was getting ready to go to the train station, the car rental company called to tell me the total charges.  That's when I found out that there is a 1,30 Złoty per kilometer charge to return the car to a different city.  It would amount to several hundred dollars.  I read their website carefully and there was no mention of that.  I thought it was a national car rental company, but it seems they are just a national broker for several local companies.  So, now my plan is to take the train to Krakow and rent a car there and drive to Zakopane.  I end up getting there about the same time.   Daniel

lucky me

I just got lucky.  But, I didn't get her name.   No, seriously.  I was packing last night and ended up with far more baggage than I can handle on a bus to the train station.  So, I came into the kitchen this morning and asked if someone could drive me to the train station.  First, they told me that the train that I thought went from the school into the city at 07:56 actually didn't.  I had the wrong schedule.  The next train didn't leave until 09:18 and it's a 20 minute ride to the city.  My train is scheduled to leave at 09:48.  That's cutting it close--especially with baggage.   But, then Andrzej said he could drive me.  He drives the van for the school and drove us to the lake our first night here.  We leave at 09:00.  That shoud be plenty of time.   Now, I have a few minutes to try to contact the car rental place in Warsaw.  But, I am picking up the car in Wrocław.  I got an email yesterday that they would call me after 08:00 today, but I don't know if my phone works here, and I'm not getting a signal right now.   Daniel

saying goodbye

The students had their final dance last night and many of them got all teary-eyed.  It was sweet.   In the afternoon, we had our graduation ceremony.  Each homeroom class did a little song or skit.  We sang "Father Abraham."  I was totally silly and the kids were loud and silly, too.  We were the only homeroom that made the audience cheer for an encore.  I was proud of that.   This morning, several of the students woke up to see us off to Berlin.  They will be leaving with their parents throughout the day.  I got hugs from a group of boys this morning.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy being at camp.  It's a huge ego boost and a great way to spend the summer.   Daniel

busy schedule

I've posted to my blog again.   http://teip2008.blogspot.com/   I also have some more pictures posted to Picasa. http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/danielroz   Tomorrow we are going to Berlin, and on Sunday we leave for several days of touring Poland to Zakopane and Krakow.  So, I may have limited access to the internet for the next week.   On Saturday, July 26 (Happy Birthday, Carol) Sarah and I are going to Lublin for a day.  On Sunday, July 27, we fly from Warsaw to Paris.  On Tuesday morning, we take the Eurostar express train to London and then after lunch fly from Heathrow home to Philly.  So in the next 11 days, we will be in 7 major cities in five different countries on two continents.

The German border

The last time I crossed from Poland into Germany, I was taken off a train in the middle of a field at two o'clock in the morning. Soldiers with guns checked my passport, decided I was ok, and let me get back on the train. That was in in August 1989, while East Germany was still a communist country. Two months later, the Berlin Wall came down and within a year, Germany was a single, unified country.
This week, when we went to Germany, we still stopped at the border, but it was for little more than checking the registration of our bus. The building with the three flags (top) may be gone soon. The guards (middle) didn't have any weapons and didn't seem to be doing much. The little toll-booth looking things (bottom) were all empty, but they were where the German guards used to check passports. They stopped passport control about a year ago. Poland is now part of the European Union and crossing the border is no more eventful than going from Maryland into Pennsylvania.
Getting on the New Jersey Turpike takes more time than it does to get on the Autobahn. I didn't even bother to wake Sarah to show here the border because there was nothing interesting to see. Our bus has a speed limit of 80 km/hr, which is about 48 mph, so driving on the famed German autobahn was a let-down. We were getting passed by Audis, Mercedes, Beemers, and VWs. A trip that took us 4 hours could have been done by a car in about two-and-a-half. Aside from lots of farm fields, the only thing interesting on the autobahn was their exit signs: Ausfahrt.

S'mores

We made a big campfire the other night and taught the kids how to make s'mores. They had never had them before. Unfortunately, all the TAs and nearly all the teachers liked their marshmallows burned, so none of the Polish students learned how good a toasted marshmallow can be. Sure, it takes longer, but it's definitely worth it.

Top (left to right): Sarah, Kyrie, Ola, and Robin
Middle: Marta, Paulina, and Ola
Bottom: Daniel and Tomek

At our camp here, if we called for Karolina, Ola, and Magda, we would get about half the girls to show up. Last week, in one class of 11 students, I had four girls named Karolina.

cheeseburgers

Did I tell you that I made cheesburgers for Sarah and her friends last night?  I bought a pack of five pre-cooked cheeseburgers at the food store the other day.  I saved some rolls and cheese from lunch and made cheeseburgers in our room.  They really liked them.  They said they tasted like regular burgers, but they cooked a bit like pork sausage.  Maybe it was a combination of pork and beef.  Sarah and I have a fridge and a stove.  It was nice getting to spend time with Sarah and doing something nice for her friends.  I also made grilled cheese for myself.  It was a nice change from soup and cucumber sandwiches.  I also have some rotini and spaghetti sauce with mushrooms.  I might make that tonight.   Daniel

going to Dresden

I left the dance last night before it was over and went back to my room.  Sarah had a sleepover in the palace with her friends.  I saw her at breakfast, but didn't talk to her, other than to remind her that today we turn in our dirty laundry.  I haven't spent as much time with her over the past week as I did during the first week.  But, she is having a great time being a teen-age girl with Robin, Kyrie, and Christina, so I'm glad she is having fun.  At 13, she needs to have a different experience in Poland than I need.  Her Polish experience of negotiating the price of earrings and learning Polish pop songs is just as valuable as my experience of learning about a 400-year-old cathedral and finding train tickets to Warsaw.  They are just different experiences.  I think it is far more important that she come home remembering that Poland is a fun, exciting, and interesting place where she got to be independent than it is she spend all her time with me.  Plus, I don't really like hanging out at school dances.  If Sarah learns to love Poland, in any way that is best for her, then it is more likely that she will want to come back someday.  I know, because that's what happened to me 23 years ago.  Maybe 30 years from now, she will bring her kids to Poland.   ******   On Wednesday this week, we are all taking a day trip to Dresden, German.  Dresden is a sister city with Columbus, Oh, so we will be thinking about Andy while we are there.   Daniel

Przytok Prom

Tonight we had the Przytok Prom. It was as close as we could get to a formal dance.
Sarah, Kyrie, and Robin (left to right) bought their dresses at a roadside stand next to the bus stop right outside our campus.
Sarah is dancing with Krystian. The other teachers agree that he is a nice boy and commended her for having good taste. Of course, there is nothing romantic between the TAs and the students--they were warned against that. They are all just having fun. Sarah and the other TA girls are really great about getting the boys to dance.

A day in Wrocław

Wrocław is a nice city: Town Hall, old church, main square, shopping,
McDonald's, Japanese garden, naked statue...the usual stuff. Today, I
stayed with Sarah and her friends all day. It was a lot of fun just
watching them go from shop to shop. I think they got most excited
about the McDonald's french fries. Sarah is also happy about a pair
of green earrings to match her dress for the prom tonight (more on
that later).

Our Tour Bus

On Saturday, we went to Wrocław (Vrots-wof). Here is the bus that we take on all our trips.

the long march

Here are some more pictures of our long walk to the river.

Day trip to Zielona Gora

On Thursday, we went to Zielona Gora for the afternoon. There was a
tower over the old town hall and an Old Town (Stary Miasto) area. At
one stop we saw a new restaurant that used to be an arboretum. After
that Sarah went shopping with her friends and another teacher and I
went to dinner with my friends.

Halloween Party

We had a Halloween party the other day. Sarah had a lot of fun at the dance.

Yesterday we went on a long walk to the Oder River. It was about 1 hour 20 minutes each way. On the way there it was horribly hot--we left at 2:30 in the afternoon. Sarah held up well even though she was getting a lot of sand in her shoes. We had a rather rigid schedule of staying with our homeroom groups af about 10 students. So, Sarah couldn't walk with her friends, and she even couldn't walk with me because the teacher was supposed to be in front and the TA at the end of the group. It was one of the few times here that it seemed like work and was truly uncomfortable.

We made it to the river and they had juice, water, and cakes waiting for us. Sarah ate her snack with her friends on blankets in the shade. Then we walked down to the river. The Oder River forms the border between Germany and Poland for awhile, but not where we are.

The walk home was much more comfortable. The groups weren't separated as much so we could walk with our friends. And the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees, became a bit overcast, and even had a short sprinkle.

Last night after dinner, Sarah had a sleepover with her friends in the palace.

Re: [rozmiarek] Pix from London

It's called the London Eye, and, no, we did not go around.  Sarah wasn't particularly interested and I was fine with not paying the $48 admission charge, so we didn't go up.  There were several things we didn't do because the admission charge is so high for the American dollar: Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, etc.  I offered to take Sarah on all of them, but she wasn't interested.  She saved us a lot of money.  So, when she did want to do something, I made sure we did it: The Design Museum, Mamma Mia, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum.  Now I know why Carol likes road trips with her so much.  Sarah is great to travel with.   Today we are going on a bus to Wrocław.  It's one of the larger cities in Poland.  We are scheduled to leave at 7 am, about 30 minutes from now.  Look for more pictures in a day or two. --- On Fri, 7/11/08, erozmiarek@northreading.mec.edu <erozmiarek@northreading.mec.edu> wrote: From: erozmiarek@northreading.mec.edu <erozmiarek@northreading.mec.edu> Subject: Re: [rozmiarek] Pix from London To: "Daniel Rozmiarek" <danielroz@yahoo.com> Date: Friday, July 11, 2008, 1:51 PM Those are some terrific pictures. I especially like the London scenes from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. Did you actually ride the giant Ferris Wheel, or just take pictures of it? There must be some pretty impressive views from the top of that too. Ed

Nasza-Klasa

You can look at my profile on Nasza-Klasa (Our Class).  It's like Polish MySpace.   http://nasza-klasa.pl/profile/15390560

Pix from London

I've finished posting all 119 pictures from London online at Picasa. http://picasaweb.google.pl/danielroz   Daniel

volleyball

Last night (Tuesday) was our Polish-American volleyball game between the staff.  They beat by a lot in all four games.  When it was Sarah' s turn to serve, a large group of girls, the Polish students, started chanting, "SA-RAH...SA-RAH."  It was lots of fun.

Warsaw

OnSunday, on my way from Lublin back to our campus in Przytok, I had a 4-hour wait in Warsaw between trains, so I went shopping. Central Warsaw is amazingly different from what I remember. The skyscraper in the center is the Palace of Culture and Science. It was a gift from Stalin to the people of Poland. They did not appreciate the gift. Most Poles think it's horribly ugly and many want to tear it down. It now houses a hotel, museum, and movie theater. I kind of like it. I espeically liked seeing a Hard Rock cafe restaurant next door. I doubt Stalin would have approved. Behind the Hard Rock was a huge shopping mall. So, I went shopping and got some clothes. I call it my Polish outfit. When I first showed Sarah, I had my white socks on, but she wouldn't let me go out look that much like a Pole. At one train stop, I asked a guy near me what town we were in. He replied that he didn't speak Polish but he spoke a little English. It turns out that he was a Russian studying abroad at a university in the city near our campus. I enjoy the language diversity over here in Europe.

modern Lublin

Lublin has changed a lot in the past 20 years.  Where there used to be soldiers in armored vehicles, there is now a McDonald's.  I'm not saying it's better--just different.  There was a main strip at least 8 blocks long of shops, restaurants, and bars.  Lublin has a population of about 400,000 and 100,000 of them are students at one of the 4 universities in the city. On Sunday morning we went to mass at a church built about 10 years ago.  I thought it was really beautiful  I prefer the modern churches.  I've been to mass twice now and each time less than half the congregation went up for communion.  At home, nearly everyone goes for communion every week.  Perhaps they take confession more seriously here.  When I asked my friend why she didn't go for communion, she said she had been rude to someone at work and had not been to confession yet this week.

While Sarah was touring Poznan and Hitler's bunker, I went to Lublin for the weekend. I was in Poznan with Sarah for about an hour before I hopped a train to Lublin. That's like arriving in Washington DC and deciding to pop up to Boston for a quick visit. But, I haven't been there for 20 years and it's a lot closer than when I'm back home.

There was a young Asing couple in the bar car where I sat. I asked if I was on the correct train and she said I was. Then she started talking to me in Polish and I told her I didn't understand. She said my Polish was good. It turns out they were Korean.

At Warsaw, I saw this interesting bridge across the Vistula River as I crossed into Poland B (See earlier post). I spent all day on the train. I got to Lublin about 7 pm and took a taxi to my friend's apartment. More pictures from Lublin in the next post.

Hitler's Bunker

Sunday included a visit to one of Adolf Hitler's secret bunkers. It was an elaborate maze of underground tunnels.

returning to Poznan

I call these pictures, "Returning to Poznan" because that is where Józef Rozmiarek came from 140 years ago.  Last Saturday, Sarah got comfortable on the 2 hour bus ride from our campus.  We walked through a few streets of the Old Town area to get to the old town square.  That's where we saw the rainbow houses.  They reminded me of the famous row of townhouses in San Francisco.

a nice campus

Here are a few pictures of our campus.  The palace is the girls' dorm, the administration offices, the computer lab and the dining hall.  Sarah and I are in the other main building which has the view overlooking the fountain.

sunrise

In Poland in the summer, It stays light until 10:30 pm and the sun starts to come up around 3:30 am.  Unfortunately I was up to see it this morning.  By 4 am it is bright enough to see everything and by 4:30, the edge of the sun is up over the horizon.  By 5:30 I was able to get to sleep for an hour or so before my alarm went off.   I also saw what Sarah looks like asleep.  So cute.