WorldTeach

Poland is rich in historical tradition and geographic diversity, and our placement sites reflect that diversity. Below is a sampling of perspectives from past volunteers placed across the country, but in every case, our in-country field staff will do their best to place you with the host families and host schools most suitable to your needs and preferences. Wherever you are placed, you will surely find fulfillment, friendship, and personal discovery!

My hosts during my summer in Poland were the Smolaks. The immediate family consisted of Kazimierz, his wife Zofia, and their four children (ages 22, 21, 19, and 17, respectively), Roman, Ewa, Adam, and Ela. Kazimierz was vice-president and co-founder of Smak-Eko, a very respected meat-packing company in the village of Górno where I lived. The entire family was handsome and somehow glamorous amid their humble surroundings. They were also incredibly full of life, vibrant, and engaging. I dare not venture too far beyond them, since there were so many new people coming and going at all hours—relatives from Canada, neighbors, Catholic priests. The most frequent visitor was Kazimierz’s sister, the fraternity brother I never had. She sat through nearly every World Cup match with me.

Every now and then Kazimierz took up a notebook and sat down next to me so that I might teach him some English; from day one, he proclaimed me his fifth child and took great pains to find English-speaking people for me to talk to. It was a big family and a warm one.

I had only two days to get to know Roman, the oldest of my host siblings who returned from the United States in August. Roman loved motorcycles, Tyskie beer, and heavy metal. I thank him in particular for three things. First, he drove 30 miles to buy me the biggest and best ice cream cone I’ve ever eaten in my life (the Poles know how to do ice cream). Second, he took me to a party the local 20-year-old boys were having and pretended there was nothing weird about it. (Only children to my eyes, the little gentlemen stood when I stood, continually offered me refreshment, risked losing face by attempting to speak English in front of their friends, and kissed my hand when I left. Most impressive of all was the astounding ease and unaffectedness with which they executed these kindnesses.) Finally, Roman somehow endeared me to Lordi, a heavy metal band from Finland that dresses in monster costumes and is best known for its award-winning song “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. I consider his persuasion nothing short of a miracle.

Naturally, I had to check out the inner workings of the factory that sustained me during the summer. Smak-Eko proved the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of pork production. After touring the facilities, I couldn’t imagine a more sanitary environment for processing meat—it was almost cartoon-like.

All of the workers were impeccably dressed in clean white trousers, lab coats, rubber boots, gloves, and gauzy hairnets. They didn’t perform any musical numbers—maybe they were just shy—but they were so tidy and clean that I might as well have been on a movie set. Shower rooms, dressing rooms, laundry rooms, and special boot-drying rooms were all just inside the entrance, and like IKEA, once you entered the labyrinth, there was no turning back.

The actual processing was very precise—livers and loins didn’t mix! Once all the parts were trimmed and separated out, they were infused with “juice” (didn’t ask), then immediately refrigerated, packaged, and sent out for delivery. There was someone rinsing and sweeping the floors in nearly every room we visited, and the machinery was gleaming.

During the workweek, the company provides each of its 200 workers with both breakfast and lunch (the biggest meal of the day in Poland), free of charge. There is an enormous kitchen adjacent to a pleasant wooden dining hall on the second floor. When I was there, only one man eating, but one of the cooks brought him a giant, braised leg-of-something. It was all I could do to dissuade her from feeding me as well—if I’d given in, I no doubt would have expanded, grown a snout and ears, and squeeled my way out of the factory.

I have never been fed so frequently or so much in my life. At one point, my host sister Ewa placed in front of me 12 large pierogi (stuffed dumplings with butter), four thick slices of bread, and a plate of sliced tomatoes. I made it through 9 pierogi (!!) and a bite or two of tomato, and then, for fear of offending them, pointed at the remains and said “later” in Polish, as in “I’ll eat the rest later.” They smiled and took the rest away, but as I started to stand up and test my ability to move—the gaggle of women in the room cried out, “Nie, Janina!” (my Polish name) and motioned for me to sit down. To my horror, they were carrying toward me two giant sweet waffles, smothered in cream and fruit. I continued to protest as best I could, but they just kept saying “dobry, dobry” which means “good, good”—I felt like I was in some kind of Polish culinary torture art flick, with a hidden fish-eye lens secretly filming me from behind the dining-room portrait of Mary and child.

I somehow got through one waffle, then promptly staggered to my room, rolled uncomfortably onto my bed, and memorized how to say both “No, thank you, I’m not hungry” and “That’s enough, thank you.” I also learned “wedding dress” as in “the one I won’t fit into when I get home if you continue to force feed me” but when I brought that up later, the whole room laughed and Pani Zofia just stood up and slapped her ample thighs.

One of my greatest pleasures in Poland was riding my bike to school in Sokołów Małopolski, about 4km away. The first half was on a shady road bordered on both sides by woods. I occasionally caught a glimpse of a fox, a deer, a bird, or someone picking blueberries and strawberries to sell along the main road later in the day. The second half of the trip was on a fairly busy road surrounded by beautiful open fields.

The school itself was cavernous and positively empty except for an elusive cleaning lady and a secretary, an adorable mother hen who insisted on making me coffee in a proper cup with a proper saucer and a proper teaspoon perched on top. She fluttered about, and talked constantly and with animation. Even though I only understood a few words of what she was saying, it was a pleasure to spend time in her company.

I taught two one-and-a-half-hour classes each weekday and had an average of about seven to eight students per class. I usually prepared lesson plans in the late afternoon or evening for two or more hours and spent 15 to 45 minutes preparing actual materials for the students to work with in class. For each lesson, I came up with eight to ten different activities (a mix of grammar, writing, reading, listening, and speaking exercises) based on a single theme, such as the environment or getting to know someone. One of my classes played a matching game to practice using the articles a, an, and some before nouns; there are no articles in Polish, so students tend to skip over them.

One of the activities my students seemed to enjoy the most was learning English idioms. I ended up dedicating the last 5 to 10 minutes of each class explaining commonly used (or just particularly weird, and thus funny) examples, and then asking the students if there was an equivalent in Polish. In homage to my summer diet, I dedicated the end of one class to idioms that involve pigs. I couldn’t believe how many there were: go the whole hog (to be thorough), in a pig’s eye (scornful disbelief), bring your pigs to market (to succeed), make a pig of yourself, make a pig’s ear of (to bungle), on the pig’s back/live high on the hog (to live a life of ease and luxury), pig in the middle (an awkward middleman situation), pig in a poke (to buy something w/o knowing its value), pigs might fly, sweat like a pig, hog in armour (someone ill at ease), hog on ice (insecure), the list goes on!

For my last class, I decided to work on dialog via cartoons. First, I pulled some pages from comic books, cleared out the text bubbles, and then asked students to create their own dialog to match the illustrations. They were amusing to read, including lines such as “I will show you my unique bird which I am proud of,” “There is a lot of handsome guys? Very nice,” and “Oh my God! These are those bussines executives who want to destroy me!” Next we watched an episode of The Simpsons, stopping occasionally to discuss the plot. The painfully shy, cautious students I met a few months before were now excitedly talking over each other to explain what happened, laughing, and correcting each other.

After class I said goodbye to my blackboard, the plants in my classroom, and the plastic geometrical shapes I used to describe prepositions and location. I said goodbye to my students, goodbye to the principal, and goodbye to the little mother hen who made me coffee everyday. And, carefully balancing all the flowers and gifts they’d bought for me (at too great an expense), I rode my bike home for the last time rather tearfully, my floppy white hat flip-flapping in the wind.

When the time came to go home, I felt recalibrated to expect, endure, and enjoy change on a fundamental level. This feeling was the second great gift my trip abroad awarded me—the first was seeing my students change. I don’t know how many of the grammatical details or new vocabulary words my students retained, but I believe the joy and confidence they showed in speaking English by the end of the summer will contribute to their success on their Matura exams and in their lives afterward.

Pułtusk (population 20,000) is on the Narew River about 40 miles north of Warsaw and a short drive from Maków and Różan. Historians believe that there was a settlement at Pułtusk at the beginning of the Polish nation in the tenth century. Yet it officially became a town in 1257 when it was granted civil rights by the ruling duke. It’s location on the road to Lithuania and on the river made it a prime commercial center. Over time the city prospered and became second only to Warsaw in shipping agricultural products to the Baltic port of Gdańsk. The economic progress of the town, and with the patronage of the local bishops made Pułtusk an academic center. Education was not only a pride of the town but it also became a serious source of its income.

Regretfully, the geographic location that made Pułtusk a prosperous center also led to its destruction. Through the years invading arms passed through Pułtusk and destroyed much of the economy and eventually the town itself. Just outside of town Napoleon Bonaparte’s forces defeated the Russians, which put the town’s name on the Arch of Triumph in Paris.

During World War II hundreds of citizens were executed in the streets. Pułtusk’s large Jewish population was decimated and by the time the city was liberated in 1945, 85% of the city was destroyed and about 50% (8,800) of the population remained.

Today Pułtusk continues to be an agricultural center surrounded by fields and protected forests. It is also reclaiming its educational heritage and is now home to a new and quickly growing university of the humanities.

The heart of Pułtusk is the old town, which is surrounded by a willow-lined canal. At the center of town is the Rynek that is the longest market place in Europe (400m). At one end of the Rynek is the Dom Polonii castle whose grounds slope down to the river. In the middle of the market is the town hall that is flanked by a medieval tower, and at the opposite end from Dom Polonii are the fifteenth-century Basilica and the Bolesław Prus School where I teach.

I am the first WorldTeach volunteer to serve in Pułtusk. On the first day of class the director gave me a personal tour and then placed me in the care of the school’s English teacher who provided me with books, resources and great advice. She was also my host-mom for two weeks. Everyone from administration to the maintenance staff was very helpful and very patient with my “broken” Polish. But the best surprise came on my first day was there a knock on the door during class and one of the secretaries came in and presented me with tea and cake. This can become a habit!

I had two classes of middle and high school students for intermediate English. I also had a class of teachers who were learning English for the first time. But my greatest challenge, and soon to be my greatest joy was teaching beginning grade school children. It was a lot of work to make sure I had enough activities to keep them interested but the classes were great fun. In my wildest dreams I never imagined that I would be teaching anyone the Hokey Pokey, but my children loved it and it became their favorite. On my last day they presented me with a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates, and a speech in English with each one reciting a line. That brought me to the verge of tears.

I had the opportunity to live with three different families during my stay. The first stay was in a small village, just outside Pułtusk, surrounded by fields and forests. I loved taking long walks especially accompanied by my host-dog Shrek. On very hot days, my host-family would pick me up from class and take me to the local lake for a swim before dinner. It was heaven!

My second host family lived in farming village 10 km from Pułtusk. I was surprised to find out that their TV had the news in English. However, a good part of my television viewing was watching the Cartoon Network with the children, in Polish. Another one of my pleasures was taking the 20-minute bus ride into town. I also enjoyed commuting with the other villagers and being part of in the rhythm of daily life while watching the fields in the morning sun.

My third family lived in town. Most of our meals were eaten on the back porch that was located under the flight path of a family of storks. My family did not speak English, which was one of my requests. So each meal became an occasion for a Polish lesson followed by an English lesson. Incredible food, lots of laughter, and an occasional toast accompanied it all.

School was only a 15-minute walk along the river, across the canal, and to the Rynek. My daily walks made me a familiar sight in the town center. The market place was also very useful for some of my English classes. Of course anything out of the ordinary in a Polish town becomes the gist for the local “news.”

Many WorldTeach volunteers have commented on Polish hospitality especially expressed in the form of food. While food is a big part of receiving a guest, I found it to be a gesture of something greater within the Polish character. Poles are generally very reserved in public but they are not cold and dispassionate. They are a very passionate and loving people. It is astounding how they have opened their homes and their lives to a stranger from another country. An invitation to tea often becomes not only a moment of caloric immolation, but also a celebration of incredible kindness and generosity.

One Pole told me that political situation in their country had isolated them from the world for so long. They are amazed, and grateful, that volunteers would give up their summer to come to their country to teach English. Their hospitality expresses that gratitude.

I am never asked if I will come back to Poland to visit. My Polish ask when will I come back. Now that I have friends here, I sincerely answer hopefully soon. They have already begun making plans.

Młynarze is a village of a few hundred people located 100 km north of Warsaw on the main Warsaw-Augustów highway. Like much of the rest of this part of Poland, the village is predominantly agricultural, and aside from the fields (remember, Poland literally means field-land), the forests are the only noteworthy geographical feature. The forests, though, do make it feel very different here from the rural Midwest. Trees frequently punctuate the fields, so the landscape is not nearly as boring as rural Illinois or Iowa. Aside from the gas station and shops that cater to the cars and trucks using our road to travel to and from the Baltic states, there is very little in Młynarze, and the occupations of the residents here are about what one might expect: most people are associated somehow with agriculture, though some hold jobs in the school or the few commercial properties. Since Poland is a Catholic country, Młynarze (or, actually, Sielun, an even smaller village to our immediate south) does feature the obligatory Catholic church. In our case, it is a 600 year old building in the midst of a substantial exterior renovation. The religious artwork inside would put most churches in the States to shame, and the pipe organ is absolutely to die for. Many if not most residents of Młynarze do attend mass on Sunday mornings, and it is an excellent opportunity to see much of the community.

Others commute to Różan, a town of about 4000 people, 6 km away. Różan features the high school and a fairly bustling market and square whose most important shop is an ice cream parlor which I would rate fairly highly, even by Poland’s high standards (provided you like gelato, because that’s all we have). Still, though, Różan is not bustling by any means. The most noteworthy feature is probably the red army tank that has sat along the highway for 60 years. Moving a bit further afield, the nearest larger town is Ostrołęka, population 40,000. Ostrołęka is about 20 km north of Młynarze, and is served by about 30 daily buses, so getting there is no trouble, even without the aid of my host family. Ostrołęka features a modest nightlife and several American-style supermarkets with delightfully Polish twists like almost no produce (it’s all bought in the markets) and a required deposit to get a cart, but the highlight of Ostrołęka is the best ice cream parlor I have yet found in Poland, complete with Nutella ice cream.

In terms of traveling within Poland, Młynarze is actually fairly well situated. It’s an easy 2 hour bus ride to Warsaw, and from there, buses and trains to other parts of Poland (and other European countries) are plentiful, and the Mazurian lakes, a favorite vacation destination for Poles, are just a bit farther from us than Warsaw. So as much as I love Młynarze, there are plenty of options for getting out.

It is a bit difficult to judge either of the schools at which I teach because they are relatively empty during summer vacation. However, I teach at two schools, the elementary/middle school in Młynarze, and one of the high schools in Różan. The school in Młynarze is relatively large considering the small size of the village, boasting about 25 classrooms along with a very nice gymnasium and a soccer field of which the village residents and I regularly avail ourselves. Part of the school is very new, and the classroom in which I teach actually includes 10 computers and is thus much nicer than the rest of the classrooms. Many Polish schools feature computer labs funded by the European Union, and the cable internet in this classroom is lightning fast and the computers (which I was invited—more like implored—to use for class) are fairly new and work well. This room features tables which seat two which I am encouraged to arrange to my liking, a new whiteboard, and the great Polish windows which open two ways (these are all over Poland). PG Młynarze has three English teachers. Two of them are lovely (in fact, the English teacher for young children is in my adult class), and I have not met the third. Nevertheless, the two I have met have offered any support necessary. Besides the adult group, my students at this school are between twelve and twenty years old (some no longer attend this school during the school year). Ability level varies, but most have little trouble with oral or reading comprehension. Still, they are relatively shy and do not speak at a very high level, and most have not yet grasped some of the finer points of English grammar- the past perfect is difficult for most learners of English. With the liberal use of fun and relevant activities, the level of communication is improving, although I don’t think I will get it up to the level of the passive skills during my time here. My adult class generally has about 5 students, and my two classes for teenagers will typically draw around five students in one case and ten in the other.

I also teach two days a week at the high school in Różan. My students there are between 16 and 18 years old, and the class size is typically about twelve—unless it is raining. Most students at both schools walk to class, so rain will significantly hamper attendance. This building is a high school built in the 1950s, and I teach in a spartan chemistry classroom which features a chalkboard, all the chalk I could possibly want, and the great Polish windows, but little else. I’ve not met anyone at this school besides the custodian, who drives me here, the secretary, who hits the copy machine when it decides not to work so I do not have to, and the principal, whose children attend my class. In spite of this shortcoming, the administration has been attentive to my clerical and scheduling needs, and I can always count on having plenty of chalk waiting for me upon my arrival and Andrzej waiting to drive me home when class ends.

On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I teach three classes in Młynarze. Each class lasts 45 minutes. My first class consists of children under 12 and adults. It is a strange combination, but the ability levels are about the same, so it works out. Those in this class know most of their English from television and music, so they actually have a fairly expansive vocabulary but completely lack the grammatical skills to put this vocabulary to use. I therefore focus on the grammatically correct way to answer questions for which this vocabulary is useful. My host mother attends this class, and I can see the dividends this approach plays in our communication at home.

My second class in Młynarze consists of 12 to 14 years old who I would classify as lower-intermediate learners of English. They grasp all of the grammatical concepts I throw at them with ease, but communication skills are almost nonexistent. I do very little lecturing in this class, but rather spend our 45 minutes together allowing the students to talk as much as possible. Keeping this talking in English can be a challenge, but at least the students communicate.

I enjoy my third class the most. It is my largest, and consists of students who are of (U.S.) high school age. I throw American music, magazines, and web sites at these students and add an occasional grammar lesson for good measure, and they enjoy all of it. Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was a particular hit—especially when I exhorted them to take out all of the anger they have ever felt at their siblings in some very amusing skits. Encouraging participation is difficult, but when students do speak, comments along the lines of “Poland has no need for a close relationship with the United States because of its membership in the European community” are not unheard of.

Lesson planning for my Thursday and Friday 90 minute class in Różan is actually incredibly easy. I have three days of material from which to pick and choose my most successful lessons, and with a five minute break in the middle of class, the time seems to fly by. My students at this school are incredibly intelligent and just need some encouragement to speak. They easily filled a chalkboard with a list of how Poland’s membership in the European Union affects them and proceeded to explain to me in slightly broken but certainly comprehensible English how EU membership has changed the Polish political landscape. Even though I don’t see this class as much and do not see them around town since I do not live in Różan, I have learned an incredible amount about Poland from these students. Yet it is through them that I see the need for my presence in Poland most acutely. Despite ten years of academic English and knowledge about a variety of subjects, communication in English clearly challenges them, and they challenge me to encourage it.

My host family consists of two parents, both age 45 or so, three children (sons ages 15 and 17 and an 11 year old daughter), and one Grandma, who has her own kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom which happen to be attached to our living room. The house is fairly modern and, in a departure from Polish custom, painted a very boring shade of white. I have my own room, a room which is normally inhabited by my host sister. The yellow walls are covered with her chalk art, some of it quite good. My window looks out over the barns where the seven cows and handful of rabbits are kept. There’s also a dog who permanently lives outside and compliments Figa, the very friendly dachshund who enlivens our daily existence- and eats our leftovers. There is no dog food in our house.

Our house is actually relatively modern, though it lacks air conditioning (and this summer is one of the hottest in recent memory). We have cable internet, satellite TV and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, though no microwave. There’s also no shower or clothes drier, although that has not turned out to be a problem. I diligently begin to do my own laundry each Monday, but Grandma inevitably takes over, and everything- including socks and underwear- comes up to my room pressed in spite of my protests that all this is completely unnecessary.

I guess no discussion of Polish home life is complete without something on food. The statement that Poles tend to focus too much on some foods, like soup and potatoes (and potato soup), is probably fair, but on the whole, the food has been plentiful and of superb quality. From time to time, we drink milk from our cows, and a wide variety of produce is available from our neighbors. There’s even an ostrich farm in Sielun from which we bought a couple of eggs. Ostrich egg omelets are absolutely fantastic. My host mother is also a fantastic baker. There always seems to be some sort of cake or pastry, anything from blueberry dumplings made with fresh blueberries to caramel coconut cake.

Since Młynarze is so small, I am relatively close to anything and everything in the village. I live about 100 meters from the school, and though the school in Różan is several kilometers away, I get a ride to that school, so that’s not a problem. We are also conveniently located very close to several swimming holes and an easy bike ride away from the Narew River, one of Poland’s longest. So though living in a rural community might seem boring and it is true that the pace of life is quite different here, the small size of the village means that there are always people in and out of the house visiting and pickup soccer games and swimming trips are never hard to come by.

I came to Poland knowing no Polish. At this point-- about halfway though my service—I have picked some up but am by no means fluent in Polish. It is a touch difficult learning Polish in a community like Młynarze because everyone knows that I am the English teacher, and so people are very eager to speak English with me. Further complicating the situation, all of my host siblings and my host mother come to my classes, so I cannot discourage them from speaking English.

The biggest challenge has certainly been the need for constant, effective communication. In the classroom, this challenge is perhaps self-evident. There is no time for relaxation or laziness during class. Each statement out of my mouth must be well thought out and designed to be understood by my audience at their level of English. The awareness I have built of my statements is really astounding, but it beats blank stares. The need to communicate effectively transcends the classroom, though. At home, I must work around those Polish words, phrases, and constructions I do not know in order to communicate effectively with the tools I have. Furthermore, in a rural setting such as Młynarze, to many of those with whom I interact, I represent not just myself and WorldTeach but also the United States and even “the west.” Every word and action represents all of these entities. This responsibility demands a constant awareness of myself which I had never known before volunteering.

Two rewards have been clearest. First, I really have seen an improvement in my students. One of the advantages of having less advanced students is that changes in language ability are more obvious, and I do see the skills I have taught put into practice. More than that, though, I work to effect an attitude change about English. Years of grammar drills and the repeated message that English is absolutely necessary for the young Pole have made English a chore for many Polish students. Through me, they see a different side of English, an alive, fun face to an extremely difficult language. Providing this different perspective on English is perhaps my most rewarding task because regardless of how much my students learn from me, this perspective will allow them to take more from their regular English classes.

On a more personal level, I have learned a tremendous amount this summer about rural life. As a lifelong city dweller, I had a rather negative view of “life in the country.” And at the beginning of my time in Młynarze, the lack of attention to time and the time sitting around and talking really annoyed me. As the summer has progressed, though, I have begun to love the concept of eating when it is convenient and having a social calendar defined completely by spontaneity. In fact, returning to the city and to the structure of life as an undergraduate will be quite a shock. This summer, I sought an experience which would be completely different from anything I had ever done. Teaching English in rural Poland definitely fit the bill.

I am the first WorldTeach volunteer in Młynarze. The school in Różan has had volunteers previously.

Ostrołęka is a medium-sized town with an approximate population of 40,000 people. It is located on the Narew River, on Kurpie Plain, in the northeastern part of the Mazovia province in Poland. In addition, forests of Puszcza Zielona can be found in the direct vicinity of the town, and the close-by, popular Muzurian Lake district draws many people as well. Ostrołęka is very urban because absolutely everything can be found in the town, including numerous shops, churches, restaurants, pubs, discos, and monuments. Moreover, many traces of ancient culture can still be found in Kurp villages, such as old traditional celebrations, wooden architecture, and elements of interior decorations and paper cuttings. It is approximately 1.5 hours from Warsaw, and 4 hours from Gdańsk. Many people are self-employed because they own their own shops and stores, but people work in the local banks, hotels, and in other everyday city jobs. There is always something to do in Ostrołęka or just outside the town, because there are many rivers, lakes, and nightlife options available.

There are currently 2 WorldTeach volunteers placed in Ostrołęka. My students are all intermediate/advanced level, and have very high vocabularies. I basically help them by making them practice English with each other through games and activities. I teach in one classroom, and the other WorldTeach volunteer teaches in another one. We both have access to a chalkboard, chalk, CD player, computers with Internet access, and office supplies.

I teach 3 classes which meet twice a week, so overall I teach 6 classes a week. I teach Monday to Thursday and Friday is a volunteer day. Interested students and I go to the local senior home or orphanage and volunteer for a couple hours, and of course, they are able to practice English as well. Since all my classes are advanced and many are above 18, we have fun outings in the evenings to pubs, clubs, or we have bonfires. My supervisor is Helen, who was also my first host mom, and she was extremely flexible. She permitted me to determine my own schedule, the number of classes, the length of my classes, and extra outings, as long as she was aware of what was happening.

I lived with two host families during my stay in Poland, both of which were absolutely fabulous. The first host family had a daughter that was my age (18), and a brother (16), along with both of the parents. I mostly hung out with the host mom and my host sister, who took me to every interesting location nearby, taught me some Polish, and showed me a good time. We went to a Polish Wedding, numerous discos, and of course, shopping! I had my own room and shared a bathroom with the sister. The family was very open and let me invite friends, use anything in the house, and even hosted my parents at their house. The house was a 5-minute walk from the school and a 15-minute walk from the city center.

My second host family was so wonderful as well, and very warm and welcoming. The fed me 24 hours a day, took me to Warsaw, and made me feel completely at home. I had two host sisters, one was 18 and one was 13. I hung out with both everyday, and whether we went to a disco, got our nails done, or played computer games, we always had fun. This house was only 1 minute away from the first house I lived in, so I still saw the first family frequently and went to their house everyday. I had my own room, complete with a balcony, TV, and stereo, and shared a beautiful bathroom with the girls. In addition, both houses had Internet access, cable television, and a car.

I could not have asked for better families, and I have become so incredibly close with them, that I cannot imagine my life without them. My first host sister will be visiting me in California for a year, and I will see my second host sister in December. We have become more than life-long friends, we have truly become sisters, and I cannot bear to think about leaving them.

I had absolutely no Polish skills when I arrived, and though I am still really bad at Polish, I know basic vocabulary and I definitely know my Polish food. I have two more weeks until I have to go home, so maybe I still have time to pick up a couple more words.

To tell you the truth, I have not had to face any really big challenges at all. The people were so friendly, the host families are great, my students are fabulous, and I have tons of friends. The only "problem" I have had up to this point, is that the dance floors in the discos in Ostroleka are kind of small. Other than that, there is not one aspect of my experience that has been difficult or problematic.

Wow. I can seriously go on and on about how much I love Poland and how many rewards I have had during this trip. I have seen an improvement in my students, and my students are not shy to talk anymore. I have made lifelong friends and families on this trip, and I know that I will always have people I can depend on for anything in Poland. Overall, I have had the time of my life and Poland has been the greatest experience of my entire life, and by far this is the best summer I have ever had.

This year was the second year Ostroleka had volunteers teach at the school. Last year, three volunteers came, and this year there are two. I highly recommend this site and this program to any student who wants to have fun and help people at the same time.

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I spent last weekend with the group in Gdansk, a really beautiful Copenhagen-ish town on the Baltic Sea. Other than feeling suspiciously like a fifth-grade trip, it was a darn good time. We visited the Solidarity Museum (Solidarity refers to the unionizing that sparked the collapse of Communism), the resort town of Sopot and a discoteka that played nothing but Whitney Houston. Monday, we got back on the handicapped vans to disperse to our teaching sites.

Ashlyn (a junior at Harvard) and I were sent to Ostrołęka, which we know now to be the long end of the stick with our group. It's a pretty big small town, with restaurants, bars, and cows and goats. Some people were sent to towns with nothing but cows and goats. (By the way, I know you're pronouncing it "Ostroleeka," but, no, it's "Ostrowanka.")

My first host family lives in the country just outside of Ostrołęka in a delightfully Polish-looking house (yellow with a red A-frame roof, red woodworking and molding, and a real, old rusty cart out front). Halina, Remediusz and Paulina (16) are my hosts, and we pretty much just eat cake and play volleyball when not in school.

Inside their nice home, the first thing you'll notice is the Catholic memorabilia. Poland's Catholicism can only be compared to that in Italy and some Latin American countries. Every piece of art--paintings, statues, photographs--shows Jesus or the Pope. (The only private moment I have to write this blog is now, when they are at mass).

The family insisted that I take the master bedroom (Awkward. The rest of the family is on assorted couches), which has a large statue of Jesus with a glow-in-the-dark rosary draped over him, a Pepto-Bismol colored bedspread and neon-orange terrycloth sheets, a painting of a Biblical scene, and oddly, a red lamp in the shape of a hand making a peace sign.

Fashion TV blares 24/7, but my family is very active and no one sits down to watch it. Runway models and sexy commercials streak across the screen as we pull on our tennis shoes to go outside and play siatkówka (volleyball), and I haven't yet been able to figure out why.

It would be impossible to impose here. So far, everyone I've encountered has tried to feed me, buy me something or take me somewhere. My family insists on doing my laundry and feeding me homemade cakes several times a day, and they just won't have it any other way.

Language

The students are a teacher's marzenie (dream). Really. They are so eager to learn English that my job is very, very easy. They want to know everything about the USA, and it's a bit sad, because part of the reason is the disenchantment with their own country. Many kids want to move abroad. And in Poland, unlike in most European countries, one can be proud to be an American. Like I said before, their president hearts W, and here an American is a special treat. I'm used to pretending to be Swiss, or at least Canadian.

But: Polish points! On the bus to town yesterday, Paulina and I were chatting away. I got off the bus first, and said "Dziękuję, do widzenia!" (Thanks, good-bye!) to the bus driver. When Paulina got off, he said a few words to her, which she then told me were this: "You girls speak English very well--it is always encouraging to hear young people practicing their English... and on the bus! Good girls!" Remember, this is AFTER I said "Thanks, good-bye!". My Polish is coming along steadily--if only nouns didn't decline.

Even older people and adults are enthusiastic about English here. There are many advertisements for English teachers, although we hear they are not good and too expensive for most to afford. Paulina said they make more money than anyone in town, even though some barely know the language. If only I'd known! My English is very good, and I'm doing this for free!

Food

The prices here tell a lot about the wealth (lack thereof) in the country. I feel like I'm cheating the sellers! A large meal at a restaurant might cost 15 złoty--this is about $5. The prices look normal at first glance, but divided by three, they are insanely low. A Coke at a restaurant costs 50 American cents, and a fifth of Belvedere vodka (made in Polska) is $6.50.

Also, eating here hasn't been as stressful as we were warned it would be. I've learned that you just have to eat slowly, not say "smaczny!" ("delicious!") TOO enthusiastically, and never, EVER clear your plate until the very end (but not clearing your plate by the end will not do). It's not possible to eat lightly, but you can get away with somewhat moderately if you follow those guidelines. A plate that is getting empty too quickly will soon find itself smothered in more mayonnaise-laden cabbage and fried pork. "Jeden jeszcze, Mary, trochę jeszcze." ("One more, Mary, a little more.") This family also has a large garden, and we eat many of their homegrown fruits and vegetables, especially little red currants, bursting with deliciousness.

Teaching Assignment

We learn dance team moves from Ciara, watch "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and listen to Norah Jones. One of my favorite days was when I printed the lyrics to Norah Jones' "Sunrise," and whited-out the prepositions. After the lesson, they wanted to sing the song over and over. I couldn't help but smile--all of my little Polish pumpkins totally immersed in the song, singing "Sooonraaaahs, sooooonraaahhss..."

So, in an exciting turn of events, the principal of my school asked me to cancel classes this week in Ostrołęka to join many of the students at "Scout Camp" in the Masurian Lake District. This means English classes outdoors, horseback riding, swimming and sleeping in a tent and sack (a potato sack?).

The only thing I'm worried about is the weather. The weather is quite capricious here in Poland--sunny one moment, raining the next--but one thing is consistent: the cold. I imagine the weather here to be comparable to warm summers in Ottawa or perhaps winter in Jacksonville. Earlier this week, I had to buy a sweatshirt. I hope my potato sack is insulated with goose feathers!

Stalowa Wola is a large town of about 70,000 folks in the southeast corner of Poland. Situated on the San River in the Podkarpackie province, Stalowa Wola is an industrial town with a large steel works that employs a good proportion of the population. The town has a fairly urbanized center, dotted with brightly colored housing blocks, butcher shops, clothing stores, bakeries, banks, and a lively market, all of which offer pretty much anything you might need. Since the town was founded just before the Second World War, the architecture leaves something to be desired, but the surrounding villages and towns have their fair share of old churches and farmhouses. This combination - of new and old, industrial and agricultural, Soviet and pre-war - gives Stalowa Wola an unusual but intriguing character.

I teach at a large local high school with two other WorldTeach volunteers, and we are supported by a friendly and resourceful staff, willing to help us with computer needs and photocopying. I have my own classroom - complete with chalkboard, portraits of famous Poles, lime green walls, and all the chalk I could ever want. I teach four intermediate groups, one advanced group, and one beginner group, each class averaging around eight students. The school's director and faculty have made English lessons a priority, so the level of proficiency is quite high. My advanced students read Amy Tan and John Cheever, while my beginners learned the finer points of the subjunctive.

My six groups meet twice a week for an hour and a half. I teach two classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and three classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My first group each day arrives at nine in the morning, and I take a 30 minute break between each lesson. My beginner and intermediate lessons roughly include a review component, a grammar lesson, and a discussion component, with an emphasis on speaking activities like role plays and dialogues. My advanced lessons are mainly conducted like my favorite high school English classes, just with less reading and more talking. At the school, my main supervisor is the school's director, but the WorldTeach Program Coordinators are mainly responsible for my specific teaching schedule.

One of my three host families lived in Jastkowice, a rural village about ten minutes from Stalowa Wola proper, inside of a larger municipal district called Pysznica. My host father was the mayor of the district, and my host mother was a nurse at the local hospital. Though my host mother worked, I sensed that the house was on the traditional side - mom was always the one in the kitchen, and it was expected that my host sister, 16, was to look after me. I also shared the house with two rambunctious host brothers, 14 and 3. The household was always lively and busy, the food never stopped coming, everyone seemed to have a great sense of humor, and by the end of the first week, I felt like I'd lived there for months. Though my host sister's English was not at a very high level, I had the chance to learn a lot of important Polish phrases (such as: No more food, please).

Another one of my families lived in the same district but just a short bus ride from school. My host mom was an accountant at the steel plant and my host dad was the head coach of the Stalowa Wola soccer team - something of a local celebrity. I had one host sister, 18, and the four of us shared a small three-bedroom home in a neighborhood of new houses just outside the city. Of the three families I lived with, this seemed to be the most laid back; after about a week, I felt less like a guest and more like a close friend of the family. With my host sister, whose English was quite good, I got to tour nearby sights, sample local nightlife, enjoy good food, and even catch a soccer game (which resulted in a frustrating 1-1 tie - maybe next time).

Polish is hard, and as my time in Stalowa Wola progressed, I began to gain a new sympathy for my students. I had no previous experience with the language, but fortunately, each of my host families and all my new Polish friends were extraordinarily patient and willing to help me perfect my own special brand of butchered Polish (with the occasional English word thrown in for flavor).

Though being immersed in a new culture and country provided a host of interesting predicaments, my greatest challenge was standing in front of the classroom. Teaching six groups of teenagers would be hard enough if they were fluent English speakers, but with the additional language barrier, running a classroom became that much more difficult. I think I was really struggling to keep my students entertained and engaged for the first half of our time together. But after a few weeks, as we got to know each other and as they became more comfortable with me, my students suddenly transformed into these bright and funny and insightful and talented people who were anxious to learn. After that, life in front of the chalkboard changed - I was the teacher, but I was also their partner. I guided them as best as I could, and I was awestruck to see them move ahead on their own.

On a map, the village of Jeżowe lies a few hours from Kraków, sits not far from the Ukrainian and Slovakian borders, and through the assistance of various distinctly local means of transport, feels quite distantly removed from America's major metropolises. Life is rather peaceful. Before the Cold War and before the Second World War, there was a time when everyday conversations in the historical region of Galicja were variably conducted in dialects of Yiddish, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Austrian German. Today, that diversity has unfortunately passed, but the Polish children who now fill classrooms want to learn English.

I stayed for the duration of my service with the Młynarz family at 113A. For the residents of Jeżowe, this was more than enough information to come find me, both because there is only one street running through the village, and because everyone knows everyone else. The street runs perpendicular off an intersection with the road between Stalowa Wola and Rzeszów, the regional capital. At the only serious intersection in Jeżowe, there stand a concrete bus stop, freshly painted a watered-down shade of violet, and a large billboard about the size of a decent cabbage patch notifying passersby that Jeżowe celebrated its 450th last year.

Despite the obvious corollaries that one might think come with such pretensions, Jeżowe otherwise demonstrates little sense of either civic community or historical aesthetic. Almost all of the houses were built after the war, and people mostly keep to them, unless they are going to the one church or the one cemetery (as waves of elderly women on old bikes do several times a week), the four schools, handful of small grocery stores, or various curving fields and coniferous woods distributed about the village. But to seek public space in rural village is perhaps beside the point; for the true experience of the WorldTeach volunteer, as a guest and as a teacher, is in the home and in the classroom.

So every morning I would wake up and look out my bedroom window at long, twisting fields that wend their way up a gently sloping hill, bumping into cows and makeshift scarecrows. From the top of that hill, you can hear the high school marching band practicing in the late afternoon. Once you get over that hill, the village disappears from sight, and you are suddenly alone, surrounded in every direction by the Polish countryside. In the early evening, paragliders occasionally drift overhead.

After breakfast, I would walk to school. That took about ten minutes, though I can't estimate how many blocks it is because there are no cross streets and, significantly, no sidewalk. As there are only some five thousand residents, there is only one secondary school, and it is there that I as a WorldTeach volunteer gave – in exchange for the elaborate meal awaiting me at home, and the cultural revelations afforded by sage old villagers, and the opportunity to escape into the pastoral –- lessons on the mysteries of ordering a Coke in English, as spoken in its native colloquial form.

Listening, the schoolchildren of Jeżowe would repeat after me with a mixture of curiosity, anxiety, and attentive gravity. After every lesson, I would thank them, clean the chalkboard, close the windows, and walk home.