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San Diego Summer 2018 #1: Getting Here

Butterflies. It’s that fluttering feeling that you get when you’re really nervous to do something. It almost keeps you from doing the thing that you’re scared of. Sometimes it works. In the past couple years I’ve been working on pushing through that feeling to do things that scare me. Butterflies and I have become really great friends.

For some reason, even though I knew that I was going to be going to a new country for three months by myself, I didn’t get butterflies before I left. I was talking to my mom the day before I left and she reminded me of something. Last summer, I went to Poland by myself for a month and that was so much scarier. Even though I had been there before, that was a new country with a new language, new people, new food, new everything. I had so many butterflies then.

This time was different. This time I was “just” going to California. It’s a new country, but I’ve been here before. Everyone speaks English, we have similar food, we have similar customs and behaviours. Even sitting here now looking down from the window of my hostel onto a crowded street of people who are likely tourists like me, I don’t feel that nervous. I don’t have butterflies. It doesn’t feel that unfamiliar.

I left from Calgary on Saturday afternoon after having coffee with my parents and my sister near her house. Even this reminded me of last time I went to Poland because this sister was the last one I saw before I left.

I should maybe correct myself and say that I was nervous on the journey to San Diego, once. When I had to go through US Customs to get my Visa my heart was pounding. I didn’t really have anything to be worried about, but I excel at coming up with worst case scenarios. In the end, it was a much faster process than I expected and he only asked me a couple of easy questions.

Before I left Canada, I bought a couple essentials at the airport: all-dressed chips and a little stuffie moose. It’s become my tradition to bring a little Canada stuffie with me when I travel, so I bought a little keychain of a moose dressed as a Mountie that I’ll be able to keep on my bag or next to my desk at work. It’ll be a small reminder of home for me.

My first flight from Calgary to San Francisco went by really fast and I even got a window seat so I was able to take a lot of great pictures. 

By the time I got to San Francisco I had three hours to kill and a hungry stomach to feed. I bought a sandwich that was probably the best airport food I have ever had, although I forgot to try to seek out the famous San Francisco sourdough. I had intended to take a good picture of my sandwich because it was so beautiful looking, but unfortunately, hunger won out.

When I got to San Diego, it was just about 9pm and I was surprised that it was so dark already. It hadn’t clicked that we’re so far north in Edmonton that it gets dark so much later there. I took a Lyft to my hostel, which was the first-time I’ve really used a ridesharing service. Jose who picked me up was really nice and we talked about Canada on the drive.

I didn’t sleep great my first night here, so on Sunday morning I slept in a bit until I really had to leave to make it to Mass on time. It was only about 20 degrees outside, but the humidity makes it feel warmer to me. I was grateful there was a breeze on my walk to the Cathedral to keep me cool.

After Mass, I went back to my hostel to do some work and have a shower. I was the first one in the bathroom after they had cleaned it, which made for a abnormally clean hostel showering experience. 

I left around 1pm to go explore San Diego a bit more.

I had passed an ice cream store close to my hostel on my morning walk, so I went there first to cope with the heat. The guy there gave me and the others in the shop his “spiel”, pointing out the ice cream machine in the back where they make all their ice cream and telling us that there are two things they don’t skimp on: quality of ingredients and portions.

They had 5 vegan options and I sampled 4 of them (which was a mistake because it made my decision so much harder). I went with the coconut and mango on his suggestion, which was full of real coconut and mango pieces and was super delicious. I didn’t get a picture of the ice cream because it was balanced so precariously high in the cup (he didn’t lie about the portion size). I was afraid it would fall over if I took my hands off of it.

I walked down Martin Luther King Promenade towards the water so I could see the seaport (one of the recommended free activities in San Diego from my Google searches). It was really soothing to listen to the sound of the water and birds overhead.

One thing that I should have expected more when I came here was the amount of Spanish being spoken. Maybe it’s just because it stands out as unfamiliar to my ear, but it feels like I’ve heard as much Spanish being spoken here as English. From the two boys that checked me into my hostel the first night, to families enjoying their time playing together on rented bikes by the water, it feels like so many people are speaking Spanish to each other. It makes me wish that I could speak a bit of Spanish. Maybe I’ll have to learn while I’m here…

I found a place that Google Maps reviewers said had the most authentic cheap Mexican tacos in San Diego so I decided to try it out for an early dinner. One thing that I’ve noticed since I’ve been here (and perhaps it’s just the two places I’ve eaten at and not necessarily “normal”) is that they play music in restaurants at ungodly volumes. I don’t understand how people can sit inside and hold a conversation. Thank goodness it was nice enough outside for me to sit there so it was a little quieter and cooler than inside the restaurant.

I don’t have the words to explain how amazing the tacos were at this place. They were perfect. The pastor was my favourite, which is pork that is spit-grilled under a pineapple, and at this restaurant they included some pineapple with the meat, onions, and cilantro. The lady said that most people order 2 or 3 tacos (which is ridiculous if you ask me because I don’t know how you stop after 2). They gave me a mild, medium, and hot sauce to go with the tacos, but given that the medium burned my mouth so badly, I didn’t even attempt the hot one.

Tomorrow I leave downtown for the apartment I will be staying in during my time here. When I’m staying in a hostel and just doing “touristy” things, it feels a bit like I’m just on vacation. Perhaps the butterflies will come when it feels more “real”, when I have a home and a job to go to. But for now, I am just thankful that I am able to be here breathing in the ocean air, eating delicious food, and relaxing.

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Post-Poland Summer 2017 #2: Croatia

Since I was very young I have been collecting coins. Most of the early ones I collected were the special Canadian coins that were released. Eventually my grandma started getting involved and she would give me pounds and pounds of coins from Canada and even abroad. One of these coins was a tricky one because I couldn't figure out where it was from. I didn't recognize the name of the country (because it was not in English) and the only recognizable thing about it was a small crest at the bottom.

I was in elementary school and Google was not what it is today. With the help of my older sister, we scoured a book we had with flags of the world to see if we could make some kind of connection. At long last, we were able to match the crest on the coin to a crest on a flag: Croatia.

This started a bit of a love affair between Croatia and 10-year-old Sarah, so much so that when my class was given a project to choose a country to research and present, I chose Croatia. I even drew the flag of Croatia with the tricky crest in the middle on my poster. My love faded a little bit over the years but I always kept it in the back of my mind. Last summer and this summer when I was planning my trips and looking for places to visit in Europe, I have looked at the cost of bus tickets to Croatia. Even so, it was always more of a dream than a serious consideration.

My Korean friend and I decided to accompany our Croatian friend home after summer school ended. Neither one of us had a plan for a few days after summer school and we wanted to spend more time together and see Croatia, of course. The bus ride was long from Katowice to Zagreb and we arrived late in the evening. Tired and hungry when we finally arrived in Zagreb, we tried our first Croatian food, burek, which is greasy, delicious, pastry goodness. We learned quickly that Croatia runs on bakeries.

Our first day in Croatia, we visited our friend’s hometown and her family. My friend was always so concerned that we wouldn’t like it but her fears were unnecessary. There were so many colours on the buildings and people milling about in the squares drinking coffee and eating pastries. It created such an idyllic atmosphere. We kept saying how surreal it was that the three of us from different countries, and even different continents, were in her hometown and she was showing us her high school and the streets that she has seen every day since she was born. She said this was why she was never sure if we would like it. To her, it’s normal. It’s home. She took us to her parents’ home where her mother cooked us Croatian food for lunch, which was of course delicious, and we got to play with her baby niece.

In the evening after we returned to Zagreb, we met up with our other two Croatian friends. They had left half-way through the summer school and when they left we didn’t think we would see each other for a very long time. I felt very fortunate to be reunited with them so soon after we separated. We ate ćevapi, which was the first Croatian food they told me about and it was amazing. It is basically sausages inside this really soft bread, served with an amazing sauce. I had been waiting so long to try it and it definitely did not disappoint. I found a Bosnian restaurant in Edmonton that has it so I will need to try it and see if it compares.

They toured us around Zagreb and showed us all the important sights. There was so much to see that it was almost overwhelming. At one point, we stumbled upon a singer that our friends knew just hanging outside a window singing to those sat in cafes down below. Later, we arrived at some kind of screening where people were just drinking beer and having fun with their friends. There were so many special little moments like this that I can’t even recount them all. I love it when you never know what you are going to expect when you turn the corner in a city. Zagreb constantly surprised me.

My friend and fellow tourist to Croatia really wanted to see the sea, so even though it was a long way, the next day we took a bus to a place called Zadar. There wasn’t much of a beach (it was mostly rocks), but the water was so clear and it was as beautiful aquamarine colour. It wasn’t terribly hot outside and the water was pretty cold so if you weren’t moving around it was easy to get chilly. My friend didn’t know how to swim so I pulled out my old swimming instructor tricks and taught her how to float like a starfish. I swam out to the buoys a few times and the water was so clear that even in the deepest part I could see all the way down to my feet.

After swimming for a couple hours, we went to eat seafood, a requirement when you go to the sea. My friend even taught me how to order my food in Croatian. We ate ice cream, as we did every day in Croatia, and walked around the town. We ended our day at the sea organ where the sea plays an “organ” as the waves hit the pipes. The sun was setting as we took in the view and it was a perfect ending to the day.

Our last day we spent the day in Zagreb, finally getting to see the city in the daylight. We met up with our other friends again to walk around the city, ate ice cream (of course), and bought some souvenirs and treats to bring home. I’m a very sentimental person so I think that I wasn’t able to enjoy Croatia as fully as I would have liked to because I was already sad about having to leave the country and my friends when I arrived. I got to have such a unique experience seeing a new country with locals, but even more so with friends. I hope that I can visit all the friends I made at summer school and see where they come from, but for now I am thankful that I got to have this experience. Croatia, my love, I will return to you!

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Post-Poland Summer 2017 #1: More Goodbyes

Today I officially said goodbye to summer school in Poland. I left Poland a few days ago, but today is when it really ended. The past few days have been spent in the company of my friends from summer school: my friends from Croatia as our tour guides and my friend from Korea as a tourist with me. Being with these friends made it feel like summer school hadn't really ended yet and that we wouldn't be parting ways.

We took a taxi from my friend's apartment to the bus station today and had to say our goodbyes really quickly so I could get back into the same cab to go to the airport. I hugged them both and they started to cry and somehow, I was able to hold the tears in. When I was in the taxi after our rushed goodbye I had all these thoughts like "I should have hugged them more", "I should have hugged them longer", "I should have told them how much I love them more". In reflection, it is always easy to wish that you had done things differently and easier still to forget about all the good moments you had together. We had many amazing moments together and I know that I wouldn't change anything.

Still, it's hard to say goodbye. I don't know when I will see any of these friends again, all scattered around the world. Some friends I said goodbye to a few days ago, some goodbyes are much fresher. 

I can't help but think that we were all able to meet because for some reason or another, we are all studying Polish. No two people share the same reason, but somehow all those reasons created the perfect conditions for me to meet some of my best friends. Learning languages opens new doors and this has never felt truer to me than at the conclusion of this experience. I have faith that I will see all of them again, but I don't know when and I don't know how. We will have to trust that we can find our way back to each other again.

Even though I'm sad to be leaving Croatia and leaving my friends, it's bittersweet. I miss my family, my friends, and my city at home. It's difficult for me to find time to talk to my family with the time difference so I'm excited to hear all of their voices again and give my mom a hug. 

I'm saying goodbye, but I am also about to say hello. I'm en route to Iceland where I will meet up with my friend whom I haven't seen in months. I'm saying goodbye to new friends, and I will say hello to an old one. I'm saying goodbye to on country I've always dreamed of visiting, and saying hello to another. It's not all bad, but it can still be sad.

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Poland Summer 2017 #8: Excursions

Last weekend we had our final excursion of the summer school. It was bittersweet because although it was the one I was looking forwards to the most, it was the last one. This excursion was also longer than the previous ones since it was two days instead of one.

On Saturday, we went very early in the morning to Oświęcim (Auschwitz). I had visited this place last year as well, but it was a different experience because last year when I went all the interiours were closed so we could only walk around outside. Still, it was a haunting experience then as it was this time. Our guide was fantastic and had an amazing way of narrating the tour like a story and I really learned a lot from him.

Before I went to Auschwitz last year, my grandma told me about their visit to Auschwitz and how the most striking part for her was seeing the room where they have thousands and thousands of shoes piled up. Since she had told me about it, I was anticipating that part of the tour. It was shocking to see the vast number of shoes collected in one location, each with an owner who didn’t know they would be parting with them. Even though the number of shoes they have is incredible, it is only a small fraction of the shoes that went through this camp. Most of the shoes were grey and worn out, but there were a few that stuck out because they looked almost fancy, as if they were reserved for special occasions. They undoubtedly danced their last dance unaware of their fate.

As we continued on the tour, there were many staircases that we had to ascend and then descend to see new exhibits. I was struck by the fact that each step had two distinct dips, one on the right and one on the left, where so many people had walked that each visit was marked on the stone. It almost made it difficult to walk up the stairs.

Another poignant part of the tour for me was when we went into a hallway where on either side there were photos of people that were taken upon their entry to the camp. They all had shaved heads, striped clothing, and empty faces. Each photo had their birthdate, the reason there were there, and the day they died. One man only lasted one day. There were twin girls with their pictures side by side near the end of the corridor. It stuck out to me because it made me think of my sisters. I wish I had thought to remember their names. Every face on that wall was an individual with a favourite colour, foods they disliked, and dreams for the future. As I have reflected more on the tour, this part stood out to me the most.

Another important moment on the trip was seeing the starvation chamber where St. Maximillian Kolbe stayed during his time in Auschwitz. For anyone reading this who does not know who he is, Maximillian Kolbe was a Catholic priest who volunteered to take the place of a stranger who had a family and had been chosen to die in Auschwitz. He lasted for two weeks in the starvation chamber before he was killed by lethal injection because he had lasted too long.

My roommate was in the same tour group as I was and when I saw her crying as we walked around Birkenau I went to talk to her. She didn’t speak any Polish before coming to the summer school and was here because she got a scholarship and thought it would be an interesting experience. She told me that while she had studied this in school, she had never imagined that she would be in the place where it all happened. Even when we are standing in the same place that other millions did it is so difficult to comprehend the magnitude of the atrocities that happened at this place.

I only took a couple photos in Auschwitz of things that I really wanted to remember and show my family when I return home. Even then, I always had a sinking feeling in my stomach every time I hit the shutter. Our guide kept encouraging us to take photos if we wanted to, but something about it just doesn’t sit right with me. I won’t post any of the photos I took online, which is why I am not including any of the pictures here.

When our tour was over, a number of us took a bus to Kraków instead of going back to the University. My friends from France, Cyprus, and Taiwan were there. It was strange getting off the train in the main train station and having such a familiar feeling. We passed the McDonald’s where the son of my friends worked when I stayed with them last year. As we reached the Rynek (the main square in every city in Poland), the number of people grew exponentially and it was almost overwhelming how many people were milling about. There was some kind of festival with live music and a market happening at that time.

We were really hungry so we went to eat some traditional Polish food (I really wanted to eat something authentic). After we ate, we walked around the market to buy some souvenirs. Last year I bought a calendar for 2017 when I was in Poland and this time I bought the same calendar but for 2018. Maybe I can make this a tradition every time I go to Poland. There was a Hungarian group playing folk music on the stage that was really amazing. I took a video to show my Hungarian friends because they weren’t there with us.

I took my friends to the Leaky Cauldron café in Krakow. My friend from Cyprus is also a huge Harry Potter fan, as evidenced by the plethora of Harry Potter related t-shirts she owns, so it was really great to share my favourite place with pals who appreciated it. They have really improved their decorations and the menu from the last time I was there so I was very impressed. I got the Iced Butterbeer, which is my favourite, and I am happy to say that the recipe for this was not one of the changes they made (since it was already perfect).

After sharing this magical experience, I hopped on the tram to go to my friends’ house for the evening, whom I met last year because they were my host family in Kraków during WYD. Everything was exactly how I remembered it so it was a weird experience. It almost felt like no time had passed since I had been there last. I even slept in the same room I did last time. I ate pierogi (which were heavenly) and fresh plum cake (which was even more heavenly). We drank tea and beer and ate some snacks and it was just so lovely to have a really good conversation.

They speak really good English but I showed them some of my Polish and they said that my accent was really good which made me very happy. Sometimes when we are speaking they do this thing where they can’t agree on the English translation of a Polish word so they get competitive to see who has the correct translation. It’s very amusing to watch. They always say “Czekaj”, which means “wait” when they are trying to think of the English word, and it was very appropriate that we learned the imperative, which is the verb tense of that word, that week in class.

They also introduced me to “Discopolo”, which I had heard before at our university parties but I didn’t know the name. Apparently, it is the kind of music that no one actually likes (and you are shamed for actually liking it), but everyone knows the words to when it is played at a wedding. Kind of like “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate”, except no one is ashamed to say they love that song.

I really feel so blessed that I was able to meet this family last year because they really are the kindest, most generous people. I don’t have the words to explain how amazing they are so you will just have to take my word for it. I love just talking with them about their experiences and my experiences and learning from each other. In some ways, I have a bit of a home away from home here in Poland. I’m hoping that I will be able to see them again in the future (soon I hope!) and that my Polish will be better so we can actually have a conversation in Polish. Maybe then I can help translate words between English and Polish.

In the morning after breakfast, it was just me and the younger daughter of the family. She doesn’t really speak English, so I got her to teach me all of the words for the things on the table. We moved onto the living room when we were done. I need to make a list of the words she taught me so I don’t forget them.

I met up with my school that morning and we took a tour of Wawel castle. I was there for three days last year and since it was so busy, I didn’t really get anything new out of it. We had free time later, but since we didn’t have a lot of time, my friends and I just walked around. 

I took them to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarters, which is in my mind a short walk, but not so in theirs. Thankfully, I knew a really good ice cream place in Kazimierz so I think I was redeemed. 

We took the tram back to the centre so we didn’t need to walk more and then we spent our time buying souvenirs, taking photos, and enjoying our time together. It was raining all day which I think made it difficult to really enjoy the city, especially for those who were there for the first time, but I was really glad to be back in my favourite city.

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Poland Summer 2017 #7: Goodbyes

I used to be really afraid of change. I used to mark the boundaries my comfort zone and stay well within them. I have always admired people who are motivated to try new, different, and even scary things. In my admiration, I have been working on becoming this kind of person. I have been trying to push the boundaries of my comfort zone and make myself uncomfortable because all the best experiences of my life so far have begun with some sense of uncertainty and fear. I don’t want my fear of what could go wrong to eclipse the possibilities of everything that could go right.

Maybe I am still a bit afraid of change, even if I try to embrace it at every opportunity. Change and I have come to an agreement, but it is still something that I am working on and we are not yet the best of friends. The worst kind of change is goodbyes. I don’t think I will ever get over my aversion to saying goodbye. This week, I had to say a lot of goodbyes.

My teacher left this week to return to Katowice so we got a new teacher who will be with us for the remainder of the summer school. There needs to be a certain level of trust built up between students and teachers for them to work well together, especially language teachers since constant communication is an essential teaching tool. It takes time for both the student and the teacher to learn how they can best help each other and for me, it takes time for me to get comfortable speaking freely with a teacher and speaking up when I don’t understand something. I was afraid for my teacher to leave because it would mean starting from scratch again with a new teacher. It was difficult to say goodbye to my wonderful, kind teacher. Fortunately, my new teacher is also very lovely so the transition has been easier than I thought it would be.

The biggest goodbyes I had to say this week were to my two friends from Croatia who left on Wednesday morning. They were only staying for half of the summer school and even though we were all anticipating it, saying goodbye was really hard. On their last night, after we had all said goodbye to the girls who were leaving and started to go to our rooms, my friend and I just starting crying in the hallway together outside our rooms. The next day was the worst because I was trying so hard to not cry all day. During the break between classes before they left, we would always sit on the benches in the hallway and talk. The first break after they left I came to the bench to find my friend crying there alone. We all hugged and ate chocolate to comfort her (and ourselves).

I spent a lot of time with the girls who left because we would study, go to the afternoon activities, and eat meals together. I was really afraid of doing things alone once they left. I got so used to them always being around all the time that since they have been gone, I keep expecting to see them when I go the cafeteria to eat or sitting on the benches in the hallway during our break. Beyond being sad that they wouldn’t be here anymore, I was sad to say goodbye to them because I didn’t know when I would see them next.

When I left Vancouver, I had made friends from all across Canada and even though we had a two-day sob-fest leading up to our departures, it didn’t feel like we were saying goodbye forever. We live in the same country and we knew we would get opportunities to see each other (and I have already gotten to see a number of my friends since then). Goodbyes are easier when you are saying “see you later”.

I am already bracing for the end of the summer school because now I have friends from all over the world. There is no guarantee this time that I will see any of them again since most of them literally live halfway around the world. I have met some of the loveliest people here and it is hard to imagine that in two weeks we will all be scattered throughout the world again. I don’t want to have to say more goodbyes.

I think you get the picture. This week was really sad. But even though a lot of goodbyes were said and tears were shed, a lot of good things happened too.

Earlier this week, it was the birthday of a guy in my class. He organized a party and invited the whole class. We sat outside at a picnic table with food and drinks and we talked. Bear in mind that in my class we are not completely fluent in Polish so we often have difficulty communicating ourselves clearly. However, everyone in the class can speak either English or Russian so we still have some commonalities. Two students in our class (one a native Russian speaker and one a native English speaker) are fluent in both Russian and English so they worked really hard as translators to keep everyone involved in the conversation.

I learned that Russians don’t have something like “cheers” to say when you’re drinking. For occasions like birthdays, everyone at the table takes a turn to make a toast and everyone drinks after each one. Everyone speaks from the heart and offers their birthday wishes; it is definitely more sincere than the simple English “cheers” and it was a really beautiful thing to be a part of. Since the birthday boy doesn’t speak a lot of English, my toast had to be translated into Russian.

Later in the evening, our teachers even came to join us for the birthday celebration. They spoke to us in Polish (which they do almost all the time), but in any case, our translators had gone home so we needed to speak mostly in Polish for everyone to communicate. I learned that my professor from Edmonton had emailed to check up on me and hear how I was doing so I was touched by that.

This week we also had the Wieczór Narodów (trans: Evening of Nations), which was an event where all the students at the summer school had the opportunity to present our countries to the school and the residents of Cieszyn. It was held in the main square in the centre of the city and I was really surprised at how many people were there! I performed with France and Cyprus and even though I was really nervous to read my speech about Canada (my hand was visibly shaking even if my voice was not), I was proud of myself for speaking in front of such a big crowd for 3 minutes entirely in Polish! I also helped my friends from Korea with their performance. There are only two of them, but they wanted to dance Gangnam Style and needed a larger dance team so we were all recruited. I was nervous because we didn’t have a lot of time to practice and I didn’t know all the steps, but nevertheless it was really fun! People really got into dancing along with us. We even got to dance the Polonaise a couple times which I really enjoyed.

Last week, we wrote our first test, which was essentially the mid-term exam. Most people I know got the test back earlier, but my class didn’t get it back until yesterday. I received the highest mark in my class, which I was very happy about because I studied a lot for the test. I know that I am good at Polish grammar and orthography (which is why I can do well on tests), but I still struggle with speaking. We have been doing a lot of speaking exercises so I have noticed improvement and I feel more confident when I speak because my vocabulary is much bigger. It’s still my biggest weakness in Polish so I know that when I go home I need to find more opportunities to practice listening and speaking.

Yesterday was a really good day. For the first time since I have been here, I skipped the afternoon seminar so I could dedicate a few extra hours to studying. I worked on translating a poem and reviewing some new grammar rules we learned this week. Two students from my class came into the student lounge while I was studying so we started to study together. After studying with them, I had a consultation with my teacher because we had a lesson this week that I didn’t really understand. Although I was the only one who had talked to him about coming in, I kept running into people from my class who were also interested in more clarification so almost half the class ended up at the consultation.

My friend had decided earlier in the day that she really wanted pizza so my friends made plans to eat pizza together and hang out in the evening. It was a nice break from all the studying. Pizza toppings continue to be a contentious issue because apparently it is weird to put pineapple on pizza (not that I eat it like that but I guess it is mostly a North American thing). I don’t think Poland has much room to talk because they put corn on their pizza.

There were a lot of sad things this week, but also a lot of small blessings and beautiful moments. Goodbyes are still hard, but life keeps moving forwards. There is even a happy ending to this story. I didn’t have a plan for what to do after the summer school ends so my friend and I have decided to tag along with our Croatian friend as she goes home. I will be fulfilling my childhood dream of going to Croatia (which is a long story involving a coin, a book of flags, and a school project) and I will get to see the country that gave me the best gift of the most wonderful friends. I guess that not all goodbyes are forever.

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Poland Summer 2017 #6: One Day

My day typically begins at 6:30 or 7:00 when I wake up and start getting ready for school. I make sure my bag is packed with water and a snack and I check the weather so I know if I need to pack a sweater. I usually study in the morning to review what we did the day before so I am prepared for class. Sometimes I help my roommate review for her class as well. She didn’t know any Polish before coming here so often she has questions. I remember how it feels to be overwhelmed with a new language so I like to help her as much as I can.

Breakfast begins at 8:00. The cafeteria is just down the hill from the dormitory so it only takes a couple of minutes to walk there. Usually my roommates and I go together to the cafeteria to eat. Breakfast is a selection of meats, cheeses, vegetables, bread, cereals, yogurt, jams, and usually a hot option that changes every day. There is always coffee and tea with breakfast. Every morning I eat two open-faced sandwiches with ham, cucumbers, and tomatoes and a coffee. Sometimes I switch it up if they have naleśniki (which are like crêpes) because they are really delicious. The coffee is always really hot so I have to chug it at the end of breakfast to make it to class on time.

The main university building where all our classes are held is right next to the cafeteria so we can leave breakfast between 8:50 and 8:55 to get there right on time. Our first class runs from 9:00 to 10:30 and my teacher for this class is named Sabina. We have a short break until 11:00 so usually my friend in my class buys coffee from the vending machine (which is surprisingly good coffee) and we try to talk in Polish to practice. Our next class runs from 11:00 to 12:30 and my teacher for this class is named Tomek. They are both really nice and really good at making sure the concepts they are teaching us stick with different activities. We have a lot of small group work in pairs or groups of three and sometimes we also have to go and write on the board to check our orthography.

We talk a lot about ourselves, especially about our countries. The other students in my class are from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Cyprus, Hungary, Scotland and Moldova. This is one of the best opportunities to learn about other countries because every day we talk about things like where people go on vacation in our country, what musicians and actors are popular, and our national foods. It is so wonderful that although we all come from very different backgrounds and speak different languages, we can share our experiences with each other because we are all learning Polish and have a common language to speak.

Class here is a different experience from Polish class at home. At university, we don’t have enough students taking Polish classes so I am used to the class having people with drastically different competency levels in Polish. It is a much more comfortable here because we are all on fairly equal footing. The only caveat is that nearly everyone in my class speaks Russian except me which makes it a little easier for them to learn Polish because of the similarities in the languages.

When our last class is done, we return to the cafeteria for lunch, which is the largest meal of the day. We usually start with a soup and some bread, and then we have some kind of hot dish. I have enjoyed most of the meals we have eaten, though some are definitely better than others. I prefer the more traditional Polish meals, but we get a variety of different dishes. We always get kompot at lunch, which is a drink made from cooking fruit in water.

After lunch, we can decide what we want to do with the rest of our day. There are seminars and other activities offered every afternoon that we can elect to do. We need to attend at least 12 in our time here. I want to learn as much as I can so I try to attend as many things as possible. There is usually a seminar in English from 2:00 until 3:30 on different topics related to Polish culture or the language so I have gone to those every day.

After the seminar, I usually go to the student lounge to study or my room to take a nap. I only get homework from one teacher so I don’t usually have very much but I try to study even if I don’t have an assignment to complete. During class, I write in the margins of my notebook when I hear a word I don’t know or a phrase I could use later. After class, I go back through the notes I took and the activities we worked on to make sure I understand all the words. I often review the grammar rules we talked about in class that day and write the rules down again so I remember them better.

I should confess that I am not a diligent student like this every day and sometimes I just end up doing things with my friends. On a couple occasions, we have been studying together and then ended up making conversation and talking about our countries or learning Croatian and Hungarian tongue twisters. I tell myself that even if I am not studying Polish, I am still learning something and too much studying will make me too tired anyways.

Supper is at 7:00. This meal has about the same spread as breakfast, but with a hot meal more appropriate for the time of day. The best dish we have had so far is the strawberry pierogi, but I ate them too fast and didn’t take a picture. There is always a lot of tea at this time.

After dinner, there is some kind of evening activity planned. The most common activity is a movie (in Polish with English subtitles), but sometimes we have language games or other fun, cultural events to help us practice Polish in different ways. We had a talent show one night and soon we will have the “Night of Nations” in the centre of the city, where we will all present something about our countries.

I really enjoy the movies because it is hard to find Polish movies with English subtitles and a lot of the movies so far have been about topics that I know nothing about so it is a good learning opportunity. The movies lately have been really heartbreaking so we usually leave the cinema emotionally drained and we have to discuss the film to make sense of everything.

In comparing Polish films to American films, I find that American movies in general are a lot less graphic than Polish films (i.e. Polish films contain a lot more full-frontal nudity), which isn’t necessarily what I expected. In addition, I find that Polish movies tend to force you to fill in the blanks yourself and revel in confusing the audience, whereas American movies “tell” you more and hold the audience’s hand through the plot line.

The evening activities usually end between 9:30 and 10:00 so I go back to the dormitory at this time to take a shower, finish my homework, study, and do some writing (like I am doing now). My friend has been sending me a lot of Croatian music and I am obsessed with this song so I usually listen to it on repeat when I study. I like listening to music in a language I don’t understand when I study so it doesn’t distract me and this song is perfect for that. I usually go to bed just after midnight.

The next day, I do it all over again.

[coffeebreakstatement]

Poland Summer 2017 #5: Side Effects

Two days ago we had our first excursion of the summer school. There are trips like this one planned every weekend to different places and they give us an opportunity to see different parts of Poland and take a break from classes (all of which I appreciate immensely!).

For our first stop, we went to Tarnowskie Góry. The silver mine in Tarnowskie Góry is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Though the mine is no longer in operation due to resource shortage, we were able to visit the underground “river”. The “river” is part of a water management system that allows water to drain from the underground extraction zone and be used to supply nearby towns and industry. After this visit, we were able to walk around the centre of the city, but in all honesty, there wasn’t too much to see and we only stayed for a little while.

Later, we went to another city, Koszęcin, where we learned about traditional Polish outfits and to dance the Polonaise, which is the oldest Polish dance. I was in the very front of the group for the dance so my partner and I were always under constant scrutiny from our dance teacher to make no mistakes. Even so, it was a lot of fun! There were a lot of people walking past that stopped to watch us learn the dance. It was nice to see that our dancing, even with many mistakes, could make people happy!

On our excursion, I sat with a girl I met from France on the bus so we talked in French almost the whole day. I was able to keep up well enough with the conversation but my comprehension skills are definitely better than my speaking skills so I really need practice (I made a lot of mistakes but I told her to correct me, which she did). Even so, we were still able to have a lot of great conversations so I was happy my skills were good enough for that!

Many people here speak three or more languages so there is a lot of switching between people talking amongst themselves in their native language and talking with other people in their second, third or fourth language. On the excursion, I had my first experience switching between three languages and it is definitely an exhausting task. I have so much respect for everyone here who has to do it all the time to talk in English, which is in some ways the unofficial second language at the summer school. I feel really bad that I am always speaking in my native language when I know it is really tiring for other people speaking in English all the time to communicate with me and other people who only share English as a common language (obviously in addition to varying degrees of Polish competency). 

This week in class I keep starting or ending my sentences in French when I am talking to my friend (in Polish) because I have been speaking in French so much this week. My friends often speak to me by mistake in Hungarian or Croatian or Chinese because they are switching languages all the time, but this was my first experience of it. A side effect of too many languages overcrowding the brain!

After the excursion, I intended to sleep early because I hadn’t slept much the night before (we had a movie marathon that was a little more than 5 hours long). My roommates and I showed each other our passports and we looked on Google Maps to show each other exactly where we live. I got to see pictures of where my roommates live in Belarus, Morocco, and China. It occurred to me when we did this that we do not only live in different countries, but also different continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. This was especially poignant when we would zoom out on the map and have to drag the globe such a long way to find the next country we were going to look at. It is somewhat of a small miracle that we all crossed paths in search of the same goal: learning Polish.

On the 15th of August, we will have an evening in the centre of the city where all the students will present our respective countries. I have been feeling very nervous about this because I am the only Canadian at the school so I will be the only student representing Canada. The French girl I met invited me to join France for their presentation. There is a girl in my class from Cyprus that studies in France and she is also going to join us. We will talk about our own countries and present songs and dances from all three countries together. For Canada, I chose Dégénération by Mes Aïeux, which is one of my favourite French Canadian songs. I feel much more comfortable now that I won’t be on the stage alone.

Yesterday we had a party where we got to eat kiełbasa, drink beer, and sing Polish songs: a classic Polish party. We have all been learning Polish songs in class this week so each class got to present the songs they have been practicing. My song was definitely the most lit but there were a lot of really good songs. A few of them were added to my playlists. 

Today some of the Japanese students were teaching me some Japanese phrases (very important things like “I am hungry” and “handsome man”). In exchange, I was teaching them some more advanced English phrases, which mostly ended up being idioms. It was a lot of fun all around. I really try when I ask someone to teach me something in their language to pronounce it correctly but I am learning that there are a lot of sounds in other languages that my mouth has a lot of difficulty forming! I will come home knowing random phrases in so many different languages, but I suppose this is a side effect of being around people from all over the world. 

[coffeebreakstatement]

Poland Summer 2017 #4: Differences

Polish mealtimes are similar to big family events at the farm: small breakfast, huge lunch, small supper. For breakfast, there is always bread and a selection of meat, cheeses, and vegetables. There is usually yogurt, jams, and chocolate spread. There is always an endless amount of tea. Lunch is our big meal so we typically start with a soup and bread, and then we have a hot meal, like fish with cabbage and potatoes. For supper, we have the same spread as breakfast usually with a hot option like dumplings filled with plums. I’m drinking more tea and less coffee here, which is probably good for my health. I’m also drinking a lot of water because the heat is nearly unbearable (I’m exaggerating, it’s not the worst but it is much hotter than I am used to).

Lunch yesterday was a really special experience. I sat with some of my friends and some people I didn’t know. The one girl is really good at Polish so she is my go-to translator and taught all of us some new words. We managed to speak to each other for almost the whole meal exclusively in Polish (save for some English to clarify or ask, “what is this in Polish?”). With my friend in my class, we often talk in Polish in the breaks to practice. I appreciate this so much because I can get lazy really easily and switch to English. I hope that I get more comfortable with speaking Polish casually like this over the course of the month.

Another one of my favourite, albeit surprising, things here is learning about different countries and their cultures. When I moved to Edmonton, I remember that it felt like a huge transition to go from a very homogenous, small town in Alberta where I was a part of the very large majority to a city with different people speaking different languages with different cultures and ideas. I remember when I moved to Vancouver, it was a similar experience; it was Edmonton on steroids. Not only is Vancouver more multicultural than Edmonton, but I was working with university students from many different provinces around Canada, some of whom were even born in different countries. It was so fascinating to hear about the differences in our everyday lives, in the words that we used, and our life experiences. It was just as interesting to learn the areas in which our lives intersected and the shared experiences we had, regardless of our differences.

Summer school in Poland is Vancouver on steroids. This is the big leagues. I have met people here who live in countries I have only ever heard about, and other people from countries that I have always wanted to visit. Sometimes we talk about our countries and what our lives are like there. We’ve talked about things like the school systems, the language, the history, and the food. I think it’s easy to forget that there is a whole other world out there of people who have much different circumstances and life experiences than you so it’s important to listen and learn from other people. It is easy to forget that your “normal” is not normal.

I love the excitement I can see in people’s eyes when they talk about their country and the things they love about it. I love the excitement I see when I say “Good morning” with the correct tones in Chinese (thank you to my roommate for teaching me that one) or when I say a really long Croatian word correctly (for those interested in giving it a go the word is: Prijestolonasljednikovljevičin).

We went to the Czech Republic today, which is now the second European country I have visited. The city I am living in straddles the border of the Czech Republic and Poland so it is as easy as walking across the bridge. We didn’t stay long but in my opinion the Polish part of the city is much prettier than the Czech part of the city. Clearly, I am in the right place. After coming back from our quick excursion across the border, some of my friends tried pierogi for the first time, which got the kind of reaction anyone familiar with pierogi would expect. Lives were changed.

It’s been a few days now so I am used to the schedule of going to class, going for meals, going to seminars, going to the evening activities. I don’t think I’m studying as much as I would like to because I am spending more time with people than with my books. Even so, I think that learning from other people has become an important part of the time I am spending here. I feel like I am understanding more Polish everyday with the new vocabulary I am learning and the constant exposure to the language. I’ve even learned some Chinese and Croatian phrases, which was an unexpected but very welcome addition to my education here. 

Tomorrow we are going on our first excursion of the summer school. I am excited to see a new place and have a break from classes. Tomorrow will be something different.

[coffeebreakstatement]

Poland Summer 2017 #3: Comfort Zones

There comes a point in your travels when you get comfortable enough with the city you’re in that you recognize the street names and the shops along the way. You start to fit together the pieces of the map in your head. Within a couple of days walking around, I find that I am able to navigate pretty well in a new place. I stayed in Katowice for just under two days. Just when I had started to figure things out, it was time for a change.

Today was a transition day. I went from the relative comfort of cozy Katowice where I had no obligations or plans, to summer school in Cieszyn. I took a bus there that was organized by the school. The lady on the bus gave all the directions in Polish and English, but she used simple enough Polish that I was able to understand even that. There were two girls behind me speaking French. I was actually very hopeful that there would be French-speaking people here because it would be another opportunity to practice a language or at least more people that I can understand.

I slept for most of the bus ride. By the time I woke up, I could see rolling hills and green everywhere. It reminded me a little bit of the foothills at home. A girl from my university came to this summer school last year and she had given me a very detailed description of absolutely everything she could remember. I had read it so many times that when we turned the corner to get to the school, I could recognize some things that she had mentioned. The grocery store at the bottom of the hill, the long incline up to the student dorms, the main hall. 

The rooms are like any typical student dorms. Four people sharing a bathroom and kitchen with two people in each room. My roommates are from China, Morocco, and Belarus with Polish competency ranging from better than mine to nothing at all. In a way, it is comforting that I already know some Polish so I’m not thrown into this brand new, confusing world like many people here who don’t speak a word of Polish. I was the translator at the grocery store and I have been teaching the girl who sleeps in the same room as me how to say our room number in Polish – “dwieście dwadzieścia trzy” – so she can ask for the key at the reception. 

It’s very interesting being with so many people from so many different backgrounds. We’ve been talking a lot about our differences and similarities. We learned how to say “good morning” in Chinese, Moroccan Arabic, and Russian so we can all greet each other in the morning. We’ve been talking exclusively in English because it is the only language that we are all fluent in. The Belarusian girl is taking English in university so she says that it’s helpful to have a Native speaker to speak with. 

I think one thing I struggle with is that while we need to speak in English for us all to communicate, I’m not improving any language skills. It’s like speaking English as a native language is a privilege, in that I don’t have to struggle to communicate with a lot of people, and a curse, in that I speak the “universal” language so I need to speak it. I keep asking them all to teach me how to say some words in their languages so I can learn something from them too.

I found out today that I am the only Canadian here. I didn’t really have an expectation of whether there would be another one or not, but I think I was hoping for a small piece of home. We have to give presentations on our countries in the middle of August in the town centre. I’m more nervous for it now because I have to do it all myself and I’m still not totally sure what I can do or say to really show “Canadian culture”. There’s not really “Canadian culture” in the same way that the other countries here have unique things to show like dances or songs or language. 

Polish proficiency tests are tomorrow. They impressed on us numerous times that we should not study or prepare for them at all. So I’m not (even if I’m fighting every bone in my body that wants to study). The slow crawl out of my comfort zone has definitely begun.

[coffeebreakstatement]

Poland Summer 2017 #2: Three Doors

There are three doors to get into the apartment I’m staying in. One from the street to inside, one from inside back outside to the private courtyard, and one to the apartment. Doors are different here though. It takes about three turns to unlock a door. There is no latch on the other side to close it once you are inside. You have to turn the key three times on one side to unlock it and three times on the other side to lock it. A one-way trip works out to about 18 turns of the key. I made this trip a few times today.

I made one poor decision to stay up late last night (read: I allowed jetlag to win) and I didn’t set an alarm (read: I allowed jetlag to win again). When I rolled out of bed at 3:00 p.m. I thought I must have forgotten to change my clock. No such luck.

Today was my day to exchange my money and get my phone set up. Part of why I stayed up late was because I was researching which phone company and plan to go with. I messaged my friend Julia probably a five hundred-word essay about what I had read about my options, including links to Polish pages because I didn’t know what they said. Like the angel she is, she responded with a message about as long as mine, but confirmed that I should go with the company I had originally planned on.

Last time I was in Poland getting my phone card set up, my host mom was able to help us translate the error messages it was giving us and in the end, we went to the phone store to set it up. When we were there, no one spoke English so with my limited Polish skills, I was elected to help us communicate with the workers in the store (which resulted in a lot of gesturing). When I got to the phone store this time (with a different company), the two workers were both young and though I started in Polish, the guy who was helping me switched to English pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I needed my passport to register the phone card so I had to come home to pick it up before I could use it.

When I arrived back at the store, I started in Polish again and the girl there was able to get me set up very quickly. She asked me (in English) what I was doing in Poland and I told her I was going to study Polish. Her shocked expression made me understand her question more as “What are you doing in Katowice”. Her question made more sense later when the guidebook I had brought with me from my Airbnb quoted their previous edition saying, “Katowice is never going to win any beauty prizes” and “That the finest building in town is a concrete bowl that looks like a UFO should be an indicator of what lies in store”. The paragraph later reads “Now, dear reader, you find yourself in a city which has undergone a major, and badly needed facelift”. I would never have guessed that the city was so much less vibrant just ten years ago.

As I walked out of the mall (a new addition as part of this “facelift”), I could hear a voice yelling excitedly from a speaker. Nearing the exit, I could see many people crowded around a big screen. I got there just in time to watch the end of the Tour de Pologne, which was in Katowice today, and be a part of the excited cheers of the crowd when the first cyclists crossed the finish line. I had planned to go see the route earlier in the day because I had known it was here today, but alas sleep had other plans for me.

About two months before my trip, I had been looking at coffee shops in Katowice on Instagram (how I find most of the coffee shops I go to) and I found one that looked super cute and updated very frequently. I was super excited to go to this coffee shop, and my excitement was definitely not ill-placed. Vancouver coffee has NOTHING on a strong Americano at Synergia. I make visiting coffee shops my job and trust me, this Americano was perfect.

After my coffee, I knew I needed to start heading to the one church I had found with an evening Mass (there were probably more but this one had a site that I could navigate well enough to find Mass times). I wanted to go home quickly to drop some things off and in doing so, I left myself with very little time to make the short walk to the church. I knew it was close to my place but as I turned onto the right street at 6:30 on the dot, I hadn’t anticipated a giant brick wall surrounding the church, nor that I would be approaching from the backside. I was about 5 minutes late, but thankfully I was not the only one.

One of my favourite things to do when travelling (especially in different countries) is attending Mass. I love that even though I do not understand everything the priest says, I can tell where they are in the liturgy and I can still say the responses and prayers in English (though the Polish responses took much longer to say). To me, this is something so uniquely beautiful about the Catholic Church; the liturgy is the same no matter where in the world you go, just in a different language. It is in moments like these when the definition of “catholic”, meaning “universal”, is so obvious and special.

The brick wall should have been a warning. I almost got locked in that church today. After the Mass was over, the church was so beautiful and peaceful so I sat in the chapel for a while. The church was pretty much empty except for me and a teenage boy who was also in the chapel. When I went to leave, I tried to go out the same way I came in. It was a small entryway with a door covering each wall. The door was locked. I thought maybe I just wasn’t strong enough. The rest of the doors were locked. At this point, the teenage boy came into the entryway, also about to leave. I let him try the door. It was still locked. He laughed and said something in Polish to me. I laughed and pretended I understood because I assumed it was probably something about the door being locked. He looked like he knew where he was going so I followed him to the front door. Also locked. I kept following him. We walked all the way to the back of the church. One door on the side was open and we were able to get out. If he hadn’t been there, I would probably have never found that door.

At this point I hadn’t really eaten much because I woke up so late, but I found a place that had really great reviews just around the corner from my place. The place I went to specialized in pulled pork sandwiches and I got the “Classic” which was dressed in horseradish, purple cabbage slaw, and pickles: Polish-style. My parents will be rolling their eyes right about now because I don’t eat 2/3 of those foods. I don’t know why but pickles taste SO MUCH BETTER in Poland. I had seen some advertisements around town about this “John Lemon” so when I saw it on the menu, I had to go for it. It is natural, unsweetened lemonade mixed with tea made in Katowice. Just when you thought no more puns could be made, I got the “Matchbata” (“tea” in Polish is “herbata”). They also had options like “Rooibata” and “Yerbata”.

I always bring a book to restaurants when I am eating alone (the book I brought with me is about math, #nerd). I had finished my chapter and it was getting fairly late so I assumed the place was about to close. I went up to the counter to pay, but the waitress (who spoke really good English), told me they didn’t close for another 2 hours. I asked her for local beverage recommendations. She showed me their juice and let me sample some of their beers (all made locally). She was shocked when I asked for the coffee milk stout because “girls don’t usually like dark beer”. It was over 30 degrees all day today so the evening was the perfect temperature to read another book with fairy lights overhead and a local beer in hand.

Today more people switched to English when we were talking. I don’t think I had a full conversation in Polish today but I at least tried to start in Polish for each of them. I had a conversation with my friend a little while ago about travelling. She likes to have a plan and know what she’s doing every day and in some ways, I wish I could be more like that. That’s probably the “smart” way of doing things because you can fit more things in when you are prepared and get the most out of the experience. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good museum, but I am realizing that I am a “lazy” solo traveler. I am just as happy to walk around the city and read the signs and watch the people and try the food as I am actually “doing” things. Maybe it is also because I am travelling alone and I like just spending quiet time doing nothing but taking in the atmosphere. A true introvert at heart. One more morning in this city. There is still a museum I might hit up tomorrow.

[coffeebreakstatement]

Poland Summer 2017 #1: Arrival

There’s this thing that happens when you travel long distances. There’s a sort of stopping of time. Or maybe prolonging it. You lose track of time. Your phone switches between time zones more naturally than you. One day drags into the next and you don’t even realize that it’s gone. You’re in the sky flying away from the sun when it happens. Or maybe you’re flying towards it. You forget what day it is. You forget that you’ve only slept 4 hours. You forget that only 25 hours ago you were walking out your front door. 

My trip had a slow start. It took me 4.5 hours to get from my house in Edmonton to Calgary by plane (what is a 3.5-hour drive on a good day). Some blessings come in disguise though because my 7-hour layover there gave me a chance to see two of my sisters one last time before I left. My little sister was the last person to give me a hug. I don’t think she saw me starting to cry when I hugged her.

There was a shift as I went from a Canadian airline flying to a Canadian city to a German airline flying to a German city. All of a sudden you were just as likely to have someone speak to you in German as English. Thankfully “danke schön” was sufficient German since all the flight attendants spoke perfectly in both languages. My seatmate was Canadian and also didn’t speak German. We enjoyed the safety video together. It made Air Canada’s seem very bland. Ours starred Marilyn Monroe with a mini me and an astronaut.

The part of my travels I was most nervous for was the layover in Frankfurt. I didn’t have a lot to be afraid of. I had 3.5 hours. The Frankfurt airport and I unfortunately have a rough past. Last time I came to Poland, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong in Frankfurt and we missed our flight. Thankfully, this time when all the non-EU citizens were milling about customs trying to figure out which desk to go to, I knew exactly where to go and got through before the throng of people. When I had to check my bag again, I knew where the Lufthanza counters were because that’s where we had to beg them to get us on the next flight last time. By the time I got to my gate, I had well over 2 hours before boarding.

I felt so comfortable in that airport this time around it was kind of a shock to remember how overwhelmed I felt when I got there last time. The Frankfurt airport was the first place in Europe I ever went to and the first place I was ever immersed in an unknown language without a guide. There was German everywhere and I didn’t understand any of it. But, there was always English written in smaller print below. People would speak to me in German first. But, on seeing my blank look would switch to English. It is times like these that I empathize with people who move to Canada without speaking very much English and I remember how privileged I am that when I’m in the same situation here, I get a safety net because people will usually be able to communicate with me still.

I got to Frankfurt with 3 euros and 12.41 złoty in my pocket. Leftovers from my last trip. My plan was to exchange money when I got to Poland. I forgot that the Frankfurt airport has no concept of a water fountain. Water was 3.15 euros. At least I had dark chocolate from the Calgary airport to get me through.

As more and more people arrived at the gate, there was another shift. This time it was a German airline flying to a Polish city. I heard a smattering of Polish, German, and English as people milled about.

There was a family that was sitting at the table next to me as we were waiting for the plane. The little boy, Ryan, was maybe 5 years old. He reminded me a lot of a little Polish boy I met when I used to run day camps in Calgary. His dad sounded American or Canadian, but his mom was definitely Polish. He would speak to Ryan in English and she would speak to him in Polish. Ryan would always respond in English. She would speak in English to her husband. I liked listening to her talk to Ryan because she was using simple vocabulary so I could understand some of it.

There was another family that I was standing next to on the bus out to the plane. The two parents and the two kids would switch mid-sentence between English, French, and Polish. I couldn’t tell what the native language of either parent was. I liked listening to them too. Maybe even more so because I could understand all of the French and English, though I struggled a bit when they switched to Polish. The kids were older and the little boy talked really fast.

Ryan had a theory on the bus ride to the plane. The bird on the plane’s wing must mean it is an Italian plane. He was very confident about his theory. His mom told him that the bird meant it was a German plane. He moved on quickly when we saw a plane starting to take off right beside us.

On the plane, people were still speaking Polish and German mostly, but the flight attendants didn’t speak Polish. The young Polish girls in front of me spoke English to them. The older man beside me spoke German to them. I knew he was Polish because he asked me in Polish before we left what row we were in to make sure he was in the right spot. He saw me thinking so he spoke again in a different language (German, probably) and then English. He was surprised when I responded in Polish.

By the time I got to Katowice, it was very similar to the last time I landed in Poland. The airports were very alike and there was even the same advertisement on the buses that took us to the arrivals wing. It took 40 minutes to get to the centre of Katowice from the airport. I was glad I had ridden in a car in Poland prior to this. There is no concept of “waiting for the dotted line to pass a car especially when there is a car fast approaching in the opposite lane”.

My Airbnb reminds me of the first house I stayed in in Poland. It is an Instagram paradise. Poland also has a very distinctive smell that I really love. Last time, after I washed my clothes in Poland, they all had that distinctive smell, even for months after I got home.

I still had only 12.41 złoty so I went to a Bankomat to get some cash (all the exchange places were closed) and went to Żabka (the convenience store on every street in Poland) to get mint apple juice (the real priority) and some fruit. I had walked to a park and there were two girls at an ice cream stand. They asked me in Polish if I wanted ice cream across the walkway and I decided to forget I was lactose intolerant for 5 minutes because it was a good chance to practice Polish with vocabulary I know (just kidding, it was all about the ice cream).

I should rewind and say that Katowice feels a lot smaller than Kraków. And it is. But when I was in Kraków and trying to speak Polish, everyone would switch to English immediately. Not so in Katowice. The ice cream stand girls could tell pretty quickly that I didn’t speak Polish fluently because I had to ask them to repeat themselves several times. They asked if I spoke English (in Polish) and knew a few English words to explain what they were trying to say when it took us a few tries to get on the same page, but my Polish was better than their English so we stuck with that. After they told me all the flavours (thank goodness for the food unit in Polish class) and I made my choice, we chatted a bit more. They asked where I was from and I said I was from Canada. They asked if I was a student here and I was able to communicate that I was going to be a student in Cieszyn, but only for a month. They told me that I had “really pretty” Polish. That made me feel really good about all the time I spent working on my pronunciation when I was first learning Polish.

I’m looking forwards to having more conversations like this one where I have to improvise more than I do in Polish class. One trick I have is if I don’t know the declension of the word I am trying to say, I just say it in nominative case and trail off so they finish my sentence with the correct case for me. The ice cream stand girls helped me finish this sentence: “Będę uczyć się polskiego w Cieszynie.”