Yesterday I went to the grocery store that is about six blocks from our house. At this particular store there are grocery carts but you have to pay to use them. The have these little plastic baskets that you can use at no charge. They look like red laundry baskets on wheels with a handle that you pull along behind you. Those suit me just fine since I am never making a big grocery trip. When I checked out the check out lady told me the amount and I gave her cash. She kept saying something to me that I could not understand. I knew I had given her enough money so I had no idea what she was saying. Finally she repeats what she has been saying VERY loudly for the rest of the line to hear (there was probably four people behind me). Immediately they all start looking through their wallets and one lady pulled out change for the 50 zloty bill that I had handed her. I finally figured out that what she was saying to me was that she could not make change for that bill I had given her. Thankfully Polish people are very patient and kind and it was not a big deal.
Last night Myles and I went to our landlord's home to pay the October rent. We walked over and knocked on the door. The wife, Barbara answered the door. She does not speak English but was very welcoming and gracious. She said "Prosze, prosze," and indicated for us to come in. Prosze is pronounced pro-sha and means please, as in please come in. So we went in and they insisted that we sit in their living room. Barbara offered us coffee or tea. They brought their 18 year old daughter Anita, into the room to meet us. She has studied English, but she has not had much opportunity to use it. She did a really good job helping us translate and could not have been nicer. Her dad told us that when he was in school they learned Russian. I should say he got that point across to us and we figured out what he was talking about. We have found the Polish people to be delightful--very giving and hospitable. We stayed only for a few minutes at their home because it was getting close to dinner time and our kids were home alone, and we had not told them that we would be more than a few minutes.
Last night was the first night that everyone seemed to be in the right time zone. I think we are on track now. This morning we did a little bit of school work. We'll do a little tomorrow, too. Myles has to teach a seminar over the weekend (until noon on Saturday and until 1:00 on Sunday). So we will get caught up on school while he is gone and be on track for Monday. The kids have been reading a lot in their down time anyway...they can't understand the television and they have to take turns on the computer. While the big three grumbled about doing some assignments, Trey was quite the eager little learner. He was happy to do his worksheets and work in his handwriting book. He wrote in his journal that what he likes to do in Poland is eat.
This afternoon we did a little more exploring on the train. We went a little further north and a little further south. On the north side of where we live are quite a few little stores with quite an array of goods to sell. We bought a rolling cart to bring home our groceries. I also bought a spatula and a strainer for our sink. This house does not have a garbage disposal in the sink and this seems to be an ungraspable concept to my children. Every time I turn around there has been a bunch of food remnants in the sink. So the strainer is so they can go ahead and dump the food in and then throw it in the garbage can from the strainer. We also found several butcher shops. I had been wondering where you bought meat because there is not much of it in the grocery stores that I have been to. It is the same with baked goods. You have to go to a bakery to get that good stuff!
Then we went south to the downtown area that is called Old Town. In 1997, Gdansk celebrated their 1,000 year anniversary. It is an area of new and old. There is lots of shopping and it is a major tourist area. We went inside a church called St. Catherine's (Sw. Katarzyny). It was founded in 1184! In 2006 it was severely damaged in a fire and they are now restoring it. The restoration process is expected to take two to three more years. We also saw a watch tower that was built in the 1400s for soldiers to watch for invaders. There is lots of history here!
As we were walking, an elderly lady heard Myles speaking English. She stopped us and talked to us for a few minutes. She used broken English but we could certainly understand her. She said she had been to New York and Florida. She was trying to tell us more but could not think of the words. She said she is 85 years old and her brain is slow! She spoke much better English than we do Polish, that's for sure!
We came home and we had pierogies for dinner. I had bought them the other day at the grocery store and I just heated them up. They were in packaging like you would buy refrigerated ravioli or tortellini at grocery stores at home. While we were out today I saw lots of delicious looking pierogie type things. I need to do some research to see what all this stuff is. The kids liked dinner tonight, but they are tentative about trying new things (well Ben's not, but the girls and Trey are).
Tomorrow I am going with Myles to the university. They are having a beginning of the year ceremony and are going to introduce him. I am going to tag along for part of that. I will have the kids doing some homework while I am out and do not plan to be gone for very long.
I am currently on the look out for a playground for Trey. We have been out and about quite a bit but I want him to get out and run and play before the weather gets too cold. It was quite chilly today. I think the high temperature was around 52 and the rain made it feel colder.
Everyone seems to be adjusting just fine and we have new adventures every day...
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