Lori's Travels

Angloville is going full swing now and the schedule is quite busy.  From the time breakfast starts at 9 a.m. until social time is over at 10 p.m, except for a 90-minute break after lunch, we’re having conversations with the Poles.  I’m really enjoying the conversations and learning about all the participants.  Here’s the schedule (I hope you can see this):

Sunday was the start of my teaching week with Angloville.  It’s a school that holds 5-day sessions in country hotels and resorts to teach English to people mostly from central European countries via “immersion” classes.  Native English speakers like me volunteer our time to teach in exchange for free room and board at the resort, the opportunity for cultural exchange and to meet new people.

On Sunday morning, I checked out of my hotel and walked a couple of blocks to the Warsaw Palace of Culture to meet the Angloville organizers and volunteers for the bus ride to our resort, Debowa Gora Active and Spa, near the small town of Nowe Rumunki. About 25 people departed on the bus at 10:45, both English speakers and a few Polish participants.

I didn’t get any photos of the Polish countryside we traveled through for about 2 hours, but it was mostly flat agricultural fields and young, planted forests.

We arrived about 1 pm and were served lunch in the resort’s dining room. More Polish participants had joined us there. 18 Polish people and 18 to 20 English speakers were expected.  Lunch was boiled potatoes, coleslaw and breaded chicken fillets. After lunch we were assigned our roommates and checked into our rooms. I’m rooming with Olivia from Edinburgh, Scotland.  We got a break and then  an introduction to the week’s plan by Angloville staff member Rebecca.

There was an introductory icebreaker at 5:30 in which we asked a Polish partner a few get-to-know-you questions and they asked us the same, then we introduced our partner to the group.  Then we hand our first one-on-one session for 50 minutes.  After that, dinner at 7:30.  Dinner was baked chicken, boiled potatoes, and mixed vegetables, plus ice cream for dessert.  All the time, we were talking to the Poles in English. After dinner, we could leave, but most stayed to continue talking.  I left shortly before 10 pm to go to bed.

(I am having technical issues with my blog editing app that prevented me from finishing the last entry, so it’s continued here.)

After the tour ended, we all ate lunch together in a nearby restaurant, paid for by Angloville. It was a chance to get to know the other volunteers better. Mostly Americans, but also from New Zealand, England, and Wales.  After lunch, several of us adjourned to a bar serving craft beers, where we sampled a couple.

I walked back to the hotel between 5:30-6 p.m. on considerably more crowded streets than the morning’s.  Dinner was at a restaurant serving sandwiches about 50 feet from the hotel.

It’s not easy to sleep the whole night after crossing so many time zones. But I slept enough to feel refreshed and ready to explore this morning. I ate breakfast at the hotel’s small buffet a little after 7 a.m. With sliced tomatoes, cucumber, green salad, and pickles as choices, as well as fresh breads and sliced cheeses, I knew I was in Europe.

A little after 9:00, when there were relatively few people on the streets, I decided to walk around to explore. My hotel, Apartamenty Zgoda, is in the central business area of Warsaw. There are many restaurants and stores in the area, but not open yet. The staff at the front desk gave me walking directions to Old Town, where I needed to be at 11:15 to meet the Angloville representative and other English-speaking volunteers for a tour of the city. The walk went down a lovely street with wide sidewalks and lots of shops.

 The University of Warsaw:

 And the Presidential Palace:

At 11:15, I found the Angloville staff member, Rebecca, and 9 other English-speaking volunteers at the column. A Polish tour guide also met us there and we began a 3-hour walking tour of the Old Town area. Some photos of Old Town:

Lunch then beer

I’m in downtown Warsaw now after a 1-hour bus and light rail ride to SeaTac, a 9-hour flight from Seattle to Paris, a 5-hour layover, and a 2-hour flight to Warsaw, then finally a 20-minute taxi ride to the hotel. Travel days are grueling!  My mind is doing funny things due to lack of quality sleep in the last 28 hours, so this will be a short post.  The flights all went smoothly and nothing interesting happened along the way.  Here’s a shot of my French breakfast about 10 a.m. at the Paris airport.  There’s chocolate in that pastry. 😀