9/1/13
I’m on my way to Northern Poland to a city called Gizycko. It is about a 7 hour bus ride from Lublin. Sunny and I don’t know anyone except the Headmaster. People speak English but they don’t want to talk to us. It’s definitely overwhelming to be surrounded by people who only speak Polish. It’s also hard to even have English thoughts when you only hear Polish. The girl behind me constantly hits my chair and speaks obnoxiously loud. 5 more hours to go!
We stopped at a gas station and there was no toilet paper in the bathroom! I don’t know how every girl went to the bathroom without toilet paper. Apparently it is common for the bathroom to not have toilet paper. I need to buy packs of tissues to carry around with me.
I met a girl who is very nice. Some girls here, I’ve noticed, wear all black. Definitely not the style I’ll be wearing this year. I love colors! (Just like my mom.) Her friends that she introduced us to seemed nice also. Sunny and I kept saying to each other that we can’t wait to understand Polish so we know what everyone is saying. Sometimes I understand simple words they say like a number or girl (Osiem =8 and dziewczyna= girl) I hope I make friends on this trip. I can’t help but sleep the whole bus ride though because I haven’t caught up on my sleep yet.
When I first got to the school, everyone was starring at me. Boys, girls, teachers all starred. A few people even knew who I was! It was strange when a man in a red jacket walked up to me and said, “Hola.” I said, “Hello?” He said, “Hello, are you Stephanie?” I said “yes.” Then he walked away nodding his head. Looking around at the kids; some girls are pretty but the guys aren’t very good looking.
It is FREEZING here! My teeth are chattering constantly. Thank goodness I brought my North Face jacket with me! I should have brought me UGGS too. My feet are freezing in my flats. It is already 10 degrees Celsius which is about 43 degrees F.
At a restaurant when we stopped again, I saw empty seats at a table so I asked the kids sitting down if we could sit in these empty seats. Shockingly, the kids did not speak any English. A young boy finally spoke up and told us to sit down. We all just starred at each other because we couldn’t communicate with each other. Apparently these kids were in the first class meaning they are 15 years old so they don’t have enough practice with English. No one else spoke to us though. I am thankful to have Sunny with me because I would be super lonely without her.
Towards the end of the night, people finally started talking to us! They are being forced but honestly it’s better then nothing. Sunny and I are trying really hard to put ourselves out there. We walk right up to girls and introduce ourselves. The kids may not understand but it shows we are being friendly. We realized though that our class, 2B, isn’t at this green school. We are in class with 17 year old kids but at this camp are 14-16 year old kids. This sucks because I really was looking forward to making friends with kids in my class.
I hope tomorrow is better!
Stephanie Raquel
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