9/28/13
It’s is 8am and I am waiting on my bed to go to my Aunt and Uncle’s house. My parents are taking me there to visit the beautiful nature surrounding their house. They live in a lake with trees, flowers, and many antique farming tools placed in the yard. It is very peaceful and quiet.
The ride is about 3 hours to get there. After everyone is introduced and greetings are exchanged, my parents and I are served dinner. Dinner is tartar but with fish and sliced bread. I do my best to eat the tartar but the fish taste is making it impossible for me to find it appetizing. I covered up the taste by jamming as much bread in my mouth as possible. They also served me gas water which is bubbly and unappealing. This made it hard to wash everything down my throat. This was an unfortunate situation.
My uncle loves to exercise so we hiked for 3 hours up and down steep hills and across farms. I started the hike with clean Uggs, a long sleeves shirt, a thick sweatshirt, North Face jacket, and a warm scarf. By the end of the hike I had dirty Uggs and only wore the long sleeve shirt.
Back at the house I had collapsed on the couch outside and refused to get up. All I wanted to do was sleep for the next 2 days. Then I had a major craving for chocolate. This craving did not go away no matter how hard I tried to push it in the back of my head. My host mom was staring at me too so it would make it impossible to sneak the chocolate in my mouth without her seeing. As soon as she got up to use the bathroom I had maneuvered the chocolate out of my backpack and broken a small piece into my hand. When she got back, I was now holding the chocolate. My host dad called her over to the outdoor kitchen which gave me enough time to put the chocolate in my mouth and have the wrapper shoved into my backpack pocket. My host mom is very observant so when she came back, I tried to camouflage my chews by scratching my cheek with my hand.
For supper, we all ate on the dining room table siting on the dock above the lake. The table accompanied the 8 of us. I ate cabbage filled blintzes which wasn’t the best but the ketchup made it delicious. As soon as I was full, I got super tired and couldn’t keep my head up. My host dad gave me his puffy vest to keep warm and my host mom took me inside to watch TV. I couldn’t figure out how to work the clicker so by accident I recorded 2 shows. Eventually I got it to play a British show and converted it into English.
After a few hours of sitting on the warm couch, my host dad and uncle got a fire started outside. I went with my host dad to sit with everyone. My host uncle told me I looked like the angels and saints that are painted on the murals in church. When the fire reflects off my face and my features, it makes me angelic. This is an absolutely huge compliment that I have never heard before. I feel so honored and warm inside.
In Poland sometimes the houses and bathrooms are designed for different sized people. In my family’s house, their downstairs is an open room with a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room, and dining room. Upstairs is an open room as well with 4 big beds laying on the ground with 1 bathroom in the corner. I took a “shower” in the tiny bathtub that had no shower curtain. The ceiling was also on a slant so I had to sit on my knees and kept my head in my lap when I had to rinse the shampoo out of it. It was hard not to get water all over the floor no matter how hard I tried.
After the hot shower in the tiny tub, I shimmied into my sleeping bag on the flat mattress. I was sleeping in the same room as my host parents which was a little odd to me. I could hear everything they did when they came upstairs to go to sleep. Privacy is not an option in this house.
Stephanie Raquel
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