World's Cleanest clothes?

Learning to use our washing machine has been a challenge. 

At first when we "washed" clothes, when cycle was finished our clothes were still dry. We tried pushing some buttons and turning the dials until it started again. Once it stopped after over an hour of washing the washer would still be full of water. So we would turn the dial again until it started back up. Finally after literally, hours in the machine our clothes would be clean.  

Now we have it all figured out and we can turn the dial once, start the load and when it stops our clothes are clean, but one load takes OVER 2 hours!!!

Therefore, I am convinced I have the world's cleanest clothes!

Get Well Soon!

Genna has been sick since Thursday. She missed school on Friday. I thought she was almost better on Saturday and then she felt terrible again on Sunday. 

Everyone at school has been really helpful. They wrote down COLDREX on a post it note and told me where to buy it for her. If she isn't feeling better today, I think someone from school is going to take her to the doctor. 

Get well soon Genna!

Update: A doctor came to our flat today to see Genna. She has Tonsillitis and another infection that the doctor didn't know in English. She is on Antibiotics and should be better soon! 

Schindler's Factory

After touring the salt mine, we took a bus to Schindler's Factory. (Remember the movie Schindler's List?) The factory has been turned into a museum that illustrates life in Krakow from 1939 to 1945. 

 The most powerful moment in the museum was having to weave through the Nazi flags. This effectively represented the Nazi takeover of Poland. 

There were also letters written by children. It was interesting to read their perspective on what was happening around them. 

Above is one of "Schindler's Lists." And on the wall was all the names of people saved from concentration camps by Oscar Schindler. 

After touring the factory we took a bus back into the city center. It had finally stopped raining, but everything was still wet. So we took some cool "shiny" pictures before heading home. 

We had a great weekend! Thank you Ilona for taking us to Krakow!!

Sunday Salt Mine

Last Sunday was a big day! 

We began with a trip to the Salt Mine. We needed to check the validity of this so called salt mine. What better way than licking the walls? 

Yes, they are salty!!

It is a HUGE mine. The tours were kind of expensive so we opted for the cheaper option, going on a tour in Polish. Ilona was nice enough to translate, but the tour was 2 hours long and about an hour longer than my attention span!

There were all kinds of statues in the mine. Everything was carved out of salt! 

We took pictures of every one! 

There is even a church in the mine. I guess people get married there. There was also a ballroom and a restaurant in the mine! 

Notice the chandelier. It is made of salt! 

All in all it was pretty cool and a great way to spend a cold and rainy morning! 

Potato Pancakes

Saturday night Ilona made us potato pancakes. I thought they were really good. They were a lot like Grandma and Grandpa Plachecki's, but a little thicker and Ilona doesn't use onions. They reminded me of hash browns. 

So Long Blue Connect

Our first month in Poland we had a Blue Connect internet USB to use at home. We said things like "pass me the internet" and "I'm holding the internet in my hands." Needless to say we found the internet USB entertaining. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective in providing internet service but, as of last Thursday we have wireless internet!!!!! 

St. Mary's Church

My favorite building in the Krakow City Center was St. Mary's Church. 

There are two towers that are different heights. We were told that two brothers built the towers. Each wanted his to be taller than the others. One brother died and the other brother continued to build his so it would be taller. 

The taller one severed as the city's watch tower. During medieval times the watchman would play his bugle as a warning call. There is a legend that when the watchman on duty spotted the enemy and sounded the alarm. He was shot with an arrow and abruptly stopped playing. He successfully woke the town and they were able to defeat the invaders. Today, the melody is played from the tower each hour by a trumpeter and still stops abruptly when the watchman was shot. 

Minnesota in Poland

While shopping a few weekends ago I found Minnesota University T-shirts. 

Around the penguin it says, "Explore, Discover * Antarctic Expedition." 

Too funny!
Antarctic, Minnesota.. pretty much the same place.
 I'll have to keep my eye out for a penguin the next time I'm home. 

There were also similar shirts for Boston and New York. 

Boston's shirt said something about the nicest people in the world. 

Clearly, the person who designed the T-shirts hasn't ever been to the US. 

But, seeing a Minnesota T-shirt was still fun!

Saturday Night in Krakow

 We left for Krakow Saturday afternoon and got to the city center just before dark. 

It was a beautiful night and we had a lot of fun seeing the city all lit up. 

 My favorite part of the night was when we saw people lighting lanterns. It was really cool to see the sky filled with lights. As we continued walking we realized there was a wedding and that's why there were so many being lit. We were taking pictures and we met someone from the wedding. He gave us lanterns and helped us light them. It was windy and took several attempts to light, but it was really fun, and very exciting when our lanterns finally took off. 

Off to Krakow!

We are doing our first site seeing this weekend with it a trip to Krakow! It's the most popular tourist destination in Poland and only about and hour and a half away from Bielsko. Our friend Ilona is taking us! Can't wait to share pictures with you next week! 

So Many Cars!

Behind our school there is a small parking lot (car park). Sometimes, adults come to our school for lessons. When this happens it fills up very quickly! On Friday, when it was time to leave for Helen Doron Training, there were cars blocking us in. So several people had to move their cars just for us to get out. Unfortunately, no one knew whose car was who’s so it took nearly a half an hour for us to wait for people to come move their car!

Helen Doron

Helen Doron is an English woman who moved to Israel when she was an adult. She raised her children in Israel, but wanted them to learn English. So she began teaching them English as infants.  People thought she was crazy to teacher her children at such a young age, but she did it anyway and was very successful. 

Based on this experience she created the Helen Doron method, which begins teaching English as early as 3 months and continues until children are teenagers. With her method children must hear a CD twice everyday to learn vocabulary and then they come and “play” once a week to attach meaning to the vocabulary they have learned. There are many different courses based on the children’s age and level of English. 

Each week I am teaching 13 lessons based on this method. I will tell you more about the training soon!