Zakopane

Having decided that I was going to rest, I left my computer at home, which means that my only internet access in this God forsaken yet beautiful place is my dad's laptop, which I don't get to use very often. Besides, to be honest, I did not come here to spend my time sitting inside and surfing on the internet, I came here to conquer high peaks, brave the snow and the cold and drink a lot of mulled wine (mental note to self - I haven't had any yet, time to make up for that).
That to explain my hitherto silence and the silence to come, as well as the fact that this post will be hectic and generally rubbish, but I need to hurry cause there's a dad out there wanting his computer back and there's a world out there wanting me back.
Having said that, I don't know what to say - I mean, I have loads to say, plenty of little funny or absurd things happening on the way, in Warsaw and here, but I don't really know where to start. I'll try to keep a note of them and retrospect a bit once back in Brum. For now, there are mountains out there...

German Christmas Market

I was standing by the pretzel stand enjoying a pretzel, when I suddenly heard:
‘Miss, Miss, did you speak German to her to buy that pretzel?’ and without waiting for my answer, to the pretzel-lady: ‘Did she speak German to you?’
‘No’ the pretzel lady answered politely, which only encouraged the little buggers.
‘Are you German?’
‘No, I’m not’.
‘Oh, cause she’s our German teacher. Where are you from then?’
‘I’m Polish.’
‘Oh my God! She’s Polish too! Miss, Miss, speak Polish to her! Go on then Miss!’
At which point I smiled apologetically at the pretzel lady and satisfied their request: ‘Sorry’ I said ‘School trip…’.

On Wednesdays

If you want my opinion, Wednesday is the worst day of the week. The energy you had after a restful weekend is gone, and when your weekend wasn’t restful – as it was the case for me, sleepless in Brum for three nights in a row without a reason really – it is even worse. And there’s still more time to crawl through until next weekend than has elapsed since the last one. So on Wednesday mornings the world is not a friendly place, and all I want is to stay in bed and feel sorry for myself. Which usually means I do stay in bed longer than I should, and then I have to rush my way out, which only adds to the horrible Wednesday feeling, cause I hate rushing, especially in the morning.
But Wednesday is also the day when my Year 7 group has their Citizenship lesson in the classroom opposite mine. And once the bell goes, they spill out into the corridor and peek into my room saying: ‘Hi German teacher!’, ‘Safe Miss!’ and ‘I can’t wait till tomorrow’s lesson Miss!’ and my heart grows and I realise that actually it is after lunch so the next weekend is closer than the previous one already and I can’t wait till tomorrow’s lesson either, cause we always have loads of fun. And there goes the Wednesday feeling, cause suddenly it is almost Friday and there are cool things ahead.

Straight or bent

In the school I work at I have to deliver citizenship lessons to a year 8 group. And last homework I gave them yielded a couple of beauties, my favourite being an answer to the following question:
Homosexual couples are not allowed to get married. Why is that wrong?
Well, apparently because you should be allowed to marry who you want whether you are straight or bent.