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[sar-bear91-blog]

Back to work I go!

Coming back from a short break is always hard. London was such an amazing trip that it was hard getting back into work mode, especially when every teacher I know at home is starting their summer break! However, I had the end of the year performance to worry about!!

The school year here starts September 1st and ends June 30th, but for us it is all summer too! Of course we still needed to have an end of the year performance. Since this is the last year for our kiddies I wanted to make sure they had a proper graduation ceremony. First we had to have an actual performance. Karolina did a short play about graduation and some songs and I did 3 short poems and a fun song about a pink Cadillac, motorcycle, and a jet ski! After we had them put on graduation caps and we called them up one at a time with silly animal awards. For example: pig award for a student who makes a mess and cleans up, the puppy award who loves to give hugs, the mouse award which is a quiet one, and alligator award who loves to smile, just to name a few. The kids loved them! After they gave us an amazing book with all their pictures and a different drawing. I will cherish this book forever. 

My amazing Ants! :-)

My favorite :-)

The wonderful book we got! 

this picture makes me laugh because Edyta kept booty bumping me to get out of the picture! hehe

That weekend was a nice and relaxing one as well. Friday I went to get ice cream and see a water, lights, and music show and at the end some people started shooting amazing fireworks off super close to me. 

Saturday I did some shopping for me and took a stroll around Old Town, I also took a nap too. The day started out crazy because I tried to take this super heavy package to the post office and they all were closed so I walked, rode the bus, and nearly died that morning! Ha. Later I met up with my amazing friends for drinks and a good time.

Selfie from last Saturday night! :-)

Sunday Karolina and I went to church, which was amazing as always! After we went to her parents house for a typical summer lunch, strawberry pierogi-YUM! :-)

I got Karolinas parents some super awesome sunflowers! 

Karolina and I! 

Last week Karolina took the whole week off so I was alone with my 4 students! Now it is holiday time and it seemed that all mine took theirs last week! Crazy. But we had a great and relaxing week just hanging out. :-) For some of my students they won’t be coming the rest of the summer so I said goodbye to my absolute favorite student. I already miss her! 

Love my kids! 

:-)

This is what the teachers do at work. :-)

Last weekend was super fun, but incredible hot! Since last Friday it has gotten to mid 90s here with NO WIND! Did I mention we do not have air condition anywhere and there are bugs everywhere, oh and they do not use screens. I have had some tough decisions these past few days. Either close all my windows and die a slow painful death of being in a slow cooker or have my apartment almost nice and be eaten alive, I chose the second option. 

Friday we had a water fight day and then Chini came over. She is so amazing! We have such a good time together. We cooked, drank wine, talked, and laughed of course! My perfect Friday. :-)

Boom! Don’t mess with us! 

Teacher selfie! Me, Chini, Ela, and Malgosia! 

Students selfie. :-) Kacper, Iza, Sarah, and Maja! 

Saturday- 4th of July! I ran some petty little errands around town because I was having a small get together just because. My students made some Uncle Sam hats and fire works on Friday for this special occasion. 

Justyna and I in our super cute dresses! 

Sunday I baked cookies, not smart in this heat but I really wanted cookies, and then met up with some awesome people for drinks and pizza! 

Monday I met my amazing friend Asta in the city center, shes so great! She went on vacation to Gdansk and decided to make a special trip to Warsaw to see me. So sweet! We walked around and had a great time! 

Asta and I! 

Gosh, only Tuesday and I am exhausted! Almost hump day! :-)

Do zobaczenia! :-)

Tuesday, July 7th

A couple shout outs:

Happy 30th Anniversary to my amazing, supportive, and hilarious parents! I love you both so much! :-)

Also-

Happy wedding week to my amazing Lauren! I love you so much beautful girl. I hope you have an incredible day, you deserve it. I can’t wait to see (on skype :-(() you in our gorgeous dress! 

[sar-bear91-blog]

Solo Time!

“Solo travel not only pushes you out of your comfort zone, it also pushes you out of the zone of others expectations.”

          ---- Suzy Strutner

This past weekend I embarked on a solo adventure. Yes, I moved to Poland and I live here alone, but going to another city is a different story. I had a school full of people here willing to take me places and show me around. I did not have that in London. I also had to find out everything for myself, what to see, do, eat, and where to stay. It was so amazing! I could do what I want, when I wanted. Many of you know the ‘Old Sarah’ as I like to say, but since moving abroad I have gotten used to and also I enjoy being alone! This trip was so perfect. However, it did not start out so perfect...bum bum bum!

Before any trip I get super nervous and scared. What if I get lost? What if I booked a place that doesn’t exist? What if it is not what I expected? Rules of traveling: never expect anything and always be open to anything. 

On Friday I arrived in the afternoon to the airport. There I realized I left my UK adapter at home, oh dear, end of the world! I quickly realized it would be fun to be without a phone! Later I found out my hostel had European outlets as well. Any who, so I go into the line “All Passports” and they look at my passport. Oh my! I was there for 15 minutes. The man asked me 20 questions about where I have traveled and what I am doing here. I understand he needs to make sure I am not breaking the law by being here but I explained to him I have a work visa and I am allowed to be here for a year! I even showed it to him. However, since my last time out of the country was Wales-on the passport that is what it says because in the Schengen area you do no get your passport stamped so Paris and Barcelona have no stamps-and Wales was 3 months and a week ago. Legally you can only be in a country for 3 months, but I can stay longer as I told the man. He made phone calls, checked the computer, left the little hut place, and then made some more phone calls and finally stamped my passport. Sheesh! I was exhausted after that. 

Finally I arrived in England! My bus to the city was late now, sheesh! There was a major traffic accident and everything was backed up, oh joy. When I finally got to the city I bought a fancy bus card called the Oyster Card- the card itself was 5 pounds, good souvenir I guess! Oh before I forget, the UK is SUPER expensive. 1 pound is roughly 6 zloty. So for example. Here in Poland you can buy a delicious dinner for 20 zl here, in the UK you can also buy a delicious dinner for 20 pounds (120 zl!!!!) Once I arrived at my hostel (first time alone in a hostel-EEK) I went to my room, made my bed, and then left to explore. I walked to the London Eye, with the help of the Ferris Wheel I was able to find it. My hostel was about a 15 minute walk from there. Then I walked down the road and onto the bridge that connected to the Houses of Parliament and the Queen’s Tower-not to be mistaken with Big Ben which is actually the bell inside the tower. Wow, this was an amazing site. The building is so beautiful! Then I walked back to my hostel but stopped at a place for some dinner. They were out of fish and chips so I got the steak pie- yum! Oh did I mention how amazing it was to speak English and have the other party understand everything you say? Yes, amazing. While I am enjoying my dinner and listening to people speak English I hear a familiar sound, yes that is right, Polish people. Of course I ask where in Poland they are from and they are super impressed I knew they were from Poland and I demonstrated my few Polish words and phrases. We talked all night! They were very nice men. 

Follow the Ferris Wheel! 

Wow-It is giant! 

The view-magnificent! 

Up close! So cool! 

The taxis were amazing-every single one looked like this. Not creepy! 

Peas and carrots ware stables in the UK! 

Saturday was a long but amazing day. I started out by riding a double decker bus, just for my Gramps! :-) Then I went to Hard Rock Cafe to buy some awesome souvenirs, thanks Bethie ;-). Then I walked down to Buckingham Palace, but first I passed the Wellington Arch which was an entry way to London in the 1880s. Once at the Buckingham Palace I waited at the gates for the changing of the guards. There I met some really nice people from the US, Mexico, and Australia. Super cool. :-) Finally it was time. There were the Queens guard guarding-they were in normal police/guard uniforms. They came out and marched around and they also had a band. Then the Queens Guards, the ones wearing the red tunic and black fuzzy hats came marching in with a band as well. The music they played was amazing. Then at the end you saw that they switched the guard uniformed men for the Queens Guards. 

Wellington Arch! 

Lots of selfies since I was alone of course.

So close! I could almost touch him! 

I REALLY want one of those hats! 

Next I was on my way to find my free tour location. But first!! I had my fish and chips finally and I found the M&M store, if I had time I wanted to personalize some M&Ms, oh well. 

YUMMM! 

:-)

Finally I found it and there were many helicopters circling the area. My first thought was “where is Prince Harry? I know he is looking for me!” Clearly that was not the case. There was a huge protest about ending austerity-this was the biggest protest they have had in many years. Free tour time. We saw a lot in 3 hours and we also did a lot of walking. I also made a friend on my tour, of course I did (I can see my sisters saying that :-)) Apparently there are still some nice American guys! So back to the tour. We first saw the Covent Garden, which is not a garden but used to be. Then we walked and saw Henry VIIIs home when he was alive, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Athena’s Gentlemen’s Club, and Houses of Parliament. The tour guide was super funny, made jokes, and really enjoyed this job. There was also a selfie contest on twitter-the best selfie on the tour wins a free pub crawl tour. Well I entered many photos and WON! Woohoo! I never win anything, sadly I found out about this later Saturday night and I had to leave Sunday afternoon. 

Henry VIII Home

Buckingham Palace from St. James Park

Cool closeup of the flag! 

After the tour I dropped my bags off at my hostel and went to find the London Bridge and the Tower of London. Of course it started raining and it was miserable. Luckily it stopped. The Tower of London was very big, much bigger than I thought and older! Parts were built in 1078! Woah and it was used mostly for a prison. Then it stopped raining and I went to find Leadenhall Market. My main reason for finding this was it was the inspiration for Diagon Alley and was even in the movies, but I also found out it is one of the oldest markets in London and the marathon run in the 2012 Olympics ran through it! By now I was hungry, it took forever to find the market, nearly an hour of walking in circles and people looking at you funny for walking back and forth on the same road. The market was closed, but still very beautiful. I found a nice place to eat dinner and talked to the manager for about 45 minutes when he realized he should go back to work! Haha They also had an amazing cider beer, yum yum! 

Part of The Tower of London

Tower of London Bridge

Leadenhall market

IN DIAGON ALLEY! 

By the time I got back to my hostel it was late so I called it a night. Sunday was sad because I had to leave. :-( But first! I needed to find Platform 9 3/4 and I did! :-) I got to leave for Hogwarts and not go back to Warszawa! 

Off to school! :)

Another problem. My bus to the airport was late and my terminal was super far and I literally made it on the plane with 5 minutes to spare. Lucky for me I am loud and with this airline if you are not an EU resident you have to get your passport and ticket checked, well the checking in line was super long and I asked to cut and a worker saw me and stamped it for me. Super nice! British lads are so dapper. 

Now I am back in Warszawa, doing my daily grind. Ready to explore more parts of Warsaw this weekend. 

Until next time my friends.

Cheers! (as they would say in London)

Wednesday, June 24 2015

Some random pictures:

Double Decker Bus selfie for Gramps! :-)

These are all over the place! 

Fancy clock

It is so nice they remind us! :-) I would have been hit by multiple cars!

I thought their music cards were pretty! 

Tooting stop!

[sar-bear91-blog]

Indian Day and Polish Sea Side

Two amazing things. How diverse Poland is and how cultured my school is.

Last week we had Indian Day. One of the English teachers is from India and she wanted to share her culture and customs with us. We had an amazing day that started with a trip to Mumbai, I of course gave the safety speech on our plane ride, then we did some Bollywood dancing, we made a craft called rangoli which is colorful salt and lit with tea lights, then it was Holi, festival of colors, and we played with color water, finally it was time to eat and Chini made some delicious food! We had  vegetable curry, dal, butter chicken, gulab jamun, and rava ladoo. So yummy!

Our rangoli masterpiece!

After this picture I gave Christina the camera and had a water battle with my lovelies! 

My favorite Indian! :-)

Indian Day! 

Now about Poland. One side is the sea and the other is the mountains! I know I know, the United States has the sea, mountains, desert, and more, however it is also GIANT! Poland is so small compared to it and yet it has all of the above. 

I got the chance to go to the sea side this past weekend and wow it was incredible. I got to stick my feat in the Baltic Sea, walk on white sand, see another beautiful Polish city, and go on a giant Ferris Wheel. Oh, and of course eat amazing homemade Polish food! 

Friday I arrived in Gdynia. I was so happy to arrive too, all the trains were late because sadly someone decided to jump in front of a train and end their life. Anywho, I made it and my friend Agnieszka met me to pick me up! She took me right away to see the sea. It was actually the Gulf of Gdansk which spills into the Baltic Sea. We then had an amazing dinner and a relaxing night at her place. 

A pirate ship in Gdynia!

Saturday we went to Gdansk and I went on a free walking tour of Old Town. These tours are amazing because you learn about all the history and crazy stories, oh and it’s free! Then we ate lunch and went on a the Ferris Wheel that over looked the city. Wow! It was great! :-) 

On the Ferris Wheel! 

Beautiful city! 

Later we hoped back in the car and went to Bialgora, this is where Agnieszka’s parents own a hotel and live. This also is right on the open Baltic Sea. This place is magical! I had no cell phone reception, which was great, they have a restaurant so I could ask for whatever food I wanted and I got it, and it was a 10 minute walk to the beach. We also watched the sunset on the beach and I found the most amazing cheesecake ice cream (I will have to take Granny there some day to have some)! 

Beautiful sunset! 

The Baltic Sea! :-)

Sunday we relaxed at the hotel, played with her nephew, and walked around the very small village. We had a nice big lunner (lunch and dinner) and then we headed back to Gdynia where I had a train back home. 

Her nephew kept giving me the stink glare-so I tried doing it to him and he just laughed! 

It was an amazing and relaxing weekend and we all know I do not relax! :-) 

Oh yeah, I have had major problems with technology lately and all my pictures I took on my fancy camera are deleted somehow. :-( Luckily I had a few from my phone.

This week was a normal school week except for Wednesday. We got to go on a random field trip to see a pirate movie at the cinema. When we went back to school Chini was acting strange and telling us we had to go to the Frogs room for a workshop. Little did I know they planned a surprise going away party for all of us! It was so sweet. The Frogs and Bees sang and danced and then we all ate a delicious lunch together. I really will miss this environment. At times it is stressful, but wow, I work with some amazing people.

I will be traveling to London tomorrow for a solo trip. I have been wanting to do something by myself and I felt London was a great idea! 

Do zobaczenia!

Thursday, June 18th

Oh yes...a birthday shout out:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LINDSAY!!!! LOVE YOU!!! :-)

[sar-bear91-blog]

Polish Weddings..need I say more!?

Co kraj to obyczaj. Each country has it's own tradition.

A polish saying!

Wow! This past weekend I got to experience more of this amazing Polish culture. The weddings her are CRAZY! 

This whole past week was pretty amazing. I literally only worked Monday and Tuesday because Wednesday we went on a full day field trip to magic land and then Thursday was a holiday, Corpus Christi- where the young go through first communion- and Friday none of my kids showed up so I got the 4 day weekend! Karolina and I met on Thursday to have a picnic, I biked 8 miles to get to her, then biked back of course-ow! Then we went and watched a procession. The churches walk from one church to the next, there are so many people and they just stop in the middle of the road! 

Field Trip!  My kiddos with the dragon! 

Obstacle course! My team won...haha

A 3D showing with my favorite.

The point of this was to see if you were a vampire or not. If your shadow appeared then you were not. I jumped and this was mine! Not a vampire...yet!

We also got to ride with a witch! 

Picnic fun! Gorgeous day! 

Corpus Christi- in the middle of a very busy intersection. They just stopped and knelt down! 

It is amazing to see different traditions here. Justyna and Mat got married in a Catholic Church. They get the choice to walk down the aisle separately (like we do, bride with her father) or together. Then after the wedding they stood outside and greeted every single person that came and accepted their gift. This took awhile, but it was nice because they could thank everyone and everyone gave their blessings and advice.

You may now kiss the bride! :-)

Now it is reception time! The venue was beautiful and Justyna and Mat came in via a boat! We were on a huge lake. Then they walked up to their parents and took a bite of this special bread (this means that the couple will never know hunger) and then they pick a shot and take it, one is water and the other vodka. The bride gets to choose first and whoever chooses the vodka shot will be dominant in the marriage, then they throw the glasses behind them and hope they break, this means good luck in the marriage. 

Justyna looked so beautiful in her dress.

Now it is time to eat! Oh my goodness. The food was....no words can describe the amount of food I consumed this night. Incredible. The moment I walked in I just smelt a wonderful smell. Each table at the ends had juices, soda, and water and ice cold bottles of vodka and on the rest of the table was all types of meats, jelly, vegetable platters,and fruit dishes. Woah. So we sat down and the servers came and offered us one of two soups- I think one was chickpea and the other a noodle soup. I chose the noodle soup. Then the first dish came out. Chicken cordon bleu, roasted potatoes, carrots, and two types of salad. Woah. I was stuffed and told there would be more food! AH! So we played a few games and then another meal comes out. This one was a pork loin with a cherry sauce, rice, and vegetables. Yum! This was about the time I noticed the other two tables of food. One had so many desserts, cake, pasteries, cheesecake, mini pies, and then a table with smoked meat, ham, sausage, everything! Also next to that was the homemade vodka and lemon vodka-so strong. I was told to stay away from that but I had to try it. The last meal had now arrived. This time it was breaded chicken or veal, potatoes, and a mixed vegetable salad. Then at midnight the cake came out. My piece was cookie-so tasty.

Each table had all this food on it.

Starter soup!

First meal and first shot! 

Second meal.

Third meal.

CAKE! 

I love this girl! :-) Such a beautiful bride! 

They are my tall friends! :-) 

The girls and I! 

It was such a great week here in Poland. I love the amazing weather, I have great friends here, and I live in Europe. I am so blessed! This Friday I will be traveling to a city in Northern Poland, Gdansk. This is on the Baltic Sea! Very excited.

Do zobaczenia! 

Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

[sar-bear91-blog]

Weekends in Warszawa

"I just want to have a completely adventurous, passionate, weird life. "

— Jeff Buckley

Wow, the end of May. I can not believe it! I know I say that every time, but seriously people, it has been 10 months. I am amazed that I have made it this long. I am so proud and happy that I have. I have come to love this place and call it my home. However, I am not going to stay another year. I have decided to put all my faith into God’s hands and it seems to me that He is pushing me back to the United States. I am excited to see what my next adventure will be! :-) 

These past two weeks have been nice and relaxing, and I am sick again. Seriously my immune system stinks! When I go from place to place and travel I do not get sick, but when I just ‘relax’ then boom!

Last weekend was Justyna’s bachelorette party. Now if you do not remember Justyna I will tell you about her- we met 7-8 years ago at tiny Marquette. She was an exchange student there and of course, that is where I went to school. It is so amazing how we reconnected and hang out here! I am very blessed to have been invited for her Wedding parties. Her wedding is this coming Saturday! Her bachelorette party was crazy!! We first stayed at her Maid of Honors home and drank, ate, and talked. Then we went to the city to go clubbing. WOAH! We danced and danced and danced! We danced literally till the sun rose. When we walked outside it was light out! It was worth it and so much fun.

The girls! 

The beautiful bride to be! 

Sunday I was clearly dead, but decided to go on a bike ride-a 10 mile bike ride! It was peaceful and wonderful.

I took this awesome and amazing picture! :-) 

This week was crazy busy because we had our parents day performances and we did a play in English. We chose the Lion King and it was incredible! My kids did such an amazing job! I am so very proud of them. 

My love bug as Timon! 

Silly face! 

Me directing! They sang in Polish and one song they used “boom whackers” They are pretty cool! 

Wednesday, my new American buddy and I went to this fancy and delicious Italian restaurant. I have officially found an alfredo sauce that is better than mine. Shocking, I know but WOW! It was so tasty. 

Yesterday, Friday, I had the ladies over for some pizza and today we went and walked/shopped around Old Town. It is so beautiful today. It is about 80 degrees and sunny. So perfect. Sadly, I only stayed for a couple of hours since I feel so lousy. Hopefully I am better by next weekend! 

Selfie in front of the Palace of Culture and Science.

Gorgeous day to attempt to tan my pasty legs! 

We love ice cream! :-) 

June is the ‘last’ month of school. My school is open in July and August for summer school so I will still be working. However, this job does not feel like a job, I love being around some coworkers and my students! I am incredibly lucky.

Until next time!

Dozaboczenia! 

Saturday, May 29

Here are some random pictures of my kiddos and I! 

They were having a birthday party!

Fancy new chairs at the playground.

Selfie! 

This is what I teach my children...haha

[sar-bear91-blog]

Bonheur

“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Wow, this past weekend went by SO FAST! A friend from Church, Corina, and I went to Paris for the weekend and we jam packed it full. I need to go back to just take it all in what I saw. 

We arrived Friday late afternoon after a busy day of traveling. Flights around Europe are cheap, but only if you use a certain airline. This airline is about an hour outside Warsaw so you have to take trains and buses to get to it. It is difficult, but sometimes worth it. This time it kind of sucked because in France it flew to another part, so we had to take another bus to Paris! Bleh! But, alas, we made it! 

When we got there we decided to walk down Champs-Elysees street and wow! Incredible. The y have these amazing trees that just line the streets and they are placed perfectly. There are shops and cafes down the entire thing and right in the middle is Arc de Triomphe. This reminded me of my amazing trip to Berlin with Bethie and we saw the Brandenburger Tor. 

Arc de Triomphe! 

Arc de Triomphe!

I had to get a chocolate croissant of course! 

We then ate at a yummy place called Leon’s where I had delicious mussles! Yum! Then we took the metro to Corina’s friends apartment, where we would be staying for the weekend. She lives on the 9th floor of her building and has an incredible view.

Yummy!  My mussels! 

The amazing view! :-)

Saturday was the big, full day, jam packed with stuff. We started the day off with seeing the Eiffel Tower-WOW! I have never been so amazed in my entire life. I literally was speechless. I have seen so much since I have been here and the Eiffel Tower is by far the most incredible structure I have seen. All in one day I saw it with cloudy skies, clear skies, saw the sunset, and it lit up at night. Amazing! 

Shout-out to my amazing little fighter Lauren! I am so glad I could do this for you. I love you! 

We got photos of all angles of the Tower! 

After I was done gawking at the Eiffel Tower (it is so fun to say that I literally saw, walked under, went up, and touched the Eiffel Tower in person) we got on our big bus tour, which took us to all the hot spots in Paris. First up was Champ-de-Mars, which was the garden area behind the Eiffel Tower (seriously so fun) and of course another gorgeous place to take pictures. The next place we got off was the Louvre. We did not go inside because we did not have time, and I was told it was shoulder to shoulder people so no thank you, so we hopped back on the bus and drove through the Louvre. We then passed the famous lock bridge and then got off at Notre Dame. The line looked so long here too so we did not go in (yes, now I know the line goes super fast, and I regret not staying in line, but we had things to do and see in such a short time) but there was a 20th bread festival that we went in and got an amazing baguette with cheese and ham- YUM! This was also the perfect place to souvenir shop. This was difficult because I only brought a backpack with me (yes, you read that right, I only brought one book bag with me). I still bought way too much stuff for everyone back home, your’re welcome people. We hopped back on our bus and drove on Champs-Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe again by bus-still amazing! We got off at the next stop, Grand Palais, so I could get a crepe at a fancy little shop. You have to have a crepe in France! Oh my it was delicious. Later we hopped back on the bus to go get our tickets for the Eiffel Tower.

The Louvre and the Pyramid! 

The lock bridge! 

Notre Dame Cathedral.

That was a delicious piece of bread! 

This is just too funny not to share...her hat! haha

My delicious crepe! :-)

Lucky for us, we had skip the line tickets for the Eiffel Tower. However, no one knew where we were supposed to go! It was a mess, so I put my big girl panties on, pretended I was Beth Johnes and I shoved in front of people and demanded someone to tell us what was going on and BOOM!! we got let in. HA! It was awesome. We had to wait for the elevator for 5 minutes, then we were riding up the Eiffel Tower! The view was pretty spectacular. You could see everything! It was pretty windy up there too and a lot of people! We decided to walk down the stairs to the first floor and then to the bottom floor, ouch, my calves still hurt! After this we went on a hour Seine River cruise. This was really cool to be on a boat in Paris and see all of the sights like the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Eiffel Tower. The only bad part was that is was SO crowded!! The only pictures I could get is this man taking selfies, literally, he kept taking them. On our walk towards the boat he stopped multiple times in front of us to take selfies, I am in 3 of them for sure, probably more, doing the Sarah face- haha! 

Going up! 

The beautiful view from the 2nd floor!

Look at me! Oops I mean the view ;-)

:-*

This was from the first floor- a see-through floor! 

Eiffel Tower from the Cruise! 

The selfie man! 

Beautiful Notre Dame.

We then tried to go see this mountain/hill place-but ended up going to a cemetery instead. So we went back near the Eiffel Tower, had dinner, and then found a nice spot to sit in front of the Eiffel Tower to watch the ending of the sunset, the Tower being lit, and then the light show-SPECTACULAR! Then we walked to the metro and got home late. It does not get fully dark in Paris until after 10 pm!! 

Beautiful! 

:-)

Sunday we had all our things packed and left, but first we went to Montmartre, which has the Sacre Coeur Basilica. Beautiful! The views of the Basilica from below are amazing and when you get to the top you can see the entire city just like the Eiffel Tower. Then we walked a little around the area and it was so cute and amazing. Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Paris and go home. :-(

Hello! Sacre Coeur Basilica

Saint Louis! 

The streets! 

Yum! My macaroon gelato! :-)

Synopsis of my trip:

Paris was great, but smelly. Delicious pastries and amazing sites. Creepy people and super crowded.

You’re welcome. I do think everyone needs to experience Paris and I hope to go back and have a bit more time to spend exploring! 

Here are some other fun photos from the Eiffel Tower :-)

Until next time!

Do zobaczenia!

Tuesday, May 19th, 2015

[sar-bear91-blog]

Wroclaw

“Adventure is worthwhile.”

--Aesop

When in Poland, travel to all the cities! I am living in a beautiful country filled with historical and beautiful cities so why not travel to them?

Last weekend I took the Canadian teacher, Christina, at my school, to Palowice to visit my amazing second family. This also happened to be the long weekend, we had Friday, May 1 off of school! While there we took a day trip to Wroclaw (pronounced vrots-wav). Finally!! The road trip I have been wanting to go on! Wroclaw was about a two hour drive from Palowice. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroc%C5%82aw

^^Here is some information about Wroclaw. In Poland there are no ‘states’ but instead regions, Wroclaw is in the Silesian Region, just like Palowice. 

No city in Poland is complete without an Old Town! 

Asta and I! :-)

Fun jumping picture! 

So sweet :-)

Very very very cool building!

Wroclaw was very beautiful! :-)

Fun fact about Wroclaw- they have over 300 bronze gnomes throughout the city and many people go gnome hunting! I attempted to hunt, but I was not able to find that many. :-( But the ones I did find were super cute! Here are a few of my favorites:

Another thing we did in Wroclaw was climb 301 stairs to the top of a tower to see a breathtaking view of the city. This was ROUGH! All the steps were different heights, sizes, and it was a tower so it wound around in a circle and people were coming down as we were going up! However, we made it and it was so worth it. :-)

Asta, Emily, Sara, and I! 

We made it! We climbed to the top of that tower! 

We ended our trip with some American yummies-burritos! 

I like this picture because you can see Asta diving into her burrito and Emily looking at it like wow! This thing is hug!

The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing, as usual! Asta and I also planned our next road trip (to be continued ;-)). Of course I got to practice my photo taking skills! Emily is a ballet dancer and let me take picture of her jumping, clearly we all had to take a turn.

Can you do that!? I tried...

Close enough :-)

Asta, Emily and I! 

JUMP! 

This week at work was normal and busy! I was able to ride my bike everyday but Wednesday because of the rain. 

Friday we went to the coolest place for a field trip-the Paper Museum! We are doing a theme on paper, how it is made and what it is used for. Once we got there I was scared, it looked like abandoned buildings and I had no idea what to expect! However, when we got inside the room where we would be making paper it was so cool! We made some green paper and also a white paper with fresh leaves and flowers. The kids and teachers had so much fun with this! We got to stick our hands in goop and then dry the goop to make our own paper.

You stuck this contraption into the soupy goup....

Like this...

After you dried it some came out like this! So cool! 

Friday night Chini, her husband, Christina, and I went to Chicago’s Pizza to try it out. It was no Giordano’s pizza, but it was still pretty good! 

Saturday I met up with some friends from Church and we had a picnic on the beach! It was super fun. I made some chicken and veggie skewers and others had chicken and sausage. There were games, lots of food, and good friends. It was a great time! I even got a little bit of sun.

Felix and I are engaged as friends for life! :-)

Great group of International friends! :-)

 After that I rode my bike to Chini’s and we went to the mini carnival where we road the ferris wheel and could see all of Warsaw and also rode a mini roller coaster-it was pretty fun! Then Chini made us some delicious Indian food! So yummy. This was also the first time I rode my bike home at night, pretty fun, no one was in my way! :-)

Warsaw city center in the back! 

On the roller coaster! 

Now I am getting ready for a stressful week- Natalia is coming to watch my lesson, we are practicing for our English performance in 2 weeks, and Corina and I leave Friday for Paris! So much to do and so little time!

Do zobaczenia! 

Monday, May 11th 

A couple shout outs:

1. To my AWESOME Takiki, Granny, and Grandma Dorothy for a special Mother’s Day! I love you all! To honor my Takiki-enjoy the photo collage. :-)

2. Congratulations to my amazing friends-The Miles clan on the newest addition of Mr. Noah Jacob!! :-) I am so happy for you all and can not wait to hold him!! 

I love these boys! :-) 

Skyping :-)

[sar-bear91-blog]

Check-another mark on the bucket list!

“Be brave, take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”

  -Paulo Coelho

A couple weekends in Warsaw! I feel as though I am hardly here, but when I am I have to explore! These past couple weekends I have! 

During the week it is hard to go out and about because the buses are late, I have work, it takes forever to get to point a to b, and I also tutor! The weekends are my time to go crazy! So I never get any down time, which is fine with me! YOPO- as Julia and Reece say, you’re only in Poland once! 

Last Friday there was a baby python at our school- so cute! haha and then Aneta and I went and devoured sushi at all you can eat sushi night! :-)

Last Saturday I went with Aneta across the river to donate her blood. I am very glad I could be there to support her. She means a lot to me and I am proud of her that she is saving lives. After this Chini and Christina came over to make some Pinterest meals. We had a great time cooking, eating, drinking wine, laughing, and watching Baby Mama. It is hard to believe, but neither of them has ever seen that movie! My goodness, but now they have and when I say “Bitch, you don’t know my life!” They know exactly what I am talking about. Sunday was a gorgeous day to spend at church and then have a pot luck with some amazing people. 

This week at work was Earth Day and my precious gems made some amazing marble earth projects! We also made some mud paint for kitchen science on Tuesday! That was super fun. :-) I love them! 

Our Earths! :-)

Mud paint!! 

Wednesday I finally got my bike! :-) I bought a bike so I can ride it to and from work. I did ride it home on Thursday and it was so fun, I did fall trying to go up a curb and I have some killer bruises to brag about! But going to tutor and home on Thursday was a nightmare. The seat came lose and so did the steering part and the seat was going up and down. I had to clutch it with my thighs and boy does my butt hurt from sitting on a moving seat! Luckily my amazing coworker-Ela fixed it for me and Friday home was great, but I fell again trying to go over a hose (yes you can laugh because I sure did!) Yesterday I had a nice ride to start my day, no falling this time!

It looks like I am on my tip-toes and I am, but that is the style here! 

This weekend was INCREDIBLE! On Saturday Sylwia, Aneta, Karolina, and I waited nearly 2 hours to bungee jump! Yes, you read that right. I went bungee jumping! It was 90 meters (300 feet-I can’t even hit a driver that far) high! Wow. Standing in the line I was fine, but when they started strapping me in the harness is when it hit me. Then it was my turn, they told me to step up, they changed the bungee cord-they do this based on your weight (that was hard because I have not weighed myself since I left the States!!) Then I got in the cart, this was on a crane, and they started to life me up. Once the bungee cord left the ground all the weight just pulled on my feet! It was super heavy. We were about halfway up when I sadly looked down and told the man, okay this is high enough! He said nope we have to go way more. Then it just starts to go slower and it creeps up until it stops. The wind is fierce up there, the sun was beating on my back, sweat was making my hands slippery, and my mouth was dry. The man opened the gate up and I look down, don’t ever do that if you want to actually do this! He said 1,2,3, jump! I screamed NO! Then again he said okay, 1,2,3, jump! Again I said no. I should add you’re not supposed to jump. You put your toes over the side, put your arms out, and just fall. Finally he said okay you can do it this time, 1,2,3, jump! With a scream I fell. Sadly my eyes were closed during the first fall, but then it brings you back up and down! OH MY GOODNESS! This was the craziest and best experience ever! I was bouncing in the air with nothing but a rope tied to me! It was so freeing and amazing. Of course I was screaming and yelling not appropriate words, but it was amazing! I had such an incredible time. We ended this amazing day with pizza and beer! :-)

All harnessed up! 

We are excited! 

The look says it all-what have I gotten myself into! 

We went all the way to the top of the crane! 

AND JUMP! Great action shot. :-)

That is me bouncing all over the place! 

Yah! I just did that! :-)

Sylwia and Kuba’s turn! 

We DID IT! 

Sunday was another incredible day. I started it off with a sad note. I decided to watch last weeks episode of Greys Anatomy and sadly Patrick Dempsey was killed off the show, I was so so upset, I still am actually! But what made this day better was watching an incredible woman cross the finish line at her second marathon! I am so proud of Sylwia for accomplishing her second marathon. I am so happy that I have been a part of them both! She is one strong and amazing girl to have accomplished this! 

Go Sylwia Go! 35 KM at this point.

There is my amazing friend crossing the finish line! :-)

Sylwia had a great support team! 

Apparently this is called “the Sarah” haha

So we did the “Kuba!”

Now I am sitting here thinking about my week and what crazy adventures I will have in Katowice next weekend! :-) 

Do zobaczenia! 

Sunday, April 26

Oh- birthday shout out to my incredible, beautiful, and amazing Paupet! I love and miss you very much. Have a wonderful day tomorrow!!! :-D

[sar-bear91-blog]

Tapas, Tapas, and More Tapas

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”

  ---James Beard

     Tapas are so amazing. They are just appetizers but there are so many kinds that you can just get a few and share them and be full! So yummy. :-)

     We did not have very good food the first couple days we were there. We had a delicious tapa (guacamole with salmon) and sangria's on Saturday and also a tropical fruit smoothie from Boqueria Market and that was it for the weekend with good food. We were told about a place to eat on Sunday and it was disgusting! That’s all I will talk about for the weekend.

I do not have a picture of my tapa-but I do have a picture of mom popping raw salmon in her mouth thinking it was tomato! haha

MMM! I had some kinder bueno ice cream! 

The tropical smoothie! The only downfall of this smoothie was that they had kiwi in it so it had “hair” in it that was freaking me out. Flavor wise it was delicious! 

     Monday was a different story. We had our Montserrat tour and wine tour. During the two tours we went to a restaurant on the winery. SO DELICIOUS. We had a tapa, main dish, and dessert all washed down with some amazing wine. Mom had a goat cheese salad, pork cheek, and a chocolate crepe. I had pasta with mushroom and asparagus, fish with a garlic sauce, and a baked apple with nuts. YUM! We of course were too full to eat anything else that day.

MMM. The wine! 

Tapa- Moms goat cheese salad.

Tapa- My pasta with mushroom and asparagus.

Moms pork cheek- it was so tender and delicious!

My fish with garlic sauce-yum! 

Moms very chocolate crepe.

My baked apple with a nut filling.

The three wines we tasted and some cheese and crackers- the cheese was goat cheese! :-)

     Tuesday we had another tour all day where we ate junk food for lunch because of the rurks, but after the police department we went to a yummy restaurant for dinner and I had a goat cheese salad (we fell in love with these) and then tirmasu for dessert and mom had a sausage paste thing (this is what the cute guy paid for for mom) and for dessert she had an almond cake with a cream filling.

My goat cheese salad. There is just something so tasty about the tangy goat cheese, with the salad greens, some raisins, and a sweet dressing. Explosion of deliciousness in my mouth! There were even kiwis and strawberries in this one! 

Moms sausage paste thing- seriously it was really tasty! 

Our fancy desserts! Mom’s almond cake with cream filling and my tiramisu. 

      Wednesday was the chocolate tour day! We had a small breakfast at the hotel and then went on our adventure. We had so many different types of chocolates, churros with hot chocolate, nuts, and then an award winning chocolate cake with cava. After this we went to this place to try horchata, which is either a nut milk or rice milk drink that is super tasty! Then we went to this amazing cafe, Escribe, and had quiche and then mom had a waffle with creme brulee on top and I had creme brulee without the waffle.

Started off the chocolate/sweets tour with sherry, white chocolate infused with cava, and dark chocolate with cherries.

Fargas Chocolate- We each got 4 chocolate pieces. No Piglets or chess pieces!

I bought some of these for people to try here. They are called ‘torruns’. A torrun is just nougat. So we had a creme brulee, coconut, chocolate, and hazelnut one.

Hot chocolate and churros! Mmmm. Since it is Europe the hot chocolate is literally melted chocolate with a mound of whip cream! 

Some of the roasted nuts. I ended up buying some roasted corn covered in white chocolate and then chili powder and cocoa powder. This is so interesting and delicious. So many flavors going on at once in your mouth!   

The end of the tour- a caramel cake and mousse with cava.

Horchata!

Helping him make the creme brulee waffles. :-)

Moms spinach quiche. I had ham and veggies! 

    Thursday we had brunch at a cafe on the beach. Mom had an ‘omelette’ which in fact had no egg on it, it was just a ham and cheese sandwich! Then I had an amazing goat cheese burger with apples. Seriously, goat cheese is my new addiction. The way it just melts in our mouth. The texture is a cross between cream cheese and feta cheese. AH! I want goat cheese now!! Then I had some more ice cream, this time I had mango and chocolate- yum! After the Picasso Museum we found a cute cafe and had a goat cheese salad then mom had a quiche and I had a spinach stuffed empanada. We ate so good this day!

My amazing hamburger with goat cheese! 

Ice cream and the beautiful city streets :-) 

This goat cheese salad had tomatoes, walnuts, and prunes! Yum!

My empanada and moms quiche.

     Friday we tried to go to a farmers market but could not find it so we had breakfast at Escribe. Mom and I each had a yummy coffee with a delicious pastry! Then we went back to the cafe on the beach and laid out for a few hours while snacking on spicy spanish potatoes (which were amazing and not spicy) and drinking some yummy drinks! Then we went on our boat tour and when we came back into the harbor a lady came on board and made us a delicious 3-course meal! SO delicious. All washed down with cava and beer!!  

Yum, pastries for breakfast.

Spanish spicy potatoes-yum! 

Well- They were hot temperature wise! 

Tapas- sweet onion mix in a bread dough cup and raisin crisps with cream cheese, salmon, and caviar. 

This reminded me of eating shrimp with Reece and Julia! Tomato and olive salad, Spanish omelette, and herb shrimps.

Roast chicken, sweet potato mash, and green beans.

    The trip started out rough with food, but ended up being so amazing! I absolutely loved the food here. I am really sad I did not try the paella, but I snacked so much that I was never super hungry for it! I will go back to Spain and try it! :-) 

Do zobaczenia! 

[sar-bear91-blog]

Barcelona Take 2!

Don’t let idiots ruin your day.

-No author for this one, just found it on a picture- how perfect!

Where did we leave off...oh yea, interesting Tuesday and the rurks (rude jerks).

Tuesday started off great! We had another long day of tours. We did the AM highlights of Barcelona and then the PM artistic tour. 

The highlights started with a drive around the city looking at the important buildings and historical places. Our first stop was the bottom of Montjuic. We walked to the top where there is a castle and you see more amazing views of Barcelona and the sea. The castle just recently opened, but we did not go inside it. Then we took a different cable car ride down the mountain to meet our bus. Next stop was Poble Espanyol. This is the mini spanish village. We got to walk around and see the different buildings from different time periods. It was pretty cool, reminded me of the museum in Cardiff I went to. We got to shop around a little after. On our way out I got distracted by a rurk who was asking something-he said ‘Greek, Greek!” Sorry dude, I don’t know so I walked away. Then I got on the bus and mom came in later all flustered. She said four rurks surrounded her and would follow her so I said check your wallet and sure enough the rurks took it. GRR! The tour guide and I took off running to find them and sadly we did not :-( I hope they enjoy the birthday gift for me, from mom, to them! We did find the rurk who told me Greek and he magically spoke Spanish so we got his picture. The next stop was the Gothic Quarter- oldest part of Barcelona- with a beautiful Cathedral. We got to explore and walk around here a bit. After this the tour guide took us back to our meeting point so we could contact Lauren to cancel the cards. Then we went to the police to file a report. The translator was not there so we had to go back later. 

Cable Car ride! 

My cute mother on the cable car! 

Poble Espanyol panoramic shot! 

Jumping shot of course-this is an orange tree!

Making blown glass trinkets. 

Beautiful. Saint Georges Door- sculpted in 1975.

Mom posing in front of the Basilica.

The PM artistic tour was all about Antonio Gaudi! He was a great innovator and he has left behind some beautiful works of art! First we went to Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Basilica where the tour guide talked about the outside of it. You can really see the difference in Gaudi’s work and the work they have done since him. They said it will take another 10 years to finish. That’s a long time! Then we went to Park Guell-created by Gaudi and his friend. It was interesting to say the least. After this we went to a few apartments that Gaudi created and then went back to the police station to file a report. The translator was super nice and cute! That made the entire thing easier, haha. After 2 hours it was all finished and we went to a yummy place for dinner where mom flirted with a 30 something guy and he bought her meal! She’s still got it! :-)

Sagrada Familia- I could literally put 100 photos on here, but I won’t! Each place you see on here has some sort of sculpture or mosaic in it. Beautiful! 

Close up of one of the sculptures.

This was at the tippy top on the right side. Super close up! So pretty! 

Mom and I! 

Fishy face :-)

Park Guell

Random guys we met. :-)

Park Guell- Pretty cool! 

Longest bench in the world- Gaudi made it with broken pieces of mosaic.

This was on the ceiling of the park. Made of broken glasses, mosaic, plates, cups, anything! 

Front of the park.

Wednesday we treated ourselves by sleeping in, however, I do not do this but I let mom sleep while I went to eat breakfast and journal. Granny bought me a journal (which she thinks I do not use) however, I have almost filled it up! See that Granny!! :p 

We decided to walk along Las Ramblas again and go into the side streets for some shopping. You can literally get lost in here! Later we met up with a group for a chocolate and sweets tour! That was amazing, we even found our favorite cafe from this. There are these cool plaques in front of some shops. These mean they have been in the same location for 50 years. There are two dates, one when it opened and one when it hit 50 years. We went to chocolate shops, candy stores, nut shop, and bakeries. The last place we visited one the best chocolate cake in the world (that is what the tour guide said). Sometimes I am not sure if I should believe them or not! We ended the day with going back to the cafe we found on the tour and having an amazing meal! :-)

Cute mommy with a magnolia tree, that were everywhere! 

This woman was incredible. She had a sign saying she did not sell these, just for the people to look at. She did counted cross stitch (like my mom does) free hand! 

What a cutie! In one of the chocolate stores we toured. 

Drinking some horchata- made with almonds, or some other nut, or rice drink!

Been there over 60 years.This Thursday we slept in and then went to the beach side for brunch. Again, amazing food! Mom and I really fell in love with goat cheese, oh and just because the menu says ‘omelette’ does not mean there is an egg on it! Ha! After this we went back to the Picasso Museum and got in! I bought tickets online the night before so we got to jump the line. Wow. You read about Picasso in history books and art classes, but actually getting to stand there and see his actual works. Some had his name written on it! His best friend created the museum for him and he donated over 1,000 of his paintings and his wife donated 41 of 42 ceramic pieces (I am curious where they got the other one from!) This was a very cool experience. After we found another amazing cafe- I am in love with cafes. When we got back to the hotel I convinced mom to go see Torre Agbar, this is a business, but it is a very tall round building that lights up at night! Unfortunately we got there too early and I did not want to wait an hour so we went back to the hotel for dinner, luckily we could see it out the hotel window! Do not worry, I got a picture of Glamour with it! 

Toes in the sand and Mediterranean Sea :-)

Gelato and the Barcelona side streets! 

A Barcelona Christmas tradition-the pooping guy. Literally, I am not lying. If you look closely to the left you can see all kinds of pooping people/figures! 

Snuck a picture of a Picasso painting! So incredible. 

This was cool-Not sure what it is though, haha

This was in a park in Barcelona. Yes, a golden horse with a mermaid out of a shell and do you see Triton on the top of the water on the right side? This was all in a park! Europe is magical.

Do you see the Torre Agbar above Glamours head?

 Friday was AMAZING! I wanted to go back to a street off Las Ramblas to see a smaller farmers market, but we could not find it. Which was okay because we went back to our favorite cafe for a delicious breakfast. Then we went back to the beach food place and sat on the lounge chairs sipping pina coladas and Barcelona ice teas and eating spicy spanish potatoes (which are not spicy). We did this for a few hours-I even got a little sun! Then we went to Port Olimpic and met Val and Georgia who took us out on Val’s yacht. We have never been sailing before and it was so amazing! They said the water and weather was perfect for sailing. I got to help out too. Then we went back into the harbor and Karen came aboard to cook an amazing meal for us! It was seriously the most perfect way to end an amazing trip with my mommy.

Hehe-modeling the coffee :-)

Cuties! :-)

Getting ready to take off! 

Wondering where her lovely husband is. ;-)

Helping Georgia with the sails.

The wonderful captain, Val, and I! 

Saturday was sad of course because we had to say goodbye. Mom had to go through customs, which she later told me they stopped her and went through her bags, she has so many problems when she travels! I had my own issues. I asked security if I could leave and come back on the same boarding pass since I had to get a special stamp to get some taxes back on purchases, they said oh no problem! So I go my stamp, papers all turned in, and back through the long security check lane when my ticket would not scan and kept saying duplicate, oh boy how wonderful. So  they took me to the side and questioned me before I could even explain why I left and came back! Finally they let me talk and then said oh! Okay, go on in. Goodness!! My flights were good, I got picked up at the airport and dropped off at home, and mom got home fine. Successful trip!

Next trip is booked, can you guess where!?

Do zobaczenia! 

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

[sar-bear91-blog]

Barcelona Take 1

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

 – Saint Augustine 

Mediterranean Sea and my Christmas present! 

Actually this is Take 3- I already wrote two blog posts and saved them as drafts, except for they did not save!

Anywho...

Mom and I just recently took an amazing Easter/birthday trip to Barcelona, Spain. This city is so beautiful! I could easily move here next..hmm

Mom arrived in Barcelona Friday morning, while I was still at work! I arrived late Friday night (around 11 pm). That feeling you get when you see your mommy after 5 months, the woman who would do anything for you, that same woman who travels to Europe just to see you, that is an amazing feeling to finally wrap your arms around that woman! I can hardly describe it, but it’s amazing. 

I let mom sleep in a little bit on Saturday while I went to explore. A 5 minute walk got my toes in the sand and a 2-3 more minutes got my feet in the Mediterranean Sea. It was beautiful the entire time! Once I went back we got some breakfast then went exploring. We took the Metro a few stops to the center and had to walk about 20 minutes to Las Ramblas street-one of the most famous streets in Barcelona. We later figured out a 5 minute walk got us to a bus directly in front of our hotel! As we were walking we stopped at a huge open air market- La Boqueria. This thing was massive-in the center was frewsh fish, then it went to the meat, fruits, and vegetables. There was also cooked food, smoothies, and fruit cups to buy and snack on as you walked around. Then we walked further down the street and got to Port Vell where we had some tapas (appetizers) and sangrias. Yummy, I will be doing an entirely separate blog post for the amazing food we had! The walk back was easy because we kept stopping to buy stuff! We decided to drop our stuff off at the hotel and went to Plac Espanya to see the Font Magica Montjuic to see the Magic Fountain of Monjuic. This was really cool- it was a light/water/music show and there were hundreds if not thousands of people here. We even stood in the middle of the highway to get a good shot! 

Fruit cups! 

Fish anyone!?

Me and my tropical smoothie!

Can you find mom!?

Mom thought this guy was fake-in fact he was real! 

I am cute! Yum Sangria!! 

Mmmm... :-)

This is the face of someone who thought they were eating a tomato but in fact it was salmon...haha!

One picture of many of the light/water/music show.

From the middle of the highway! 

Sunday was another random day. We decided to go to the Pablo Picasso Museum because it was free-but so did everyone else! So we decided to go on the cable car rides across Port Vell and into Montjuic. This was an adventure because we did not know how to get to a tower that took you up, we walked and walked and walked some more! Finally we took a bus to a stop right in front of it and then waited and waited and waited! Finally we took a ride up top and we got to see amazing views of the Sea, Barcelona city, and the mountains! So cool! Later on our trek back down the mountain we stopped at the Olympic Soccer Stadium from 1992- they say this put Barcelona on the map! 

This picture is perfect. I got us lost, kind of not really, and mom is just done with me, only day 2! haha

View from the cable car!

Beautiful and funky tree! 

Olympic Stadium! 

Monday was an amazing and jam packed day- it also was the day of my birth! We decided to do our wine tour this day. To start the journey we took a bus an hour further inland to Montserrat. This Benedictine Monk retreat was founded in 1025 by a 12 year old boy! It is also home to a beautiful Basilica that houses a Black Madonna or Virigin of Montserrat. Mom and I then took a train literally straight up the mountain and then walked back down. The views of Catalonia were unbelievable. Once we got back down we met up with our tour guide and took a train all the way to the bottom and then took the bus to a winery. This winery also had a golf course and a delicious restaurant. We ate and drank some of the wine and then toured the winery. This is a 36 generation winery and we got to see the entire process! It was fascinating. At the end we got to try three different wines. One of the wines only has 380 bottles that were made of it. It was part of the 1% of vines that was not destroyed by an illness brought by an American a long time ago. That same American brought American vines back that were immune and boom more vines...eventually! This was a perfect day spent with my mommy! We slept good that night. :-)

Black Maddona

The beautiful altar.

The top of the mountain! 

Beautiful! 

The winery! 

Yummy, the wines! 

Continue on for more about Barcelona....

Monday, April 13, 2015

[sar-bear91-blog]

Home Away from Home

“We carry our homes within us, that is what enables us to fly.”

        ---John Cage

I just got to spend another amazing weekend in Palowice with the Pawlas family. Wow, am I blessed! I may miss my family and friends at home but I have made some amazing friendships here. The family I stay with is one of the most kind and generous groups of people I know. 

I arrived on Friday night and Karolina and Dawid picked me up (they always pick me up at the train station, which is 30 KM away!) Once we got to the house Hania had made bigos (cabbage and meat). This happens to be one of of my favorite dishes here and of course there was fresh bread in the oven! This is also a special time for me because they seem genuinely happy to see me and that really makes you feel special.  

Saturday we went to meet Asta in Gliwice and we walked through this cute town and went to this nice cafe. I had an amazing drink with raspberyy on the bottom, then espresso and chocolate mixture, and then whip cream on top. Wow, it was delicious! After this Asta had to leave but Sara, Karolina, Dawid, and I went to Palmiarnia Miejska. This was an indoor jungle! They had 4 different rooms, two were like jungles, one was the desert, and the other an aquarium. I felt like it was not so nasty outside. If you closed your eyes it felt like you were some place different! After this we went back to their house and I made cheesecake brownies for them. While they were cooling we went to Church to watch a concert put on by the group we went to see over New Years. Then we went and devoured my brownies and just hung out and talked all night. Perfect Saturday for me!

“In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight!!”

This was so cool! The ants were working so hard.

Giant fish! 

Epic fail at the selfie! haha

Sarah, me, and Karolina. These girls are amazing! :-)

Sunday we had Hania’s famous rolls for breakfast and then went to Church. After Church we went back to the house had lunch and prepared eggs so we could dye them! The way people dye eggs here is this: they put onion peel at the bottom of the pot and add the raw eggs. They then put more onion peel on top and fill with water. Once it is cooked the eggs have turned a purple/red color! We then let them cool and carved in them with a tack/pin and also used a q-tip with vinegar. Pretty cool!

Working hard on their eggs! 

Asta, Karolina, and I with our eggs! :-)

The amazing eggs! 

While the eggs were cooling Asta came over and we took a walk with her, Karolina, Samuel, David, myself, and their dog. I love having people to take walks with! :-)

This was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend. Marta and I went by train back to Katowice and then I boarded my train back to Warsaw. I decided to stay later and got back around 10:30 pm Sunday night, but it was well worth it!

Tuesday we went on a field trip near the Old Castle to watch an English play. It was amazing to see something in English with the kids! :-) Of course, I did not pass up the opportunity to have a group picture in Old Town!! 

Love them! :-)

HAHA! Edyta and I look awesome! :-)

Now I just have to wait till tomorrow night to see my mommy since we are meeting in Barcelona! :-)

Wesolych Swiat!! ( Happy Easter in Polish- same as Merry Christmas)

Do zobaczenia! 

Thursday, April 2nd, 2015

[sar-bear91-blog]

Tea, Scones, History, and Good Friends

“England is a very popular foreign country to visit because the people there speak some English.”

-Dave Barry

I did not go to England-but let me tell you- I did go into a grocery store in Wales and EVERYTHING was in English. You do not realize what you take for granted. It’s the little things... :-)

 Wow! What a crazy, jam-packed, touristy, and amazing weekend I just had! Karolina Pawlas and I traveled to Cardiff, Wales on Thursday night and spent the weekend with an amazing couple, Derek and Lady Margaret Ford, oh and Lady and Duchess! :-) 

We flew from Warsaw Modlin airport at 10 pm Thursday and arrived in Bristol, England around midnight (time changed and we went an hour back). Derek picked us up in his cute little red car and off we went, about an hour and a half to their home in Cardiff. He had a box packed with road snacks! We had beef and butter sandwiches (sounds strange but they were super delicious!), apple, banana, kit kat, another candy bar, and angel food cake! Their house is so colorful and unique, it is amazing! We got to sleep in the bedroom, so so nice of them. After hugs and hellos we finally went to sleep! 

Friday we got up, had breakfast, got ready and Derek drove us to the city center where Karolina and I walked around and did some shopping. This was the perfect day for this because the weather was grim. Rainy and dreary! Wow, I literally shopped till I dropped. I even ran out of room in my suitcase and Karolina had to take some of my stuff home with her (all for you family-you better feel special). They have this store called Primark and it was huge- five floors high and had everything a clothing store should have! I bought some clothes and socks. Later I got all my tourist shopping in too. My favorite purchase was the ‘sheeppoopaper’ (for Suzi and Chip’s cars haha). We walked around the city center, including the Cardiff Castle and the library! The library was awesome because all the European Union public libraries have a section with free resources like books, maps, and different things about the country we are in. I took so much! Then the lady came and gave us a pin with the dragon and the flag. It was pretty awesome. OH DEAR! I forgot to mention that we also had Kripsy Kreme donuts!! I was in a different world when I ate these delicious fried donuts. :-)

Cardiff Castle! 

Krispy Kreme :-)

Cardiff City Center

Later we met Derek and Margaret and went to see Cardiff Bay and had fish and chips at Top Gun. You can not go to the UK without getting fish and chips! We then walked around the bay a bit and lastly went to an American diner. Yes you heard right, an American Diner. Margaret had a strawberry milkshake and I had a vanilla one. They were pretty tasty, a little milky, but they were missing one key ingredient, the cherry on top! You can not have a milkshake without a cherry on top, even if you do not like cherries, it is just the way it is supposed to be.  

Fishy Bride-Literally the name! 

Cardiff Bay

Me and our lovely hosts for the weekend- Derek and Margaret Ford

so.much.food! Everything was delicious-except the mushy mint peas. haha

Margaret being silly! 

The American Diner

Saturday we slept in a little bit, of course I did not. We had breakfast, got ready, and Karolina, Derek, and I went to St Fagans National History Museum. Wow, this place is amazing! It was started in 1948 and now over 40 historical buildings from Celtic times to now are here surrounding St Fagans Castle. This was literally a working little town. There were houses, a working bakery, schoolhouse, tea room, market, and more! Here is the website to learn more about it, this is seriously one of the coolest attractions I have seen so far in Europe! http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/stfagans/

We had fun playing with my new camera :-)

Perfect size for me! I don’t think Gramps or Lauren would fit! :P

Kennixton Farmhouse-Red walls were said to ward off evil spirits! 

So many baby sheep! so cute :-)

Smallest post office in Wales! Sending some postcards to my loves back home :-)

This is for Granny-Look how amazing these are! They were built in the mid 1700s! 

Beautiful- St Fagans Castle

We dropped Derek and Karolina off at the house and Margaret switched them places. We then traveled up to Castle Coch (pronounced cohhhh (;-))). Lord and Lady Bute used this as their summer home. They did not like to have guests here because there was not a nice area for guests to stay. This castle was beautiful! It is high up on a hill and is surrounded by trees, from the road it looks amazing and even up close it looks great! Going through the entire castle and up the windy stairs was a lot of fun. 

Castle Coch

One room had pictures of animals painted on the walls-each one told a different fable-This one was about 2 cats fighting over a piece of cheese so the monkey told them he would help and he ended up eating the cheese because the cats could not figure it out!

Inside Castle Coch

Later Margaret and I dropped Karolina and Derek off to go to a concert. Margaret took me to another castle to take pictures of it at night with the lights. Spectacular!! 

Caerphilly Castle! 

I was so so tired from all the running we did the past couple days I fell asleep before picking Derek and Karolina up, but don’t worry, when ice cream and strawberries was announced I was wide awake! 

Sunday we went to Derek and Margaret’s Baptist Church and then to Tesco where I found some mini pancakes, sour patch kids, and a crunch bar! :-) Happy girl!!! When we got home Margaret had cooked a feast for us and a couple with their 18 year old daughter. Sadly, it was time to go home, back to the real world. Another sadly, it took FOREVER to get home because we flew to Wroclaw. Then took a bus to Warsaw. The plane got in around 9:30, and the bus then left at 11:00 pm. I got back to Warsaw at 4:30 am. Finally home around 5:30 slept for two hours then got up for work. 

Goodbye Wales! 

That was a rough Monday, but I saw an amazing picture-last Monday of winter! I can hardly believe I have almost officially made it through 2 seasons and 7 months here! Crazy how time flies by.

Next up on the travel agenda is Palowice in 10 days and then Barcelona with Takiki in 24 days! :-)

Do zobaczenia!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Oh yes- Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! 

[sar-bear91-blog]

The Walls' in Warszawa!

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.

This past week has been absolutely amazing and FAST! Julia and Reece came to Warsaw! I have been blessed with an amazing mom and best friend who come and visit me (even though I am far and it costs money)! :-)

We love Warsaw!! 

What a JAM packed week! They arrived Saturday morning. I cooked them some Polish pancakes and then we went to do a Jewish tour of Warsaw. Of course we got them their first paczki! After this we came back to my apartment to cook Gołąbki (cabbage rolls stuffed with a meat or veggie mixture). YUM! I loved them, Julia, Reece, and I liked how the cabbage was slightly hard because they were crunchy, but the others said nope, they aren't supposed to be like this! Oh well- they were still very tasty!

In front of the famous clock tower!

First paczki! :-)

Early Sunday morning we left for Krakow-we took a 5 hour bus ride to this city. When we got there we checked into our hostel (my first one!) and then took another bus to the Kopalina soli Wieliczka Salt Mines. Wieliczka was also the city where Pope John Paul II is from. The mine reaches down over 1,000 feet. On our tour we went 443 feet underground. To get here we started the trip by walking down 378 steps on a wooden staircase then walked 1.9 miles. We saw statues, a chapel, a salt lake and various items they used to produce the salt. As most people think that the salt is white, they are wrong. There were parts that were white, but most was gray and looked like marble- but don't worry- I licked the walls and it was 100% salt! 

On our way to Krakow in the Polski Bus!

Close up of me licking the walls! 

What they used to use when working in the mines!

All of that is carved out of salt. Amazing!!

Monday we did two walking tours- a tour of Krakow's Old Town and also a food tour of Krakow. Both were great, but of course, I enjoyed the food tour more! Krakow is a beautiful city filled with history. During the Old Town tour we saw: Main Market Square with St Mary’s church, Cloth Hall and Townhall Tower, remains of medieval city walls with Barbican and St. Florian Gate, St Francis Church, Bishop’s Palace and „papal window”, Wawel Hill with Cathedral and Wawel Castle, and the Wawel Dragon.  On the food tour we ate herring with a shot of vodka, pierogi, Pope's cake, pickles and cabbage, two types of sausage, zurek (sour soup with sausage), and last we had mulled wine/beer and bigos (hunter's stew with cabbage and meat). This was a delicious tour! 

In the courtyard of the oldest University! 

A beautiful stained glass window in a Church near Pope John Paul II visited many times.

I thought this photo was super neat! There were curtains that lead from the outside door to the inside of a Church.

The herring in oil with our vodka.

Sadly I left after this since I had to work on Tuesday. :-( Reece and Julia did a tour of the underground museum (I already did that and there is a post on that!) Then on Tuesday they went to Auschwitz. 

Wednesday Reece and Julia went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum and then met me for pierogi at Zapiecek, then we went to the Jewish-Polish Museum (where we met up with Mat and Justyna), and lastly went to Wedel for a sweet treat. 

mmmm pierogi time!

MCHS girls reunite! 

Thursday Reece and Julia went on a tour of Warsaw's Old Town and then ate at a Milk Bar! I have not done that yet, they inspired me. :-) We met and walked around Lazienki Park and then met Sylwia and Aneta to watch the Legia game. Sadly the fans did something where they did not allow any fans into the game on Thursday so they had a big screen outside. The news said there were over 3,000 fans! We left after half-time, they were losing 3-0 and that ended up being the final score. We went the Zloty Tarasy. Julia got some cute boots and then we had another sweet treat at Grycan! 

I love my best friend! In front of the outdoor theater in Lazienki Park.

Lazienki Park.

Friday Reece and Julia went on the communist Warsaw tour. I then met them at Sadyba Mall to grab some coffee and then walk around the Bazar (outdoor market). I bought a few things here. Later we went to Justyna and Mat's to get our nails done and eat sushi and tiramisu. After this we went to shot bar and then Wiskey bar with Sylwia and Aneta-didn't get home till 3 am so of course we had to make mac n cheese. :-)

Legia Warszawa!

The girls :-) 

Saturday- last full day with my buddies... :-( We went to Copernicus Science Museum. It was so much fun! We spent 3 hours there, we could have been there even longer. Unfortunately there were a lot of children there going crazy with no parents in site, but we still had fun! We went to a delicious restaurant for dinner and they had the BEST aioli sauce! Saturday night was also a demonstration at Lazienki park with the Chinese Lanterns then of course we had to end our night with a last trip to Wedel where Julia and Reece bought some chocolate liquor to take home! 

Science Museum fun! 

We got up at 4:45 Sunday to get ready and go to the airport. Goodbyes never get any easier. I had an amazing week with two of my best friends. I could not have asked for a better time and I sure hope they had a blast just like I did. 

Next up- Wales- 2 weeks! :-)

Do zaboczenia! 

Tuesday March 3, 2015

PS- Here is a fantastic photo of my buddy Reece ( I had to include it because it makes me laugh SO HARD!!!!)

[sar-bear91-blog]

Tłusty Czwartek

Paczki. faworki, oh my! We just celebrated Tłusty czwartek (Fat Thursday). They do not only eat here, they also have a carnival! We had our carnival ball on Monday (Feb 16th) but we did not eat lots of sweets because this school/parents are nutty! However, on Thursday (Feb 12th) Natalia did bring paczki for everyone, YUMMMY! I just love me some paczki. On Friday, Karolina's parents invited me, Christina, and Chini over to make faworki. Faworki is a "french dough finger" treat served with lots of powder sugar! We made lots of faworki and we put powder sugar on some and then honey and poppyseed on the others. Wow! These are delicious, and just like the paczki they are fried in lard. I have so much to make for my family when I get home. I do not think I can wait till Fat Thursday! 

FIrst faworki done! :-)

So delicious! I can not wait to make them when I am home! 

Some were made with powder sugar and others with honey and poppyseed!

Also on this Fat Thursday was parent meeting-goodness- I do not think you ever get away from crazy parents. I just love how everything is our fault. Excuse me, you try to handle a classroom of students who hardly know the only language you speak! Rude. I just have to keep reminding myself that I am here for my students, not their crazy parents. Happy Note!! One parent, whose child came in speaking little to no English, she also is a huge behavior problem, but he said that his daughter is coming home singing the songs and likes to speak English! He said he can see my methods work and he is happy- WOOT WOOT! 

So this means Lent has officially started. Every year I give up something like chocolate, other sweets, candy, cursing, or something silly. This year I have decided to pray more. I just recently began my journey with God and working towards a relationship with him, so I just know praying more is going to help tremendously! :-)

Saturday was Valentine's Day. To start the day off I made homemade pumpkin jam- wow! So delicious!! I was lucky enough to spend it with a great new friend, Corina, and some others from YAM! Corina and I met a little before party time and we walked around Old Town- it was sunny and got up to 50 degrees!! I was so excited that we found a little shop that was selling corn dogs! I just had to have Corina try one, of course it did not taste like one back home, but it was pretty darn close! After this we went back to my place to bake cookies and get ready for the Valentine's Day movie night! We watched August Rush, it was a super cute movie! There was so much food, it was wonderful. I sure do love to eat! :-)

Pumpkin Jam! :-)

Walking around Old Town on this gorgeous day! 

Corina and the corn dogi! ;-)

Some of the people at my place for the Valentines Day Party! Felix, Alex, Wendy, Gella, Dmitriy, Lon, and LyAnn.

You can not have a Valentines Day party without Vday TP! 

Sunday Church was great because we started a 7 week series on the "I am" statements in the Gospel of John. I felt extra great because Lauren and I are reading John and I knew exactly what Pastor Johnny was talking about! After this was "Potluck Plus" day. We ate and ate and ate some more! After there were games. I stayed for a little bit but then left because I had a movie date with Justyna! 

Monday- like I stated earlier- we had our Carnival Ball! There were activities in each room and then a dance party at the end. It just seemed like another Halloween without candy to me! 

Princess of the Moon and Runner-Up Prom Queen!

Best selfie ever! My lovely little ones, Chini, and I! 

This past week was great! Now this week went by super slow because I am SO EXCITED for tomorrow because Reece and Julia will be here! AHHHH! I don't know what I am most excited about, them coming or the red velvet oreos they are bringing me! :-)

Do zobaczenia!

Friday, February 20th

[sar-bear91-blog]

Late Blog Post

I forgot to mention in a few blogs ago that it was the 100th day of school last Friday (Friday, January 30)! Pretty exciting. Since this school has school all the time, literally, only Holidays when the entire city/country is shut down, I am sure we will celebrate the 200th day of school! We made a chart with 100 words and made silly 100 day hats! :-) It is so amazing to be able to act silly and like a kid for my daily job.

Aren't we cute with our amazing hats and 100 words!?

Satuday, Chini and I visited Lublin, Poland. This is a city on the east side of Poland. We took the trusty Polski bus there and back. It only cost around $10. This place I tell you, almost everything is super cheap. Of course we checked the weather before we left and it said cloudy and cold. However, when we got there it was a blizzard. I did not wear my snow boots either! I bought two pairs of boots last winter at Khols, a black and brown pair. I can not believe how poorly shoes are made in the States! The tiniest bit of water seeps into these shoes and my feet are instantly wet, so needless to say, I was miserable. It was windy, super cold, and the snow was coming down in all different directions! 

Even though the weather was poor, Chini and I were determined to make this a great trip. First, well first we got lost and were walking around in circles trying to find the Lublin Zamek (castle) and it was right in front of us the whole time, so first we went to the Lublin Zamek. The funniest sight was Chini and I trying to find our way. We had umbrellas to attempt to block the snow and wind, you had to see it to really laugh, it was pretty funny! Alright, back to the Castle. This castle has served as many different things since it has been built. The royal family used to stay here in the 15th century, it was then made into a prison  for 128 years! Many Polish people died here in 1944. In 1957 it was restored and made into a museum! The only portion of the castle that was preserved this whole time was the Holy Trinity Chapel. Wow, this chapel is amazing! There is a painting of Jesus or his works with disciples on every single section! It was so amazing to see.

It was windy, foggy, snowy, and freezing! But it was a cool site. :-)

After this we walked around Old Town, at this point the snow was still coming down, but not as bad! We saw the famous "Cracow Gate" which leads you into the Old Town. The buildings in the Market Square are painted with all different designs, it was very cool! The next thing on the list was the Underground Museum (The Fortuna Cellar). This museum has 10 rooms, 9 of these rooms had exhibitions about Lublin and Poland during the time of the war and how people lived. The 10th room was a wine cellar and has these amazing paintings on the walls dating back from the 16th century! Each painting had it's own story. So amazing! 

http://www.piwnica.lublin.eu/en/article/o-piwnicy

I inserted the website for the museum because I thought it was so amazing and there is a lot more information on the site! :-)

After this we went outside and it was SUNNY! How crazy. We made it through a blizzard, the cold, wet feet, and now the sun came to play! We decided to walk around Lublin and see what we could find. There were these "trails" along the way. Heritage Trail of the Jews, Multicultural Trail, and Trail of famous Lubliners, just to name a few. There were markers and information all over the city to follow! It was pretty cool to follow some, for some reason we could never find them in the right order, oh well! 

Yah! Sunny! :-)

The last thing we did was eat at an amazing Jewish restaurant named Mandragora. It was so delicious! I had some very yummy traditional Kosher Jewish food. I first bought a loaf of challah bread, then I had ........... which was rice, beans, beef, and egg; and for dessert....... which was bread pudding but with egg noodles. It was all very delicious! 

Look at that good looking model! ;-)

Jewish Cholent- rice, beans, egg, and beef! YUM!

Chini had dumplings with potatoes and garlic-not a lot of options for a vegetarian here! Lots of duck and other meat!

Lokszen Kugel- Bread pudding made with egg noodles- it was a little dry, but pretty good other than that!

It was then time to go home, we were very tired because of the weather and my app on my phone said we walked 12 miles, I am sure that is not 100% accurate, but my goodness we walked a lot! I am still sore from it!

Night selfie with Old Town Market Square in the back. :-)

Do zaboczenia! 

Tuesday, February 17th

PS- I have had this blog finished for 2 weeks now, but for some reason I can not upload other pictures so I have been trying different things, and unfortuantely I have no idea why I can not upload anymore! So, I decided to post without the rest of the pictures. 

[sar-bear91-blog]

More Winter!?

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." 

-Maori Proverb

 Unfortunately the groundhog saw his shadow and we have 6 more weeks of winter. They do not do that here in Poland, so does that mean it is Spring? Don't get me wrong, winter is beautiful, but only certain aspects of it. I love a nice layer of snow on the ground with the sun shining and the snow glistening. Or, snow falling, sitting by a fireplace drinking hot chocolate! But, walking in this nastiness and waiting for my bus, which is usually late, and then spending an hour in the freezing cold because we have to for the kids is not my cup of tea! Lucky for me this winter here in Poland has been a "warm" one. Usually the temperatures get in the single digits and stay for awhile! This year has stayed 90% of the time over 20! 

Friday was our grandparents day performance. I think it went great! Sadly, most people don't say thank you or anything! We had a few kids mess up, but it was funny hearing them sing, talk, and do the motions. I am proud of them! :-)

Saturday I went to a meeting with single/unmarried women in our church to talk about a book on the Christian woman and sex. I had a great time listening to others stories and takes on possibly reading this book. 

After this I went paintballing! Wow! I have never done this before and it was a lot of fun. I got shot multiple times, once in the upper thigh (I have a nice little bruise), in the face 2 times (don't you worry, I had a mask on so no injuries there), and once in the finger (wow! That one hurt very badly, I thought I broke it at first but luckily I did not). I think I did pretty well playing. At first I was a weeny and super scared to get hit! Then after the first round (I was hidden and hardly shot any pellets) I was so dissapointed! So by the last round I was amazing. I climbed up high, saw some "yellow" people, climbed down and shot them! BOOM! Get it done. :-)

Don't mess with us!

My girls and I! :-)

After that I had to rush home and get read for Justyna and Mat's invitation party! This was so neat, they invited all of their friends and had lots of yummy food. They then talked about how grateful they were for great friends and passed out our invitations! They are beautiful too. I am very excited for this! I already RSVPd. :-)

This girl is wonderful! 

Silly blurry picture! 

Silly! 

Sunday, Church was great! I am actually engaged and pay attention. I bet dad would even stay awake!! He always "rests" his eyes in Church, haha. After this a few people and I went to search for the McDonalds with all windows! I have a friend from college who has a student fascinated with McDonalds and saw this one in Warsaw, Poland made out of windows! Well, she messaged me right away to find it! Unfortunately the McDonalds is being torn down because it is an old building and they are putting a metro station there, but I did get a picture of it!

Felic, Lon, Corina and I exploring! 

This week should be interesting with the Parents Meeting. Some of these parents are cray cray, but it would make this job way less interesting! 

Do zaboczenia!

Wednesday, February 11