Having Fun at Farm Iluzja

My goodness, it has been awhile since I have written anything new on this blog. However, if any reader wishes to know about what we are doing at language camp, I will refer you to the blog on the Global Volunteers site. Please go to www.globalvolunteers.org. Once there scroll down and look on the left hand side of the page for country blogs and select Poland. Of course, you are free to read about the activities of volunteers in other country that is of interest too.

Now about Saturday, August 9 for me. I have been really busy since my older granddaughter moved in with me in early April and then I went to Poland for two weeks in May. Returning home at the end of May created  a busy three weeks before I started back to Poland again. I didn't make any "tourist" plans for this weekend, and decided instead to spend the weekend at Reymontówka and go with the campers on their Saturday trip to Farma Iluzja ( Illusion Farm). Now farm is not the Polish word for farm; it is certainly an adaptation from the English word, farm. I was puzzled about the use of this word, and wondered if it made the place sound more exotic. 

We ate breakfast at 8:15 and everyone was on the bus by 9:00. We drove about 2 hours and arrived at Farma Iluzja at 11:00, just when it was opening. 

We were assigned a tour guide, something that made this a different cultural experience for me, since certainly one would not get a tour guide in an amusement park in the States. Our first stop was the Chata Tajemnic (Cottage Secrets).

About 10 persons at a time are admitted into the house and have fun trying to stand up. 

Yes, that's me on the right hand side having fun with some of the campers. 

Next we got to wonder how this girl gets her head on the dinner plate. 

We then went into a building that from the outside resembles a rubric cube. 

Here we encountered more mysteries. 

How many of me are there? And where do I go to move forward? 

And why can we see the car but not be able to touch it with our fingers, feeling nothing, able to put our hands right flat on the table? 

Next the campers went into a more natural area, but I decided sitting on a nearby bench was a nice idea while they ran about. 

As we continued to found areas set up for different areas of the world. 

One was the American Wild West. Another was a typical African scene with drums. And another was an American Indian scene. 

We had been on the go for close to two hours. We returned to the bus for lunch. 

Then when we re-entered the Farma everyone had free time.  I think many of the campers headed toward the area with activities more traditionally found in an amusement park.

 The first thing I did in free time was find a place for ice cream. I got a two-dip cone: one dip of coconut ice cream and the other pistachio. Yummy!

I took a better look at some of the buildings and decided this place is called Farma because many of the buildings are styled after mid-20th century American farm buildings. 

Earlier in day I had heard a sound like a car alarm going off. When wandering about I found instead it was a handler of homing pigeons calling them down. 

 I found some of the campers ready to try something I wouldn't do for love or money!

When the camper above got out of this contraption, he staggered and his friends had to help him for a minute. I asked him a bit later if it was fun. He said, "It's fun, but don't eat first!"

The flyer for Farma Iluzja says it is also educational in addition to fun. I didn't quite understand that until I started to read the poster displays. These present information about artists who help us see the world in a different way. 

Another artist helps us see faces in new places. 

 I regret that I cannot accurately connect artists to their work. I tried to keep good notes, but when I got back "home" to Reymontówka my notes didn't make good sense.


And I got so relaxed that I had fun sitting by the pond and watching the frogs jump in and swim. 

We walked back to the bus about 4:00 and by 6:00 we were back to Reymontówka. 

I found at 6:45 that I became very popular. Since I am the only volunteer here I have joined a dining room with the campers and some of the Polish staff. The campers were anxiously waiting at one door to enter the dining room and at a bit after 6:45 which is the time for the evening meal, I was hungry too, but didn't see any of my Polish colleagues in the dining room as I was waiting at a different door. I thought I would just enter the dining room and stand quietly until they came.  Then I heard, "It's Pani Lori, it's Pani Lori." The kids piled into the dining room. When the Polish staff came I asked if there was a rule that campers couldn't enter the dining room until an adult was present in the dining room. Yes, indeed, that is the rule, and that explained my sudden popularity!

It was a great day with the campers. Ours was the only large group there. Other guests were family groups. I'm very glad I did something with our campers and very glad to spend a day doing something Polish people do on a Saturday -- after all real life is not all about museums, churches, and monuments! 

Finding Out About Language Camps

I am really getting behind of writing my personal blog this year while I teach in the Global Volunteer language camps in Poland. Part of the reason is that I spend some time every day helping to create content for the blog that appears on the Global Volunteers page. If you are interested in this blog, please go to www.globalvolunteers.org.

Once there scroll down and  look for the blog on the left hand side of the page.To find out what I'm doing select the Poland Service Program blog. Of course this area of the Global Volunteers web site will allow you to find out similar information about other service program areas too. Happy reading.

The Rynek and the Ratusz

This is the first time I have been in a Polish city where the Ratusz is such a dominant feature. But then the history of Wrocław is that is has been part of other countries.

I first saw it from the distance when I went out to supper the first evening I was there.

 On Monday of my visit to the city I decided to walk back for a better look with my guide book in hand. The Lonely Planet guide for Poland says that this building took almost two centuries to complete; building started in 1327 and ended in 1504. In our now short-term thinking about projects it is hard to imagine spending this much time on construction of a building.

The guidebook says that this south side was constructed during the early 16th century and is termed as the most ornate side.

Above is a close-up of the clock found in the central area of this side.

This is the side that faces to western direction.

The photo above shows some of the carvings on the building is greater detail.

And the rynek in this city-- wow! The Lonely Planet guidebook says that the one in Krakow is bigger, but if so it must be only by a very few square meters, for the one inWrocław seems huge. One can walk about on all four sides whereas the one in Krakow seems to me to be laid out in two large rectangles. 

As one might expect the rynek is lined with restaurants and I enjoyed many of them. The food in this city is very good. 

But it was buildings that knocked me out. I had not expected the great variety of colors nor the style of the buildings. 

The guidebook says that buildings on the north and south side were badly damaged in WW II. The photo above shows buildings from the east side which may be highly representative of what the city looked like before the WW II.

The rynek is a great place for people watching. I enjoyed all the cups of iced coffee I had there while watching what was happening in the rynek.

Walking around Wrocław

This posting is about some random things I saw while walking around the city.

I started out to see the Animals, better than I did from the city tour.

Here's the rooster:

and his friends:

Notice the goose has a golden egg, I think made even more golden by being rubbed by many hands.

I found these animals introduced a visitor to a lane of artists' shops. I live now with my granddaughter in a quite small two-bedroom apartment and really can't have more "things." But oh yes! this will fit:

I got a pair of blue glass ear rings and have already worn them twice. I really like them. Pani Czak is a wonderful artist. When I started to set my purse down on a chair by the register in order to get my wallet out to pay I found the chair was made of glass!

Walking out of the lane, I turned towards the rynek and went by a bookstore that had this in the window.

English for Seniors. On another day I went by a poster on a street advertising computer courses for Seniorow. A new market seems be emerging in Poland.

This guy amused me. A bit of cultural fusion. In Minnesota if the colors were purple and gold we would call it a Viking.

I  walked by a building with eagles displayed in its facade.

My city tour guide had explained that they are facing both directions because one is saying welcome and the other is saying farewell.

This piece of graffiti is easy to understand. And over and over again I've been told that in Central Europe graffiti is considered part of personal expression.  These peoples had to work hard to attain the right of personal expression, so I can understand why they value it even in graffiti.

I managed to find a black current ice cream cone during my travels, but still haven't found caramel ice cream that my Zakopane students recommended to me.

Came upon this lovely summer scene.

And then found an interesting street display. One of my overwhelming impressions of Wrocław starting with my taxi ride in from the airport is that this city is green. 

This poster explains a public policy effort to change school grounds from gray to green. 

This one presents information about magnolias that bloom here is the spring -- I thought it was warm here. 

This one shows that neighbors went to together to establish a dahlia garden to soften the effect of the gray buildings in their neighborhood. 

Supper on this evening produced another new view. I ate at a Georgian restaurant. 

 Above is the bread. It tasted a bit different than any I've ever had but I can't figure out why. 

And here's my supper:

I like grilled pork shoulder very much, but who knew that dipping it into pomegranate sauce would make it even better!?!

And here's a lovely sunset view of buildings I see as I make my way back from the rynek to my hotel. 

First day in Wrocław

As noted in my previous post I arrived here quite tired, slept late, and went to breakfast sometime after 10:00 AM before the breakfast closed at 10:30. Thank heavens for the weekend extension of the breakfast time

And where is here? I'm am staying at the Hotel Dikul. I looked at a lot of possibilities before selecting this one. It is noted on web sites that this a renovated hospital building, and some reviewers said it was in a chancy neighborhood. Well, I think the neighborhood is just fine.

Yes, I can see the building may be old and renovated.

The stairwell has what people on HGTV would call character.

And the hallway floors may look a little bit like a hospital.

 But the lobby is what is what I call 21st Century European design.

And my room is whiz-bang! I wish I could take it home. There is a remote control to raise the head of the bed so I can turn it into a comfortable place to read or write this blog. I can control the room lighting from a switch by the bed. A large window makes the room seem very spacious, but I thought about the 4:30 AM sunrise in Poland and wondered about how I'd like that. Then I discovered a switch by the bed that raises and lowers a shade over the window. And on the ground level there is lovely patio.

I have enjoyed sitting under the shady arbor reading on my Kindle. And the Wi-FI works great out there too. What a treat!

After getting myself a bit organized for the day I took off walking to the rynek, this time trying to to find the more direct route than the one I had taken the previous evening. I headed for a spire. That is the Church of St. Elizabeth. My Lonely Planet guide says the tower is 83 meters high, but I had no interest in purchasing a ticket to make the climb. I had walked enough steps in the hotel in Koscielsko to make my osteo-arthritis return. (As I told my students there, I don't recommend badly fracturing your left leg when you are 29 years old!)

The church building looks like this.

And notice in the parking lot -- motorcycles. I have found much to my surprise that everyday there are many motorcyles, and I don't mean scooters, in this area of the city. They come complete with riders who wear helmets and black leather jackets.

I proceeded along to the rynek where I stopped  again at the Cafe Lwowska. Here I got the first of many iced coffees that I have enjoyed here during the warm spell of weather. In fact, this city is warm enough that I am practicing the art of walking on the shady side of the street or rynek anytime that is possible.

I enjoyed the musicians who came along the rynek area and played near each cafe.

After finishing the coffee I went to the corner where one finds the

Jaś and Małgosia Houses.

 

My guidebook says that German and English speakers know these characters better as Hansel and Gretel. 

About this time I was approached by a young man asking me if I would like to take a city tour. I've never done this before in Poland, but have heard other Americans discuss how much they have enjoyed similar tours so decided to take a chance. 

My tour guide was a 2nd year university student here. She explained she came from a village 150 kilometers away and is so glad she decided to attend the university here, saying the city is "so logical" in its design that she can find her way around, but never could have done that in Warsaw! The tour gave me a good idea of where to find the various things I wished to visit the next couple of days. Also when we were along the Odra River she offered to take my picture. 

So I have some proof I'm really somewhere else than Minnesota! 

After the tour I returned to Cafe Lwowska this time for obiad. Then I walked back to the hotel. I had a plan to go to a concert in the evening in the museum just across the street from me. 

Earlier in the day I had walked over to see if I could buy a ticket and was told to come back after 6:00. I got there about 6:30 and got a ticket without any difficulty. The concert was held in a large tent erected in the courtyard of the Arsenal, right across the street. This building, according to my guidebook says this building is the last remnant of the 15th century fortifications for the city.

The concert presented five compositions by Bach. Two were orchestral only and three included the vocalization of a mezzo-soprano, Urszula Kryger. Often the ones with the vocalization were almost a duet with an oboe played by Sebastian Aleksandrowicz. All in all it was terrific. I paid about $8.00 for this ticket, getting a seniorow ticket without asking for it, so I guess I'm starting to look my age. 

So I had a great first day in the city.