We’ve done two school visits this week and it has me really wanting to teach. It’s in my blood – a sort of addiction, I guess. I’m eager to get to my site. However, I don’t feel comfortable enough with Polish yet to be cast into Polish society without American contacts. Of course, we’ll have tutors which will help a great deal. (I heard today than in the near future we’ll be getting Polish grammar books – are they teasing us? I hope not.)
It’s amazing how one day can be so awful – like yesterday – then all of a sudden, out of the blue, one has the best day in recent memory. This evening has been just amazing . . .
First of all, dinner was incredible. We had a completely ryby based meal. The main course was a rice-fish-pickle dish that was outstanding. Also we had fish patee and a bit of fried fish. It was incredibly good! Not only that, but I had a limited conversation with Teresa in Polish. It was so exciting to hear the dish described in Polish and understand what was in it.,
After dinner Piotr and I cleaned up and had a grand time. We carried on wonderfully. Afterwards we went into the living room and talk turned to the motivations of US foreign policy. It was an intriguing conversation . . .
It’s so interesting to hear a central-European on US policy. Piotr is of the opinion that everything the US government does is motivated by political and (more often) fiscal interests. Even the Peace Corps is a political move. Of course he is right – the US government does nothing for philanthropic (sp?) reasons. Still, it’s almost difficult to hear from a non-American. I wanted to agree with him and yet I also tried to defend the US (if that is possible). Still, how does one explain why his government pays farmers not to produce a certain amount of wheat (so that the international price will remain high) when there are billions of children around the world who are starving to death? It’s impossible – one merely has to admit that his government is wrong . . . in a major way.
One last comment: learning Polish is becoming vastly more rewarding. It is incredible to realize that I am using a language more and more that only a matter of weeks ago I knew next to nothing about. It is so vastly (and wonderfully) different from learning a language in a classroom in the States. Here I don’t pretend to buy a beer for practice; I do it in reality. I don’t practice buying a bus ticket; I actually do it. I’m not just learning to speak Polish; I’m learning to live it. And it’s vastly different.
Another storm is rolling in – the third in as many weeks. The weather here is so very strange.
Today we got our medical kits, including X condoms. It’s amazing how it has been assumed from day one that we will be having sex while in the Peace Corps. Americans (people in general?) seem now to view sex as a right.