matching tracksuits

I didn’t get a chance yesterday to write in here because I spent the only free time I had here in the house watching the Tour de Pologne, specifically the leg from Kołobrzeg to Szczecin. I thought it would be good for my Polish, but instead it was a bit of a waste of time because I fell asleep. Such is life.

Yesterday’s lessons were okay, except for the lesson with 4C. I wanted to kill them. Honestly, I remembered how they were my last year here and I thought they would probably be the same. I shouldn’t be so general like this — it’s not everyone, just the boys. The girls have their problems too: mainly, they won’t attempt much of anything (though I was impressed with blond Agnieszka yesterday who did utter a few sentences, and I’m not being sarcastic here). Still, I didn’t let it get me down too much. I finished the lesson quickly, then told them that the first thing we were going to do next lesson was assign some seating. The boys will certainly not be sitting anywhere near each other if I can at all help it.

I had the second half of 3B yesterday as well, and they were quite a joy. Of course I had them in a small group, and that’s always helpful. I wish they could all be small groups, but at the same time, that would triple my teaching load, and I’d have to teach the same damn lesson so many times that I’d be so sick of it.

Last night I cooked dinner for today: chicken cacciatore. I didn’t have any zucchini, but such is life. It still looks and tastes good. As I was cooking, I was thinking about all the different things I could cook while I’m here, and I came to the unfortunate realization that I should have brought a lot of spices with me, such as cumin (real cumin, not the nonsense they sell here under the name kminek), coriander, and such. But especially cumin. I’d love to be able to make piccadillo here, but I wouldn’t even consider it without cumin. I’m sure you can get it somewhere, though. Maybe even in Nowy Targ. It would also be helpful in making salsa and Indian food. If I can’t find it here, maybe I can request that as a care package. Anyway, I was thinking a big hit would be that rolled flank steak I used to fix, but I don’t know where I could get flank steak.

As I was walking to make the phone calls, I encountered Tadek as he was walking the other way. We shook hands, and he asked me if I’d been to Quattro. I said no, but that I might go after I make some phone calls. I was honestly thinking that I’d only be going if Edyta agreed to meet me there, but as I walked back toward the Mastelas’, I thought, “What harm could it do for me to drop in? If I know no one, I can sit and talk to the bartender.” I walked in and the first people I saw were Wiola (from class 4A) and Adela. I talked to Adela for about a minute, but I felt quite uncomfortable doing so. I thought for a moment that I’d made a mistake. I saw, though, that there was smoke coming from the booth around the corner, where I’d sat with Monika and Anita Saturday night, and I walked over to investigate. And there sat Beata P. I waved at her, then walked around to see whom she was sitting with. And there sat Teresa W. Beata almost immediately invited me to sit down with them, so I said, “Let me get a beer,” and thus began a very nice evening.

We talked about a lot of things, including why they were there. Beata failed a test today because she couldn’t get her computer to work. She explained it to the professor, and his response was typically Polish: “Trudno.” As was his suggestion as to how she could make it up. If she were to bring a certain amount of vodka and other spirits, as well as a little cash, she could pass. Typical.