It’s been warm here for the last two days. Beautifully warm with sun and clear skies and all the trimmings. And there’s been whingeing as well. I admit that the +30 degrees yesterday (or more) was uncomfortable in a classroom heated by the sun (loads of windows) and the kids let me know. It’s so hoooooootttt!! No shit, Sherlock. You think I haven’t noticed that? I’ve only been in this room since 7:45 this morning.

But I can’t say that. I just nod and agree and change the subject to the lesson’s content. If you ask me, England does not get enough of these hot, sunny, beautiful days and when they do come I enjoy them. Yesterday was a tad uncomfortable, but I’ll take a day like that over a rainy, cloudy one!

Today, it’s back to more usual weather: partly cloudy and with a forecasted +23 degrees. So, the wingeing should (hopefully) stop.

We arrive on the 31st and go into town on the 1st of June. I forget that this is International Children’s Day and that it is so widely celebrated in Poland. Everywhere we go, we see teachers with groups of children exploring the city, eating ice cream, going to McDonald’s, going to the cinema, spending money. On the metro, the deadpan voice annoucing the next stop is replaced by that of a child carefully pronoucing each station and sometimes doing so quite loudly. There are a few amused faced of the adults on the metro and I giggle quietly to myself everytime I hear it.

The day is sunny and warm and Varsovians leave their flats and offices to enjoy lunch outside. It’s one of the first really warm and sunny days this spring and everyone wants to soak up as much sun as they can after a long winter. We walk through the Old Town, stop in a cafe for lunch on Krakowskie Przedmiescie and enjoy an ice cream. I realise that I love Warsaw, with its crowds and long winters and hot summers and dust and contrasts. I realise that I won’t love it quite as much when I live there and that the frustrations of living in a big city will get to me. So I wallow in my love while I can. And it feels good.

Warsaw is a strange-looking city. It was very heavily bombed in 1944 after the Warsaw Uprising and its post-war constructions vary in style. The old town (which was totally levelled by Germans) was patiently rebuild, brick by brick to look like it did before the war. Old photographs, paitings and plans were used and the Old Town of Warsaw does look beautiful. Other areas aren’t so lucky. To house the masses, blocks of flats were built. Those in the late 40s and 50s are rectangular but have a certain charm about them. The blocks built in the 70s and 80s are dreadful. Made of grey concrete pre-fab panels, they look cardboardy and permanently dirty.

Pretty much all of the photos come from our foray into central Warsaw on June 1st. We took the metro from Ally’s flat (one line, simple and effective but a bit limiting) into central Warsaw and then walked to the Old Town.

The half-term week went by at alarming speed. Part of it was the fact that we were visiting and sorting out things at the same time. Part of it was a small inability to sleep (couldn’t breathe properly). And part can be contributed to the fact that holidays always go by quickly, even when one is doing nothing in particular.

We got lots sorted out and we feel so happy about our decision to move to Poland. N and I went into work with Ally one day to speak to staff, meet the people we would work with and see the workplace for the first time. I had a list of questions that needed answering and all of them got answered! The co-workers-to-be seemed like a relaxed and friendly bunch of people, helped by the fact that I knew at least half a dozen from my previous time in Poland. As the day went by, we got tired and all the new faces blended into each other, but we knew we’d made the right decision. N is especially giddy about having non-contact time (read: free lessons) which is non-existent in UK primary schools. I’m a little worried about having to teach one subject I haven’t taught in years, but I’ll hopefully manage to do well.

We also sorted out a flat! We’re very excited about that because it makes us feel so much better knowing that we’ll have somewhere to live and that it is located in a nice part of Warsaw. It’s also big enough for guests, so all those people who promised at the wedding that they’d visit better do so. We’ve already had a tentative booking for the October half-term.

After all the worrying and panic and tears over our decision, we know that this is the right thing. It’ll be difficult for us to stay focused for the next six weeks and a half. We know what’s just around the corner and we really like it. I’m sure that, as all places do, this one won’t be perfect. There will be little problems and things will annoy us. But, we know that this is going to be an interesting year and we must, must, must keep things in perspective.

It’ll be fantastic to work in a nice atmosphere, with a less stress and more benefits. It’ll be brilliant to see friends like Ally on a daily basis. It’ll be fabulous to explore Warsaw’s great restaurants, museums, its cultural life (concerts, etc). It’ll be great to live in Poland, for another year, two, five, ten, etc. Lookout Warsaw, here we come!

We have returned from a very exciting and successful trip. We saw the school and met the colleagues (very nice people and a great school), we found a flat (close to city centre, close to a nice commute to school), we met a Tae Kwon Do teacher and N can continue on with his hobby (fantastic!) and had a great time overall. We are now looking forward to our life in Poland and a new job which will offer positive challenges.

I will write more about this but we’re entertaining tonight and I’m still nursing a sinusitis attack brought on by the cat allergies. I will be posting some photos of Warsaw, too when I get a chance. Thanks for sticking around (if you have).

N and I are off to Poland tomorrow morning. We’ll be back on Friday (in time for N’s Birthday party). Little or no blogging until then. Why not amuse yourself and visit the excellent sites on the left of this page (click on Links) whilst I’m gone?

I once borrowed a book from a friend who liked her books to be neat. My brother borrowed it from me, got strawberries all over the book and we had to buy her a replacement copy.

People can be particular about how books are read. Some fold down the pages instead of using bookmarks. Some write comments in sidelines. Some (like me) underline important passages and then note down the page number on the inside of the back cover. For future reference, naturaly. Some just read, use bookmarks, and don’t mark the books in any way. Tidy readers.

I’ve always tried to be sensitive with the books I borrow. Especially if I borrow them from a good friend. The one major problem I usually have is the spine: I like to crack my spine. I like for the book to lay open, flat, on the table so that I could do other things with my hands and don’t have to hold the book. This is why old, worn books are best: their spines are usually cracked.

I used to read for hours, I don’t so much any more (well, not books anyway). Holding a book stiffly in my hands for hours tended to hurt (especially if the book was heavy). So, when it would get to that point, when the book wouldn’t stay open by itself, when the weight of the pages gets heavier and they begin to run into each other…that’s when I’d crack the spine. One swift motion: open, crack, hold. Then, I could put the book on my lap or on the tops of my knees (if I was in that semi-lying down position) and the book would stay open. Presto! I could then eat or drink and continue with my hobby at the same time.

But some people insist that the spine stays uncracked, unsoiled, polished and smooth. And they can get pretty passionate about that.

Writing end-of-year reports is mind-numbing. I’ve got nearly 90 to write. 50 words on each student, phrased positively, original and unique and individual, summarising the student’s achievements in the last year.

As hard as I try, I cannot make them all original and unique. After about 15, the same stock phrases get re-used:

• able to perform classwork with ease/enthusiasm/well
• when focused, can produce work of a high/good/fair standard
• has found the subject difficult/interesting
• works well in small groups/independently/large groups

Also, if a student got up my nose all this year and couldn’t be bothered to do half the stuff I’d ask them to do, why can’t I just say that? Why does it have to be phrased positively, when I have no positive feelings for that particular student?

I wonder how many parents read the reports and of those who do, how many understand what we’re trying to say hidden by all this positive talk.

It’s mind-numbing, really, it is.

Slight changes around here, structure-wise (is that even a phrase)? I will need a new banner when we move to Poland and Kinuk will become Kinuk in Poland. If you notice any faults, please report them and our crew onboard will do what we can to make your flight a pleasant one. Thank you for choosing to blogread us today.

New on the blogroll (but not new in my favourites): Prolific.org. I’m trawling through her archives (as I like to do) at the moment, looking at all the old Buffy/Angel news. She writes ever so fab.

More on life of a Canadian, in the UK in the 60s:

Like, for instance, English men. Charm the knickers off you with their mellow vowels and fivolous verbiage, and then, once they’d got them off, panic and run. Or else stay and whinge.
…
She had an advantage over the English women, though: she was of no class. She had no class. She was in a class of her own. She could roll around among the English men, all different kinds of them, secure in the knowledge that she was not being measured against the class yardsticks and accent-detectors they carried around in their back pockets, was not subject to the petty snobberies and resentments that lent such richness to their inner lives.

I love that phrase: accent-detectors…probably less in use now than in the 60s, the British can still identify what part of the country (sometimes which part of which city) a person comes from by their accent. I’m always amazed at this small country and its multitude of accents.