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Today is my last day in Poland :(

I've had to say goodbye to my Year 4 class, and although we were all sad, I've promised that I will be back sometime in the next couple of years. One boy's mum, who is an artist, even gave me a painting of Cracow. Beautiful!

I feel that I've made some great friends here in Cracow, and will definitely look forward to catching up with them again soon.

Although I've enjoyed it here and met some great people, it will be good to come home to Australia.

It's getting a little cold in Poland for my liking. We've only had one little bit of snow fall (it melted immediately) but the temperature is often just above or just below zero. This means wearing a scarf, gloves and a thick jacket everywhere, but especially on yard duty!

I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog of my trip to Poland. I've certainly enjoyed writing it.

See you back in Australia! :)

Mr Walters

Polish Cuisine

It's almost time for me to come back home to Australia. But I did promise that I would blog about the great food in Poland, since there are so many Master Chefs among you!

Polish cooking has traditions that come from many national groups that have lived in Poland for many hundreds of years. These include Jewish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Russian and German people, just to name a few.

Polish people are known for their excellent smoked meat, especially sausage (called kiełbasa, which is pronounced "kew-bah-sah"). Unlike Australians who eat lots of beef, in Poland people eat lots of pork, but they do also eat other meats too.

It's hard for me to choose which Polish meals are my favourite, and not many of them are easy to prepare, so I've had a good hard think about which recipes to include in this blog.


Fried Breaded Pork Chops

What you'll need:
Pork chops
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
Plain flour
Bread crumbs
Cooking oil
Wooden board
Tenderiser
Paper towels

1. Take pork chops, get a grown-up to slice them in two thin halves (less than a centimetre).

2. Now for some fun ... next you need to beat them on a board:

• Place a wooden board on the corner of the table, on a towel. 
• Put a slice of pork on the board and gently hammer it. 
• It's to tenderize rather than to make noise :)

3. On a plate, break two eggs and beat them lightly with a fork, with salt and pepper.4. Prepare a second plate with flour.

4. Prepare a third plate with bread crumbs.

5. Cover the pork in the flour, then in the egg, then in the bread crumbs.

6. Get a grown-up to put it on a hot pan with oil (stand back in case of splattering oil!).

7. Your grown-up should fry it slowly until it's very well done and nicely brown, without turning a lot (only flip it once).

8. Leave it to dry on a paper towel to drain. Enjoy! It should be good to eat the next day too.

You can do the same thing with chicken breasts (but slice it to the same thickness, less than a centimetre).


Polish Sausage Submarine Sandwich

What you'll need:
Polish sausage (Kielbasa)
Sauerkraut, drained
Submarine rolls
Mustard (yellow or brown)
Horseradish (optional)
Cheese (optional)

1. Slice the sausage into rounds, on the diagonal (so as to get more surface area).

2. Evenly lay out the sausage slices over the bottom half of the sub rolls.

3. Top with sauerkraut (be brave!).
Note: you can also add cheese at this point.


4. Squirt on some mustard.

5. If you are very brave, smear the top half of the bun with horseradish.

6. Cover the sandwich with the top bun; wrap it in foil, and ask a grownup to help you set up the oven to bake at 180 for about 15 minutes. Enjoy.

Poles enjoy a lot of good food, but because it is generally so complicated to make, I recommend going to a good Polish deli or bakery. There's a great Polish deli in Laverton. If you want nothing but great polish sweets and cakes, check out this Polish bakery in St Kilda.

Polish Independence Day

Today is a national holiday in Poland, because it is Poland's Independence Day. The 11th November has been celebrated each year since 1918, almost a hundred years ago now. It is the anniversary of Poland's independence after having been under the control of Russia, Prussia and Austria for 123 years.

Imagine if some other country was in charge of Australia, and how happy everyone would be if that other country was no longer in charge. In Australia we are lucky that we are in charge of ourselves. Other countries have not been so lucky.

So Poles are very proud on this day. Yesterday, on Thursday, I noticed the maintenance man putting out the Polish flag so that it fluttered in the breeze from one of the school's balconies.



Later in the day, as I walked home from school, I noticed that all the buildings were beginning to sprout flags and pennants.

Today, on Independence Day, there are open air concerts, singing in the streets and other events. Many people have red and white ribbons on their coats (red and white are the colours of Poland's national flag).



You will also note the white eagle with a crown on some of the banners. This is another symbol of poland. It is Poland's coat of arms dating back to 1025 when Bolesław Chrobry was crowned the first King of Poland.



Compare the Polish coat of arms with that of Australia. What are the similarities? What are the differences?



What other countries have used native animals and plants as their national symbols? How do countries choose their symbols? Something to think about!

Telling the time Cracovian style

As with many European cities, at the centre of Kraków is the 'Old Town', and at the centre of the Old Town is the Old Town Square (or 'Rynek' in Polish).


This is a very old part of the town that looks mediaeval, with cobblestones paving the street and buildings made from blocks of stone, looking like castles. There are also the tall towers and spires of churches. Walking through Kraków, you feel as though you have gone back in time. There are even horse carriages waiting in the street to take you for a ride wherever you would like to go.


I walk to school through the Old Town Square every morning and I need to be there by 8:15. I always know if I will be on time because of a certain event that happens every hour in the square.

The Hejnał (pronounced 'Hey-now') is a tune that is played by a trumpeter each hour from the highest tower of St. Mary's Church, which is on a corner of the square.


This tune dates from the 12th century, and it's name 'Hejnał' means 'dawn' or 'early morning' in Hungarian. Back in those days, Poland had a Hungarian king.

Bugle calls were once used to announce the opening and closing of city gates in the morning and in the evening. They were also used to warn of fires and other dangers in historical times, such as an attack on the city.

The strange thing about the Hejnał is that the tune stops unexpectedly. There is a legend that during one of the Mongol invasions of Poland, enemy warriors approached the city. A guard on St. Mary's church tower sounded the alarm by playing the Hejnał, and the city gates were closed before the enemy soldiers could take the city by surprise. The bugler, however, was shot by an arrow and did not complete the tune. According to the legend, that is why it now ends abruptly before the end.

This tune is played at 8 o'clock in the morning (as it is on every other hour), and if I've reached the town square by the time the Hejnał is played, I know that I will be at school on time.

Location:Ul. Zamenhofa, Cracow

Castle in the Mountains

Today I walked a trail into the Pieniny Mountains. In the summer it's usually crowded with people, but because it is not holidays for most people, and it is starting to get cold, the trails were quite empty of people.

One of the main reasons I came to the Pieniny mountains was to take another look at the old crumbling castle hidden away in the forest.



The ruins are so old that it's hard to tell where the rocks of the mountain end and the castle begins.


It's actually two castles, one right above the other (though, to be honest, it looks just like one big ruin to me). One is called Pieniny Castle and the other, which is above it, is called Castle Mountain (Góra Zamkowa).

The castle has been around since the 13th Century, which means it is over 700 years old! Princess Kinga lived there and hid from the Mongols when they attacked the countryside (in 1287). Princess Kinga had the castle built for her in the middle of the tall Pieniny mountains so that it would be hard for enemies to attack it. Many years later (in the 15th Century), the castle was abandoned. I guess the Mongols must have gone away by then and members of the royal family were tired of walking up and down the mountain whenever they wanted to go shopping (just joking).

At the moment, the main problem is to stop the castle from crumbling away completely. I just hope that when workmen fix things up that the castle doesn't lose it's olden-day looks.

The walk up the mountain and through the forest was very beautiful. Trees are losing their leaves, which are changing colour before the winter.



There are many trails to walk here, and I have walked most of them, but although they are very pretty, they are not interesting to write about, except for perhaps the most photographed tree in Poland, which is hanging off the edge of the peak called Sokolica (say "Saw-kaw-lee-tsah")...



...and another peak called "Three Crowns" or Trzy Korony in polish (do you really want to know how that's pronounced? Feeling adventurous? OK, say "T-shih Ko-ro-nih").


Beneath all these peaks, way, way down below, is a big river that flows through the mountains. You can raft down this river if you like. It's generally quite gentle, not at all like white-water rafting. And a highland man looks after you the whole way, using a pole to control the raft.



These highland men generally wear a special black hat and other traditional clothes that set them apart from other Polish people. Highlanders even speak Polish slightly differently (not that I can tell the difference!). The highlanders of southern Poland are called the Górale (Goo-rah-leh).


Tomorrow, I head back to Kraków, ready for school to start on Monday morning.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ul. Główna, Gmina Szczawnica, Poland

All Saints' Day

We all know about Halloween on the 31st of October. Well, in Poland, people celebrate All Saints' Day on the very day after Halloween, the 1st of November.

So, today being October 1st, it is a national holiday in Poland.

All Saints’ Day is a Catholic festival that has been celebrated in Poland for many hundreds of years. It is a day when people all over Poland visit the graves of loved ones and to place candles and flowers there.

These candles are special because they can burn for many hours, sometimes for days. Cemeteries are lit by many hundreds of these candles and at night the cemeteries can often be seen glowing from long distances.

I visited the cemetery in the town where I am staying and it was beautifully lit up in the evening with thousands of candles and the sound of singing coming from the chapel.



There were also shops and lots of road-side stalls where people could buy special flowers (chrysanthemums) and also the candles, which are held in red or clear glass containers.



Many Polish people travel long distances to visit family graves.

The Polish name for All Saints’ Day is Wszystkich Świętych ("f-shist-kih sh-fyen-tih").

Location:ul. Główna, Gmina Szczawnica, Poland

W Górach - In the Mountains

Hi, Everyone.

Since it's holidays, I'm in the mountains for a week, or as the Poles say "w górach" (pronounced "fgoo-rah").

These mountains are called the Pieniny ("pye-nee-nih") which are on the border of Poland and the next country, Slovakia. It is possible to have one foot in Poland and the other one in Slovakia if you stand in the right place!






The map on the right shows where my school is (in Kraków up the top) and the little spa town where I am now, Szczawnica, down below (pronounced "Sh-chaf-nee-tsah"; I'm sorry for all these hard words - that's Poland!).

There is a big river running past the town, and tall mountains all around that you can climb. The white line on the map shows you where Poland shares a border with the country of Slovakia.

Here is a typical view of the countryside. It is quite beautiful.



You can take a chair lift ride up to the first mountain top if you don't feel like walking, but after that you have to use your feet.



I hear that there is a hidden castle in the mountains.

I intend to find it!

Location:ul. Jana Wiktora, Gmina Szczawnica, Poland

Witches, Ghosts and Goblins

Friday 28th October was the last day before the mid-term holiday. Other schools in Poland don't get a holiday, but because this is a British school, its students get holidays just as if they were in Britain, lucky things!

But apart from being the last day before holidays, it was also a special day because of the Halloween party!

Everyone had a chance to dress up as their favorite scary character.


We had witches, skeletons, vampires and even mummies.























As some of you may remember, I've got a thing about making sure that everyone uses a good pencil grip.

Well, Axel made a point about this!
Take a look at his hand.
What do you think of his pencil grip?


(Don't worry, none of his wounds was real. The pencil - which was stuck onto his hand with special glue - fell off his hand by lunchtime, so his pencil grip returned to normal in no time.)

During assembly, our class also read the poems we had been working on during the week. Here's an example of an 'acrostic' poem we came up with:
Eerie Evening
Crying, weeping, scared,
Running through a graveyard,
Every creepy sound,
Everywhere spiders, bats and zombies,
Pumpkins glowing, scary faces seen,
Yell ... "Happy Halloween!"

It's called an acrostic poem because you come up with a word that's related to the subject of your poem and write it downwards (in this example, we used the word 'creepy'). Then you use each letter of the word to start each line of the poem, writing across. It's great fun. It helps if the class has already come up with a word bank of descriptive words that are written on the board to give you ideas for the poem.

After playing all sorts of games like trying to make a picture of a pumpkin with your eyes closed (kind of like 'Pin the tail on the Donkey') ...


... and breaking up into teams to try to make the best mummy out of toilet paper ...


... We finished off with a feast of Halloween goodies!

Location:ul. Smolensk 25, 31-108 Kraków, Poland

First day of school

I enjoyed my first day at the British International School of Cracow. There are only eight children in my class: seven boys and one girl.

Everyone at school is a bit tired because they have been going for 9 weeks, but mid-term break is just next week. My class is a grade 4 class of children from all around Europe. Most of them can speak English very well. All classes are in English.



This week everyone is getting ready for a big Halloween party on Friday, the last day before the week-long holiday. We are making all kinds of decorations for the classroom, including skeletons, pumpkins, ghosts and bats.


We've also been writing scary poems in English and our spelling words have all been to do with Halloween, such as 'pumpkin' and 'ghosts'.

Because the school is in the middle of the city, the students have to walk to the playground. They do this as a group with the 'yard duty' teachers. We also have a 'lollipop man' with us to make sure that crossing roads is safe. He even wears a special suit with 'Stop' written on it so that cars can see him easily.



I must admit that it does look funny, but the most important thing is that the children are safe when they cross the very busy streets of Cracow.

Location:ul. Smolensk 25, 31-108 Kraków, Poland

First Day in Cracow

Hello everyone!
I arrived in Cracow, Poland after traveling for 29 hours by plane. I was very tired when I got here on Sunday 23rd of October.

Cracow is a beautiful city with many cathedrals and old buildings, including a castle where kings used to live called Wawel (pronounced "Vavel"). This castle is on a hill, overlooking the Vistula river.


There is a legend that a dragon called "Smok" once lived in a cave under Wawel Hill before the castle was built there. The story goes that each day the evil dragon would scare everybody, burn houses with his fiery breath and eat their farm animals for his food. King Krakus wanted to stop the dragon, but his bravest knights weren't able to do anything against the dragon. The King ended up promising his beautiful daughter's hand in marriage to anybody who could defeat the dragon. No one could do it. But one day, a poor cobbler's apprentice had a go. He stuffed the body of a sheep with sulphur and put it outside the dragon's cave. The dragon ate it and soon became incredibly thirsty. No amount of water could stop his stomach ache, and after swelling up from drinking half of the Vistula river, he exploded. The apprentice married the King's daughter as promised and they lived happily ever after.

This, of course, is just a story, but there is a statue of this legendary dragon under the castle.


So, Cracow is very old. It has been a city for 1,400 years but people have settled here for even longer than that, since the Stone Age.

In my next post, I'll tell you a bit about the school I am working at.

Location:Ul. Zamenhofa, Cracow

Preparations

Hi Everybody.

I hope you have been enjoying your holidays! I am preparing to visit Poland, a foreign country in Europe. I will be teaching some English-speaking Year 4 students in the city of Cracow for five weeks. (Cracow is spelled "Kraków" in Poland, and pronounced "Crack-oof").




In this blog I will be writing about this exciting trip to a foreign country, where most people don't speak English, and really old buildings such as castles are everywhere (yes, the kind that knights on horses used to ride out of).




I welcome you to read and share in my experiences, and leave comments and questions on this blog. I will definitely answer you!

I will be leaving Melbourne on an airplane on the 22nd of October, so I am madly packing and getting ready. There is a lot to prepare, so wish me luck!

See you in Poland.

Location:Jamieson Way,Point Cook,Australia