Outdoorsy stuff

As you might have guessed, I was rather keen to get out and do some outdoorsy stuff when I arrived. However, as the photo from the top of the tower in Torun shows you, this is a very flat part of the world. Very flat. Walking up the stairs at work is all the uphill I'm getting at the moment.

Lack of hills also means lack of decent moving water. I left my kayak back home anyway but would have considered buying one if there had been a kayak club around.

You can hire them during the spring and summer so that's a plan for next year ...


The good news is the climbing wall. I found that in the first week and it's about a ten minute walk from home. It's quite small as they go but is absolutely fine and I'm getting there once or twice a week. I have started what might be the world's first TEFL school climbing club as many of the staff have been keen to come along and have learned about the knots and how to hold the rope for each other etc. so we can go along as a group. They're getting to know us rather well there.


Torun is surrounded by forests and little villages so I'm going to be walking to a few. On Saturday I walked to Ciechocinek. However you think it's pronounced I can assure you, you're wrong. It's a tricky one. I came across a rather large pile of carrots on the way. Don't think I'd ever seen a pile of carrots like that before (being a city lad). Nearby, four people were digging up parsnips trying to make a similarly large pile of them. I also saw a red squirrel which live here quite happily, unaware of the grey squirrels elsewhere. Came across a woodpecker too.



Here is something else I found. There are three of them, each about 600m long. I had no idea what they were and couldn't read the information signs to find out. I have now read my guidebook so if you want to have a guess, let me know what it is. The answer will be in my next blog ...













Apparently there are forests in the the north east with bison and wild boar. I might be paddling & walking out that way next year...


OK, the latest Polish lesson:

Dzien dobry (dj'yehn dohb'ryh) - good day
Prosze (proh'sheh) - please
Djiekuje (dj'yehn kuh'yeh) - thank you

Some of you have used the occasional polish word in your emails to me - very impressed. Many thanks for all the comments posted on the blog - not being a serious techie I have only just found them ... I'll keep on top of it from now on!

I had my third lesson last Sunday. Really good fun. It's tough being illiterate and totally unable to say what you're thinking. I had all sorts of fun trying to establish which bus to catch home on Saturday and whether I had to buy a ticket at the kiosk or on the bus. Finally got there but I think the lady in the kiosk was amused.

I heard a joke the other day:

What do call someone who speaks three languages? trilingual
What do call someone who speaks two languages? bilingual
What do call someone who only speaks one language? (scroll down ...)









English

It's true. but I'm trying!

That's all for now. See y'all...

Szkola Jezyka Angielskiego

The cemeteries are beautiful at the moment. I mentioned All Saints Day a week ago. Well, the graves are still being tended and flower stalls are outside each one.

Wednesday was a Bank Holiday - Independence Day. A lie in and a meal in town in the evening - lovely.

I've been meaning to tell you about the school so here it is: International House, Torun is one of about 150 International House schools around the world. Ours is owned by a Polish chap called Romek and is run by Robert. The DOS (Director of Studies) is Malcolm who moved from Britain 15 years ago, got married, and now lives here. Most of the teaching staff are Brits and we all get along well. The photos show you two of the classrooms - fairly simple rooms with a whiteboard although we do have two interactive whiteboards (linked to a computer) and these are in great demand amongst the teachers.
I have six classes. On Mondays & Wednesdays I teach the following:
2K are a bunch of six 9 - 12 year olds who I teach from 3:45 - 5:20 twice a week.
6K are twelve teenagers (13 - 16) who follow 2K from 5:35 - 7:10
The Proficiency class are mostly adults who meet from 7:25 - 9:00

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach the Advanced class from 5:35 - 7:10 and I have recently been given a one-to-one student who wants to study Legal English. Fortunately, this doesn't require much legal knowledge, and what it does require is in the course book. All the same, I've got some reading to do.

I also meet one-to-one with another student, a businessman who mainly wants conversational classes but I try to squeeze in a bit of grammar too. In these lessons I have learned quite a bit about the Polish political system and history as well as the scrap metal business and sailing on the Baltic Sea...

The main challenge with all of these lessons (apart from 2K) is the grammar. I used to think English grammar was straightforward (three tenses - past, present and future etc...) but now I've changed my mind. There are over 30 ways of expressing the tense (perfect tenses, passives etc) and my head spins. And don't get me started on the difference between the use of 'must' and 'have to'. That one kept us busy for some time on my training course.

I've finally started Polish classes - an hour every Sunday afternoon and I really look forward to them. However, since I've got to learn this I think you lot should too. The pronunciation is in brackets. There'll be a short test if I see you at Christmas. (Alex and Martyna are excused these lessons as you're both pretty good at Polish. Sorry the accents are missing!):

Tak - yes
Nie (n'yeh) - No
Czesc (chehsh'ch) - Hi/hello

A few more photos of Torun to finish (it looks great at night - not sure that these photos do it justice):