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...