We leave Krakow in the morning. I finished processing the grades this afternoon and the program was wildly sucessful. Every student showed an increased proficiency in every domain of English. Some people skyrocketed, some limped, but all progressed. It's a good feeling.

We were given a warm send off tonight. We had dinner at Pod Wawelen "At the foot of Wawel" castle. Then we came back to the college for a "haustus" as we call 'em in Jesuit circles (a haustus is a house party). Tomorrow morning we will head off to the last leg of our journey in Dublin. Monday we will be home.

Last Day of Class

Today our program finishes. I give the written exam in 30 minutes and then give oral exams for the rest of the day. I can honestly say that I am ready for it to be over. I'm one tired puppy. When the scores are all in and I can see the student's improvement I will probably get another boost of energy...then we are off to Dublin for a couple days of pure non-stop fun.

More about our Hike

On Sunday the primary aim was to climb Mt. Giewont (pronounced Gyeh-vont). It has the nickname "The Sleeping Knight" because, if you look at the video in a post below or pictures in this post you will see, the range looks like a person lying down. Giewont lies in the area of the Polish Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy). In Polish folklore it is associated with a legend about sleeping knights, who will awake when Poland is in danger. The profile of the mountains is similar to a lying knight, wherein the Long Giewont is the knight's torso, and the Great Giewont is the knight's face as viewed from the side (the three 'peaks' being the chin, the nose, and the eyebrow). The cross where we hiked is on the "nose" of the knights "head". The image of Giewont as viewed from the south makes the profile easy to discern. The first portion of the hike consisted of climbing to the top of Mt. Kasprowy Wierch (6,519 feet) where we took a little break and had some hot chocolate and snacks in the little ski resort restaurant at the top. The next portion of the hike was along the peaks of a few small mountains, circling our way towards Mt. Giewont--heading towards the cross. We ascended on our third mountain peak to our highest elevation of 6829 feet (I'm not positive, but I think it was Kopa Kondracka). We then had to climb most of the way down to the valley and then reascend Mt. Giewont (Mr. Pruett and I were dubious of our ability/desire to climb another mountain, but the cross beckoned me and I beckoned Mr. Pruett so we both climbed to the top). Mt. Giewont was, without doubt, the most difficult portion of the climb, but my favorite because there were chains and you had to pull yourself up, giving my legs a much needed break. The guys have taken to calling me "Old Man Reedy" and I earned that moniker this weekend. I've got the knees of an 80 year old! Here is a pic of Old Man Reedy with my trusty walking staff that weighed probably 50 pounds. (I carried it only for the picture)

The trip down was, as always, the hardest part. Our legs were tired and our energy spent so the trip down was brutal. People often make the mistake of thinking this part is easy because you are using gravity to your advantage. Not so.

We separated into two groups during the hike, according to pace. I was in the slower group and finished the hike officially last...even though I was the most experienced of all the American hikers :(

We then hiked back to Zakopane and our house where food and showers awaited.

The Mountaineers

Hiking in Zakopane

Beautiful, Brutal, and Fun

We spent the past few days in Zakopane, hiking in the Tatra Mountains. We stayed at the Jesuit Retreat House (which was a beautiful building with a breathtaking view of the mountians). When we got there the tallest mountains were obscured by clouds. The guys asked me if we were climbing the ones we could see, I said "no, but do you see the HUGE thing going up into the clouds? I think we are climbing that one." Sure enough, yesterday we climbed that very mountain and the "hike" lasted over 11 hours. The total horizontal distance was between 8 and 9 miles but that included 5 mountain peaks, two of which were over 6000 feet. We had to use chains at times to get up the steepest slopes. It was beautiful, brutal, and fun. I will post again about this trip, with more pictures, but I will just state for now that we all finished the hike healthy, happy, and not wanting to do it again for a long time.

Mountains and Reunion

Today is the big day! The guys from the high school group come back to Krakow and we all head to the mountains for our last few days in Poland. At the end of next week we head to Dublin for our final hurrah. I am looking forward to having all the guys together again, it's a good dynamic.

Pierogi Night at Grandma Raspberry's

Last night we went for a dinner of pierogi (Polish dumplings) at a restaurant that translates as "Grandma Raspberry's" They have very good pierogi and decent prices. It is an interesting little place that is decorated in the ,,retro style'' as the sign outside says. By ,,retro'' they mean that the place looks like the cellar of a nice old Polish woman.

Pierogi at Grandma Raspberry's

It has been raining a little lately. Mr. Reedy began to get a little pent up. He said that he felt like a caged squirrel. You make the decision.

On Wednesdays we have a game in the late morning just before Mass (to break the routine). As I mentioned in earlier posts, we had a scavenger hunt the first week and we played Taboo last week. The same team won both times (it was Mr. Pruett's team and it was the most basic class) This week I stepped it up a notch and decided to give Cranium a shot.

I had five categories: Pictionary, Eyes Closed Pictionary, Impersonations, Charades, and Sculpture.

They were a surprisingly competative group and the event got a little heated at some points (Jesuits? Competitive?).


There were some accusations (somewhat well founded) that there were some.....um....let's say "violation of rules." In the end Mr. Pruett's class and Patrick's class tied. The exact circumstances of the tie are too much for words but suffice it to say that Mr. Pruett's class bowed graciously out of the competition and gave the prize to Patrick's class. So his class gets to go out for pizza and beer tonight. We finished just in time to go to Mass....and we needed it!

Cool World Championships Update

After Devin and Patrick invented Cup Pool, Michael found out that he has a distict knack for it. He is the reigning Cool Champion.

Rex-Ray

So here you have a picture of the Rex's X-Ray. No, he doesn't actually have a lightning bolt in his hand, I added a little graphic to point to the fracture. It is harder to take a picture of an X-ray than I thought it would be. They are some very reflective things so you can see me and the room behind me if you look very closely.

Today I went back to the hospital and talked with a different doctor. He said that everything looked good and that Rex should come back Wed or Thurs, have another Rex-Ray, and, if all looks good, get a smaller and lighter cast.

Rex has handled the whole issue with courage and a good sense of humor. I'm proud of him.

The Distinguished Gentlemen's Club

In addition to the exploration of pipes and coco puffs the guys have made a serious foray into the world of billiards...adding to their stature as men of the "Distinguished Gentlemen's Club" as some of them have started calling themselves (there are plans to add tweed coats and long, heated debates on politics). I was sitting in our recreation room when I saw Patrick come downstairs from the billiards room, get some plastic cups, and run back up the stairs. I, soon thereafter, heard a loud noise and a whisper of not-so-gentlemanly snickering. Upon ascending the stairs I saw the sight that you will see in the video remix below. They had tired of traditional billiards and were inventing their own game.

The object of the game was to hit a ball, under a cup, and have it travel becupped to the other end and knock one of the opponent's ball/cups over spilling his cup without spilling your own. There were many other rules which I never understood, but that's the gist of the game.

A Game of Cool, Anyone?

A Man and his Pipe.....

...and a Coco Puff. Patrick found a use for the pipe of which he has grown so fond. This morning he found that he could levitate Coco Puffs with it. I tell you, these are a self-actualized and self-entertaining bunch of guys. It's too bad you can't hear it well, but his little quip at the end is "Coco Puffs."

Coco Puff Levitation

Going out to the High School Program

So today I took the guys here in Krakow out to see the place where the High School Program is and to play a little American Football with the guys out there. (The first picture below is of the teaching schedule where you can see Christian, John, and Rex) We loaded up and drove out to the school around noon. The guys were just getting out of Mass and met up with us. I wandered off with the directors of the other 3 English programs in Krakow to finalize our schedules. The gang got their game underway.

While I was having lunch in the Haunted House (it is one of the Jesuit Communities here in Krakow, but it is in an old Soviet Mental hospital that is, without a doubt, haunted...or should I say, if ghosts exist, they indubitably live there) I got a call from Rex saying that he had broken his pinky finger and needed to go to the hospital. One of the high school directors took him to the hospital in Krakow and I met him there. The finger did look broken but I was hoping for a dislocation instead. We got transferred a couple once before we found the right place (there are way too many stories to tell on the blog, they will be much better in person) and got his X-ray which showed that there was clearly a clean break. He got his temporary cast and we headed back to the high school.

Once back the guys had a little pizza party and celebrated their victory over the Polish locals in American Football, for which they were awarded a beautiful American Football Trophy.

'Twas quite a day.

High School Program

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Today we went to the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow. There have been active mines here since the 14th century. The salt not only provided the majority of the wealth for the Polish people for many years but it also provided an artistic outlet. When they were done extracting the salt from an area, they would carve statues and even chapels in the remaining vaults. Most of the art work was completed in the 18-19th centuries. It is really spectacular at times. Sometimes it was a little kitsch, but mostly it was quite interesting. The most interesting part for me was that our tour guide sounded like he belonged in a castle in Transylvania. I called him Pawel Drakula. He certainly had the accent and deep voice all he needs is a black suit and red cape to complete the whole creepy picture...especially in a cave!! I feared that one of us was going to get eaten by him, but we all managed to make it out...unbitten.

As you can see from the pics, it is quite dark down there, so many of them didn't turn out. I have posted the best of the lot. As you can also see some of the guys decided to buy pipes today and were tickled to death by walking around puffing air through them and talking in fake British accents while pointing at stuff and saying "intellectual" things. It was quite entertaining.

Salt Mines

Some more pictures from the trip

In the post below I have some pics where the real learning happens--the 1 on 1 conversations. This where where fluency increases and intercultural exchange occurs. It's the best!!

In the post immediately below there are some pics from the trip so far that I think are kinda nice but didn't really fit in anywhere. If you watch, you might see your guy pop in every once in a while.

There is one pic of a WWII memorial plaque. If you look closely at the wall under the plaque you can see bullet holes. There were a bunch of good guys (paratroopers) holed up in this church with the priests. The Nazis were after 'em. Some history: back in the 1940s, there was an infamous Nazi in Prague named Reinhard Heydrich. Enter the good guys--the British trained a handful of Czech soldiers to assassinate this guy. When the training was complete, they dropped the soldiers by parachuting them in the middle of Bohemia. They succeeded in killing Heydrich.

They were, of course, pursued. They took refuge in this church, the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They holed up here, until a Czech informer (the Czech counterpart to Benedict Arnold) told the Nazis where the paratroopers were, and after a siege, two of them died, and the rest committed suicide rather than die in the hands of the Nazis. Some of the priests were killed as well, but the story is less clear about them.

Some Artsy Pictures

Conversations with Scholastics

The Krakow Team at Work

As you see, I've posted some pics of the guys at work. Patrick is not among them because his class was on a "field trip" to the botanical gardens this morning. I will take some pics of his class some time soon.

I think they were a little happier today because I went to the grocery store and bought some cereal (Polish coco-puffs, and granola type stuff) and got some milk for breakfast. The guys are a little tired of eating ham sandwiches, pickles, and fish for breakfast...I can't imagine why....but a big bowl of cereal does an American good!

The Guys at Work

Taboo and Food

Our game of Taboo yesterday was a big hit. It was exciting and the students got into it. Of course, the prize for the winning students was an evening in the Market Square with Pivo (beer) so it's no wonder they were excited. Mr. Pruett's class won this week, making them the winners two weeks running. While they are playing the game they chant "Pi-vo, pi-vo, pi-vo!" I guess that motivation works because they are the most basic class we have but they keep winning!

I took our guys out last night for dinner. John, Rex, and Christian came in from English Summer Camp and we all went out for naleshniki. They were good, but the guys were still hungry so we went out for burgers at an American style restaurant. Then we headed over to a little bakery where they loaded up on cheap and great Polish baked goods.

Last night when Artur, the director of the high school program, was picking the guys up to take 'em back to their location he said, "If someone were to tell me that there were better young men in all of Houston, I wouldn't believe them. Your guys are teaching better than some of the adults and are very responsible. They work hard when they work and they play hard when they play." I feel exactly the same way about all seven of our guys. It is an honor for me to be travelling and working with them.

I have to buy more batteries for my camera. Then I can post some more pics!!

Teaching away

We are just teaching away here in Krakow. The weather has been kinda rainy, but that is a relief from the unusual heat we have been having. Some days soaring into the mid 80's. Our schedule has been the same-ol' same-ol' but the week is broken today by an activity in the morning. We will play a big round of Taboo. I will post some pics of that later on. My camera needs batteries so I have been a little shutter shy here lately.

Rex, John, and Christian are coming in to meet us tonight for dinner. I think we are going to have some boef stroganov naleshniki (which are crepes filled with beef stroganoff). Michael and I found this place this past week while we were shopping for toiletries. There's not a lot of beef in the Polish diet so I have to hunt down cow serving food establishments to keep my Texans happy.

Pizza at the Cyclop

On a lighter note, we went out last night for pizza at what appears to be a favorite of the guys--Cyclop Pizza. It is famous for its pizza with one egg in the middle. Entertaining, but probably not very tasty. We then had some Lody (icecream) at a stand off the Market Square.

Pizza Dinner

Auschwitz

We went to Auschwitz yesterday. It was really an experience for which words are inadequate but I will try. We saw two of the largest concentration/extermination camps of the holocaust. We saw thousands of shoes, combs, toothbrushes, and other personal items that had been confiscated from the prisoners. We saw lots of children's things. We saw a whole room full of hair that had been shaved from the women and then used in textiles for the German army. We saw where they lived and died. Where they were selected and separated. Where their wasted bodies, finally free of torture, were cremated by the millions. We couldn't take pictures inside the buildings so all I have are some pics from outside.

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing St. Maximillian Kolbe's cell where he died. If you don't know the story, St. Maximilian Kolbe was a priest and prisoner in Auschwitz. In July 1941 a man from Fr. Kolbe's barracks vanished. According to the Nazi policy of retaliation, the deputy camp commander picked 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death in Block 13 (notorious for torture), in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting his family, and Fr. Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

During the time in the cell he led the men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Fr. Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid.

His story gave my mind something to grasp at in the sea of questions that flooded me. How could people have done this? Whe didn't we do something? Why couldn't they fight back? How could someone torture another person, especially an innocent or a child? St. Kolbe gave me a little sip of God in a place that screams of His absence.

Auschwitz

Candid Shots

The weekend is almost here!

The weekend is almost here and I think everyone is ready for it. It has been a long but great week. Tonight the teachers from the Krakow program go out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Tomorrow the guys from the high school program come to town and we all go for a day in Auschwitz and then some time out on the town tomorrow night. Sunday we all rest up for another exciting week in Europe!

This is the layout of the school where Rex, John, and Christian are teaching. Building number 7 is the chapel. The guys are living in one of the dorms over by number 4. 3 is a rec facility with a pool and climbing wall and such. It is a very nice place. If we could have this facility in the middle of Krakow it would be perfect!!

Teaching and stuff

Our adventure continues. Christian, John, and Rex have settled into their program. They are teaching their own classes and, from all reports, doing quite well. They describe it as an environment like "summer camp" and I have to agree. They have camp fires some evenings, outings to local sites, dances, and some classes in English in there somewhere. I think they are having a good time. I have not been able to get any pics of them in action yet, but I will get some up here when I can.

I went and picked them up last night and brought them in to town so they could have dinner with Michael, Devin, Matthew and Patrick. We went to a restaurant called "Sioux" which the Poles insisted was pronounced phonetically as it is spelt. It is a steakhouse that is "western" in style. It was a lot like being in a Texas style restaurant at home, except for the gothic brick doorways. Everyone but me ordered the ribs. I got a steak in a cayenne cream sauce. Everyone was happy. We then went for dessert at what has quickly become our favorite spot in Krakow--a chocolate restaurant. We had various forms of chocolate. Then the Krakow guys had some time to wander around the Market Square while I took the other guys back to their location outside of town so that they could make the end of the dance (where I am sure they were the stars). This weekend we are all getting together and going to Auschwitz. It should be a good trip.

All of the guys are doing extreamly well. The students and scholastics all rave about how nice they are, how helpful, and how mature. I think everyone is having a great experience. The monotony of the schedule is starting to show, but I think I can be creative and change things up a bit to break it.

Our Tour of Krakow

Yesterday was our first day off after having taught for a few days. Everyone was a little tired so a day off sounded nice. The only thing on the schedule was a little tour of Krakow. We met our tour guide, Margaret, at 9am to start our tour. We walked from the University to the Theatre, along the old Wall of the city, to the battlements in the North. We then walked down the Royal Road to the city square. We stopped in the square and had what we unanimously described as "the best hot chocolate ever." We went up into the Main Square tower, attached to St. Mary's Church where we had great views of the city. Patrick had been bad, so we chained him to the Church until he reformed his ways. :)

From the Main Square (which is the largest in Europe) we had some kebabs and then headed out to Wawel Castle. We had a great tour of the Cathedral and Castle but couldn't take any pictures inside so you won't see that. From the Castle we walked to the old Jewish Quarter of Krakow where 60,000 Jews used to live and where 200 now reside. Next weekend we will go see where the rest of them met their cruel end.

The whole tour took 7 hours and sometimes we felt like we were on a death march. Margaret was very nice and unbelievably knowledgeable but we were overly tired at the end of the tour. I almost led a mutiny in the last hour, but managed to pull through. They guys were real troopers and I was impressed with them all over again. We had some pizza for dinner at The Cyclops (where they have a pizza with an egg in the middle for an "eye") and then headed back to the chocolate place for dessert. We ended up back at the University where Christian, Rex, and John were waiting. It was great to see them again 'cause we kinda miss 'em. The high school program starts tomorrow so I will soon be posting some pics from out there. Badum arrives today and then the Fellowship of the Ring will be complete.

Tour of Krakow

First Day of Classes

Yesterday was our first day of classes. It all went very well. I am very excited about the program because everyone has great attitudes. The students all want to learn and the teachers all want to teach! The atmosphere of the whole scholasticate is positive and fun. Last night one of the students came into the computer room and said, "We are in the rec room and we want Americans to talk to. Come. Come." And led a bunch of us to the rec room to talk about a little bit of everything. They also taught the guys (Patrick, Rex, and Christian) some Polish. They especially like having the TA's around because they are a fun bunch of guys and not as intimidating as the teachers can be. The TA program is a huge sucess because the guys are doing a GREAT JOB.

Today the guys in the high school program should move out to their site. They will have an orientation this weekend and then start teaching on Monday. They are champing at the bit to get to work because without travel it can get boring without something to do. I know that everyone in my program will miss 'em because we have been together for 11 days now and have only gotten closer to each other each day. We have an amazing team and I am honored to be able to work with these guys. Now we just need to complete the team with Michael!!

I will post more pictures next week when the high school program is under way.

Dublin and Prague Pictures

Our Classes

Krakow

We arrived in Krakow last night and moved into our new home for a month. We start work today so pray for us!

Dublin, Prague, Vienna (part eine)

This is the Hundterwasser Village in Vienna. It was built to combat the lack of organic natural lines, curves and colors in modern architecture. It looks like somewhere you could find gypsies or hobbits. I liked it but I think the guys were underwhelmed. I don't think we have any future architects in the group. They were also a little distracted by their grumbling stomachs, so we stopped for some sausages to tide us over until we could dine at the Danube Tower.

This is the Danube Tower where we ate our dinner while slowly rotating to view the whole city at sunset. We also tormented our waitress to the point where she might have spit in our food.

The best order: "two hot sandwiches and a big glass of cold milk." This was a lot of food and the waitress laughed at the milk.

I have at least one bottomless pit with us. In fact, that has become Rex's official trip name, but they are all a hungry bunch of guys. It is interesting trying to keep them fed.