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“Chris! Chris! Hey Chris! Do you got me?” calls a distant voice filled with fear. “Don’t worry, I got you, trust me.” Still half-clinging to the holdings he looks down to be reinsured. “Casey, I have you, you don’t have to hold on!” Nervously he pulls himself away from the wall and trusts the rope to catch him. I slowly lower Casey safely to the ground with confidence. He touches the ground with a sigh of relief.
So, we have been taking advantage of the rock-climbing wall that is quite near to us, and last Friday we learned to belay each other while climbing.

We have also been taking some Polish lessons from one of our friends. We can now count to 10, say the days of the week and a couple of phrases. We still have a lot to learn, because Polish is a confusing language. Like French, it has masculine and feminine words, which change the ending of the words. So, people in shops are constantly correcting us on what ending to use. I don’t think that we will ever be able to blend in.

It’s been cold here and walking anywhere is a challenge because of the polished ice-covered sidewalks. But, people have it down to a national sport here, racing across the ice, passing people to catch the bus or make it across the crosswalk in time before the light turns. We have been surprised by the way people abide to the crosswalk, because people tend not to follow rules here. But, when we saw some boys that j-walked get a ticket written up by the police, we soon understood. So, we have resorted to following the signs also.

We had our first Polish sleep-over this weekend at our friends house. Every 2 weeks we meet for Bible study at this house, which is in a small village about 20 minutes away from Inowroclaw. We had an early morning because we had to walk 3 km to catch a bus that took us to Bydgoszcz to attend the baptism of one of our brothers in a Pentecostal church. (everyone refers to fellow Christians as brothers and sisters) The church is bigger then the one we attend with about a congregation of 200. We could sing along with the songs easily because they sing English songs that have been translated into Polish. But, the sermon on the other hand is a little more difficult. After the service we were invited to another pastors house, who is the pastor of a small Pentecostal church in Inowroclaw but lives in Bydgoszcz for some bigos, his wife is claimed to make the best. (polish traditional dish of cabbage and sausage) But this time we did not feel sick, and we ate helping after helping. I am determined to learn how to make this dish, so that all of you can have a sample of Polish cuisine. Then came out the 3 plates of dessert, poppyseed cakes, pineapple cakes and of course always served with lots of tea. (we have never drank so much tea in our lives). We were also able to help their children study for upcoming English tests. This weekend we were well-fed and shown an abundance of Polish hospitality.

Chris

Oh yeah, back home when we inquiring about this teaching job in Poland, we asked about the dress code, and we were told that teachers had to dress smart. So, I brought some skirts, and nice shirts along and Casey brought his suit and a couple dress shirts. But, when we were in Chicago he realized that he only had one tie, so we made a trip to a second-hand store and purchased some more ties. But, since we have been here, the dress code is more relaxed then we thought, so Casey ties haven’t made any appearances until this week. There is a questions in our teaching method that asks “Is it the fashion today to match your tie with your socks?”, so there were many students asking him this question when he showed up to teach.