Sleeping in is always nice. Oh yes, I most definitely did sleep in this morning. I said, sleep is more important than getting up and pretending to get work done. So I did. It was nice. I ate a brunch thing by simply warming up some pierogi and eating them. It's a shame we don't have more oven proof plates, because warming up the apple and cheese pierogi would've been better had they been put in the oven, not fried. But they were still good! I headed out early in order to get some errands done, and once I was done with my errands, I still had enough time to hit up the Christmas fair before class! (Oh, you know that was planned into the time I set aside for errands.)
Ya see, I went to the Christmas fair for one thing, and only one thing: the fresh fruit dipped in chocolate stand. Honestly, I adore fruit. If you want to make me happy, just throw a bowl of fresh, prepared fruit at me, and I will be the happiest person in the world and give you my undying love. Or an entire basket. That's good too. It was quite amusing at the stand, as well, considering when the lady asked me what I wanted, I must've had the most indecisive look on my face ever. She got a good laugh out of it and declared, "It's hard to decide, isn't it?" Yes. Yes, it was. Hardest. Decision. Ever! I ended up choosing the mandarins. And goodness, was it so good! The juice just made it so awesome. <3 Next time, I plan on trying kiwi... Or pineapple... Or strawberries, ya know. We'll see how it goes! I just know that I plan on trying to go through all of them before I leave.
Went to class, happily nomming away on my delicious chocolate covered mandarins. For the first time this entire semester, one of the girl's in my class actually introduced herself to me and started talking to me. She asked me what I was studying and all of that fun stuff about being in Poland. It was really nice, too! To actually be included. See, I'm way too shy to just straight up talk with a group of people who are so close-knit. However, the first announcement in class was a huge surprise. Professor Zięba told us there is no class next week. Meaning, this was my very last lecture in this course. Go figure, someone starts talking to me on the very last day. Nonetheless, that was also very pleasant! Why? It meant I have more time next week to focus on studying for the exam, and one less lecture to worry about preparing and understanding for the exam. Class was interesting as well, because we discussed the Mazury of Poland, meaning an ethnic group in northern Poland that lived in Prussia for awhile as well, but they've always been considered Polish. Although, they have a very distinct dialect. Being well-rested, I had no problem comprehending everything today, which is always super nice. The workshop section was also very enjoyable. We talked about the Greeks that moved to Poland, and from there, we simply talked about cultural change and tried to analyze if Poland has been changing drastically or not, such as picking up English as a commonly used language (such as in the 18th century, when the Polish elite actually spoke French on a day-to-day, life basis, meaning they didn't speak Polish, or with the spread of Christianity, Latin). This was one of the more interactive classes as well! I also found out when I will be taking my final exam. It's actually going to be on Wednesday, during his office hours, which I certainly prefer! How come? It means I don't have two exams on the same day. And it's mid-day, so I should be well-rested and wide awake.
After class, I went home to eat, and I also picked up some mail from my parents, hoorah! And guess what I had for dinner? More pierogi!!! That's why I love making pierogi. You have them for a long time. Because you never make just a little bit. You make a lot. Always. This time I had a good mix of all three types we made: ruskie, apple, and cheese. Apple and cheese are more dessert like, by the way. So yes, delicious as always. Although, I realized it was a shame we didn't make the ruskie filling the night before. It would've soaked in all of the flavors far more easily over night, which is why yesterday they tasted so bland. Now they're fine! But, hoorah learning experience!
Polish language was fun, actually. I talked to my teacher about the mistakes on my test, so that helped me figure that out a bit. Although, I'm still a bit confused... I'm sure I'll pick up on it, though, sooner or later! Aside from that, we did more grammar exercises, of course, but I bet you're wondering what the more fun part of class was today. Well. We listened to Polish music. That's right. We listened to music, and we tried to listen closely and figure out what the songs were about, and then we discussed the topics of the songs. For the first song we listened to, we listened to it twice, in which the second time we had to organize the verses and choruses which we were handed. Then, the third time, we actually had to sing along! That was fun! Although, I couldn't pronounce some of the words immediately while singing and trying to stay in tune. Because I won't just mutter along... We were supposed to do some more grammar stuff, buuuut, we managed to convince our teacher to just play us some songs for the entire last hour, over which we all discussed each song. The first song, which we song with, was about how love is everywhere, no matter what. The second one was about how Poles, no matter where they travel, will always demand their Polish food. So we talked about if that is true of all countries, and if you can see that in your individual countries, by seeing typical Polish goods in stores or what not. We also talked about whether we had changed our diets while in Poland. (Go figure, in my earlier class, we had discussed the culture of food and if that had changed in Poland, such as how Polish food is typically fatty. See, it's fatty because Poland is cold most of the year. That's why Poles don't eat grass like the Italians for instance (that's a joke). So that was quite the interesting perspective, looking at diets due to climates and location! Back to Polish language, though.) Let's see... another song we listened to was about how a woman's purse is a mystery to a man. That one was hilarious. And, I know we listened to one more, which was next to impossible to understand. I felt like he was not singing cleanly, although my teacher defended that he was and it was just a change of the rhythm... I don't remember its topic, though, except for something with money... I think.
On the way home, I talked to my aunt in Gdynia on the phone, which was wonderful! I had honestly just been thinking about her yesterday, so great minds think alike, cause she was the one to call me. :) And when I got home, I ended up talking with a ton of people on Skype, via chat, so that was awesome, but more importantly, I actually Skype called an old old old childhood friend I don't really remember. We've known each other since we were babies, I know that much, but... I can't remember much else than that... Hoorah for bad memory? But it was really nice to just talk to her for a short while, answer all of her questions about my experience in Poland, the comparisons in school and lifestyle, listening to her own life and her ambitions. We've been trying to call and chat with each other like this for a few... months, at this point. So I'm really glad it finally worked out! Things just kept on coming up every time we tried to figure something out.
But alas, it is late, and I should get some sleep! (Go figure, on a night when I don't have classes the next day...) I hope everyone is doing well! <3 Lots of hugs from Poland!
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