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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Torun


Last week the girlies had Fall Break. At the last minute we decided to get out of town for a few days. We thought a change in scenery would be good for all of us and time with friends is always a good thing. The daddys couldn't get off work so all 6 of us girls and Brian hit the road to Torun Monday.
 Torun is a beautiful gothic town that has been around since the 14th century. We stayed in a great little apartment owned by an extremely kind Polish woman. When we checked in she read my residence card and thought because it was a diplomatic card that I must be the U.S. Ambassador's wife! The craziest thing was that no matter how many times I attempted to explain that my husband merely worked at the Embassy and that I was not nearly diplomatic enough to be an ambassador's wife; she wouldn't believe me. After the third time through the explanation, I gave up. I just hope the if the real ambassador's wife goes to Torun that she doesn't meet the poor lady. She would be very confused!
 Torun was established by Teutonic Knights that came home from the crusades and wanted to establish an order and conquer the pagans of northern Poland in the 9th century. We had the best time exploring the ruins of their original castle.






Torun is also the birthplace of Nicolas Copernicus (You remember - Earth revolves around the Sun) We were able to visit his family home and tour a great museum honoring his work and showcasing how many of the citizens of Turn lived during his lifetime.


Most importantly, Torun in the home of Polish gingerbread! OH MY GOODNESS! It is unlike anything I have ever tasted. The drive would have been worth it just for the fresh gingerbread. We enjoyed a wonderful Gingerbread Museum tour and had a gingerbread making lesson, which to our good fortune, included a gingerbread tasting!


 Torun is located on the Vistula River and was a huge port city at one time. Many called it the Krakow of the north during the time that Krakow was the capital of Poland. The views of the river were breathtaking.

 On our second day in Torun, we hired an amazing tour guide to teach us a little more about the city. Ula was so fantastic! She was a town historian and catered her time with us to just what interested the kids. Torun has a rich history and she knew all about it! We were all a little enchanted with her stories of the early townspeople.



We also visited the most lovely flower market. I don't think I have ever seen so many flowers at one time. There was an entire street filled with one vendor after another. They were all just so beautiful.

On the final day of our little vacation we visited a solarium town about 40 km west of Torun. It was a very interesting experience. Apparently during Poland's communist days, resort towns were created to help rejuvenate and rehabilitate the Polish people. They are still mostly visited by the older generation but have begun to catch on as a great place for families. The town had a HUGE park with all kinds of things for visitors. It also housed a few rehabilitation hospitals, restaurants, playgrounds, and of course a few solariums.

Before we arrived, none of us had ever heard of a solarium and were a little shocked at what we found. The towns were strategically placed near springs that had a very high concentration of salt water.

The super salty water is pumped to the top of theses structures where it is allowed to trickle down, creating a fine mist that can be breathed in.

The structures were built from millions of stacked branches. It was impressive.

People just came and sat in front of these walls of branches, breathing salt water. It smelled like the beach. At first I could imagine it actually being that helpful, but after a few good deep breaths I was a believer. The super clean salty air was nice and the ambiance of the entire park was so peaceful.



We ended the trip climbing all over this Communist general. I'm sure he never imagined that he would be a jungle-gym instead of a cherished monument. Oh well! We had a blast and will definitely be back. The gingerbread is already almost gone!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

U.N. Day


There are so many times when I am overwhelmed by the amazing opportunities my girls have living abroad. UN Day this week at ASW just further reassured me that this lifestyle choice was right for our family. It was, by far, the most exciting day of school so far and I am so glad that I was able to be there.

The girl’s school celebrates United Nations Day. It is a time when parents spend an amazing amount of time and spare no expense in representing their home countries. This national pride offers all the students an amazing opportunity to learn about the countries their classmates come from.


The day began with a wonderful elementary assembly. The assembly started with representatives from every country parading into the theater carrying their country’s flag. It was really beautiful. Almost every student dressed in his or her countries traditional clothing. Watching them march through the doors was just breathtaking.
After the parade of flags, the students presented a representative from UNISEF with a check for almost 28,000 zloty (about $9,300), which they have been fundraising to collect. 
They went on to explain the Children’s Bill of Rights and light candles in its honor. Again, I was blown away by how meaningful this presentation was.

Parents from each country set up amazing tables where everyone can sample native dishes and learn about each countries culture. Some of the tables were so extravagant. There were so many people that it was difficult to get good pictures, but I really want to share as many as I can. I was so impressed by how much trouble everyone went to in order to have beautiful and interesting tables.

Poland


 Mexico

 Australia

 Spain

 The Philippines

 The Netherlands

 Russia

 Hungary

 Denmark

Sweden

Italy

Japan

Germany

South Korea

 France and Switzerland

Czech Republic

 Vietnam


Great Britain



China


Argentina

Venezuela

Norway

South Africa

Ireland

Israel

Finland

                                      

Portugal

India


Canada

The American table was fantastic. They used the theme: American Inventions. I actually didn’t realize how many things originated in the good ole U S of A! 

I helped by baking chocolate chip cookies, an American original. One of my awesome new Foreign Service buddies gave me an amazing recipe for making puffy chocolate chip cookies and I was so grateful. Let’s just say that my baking skills leave a good bit to be desired and I hated the thought of embarrassing my kids with ugly, burnt cookies.

Each class also has an international lunch, giving students more opportunity to learn about and try dishes that are very foreign to them. Carlie’s classmates (& their parents) did such a good job bringing such interesting foods! 




We brought Mymom’s baked macaroni and cheese and sweet tea. The sweet tea was the most popular thing of the day! I was totally shocked at the amount of students that have never had this Southern delicacy. 
Now I know what to send to every party. After lunch Mr. Benson, AKA best fourth grade teacher ever, and I even took a traditional Polish picture!

The day couldn’t have been better.