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The International 4-H Youth Exchange (IFYE) program in the United States is conducted by CD International Program Services, L.L.C., in support of 4-H programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture- Extension Service and the U.S. IFYE Alumni Association. |
| Vol. 7 No. 5 |
October 2001
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Greetings from Poland! As the sun rises at 4:13 a.m., the roosters dance and sing outside the house. The rest of the village continues to dream peacefully until 8 a.m. Then we begin the day. My family consists of Ewa (18), Kristofza (17), Yasia (40), Grandma and Grandpa. All the men sleep in the same bed as do the women. I sleep on something comparable to a couch. It's quite comfortable! Yasia, my host mother and the main 4-H leader in Wawrzeqczyce, cleans the home and plans 4-H events. At night she helps me with my Polish. I am learning slowly but surely. Grandma prepares all our meals while Grandpa feeds the hens and piddles around outside. He also is in charge of making the daily trip to the market. Kris, my host brother, is currently constructing a stone walkway in the garden and Ewa, my host sister, has been showing me around the village. We walk everywhere and sometimes take turns on the bike. Only the families with money can afford more than one bike. My favorite part of this family is their "togetherness." They don't have much materially, but they are the most emotionally rich, heart-warming people I have ever met. My host sister and I have come into the city to visit Kasia, her friend. This is the first that I've seen a computer since I've arrived in Poland. Kasia's family has a computer hooked up to the Internet! YEAH! The most amusing event thus far has been trying to figure out my sleeping bench. It resembles a couch. During the day, it is used as a couch; by night, it's my bed. The first three nights I slept on it like a couch and every morning I would notice the family giggling at me. (Language is a bit of a problem, as you can well imagine. Thus, much is lost in translation.) I knew I was doing something different but had not figured it out. Finally, on the fourth evening, Ewa showed me that the couch turns into a bed. The closest piece of furniture to compare it to is a futon, but it does not look like a futon. It looks like a couch. It is now a running joke for them to ask me how I slept. We laugh all morning about "how the American used to sleep. " Yasia loves to feed me. To this family, food is love. We eat four BIG meals a day: breakfast (8 a.m.), lunch (2 p.m.), dinner (5 p.m.), and supper (9 p.m.). Sandwiches with many different types of lunchmeat are typical for breakfast and supper. Lunch and dinner usually consist of fried meat with some sort of potato. We never drink cold drinks--only hot coffee and tea. My favorite quote that I constantly remind myself of is "All coffee is good coffee, but some coffee is better than others!" This village doesn't have Folgers. There is no refrigerator so everything is room temperature or heated on the stove. It is quite normal to drink 6-8 cups of hot tea/coffee a day. My body doesn't know what to do with all this caffeine! My family is SUPER religious. From what Kasia tells me, they are not a typical Polish family. My family doesn't drink, smoke, etc. All those typical stereotypes of the Polish don't apply to this family. I will leave them on July 28, I think. We walk and bike most places but take a train to the nearest post office/bank/market, etc. I now see how wasteful Americans can be. I've been here about a week and have been the only one to take a bath. There is running water but not like what we're used to. The bathroom looks the same as in America but works very differently. I can't really explain in writing. One striking difference is that the Polish don't use toilet paper, tissues, etc. They use a handkerchief and rinse it out once a week or so. This custom is quite hard for me to get used to. Whenever I go anywhere, people STARE! I've gotten used to it now. But at first, it was quite hard to deal with. I've had only one spurt of homesickness and it lasted about four hours. We went to Mass on Sunday. It was interesting. I'm glad I went and had the chance to experience a Roman Catholic ceremony. But, was it long-three and a half hours of standing, sitting, kneeling, etc. We wash our clothes by hand in the basin and hang them on the clothesline that is inside or outside. This has been the one commonality between villages. There are always clothes hanging up outside. Chickens and dogs run free here. It is not uncommon to open the door and have a hen or rooster run inside between my legs. This was quite hysterical for me at first, but I have gotten used to it. I met with the 4-H club yesterday. We shared songs with each other. Their favorite West Virginia camp song is "Indian Braves Are High Minded." My favorite Polish 4-H song is "Love Dreaming." It is upbeat and has a very beautiful melody much like "Pass It On." The club has 11 members (5 boys and 6 girls). Ewa will come with me each time to translate. Thursday we are going to the forest where they will teach me the Polish words for different trees and I will teach them the English ones. Every time these children smile, I start to tear up. They have nothing materially, but the whole world is in their hearts. Today is July Fourth! Happy Independence Day to each of you! How How! Until next time, |
