Greetings and conversations

Message of the day: If you want to go fast,-go alone, if you want to go far-go together! African proverb

Today began with a breakfast which included one of my favorites—hot pancakes covered with plum sauce and powdered sugar. Of course, there were the ever-present cold cuts and fruit bowl. We were off to our assignments of teaching and tutoring. Kate, the English teacher at Grala school arrived to take George and Kay to her school for the lessons. Today we only taught 3 classes, 4th and 5th grades, with a second session for 4th grade. The topics in the 4th grade were “greetings and conversations,” using crossword puzzles to complete the conversations. We also conducted a lesson with the “who” words—who, where, when, what, which. Before the conversation lessons, we finished the geography topics by packing a suitcase for a trip to either Alaska or Australia. Finally, we had a discussion about surfing in Australia or the USA. For the 5th grade, the game of “Independence Day” was played—finding words in that phrase. The students really became involved and wrote about 21 words on the board!

During a break, a local custom was explained. The Polish wear their wedding rings on the right hand rather than the left as in the USA. Kate explained that this custom began after one of the rebellions against Russia. The women placed their rings on their right hands when their husbands did not return from the fighting.

A nutritious lunch was enjoyed back at the Manor House and some volunteers traveled to Kotun for their teaching sessions. At 6:30 pm we all had dinner together, with Pat back with the others, feeling better after her day of sleep and rest.

 Journal by Kay