I mentioned earlier in my previous blog that I was going to Poland with my host family for Christmas!!:) right now I am in Poland, at Renata's sisters house. To be honest I have no idea what town we are in I just know that we are close to Warsaw, which is the capital of Poland! :)
So I am going to start from the beginning of our trip and go from there, which means this will probably be a long post, soo warning!!
The first day we went to Prague and stayed the night before heading to poland. That was my surprise Christmas present, the night in Prague!!:) it was soooo beautiful! It gets dark here in the Czech Republic as well as Poland at around 4 in the afternoon, so we really only got to see the city by night but that didn't matter because the city was just as pretty if not prettier at night than it is during the day!! We stayed at this really cool hotel that was super European (in my mind) LOL! The room olivia and I stayed in was really cool looking, even though I think I tried to take my foot off on the edge of a table!! Hahaha!:) we walked, that night, from the hotel to old town. On the way we stopped at this church that is the church of 'baby Jesus' I need to do more research online to really get the full history on it, Renata explained it to me but I don't want to say anything because it is very possible that I will miss inform y'all! LOL! After that once we were in old town we walked around to a Christmas market and ate one of the traditional sweets, saw some amazing sights then headed back to the hotel for dinner! It was really amazing getting to see Prague! I hope one day I can go back and explore the whole city! It really is beautiful!
The next day we piled back onto the car and headed to Poland! The first stop we made was with Renata's younger brother, we just stopped for tea and to chat!! (This was also when I stopped understanding everything that was happening.) haahah! :) after that we headed to wojteks sisters house, the town that she lives in is where pretty much all of wojteks family lives so we had 3 chrisrtmas's there!! We stayed at one of his sisters houses the whole time we were there, which was about 3 days total. 2 full days and 2 half days. The first full day was Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve in Poland is pretty much more important than Christmas from what I gathered!
It is also the day that you open all your presents! So this Christmas has been very weird considering I have opened a present pretty much everyday, but Christmas!! Haha!!
The dinner was at wojtek's nephew's house, their house was beautiful and we had a huge feast for dinner! After that dinner we went to wojteks other sisters house to do the same thing again just with his nieces families! So we ate 2 Christmas feasts on Christmas Eve! We ate and celebrated starting at 6 in the evening and we were arriving home around 12:15 that night! Safe to say I was VERY full and very tired! Christmas Day was very relaxed and honestly it really didn't feel that much like Christmas! Considering I had already had Christmas like 3 times before the actual day! Haha! We went to mass and after went and ate lunch with wojteks sister! That night wojteks nephews came over to his sisters house (the one we were staying with) and we had another huge feast!! It was really fun and this time it only lasted till like 10:30 or 11! At these feasts it's all the same foods at every house and somehow it is impossible to run out of food, you could just sit and eat for a week!
The next day (today) we left and headed toward Warsaw the capital of Poland, but before we arrive there we stopped at Renata's sister house and had another Christmas here with her and her kids! Aka another feast! At this feast however It was just physically impossible for me to eat more than a piece of chicken!! Lol! I am not really sure what the rest of the trip holds because apparently there is another surprise waiting for me in the next 2 days of our trip! So I will stop here and finish this post when I get back to France!
Also one more thing before I pause, I am proud to say that I have learned some polish. I can now say, hello, hey, thank you, okay, yes, no, no thank you and come! I learned the last one so I could talk to a dog!!:) LOL!
Okay everyone it is now Sunday and we are 592 kilometers from the house! Aka about 6-7 hrs more of driving! Turns out my second surprise was a trip to Berlin. It was a really beautiful city, we just did a drive threw with a few stops because we were running about 2 hrs behind!
EXPLANATION/ STORY ABOUT THE 2 hr DELAY
So yesterday we went to Warsaw the capital of Poland and went around and saw some sights and got tea and dessert at this famous restaurant the we headed on our way to the boarder of Poland and Germany to stay the night at this motel! We were all ready, packed up and headed out of the motel at 8:30 this morning, when Wojtek and I walk up to the car to find the front right tire flat as a pancake..... Safe to say that put a little hitch in our plan! But Wojtek changed the tire and then he and olivia went to a shop to get a new tire put on while Renata and I waited at the motel! 2 hrs later we were finally on our way, but that meant we had to spend less time in Berlin. But it was okay, I was just happy I got to see it at all!!:)
Well over all, this past week has been an absolutely amazing voyage and these long drives have given me some prime reading time/ nap time, that I am thoroughly enjoying!!:) as my mom always says I am a baby inside, I need my naps!! LOL!:)
It also snowed in Wittelsheim and I guess all I had to do was leave for the snow to come, hopefully it's not too cold. I am finding that my Texas skin isn't as enthusiastic about the 25 degree weather as I thought it would be!! Hehe. I have also decided to start running again because when it started getting dark early and pretty rainy I just kind of stopped running and started going for really long walks, but I now have some winter running gear and I am ready to test my luck!
It has definitely been a different Christmas and at times I have felt a little sad and missed my family but it's not in a bad way. it's just me experiencing a whole new way of doing things and being so far out of my comfort zone that I am reaching for things I know! However I know this has been probably the most memorable Christmas of my life and I thank god everyday for this insane opportunity I have and what an amazing family I have been placed with here in France!
Sorry to get slightly heavy, but I write this blog to share my experience and I will tell the truth of my experiences and feelings for those you who might be reading this and actually considering exchange!!
Okay I am finished now. this is an EXTREMELY long post, but I gave warning before!
I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and have a happy new year!
PICTURE TIMMMEE!!
these pics are a mix of berlin, poland, france and prague
Dinner in poland
Berlin wall
The backyard
Prague
Grace
I loved seeing all those pictures from the places you've been!! It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas. It wasn't quite the same without you here either but we are so happy for the unique experiences you are having in Europe. I think you will make it back to those places again someday and get to really explore. How awesome that Renata and Wojtek have given you a little taste of what there is to see! :) Does Isador speak Polish too??!!
ReplyDeleteI hope your right! And I don't know! I think just french! Hahaha!;)
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