Green Space

I recently became acquainted with the biggest green space in Karków. Ten minutes West of the city center are a series of parks that are joined together. One is a massive open field with a few trees, while another has lots of trees, walking paths, sports areas and playgrounds. The weather was warm and sunny, so there were lots of people out and about.

The open field with mountains in the background

I was thinking about my week and it seems pretty uneventful. I'm going to take that as a sign that I am adjusting to life here. Last week I had my first tests in my classes. I'm proud to say I got an almost perfect score on both of them. Both of my teachers asked me if the coursework was hard enough for me. I had to explain that it's not easy, I just study a lot.

The trees are all starting to turn along the path

I spent the weekend at my friend Doro's dorm because she lives very close to the Rynek and her roommate was gone for the weekend. We hungout, walked around the city, had meals together, etc. On Sunday we made bruschetta with Shelley and had it on this delicious french baguette. We also practiced our Polish a fair amount. Our goal when walking into a place was to do it correctly and never have to use any other language other than Polish. We successfully and correctly ordered ice cream which we learned we weren't doing right before (knowing the correct grammatical case helps and we just learned it). Success! It ended up being perfect because my roommate got very sick this weekend, so I avoided the majority of the germs. She's still pretty under the weather, but I've been washing my hands and the doorhandles like a crazy lady in an effort to stay well. Today she handed me an orange and informed me it would be good for me. "Like lemon," she said. 

foliage along the outer wall west of Park Jordana

The outer, brick wall of the park reminds me of The Secret Garden. It is so overgrown with vines and vegetation that you can barely see the Graffiti underneath.

Fiery leaves west of Park Jordana

The news front on Polish men is that they are quite the gentlemen. I haven't gotten used to that yet. They have a way of beating you to the door in any situation and holding it for you with a sincere, 'prosze.' Often if there is a woman standing on the tram, men will refuse to sit, even if there is a seat available. I've seen this happen more than once. Also, I have yet to witness any cat-calling, which has been nice.