Arrival in Nowy Sacz

After a 7 hour flight to Munich, a 6 hour layover in the airport, another shorter flight to Krakow, a 30 minute taxi ride to the bus station and a 2 hour bus ride, I finally arrived in Nowy Sacz (pronounced No-vee Saunch). OK - so the length of time it took to get here was nothing compared to Marc's 41 hour trip, but I'm definitely worn out.

When I arrived at the bus station in Nowy Sacz, Ala was there to meet me. It has been almost two years since we last met in Moldova during one of MTO's monitoring visits. After receiving the warmest of embraces and briefly catching up, Ala whisked me away to the home of one of her friends, Ioana, where many were gathered to celebrate Ioana's name day. (In Poland, birthdays are not celebrated. Instead, they celebrate name days that are tied to Catholic saints days.) There I enjoyed a feast of salads, meat, fruit, vodka, wine and Ioana's famous dessert - layers of meringue and mocha frosting. It was such a great introduction into Polish life. I wish I could eat dinner there every night!

Despite the fact that most of Ala's friends were speaking Polish, I felt surprisingly comfortable in this situation, thanks in large part to my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova (and Ala's kind attention, too). Having people speak to me or around me in different languages is something that was very commonplace as an American in Moldova. Plus Polish can sound very similar to Russian, so I was able to pick up on the context of a few conversations last night.

After dinner, I was brought back to the MTO dorms and was able to get settled in. I will stay here for the first few days of my visit and then will move to a host family when we return from Bulgaria. The dorm is located in a beautiful building with all the modern amenities such as a shower with hot water and computers with Internet access. I really am feeling quite spoiled.

This morning, Ala took me on a basic walking tour of Nowy Sacz. The town has some beautiful architecture, including many churches and municipal buildings. Since the weather was so nice, there were many families out taking walks together and enjoying the sun. Ice cream seems to be a popular food item - at least in the summer time. In fact, Ala told me that the richest man in Nowy Sacz is an ice cream manufacturer. Evidently his ice cream is very popular in Russia. I guess I'll have to sample it before I leave.

Tomorrow I will spend some time learning about the school and meeting some of the kids, teachers and parents. Unfortunately, my Polish is minimal, so I hope everyone will be interested in practicing their English with me. I also hope to continue my conversation about MTO and SPLOT (their school) with the people who live and work here.