Wycieczka

I love Macie's school. She has gone to 2 schools in Poland....a preschool in Krakow and our local elementary school. Both have been amazing! I love how the Polish school system is set up. You start kindergarten or first class (whichever you go to first) with a group of students and finish 6th class with those same kids. First through third class you have the same teacher as well. Macie's teacher in kindergarten (or zero class as they call it) was perfect! She loved her kiddos and they loved her. The teacher she has now is a good teacher, and I do feel she cares about her students, but she isn't nearly as lovey with the kids as Pani Ania was. I like her a lot, though. We had individual parent/teacher conferences a couple of weeks ago. She said Macie is doing well in everything but her weakness is in Polish writing which she assures me is difficult for the Polish kids as well. She offered to help Macie over the summer holiday if we are all around at the same time. WOW!! That shows a lot of commitment.

Ok so on to the topic of this blog. Wycieczka means trip in Polish. It is more of a small trip not like a vacation. It can also be like a class field trip. Another thing I love about Polish schools is they take a LOT of trips. A couple weeks ago, Pani Kasia asked if I could go on a couple of the upcoming wyciecki. Of course I was willing. So yesterday we walked 23 kids (8&9 year olds) to the bus stop, took a public bus across town and headed to Jump City...a trampoline park. However, we went the wrong way, so I thought. Suddenly we stopped in front of a little cafe. Pani Kasia got the kids' attention and told her she had a surprise for Kids' Day from the school and her. They could all choose either a scoop of ice cream or a small cake. How fun is that! Plus the moms got to have a coffee. Worked out for everyone!

After we got the kids good and sugared up, we headed to Jump City...in the right direction. We walked about 10 min across busy streets with 23 kids in toe. Such a different experience than my kids would have in American schools. We got to the park and the kids had all brought shorts to change into. Well rather than waiting on the teacher, they all just gathered up and started changing right in the middle of everyone. Cracked me up! The teacher returned and laughed and said there were changing rooms. Oh well. They were efficient. For an hour the kids jumped and flipped and raced and dove into foam pools. They had a blast! There were 2 guys that lead them around and did activities with them. After the hour, we walked back to the bus stop and returned to the school. It was a fun day...we were all tired!!