Seniors

After a couple of days here at the Manor of Raymontwonka (that's the phonetic spelling!) our group has settled in. We are a group of fourteen volunteers from all over the U.S. "Old Ralph" as he calls himself, is from Iowa and has been here four or five times; Mike from Chicago, was here last summer; Pat from New England has been here several times before; and Charmaine from San Diego is here for the first time on her way to meet a boyfriend in Prague.

Today was our first day in class and I must say, the third grade class I met was no better/no worse than most American third grades. I'm hoping for better results from a group of teachers that I'll be tutoring later today.

The weather is still cool and rainy. I'm wishing I'd brought some of those sweaters that I left languishing in a drawer in Florida, however, someone reminded me yesterday that the alternative to cool and rainy might be hot and humid since the buildings at this ancient resort aren't air-conditioned. (The main building was built in 1776 -- you should see the locks on our doors!) Yesterday when we visited Seidlce, I rode in the car with Maurek, the manager/part owner of the place and he told us of the plans to build more buildings and make it a first-class resort. It is certainly beautiful enough in its agragrarian setting.

We're making plans to go to Krakow by train next weekend. I'm looking forward to that. Onward and upward!

The flight into Warsaw was memorable or maybe reminiscent is a better word. The plane was like those I flew in the forties -- I could see the prop whirling away outside my window. But I was met and welcomed by Dorota and twelve new volunteers upon arrival. We drove through small villages with unpronounceable names surrounded by forests and farms until we reached Sedlce and the Remonowsky Manor House where I'll be living for the next three weeks. The food is tasty and plentiful, the weather is an improvement over that of Prague, and the program looks like it will be a good one. I'll be teaching third graders in the early morning and teachers in the late afternoon -- tomorrow we meet the regular classrooms. We're also having some lessons in Polish, so you know what to expect in the next chapter!

I left Madison a day early since Stephen, my son who lives in Illinois volunteered to pick me up. I spent a couple of nights with him and Susan, his wife, and Mr. Higgins, their Yorkie. On Saturday morning Steve drove me to Chicago where I caught a plane for Reno to visit Cindy, my daughter. Since I've been here, it has been blue grass all the way. Sunday we had a whole band in the living room for a rehearsal -- they have a big show coming up. The band is made up of doctors, two on banjo, one on string bass, and one on fiddle. Cindy plays the guitar. They all sing and they're pretty good. After the rehearsal, we had a barbeque on the deck. Cindy's house is on a hill overlooking the campus of U of Nevada and downtown Reno. As it gets dark and all the lights come on in the casinos and hotels, the view is magnificent. Then last night the cloggers showed up and we had blue grass tunes, singing and dancing in the garage. Right now Cindy is practicing guitar -- more blue grass!
The weather here is hot -- like 92! Tonight we're going to Lake Tahoe to see the outdoor Shakespeare Festival -- "Taming of the Shrew" I think. It will be much cooler up there, but it gets cool everywhere in the high desert, in the sixties at night.

I like Reno; it's great being back in the mountains but on Saturday I'll fly off to San Diego. More from California.