Now, I am already for one month in Łódź. Since February changed a lot. Until yesterday I could say one of the most obviously changing happened with the wether: Spring arrived and the masses on snow disappeared. Unfortunately today morning it started to snow very heavily, so that again all the landscape is painted in white.
However, I made in the last weeks several experiences in teaching. In one class I am a substitue for a teacher who is ill, so that I had to teach alone in this class: 180 minutes with 15 minutes break. That is really a long time and it even takes much more time to prepare it. But I mastered it somehow already the last three weeks. All in all it is fun and the students seem to like me. Next week it will be probably my last class with them, because then their acutal teacher is coming back.
But together with an other practicant, with whom I also share my room, and two other teachers, we offer an extra lesson, where students can drop by, if they have problems with grammar, want to talk with native speakers or just want to make excercises. However until know only two students find their way to this class.I hope it will become more students soon, because it is quite boring to spending 1 ½ hours around without doing anything.
All in all I like the work very much and slowly I get closer contact to the students as some of them already start to talk with me classes and not only start to giggling and/ or run away.
But of course I am also myself student. Twice a week I visit a Polish course. For some reasons I am not really understand I am in the course for advanced learners. Well, sure my poor knowledge of Slovakian language helps me to understand texts, but I almost understand nothing when the teacher talks and of course I can’t talk as I only know a few Polish words. On the other hand the course is a challenge and helps me to understand the students in the German courses, who have similar problems with German
In daily life, however, I make progress in understanding the people and slowly start to express myself. So shopping becomes much more easy now that I can say what I would like to buy.
Yesterday I was the first time at a so famous Polish party. It was very funny, as we couldn’t decide what language we should choose: Polish, English or German. But somehowr we understood each other. As Wódka is Polish national drink, we drank it a lot and so I had to leave the Party quite early. It took place in another floor of our dormitory so that the way back home wasn’t so bad. Problem only was that my room-mate still joined the party so that I couldn’t lock the door. And well, while I was sleeping very deeply and the roommate was away, thieves must have come in the room and stole – and that is very strange – only our food. Money, computer and so on was still there. On the one hand it was very weird on the other hand sad, because it reminded me, that it isn’t here safe and I must be much more careful.
However, the party showed once again how friendly Polish people are and it is so nice to see, how they all try to speak at least some words in German. In return I tried to speak Polish and the later the evening became, I felt, the more successfully I became.
14.3.09
16.2.09
Some words about Łódź
Allgemeines über die Stadt - Beschreibung einiger Sehenswürdigkeiten
Well, it's time to write something about Łódź. It is the 2nd biggest town (although sometimes it is written it would be the third after Kraków.), but for sure one of the most unknown Polish town abroad. I think, it belongs to the towns you normally driving through without paying any attention to it or you are happy not to live there. Many people call Łódź ugly (also some citizens). In my opinion, you can't say that. It is true, that Łódź has no mighty castle, nor a romantic mediaeval old-town. There is also no busy harbour or sunny beaches. You also can't find a prommenade along a river. On the other hand there also no modern plazas or fancy skycrapers. Well, what is in Łódź. First you must know, that it is an old Industrial town whose history really starts in 19th century. From this area you'll find a lot of old industrial estates, tenements (Mietskaserne) and also palaces of the factory owners, who became in some cases incredibly rich. Unfortunatley the most of these buildings are in a very shabby (schäbig) conditions and it is difficult to say, if people still live or work in these buildings.
However there a handfull atractions in Łódź. The main promenade called ul. Piotrkowska is the centre of the town. Along this street, which is the longest street for Pedestrians in Poland (ca. 5km), there a lot of fancy old houses, hotels, restaurants and shops.Around 2km of the street is a Pedestrian zone, nevertheless this part is used by cars as well. So I am not sure yet, if Pedestrian zone has the same meaning in Poland like in Germany.
Another highlight of Łódź is Manfaktura. It is an old factory complex, which was owned by the richest industrialist of Łódź, which was rebuilt in a culture and entertainment area, whre you can find a huge shopping-centre, dozens of restaurants and pubs, museums and galleries. It looks fanatstic. And it seems to be always crowded by people.
Then there is also Księży Młyn,an district whcih was built by a factory owner for his workers. The biggest part of it, isn't yet renovated, so that there live people of all strata (Gesellschaftsschichten). It is a very peacful area, which has some kind of rural character. However, they started to rebuilt in another part of this quarter the old factories into fancy and modern lofts. So it seems, that is just a question of time until the whole Księży Młyn, will change in posh area for the upper-class.
On thing which makes or better made Łódź special is it's multicultural society. Before the war it was home of four cultures: Polish, Jewish, Russian and German. The most of Jewish inhabitants were killed by Germans during occupation. The most Germans left after WW1 or then WW2. But still there is the festival of the four cultures.
The Germans founded during the occupation of Poland in WW2 in Łódź the biggest Ghetto for Jews. It differd a lot of others like in Warsaw, as it was not so croweded and it was managed quite well by an Jewish industrialist.They also had their own currency. Nevertheless most inhabitants of the Ghettos were send to the concentration camps in the end of the war. Today the Jewish community is quite small.
Łódź is also a very green city. So you can find here a lot of parcs and the biggest muncipial wood in Europe.
All in all after one week living here I can say, that is probably not the most beautiful town but it is good town to live in. (Well, let's see how I will think about it in four months.)
Well, it's time to write something about Łódź. It is the 2nd biggest town (although sometimes it is written it would be the third after Kraków.), but for sure one of the most unknown Polish town abroad. I think, it belongs to the towns you normally driving through without paying any attention to it or you are happy not to live there. Many people call Łódź ugly (also some citizens). In my opinion, you can't say that. It is true, that Łódź has no mighty castle, nor a romantic mediaeval old-town. There is also no busy harbour or sunny beaches. You also can't find a prommenade along a river. On the other hand there also no modern plazas or fancy skycrapers. Well, what is in Łódź. First you must know, that it is an old Industrial town whose history really starts in 19th century. From this area you'll find a lot of old industrial estates, tenements (Mietskaserne) and also palaces of the factory owners, who became in some cases incredibly rich. Unfortunatley the most of these buildings are in a very shabby (schäbig) conditions and it is difficult to say, if people still live or work in these buildings.
However there a handfull atractions in Łódź. The main promenade called ul. Piotrkowska is the centre of the town. Along this street, which is the longest street for Pedestrians in Poland (ca. 5km), there a lot of fancy old houses, hotels, restaurants and shops.Around 2km of the street is a Pedestrian zone, nevertheless this part is used by cars as well. So I am not sure yet, if Pedestrian zone has the same meaning in Poland like in Germany.
Another highlight of Łódź is Manfaktura. It is an old factory complex, which was owned by the richest industrialist of Łódź, which was rebuilt in a culture and entertainment area, whre you can find a huge shopping-centre, dozens of restaurants and pubs, museums and galleries. It looks fanatstic. And it seems to be always crowded by people.
Then there is also Księży Młyn,an district whcih was built by a factory owner for his workers. The biggest part of it, isn't yet renovated, so that there live people of all strata (Gesellschaftsschichten). It is a very peacful area, which has some kind of rural character. However, they started to rebuilt in another part of this quarter the old factories into fancy and modern lofts. So it seems, that is just a question of time until the whole Księży Młyn, will change in posh area for the upper-class.
On thing which makes or better made Łódź special is it's multicultural society. Before the war it was home of four cultures: Polish, Jewish, Russian and German. The most of Jewish inhabitants were killed by Germans during occupation. The most Germans left after WW1 or then WW2. But still there is the festival of the four cultures.
The Germans founded during the occupation of Poland in WW2 in Łódź the biggest Ghetto for Jews. It differd a lot of others like in Warsaw, as it was not so croweded and it was managed quite well by an Jewish industrialist.They also had their own currency. Nevertheless most inhabitants of the Ghettos were send to the concentration camps in the end of the war. Today the Jewish community is quite small.
Łódź is also a very green city. So you can find here a lot of parcs and the biggest muncipial wood in Europe.
All in all after one week living here I can say, that is probably not the most beautiful town but it is good town to live in. (Well, let's see how I will think about it in four months.)
14.2.09
13.2.09
Arrival in Łódź
Busfahrt – Ankunft in Łódź – Beschreibung des Wohnheims – andere Dinge
Around seven in the morning the bus left Berlin central bus station with the destination Łódź. By accident I got a seat in the back of the bus and it turned out that the group sitting around me belonged together. In the beginning my neighbour and his mates were just drunken. I thought, that it would be okay, as the Bus came actually from Paris and they travelled already the whole tour. But they went go on drinking. My neighbour came closer and so I was forced to press my against the window, as I am not so keen in becoming intimitate with strange, old man I don't know. While the journey went on the group become louder and louder and some of them eventually puked a bit, bottles of beer felt to the ground and the liqiuid was soon everywhere on the floor. After a while on guy of the group became main-protagonist as he started to cry like a child. At the culmination point the crying man and one of his friends punched each other. Actually the whole scene was quite funny, as it was so weird, but however quite stereotypical. Unfortuantely I was sitting among them, therefore I couldn't laugh so much. Fortunatley after four hours we stopped in Poznań, where a lot of people left the bus. So everybody who was sitting in the back of the bus moved on to the front of the vehicle. At the end between the special travel-company and us, the other travelles, were around five empty rows. The rest of the tour was quite unspectacular.
In Łódź I met a lector of the Germanistic of university of Łódź, who brought me to my dormitory. Fortuantely he can speak Polish very well (btw, he is German) as the women of the reception of the dormitory only speaks Polish. After half an hour everything was organised and I was alone in my room. Well, i should tell sth. about it. It is a quite big room, although I think it is smaller then the rooms of Kortepohja. However it is enough me. But actually the room is normally for two people, but I wanted to have a single room.It is hard to imagine to live with a room-mate. Then the room would be too small.
One floor is sharing toilets and showers. On floor consists of about 20 room and I don't know in how many of them are living two persons. The first what I missed at the toilets was a singn for women and men. There is only one room with toilets and one room with showers. I was a bit confused and asked the lady of the reception – and yes, women and men share the bathroom facilities. That is quite tricky in the showers. The cabines are only coverd by an curtain and there is no place in the cabines to put your cloth on. Additionally it easy happens that the floor of the whole bathroom is under water, if you turn on the water too much. The positive effect is that you don't spend more time under the shower as really is necessary.
A neagtive aspect of the dormitory is, that in the kitchen are no fridges but only places to cook and tables. So I have to find out what to do with groceries. So one of the first things I did, was buying a plata, cup and cuttlery. Pot and pan will follow soon. At least I would like to cook basic food.
Still on the day of arrival I met in the afternoon with Zefi, a friend who lives in Poland and who I met on the first day in Jyväskylä. Thanks to her I already have Polish mobile-phone number . Together we went shopping and eating. Therefore I didn't felt lost and lonely but almost a bit like beeing home.
No to na razie!
Around seven in the morning the bus left Berlin central bus station with the destination Łódź. By accident I got a seat in the back of the bus and it turned out that the group sitting around me belonged together. In the beginning my neighbour and his mates were just drunken. I thought, that it would be okay, as the Bus came actually from Paris and they travelled already the whole tour. But they went go on drinking. My neighbour came closer and so I was forced to press my against the window, as I am not so keen in becoming intimitate with strange, old man I don't know. While the journey went on the group become louder and louder and some of them eventually puked a bit, bottles of beer felt to the ground and the liqiuid was soon everywhere on the floor. After a while on guy of the group became main-protagonist as he started to cry like a child. At the culmination point the crying man and one of his friends punched each other. Actually the whole scene was quite funny, as it was so weird, but however quite stereotypical. Unfortuantely I was sitting among them, therefore I couldn't laugh so much. Fortunatley after four hours we stopped in Poznań, where a lot of people left the bus. So everybody who was sitting in the back of the bus moved on to the front of the vehicle. At the end between the special travel-company and us, the other travelles, were around five empty rows. The rest of the tour was quite unspectacular.
In Łódź I met a lector of the Germanistic of university of Łódź, who brought me to my dormitory. Fortuantely he can speak Polish very well (btw, he is German) as the women of the reception of the dormitory only speaks Polish. After half an hour everything was organised and I was alone in my room. Well, i should tell sth. about it. It is a quite big room, although I think it is smaller then the rooms of Kortepohja. However it is enough me. But actually the room is normally for two people, but I wanted to have a single room.It is hard to imagine to live with a room-mate. Then the room would be too small.
One floor is sharing toilets and showers. On floor consists of about 20 room and I don't know in how many of them are living two persons. The first what I missed at the toilets was a singn for women and men. There is only one room with toilets and one room with showers. I was a bit confused and asked the lady of the reception – and yes, women and men share the bathroom facilities. That is quite tricky in the showers. The cabines are only coverd by an curtain and there is no place in the cabines to put your cloth on. Additionally it easy happens that the floor of the whole bathroom is under water, if you turn on the water too much. The positive effect is that you don't spend more time under the shower as really is necessary.
A neagtive aspect of the dormitory is, that in the kitchen are no fridges but only places to cook and tables. So I have to find out what to do with groceries. So one of the first things I did, was buying a plata, cup and cuttlery. Pot and pan will follow soon. At least I would like to cook basic food.
Still on the day of arrival I met in the afternoon with Zefi, a friend who lives in Poland and who I met on the first day in Jyväskylä. Thanks to her I already have Polish mobile-phone number . Together we went shopping and eating. Therefore I didn't felt lost and lonely but almost a bit like beeing home.
No to na razie!
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