Mid Conference

Hello!

Wow, I have a lot to catch up on!  Last week was Mid-Conference, which basically means that all of the other volunteers and I met in Warsaw to do some traveling.  We took a three hour train ride to Krakow, in the very south of Poland.

Once we got there, we were all very tired and sweating profusely--it was about 91 degrees out.  I was wearing long pants.  Then, we had a three hour walking tour to go to of Krakow.  It was pretty cool, but we didn't get to go inside any buildings which was a little bit of a let down.  But we saw this great big mansion/church on top of a hill and it was beautiful.  It had several domes shooting up into the sky.  And there was this HUGE courtyard at the back with these dazzling white bricks, speckled with red bricks.  I imagined walking there in earlier centuries--it was amazing to think about.  On the way down the hill, of of the volunteers was proposed to over the phone!!! Very exciting.  Krakow also has a beautiful main square with lots of shops and restaurants.  A group of us girls found a nice little place to eat after the tour and were happy to sit down with some food and piwo (beer).

After a nice three hour dinner, we all went back to the hostel to change and go out on the town!  We found a cute little pub on a side street near the hostel.  I had some beer with raspberry syrup (DELICIOUS) and we all just kinda hung out.  It was wonderful.

Next day, we were off to Zakopane! (in the mountains)  It was another 2 hour bus ride.  We stayed at a very nice hotel-- except that it had no hot water...!  We relaxed for a little while before a delicious dinner of pierogie...we had about 12 each...I couldn't finish!  Then a bunch of us decided to venture out to find the main street of Krupowski (Crew-pov-ski).  We took a wrong turn somewhere and it took us about an hour to walk there--twice the time it takes from our hostel!  It was okay though, we had a good time walking around, looking at the outstanding mountains surrounding us.  I wanted to run out and start singing Sound of Music, but Robyn (an Aussie) stopped me ;)  The main street was great!  Bricked and cobble-stoned, and lined with shops and restaurants.  We got some lody (ice cream) straight away of course, then headed down the street.  A few of us girls got distracted by a Harry Potter poster and stopped to look at it; that led to our separation from the rest of the group...oops!  But we decided to go see HARRY POTTER 7 later that night; while we waited we found a restaurant to get some of the famous goat cheese from Zakopane.  To go with it, we got some piwo sokieum (beer with raspberry juice).  And we all drew dark marks on our arms for our movie night!

The next day was Saturday and a 12 mile hike was planned in the Tetras Mountains.  Yes, you read that correctly--TWELVE MILES.  6 up and 6 down.  It was a very touristy place so there were hundreds of people.  Before we went up, we went for a bathroom break where I was almost LEFT BEHIND.  But I caught up just in time!  And going up the mountain, there was a road leading up, probably about 15 feet wide.  And it was very gradual, so it was an easy hike.  Eventually you could skip some road and go up some rock steps, which were really fun, but difficult!

Once at the top, the hike was completely worth it....the most beautiful lake with surrounding mountains waited for us.  A small group of us got some lunch at the restaurant that was also at the top.  It was pretty chilly, but we still decided to eat outside for the view!  We a had delicious cabbage and meat dish.  Then an even smaller group of us decided to walk around the lake!  We made it about half way before we turned around to meet the rest of the group.  Walking down the mountain was beautiful but painful for me and my legs!  Dinner that night was the most delicious meal--half because of what it was, but the other half because I was so damn hungry!  The soup was so hot and soothed my aching body.  Then I went to my room to lay down for a little while!  We had  surprise waiting for us at 8pm in the dining room--a folk music band!  It was fun to listen to their music--singing and all.  They had a violin, cello, and accordion.  After about an hour, I left to go to the deli two doors down for a snack, and met Deron, Robyn, and Stephen (the husband and wife from Australia).  I decided to hang with them for a while and chat.   They're great people to talk to.

People were trying to decided what to do that night--many of the girls decided to walk into the main street and go dancing, but my feet had had enough!  So I stayed in with a few girls and watched Harry Potter 5 and painted my nails. :)

The next morning we headed out, back to Warsaw to meet our families.  The train ride was the most miserable of my life--three hours squished into a 2 feet wide hallway of a train, in 80 degree weather, with 50 other people.  I had to stand.  I thought everyone was just taking their good old time to get into a compartment...there was no way they would make us travel three hours like this!! But then the train started moving, and it was all over.  But it was an experience, and I may have snapped a few pictures...

Overall, mid-conference was amazing.  I loved seeing the other volunteers and traveling to more points of Poland.  Wonderful.

Love,
Katie