Memories in Poland

Europe is known to be a very romantic place in the world and I've proven that, so to speak. I may fail to do my rounds in the whole parts of Europe, to say the least, but the experiential I had could not be traded.
Going there isn't easy, I went to a rigid & thorough way of working my papers; in other words -  it took me a year before I completely have done & got my final flying.
Hopelessness, frustrations were among that weakens me at times & the long waiting could almost unbearable. Henceforth, I landed in a country that never popped out in my mind.

A walled city in Warsaw.

Old Town, Warsaw (my fave place in Warsaw)

Warsaw University

Long before I got my voluntary job in Poland, its name was already a recognized place as the killing fields of a massive murder of Jews, Gypsies, and other European races who went up against Nazism's horrendous occupation. Thanks to the movies I've had seen (like Surviving Sobibor, Schindler's List, The Pianist, and The Diary of Anne Frank book) which the facade of Poland's past history was enough an emblematic of what I expected about the country, of course exceptionally apart from its culture, environment and the weather.

 An American Jew who survived the Holocaust...I was emotional while she was sharing her story.

Among the kids being experimented on by the Nazis.

at Auschwitz Concentration camp, where the Jews and others were being kept till the war ended.

Lo, Poland was the most damaged country during WWII still the atmospheric picture of what is known to be Europe's romanticism has remained as it is.
The structure of the buildings is so immensely grandeur & elaborate. The surroundings are lushed, bordering the sprawl of colorful vegetation when Spring comes.

An ordinary type of Tulips in Poland.

Old Town market in Warsaw.

Among the grandeur churches in Poland.

Colorful buildings are so common here.

It was only in Poland that I got the full chance to experience the four seasons which I had been dreaming to see and feel about. I saw how they constantly change from freezing snowy to the rebirth of plants from its long hibernation down to a warm sunny to a crisp cooler foliage autumnal season.
Psychologically, I noticed the season also affects people's moods, caused by the changes in the weather that shifted their behavior. It was also in Poland that I was racially being stared at head over heels. People would keep their distance & they looked steadily at me with wonder & curiosity. At first, it was offensive & annoying that it came to a point that I was becoming so conscious of myself when someone glued their eyes on you wherever you go, but I adjusted after a while upon realizing that I'm a colored person surrounded by white & blondes.
And that made me so proud of my color anyhow as Asian and as Filipino.

Summer in Poland, with fellow Pinoys.

Autumn in Poland.

My winter chill in Poland

Springtime in Poland.

My voluntary teaching in Poland was a great avenue to prove that I could practically manage European kids. It was quietly tough & challenging too. Been educating foreign kids since I was in the pinnacle of my graduating year in College, & that gave me a fuller maturity in handling foreign students. Teaching Polish kids was so hard at first because of the Asian background I have plus the classroom management I used to do was based also on Asian culture and beliefs. Yet, the feeling of being with them on the other hand was so glorious to celebrate as both parties were so naive about each other's differences.
Nevertheless, I believe that I have done my part as a teacher and praying that they had absorbed it, would be so mightily happy seeing them successful in their lives when they grow up.

My primary students as they had their Polish lesson.

My students, the one who covered her face was half Polish-British, and Maja a mixed-blood Polish too.

Lastly, life would be so boring without Pinoys around you. Indeed, wherever you go around the sphere there's always Filipino..it could be so unhomely without Filipino friends around. To sum it all, I really do love Poland, and I am praying that God would pave the way for me to go back there or somewhere in Europe. There's no place like Europe, so to speak. I have drawn to their romantic places and food so as the weather.

Among my closest pal..

with the two sexiest during Phils. Independence Day in the Phil. Embassy