Two nights ago we had our scavenger hunt. Loads of fun. They had to answer some questions...e.g. who wrote "Beloved"? One student in my group had a friend she communicated with via Blackberry, and had the answers shipped back to her. Clever. We have a higher slice of the economic pie this year; for the first time they charged tuition for the camp -- I heard $150 for all three weeks -- because the Polish Ministry of Education pulled their funding out. But it didn't matter; there was still a waiting list to get in.

We have very little free time, are kept pretty much going from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a break from 4 til supper at 6.

The blog's called Pivo, Pierogi & Pierniki. Yesterday I completed the trifecta. We toured Torun (Polish tourguide, but supplied with 2 Polish students to translate for us) and stopped at the most famous piernicki (gingerbread) shop in Poland. They are very creative at their gingerbreads...mostly little cookies called pierniki, stuffed with various fillings, and unstuffed are called Katarczynis...So I tried some pierniki, and last night for dinner we had pierogi...a little sweeter than I'm used to, filled with a ricotta-like cheese.

In class I may have mentioned I'm reading some Ted Kooser poems, among others. One of the students (a tall, longhaired guy named Igor) asked: "Didn't he write 'Delights and Shadows?'" I had to tell him I didn't know. But I checked on the internet and sure enough he did. So what's the chances of finding a high school student in the US who can tell you a book that Ted Kooser wrote?

And his buddy, Lucasc, while we were standing in the rain waiting to take the Torun tour, came over to me and told me William Wordsworth was his favorite English poet, and proceeded to recite Wordsworth's "The Rainbow" for me. So what's the chances of finding a high school student in the US who can recite a Wordsworth poem?

Both Lucasc & Igor have a reputation for getting into trouble, but it's clearly because they're so smart they get bored...

Last night we had an "Olympic " competition with silly games. My team (the Whites) tied for second, mostly because one of the events was how well they cheered. As I mentioned, my team is all girls -- and they put their heart & soul into team spirit.

Today I started my second lesson -- having gone through the first with all ten groups. I've invented a kind of role-playing. They pick a card with an important historical personality on it, and interview me, as that personality, in a kind of radio interview. Some of the personalities were Karol Wojtyla, Madame Curie, Chopin, George Bush, Judas, John Lennon, Barack Obama, etc. They're favorite was when I played Bo Obama (the Obama dog.) They asked me good questions -- how do you get along with the secret service dogs? for example. So it's a chance for them to learn to speak and listen to English, and have fun too.

Tonight we have the "Poland Has Talent" show. Students have volunteered to perform for all of us...some will sing, dance, etc. It should be good.

We were teaching a few of the students American football this afternoon, on rough asphalt. Pretty dangerous. My friend Jim, the retired cop, did a nice job of catching one of my passes, but then took a tumble. Road-rash. But after I stepped on one of the girls' sandaled toes, injuring her big toe, we had to quit. The score was 28-21. We were ahead, but they were learning fast...

We have here a lovely day. May yours be as nice.

(I'll get some more pictures on, but it's a complicated process..)