I thought it might be interesting to post about my week. Last week was busier than most, so writing about it will give me a chance to show both the typical and the atypical parts of life in Warsaw.
A week ago Monday, I prepared for my classes much of the morning, as I usually do. I teach two courses back-to-back, 3 pm to 4:30 and 4:45 to 6:15. At the request of students who felt that it was really a grind to sit for 1 1/2 hour sessions in English without a break, we also take a 5 minute break in the middle of each session. I have a pretty solid group of 13 students in each class, although I find that occasionally someone who hasn’t attended for a few weeks will suddenly show up. Sometimes s/he may be one of the University of Warsaw librarians or one from the National Library – they’re excused because they are not enrolled in the course. Not sure what the ones who are students think. They know that part of their grade, especially in the class on e-books, is based on participation – and you can’t participate if you don’t show!
The earlier class is on subject analysis; last week we finished talking about Library of Congress Subject Headings. They do both in-class exercises and take-home work, both involving the use of Classification Plus, an online product providing access to LCSH. This past Monday, they classified a list of subjects on beavers seeing as the OSU teams are the Beavers. They seemed amused by the photo I showed them of Benny the Beaver at a basketball game. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I don’t think intercollegiate sports is a part of student life here.
The course on e-books and libraries is run as a seminar, with students doing the presenting each week, based on chapters from the book “No Shelf Required” and supplementary articles. They have done a good job in general and their English is really quite good. I had set up the class to have two presentations each week so that I could spend the sessions asking provocative questions and sharing my own experiences. However, the class size is somewhat smaller than it was the first week as some of the students who signed up seemed to have vanished. In the past few weeks I’ve filled the available time with other presentations of mine relating to the topic. Last Monday, I practiced a talk on Kindle ebooks that I planned to present in final form on Wednesday to the library faculty here. In the future, though, I will be using the second hour (if there isn’t a second student signed up) to discuss an assigned article.
Tuesdays are also busy days for me. I have office hours from 10-12, then head home for lunch and spend the afternoon at home. In the evening I’m taking 3 classes offered by Beit Warszawa, the Reform Jewish congregation we belong to: an hour of modern Hebrew taught by Zivah Nativ, an hour of Introduction to Rabbinic literature taught by Zivah’s husband, Rabbi Gil Nativ, and 1 1/2 hours (!) of Israeli dancing taught by the two of them. The last is lots of fun and absolutely exhausting. I learned a lot of Israeli folk dances when I was young, but never took a class as an adult. I think I’m turning into an enthusiast like the Nativ’s. Maybe we could start something up back home at Beit Am.
Wednesday was my talk to the faculty at the University of Warsaw Institute of Information Science and Book Studies. There were about 20-25 in attendance and they enjoyed my talk about integrating Kindle ebooks into the OSU Libraries (a tech services perspective). Also attending were two folks from the American embassy. They wanted to meet me afterwards, so we sat in my office for 30 minutes and talked about Kindles, especially a program they have that put Kindles into Poland’s American Corners. (The American Corners are libraries that focus on American literature, history, etc. so that citizens of other countries can learn about life in the US.) They asked if I would be interested in visiting some of these locales and sharing my experiences there, so I may be bopping around Poland a bit in upcoming months.
Thursday both Sarah and I visited a high school that is a 5 minute walk from our apartment in order to talk to an English class. This was part of Education Week in Poland and the Fulbright Office here in Warsaw was encouraging Fulbrighters to make visits like ours to encourage students to study abroad in the US. We talked about the nature of higher education in the US as well as financial aid, fields of study, admission policies, finding a good fit, etc. Sarah is so skilled at this – I know she has counseled a number of friends whose kids were applying to college in addition to her experience with our own kids. The students stood when we entered the room, were (mostly) attentive through the talk and asked good questions at the end. The teacher was also very kind to us, giving us her phone number and offering to answer any questions we might have about living here. Plus we met the director (who would be called the principal in the US and was referred to as the headmaster by the English teacher) and arranged to meet once a week so we can practice our Polish and him his English. He apologized profusely for his English, although it was definitely excellent. We do find the Poles apologizing for all sorts of things, but they really have nothing to be ashamed of.
Friday – nothing scheduled! We caught up on chores, talked to each other, and the like.
Saturday we went to services at Beit Warszawa. Both Sarah and I read from the Torah as the rabbi and his wife were in Israel last weekend. Services were followed, as always, by a lunch, but not potluck like the ones at Beit Am. Instead, the food is prepared by the Nativ’s housekeeper and provided to anyone who wants to stay for it. Typical Polish foods like pierogi (we eat the cabbage and mushroom ones – kapusta i grzybami) and golabki (pronounced gowompkee) (cabbage rolls). I also led the birkat hamazon (blessing after the meal). Then home for a nap! It’s been a busy week.
Sunday we went to Tesco for shopping – but that will be a story for another day!
Yes, please bring some Israeli dancing back to Beit Am!