To the parents who think it is unfair

I was not a competitive student as a child. That metamorphosis didn't take place until college, and it wasn't pretty - just ask any classmate who ever asked to borrow my notes and got his or her head bitten off. I don't recall any serious exams or competitions that we had in elementary or even high school - excluding my driving exam at 16 which was pretty memorable. Kids in Polish schools today have the opportunity to take part in a lot of academic competitions, really, a lot. There are notices on the bulletin boards outside the classrooms. Posters for various competitions, often called Olympics, are taped to the glass doors. Kids bring home flyers from their teachers and sometimes from the organizers of the competitions. Announcements are made on the school webpage and on the electronic gradebook. We get direct e-mails from the teachers requesting our children's participation.

Participation is voluntary. There are those children who cannot wait to show off their skills and knowledge and are glad to have the opportunity to do so. Other children could not care less. They are not interested in sitting a test or preparing with the "team". Some kids do it to get a higher grade out of their teacher at the end of the semester or at the insistence of a parent. Some kids cannot be persuaded by any form of force or bribery, not even as practice for the "real" exams they will take in the future. That's all good. I don't have any problem with that.

I just have something to say to the parents who think it is unfair that my child competed in the English Olympics grades 1-3.

Firstly, this particular English Olympics is run by a company, not the Department of Education. It is a crap test given for a fee intended to justify all those Helen Doron courses parents spend money on.

Secondly, my kids are Polish. They were born in Poland. They go to a Polish school. They had a Polish nanny when they were little. Yes, they have American passports as well, but they have been to America twice for short trips. Maybe you parents have been on vacation to America or Great Britain or Australia for a week or two. Did your kids manage to learn enough English to give them an "unfair advantage"? No? Neither did mine.

Thirdly, the fact that my children speak English at all is a miracle. Well, it is not really miraculous at all. It is pure work. My children speak Polish all day long. They learn in Polish. They read in Polish. They watch TV in Polish. They fight in Polish. They dream in Polish. How many hours a day do you spend with your children? I, as many parents unfortunately, spend very few as I work evenings. Of those hours you spend with your children, how many of them are actual meaningful engagement between you. One? Two? Less than that?

My kids have English at school, the same as your children 2x45 minutes per week. Last year Lizzie had 6 different teachers - 6. Rosie's teacher pronounced birthday as bearzday. They were not covering any material that they should. I had a lot of calls from parents wanting me to teach their children privately - parents who on the most part could speak English and definitely on a level high enough to teach their own 8-year-old. 

I force my children to read in English, to watch TV in English, to learn new words in English. This is what I recommend to all parents when they ask me what they should do and to all my students who are parents. It is not something you have to be American to do. Yes, I speak to them in English. They answer me in Polish. When they speak English, they say things like "drinked", "goed", "don't can", "sanged". Not to mention saying a sentence in English with all nouns in Polish - Today Pani gived us karteczka to take do domu. We have to kolorować the karteczka and give it back to Pani jutro. If we don't gived it jutro, we gets jedynka in the książka. Very English, wouldn't you agree?

Believe me parents, if you put as much effort into your child's English as I do, your child would speak English almost as well as mine. I do it for them, but I do it for me too. Can you imagine not sharing a language with your children? As a mother, not speaking to your baby in your own language? I don't do it to spite you. I don't do it so my kids will come out on top in the English exams. Lizzie has never participated in those exams because she is not interested at all. Her philosophy is that she is awesome, no need to prove it. Rosie participated last year at the insistence of her teacher, and this year declared she's not interested. Again at the insistence of her teacher, she signed up, and we paid the fees. Last year Rosie didn't even catch on that is was an English exam. The first question, read aloud by the instructor, was - "What color is a hippo?" with choices of pink, green, grey, and purple. Rosie said, "Who doesn't know what color a hippo is?" "It was an English exam, Rosie." "Ooooohhhh," says Rosie.

So parents, zip it. When my child doesn't want to sing Silent Night at the school show, it's because she doesn't know it, not any more than your child. And when my child gets a good score on the English exam, congratulate her - a lot of hard work stands behind that success.

Zombies are people, too.

We are not religious. Not religious may be putting it lightly. I don’t mean that we just go to church or temple for the big holidays. Our attendance is much less frequent than that, as in we only go to church when somebody dies. Well, lately we’ve been to quite a few funerals so maybe that is more frequent than less. We are so-called non-believers. We are non-smokers as well. I cannot think of any other cool “non” phrases to describe us. Being non-believers doesn’t mean that our children are ignorant of religion. I mean every day at their public school, the posters on the walls remind them not to worry that they don’t believe in God because God believes in them and that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins. They also got to know that unicorns are the symbol of “sexual freedom, homosexual sex, lesbian sex, and group sex, etc.” I cannot imagine what the “etc.” could possibly be, but perhaps the Religion teacher could explain it to me. Thanks Miss Nun/Catechism Teacher for introducing 8-year-olds to the phrase “group sex”. As you can see, our school understands the concept of religious freedom a little differently than we do.

As parents, we feel that it is our responsibility to share some important beliefs and holidays from the world’s most prevalent religions with our children. Around this time of year, we talk about Easter and Passover. Just a disclaimer here – I teach religious stories as legends or mythology. I just tell them that there is such a holiday - it has a place in that religion’s history and culture. I don’t justify or judge. I allow my children to react as they will. From these and other stories I ask the girls what conclusions they can draw or if there is a moral in the story.

Our kids call Passover “Jewish Easter”. No offense Jewish friends, it’s due to the timing, not the celebration. I have never celebrated Passover myself but some Jewish friends gave us the breakdown back in Catholic school. (Many Jewish children attended our private Catholic school when we were kids. They were encouraged to share their religion and holidays with the class.) When I explained the whole “passing over” part with the lamb’s blood and all of that, my kids asked, “So their kids were saved, but what about the other people’s kids?” Welcome to the Bible, dear children. Their next question was in amazement, “So people celebrate that?” They completely glazed over the end of slavery part and focused on the part where one family is passed over and their first born is safe, while the other family is not. It was a lot of information to take in, slavery, plagues, a just, but vengeful god. Their conclusion drawn from the Passover story was that you shouldn’t be happy about your neighbor’s misfortune. Not the most direct conclusion and directly in conflict with celebrating your own good fortune of being passed over, but a conclusion which I can support.

Easter is closer to home due to my early education in Catholic school. I haven’t celebrated a religious Easter in more than 20 years, but I’ve got the main story down. My children were most interested in the Resurrection. The Crucifixion part they took as a sign of the times “back then”. Lizzie claimed that resurrection was impossible. She also figured that Jesus could not have come back as a ghost because ghosts don’t exist and that he couldn’t have come back to life as that is not possible. Her analysis was that crucifixion, while horrendous, did not in fact kill Jesus and so he simply regained consciousness and did not come back from the dead. In between all her reasoning, she demanded that I check for sure on the computer that Jesus came back in body not in spirit. Rosie, upon hearing confirmation that Jesus had come back in body, declared that she knew what had happened. “Jesus was a zombie,” she said. I cannot argue with that because that is more in keeping with the original story than Lizzie’s version and was the way a (then) 5-year-old explained it to herself.

At 5 years old, I did not think like that. I did not ask questions at Catholic school. I listened, and I took everything at face value. I believed whole-heartedly in Jesus, the Resurrection, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. As I learned that Santa didn’t exist, I naturally questioned the rest of my beliefs. So what happens when kids ask a lot of questions in Catholic school in America in the early 80’s?

Well, of course we got the typical answers from our teachers, nuns and priests, that you have to believe. Don’t ask how it happened, just know and believe that it did happen. Ok, but what if we do not and cannot believe? Well, you are on a path, they told us, which in the end will lead to belief. Perhaps you are too young now to give yourself over to faith, but don’t worry one day you will believe. And if we never believe, we never have faith in any of what you have taught us? Your path may take you another way, you may not be a believer. You may find your faith in 5 years or 50 years or not all. And that was it. No screaming at us. No telling us that we would go to hell. Just an acknowledgment that not everyone has faith. That was one of the critical moments in my path, my path as an atheist, the acknowledgement that there was another path because until that moment my entire education in Catholic school had left me with a constant sense of guilt. I felt guilty for practically everything I did, had done, or would do in the future. I was even born a sinner according to the church a concept that I never accepted and until today reject, hence my dislike of christenings.

Unfortunately, my kids while sitting in the halls of their school do not have that luxury – the luxury to discover their own path without guilt. The face of Jesus looks down on them on each floor of their school telling them “You must repent. Your time is running out”, “You cannot afford a life without the Lord”, “You were born to serve Him”.

Happy Zombie Jesus Day.

Jak boga nie kocham

When I tell people that the school doesn’t get it, this is what I mean. Jak boga nie kocham, Chris is not impressed.

Here’s one very creative and colorful bulletin board which welcomes students and teachers alike. It looks quite nice and displays artwork of the students. It presents Edmund Bojanowski, a Polish Catholic layman who performed works of charity during his lifetime and died while studying to became a priest. He was made a saint posthumously by Pope John Paul II. Why błogosławiony Edmund Bojanowski friend of children and patriot of teachers? Okay, okay, he was Polish at least. But why not Thoth the Egyption god of education, writing, and language? Let’s switch it up for a change. And why does Saint Edmund Bojanowski appear to belong to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?





Here’s another bulletin board welcoming the kids to school for the new school year. It looks nice and friendly.



The children are greeted by a welcoming angel and baranek.



If the angel and the baranek are not able to show you the way, don’t worry, Jesus will come to the rescue as this poster explains that “Jesus leads me through life”. Why not “Allah leads me through life”? Or “Mohammad leads me through life”? Or “I find my path through life”? Nope, it’s gotta be Jesus. I mean if you want. Nobody’s forcing you. ‘Cause elementary school kids are able to look at this poster and decide if they want to be led by Jesus or not. It’s not undue pressure by the dominant religion or abuse of majority position in society or anything.



Maybe a prayer for a good start this year?









Here’s my fast and very uncreative translation:

My Lord, when I hear the bell, it is you who reminds me that I must take advantage of every moment because time cannot be turned back. Give me the concentration and the courage to accept all new knowledge. I want to listen well and question wisely. Don’t allow me to disrupt my friends or teachers. Give my teachers a lot of good and patience. I want to grow up in wisdom and in your graces so that for all achieved wisdom I will be in gratitude to you and to those who teach me well.




Good God, it’s the start of the school year. New adventures await us. A new time, new tasks, new chances. I ask you, bless us. Grant us the will to work, enthusiasm in discovering the mysteries of the world, the joy of being together, a willingness to help. Help us sow the seeds of good and of peace…Bless our mouths so they will speak words of kindness and bestow smiles. Bless our hearts so they will grow in love for you and our fellow man..Bless our feet so they will carry us in the direction of people and places where you can be found.

And that’s our świecka szkoła, in the words of the principal, caring deeply about all children and completely without bias.

błogosławiony = beatified
baranek = lamb
świecka szkoła = secular school

Don’t give up.

Poland is often called a Catholic country. I am not even sure what that means exactly. In my experience it means that some people are devout believers in god and church, others believe in god but maybe not the church, some just go with flow because it is easier, a few believe in something else and the rest, like me, don’t believe at all.

I believe in something. I believe that potato chips are evil and are out to get me. I believe that the chance of rain increases on days I wear suede shoes. I believe the severity of traffic congestion is proportional to how late I already am. I also believe that all religions are made up. Religious arguments, religious wars, families broken up over religious issues – I understand them, but they are at the same time ridiculous for me. It’s like when my kids argue over who is better – spiderman or the pink powderpuff girl.

Anyhow, I figured that even if I am not religious and my children are raised in a non-religious household, we should still know something about world religions ‘cause you know, if people are cutting off other people’s head over something, you should probably try to figure out what is going on. So I’m still not exactly sure what’s going and there will not be any Kielbasa Stories post What’s the hubbub? ISIS, but I know more than I used to know.

For our girls, we bought a book that outlines the beliefs of a few different religions based on a year in the life of a child. It includes beliefs, holidays, restrictions, what’s different, what’s the same – it’s a cool book.

Another thing I believe is that children should not receive religious instruction. I do what I can to follow that belief with my own children, but as you may know, my girls’ school doesn’t support us in that issue. Anyhow, after our last meeting in June which took place after the zillionth time one of our children was forced to go to catechism (catechism is taught in Polish public schools), we demanded a new procedure, a procedure that has teeth, a procedure where you sign up for catechism not sign out, a procedure which if not followed has consequences for the teachers who fail to comply.

Previously each year we had to sign our children out of catechism. The school operates on the assumption that all children will attend. We complied and each year we signed our children out of catechism. Additionally we verbally reminded the teachers on the first day of school each year that our children do not have permission to attend catechism – because that is basically how the signing out process worked. Parents have to not give permission, to withdraw permission. I know it’s a weird formulation. You don’t “not give permission” when you don’t send your kids for extra French lessons. You just don’t sign them up and that’s it. But anyhow, legal or not, we still did it. And the effect? Our kids were forced to go to catechism as recently as June.

This year, on the first day of school, parents were asked to sign up. No one was asked to sign out. The teacher informed the parents that they will compile a list of kids who attend catechism not a list of kids who do not attend. Catechism still takes places smack in the middle of the day, sending our kids to the day-room to spend time with the coloring books, doll houses, Legos, the day-room teacher, and a handful of other kids who do not attend catechism.

I know it seems like a small step. I suppose it is a rather small step, but a step in the right direction. This is from a school where I was asked to declare in writing that my children will not attend catechism –one copy for the classroom teachers, one copy for the principal, and another copy for the catechism teacher. A school where I was put in my place with the explanation that catechism is fun and I am just making problems. A school where I was asked what my religion is. A school where the catechism teacher demanded to know our names and addresses so she could inform the parish. A school where my children were forced to attend catechism, one school year on 6 separate occasions for one child. A school where my children sit 2 extra hours a week in the day-room making their school day an hour longer. A school with a crucifix hanging in every classroom, not just in a special room for catechism. A school where priests and nuns are employed to teach catechism paid from the public budget. A school where the nun blessed the children’s heads on the first day of school yesterday. A school where the nun told me “All children are God’s children”. A school where I feel like some kind of criminal for demanding that my rights as a parent and the rights of my children not be violated. But hey, it could be worse.

There are public schools in Poland which started the school year as they do each year which a Catholic mass before the official opening of the school year. Some schools started from mass at church and then proceeded to school for the first assembly of the year. The answer to parents’ questions of when they should come to school for the assembly was that it depends how long the priest’s sermon takes. Other schools cut out the middleman and just invited the priest to school. In one school there was a full mass in the gym, in another just an Our Father and some words about the creation of the world, while in another the children were taken out to the parking lot to be blessed with water by the priest. I know about all the cases from the media and from support groups such as http://rownoscwszkole.pl/ and http://www.wolnoscodreligii.pl/.

To the parents of children from those schools, please don’t give up. I know you have a long way to go and that you feel helpless, but know that with each small step we are getting closer to our goal of a secular education for our children.

Żegnaj lato. Witaj szkoło!

We bid summer farewell as we do each year with an end-of-the-summer BBQ with friends. The friends on the guest list change from year to year, but the venue stays the same – our barn. We talked about how we spent the summer and our plans for the upcoming school year. Then we played with their drone and went to a party at the village świetlica to eat some cake and dance to some Coco Jumbo.
Although we’re excited to start another school year (Lizzie is in 3rd grade and Rosie starts 1st grade), we are sad to say goodbye to summer. It seemed shorter this year. I guess my age is showing.
Farewell rainbows after a summer rain.

Goodbye grain in the field.


So long yard work and rhubarb with sugar.


See you later fun-in-the-sun.

Bye-bye burgers from the grill

No more  hot-air-balloon surprises on the drive home.

An end to summer festivals.

The last of the fresh blueberry muffins.

The final summer BBQ’s with friends.








Hello new school year. It’s going to be a great one!

What to do? What to do?

Vice-Principal: We strive to make our school a welcoming place for our students. And I see that this an extremely important issue for you as parents. What to do? What to do?

Parent a.k.a. Misiu: It is not extremely important. It is normal important. We have the right for our child not to participate in “Religia”. That right has been violated, and we demand it to be respected.

Vice-Principal: We need to find some practical solution. What to do? What to do? We wanted to put an indication that certain children do not attend “Religia” in the class book but other parents didn’t agree.

Parent a.k.a. Misiu: Our child raised her hand and said that she doesn’t attend “Relgia”. The nun knows that she doesn’t attend “Religia”. Three children from that group do not attend.

Vice-Principal: What to do? What to do? Maybe some other indication? Some kind of list posted on the door or some other markings or labeling?

Parent a.k.a. Misiu (nodding in mocking deference): Perhaps some armbands? Or gold stars?

Vice-Principal (embarrassed and understanding the significance of what she has suggested): No, no, of course not some kind of markings. No, no that wouldn’t work.

What to do?

You can’t have it both ways

Recently I had a discussion about the systems of education in Poland and in the USA, and I have to say Polish people, you can’t have it both ways. Your schools cannot at the same time be the best and the worst in the world. Here are just some of the opinions raised during the discussion:
The Polish school system teaches kids more than in the States.
But it doesn’t teach them how to solve problems.
It’s good that you sent your kids to a Polish school. They will have better math skills than in the US and learn foreign languages.
Let’s face it, Americans aren’t very clever (pointing out the fact that I thought Copernicus was Italian).
But you have to send your kids abroad for high school and/or university. You can’t get a good education in Poland.
Yes, they have to go to school in the US if they want to succeed in life.
American schools focus too much on sports and popularity.
My friend went to the US for a year as an exchange student and she was 3 years ahead of the other students. They made her repeat a year in Poland when she got back.
You can’t be sure about the teachers in Poland.
American students would never graduate from high school if they had to take an exam like Matura.

All above statements (agreeing and conflicting) were made by just two people. It appears that I am damned if I do and damned if I don’t. That’s too much stress for Mommy.
Time to drink more coffee.

Grają nie fair

The first day of school was Monday czyli yesterday. Knowing that the kids in Poland are automatically signed up for Religia czyli catechism, Misiu went to Rosie’s new kindergarten teacher to sign her out. The teacher told Misiu not to worry about it and that he could officially sign her out at the class meeting on Wednesday czyli tomorrow. No worries, right?
Today, czyli Tuesday, Rosie attended Religia czyli catechism and informed us that she needs a book for Religia. She’s only 5. This happened in pre-school as well. That’s why Misiu stepped up on Monday. I think the school is not playing fair.

The first day of school in Poland…

…stinks.
Today, I officially have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener. Our kindergartener is also missing her first tooth. She was so jealous of her older sister who lost 3 teeth in one week and cleaned up moneywise from the tooth fairy. Anticipation really must sweeten the situation because I have never seen a child more happy to find a coin under her pillow than our little Rosie. As per tradition, she asked the tooth fairy to leave her tooth behind as well, so I did. I mean the tooth fairy did. Of course, the tooth fairy did.
Anyhow back to the first day of school – The first day of school in Poland is always the first Monday of September. That you can depend on, and well, only that. Oh and maybe that the kids are supposed to dress galowa which had me confused at first until someone told me it doesn’t mean to dress for a gala, just to dress up a little. Let’s say today we were hipster galowa.
Anyhow, the time your child starts and the time your child finishes the first day of school, nobody knows, sometimes not even the teacher. In my girls’ school, the older kids started at 8 a.m. with the next smaller kids starting at 9 a.m. and the kindergarteners started at 10:00. By noon they were all back home and by they I mean kids plus Daddy because with the little ones, a parent (or other adult family member) has to take a day off from work to accompany the kids to school, collect all the papers and forms, and spend the rest of the day with the kids probably at Tesco buying notebooks and crayons and other school supplies.
Luckily, our Rosie got the kindergarten teacher we were hoping for. It is Lizzie’s former pre-school teacher. We had the choice to send Rosie to kindergarten in pre-school (subsidized but still paid) or to kindergarten in school (not paid except for materials, meals and extras). Lizzie attended kindergarten in pre-school for the sole reason that she had  great teachers. Rosie is attending kindergarten in school for the sole reason the her pre-school teachers really stank. One was fired for striking a child and she was the best one! Tomorrow, Rosie will eat in the school cafeteria for the first time. I can’t wait to hear her reaction.
As per Polish school scheduling, Lizzie starts and finishes at a different time each day. It’s odd for me that a 7-year-old starts at 10:45 and finishes at 2:30 one day and then starts at 8:00 and finishes at 11:30 the next day, but whatever. At least they put catechism as the first or last lesson. And let that be a lesson to you all, complaining loudly works.
Happy, happy school year to you all!

Uwaga: Rambling post about nothing

I should probably say that mam wszystko w nosie or even mam wszystko gdzieś but the truth is mam wszystko w dupie. Głęboko w dupie

I’m sorry to write it. Sorry that you have to read it. Even sorrier about the hits KS is going to get with those key words, except the person doing that search is just a dirty bugger. Me? I’m just having a bad day.

Oh to be Lewandowski* for a day.

I talked to my father yesterday evening. Maybe that’s why I’m in a funk. I always get homesick after talking to my parents. My father is still unaware that we live on different planets as he complained of his tax bill. In addition to what he already paid in, he had to pay an amount of money above that, which is more than I take in in a whole year. Beh. But I’m glad that he has it and I’m glad that he’s spending it. My parents earned every last penny of that money. We may not have spent a lot of time together when I was a kid but I know that what worried them most (besides the safety of me and my sister) was their security in their older years.

I have to give up my pet peeve – littering. Not that my anti-littering campaign has eradicated littering. It’s just for my own sanity bo szlag mnie trafi every time I go, well, just about anywhere. I’ve decided to just look the other way because otherwise I’m gonna lose it. Just like I look the other way when I see my next-door neighbor. Either she has real problems at work or is incredibly susceptible to stress. At least once a month, she has a real freak-out which usually ends with her locking herself in the bathroom and bawling. Loudly. That’s the only wall we share so we can hear everything, even if we’re not trying. And yes, I admit to trying the first 2 times it happened. I wanted to know if she needed help or something. Mam wszystko w dupie, but I’m not so apathetic to not worry if my neighbor is ok. Through our eavesdropping, we ascertained that her boyfriend was not beating her and in fact has the patience of a saint. I mean how many times can you say, “Kotku, wcale nie musisz tam pracować”?

I’m still not running and the person who designed my new running shoes hates people. Well, hates people who intend to run in those shoes outside in the real world. Those shoes are great for controlled indoor activities such as shopping, but are not made for running on forest trails or sandy, stony paths. The shoes have a kind of waffled bottom which picks up and carries everything from the running surface. You could do CSI on what’s in my shoes and tell me exactly where I’ve been lately. Seriously.

I finally watched the Hunger Games. I haven’t read the books. I had the opportunity to watch it on the airplane last year, but chose instead to watch Adele’s concert twice and some movie with Robert Pattinson in it. I don’t remember the name, but he’s not a vampire. That should narrow it down considerably. Misiu watched HG’s in the seat in front of me so I caught a few of the scenes. The whole premise seemed so disturbing that I put off watching it until now. And I was disturbed as I watched it and for awhile after too. But as I thought about it, worse things happen in the world every day. In many places in the world, kids have worse odds than the those forced to play in the Hunger Games. Beh.

Finally, there has been a kind of compromise on the Ratuj maluchy front. The age for starting 1st grade will still be 6. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the situation for the kids born in 2007 and 2008 – the last transition kids. Kids born in 2008 are required to go to school at 6, while kids from 2007 could go next year at 6 or wait until the year after that and go to 1st grade at 7 with the kids from 2008. Considering that about 70% of parents have not opted to send their 6-year-olds, that could mean a “double class” of all the left-over 7-year-olds plus the mandatory 6-year-olds. To release some of the pressure, the government has divided the class of 2008 into 2 groups, allowing kids from the second half of the year to start school later. What do the Ratuj maluchy parents have to say to the new proposal? Karolina Elbanowska, leader of the Ratuj maluchy campaign who was quoted in Wyborcza “Nie chcemy sześciolatków w szkołach nigdy: ani za rok, ani za try lata”. I guess ona też ma wszystko w dupie.

Ok Chris, pull up your socks. You have a lot to get done before Majówka.

*Robert Lewandowski is a Polish soccer player who plays for the German team Borussia Dortmund. In a recent match he alone scored 4 goals in the 4-1 win against Real Madrid. Amazing!Lewandowki, however, is criticized for not scoring as many goals while playing on the Polish national team. I didn’t watch the game as I cannot tolerate large groups of German people shouting in unison. It makes me think strange thoughts.

Genius of Evil

All the middle-schoolers from the “senior year” of middle school are knee deep in exams right now. With these exam results they will apply to high schools and keep their fingers crossed that they get into their first choice.

What? I remember going through the same thing except it was the SATs and I was worried about college.

I asked one of my students, a teenaged boy, what high schools were on his dream list. He included “the math high school”, “the humanistic high school” and the local Catholic high school. The choices didn’t seem to jive with any specific career choice so I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up.

Stroking his pet terrier sitting in his lap he replied, “A genius of evil, mwah- ha-ha.”




I can’t make this stuff up.

Szkolny sklepik

Where I went to school, we didn’t have such a thing as the szkolny sklepik. Not that we didn’t like to eat. We did, but we were only permitted to eat in the cafeteria during our allotted lunch time or after school, off school premises. In our cafeteria, we could buy the standard school lunch on offer and supplement with a supply of chips, cakes, cookies and sweetened juices and milks. No, no, we didn’t have canned sodas, no way, but we did have canned lemonade which contained the same if not more sugar than the average cola.

I ate it all. I ate the greasy, gooey school pizza cut in big, thick rectangles. I ate the toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. I ate the tacos, the nachos, the spaghetti, the mashed potatoes – oh and the tater tots, I almost forgot about the tater tots. More often I packed a lunch and supplemented it with junk food from the ale carte menu. I packed a whopping PB&J sandwich, an apple and then bought a chocolate milk and a small bag of chips. I sometimes packed a ham and cheese sandwich, a banana and then bought a regular milk and a candy bar. The good old days before I learned about things like carbs and transfats and cellulite- before I had a consciousness that food is fuel for my body.




I was super skinny in high school and some of my nicknames reflected it - “hollow leg” , “skeleton, “Q-tip” all of these nicknames simply a teen-aged girl’s dream.
I recently read an article about the relationship between obesity and what schools sell in their cafeterias, school shops and vending machines. The article states that schools with stricter rules about junk food make an impact in curbing childhood obesity.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/study-junk-food-laws-may-_n_1771352.html
Strict regulations concerning junk food in school is one tiny factor (even the article admits) in childhood obesity - a drop in the bucket really,  but as stated in the article, why not give it a try?

But if the laws have even a tiny effect, "what are the downsides of improving the food environment for children today?" asked Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. "You can't get much worse than it already is."

Our Lizzie is a first grader. Her class missed their first English lesson today because the teacher forgot to send them to class from świetlica. We packed her lunch this week because September snuck up on the school district and the school cafeterias are not in operation until next Monday.
Lizzie got her locker key today with instructions to make a lot of copies – kids lose things. Her locker is located in a pretty busy place for the “new” kids, right next to the szkolny sklepik.


The szkolny sklepik is a popular place packed full of sugary, chocolaty goodness. The line to buy something sweet was down the hall and around the corner. There must have been 40 kids waiting to buy something (that might also have something to do with the fact that the cafeteria was closed).
What I didn’t see was a single fat kid.
What I did see was a bike rack without a single free place.
I saw kids walking (sometimes running) home from school.
No school-wide, city-wide, regional or state-wide sports program…but somehow today I didn’t see a single fat kid.
But that was just today. Sometimes, I see some “American-style” kids walking home from school with orange, Cheeto-ed fingertips chugging a Coca-cola. Be careful Poland. You can’t say we didn’t warn ya.
PS You couldn’t pay me to eat a typical school lunch in America now. But a Polish school lunch…some days makes my mouth water. And what does school lunch look like in Poland…

Smacznego