What a trip. I am currently a teacher of English in Mragowo (mrang o’ vo), Poland. Here is how it all started…..

First of all, I knew that I wanted to return to Poland. I had spent a month here in 1998 and loved it. So, when I decided to become a Teacher of English as a Second Language, I knew I wanted to come to Poland to teach. I found and joined a free internet listing service for Language Schools in Poland. I briefly thought of going to Asia, as there is good money to be made there, however, after a lot of thought and introspection, I realized that, in my heart, I wanted to return to Poland. So, I emailed cover letters to a few jobs that were through the listing service, and received a positive response.

My next step was to fill out an application that they had emailed me as well as send a resume, and copies of my teaching certificate. The next step was for me to send copies of my passport so they could arrange a work visa. They obtained the work visa then express mailed it to my address in the USA on November 4. I should have received it in about 3 or 4 days in the USA, but, thanks to the US Postal Service, I received it on November 13, 1999. That was a problem, as I was to start the job on November 15, and since I received it over a weekend, that would be impossible, as I had to still get a work visa from the Consulate in NYC.

What a long few days. That’s really all I can say. It was truly a long and draining time. Here’s a log of it:

4:30am - Wake up.
5:25am - Leave for the Devon train station
5:34am - 6:11am - R5 (train) into Philadelphia
6:15am - 8:10am – Amtrak train from Philadelphia – New York City
8:30am - Arrive at Poland Consulate in New York City
9:00am - Leave Consulate after filling out form for work visa, paying the $35
11:45am - Return to the Consulate to collect my passport and work visa.
12:15pm - 1:45pm Amtrak from NYC to Philadelphia
1:50pm - 2:40pm – Email the school in Poland to confirm the work visa, lunch, take care of a few other last minute things.
2:55pm - 3:39pm – R1 to Philadelphia Airport.
5:20pm - 6:25pm – Flight from Philadelphia – JFK in NYC (it takes longer to taxi at both airports than the 25 minute flight, where the flight goes above 9.000 feet in altitude).
7:05pm - 8:20am (6 hour time difference) – Flight from NYC to Brussels. Warning: EVERYTHING in the Brussels airport is VERY overpriced. Make sure you don’t have to buy ANYTHING!!
12:30pm - 2:25pm – Flight to Warsaw – was delayed 40 minutes.

I was greeted at the Warsaw Airport by Lucja (the director of the school), her husband, their son Dawid, and Amanda, the other American teacher who had arrived last week. We had to run a few hours of errands in Warsaw, and finally got to Mrgaowo around 9pm. We went to Lucja’s house for tea. She told me more about the job (they needed me to start the next day, Wednesday, Nov 17, 1999) and gave me the manuals to teach out of. She needed my passport in order to get me a residency permit. Then, she gave me a small bag of food (bread, cheese, tomatoes, butter, and sliced deli chicken). That was very nice of her, and totally unexpected. She and her husband then drove me to my flat (apartment). At that time, I was extremely tired, so I went to bed. I had been up for about 36 hours.

I woke up around 10am and looked out the window. Yes, I was still in Europe, it wasn’t just a dream. I got dressed and walked down to the grocery store to get some items. I ended up spending 48.65 zl. Here is a list of what I got for that price ($1USD = 4.3 zl (zloty)). You will have to convert from metric weights to USA yourself)

.44 kg Roast Beef zl 5.28
Lays Paprika Chips zl 2.18
box of tea bags (100) zl 2.39
400 gram bag of pasta zl 0.99
.56kg chicken zl 3.24
6 pack of Zyweic beer (.331 litre bottles) 12.49 zl

Lucja arrived at my flat at 14:15 to take me to the school for the first time (our working hours are 15:00 – 20:00). They rent a section of an older 2 story brick building. It sits on a hill on the northern side of the city. It is a decent building, but she told me that she has hopes of eventually buying a new building. We teach on the second floor, where there are four classrooms (we only use two), a restroom, and the main office that we hang out in during the 15 minutes breaks between classes.

I am teaching classes of all levels and they are 1 ½ hours long each. My first class was class of young children that are zero beginners (brand new to English). It went well. All of my classes will challenge me in different ways. That’s fine. That’s what makes life fun.

Here are the kinds of classes I teach:

Class Letter            Level           Students age

        B                     Elementary            9 – 15

        E                     Intermediate         14 – 18

        F                     Pre Intermediate   13 – 20

       G                     Elementary              9 - 15

       H                     Beginners                Adults

        I                     Beginners                 7 - 12

       M                    Elementary             12 – 18