It should be noted Kielce is not really a happening city. In all actuality, it's pretty dead. This is definitely the scruffier part of Poland. Kielce was once home to over 24,000 Jews, most of whom were forced into the city's ghetto in 1941. The ghetto was liquidated in 1942 and all but 2,000 of its inhabitants were exterminated in a five-day period. Following the war, in 1945 a group of 50 Auschwitz survivors living in Kielce were murdered by the town's people. Basically, it was an act of post-war fear, but the town seems marred by all of this. Leanne often refers to Kielce as "Cold War Corner" and "The Armpit of Poland." Though, we recently attempted to correlate all Polish cities with a body part (ie. Gdansk ~ fist; Kraków ~ heart; Warszawa ~ brain; etc.). and it was decided that Kielce is officially the "Kidney of Poland." There is a specific purpose to this city, even if the end result is slightly unpleasant.
Anyway, moving on...
As I've mentioned many times before, Polish trains are an adventure in themselves. In a perfect world, the trip from Poznań to Kielce would take a little over six hours. However, when the express train between Poznań and Warszawa is delayed by almost an hour and the landscape halfway between Warszawa and Kraków contains the aftermath of a small ice storm...
...the journey is prolonged to an eight-hour extravaganza. Since my initial train was delayed, I missed my connection in Warsaw. I took my ticket to the kasa office and asked for następny pociąg (next train). I was instructed to take the next train at peron 6 (platform)...which took me all the way down to Kraków. Then, I immediately hopped another train back up to Kielce. With all the weird connections, I basically made a loop around southern Poland (looking at the map, it's actually quite a ridiculous route). Anymore, I'm used to all the shenanigans; and I plan on trains being late. There is no place for impatience when it comes to the Polish train system--it would result in nothing more than high blood pressure at the end of a very long day.I arrived in Kielce at 4:00pm-ish, and met Leanne at McDonalds for coffee (we are that classy). We hadn't seen one another since our pre-Christmas weekend in Kraków, so there was a lot of catching up to do. I re-capped my German holiday and she recounted her trip home to California (which included three days of being stuck in Paris--apparently, this was very unpleasant).
We wandered back to her dorm, and went upstairs to visit the Key Family. Fulbrighter Barclay is teaching American History at Universytet Jana Kochanowskiego. His wife Sonya and two kids Langston and Zora (ages five and 21 months) are in Poland with him. After dinner, the kids stayed with Barclay while Leanne and I took Sonya downtown for a "Girls' Night." Granted, there's not a hell of a lot to do in Kielce on a Monday night, but we still had a great time. We went to Taboo, and had mixed drinks with entertaining names (ie. Hell's Bananas, Southern Lady, there was also a Hot Banana Shoot...though we were not brave enough to try it).
On Wednesdays, Leanne has three sections of Speaking and Listening students. Since their final exam will take place next week, she wanted to throw something a little differant at them. So, we used scenes from Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple as a speaking exercise. Since the play is rather long--it's a true 1960s relic with three full acts--we selected and cut three scenes which involvled multiple characters and some fast-paced dialog. We created a performance space in the center of the room, divided the students into groups, and assigned each group a scene. They were given about 10 minutes to prep, and then, they performed the scenes. Between groups, Leanne and I filled in the missing parts of the play--think of it as The Odd Couple Abridged.As a whole, it turned out to be a good exercise in English. The students had to employ their English skills in reading, comprehension, and practicality. Some really got into it--money was thrown on tables, pretend doors were slammed, and there was even a little bit of yelling.
After we had sufficiently corrupted the Polish youth with American comedy, we wandered out to the edge of Kielce in search of "the quarry." It's actually what's left of an old lime stone dig. It's kind of cool.
I choose not to heed the "UWAGA" signs that advise staying away from the edge. 
It was pretty...but it was also about ten degrees...
...which is why one must bring żubrówka. It makes the walk home so much warmer.
On Wednesday night, Leanne and I babysat the Key kiddos so Sonya and Barkley could have an evening out. Babysitting means an excuse to play with playdough, so naturally, I had a very good time. Plus, Zora and Langston are really cool kids. We watched a movie in Langstong's fort and Zora made playdough hair for her baby doll.I left on Thursday...and took another long train ride home. But before I left, I got a tour of all the major sights in Kielce.
The promanade:
And, what every Polish city needs, a UFO bus station:
So, ended another mini-adventure. And I can now officially say that I have been here for over four months. It's been one hell of a ride...to say the least. The sense of comradeship (it seems ironic to use that word in a post-communist country) that has developed between the Polish Fulbright Fellows--especially, among the English Teaching Assistants--is rather remarkable. Perhaps, it's due to the fact that there are so few of us. Or because we all chose to come to a country that most Americans don't usually think twice about. Either way, I know that the majority of the people I have encountered through this program will remain my close friends for years to come. And for that, I am very grateful.
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