One of my favorite grocery stores is called Biedronka, which means ladybug in Polish. They offer a good selection of food at a good price. They also have a chain of convenience stores called Zabka, which means frog in Polish. It is funny that many of their grocery stores are named after animals! I enjoy making a quick trip to the grocery store every day for fresh food.
One of the hardest parts of fitting into the community is the language. In my neighborhood, many people do not speak much English. At the grocery stores the cashiers speak to you in Polish and it is very difficult for me to understand since I do not speak much Polish yet. However, I think this is helping me to pick up on the language.
Besides fitting into the community, my roommate and I have had several struggles adjusting to our new environment. For example, the washing machine in our apartment is very different than in the United States. Instead of just opening the door and placing your clothes inside, you have to open the door and open a separate door inside of a metal barrel for your clothes. We looked at the washing machine for nearly 30 minutes to figure this out! Recently I ended up getting locked inside of our apartment for three hours. My roommate was stuck on the outside of the door and I was stuck inside and we could not open the door. Finally, we were able to open the door - but, it was scary!
As the weeks pass by, I am hopeful that these problems will go away and I will fit into the community better.
