some thank you notes

Dear host brother in Poland,  thank you for speaking Polish with me but also taking an interest in learning English.  Laughing with you as you try to learn my language, and me as I try to learn yours, is so much fun.  Like the time you asked if I wanted to watch 127 Hours or Black Swan and it came out, “Man……arm…..cut off…..arm….OR….bird….black bird….you want? Which?”  With such enticing descriptions, how could I decide?  Also, thanks for teaching me how to play pool!  I'll probably forget everything by next week, but it was the thought that counts.

Dear host mom in Poland, thank you for making a whole cake just for me. No, you didn’t make it for my arrival, you literally made the entire cake for me and I know that because I am the only person who ate it/the only person in the house who likes sweets. I know you didn’t put any sugar in it because I watched you make it, yet when you tasted it, you said, “Ugh, too sweet!” just by the mere taste of the powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Oh and thanks for sprinkling the powdered sugar on top, just for me. Thanks for probably buying the powdered sugar just for me. In case it wasn’t obvious by my more or less licking the plate, I really liked this cake (that’s why I ate 3 pieces of it in less than 24 hours, duh). I guess you could tell, though, since you packed the cake up in its entirety and sent me home with it. Oh and thanks for making it heart-shaped. That was cute.

Dear host dad in Poland, thank you for making me your own version of dessert in the form of fruit salad. Where I come from (said in a Southern accent), a bowl of bananas, oranges, pears, peaches and grapes would be considered a light, midmorning snack. But here in Poland, however, (or at least in this family), this is dessert at its finest. I hope you gathered by my 3^rd helping of this dish that I loved it (though not as much as the heart-shaped cake….sorry).

Dear Wrocław Główny (the train station in Wroclaw), thanks for being so fun to pronounce!

Dear Polish men/German men/whatever men who were sitting on the train from Wroclaw to Dresden, thank you for not standing up and offering your seat to young girl who stepped on the train looking haggard and sad, carrying a purse, laptop bag, duffel bag and shopping bag, thus causing her to stand uncomfortably for 1 hour until the next stop. My dad would have given up his seat for the girl. My boyfriend and his friends would have, too. And not just because the girl was me (surprise!) but because they have good old-fashioned manners. Here’s another surprise: this “thank you” is sarcastic.

Dear young couple next to me during the 1 hour long stand on the train, thank you for making out non-stop from the time you stepped on the train to the time you stepped off. Thanks for managing to both disgust me and make me wish I hadn’t just said goodbye to my boyfriend by the sweet nothings you whispered to one another in between make-outs. Hey, this “thank you” is also sarcastic, in case you couldn’t tell.

Dear Deutsche Bahn, thank you for repeating the intercom announcements in Polish after reading them once in German. This helps when 1/2 of the aforementioned couple sneezes at the exact moment something important is being announced in German. Also, thank you, God, for helping me learn Polish, or at least enough to understand intercom announcements.

Dear man sitting next to me on the train, why is the ringer on your cell phone the sound of a cat meowing? This isn’t a “thank you”, I’m just curious. When you reached inside your jacket pocket to answer your phone the first time it rang (and, okay, maybe the 2^nd time, too), I really expected a baby kitten to jump out of there. I really did.

Sincerely,me.