Learning Gently, Living Fully

Buongiorno!

I think I have a little less to share this time, not because the past two weeks were any less interesting, but between the Easter holidays and everything else, the time spent with the kids was a bit shorter than usual.

That said, we still made the most of it! We managed to enjoy ourselves and welcome the Easter break in the loveliest way, decorating even more beautiful eggs and making colourful Easter baskets together.

When I was little, I used to fill the house with Easter decorations too, but over the past few years, that tradition slowly faded away. Getting to be a bit of a child again in some way, and rediscovering the joy of decorating Easter eggs, brought me so much happiness!

Playing with wooden sticks continues to be one of our favourite activities. Whether it's creating domino-style chains or playing a bit of Jenga, the suspense and excitement when you’re hoping the tower doesn’t fall is always such a thrill!

And do you know what the best part of playing these games is? You don’t need many words to understand each other; in the end, we have fun together, and there are no communication barriers. We can all recognize the excited face when someone has kept everything standing, or the disappointed one when the tower falls to the ground.

Another activity that is a constant in our days is, once again, drawing. Whether it's just a pencil sketch, a drawing to color with pencils or markers, or using watercolors, there’s always time for drawing! Here we are, busy painting some beautiful butterflies. They're just starting to appear in nature now, with the lovely days that Poland is treating us to, so why not draw some for ourselves too?

And have you ever thought about how much you can learn from just a simple drawing? I was sketching Stitch the other day, and suddenly I was learning all sorts of new words for body parts without even meaning to! That led to into another lovely moment of sharing, where I picked up even more vocabulary thanks to some simple emojis.

The kids are absolutely adorable in how eager they are to help me learn more vocabulary. They’re also incredibly (and I mean incredibly) patient with my not-so-perfect pronunciation. They keep repeating the words for me, slowly and clearly, until I finally get them right.

I mean, just look at this: a little girl brought me her English notebook so she could tell me the words in Polish for me to memorize. We went from Halloween characters to parts of the face, to different animals and family members. I didn’t manage to remember all the words, of course, but at least I got to hear and, with some effort, repeat the correct pronunciations!

What I appreciate the most about these moments is that it’s usually a child who takes the initiative and decides to teach me some words. And almost always, this catches someone else’s attention, who then decides to join in and repeat the word at the same time as the other. It makes everything feel even more magical because it turns into a group effort.

Last but not least, these past few weeks we've been having a lot of fun with this string game, constantly creating new shapes to play with. Figuring out the moves at first was a bit of an adventure, especially because the way we understood each other was mostly through gestures, lots and lots of trial and error, and everything in between. But now the kids are really fast! They immediately know what to do with the new shape and are always eager to keep playing!

This Easter break was also extra special for me because I turned 25! I've always liked doing something a little different and special on my birthday, and I can definitely say I made it happen this year. Celebrating in a country different from my own was already something unique and unforgettable, and starting this new age with such a meaningful experience truly filled my heart with joy.

See you in the next one! :)