Polish Friends

Toward the end of Summer we had the chance to host some Polish people from Chicago, for a local Dance Festival.  We hosted a few years ago, and then it hasn't worked out since then.  This year, I didn't want to commit to anything more than I had to, so we didn't plan on doing it.  But we got called a few days before they came, and the festival planners were desperate for host families.  So, we said yes and our people came a couple of days later.  We originally thought that our dancers were from Poland, so we were a little disappointed when we found out the night before that they were actually from Chicago.  However, it ended up being a great situation.  The mom, Aneta, was originally from Poland, and the girls were fluent in both Polish and English (language and culture).  We still got a lot of Polish culture, but were able to have awesome conversations because we spoke the same language (one of them).  I didn't know this before, but apparently there is a Polish community in Chicago--Polish schools, banks, stores, churches.  Aneta told us that she was speaking more English here than she ever does back in Chicago.  We ended up with Aneta, her daughter Natalia, and two sisters, Kiersha and Kasha.  We had such a great time with them!  I really loved Aneta.  She was so fun to talk to, and I feel like I made a life long friend!  

 Showing Aneta our garden.

 Playing with the hamster.

 The night of the street dance.

 They are singing "Happy Birthday" in Polish to us.

 One of the days I took them to Park City to shop and see the Olympic Village.

 We lucked out and got there in time to watch the ski jumpers practice.  It was so cool.

 Another morning I took Aneta to the big Catholic church downtown.  She was Catholic and loved her religion and we had many discussions about the similarities and differences between our religions.  It made for a lot of good conversation.  She really loved God and wanted to do what was right.

 We also made a quick stop to see the State Capitol.

 They had multiple days of dancing.

 The dutiful mother, recording each performance.

I am glad that it worked out for us to host (at the last minute!).  I really loved our dancers!