Month 4 in Poland - November 2025

This month it is six-year-old Alex's turn to write our monthly update to you all. I promise you, with the exception of a couple side comments by me in [brackets], all of these are his words. November was a busy month for us. Enjoy! [-Tyler]

Hi Everyone!

This is Alex. I am going to school. At my school it's really loud. And there are new teachers. I have friends there. Their names are Antek, Juzek, Rafał, Artek, Tomek, Kostek, and William. We like to play with Legos. There are also girls. Their names are Hania, Lena, Gabrysia Gorgon, Gabrysia Trojniak, Matylda, Amelka, and Zuzia.

[this next part is about Monika's brother's cabin up in the mountains, which is in a town called Zawoja] We went on a hike up a mountain called Babia Góra. We saw the first bit of snow at the peak. And we were in the clouds. And we have a beautiful view when we're in Zawoja. And we have these mountains called Tatry. One of the mountains looks like a soldier laying down on his side. In Zawoja we have a fort. The roof of the fort broke a little bit. And next to the house in Zawoja there are lots of blackberries. I picked sooo many. I ate all of them. We also made blackberry pastries.

There is a ruin of a house next to my uncle's house in Zawoja. The neighbor guy didn't have enough money to buy the rest of the materials to finish the house. Now there are plants growing inside it and some kids even turned it into a base. Personally, I have seven bases. We also have a swing in Zawoja. And there's a playroom for me and my cousin Tomek.

Let me tell you about where we live. In our flat we have a tiny kitchen. We can only fit two people in there. My brother and I sleep on a bunk bed in the same room. I sleep on the bottom. Our bathroom is split. The toilet and the bathtub are separate. There are also really old lights. We got a new Pucio book [Polish children's book series] and it's about Christmas and you can only buy it here in Poland. There's a card game called Piotruś that my cousin Tomek is really good at. I also like to play Uno Minecraft.

Our neighborhood is called Petöfiego. And my cousin Tomek lives really close. There's a little passageway between houses so we can walk to his house. I have a dog and he has a dog. His dog is named Tatra. It is named after the mountains south of Krakow. There is a grocery store here called Biedronka. That translates to Ladybug in English.

When I'm not in school I go to Hip Hop dance class. The last time I was there we were allowed to dress up. The person that works there has a phone that lights up in the dark. The class takes place in an old fort nearby. I also do Tae Kwan Do. That class is held at my brother's school. My cousin Tomek and my friend Antek both go with me.

After Halloween my family and I went to the cemetery to see the graves [This is a major holiday here in Poland very similar to Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. It's a Catholic thing.] We put candles and flowers on graves and did a night walk and it was really pretty.

It also recently snowed here for the first time. We just went to the store to get skis. I like skiing. We just went skiing for the first time nearby to test our equipment. I went really fast. [this is true]

For Thanksgiving we watched the Macy's Day Parade in New York. There were tons of balloons. Shrek and Bluey. We also made our own Thanksgiving. My mom cooked and we ate it with Polish grandparents and my aunt and uncle and my cousin Tomek.

Also in November we went on vacation to Egypt. [He's not making this up. We actually did go to Egypt on the Red Sea Coast.] I tried snorkeling. There is a pier to walk on to get to the deep water. There was a reef and I saw fishes underwater with my own eyes. I also saw a stingray. At the hotel there was a pool and a swim up bar. I ordered a drink that was called Sunshine. It was pink sprite. [it was basically a Shirley Temple].

Until next month!