First week in Kraków

Kraków

The view from our apartment

Dear Family,

I am now in Kraków and am serving with Starszy Taylor.  He is from Texas.  I am continuing his training, which is really fun.

My new companion -- Elder Taylor

I will get more pictures of the inner city (the pretty part) this week.  I have been in the City Center, which is the most beautiful part of Kraków. 

But I didn't have my camera with me.

City Center in Kraków found online

Ok! I have to go! But I promise to email you a long email next week! It was weird today because Elder Taylor had to go to the dentist (who is a member of the church here, which is convenient!)   I will probably have more time next week.

I hope you enjoy the recording and the pictures though! Love you! :)

Love,

Elder Drake Allen

P.S. from Renee -- Drake sent us a voice recording of him and Elder Taylor walking on the street to the bus  on their way to the dentist.   We got to hear him greet people on the street and he taught us a few bits of Polish:

Pronouncing Kraków -- not even CLOSE to how I was saying it --  First, there's a soft roll of that "r" (not sure how to write that phonetically). But he says (and this A is a soft "a" that almost turns into an ow as in owl) -- KRA-koof (with the oooo being more delicate and European sounding than we use it).

He also said the missionaries just abbreviate Katowice (Cat-oh-WEETZ-ah) to Kato (Cat-oh), not to be confused with the mean guy in the Hunger Games 

And I just learned a Polish slang word -- not sure how it's spelled.  For "in other words" or "aka," they often say "chili" even in the of their English sentences -- Fun to learn these things that are part of their daily lives.

And the greeting on the street that we heard him say over and over  is " dzień dobry" which he said directly translated means  "Day good" (or "Good day!")  

The first word is said just like the name Jane (like Tarzan and Jane).  And the last part is Doe (as in Doe, a deer) and the "bry" is like brick without the "ck"  (These are all the visuals or helps that Drake gave us -- I'm sure I would have forgotten seconds later without them!)  And the intonation is that the Jane is higher, the Doe is lower and the brih slightly back up.

So all together now -- for hello -- they say -- Jane Doe brih (or Dzień dobry if you feel confident in your Polish!)