Read about day 2 here.

I spent a week completing a cultural exchange programme facilitated by the company Angloville, where I provided conversation practice to Polish adults near Bialystok.

Today was an early start. I left the hostel at eight to head to the Palace of Culture and Science where Angloville would be collecting us. The Oliwka Hostel was fine. Not the friendliest or most social of hostels, but it served its purpose.

Anyway, waiting for me at the place were my new friends from last include: Lydia, Kat, Yvonne and Theresa. But there were also the other Angloville mentors I didn’t have a chance to meet except for Bengali Brummie Kal, half-French/half-English Bridget and Leeds mother Adele.

At 9.15, we boarded the coach that would take us to the Angloville venue – a big fancy country hotel called Lipowy Most 230km away from Warsaw – 25km from the Belarussian border. 1 mile is 1.6km. You do the maths. I’m tired. The coach journey was uneventful. We had a pit stop where I tried making a sandwich using the bread roll, processed meat and cheese that I bought last night, although the bun was stale and soon fell to pieces. It was a failed sandwich.

We finally reached the venue at half 12 meaning that it took us three hours and not the predicted three and a half to four hours, so that was great. The hotel was gorgeous. It’s right in the middle of a country park.

I have a feeling the hotel was one of those fancy country clubs populated by rich old men who would spend their days smoking cigars, drinking whisky and and hunting – the hotel was full of animal heads, badger skins and a taxi-dermied bear.

First on the agenda was the introductory talk led by our co-ordinator Tyler – a sparky 24-year-old Norwich lad who excelled in corporate speak like when he constantly called us family. I worked for a company who spent seven years telling me I was family. And I left because they treated family like crap.

We then had to pick our room mates, so I buddied up with the other men in the group: Kal and Leeds man ‘Richard.’ Although as Richard has spent a lot of time in South America, he preferred to be called Ricardo. However, I think he was just using this as an excuse to flirt with everyone. I wonder if I went by Iago, it would make more attractive to my girlfriend.

After we checked into the rooms, we went down for some lunch – Angloville were paying for our food and hotel – a heavy meal of pork meatloaf, mash and beetroot. I quickly learned that Polishes dishes are typically meat and potatoes. But I’m not a foodie, so I wasn’t complaining. We finished at two and Lydia and I walked around the hotel grounds. The lake was frozen, so we had good fun throwing stones onto it. It made a funny bouncing noise.

We also started meeting our Polish participants and mentees including Elvia – an elegant marketing manager in the pharmaceutical industry, who had brought her little adorable Pomeranian BeBe. We also discovered the hotel’s swimming pool, hot tub and sauna. Very fancy. At three-thirty, it was time to start the programme and meet the rest of our mentees. There were ten of them – a mixture of men and women.

We did a speed-dating where we spent two minutes talking to each participant about a particular topic and then moving to the next. Some topics included favourite films, music and what we would show aliens if they came to Earth. After this, we had a break where Lydia and I explored more of the hotel. In the downstairs basement area, they had a games room where you could play darts, pool and table tennis. Kal and Ricardo, who were quickly forming a bromance. were playing pool. Lydia and I played some table tennis.

Lydia is a West Londoner like me. She is also a second-generation immigrant of South Nigerian heritage. At half four, it was back to work where it was time for some 1-1 conversation practice with the Polish participants. Firstly, I spoke with father of three and IT manager Piotr. Angloville provided us with some topic cards with idioms, vocabulary and questions about different subjects like the weather or business.

Piotr’s English wasn’t too bad at all. He was relatively confident about expressing himself and I could understand him. He was also very interested in knowing any mistakes. In return, he taught me some Polish words like “Idziemy” – “ijemy” (let’s go.) Afterwards, we played some table tennis.

After we finished, I spent fifty minutes speaking to software engineer Darek who had a slightly stronger proficiency than Piotr, but who was also very pleasant. Similarly to Piotr, once we had finished, we played table tennis. At six-thirty, we had our final conversation practice where Lydia and I were facilitating a debate between Elvia and Magda, who works in administration. We were supposed to be talking about adventures, but instead we spent an hour speaking about ageing and what we can do to live for longer. As Elvia works in pharmaceuticals, she has a vested interest in longevity.

At half seven, it was dinner time. On my table, I was joined by Ricardo, Kal – the Bengali Brummie graphic designer) Lydia, retired American Robin and participants Darek, Piotr and Elvira.

The food didn’t prove to be too popular. We were served roast duck, gnocchi and a baked apple. I finished my plate but not everybody did. There was a latecomer – another mentor – Hartlepool model Jess who didn’t eat, so I gladly ate hers.

We were also not served pudding – they didn’t serve puddings in the hotel. To say that this annoyed everybody would be a massive understatement. The stockbroker, flirtatious, jack-the-lad Ricardo had to bribe the burly, bald-headed Polish bartender 30 zloty to serve him some ice cream in a fancy glass. But Ricardo didn’t just flirt with the bartender. He was also flirting a lot with Elvira – trying to buy her glasses of wine and what not.

Having had the ice-breakers and conversation practice earlier, dinner was a very relaxed affair where conversation flowed freely. There were lots of laughs. I went to university in Newcastle, so I got on well with the North-Eastern Jess, while Kal and Ricardo cemented their bromance over their shared love of curry.

At half eight, our work for the day was done, so it was time to check out the swimming pool and hot tub. I’m not a strong swimmer, so I was glad to se the pool was shallow enough that your feet touch the floor.

I was joined by flirty Ricardo, Leeds mother Adele, the half-French Bridget and Bulgarian kat. In the hot tub, Adele and I got chatting. I found that she was a beautician who is doing another Angloville programme after this one. Bridget is a a teacher likes me who keeps trying and failing to retire. being half-French, she speaks French, so I naturally practiced my French with her. Kat has spent a year teaching English in Italy, but previously worked in business and conference producing over London. It was a pleasant group of people and a pleasant evening. The hot tub had lots of bubbles.

At ten pm, we were kicked out, so it was time to go to bed. Ricardo and I had a nightcap of vodka that he bought for £6 in Warsaw, while Kal had to do a prison brush, because he had lost his toothbrush. But it was a fun first day. Admittedly, I was nervous about the conversation practice – I thought it would be awkward, but the time flew by. it was a good third day, a day of Pomeranians, Poles and hot tubs.