Worth Every Grosz
I LOVE Max’s play school, even though it is a bit pricey. Here is why:
They have special week-long ‘units’, where they learn about other countries… so far, they’ve done Japan, Holland, Egypt and (as evidenced above) England.
Riding on the cutest damn mini-horses that I have ever seen. And I don’t even LIKE horses (sorry, Mary!).
They visited an ‘Indian Village’ and although every fibre of my Canadian being was screaming, “They are not Indians! They are Native Canadians slash Americans!” I calmed my PC self long enough to appreciate the kind of amusing fact that some blond guy taught my son to shoot a bow and arrow outside a teepee. With some Port-O-Potty thingy in the background.
Paper making, which necessitated ripping up all my dried flower arrangements. Turns out? Dried rose petals look awesome in paper handmade by a three-year-old.
And this is what I love best: after all the tea-drinking and horse-riding and village-visiting and paper-making, the kid is exhausted on the bus on the way home.
LOVE IT! Money spent with a smile…
That is great! When my boy is 3 or 4 I hope to find a good place like that, and it is worth the money. Is it like a montessori?
Looks like a lot of fun although the “Indian” village is hilariously inappropriate. For some reason Polish people are completely obsessed with Native Americans but they do hold some unintentionally confused beliefs.
Anyway, I love how he just passed out in the car at the end of it.
You don’t have to like my horses, just me.
I adore that last picture of him sleeping all wonky in his seat on the bus.
When Aeryn’s daycare takes trips its usually to the movies or to Rollarena. I’m pretty impressed with your daycare!
Wow! Great day care! I love the last pic of him sleeping – it must have been very exhausting.
That really is wonderful…I love when children can do stuff and enjoy it:) That photo of him sleeping is soooooo cute:) have a great day or evening and see you soon:)
*I* want to go there! Looks awesome!
I’m Polish, so I don’t understand this “Native Canadians” part, sorry. What is wrong with the “Indian Village”?
Hi Piotr,
Yes, this is a question I get quite a lot in Poland
Traditionally, Canada’s First Nations people were called ‘Indians’, since when Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ America, he actually thought he was standing in India, so he called the people he met ‘Indians’. Of course, he was nowhere near India, so this was a big mistake, but the name for the people just stuck.
It was quite recently – like the past 20 years – that the Native people in Canada began to push for the name ‘Indian’ to be removed from usage. First, they are not from India (obviously), and secondly, the word had become very negative, even derogatory. Calling someone a ‘dirty Indian’ was very common in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and they wanted the word to just stop being used. They equate being called an ‘Indian’ with other very unacceptable words (such as nigger and fag – it hurts me to even TYPE those words, but not so long ago, they were perfectly acceptable words in civil society).
So. This long answer is to explain why Native people themselves despise the word and challenge its legitimacy. And I totally respect that – as do most Canadians…. and I really hope everyone else!
All right, thank you for the explanation. I understand now that this is the matter of the emotional connotation of the “I” word. But in Poland nobody says “dirty Indian”. Nobody even heard that phrase. We love Indians! We, of course, can say “stupid Russians” or “aggressive Germans”, but I didn’t hear that this nations did not want to be called Germans or Russians for that reason. Frankly said, they don’t care how Polish call them. I am familiar with the “Indian giver” taken from Seinfeld show, but in Poland we also don’t use that, instead we say “kto daje i zabiera ten się w piekle poniewiera”
And of course we know that Indians are not from India. There is no way to confuse polish words “Indianin” and “Hindus”. So, in my point of view, at this logitude, there is nothing wrong with the “Indian Village”. Great blog, by the way.
Wow, what an incredible experience for the children and a nice exposure to different ways of living and viewing the world. And I agree with Kelley, I want to go too!
Piotr:
You’re missing the point Michelle is trying to subtly make. It’s not the word itself, it’s the connotation. Also, to call an Indian (from India) “Hindus” is also somewhat questionable as not all Indians are of Hindi religion — what would you call an Indian who is Christian or Sikh?
The word “Indian” in reference to Native Americans is simply wrong because of all the negative connotation that Michelle pointed out. And Poland has to wake the hell up and realize that some of our language is unintentionally racist when it comes to what we call people of different descents. If I remember correctly, there was a very popular children’s poem called “Murzynek Bambo” and I probably don’t even need to go there, do I? I’m not saying that you, Piotr, are wrong — you grew up and were raised with these outdated terms — but that as someone who’s been exposed to this maybe being an issue have a responsibility to dig deeper and educate yourself and those around you.
Just aside, in Canada, a derogatory term for someone Polish is Polack, which many would argue is just like the word that a Polak uses to describe himself. However, because of its negative connotations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polack) to use it here (in Canada) is to be disrespectful.
http://aftermatleave.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-in-name.html
Well said, Michelle and Jowita. I think I understand what Piotr is saying, that the Germans and Russians didn’t take offence to being called Germans or Russians, but those are both terms chosen BY them and accurately reflect their nationhood at that time. The term “Indian” (and also Eskimo, let’s not get into that) was bestowed upon Native Canadians (and the Inuit) by conquering forces and has long held negative connotations.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know of current terms for persons of African descent? Whenever I hear murzyn, it’s never in a positive tone so I’m curious if political correctness has taken hold at all.
On a lighter note, when I serve murzynek (the cake) to my Canadian friends, I have to call it something else! Plesniak doesn’t translate all that well either.
Michelle, we haven’t heard from you in ages! I hope this means you’re enjoying a summer holiday with sand between your toes and not up to your eyeballs in work.
Hi Michelle,
I work on a television show called ‘House Hunters International’ about people who relocate to foreign countries and we are very keen to do a show about someone who has bought a house in Poland within the last couple of years. Having just read your blog (which i very much enjoyed), I would be thrilled if you would contact me as I would love to know if you or someone you know might be interested in getting involved.
Best wishes,
Michelle
Michelle James
Associate Producer
LEOPARD FILMS USA
127 East 26th Street, New York, NY 10010.
+1 212 843 2821
michelle.james@leopardfilms.com
http://www.leopardfilms.com