08. Index cards.

When we learn a foreign language we need to be focused not only on the grammar, but also on the vocabulary. I've always had a problem with getting to know some new words, I couldn't remember them for longer than a few days. When I have to say something in English or French, I often forget even basic words and it's really hard for me to make a full sentence. My previous English teacher always said: "Knowledge is what you remember". I hated that expression, but in fact, she might have been right. Recently, I've started to wonder, what can I do to improve my vocabulary skills. Nowadays, the most popular way to do that is using index cards. I decided to try it and you know what? It's really effective! Several days ago my boyfriend showed me an application for computers and mobile phones, which is called Anki. It enables us to create our own database with words we want to learn. According to our needs, we can divide them into different groups and categories. There is also an opportunity to change the application language, for instance to French. After setting all preferences we can finally start to learn. Everyday, we may check our knowledge and repeat choosen words. And this is how it works.

After choosing the category, the application gives us a single word or phrase
we put earlier into a database. 

We can think of that and check the answer. Then we mark
one of three options: our response was correct, the word was easy or we need
to practice and revise that word. Thanks to our answer, the program decides,
how often it will show us this specific word.

Isn't that easy? I've been studying words this way for last week and I see that I can remember more. It takes only a few minutes, so everyone can find time to learn by Anki. What is more, we can study wherever we are, the only condition is to have a mobile phone. I truly recommend this method, I hope it will be useful for you. 

07. Barbecue season.

I must admit that I don't really like summer. For me, it is too warm outside in June, July and August. Despite that, I love some activities we do in hot, summer afternoons. One of them is obviously barbecuing. Me and my family like it so much that we tend to do that even 2 times a week. We sit in our garden, turn on the music, take some cold drinks and start a little party. My dad prepares plenty of delicious things on the grill - sausages, fish, chicken meat etc. I always get an "extra" meal - slices of crunchy, grilled bread. After a tiring week, every member of my family takes part in it with pleasure. We talk a lot, everyone knows some funny stories, so we share them with each other. I think such meetings improve our relations, beacuse we finally have some time to spend together. 

My little rabbit also enjoyes those parties. As we sit next to the grill, it can run over the backyard, play with its ball and eat some grass. 

06. Something about speedway.

I'm a big fan of sport. Unfortunately, I'm to lazy to practise, but in spite of that, I always have some free time to watch sport events on TV or even better - to admire them live. In winter, I follow all of the biathlon and ski jumping competitions. Now we've got spring, so it's time for motor sports. Since I was a little girl, I have attended motorcycle speedway matches. My grandpa is totally keen on this sport, my dad as well, so it runs in the family. It is said that the Polish league is the best in the world and it is admired in other speedway-related countries. I totally agree with this statement, I can see it in every single match. Most of riders are determined to fight for the victory to the bitter end. I find it thrilling, when competitors change their positions and pass each other during the whole race. I believe this season will be really exciting and I'm extremely curious which team will be the best. Unfortunately, Unia Leszno (my favourite team) have been a little disappointing recently. I hope it will change soon and "the Bulls" won't surrender to their rivals without a fight. 

Final 2010, full stadium. I regret that this year there are so many empty places on the stands.

05. Two windy days in Wrocław.

Although the weather wasn't favourable lately, I decided not to give up my plans about going to Wrocław. I went there with my boyfriend, who had convinced me to visit the famous zoo. I've been in this city only twice, so I was really excited about that trip. Wrocław turned out to be very beautiful and fascinating city. To be honest, it is more impressive than Poznań for me. On Friday, we spent about 5 hours walking round the town with our friend Dawid, who lives there during his studies. He showed us plenty of interesting places and told us something about the history of Wrocław. After this tiring afternoon he also took care about our accomodation ;) On Saturday we finally visited the zoo, the main purpose of our trip. Fortunately, it didn't rain, but the weather was still really cold and windy. We spent another 5 hours admiring animals from all over the world. From the smallest creatures, like insects, little frogs and lizards down to the huge crocodiles, elephants and bears - they all were incredible. Watching them was a big pleasure for me. I hope I will visit the zoo again in the future. 

During our trip, I took a lot of photos, especially in the zoo. The quality isn't perfect, but I want to show you some of them.