On arrival training in Warsaw

The last week I was in Warsaw because I had my arrival training. The objective of this week is understand better the meaning of our work here and the structure of the Project, moreover it’s an opportunity to share the different points of view with other volunteers and know the impressions and feeling of people than are making the same activities like me.

In the beginning I was nervous because I had to go to Warsaw alone, without my friend Igi... And I didn’t know anyone. But finally the whole week was amazing and I enjoyed a lot my stay there. I met really nice people from many countries (Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, France, and Spain). We share a lot of things about our countries and our culture, we participate in nice conversations about many topics and everyone had their point of view and everyone made this meeting more and more interesting.

                I want to write a little summary of the activities that I liked:

•           Improve the Polish language: We did games to practice the polish language together. I think that we learned in the funny way. One activity was in groups put a word that starts with each letter of the alphabet in polish. Other activity was manufacture cards with different topics, in one card we had to put a word and in other card we had to draw. After we had to play with the cards and find the word connected with the drawing.

•         Culture exchange: We shared many things about our culture; like dances, language games to see the difference, gastronomy, curious things and traditional games. I liked the idea to compare cultures with an iceberg, because first when you go abroad you only can see the top; and this is the food, the language, the clothes style and habits... but there are more things that defined the culture. So we did other activities to work the intercultural awareness. We did groups with people from different countries and we choose interesting topic to discuss; for example, the most controversial topics in our countries, the different humour and habits, the education’s system, the economy, the religion, the relationships, the taboo topics, etc. Talking about this you can go deeper and realise more how the different cultures are. 

•    Knowledge about Poland:  And like with other cultures, we were interested too in learning more about Poland, so we choose different topics and prepare interviews to ask polish people their opinion in many places of Warsaw, and in this way, know more the city. The topic of my group was little bit controversial here in Poland, the homosexuality, but it was really interesting. We went to the association LAMBA, who support the LGBTI collective and they explain us their point of view and their work. They help people that is excluding because they are homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender or intersexuals; they give psychological support and there are lawyers who work here too. They explain us that with the new government here the situation is more difficult for this collective, because the government doesn’t help to changing the mentality and accept them, unlike. So, they are searching help and support abroad, in other countries. About the interviews, we realised that this is a hot topic here and people didn’t feel comfortable when we ask them, regrettably, here there is quite homophobia...People say that it is connected with the traditions and the religion and it’s difficult to change, but there are a lot of people too that think that the homosexuality is not bad and they have the same rights that the rest. After our work we made a presentation to share the information about our topics with our partners, and they spoke about the education here, the nationalism, the refugees, the homeless, how people spend their free time, etc.

•           Play games and creative staff: In the breaks and to start the day we played a lot of games and it was very funny and moreover, I think we collected many ideas to do with children. Games with chairs, witty games, traditional games like for example “el pañuelito”, that is a traditional game in Spain, etc. On the other hand, we shared different ideas about crafts, like origami or make an advent calendar, original from Germany. I liked the dance of the penguins too XD

•           Knowledge about EVS: We talked about our feeling here, when you are living abroad, the adaptation’s process. I think that this is really good because you realize that you are not the only one that has these feelings, because sometimes you can feel bad or not comfortable, but it’s normal, it’s a part of the project and it’s a part of the process of evolution. The coordinators give us some tools to work the emotions and the situations that we can find. Mainly I liked a lot one called “3 steps” or something similar. First you have the explain the facts, after how you feel with these facts, the emotions and to end, find a solutions and make a proposition to change the problem. Moreover, we spoke “what is for me EVS”, “what I want improves and get”, “what I can give”...Many reflexions together. To finish, we spoke about the rules of the EVS and the projects and ask any questions we had and the coordinators explain a lot of things about this.

                           

And of course, we had time to know the city and go to party. We enjoyed our stay in Warsaw. In conclusion, it was a very productive week and the experience was amazing, I have good memories of the nice people that I met J

Diary Fani - Chapter 1: Wrzesien i Pazdziernik

Hi! I’m Fani and I want to share my first emotions and feelings here. Two months ago I came to Poland. In this time I have experienced many emotions, everyday is new to me. I remembered that in the beginning living here was not easy, because a lot of things are different. For example, the communication was hard, we didn’t understand the polish language (now not yet, but we understand more wordsJ) and I had to practice my English. Now the communication is more fluent. Other different things to me were the weather and the food. In Spain the weather is warmer, and in this season we still have high temperatures, this change was a little shock for me. Moreover, the food is different too, but I’m getting used. I like the soups! I think that are really healthy and nutritious because they have a lot of ingredients.

Otherwise, people were very kind and hospitable and they helped us a lot when we arrived. People take care of us, seriously. We are trying to know more and more the polish culture and live in this context.

For example, this weekend we went to a concert of Lao Che, it was amazing, they are really good musicians and the show was very well. I think that in Poland there are good musicians, especially there are a lot of rappers, for me it is really curious, because, you know the polish language have many sounds and I think the pronunciation is so difficult. I like so much this combination, this language with rap, but honestly, for me it is very difficult to understand the lyrics!  We are still adapting to new situations, but now I feel better.

About Zamosc, what most impresses me about this city is the history, especially the history of the Second War, it is really hard. When we went to Rotunda, I was very impressed because I’ve never been in a place like this. But think that is interesting and important know the history of the countries and cities, because the history is part of the people’s life and you can understand better more situations.  One day the seniors who go to the activities in Okraglak explain how was the life in this age and they told their personal histories. It must be hard having lived all that.

I’m happy because I have known Poland in autumn and it’s so nice! The fusion of the colours, green, red and yellow in the forest is amazing! But, now I’m worried because the trees start to lose their leaves and...The winter is coming!

About our work in the project, we everyday have more activities. I enjoy our work. The workshops with seniors now are better because we interact more, and the workshops are creative, we made “kurczaks” with fabrics, collage...

The workshops with children are very good too, Igi and me enjoy a lot these activities and we spent really good time with these girls.  Other thing that for us is really good is the tandem of languages, because we know many people and can improve our skills together.

Moreover, we are doing presentations in many high schools to explain our project. In the beginning we were so nervous, because it was new for us, but now we are doing this more relaxed. And we are will do other activities with “doctor clown”. J

Diary of Igi – Part l : First impressions, feelings and thoughts about Poland, Zamosc and our project here…

So our first 2 months of living and working here in Zamosc are almost over. The truth is that things are moving so fast every day and every week that it's not possible to gather and summarize all which is happening just in a single post. It's kind of difficult to talk in details about all the experiences and impressions we had in these two months. But I'll do my best to do it and to present my thoughts and feelings about the situation and how things are going on here. J 

·      

    Our pretty and quiet town – Zamosc!

So as you already know, the town where we are with my friend, colleague and roommate Fani (from Spain) is Zamosc.

Zamosc is a small polish town situated in the south-east part of Poland, very close to the border of Poland with Ukraine. What can I say about it…hmm first this is a small town mainly full of students (I mean high-school) or old people (seniors). There aren`t so many people in the middle age here, because of the difficult economic situation of the region. So this is the biggest reason why someone may start asking questions like - “why there aren`t so many places for going out at the evening?” or “why nothing is happening here?”. Honestly if you decide to live here or to stay a little bit longer these are going to be the first questions in your head, but after all Zamosc has its benefits too. Life here is simple, quiet and  well-arranged. For a person like me who is a fan of craziness of the big cities and crowded places, especially about night life, probably a town like that is not going to be so exciting and easy living. And yes, it is true in the beginning of our settlement here it wasn`t easy at all for me but over time and of course with some patience from my side things started to work and I start finding out the positives and the beautiful parts of this place. Mainly these are the people in it, the marvelous Old Town (Stare Miasto) and the architecture in it, the greatest parks ever, especially about a small town areas - seriously Zamosc has the best green areas that I ever saw, and the nature and national parks around it. By the way if you need and want something from the big city living like a huge shopping mall, or night life and crazy polish parties you always can choose to go for a weekend to Lublin. This is the closest big city that you have near to Zamosc and its only one hour travelling with a bus or BlaBlaCar.

·        About our project… “Voluntary service in a local community”

The main idea and purpose of our EVS project is to help and open the local community here for more international experience, visitors and most of all to help the young people with learning and practicing foreign languages.  

Our work here covers all major spheres of social work and activities. We are participating in different kind of workshops (about painting, sewing, theatre, music and etc.), meetings, trainings and etc. The two main groups of people that we are working with are seniors and children. But the most important ones, and mainly our own ones, are the language activities that we are organizing for the youngsters in Zamosc. These are called “Tandem of languages” and “The Language Cafe". The main idea of them is to help the young people (students mainly) to practice more and not be scared of speaking and practicing foreign languages. We already have two main groups of polish students with whom we work every week during these activities. I can proudly say that I am so happy to see them getting better and advancing with every following week and every other meeting with us. This is the best feeling and success till now for us, when you see that your work is meaningful to somebody`s life and future!

In the beginning of course nothing was so easy or great. This is the first international EVS project of our polish local NGO – Centrum Wolontariatu and like you can guess anything at the start was little bit messy and nervous for both sides in the first month. My personal opinion and feeling about the project so far is that – “The project just started to work and everything is still in its early beginning… we have so much more in front of us!”. But YES the best part is that I found the right way to enjoy it and to put all of me and my previous experience in it! So I keep going and keep growing… J 

·       The people here… and country of Poland

My impression and feeling about Polish people till now in general, if I have to use only one word, is  “Good People”. 

I was thinking and observing a lot in the last two months living here and in the end I came to the following conclusions about what defines the culture and behavior of the people here : the historical heritage of Poland, the religion, the weather and the fact that they are slavs. For the record my nation and my country are also part of the Slavic ones, so because of this I am feeling close to them at some point and I can understand a big part of their behavior, language and etc.  

About the history of Poland I think every one of us who is quite educated about the new part of the world history knows how much Polish people suffer and lost in The Second World War. So you can imagine what kind of past they had and what they’ve been through. And trust me this is still an important part of their present in nowadays. Religion is one of the strongest factors in the country and in the way of living of Polish people. For me sometimes it’s hard to understand it , but for sure I respect their belief and the fact how much it’s important to them. About the weather here I will share you my thoughts later in this post. But yes the weather and climate here are not easy at all so this is an important part of their habits and way of living, too.

For me Polish are friendly, smart and hardworking nation. Till now all my impressions in general from the talks that I had with the people here are really good, especially their education and culture. Yes, probably they are little bit more closed at some point than us (I mean the Bulgarians) and you definitely have to be patient if you want to get closer with them. But trust me the best way to have fun and getting to know them well is just to go out and drink with them J 

About Poland what can I say… this is a huge country with a lot of benefits. They have great nature and land (may be not so much mountains, especially in this region, but yes they HAVE mountains for the record!), a lot of history and traditions, well doing economy (because from all EU member states Poland did the best during the crisis years from 2008 to 2015). Polish people are hard workers and they truly love and appreciate their country and nation!

·       About the weather and living here…

Defining the weather here with one word - the weather in Poland is just “crazy”. When you talk about Poland and the climate everybody is expecting just cold, but honestly since we are here we experience all kind of weather and also a lot of sun (especially in September when we arrived). The weather is crazy because it is changes fast from one extreme to the other and sometimes in only one day, but one thing is for sure - when it’s cold it can be really, really cold!

About the food and the cuisine of Poland – this is not my kind of food for sure! My experience with the food here is not very “successful” till now, but generally you can find everything that you need about your taste ( I mean if you have to cook and prepare food yourself at home) in the stores and supermarkets. One of the most popular and cheap supermarkets in the country are Biedronka and Stokrotka (our favorite one with Fani and the closest one to home). Actually shopping in Poland  is a huge and exciting thing for us (especially it was so in the beginning of our living here). It was the only thing that we can do even if we don`t speak Polish and the only way to explore the new country and  environment. We still love to do that I think! J

For a conclusion to this first part of my diary I would like to say that I will never regret that I choose this project and the fact to become a European volunteer and also that I choose Poland and this project in Zamosc. Yes, it is hard and I knew that nothing is going to be easy, because trust me going abroad and trying to fit in to a new society and to a new culture is always not an easy task. But the things that you can find out about yourself, your perspective about the rest of the world and the things that you can experience doing that are going to be the most precious and meaningful ones in my life till now!

P.S. Keep dreaming… working and growing! Step by step everything is possible no matter where you are (dedicated to my new Spanish bestie – Fani J )!