ENJOYING ZAMOŚĆ FROM THE BEGINNING

Hi everyone!

My name is Sergio, I'm from Spain and I wanted to share with all of you, how is is going here, on my EVS project in the beautiful Zamość.

To start with, my first impression about everything. Well, I came here, and I still don't know how could I get to Zamość safe and sound. I never took a flight before, I was never been abroad, and everything was too new for me. People were really helpful, trying to find for me the right bus, the next station, at what time was the next bus leaving; yes, everything!

By the time I came in Zamość, my coordinator Kasia, my flatmate Alberto, my mentor Daga, and other cool volunteers were there to welcome me, talk about the trip, and how it was going to be here. We had a little dinner, great conversation, and many laughts!!

The first week wasn't actually the first week. I came in Zamość in festival days, it was Corpus Christi- Boże Ciało, so that week was a total blast!! People from here showed me the cool places here in Zamość, the main square (the perfect place for a beer with friends), the beautiful, amazing, huge, stunning  Park Miejski and some pretty cool things, like a representation of a battle, when Zamość had to fight to keep the control of the city.

Some volunteers in Wólka Panieńska made a great dinner, that we called ''Italian Dinner Day'', and it was great, italian people cooking pasta, what more could I ask for?

We also spent some time in the forest, with a campfire and a barbecue. That day was when I started to get to know the people I was going to spend this next 7 months in my EVS project. I am so thankful for that day, for that people, and for everything.

First week of working. Oook, working hehehe I wouldn't say it is working, I am having so much fun that I want to say that this is not a work, it is vacation to me. I've been meeting new people almost everyday, talking to seniors, children, and teenagers. We organized lots of great activities like ''Language Coffee'', ''Fast Dates'', ''AntiStress Workshop'', we baked cookies for charity, disguised as clowns for ''Doctor Clown'' association and made animals with ballons for children... There are so many great things that we have done, and I'm remembering them all, so now I am getting a bit emotional :)

Our third week, we spent it on the Arrival Training. I just can say good things about that week. We went to a lot of new places, played many games, met more volunteers, toured Warsaw with a guide, and learnt how to dance some traditional dances, from Hungary, Spain, and of course, Poland!! Polish traditional dances were the best part of that training; We really enjoyed that day.

When we came from Warsaw to Zamość, our organization had bikes for us! Now we can go everywhere, without depending on buses or these kind of things. It was a really nice surprise ;)

And here we are, just a month passed, and it's been like we are in home. I feel like I don't want to leave Zamość never. I love the people, I love the place, I love the great activities that Zamość prepare, I love the language... And yes, I love everything in here.

So, that was all for now. I want to share with you how is everything going, and I want to show you how people in Poland can be sooo nice and kind, so I hope that you keep on reading.

Dziękuję bardzo!!

PS: I think that there are pics that words can´t describe; If you really want to see how was my first month in Zamość, just take a look  :)    

First month in Zamosc!!!!!

Hi guys!!!! I’m Alberto and I come from Italy, I arrived in Poland precisely in the beautiful Zamosc one month ago and I would like to share with you my experiences and emotions that I experienced during the first month.

The best moment before leaving was when Kasia informed me that I had been selected for this project ,I was very happy for this new adventure that was about to begin but at the same time a little worried.

I arrived in Zamosc in the evening after a long journey, I felt confused but when I met Kasia I was more quiet. That night I went to Wólka and I met Biagio an Italian volunteer, he and Kasia explained to me some things about my project.

The second day I met my mentor Joanna a very nice girl and she speaks Italian, ok I now I’m lucky ;)  . That evening has arrived in Zamosc Sergio the new volunteer and my flatmate from Spain, it was a  really beautiful month with him.

During the first week I haven’t worked, this week I served for acclimate and meet lots of new friend in Zamosc.

The first Thursday was fantastic because taking advantage of the festive day in Poland I, Sergio and Wólka people went to Kasia house in the beautiful national park near Zamosc ;) . During this day I met the Spanish volunteers working in Lublin  and together we spent a fantastic day of barbecue and walks in the nature.

The following days I have been using them to discover Zamosc. The old town and the square are beautiful but I prefer to stay in the fantastic Park Miesjki to relax and stay in contact with the nature, I love this Park and Zamosc. The first week was fantastic and the dinners with guys in Wólka was wonderful!!!!

The second week I started working in association and I met some great people working in Okraglak and the boss are very kind and helpful ;) .

During the second and the third working day  Sergio an I attended a presentation about communication whit senior and teenager, the presentation was made by Kasia. Congratulation it was an amazing and really funny presentation!!!!

The fourth working day we went to a school near Okraglak for celebrate children day, we spent a very great morning with children, we talked ( I do now what language we used) and we painting and danced together. I would  like to go back to that school and spend some time with children.

The fifth day of work we held a workshop with senior, we sang Polish song ( I love popular Polish song) and talked. This senior are very kind and funny  I love them.

Saturday we went to National Park with Kasia, Joanna, klaudia and Wólka guys to go kayaking, I had never been kayaking before and I liked a lot, this place is incredible ;) .

The third week was really great, I spent this week in Warsaw for on arrival training. During this training I met many guys from all over Europe. Talk together, play together and deal with guys who come from other countries is an amazing experience. During this training I learned a few word of Polish, know Polish language is very important when you work with senior and children, in addition I learned something about beautiful Polish culture.

At the end of the training I was sad because for me was very difficult to say goodbye to all the guys but at the same time I was happy to be back in the fantastic Zamosc and see my friends again.

During the fourth week we have made a very funny first date with Wólka people and other friends, it was amazing.

We spent the other days of the week with senior in some workshop or theatre.

During the last week we have prepared and attend a theatre performance ( Balladyna) with teenagers, it was a great experience working with them, thank you for the opportunity J .

During this week I had the opportunity to learn a bit Spanish, thank you teacher!!!!

This first month in Zamosc was one of the most beautiful of my life, I met many wonderful and kind people.

I had a lot of fun, everything is like a dream and I hope I never wake up.

Thank you Kasia for giving me this opportunity, I’ll try to do my best for this project.

Thank you Sergio and thank you wólka people for this amazing month!!!!!

A presto….ok it means see you soon guys!!!! J

My feelings in the middle of the project

The Middle of the project.+

            The months are going very fast and yes, here we are in the middle of our EVS. The med- term training was amazing like the first training. I must say that the volunteers that I met were very kindly, funny and communicative and this good combination makes our experience great. So, yes thanks so much. I want to say thanks for the trainers too, they help us a lot. We analyzed step by step our projects and experience using different activities.

            I'm thinking about project and our goals and I would like to analyze this deeper. About the polish, for me is very difficult to speak and understand the language, but I realize that is not only me and Igi, because all the volunteers are like us, Ukrainian volunteers are the only one who speak polish. In the beginning I was very sad but now I understand that is a difficult language and I find it hard to speak, but I’m getting better in understanding others around me. I think that the language is important to work especially with seniors and for this reason maybe this part of the project is the hardest one for us, but seniors now know us and is more easy work with them. Sometimes I would like to speak polish to communicate me better with people that I know and it's a pitty when have a language barrier, but anyway I'm happy because I'm spending my time with polish people and this is very important for me when you are living in other country. I'm very happy too because now there are more volunteers living in Zamosc; Gergely, Joan and Biagio and I like to share my time with them too :)

            Now we have a lot of activities to work, very different each other. Work in kindergarten, work with seniors, the tandem of languages, work in afternoon centers with kids, presentations in high schools...We are trying to do that well, I'm very happy to work with Igi, she is a very good partner and I think we make a very good team :) But it's true that sometimes it's a little bit stressful because the activities are getting more...and it comes in the last moment.  Maybe it could be better if the whole plan of the project was organized better in the beginning, I don't know. Anyway I feel that I'm learning a lot and I'm giving and using my knowledge about some things, for example in the kindergarten or in the afternoon centers. The presentations are getting better and better too, sometimes it's little bit boring repeat the same all the time, but we have a new presentation. We work a lot in this and we hope that people will enjoy!

            I'm a little bit sad because I wanted to take some free days and I was thinking that 10 days are enough period of time to warn my organization about that, and in the end they didn’t let me do it.

Anyway in the last week of February my parents and my sister came to Poland and we spend a great time together. They like Poland and I was very happy to see them J

My Arrival Seminar in Warsaw... new people,new experience and new perspectives

My last week before Christmas was actually really crazy and busy and I had to travel a lot. The main reason about that was because my Arrival Seminar situated in Warsaw from the dates of 14-th of December till 20-th.

The Arrival Seminar is the obligatory part of every EVS project that you must do and go.This is a one week meeting and living with other volunteers like you who are also doing an EVS projects in Poland.

In my seminar we were twenty people from all of Europe and not only. There were people from France, UK, Spain, Portugal, Cabo Verde, Italy, Ukraine and etc., actually I was the only volunteer from Bulgaria there. I don`t want to lie that the beginning of the week there was really hard for me because I was alone from my country and without my friend and colleague Fani and all of the other people were together and at some point already know each other because a lot of the other projects are really big and include sometimes even five or more people who are living and working together in the same city of Poland. My case was a little bit different but honestly now I really don`t regret about that. Because like always happen you are finding your kind of people and in my case they were from Spain and not only. We had great time together and after this meeting I found out the best and lowest points of our project and work here in Zamosc,Poland.

The structure of the seminar is every day to do something different and to explore more about Poland, others and of course about your project and work here. We had timetable for day with different activities and tasks and of course we had a lot of free time also to enjoy Warsaw and to getting to know each other. We started with tasks to present our first impressions from Poland and the way we felt when we arrived here. Activities to present our countries and languages and also activities to help us getting better with our skills about Polish language and the Polish culture and manners.

My most favourite part and task was the one to choose a topic and do a small research about it in a group with others. We had to ask Polish people on the streets about their opinion and also to find our own way to discover more info. Mine group`s topic was about the homophobia in Poland - LGBT rights and the role of the man and women in the Polish society. As you can imagine the topic is taboo and also something that is not easy to ask others so I can say that our research it was hard but in the same time fun and useful.We have met great people and we visit two organisations in Warsaw, one about the women rights and one about transgender rights and protection.

For the end of all I can say that for sure my arrival seminar wasn`t what I expected. It was full of surprices and I had to go out for another time from my comfort zone here in Poland, but definitely it deserves it because I have met great people, had fun and found so much new things about Poland, people and the life here. :)  

The Gala of The Centrum Wolontariatu or the most important day for our local organization in Zamosc!

This week took place one of the most important events in the year for our hosting organization – The Gala day or the day of the volunteer. The place where all happened was our main office in the town – Okraglak.

• Our work about Gala

About this event we worked really hard and prepared certain things to present the idea of our project and also the thing to be a volunteer. We made lucky papers or in other words small papers with quotes of worldwide popular persons connected with the idea of being and doing a voluntary service. Also we made a funny and very cute picture place (a big picture with wholes for the faces representing a simple conversation between boy and a girl about volunteering), but honestly our idea didn`t work like we thought in the beginning, because people there were too shy and didn`t understand the English lines on it. So not many of them took a picture with it - it was a pity at some point!

The other big part of our work and preparation about the Gala were the flyers that we made about our activities here (The Language Coffee and The Tandem of Languages). Honestly people looked interested about them but also like with the picture place the fact that they were on English didn`t help a lot. 

After all we had our reserved place in the whole Gala event with our things and it was nice. People stopped there to congratulated us and we had the chance to present our job.

•  The Gala or the work of our local organization

In general the whole official part was around one hour or a little bit more. Ewa and Christina (the chefs of Centrum Wolontariatu) presented all of the projects and things that they did in the last year. Ewa made a presentation and explained about all of the small and big projects that they realized through the year with the local schools and the voluntary clubs in Zamosc. Later it followed another presentation from another woman of our organization about their part of theater and art activities with the students and seniors.

Before everything to finish Ewa and Christina recognize the work of all of the local volunteers through the year (which was really nice and fully deserved), the local school clubs, teachers and to the persons who helped them.

Actually we were impressed from the fact how many people here do a voluntary service and from the fact how many of them are young people and students, which is a great fact for the community of Zamosc!  

In the end of course of the event there was some scheduled time for food and drinks. We enjoy it a lot and spent good time with the students that we met and the people that we know from Okraglak. In general for us it was a little bit difficult because everything was only in Polish and almost all of the people spoke only in Polish but we enjoy the event and the time spent with the people there! ;) 

  

WORLD OF EVS. You want to find out about our project in Zamosc or to see us in your school... See how you can meet with us!

Language activities - Zamosc