Pa Polska!

Dear all,

Ofelya went back to Armenia last Friday and I am leaving Poland tomorrow as well, but before to go, I just wanted to write a last article to thank you all, students, teachers, school directors, host families, for the warm welcome that you gave us all year long. Everywhere we went, every school we visited, people were so kind to us that we could not believe it. We will always remember our first school visit in Lębork and our first Polish snow, the letter marathon and the best ogórkowa ever in Piątkowisko, the theater play  and visit of Toruń in Włocławek, the tea house in Słupsk, the homemade cakes in Łomna, the school tour in Kąty, the beautiful posters in Radom, the pierogi in Wolanów, and so many more wonderful memories, too many to write them all, that we will always treasure. 9 months only but so many faces, so many smiles, so many interesting questions (!) from the students... I was a honor for us to meet every single one of you!

To tell the truth, visiting schools was a bit scary for me at the beginning, because I had absolutely no teaching experience and I was afraid that it would not go well, students can be scary sometimes especially teenagers! But to my surprise, visiting schools became the part of my EVS project that I loved the most, I enjoyed it much more that I could ever imagine. I hope that we could teach you a few interesting things, but most of all, I would like to say that I learned so much thanks to you, about Poland of course, but mostly about myself. I will always be thankful for this experience, which has been one of the best experiences in my life so far, if not the best. And I think that Ofelya would say exactly the same if she was sitting next to me right now!

So thank you again, again and again we will miss you very much. We wish you good luck for all your future plans, exams and for your life in general, and maybe we will meet again one day, in Poland, in France or in Armenia, who knows? Life is a long journey!

So we are not saying do widzenia, but do zobaczenia, i jeszcze raz, dziękujemy bardzo!

Louise

Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących PSP i PG in Wolanów (14 June 2011)

14th of June: back to Radom. New school, new teachers, new students. Indeed, last week we returned to Radom – or not exactly, to Wolanów, a small village next to Radom - for our last school visit of the year. Not many Polish people know about this place, but as we realized after 7 months of school visits, we know many place in Poland that even Polish people don’t know!

We were invited by the Zespół Szkół Ogólnokształcących PSP i PG, and met there about 30 students aged 13-16. We really appreciated that so many students came to meet us on a voluntary basis, because they were the last days of the school year, the classes ended already and they were not obliged to attend our workshop.

 We had presentations about our countries, France and Armenia, and then a workshop on the European Union, European countries, languages, etc. At the end of the workshop, each team of students had to take a paper with the name of a country on it and pantomime it so that the other teams would guess which country they were pantomiming. The students were very creative and it was very funny to watch (we even have videos in the gallery that you can watch!)

After the school visit our host, Magdalena Zarębska, took us to Wolanów’s best Pierogarnia and we had a very nice time, Such a nice time that we completely forgot about our bus and had to run not to miss it, but we missed it anyway! Magdalena tried to follow the bus with her car and we felt like in a spy movie, driving as fast as possible trying to catch up with the bus! We finally managed and came back to Warsaw happy, fatter and najedzone! :-D  

Zespół Szkół nr 1 in Żelechów (30 May 2011)

On 30 April, I visited the Zespół Szkół  nr 1 in Żelechów. I met different classes from students aged 16-18 and we had workshops about France, the European Union’s history, functioning, flag, but also about the Euro and the different European countries and languages. We learnt how to say „I love you” in French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German and even in Portuguese… Thank you all for your nice welcome, I had a great day!

ZESPÓŁ SZKÓŁ OGÓLNOKSZTAŁCĄCYCH Z ODDZIAŁAMI SPORTOWYMI IM. POLSKICH OLIMPIJCZYKÓW W RADOMIU (26 May 2011)

Last week, we visited a school in Radom, where we had a great welcoming committee. The students had prepared so many posters on our countries and we had to choose the best one, but they were all so beautiful that we actually could not choose! To prepare these posters, they did a lot of research, so they already knew a lot about Armenia and France, and they asked a lot of interesting questions.  In the end we even had a short interview with them, they prepared a list of questions about us, our tastes, hobbies, interests, etc. They were very professional! 

So we did not need to make presentations on our countries, instead we conducted a workshop on the European Union, European countries, flags and languages, their similarities and differences.  The class was divided into teams, and each team had to answer questions, guess the flags and speak in different languages. The boys were very competitive and they won in almost every class! In one of the classes, there was a Louisa, and I was very happy to meet my 1^st Polish Louisa since I’m in Poland. By the way Polish people, I know that it is sometimes difficult for you to understand but my name is Louise and not Louisa! ;-)

After the workshop, we had a walk in Radom, which seems to be a very nice city. We had Zapiekanki and they were delicious! 

It was interesting for us to learn how the school find out about us. Ewa Nowak the teacher who invited us, just googled “we had a workshop on the European Union” and she found our blog. So this blog is apparently good promotion for us!  By the way, we would like to thank all of our visitors on our blog, we cannot believe that we had so many visitors (almost 2000!) from so many countries: of course, Poland, France and Armenia but also from Australia, the USA, England, Canada, South Korea, Bulgaria, Austria, Russia, Italy, Slovenia… We don’t know how this is possible but thank you!

Louise and Ofelya

As usual, you can check the pictures of our visit in our gallery on the right side of the page.

  

 PS: we dedicate this article to our friends Kacias ;-)

Szkoła Podstawowa im BŁO Stanisława Papczyńskiego w Kątach (19 May 2011)

Yesterday, on a beautiful sunny day, we took the bus to Kąty, a small and very green place near Warsaw. Teachers and students were very nice and welcoming. The children had prepared posters especially to welcome us as well as some posters about our countries. They showed us around the school, which was renovated 2 years ago and well taken care of, so both teachers and students were very proud of it. We were surprised to find out that for physical education classes all students play football and that even girls like it! 

We had meetings with three different classes and made presentations about our countries. Daniel ,one of the students and a very talented boy, helped us all day long with translation .

Our fourth and last class of the day was “zerówka” (zero class). The children were only six years old and just started learning English. We spent a very good time with them singing and dancing and learning new words in Polish. They asked us different questions about our countries, but our favorite question was from  a boy named Mikołaj, who asked: “which galaxy are you from?”. It was the most difficult question that we ever had to answer during a school visit!

 

We really enjoyed our day in Kąty and took a lot of pictures that you can see in our gallery. 

Skoła Podstawowa nr 11 in Torun - Visit at the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation (24 march 2011)

Yesterday, the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation hosted 28 Polish pupils from the Skoła Podstawowa nr 11 in Torun. We had a workshop on the topic ”Pieniądz zjednoczonej EUROpy”. We talked about what is the euro currency, which countries use it and how it looks like, the similarities and differences between countries. We discussed also what is EVS and how to apply. The children were young and didn’t know English very well, so one of the Polish volunteers of the Foundation, Marta Osinska, helped us with translation and we are very thankful! Dziękujemy bardzo Marta! 

 

The children brought us presents from Toruń, some delicious Toruński pierniki, traditional gingerbread known as a part of the symbols of the national cuisine of Poland. By the way, did you know that gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992 by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis? He left to France to live in Bondaroy (France), near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there 7 years, and taught the Gingerbread cooking to French priests and Christians. As you see, we learn something new every day here in Poland! We had no idea that pierniki came from Armenia and then France, it was kind of funny for us to find out!

I LO we Włocławku - update

New pictures of our stay in Włocławek from 22 to 26 January on the website of the Liceum Ogólnoksztalcące im. Ziemi Kujawskiej:

http://test.lzk.pl/index.php?option=com_ponygallery&Itemid=52&func=viewcategory&catid=116

And some pictures of their studniówka! 

http://test.lzk.pl/index.php?option=com_ponygallery&Itemid=52&func=viewcategory&catid=117

Zespoł Szkół Publicznych w Łomnie (4 March 2011)

 

 Last Friday, I visited the Zespoł Szkół Publicznych in Łomna. I made a presentation about France for a class of about 25 students, then we had a workshop with the members of the European Club of the School. We talked about the European Union, its history, its symbols and about the different European countries. We even talked a little bit French, since a few students learn French…

 After all this hard work, we were rewarded with delicious home made cheesecakes and sweets and listened to French music, it was great!  So now of course Ofelya wants to visit you too ;-)

  Merci pour tout, do zobaczenia and see you at Schuman Parade in May!

Gimnazjum nr. 7 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki (17 February 2011)

Yesterday, I visited the Gimnazjum nr. 7 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, a small city close to Łódz, 2 and a half hours away from Warsaw by bus.

I met around 150 students in 3 hours, which was quite exhausting... The first class was particularly impressing, they knew almost everything about France, were very nice and active! Thank you Radosław and Kate for your nice welcoming, and I hope to see you again for Schuman Parade in May!  

PS: One thing that I would like to add, because I have been asked this question in every school I visited:  no, French people don’t eat frogs and snails every day for breakfast! Or at least we don’t eat them on a regular basis, it is something exceptional that we don’t eat very often… And I even think that many French people, like me for instance, never ate frogs or snails in their life… I find it as disgusting as you do! ;-) 

Schuman volunteers'meeting in Wojkowice (5-9 February 2011)

From 5 to 9 February, 8 EVS volunteers of the Schuman Foundation (Sophie from Holland, Katarina from Czech Republic, Tobias from Germany, Alexey from Russia, Natia from Georgia, Silvia from Catalogna, Sophie and Louise from France) + our 2 beloved coordinators, Maja and Andrzej, travelled to Wojkowice, a small city close to Katowice, for a 5 days meeting. We were hosted by Tea from Georgia and Alina from Latvia, 2 of our EVS volunteers who live there. Twelve people in one flat for 5 days, you can imagine the big mess it was, but we had a lot of fun!

The girls had organized a whole and very full programme for the meeting so we did not have time to be bored:

On Saturday and Sunday, we prepared presentations about our countries and a workshop on volunteering, because 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering and we wanted to use this opportunity to exchange with the students about our experience as volunteers. 

 Preparing the workshop

 On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we visited differents schools in Wojkowice but also in Będzin, Psary, Rogoznik and Katowice to make presentations and workshops. It was great meeting all these students and speaking with them, it was as always a very rewarding experience! 

 Workshop on volunteering

On Tuesday, we went for sightseeings  in Katowice and went to the restaurant to have some pierogi. It was very tasty, even if some of us had to wait quite a long time… apparently Polish food is something that has to be earned! ;-)

 

 

In the streets of Katowice

 At last on Wednesday, we visited Będzin and walked in the footsteps of Jewish culture with Karolina Jakoweńko, a guide to the province of Silesia. She created her own Foundation, Fundacja Brama Cukermana. to save a “House of Prayer” in a former Jewish building. For centuries, Będzin was the oldest and largest Jewish settlement in this region and more than 50% of the population of the city was Jewish. Today, you can only see some remains of Jewish culture in Będzin. You can find more info on http://www.bramacukermana.com. Very interesting visit for everyone, we learned a lot on Jewish culture and history!

During our sightseeing in Będzin

So now Schuman team, what did you think about this meeting?

Alina: "Terrible mess and unusual noise in our flat, very sweet birthday presents, “mafia”, lack of sleep and a lot of fun – these are just a few things which cross my mind when I think about Schuman volunteers meeting."

Tobias the volunteer: "Long sunny days, windy, outside, inside, faces, feeling to be a star, nervous, strong, tired, interpersonal, twins, smiac sie, wake up and the breakfeast is prepared on the couch table, sleeping in the bus, orientation, walnuts in the pasta, like a movie, coincidence, longing, garbage, pociag, dogs, smoke"

Tea: "I want to thank the volunteers who were visiting  Wojkowice. It was pleasure to host them. They chilled out the whole city. The workshops and presentations they made were very interesting and students liked them a lot. Everybody is contended and thankful!"

Silvia: "A really good chance to get a little bit more into Polish culture! Very nice experience, that I would not mind to repeat. Thanks to Tea and Alina, and also their mentors and the highschool in Wojkowice for organizing everything!"

Sophie/Micheline: "I really appreciated the student from the schools in Silesia. They were very attentive and interested in the subject."

Blonde Sophie: "Not just presentations with the most different students, but also a perfect organization of these days, a crowded flat and very tasty home made diners!"

Natia: "This trip in Wojkowice was really good. To do some workshops and presentations with Schuman team was interesting, funny and pleasant for me :) we had very active days in Wojkowice, Katowice and Będzin."

Katarina: "Our trip to Wojkowice was for me a very good experience. It was nice to meet Polish students and to stay for a while in a smaller town. About presentations, it was not easy for me every time but at the end I enjoyed it a lot ;-)"

Louise: ”Who thought that 12 people could share one flat and one bathroom during 5 days without killing each other… but we made it! And who knew that we had so many mafiosos in Schuman team… Thanks girls for organizing this meeting everything was amazing!”

Maja: "I think the photos say it all but just in case they don’t here are some of my associations to the meeting: reflecting, personal, crowded but spacy, loud, nervous and excited before classes in schools, chaotic harmony, energy, volunteers’ mafia"

Andrzej: "For me it was good opportunity to get closer to the volunteers. Find out more about their personal life passions etc. It is sad but unfortunately during normal work days there is no time to slow down and chat a little bit with you. Thanks to that trip I have found out more about future plans of some of you, about your activities as well as about some problems which probably you wouldn’t share in the office with us."  

NB: You can see more pictures in the gallery!