Friday, July 27, 2007

Friday, July 27th

By Lynsi

"May you confront every challenge with courage and confidence."

One cannot properly convey the multitude of experiences and attitudes present during this past week, though, perhaps, doing so will become somewhat easier as we will be losing some team members today, or at least our time as a team here in Poland has come to an end. Recognition of this fact came much earlier than today, however, as we sat last night realizing that tomorrow morning would be our last meal together. Journals always tend to wax nostalgic, but I feel that for many, this was, indeed, an abrupt realization. We awoke to our usual breakfast of Polish champions, as we are always treated to, and then rushed off to our respective classes. While we, technically, have four 45 minutes lessons per morning, this one was cut short by our own volunteer presentations taking place over the last two periods. We had the first two sessions with the students before they were free for the weekend. Some engaged in the very popular round of varied sports (kickball has lately come into the mix), others played animals or went shopping, and I had a rather unsuccessful bout of Word Yahtzee with my teenagers before giving it all over to watching some video of them dancing the previous night and talking a bit about that. It is amazing to hear about the varied approaches to the students and their incredibly varied responses. Some are more than eager to learn, while others have a different idea of being at camp and one that does not entirely rest in the sole desire to learn English. Oh well…that is expected, I suppose. As my students said, they were just here to get away from their parents!

After our lessons, we all shuffled into the big white tent as Dorota tried to gain the attention of 60 kids for staff presentations. I was up first, which was nice for me as I had less time to wonder what on earth I would say about myself up there. I seemed to have more of an ability for blathering about myself than I initially gave myself credit for and told some likely unimpressive details of my life in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was only when Dorota suggested that I show the class some karate that I rustled up some enthusiasm and all of the students quickly joined me in showing off their best karate punches and kicks. I may just have to use this for a lesson. I have already had a request to teach another class, so perhaps karate will be on the menu for the following week. At any rate, I hope the kids enjoyed hearing about us…or at least as much as we do about them. In the end, though, we are pretty much the same.

Jennifer followed my presentations and the kids were absolutely enthralled with the idea of her talking parakeet while Ann shared how much her kids loved popsicles (among many other great notes of which my incapacitated memory does not allow me to recall). The rest of the group continued on while Ann, Jennifer, and I all ate an early lunch and figured out how we were to get to Krakow that afternoon. Dorota dropped us off at the little Kotun railway station which was just a short jaunt away and we hopped on our train while Dorota waved us goodbye (packed dinners in hand). We were to head to Warsaw and then switch trains. I was just dying to have some time to wander aimlessly through the streets of Krakow.

Journals are always hampered by different events which are not experienced by everyone, so I can only rely on Judy’s account of the emotional nature of our fellow volunteers who were treated to (or what sounded to be) a wonderful send off by the students (rumor has it some tears were involved…or, if they were not shown, they surely recessed to form a pool of sentiment within everyone). Many have grown rather fond of their students and when anyone asks if you can make a difference in a week, I think they have showed that it is most certainly possible. It is all what you make of it, I suppose. What do people really mean when they say that, anyway? Perhaps I should ask myself the same question!

Our life on the Polish transit system was a breeze…old pros we are (okay, okay, Dorota walked us through the entire thing, but we did arrive just safe and sound). After about five hours, we made it to Krakow and headed to our hostel, the Globtrotter, which has found some previous success with other volunteers. What a beautiful city it is and writing about it in this journal does it little, if any, justice. I will have to leave this one in my memory. But, sipping a coffee in the largest square in Europe, under the lights and around allof the bustle, is not a bad way to start the weekend, nor to end a week of rather intense teaching. I am sure that those who are departing do so with some sadness, but that is likely the best proof that theirs was a wonderful experience. We all have our different challenges, but in the end, I am sure this will be something we will all certainly remember fondly. Just come ready to be overwhelmed, if you are anything like me.