Team orientation

Messages of the day: Connie offered two messages to get our service team off to a good start. The first is: You cannot begin to learn what you think you already know – attributed to Epictetus. The second is a poem by Charles Sidwell. It says:

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude is more important than facts.

It is more important than the past; than education;

Than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

It will make or break a company...a church...a home.

The remarkable think is we have a choice every day regarding the

attitude we will embrace that day.

We cannot change our past and we cannot change the fact that

people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have,

and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me,

and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with us; we are in charge of our Attitude.

We gathered for breakfast at 8:00 AM. The entrée for breakfast was a broccoli and egg dish, one of Lori’s favorite. As always at breakfast there was also yogurt, bread, cold cuts and cheese, and of course, Polish Nutella. 

After breakfast we went to the work room. Dorota again welcomed us to Poland. She continued by describing the history of the Global Volunteers program in Poland, noting that the first time that volunteers taught in a summer language camp was 1991. Poland, too, is the first country in which volunteers taught English, and since the program began, about 3000 volunteers have participated in the Poland program. 

Next Dorota answered question about health and safety around Reymontówka and within Poland. This was followed by a discussion of and clarification of Global Volunteer policies and guidelines. Dorota shared that each morning following breakfast we will have a short morning meeting during which a thought for the day and the journal from the previous day will be shared. During the morning meeting, too, Dorota will be giving us final details for that day’s schedule. 

Our next activity was the setting of team goals. The following were formulated:

1.       To learn more about Polish culture and language;

2.       To help students build English skills;

3.       To teach students about American culture;

4.       To build bridges for international communication;

5.       To grow personally; and

6.       To spend time with new people in a new place.

Dorota shared that we will evaluate our progress towards these goals at a mid-point during the program.

The next task was to identify characteristics of an effective team. This list includes:

1.       Learn from each other

2.       Share ideas

3.       Flexibility

4.       Curiosity

5.       Inquisitiveness

6.       Respectful

7.       Empathy

8.       Creative

9.       Sense of fun

1.       Sense of humor

1.      Patience

1.      Goal-oriented, and

1.      Enthusiasm

Our first meeting concluded with Dorota sharing a bit about the student population with which we will work and she also described the roles of the Polish staff at the language camp.

At 11:15 we gathered in the parking lot. The first stop was the church at Zeliszew. Eric, Ben, Gary, and Brenda stayed for mass while the rest of the team went on to Kotuń for some shopping. It was fun seeing products in the grocery store that were unique to Poland. Ice cream was a choice for some of the shoppers too. We all went back to Zeliszew to pick up our team mates. As mass had ended the rest of us could see the interior of the church, too. 

We returned to Reymontówka for obiad. This started with mushroom soup, followed by an entrée that included pork cutlet, potatoes and cauliflower.

After dinner (obiad) Dorota introduced Sylwia, program assistant. We learned that Sylwia will come each day around 11:00 AM and will stay with the team until about 6 PM each evening. Sylwia said that after obiad each day she could be found in the work room ready to help us. Silwia next provided an excellent Polish lesson.  Following this great lesson, Dorota led a discussion about what cultural differences or cultural similarities during our first two days at Reymontówka.

At 3:15 we all gathered in the tent. Ula Chruściel, Camp Director, formally opened camp. She introduced the Polish staff associated with the camp. Then each Global Volunteer shared an introduction. This was followed by each camper doing a short introduction.  Dorota and Sylwia used this data to help form the language teaching groups. At 5:15 we all gathered in the tent again and each of us met our students for the next two weeks.

At the evening meal we found all of us rather enjoyed pasta with whipped cream and raspberries. Equally, or perhaps even more, we enjoyed our conversation with Wojeich about Polish history and politics.

The later evening found most of the team members in the work room planning classes or enjoying a game of Apples to Apples.

Our team is off to a great start. 

Journal prepared by Lori