October 8, 2009

By Doris

Cheryl and I started our day teaching the wonderful classes from Cisie. It will be very hard to say "good bye to them today! We also ended our time with the Niwiski students. In the beginning, I honestly thought I could not face those "energetic" little darlings 7 times, but today I am actually feeling like I want to stay with them longer. Once they understood "my plan" we got along beautifully! I even got a hug "good bye" from all of them!! I would like to say that I accomplished my 3 goals. I met wonderful people from all over the U.S. who enjoy helping others. I was able to visit and experience the homeland of my great grandparents, and most of all I hope I made a small contribution to the advancement of some very special children that I will never forget.

Thought for the Day (from Kathryn): Don’t be dismayed by goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends. …Richard Bach

October 6, 2009

By Dennis

It was a typical routine of up and ready for another delicious breakfast featuring pancakes with cheese. The volunteers were then off to their normal schedules of tutoring and teaching for the day. There were some highlights through out the day. Cheryl and Doris had a new group of 6th and 7th graders in the afternoon. Pat had a great day planning for the Weds. zoo trip. Kathryn had a tour of Siedlce with her student.

The highlight of Tuesday was a dinner here at the manor with the County mayor, vice mayor, 13 of 21 County Commissioners, 4 representatives from the Ukraine a long with their translator and of course the Global Volunteers. We had a very nice meal and a slide show of the seasonal changes in the Ukraine county side. The mayor welcomed everyone, the leader of the Ukraine delegation responded and Mike responded on behalf of the Global Volunteers.

Thought for the day (from Edmund): author unknown: No longer forward or behind. I look with hope or fear, but grateful for the good I find, the best is now and here.

October 5, 2009

By MaryAnn

This morning we started the day with a tasty breakfast of apple fritters and other usual meats, cheeses and vegetables. Mike read the journal and Mary Ann had the thought for the day. Everyone left for their classes and tutoring assignments as usual. Dennis, Eddie, Ellen and Mary Ann left for Caritas, which is about a fifteen minute drive with the best driver in the group. After our usual cup of coffee, Dennis left for the computer room, where there were 8 students in a room that is normally full with 6 students. He works with Daniel who speaks very good English. Eddie went to the craft room with his normal enthusiastic students after which he joined Dennis. They work with Daniel who speaks very good English. Lucky them. Ellen left for the beauty room where she has 5-6 students. Mary Ann went to the sewing room with two therapist, four students and one student who just observes. After our first break Ed and Dennis both went to work in the computer room where they teach for the rest of the day. Ellen and Mary Ann teach English together in the break room for 1 ½ hours after which everyone has a lunch break. After lunch Ellen returns to the beauty shop and Mary Ann goes to the kitchen to continue with the English lessons. At 1:45 we start back for lunch with Doris and Cheryl. Everyone had a great day.

Thought for the Day (from Dennis): author unknown… As I work here there are moments of despair about the accomplishments or the feeling of insignificance of what I do. This is quickly erased when the spigot produces a stream of water which started with just one drop.

October 1, 2009

By Shirley

After a very generous and appetizing breakfast with the entire group, Mike and I met Roman, our most dependable driver, at 7:30. He took us a different route to show us another section of Siedlce, a kind thing to do. We arrived at Spoteczna at 8:10. Classes begin at 8:20.

Mike has a majority of boys-only three girls in his grade 2 classes. Today, scheduling sport events was the main topic which kept them interested.

My first two periods consist of 13 year old students. who at home in the USA would have conjured up terrible images and scary behavior for me. These two groups are very well-behaved and cooperative. In class they wrote original sentences following specified grammatical construction and then wrote them on the board . If there was a need to correct grammar, we did .

I followed the same plan with more difficult sentence construction in my next two classes. These two groups are divided into all boys and all girls. There were only a few relevant questions regarding grammar. These students have a good solid foundation.

We have two breaks during the morning:10 minutes after two classes and 15 minutes after the third class. Coffee, or tea with tasties are in the teachers’ room.

Tomorrow I will hear reports from each student over assigned magazine and newspaper articles. Introductions today gave each an opportunity to converse with me a few moments which is what Elizabeth (the principle) wishes us to do.

I am really enjoying working with these enthusiastic youngsters. They are eager and willing to attempt anything asked of them. They do a good job.

Thought for the Day (from Mike): "Education is the only powerful weapon we have to change the world". Nelson Mandela

September 29, 2009

By Ellen

We started our Tuesday morning having a lovely breakfast of what is called an omelette in Poland, but it is really more like a pancake that was filled with jam. Dorota drove Ellen, Eddie, Mary Ann & Dennis to Caritas where the four of us will be teaching English to and interacting with adults with physical and mental disabilities.

Caritas is a Catholic organization and we were introduced to and had a meeting with a priest from one of the local churches who came to Caritas to meet the four Global Volunteers from the U.S.

We had an assembly with all 30 clients and the staff. Some of the staff members are called therapists. We introduced ourselves and talked about our life experiences and we were followed by almost all 30 clients, who also came to the microphone, and told us about their families, hobbies and what they were participating in at Caritas. There were all different levels of verbal abilities. Of course most clients spoke in Polish, with the exception of a few who spoke some English.

The Managers at Caritas are Marinus and his wife Alicja. Alicja was doing all of the translating of English to Polish and Polish to English.

Daniel, who speaks good English and also works in the computer room, was shooting lots of photos of the Global Volunteers meeting with Alicja and Marinus.

Some of the clients are able to learn about how to use computers, while others are working in the crafts room making little Christmas trees out of pine cones. which they will be selling for the holidays. The clients also spend time in the kitchen learning how to prepare meals for themselves.

Dorota picked us p at Caritas and we returned to Reymontowka for lunch.
Following our dinner of pierogi, a group of us – Perry, Dennis, Mary Ann, Eddie, Pat and Ellen met at the cafe where we shared family photos together!

Thought for the Day (from Cheryl): The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust

September 28, 2009

By Betty

Today you are to embark on our first day with students and staff in our assigned sites. Let’s take a deep breath and look at our preparation. We started our Monday with identifying the characteristics of an effective team…that will be us! Some of the characteristics we identified were having a positive attitude, consideration, sharing, being flexible, having fun, asking for help, and having patience. Like wow! Keeping these characteristics in mind and adding that smile characteristic should make us a strong team and effective volunteers.

Our morning continued with Dorota teaching us to pronounce Polish words and phrases. Now remember cz sounds like ch; the letter w sounds like a v; and the letter j sounds like a y. Our Polish lesson ended by having Perry and Shirley volunteering to demonstrate their Polish skills by reading our lesson aloud. They did real good. We gave a special conclusion to the lesson by adding the characteristic praise to our team list. We appreciated having that demonstrated on us by Dorota (and she was smiling….doubling-up on our list of effective characteristics).

In the afternoon we met with the mayor of the county, Mr. Zygmunt Wielogorski. Yes, indeed, we sat in his office and discovered that he is an attorney; has a sense of humor; is candid about dealing with complex issues; proud of his family; and wanted to hear about our backgrounds along with our views about his county. (I personally would like to know how he became a weightlifting judge at the last Olympics.) He said he was hoping to drop by and visit us later while we are here in Poland and he also said he would like to be a grandfather. I hope both happen.

Thought for the Day (from Ellen): “Don’t place your mistakes on your head, their weight may crush you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as a platform to view your horizons”.

September 27, 2009

By Pat

The morning started with a wonderful breakfast. We dined in the Red Room on cheese fritters and the usual veggies, meats, cheeses, cereals, tea and coffee. We did our introductions and headed off to the first team meeting. We began with all but one present due to an indisposition, boarding the Global Volunteer philosophy of service touching on the high points. Team goals were established which resulted in; further education of students, further education of volunteers, tbroaden personal relationships, be flexible, leave a positive impression of Global Volunteers.

Assignments were handed out and questions were asked regarding scheduling. We ended the morning session with the decision of attending church or a trip to the store.

After lunch we had some free time to prep for the meeting with the site representatives. The meeting with the reps was lively and interesting. Many questions were asked and notes taken. After our guests left we spent some time discussing everyday Polish culture and how much similar we are.

Thought for the Day (from Betty): Teaching is touching lives….forever.