Message of the day: Smile and the world smiles back with you. (A Japanese Zen saying).

During breakfast, which was at 7:15 in preparation for our trip to Krakow, Jackie offered the message of the day (See above). David read his long and interesting entry about the long and interesting day before. The bus left almost on schedule at 7:55 and we arrived in Krakow at 10:10. It took almost as long to get across the city to the parking lot as it took to get from Zakopane to Krakow! Along with the everyday Krakow traffic, this weekend concludes the Jewish Culture Festival, the biggest in Poland, so more than the usual number of visitors is crowding the streets.

After a brief stop for functional necessities, we began our tour. Krakow dates back to the 4th century – we heard much about it from our students on the Polish night. It is the most important Polish city to survive the war and Community era intact, and it was on the first UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. Our tour of Krakow included the Main Rynek Square and environs in the Old Town --- St. Mary’s Cathedral, with its beautiful stained windows and altar – but we were not permitted to enter the sanctuary because at that time of our visit the church “is open only for praying.” We heard and saw the bugler who toots his horn hourly from the top of the Cathedral tower. We also visited the “Cloth Hall, “a shopping area which consists of hundreds of booths selling jewelry, chess sets, trinkets, slippers, and everything in between.

We went to the Rynek Underground Museum, which opened in September, 2010. Archeological digs uncovered much of what is seen here. The combination of modern technology (for example, interactive screens and a 3-D movie of Poland history) and original artifacts makes for a fascinating display. The museum is “laid out as a journey in time” and it would take many hours of observing and studying to do it justice.

Walking about we also saw the monument to the Grunwald victory (our street name in Zakopane), one of the greatest battles in Medieval Europe between Poland/Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights in 1410. The monument was destroyed by the Nazis in World War II (for Poland/Lithuania won the battle) and was reproduced in 1976. We also saw the Barbikan, a large brick structure which was added to the city’s defenses in the late 15th century as part of the medieval fortification of Krakow.

In our effort to come with a July 4th program that will not embarrass us, David had the idea to get help from the U.S. Consulate in Krakow. We all followed up on that and left the consulate with lots of pamphlets, brochures, and American flags.

We walked back to the bus, got our bags, and parted company—Frank and Spencer to Hotel Polonia, Sylvia and Tom to Unicus Hotel, and David and Jackie to Grand Hotel.
I vowed to teach the students the song: “Rain, rain go away, little Jackie wants to play.”
After settling in at our hotel, we Marlins went to partake in the Jewish Festival. First we attended a lecture by a prominent American scholar, Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum, headquartered in Philadelphia. His topic was “Europe or Eurabia: Islam and the continent’s future.” His bio on Wikipedia makes note of his attendance at the age of 4 at the Harvard preschool. It doesn’t make note that Jackie Marlin was his teacher – but I was!
We visited the Jewish Community Center which was hosting a Shabbat dinner for 250 persons. We were too late – they were all filled up.

We then attended a concert by Tzuker-Zis, a U.S. group that plays traditional Jewish music, sometimes in a not-so-traditional manner. There was a vocalist, a bass, a guitar, an accordion, a trumpet, and key board. The concert was very spirited, standing room only, very enthusiastic audience in a beautiful synagogue.

Message of the day: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. (Attributed to Thomas H. Palmer, writing in an 1840 Teacher’s Manual).

The morning meeting with Dorota was the beginning of an incredibly eventful day. We noted that this was the 100th birthday of Czesław Milosz, a noted Polish prose and poetry writer.

In the afternoon, after 4 hours of morning English class, we – volunteers and students—all piled into the bus and stopped first at the Natural Science Museum at Tatra National Park. The museum contains exhibits representing the culture, animal life, and environmental aspects of the Park. The Tatra Mountain National Park borders Slovakia and is visited by 3 million tourists each year. The museum, on the day of our visit, also displayed objects associated with the lives of Witold Radwanski and his wife, Zofia Radwanska. We also watched films about the Park for about 30 minutes.

We then traveled to ChochoŁόw. While driving there, one of the Prus teachers, whose special area is history, explained this village is famous for its actions in the 1846 uprising. In other areas of Poland, this uprising featured battles between Polish peasants and Polish noblemen. However, a wise priest in ChochoŁόw advocated that all the Polish people stand together, so instead here, the Polish attacked the police presence of the ruling Austrian empire. In ChochoŁόw we visited a wood carver and the museum he maintains to show a typical peasant’s life from the late 19th or early 20th century.

Returning to Zakopane we stopped at the beautiful church built by the people of Zakopane to give thanks for the saving of Pope John Paul at the time of a 1981 assassination attempt. Around this inspiration church and down the hill is the altar used when the Pope said a Mass on top of the ski jump in Zakopane.

This bus trip gave us another view of the distinct Zakopane architectural style that is admired around the world. It resembles the Swiss chalet. Some characteristics are the wooden plank outer walls or log cabin style that rises sharply angled to peaked roofs to permit rain, sleet, and snow to be removed. Many windows are triangular, roofs are frequently tile, and a widow’s peak is often seen.

The evening was Polish Day, entirely presented by the 25 students associated with Prus High School in Siedlce. It was funny, informative, and brilliantly executed. It created a standard that we volunteers cannot match on July 4, but we’ll try.

The students began the program by taking us on “taxi rides” through the TriCities of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. One passenger, Lech Walęsa, tried to get out of paying his taxi fare. Then we were taken for taxis tours also in Warsaw and finally Krakow.

The evening ended with a the presentation of an anniversary ice cream cake for the Marlins for their 50th wedding anniversary—and for which David, the writer of this journal, reports they are touched and grateful.

Message of the day: Do not judge another until you have walked in those shoes (a modern version of an old indigenous saying).

The team is working very well together, sharing ideas and skills, which is an important action if we are to have a successful language camp for everyone. The morning was spent working to improve our students’ language skills by every means possible. We use games, projects, songs, and questions. You are only limited by your imagination.

The students today actually requested two more hours of teaching time from 4:00 – 6:00 PM. This time we switched students. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the other students and learn about them.

After a light supper, we had our evening meeting with Dorota. We made some plans for our Fourth of July celebration. We now retire to our rooms to prepare for Thursday.

Message of the day: I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome in trying to succeed. (Attributed to Booker T. Washington from his book, Up from Slavery: An Autobiography ;)

The volunteers met with Dorota at 7:50 in the meeting room. Sylvia began with the message of the day (see above). Dorota then went over the plan for today.

We enjoyed breakfast in the dining room at 8 AM. We began settling into our new routines. The volunteers taught their taught classes and some of them shared their ideas about successful strategies as they met in the hallways during the 15 minute breaks. We all got to know our students a little better.

Our mid-day meal was served as usual at 1 PM. Many of the students were delighted to see the weather to be rainy as their challenging hike had been canceled. Spencer and Najalé accompanied some of the students for a portion of the afternoon at the indoor water park. Others chose to remain at the Wanta. The volunteers spent their afternoon planning tomorrow’s lessons.

We met again at 6:30 PM for our last delicious Polish cuisine of the day.
We relocated to the meeting room at 19:05. We discussed what each of us did in our morning classes and picked up some great ideas from each other for future use. Dorota talked about the plans for our field trip with the students to Krakow on Friday.

The meeting adjourned about 20:15 PM. Some of the volunteers decided afterwards to support one of the local business establishments and immersed themselves in a little Polish culture and tradition.
“All’s well that ends well” and the day did indeed end well!

Message of the day: If it’s to be, it’s up to me.

It was a dark and gloomy morning when the bright, perky, and cheerful Global Volunteers arrived for the 7:45 AM meeting. After the inspirational thought and the hearing the journal to remind us of the events of Saturday and Sunday we headed for breakfast. At 9:00 the volunteers dispersed to the first offered classes of this session. The time, 4 hours, flew by. During class breaks we could hear Row, Row, Row Your Boat being sung by some of the students in the hotel lobby. They had just learned that song that morning and were already singing it in a round.
For obiad we had pickle soup, beets, penne pasta, and pork loin. A glass of kompot topped off the meal.

After this meal most of the young headed again to a hiking trail. Right up with the first climbers were David and Jackie, the oldest of our volunteers.

After a supper of delicious pierogi accompanied by the ubiquitous tomato, we met for a debriefing session. We shared information about activities and how well they worked. A very useful observation from one student was: Talk less, and let us do more talking. With that advice ringing in our heads, our first day of classes came to an end. Bring on tomorrow.

Our team assembled at the Krakow Airport on Saturday when 6 volunteers joined the bus from Siedlce bringing the campers, the Polish staff, two volunteers, and of course, Dorota, the Team Leader. We arrived in Zakopane about 5:30 PM, quickly dropped luggage in our rooms and then gathered in the dining room for kolacja. We sang Sto Lat and congratulated two volunteers, David and Jackie, who were observing their 50th wedding anniversary! After kolacja we gathered in the work room area and introduced ourselves, culminating with a name game when we each named each other. Most volunteers were ready for an early evening sleep as they were dealing with jet lag.
After a great Polish breakfast on Sunday morning we all gathered again in the work room. Dorota provided the announcements of the day. We reviewed health and safety concerns and then reviewed the Global Volunteer principles.
Next we developed four team goals:
-To improve the English language skills of the students;
-To learn more about Polish culture and language;
-To build bridges; and
- To improve ourselves.
We identified characteristics of an effective team:
Communication
Cooperation
Friendliness
Sense of humor
Self control
Appreciation of individuals’ skills
Inspiration
Flexibility
Persistence
Tolerance
Respect
Acceptance
Team work
Patience
Energy
At this point we received a very nice interruption when the reception staff for the hotel announced that one of our team members had finally received her luggage that had been missing for three days.
We continued our work by briefly discussing the first day classes. Dorota reported that the Polish staff would like us to move the teenagers around to different groups. Also the staff would like us to put together groups or otherwise mix students so that they can hear several versions of the American accent.
Dorota provided a Polish language lesson, and then we adjourned for obiad.
In the afternoon, some volunteers stayed in the city and did a walking trip to the bus office to purchase tickets for returning from Krakow on the following Sunday and two went to afternoon Sunday Mass. The students and four volunteers went hiking in Dolina ChochoŁόw.

At 8 PM we gathered again in the work room. Pani Dyrektor introduced herself again and explained her role at the camp. The other teachers accompanying the students also introduced themselves and then we volunteers also introduced ourselves. Volunteers asked questions about the Prus High School and the students there and asked for advice about helping the students.
Then each volunteer took the chance of pronouncing the student names in Polish who would be a member of their class, and each teacher met with their class for a few minutes.

ATTENTION EASTERN EUROPE VOLUNTEERS

New Service Adventures in Education, Childcare and Labor Available

A Season of New Beginnings in Romania and we want you to be a part of it all.

If your passion lies in serving at-risk youth, working with your hands, or if it's teaching that inspires you, we now have wonderful new opportunities for you to contribute in Romania. We have worked at the Tutova Children's Clinic since 1999 however in recent weeks, that Clinic has closed, and the children were relocated to new facilities. We now have the opportunity to help care for some of those same children at our new work sites, along with many more children needing your support. While we regret the Romanian government's decision to transform Tutova Hospital and Children's Clinic into a senior center, we were heartened by invitations from other child-focused community partners enabling us to serve the broader Barlad community.

One Door Closes...Others Open


Residents and staff of The Elena Farago Center in Barlad await Global Volunteers teams.

You'll be one of the first volunteers serving these new community partners. With that in mind, I'd like to ask you to do two things. First, please let me know which of the following volunteer options appeal to you the most. Second, because of the wide variety of new service opportunities, I ask that you invite others to join you on your service program as we establish our new relationships. Here's how you and your friends and companions can contribute:

First, Dr. Magdalena Cozma, director of Barlad's St. Nicholas Children's Hospital , has invited Global Volunteers to continue our work with at-risk children at her hospital. This is essentially the same work assignment as at Tutova -- holding, feeding and entertaining babies who need care. (As is so often the case, "when one door closes another one opens,"and some of the babies and toddlers on the other side of that door are from Tutova -- still counting on your love.) The children don't care that the door is different, just that you come through it!

Year-round service opportunities at George Tutoveanu School in Barlad. Volunteers are needed to teach conversational English to primary and middle school students during the school year and to middle and senior high students at English language summer camps. The focus is on conversation - visiting about everyday subjects and real-life situations so the students can increase their vocabulary and practice English language skills. While you'll teach in the classrooms, during the summer camps students also enjoy taking volunteers out to show them highlights of their city, such as museums, live theater, zoo, and public garden -- providing additional opportunities to interact while speaking English. This is a great new opportunity for your companions who may not be interested in caregiving assignments.

Third, if you enjoy working with your hands - repairing, painting and renovating buildings -- you're needed to help improve apartments at the Elena Farago Center. This is a rewarding opportunity to work alongside some of the residents and the local carpenters and handymen to make these homes more livable. What's more, we hope to establish a community garden project as our new partnerships progress so students and young adults can join the worldwide movement to understand and practice better nutrition choices.

You can also offer psychosocial support to teens and young adults for all our part of your volunteer assignment. The Elena Farago Center in Barlad cares for some 40 teens and young adults from age 12 to mid-20s. (Photo on top) Most of the residents are orphans, abused children, or from families too poor to care for them. About 10 percent have mental disabilities, and 20 percent are HIV positive or have AIDS, mostly contracted from blood transfusions. The residents live together in apartments, three to five per unit, with guidance from local staff. This is a great opportunity to help young boys and girls who are preparing for a productive and independent life. Initially, volunteers will befriend the residents by working with them on arts and craft projects, teaching how to cook nutritious meals, helping with homework, communicating in English, playing sports and more. We'll also tutor teens and young adults in conversational English at the Elena Farago Center, although teaching English will not be a full-time assignment at this facility.

Finally, if you have experience or interest in assisting children with autism and/or Down syndrome, you can serve at Barlad Center for Children with Disabilities. This is a multi-unit complex that cares for children with mental disabilities as well as those who are blind and deaf. This project can be a full-time or secondary project, splitting your work on one of the above primary projects.

We're very encouraged by these new service partnerships with local Romanian agencies and the expanded opportunities to engage volunteers in serving Romanian children. Your contribution now is more important than ever. Please allow me to answer your questions and fill you in with additional details on your upcoming service program. Again, we'd greatly appreciate you referring your friends and family members to serve with you or on other 2011 Romania service programs. Everyone makes a significant difference in this time of new beginnings on our Romania service program!