First Day of Camp

Thought for the day: Be faithful in small things, because it is in THEM that your strength lies. Attributed to Mother Teresa and offered by Beverly

A crowing rooster woke us up at dawn today. He heralded a beautiful morning. Hopefully this is a good weather omen. We had a shower late yesterday, but perhaps today will be cooler and dry. Cooler would work beautifully.

The volunteers met with Dorota at “headquarters” to get our final instructions and collect materials to teach our lessons. Also, we are getting a class roster listing the name of our students for the next two weeks. Dorota did a superb job and had us ready for breakfast at 8 AM with plans completed.

Breakfast was delicious as usual. The breakfast menu was extremely fortifying for our morning’s chores.

 Our classroom instruction began on schedule. Brandon and I will be team teaching. We had our plans ready and began with introductions to our class, and they in turn introduced themselves. They are a great group – two girls and four boys who are fluent in English and eager to get to work.

Brandon proved to be an excellent teacher. He has great ideas and isn’t shy about carrying them out. He’s a surprise pleasure to work with.

Because of the class’s proficiency in English we started our second class session with a game of Scrabble. Our third class consisted of a short walk in the neighborhood identifying plants, weeds, birds, and beautiful flowers. It was refreshing and informative. Our fourth class included the game, Apples to Apples. This game not only helps with pronunciation, but proved delightful. Fun was had by all.

Lunch was at 1:30 and immediately afterwards we boarded the bus for a trip to Zakopane. The student s did their thing and the volunteers just shopped, and some toured a historic church and cemetery. The church is wooden and the cemetery is fascinating with the tombs above ground much similar to those in New Orleans.

We got back to the Four Seasons (Cztery Pory Roku) hotel at 5:30, and had supper. Then we had a volunteer meeting discussing our day’s events and tomorrow’s schedule.

And Jackson finally arrived to the cheers of both faculty and students. We are looking forward to great things in these two weeks.

Making a Schedule

We gathered for breakfast at 8:30 and then moved to the area which will be the volunteer work room during the camp. We started with team member introductions. Dorota then continued the meeting by describing the history of the Global Volunteer program in Poland.

Together we discussed the Global Volunteer principles and asked about safety and health concerns. Dorota continued the planning by sharing the preliminary plan for teaching and special activities.

In response to questions from volunteers, Dorota described the Polish educational system.

Volunteers learned a few Polish words. Finally we reviewed the typical daily schedule: morning meeting and breakfast at 8:00, obiad at 1:15 and kolacja at 6:30. Classes will begin at 9, 10, 11, and 12 for 45 minutes each with a 15 minute break between sessions.

In the afternoon all—campers and volunteers boarded the bus. Some went to Krupówki Street in Zakopane, while others by foot or train went to the top of Mt. Gubałówka. All arrived back, not too wet from the rainstorms, happy after a good afternoon.

We met after kolajca to learn how the campers will be organized into classes. Volunteers became busy planning activities. Later in the evening many found their way to lowest level of the hotel to watch the last game of Euro 2012.

Arriving and Bus Rides

 

This language camp began when the campers and staff boarded a bus in Siedlce at 6 AM. The bells in the Siedlce Cathedral were chiming—announcing it was 6 AM as we were boarding. Dorota and Lori joined the campers at this time. We drove about 35 minutes west to Minsk Maz where we stopped at the Cultural Center and picked up more campers. Then we started on a highway south. About 45 minutes later we stopped at a gas station along the highway and picked up another camper.   Somewhere around 10 AM Dorota got a phone call from Nikita, the camper coming from Latvia. He had safely arrived in Kraków.

The bus arrived at the Kraków airport a bit before 2 PM. We gathered up David, Nancy, Kathy, Martha, Valerie, Gillian, Beverly and Brandon.  Thus we started on our way to Zakopane.

We arrived at our hotel, Cztery Pory Roku, sometime shortly after 5 PM. The hotel had our dinner ready. We surely enjoyed the meal. After eating we were assigned our rooms and tried to get a bit organized. Then some of us found our way to the back patio and enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountains . Meanwhile a wesele was warming up in the Karczma area of the hotel, an activity which was “enjoyed” by some of the volunteers until the wee hours of

Happy 4th of July!!

The Global Volunteers brought a little of the United States across the globe to Poland.  Each class spent part of today’s session explaining the history and tradition of our holiday based on the excellent research and planning by Gillian and Brandon. Some of the groups drew flags, stars, and maps of the United States to enhance the decorations for the evening’s July 4^th activities.

 

The more advanced groups had an in-depth discussion on United States geography, politics, and culture.

 

Other class activities included trip to the town and the grocery store. Board games are turning out to be a favorite pastime for the kids, with the level of games commensurate with their abilities. Lori’s advanced group brought English-language brochures from their home city and discussed their city surroundings and home life. Val and Gillian used magazine from the United States and had their group of students described and write out pictures and scenes shown in magazine photos. This activity is an excellent preparation for the students’ matura, the leaving high school exam. They will be required to do this competently during their English test.

 

Afternoon activities, shared by students and volunteers, had to be altered because of a torrential downpour that began about 11 AM and continued through the afternoon. A visit to the water park was cancelled and replaced by a trip to the Krzeptówki church where Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in 1997. The altar from which he presided was removed from the church and placed in a bucolic wooded area on the property and enclosed as a shrine. Since a mass in progress, we viewed the church only from the vestibule, but were able to walk and spend time at Pope John Paul II’s altar.

 

The bus then drove to the church, Peksowy Brzyzek, in Zakopane. The church’s cemetery is filled with interested grave markers, many carved in wood. Several of the cemetery inhabitants lied to close to or over 100 years of age, a statement to the healthy lifestyle, climate and genes.

 

After dinner the group convened in the pavilion to begin the July 4^th celebration. Thanks goes to Lori for providing red, white and blue decorations and marshmallows for S’Mores. And all send kudos to Gillian and Brandon for volunteering and following up with great decorating skills to make the atmosphere truly festive.

 

The students arrived to a roaring fire blazing and pop music blaring. The question and answer game elicited many raised hands and correct answers. The marshmallow roast that followed made many devourers S’Mores – some it was told has many as 5! It seemed a good time was had by all.

 

After our July 4^th festivities ended, the Polish counselors and staff had a wonderful surprise for us.  They welcomed us with a nice speech, letting us know that our work is valued. Then we were toasted with champagne and sweets. It was the perfect end to a very non-traditional 4^th of July for all of us.

Message of the day (by Edmund): A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them.

On our final day of teaching, we started off the day with a magnificent breakfast of eggs w/ tomatoes, red peppers and onions in addition to the other stuff that is available to us daily. Jim had his usual portion of bran with yogurt saying that he's going to eat light for breakfast today to make room for all of the goodies that we'll be getting during our coffee/tea breaks in the schools.

Cisie school was something else today. All of us were well prepared with our usual lesson plans but there was just something different in the school. My 4th graders were acting rather strangely during the first hour. They were whispering more than usual, writing things on paper with different colored crayons, sneaking items to each other thinking I can't see them, you know, the usual stuff that goes on in the Polish classroom.

Well, after our coffee/tea break, I returned to my classroom to a wonderful surprise. When I entered the room, all of the children rose from their chairs and said, "Thank you, Pan Ed!" On the blackboard were beautiful messages like, "Thanks, Pan Ed!"..."We love you, Pan Ed!" Then, while still standing they sang "Sto lat!" It was so beautiful...and, let me tell you, it was tough keeping back the tears.

The children then presented me with assorted hand-written notes of thanks, a plastic electric clock, candy, and other cute little things. I couldn't dare ruin the rest of the morning for these kids and start teaching again! We just chit-chatted after that, and that was okay. I got hugs...and yeah, I hugged back.

I know that I wasn't alone in being on the receiving end of cute little gifts, personal notes of thanks from the students, hugs from the little ones, and so on. All of the volunteers were surprised by the genuine love and gratitude of these poor children. As one of the volunteers said last week, "You know, we're learning a lot more than the kids," and, as a result, we've become better people from our interactions with the Polish people and children.

Then Andrzej whisked-us-away in his taxi enroute to Spoleczna. We saw the same green houses, a stork's nest on the telephone pole, farming fields on the left and on the right, that we saw during our daily trips to the semi-private school. The farms and fields are absolutely beautiful! We are so lucky to be here. After a brief get-together in the faculty room, we entered our classrooms.

The first hour was pretty much routine...reading, writing, pronunciation ("th"), math, days of the week, etc. Then we took our coffee/tea break, had our caffeine fix, ate a couple of cookies, and returned to class. When I walked into the classroom, both of my 4th grade classes greeted me with a "Thank you, Pan Ed!" They then presented me with a book about the area around which my grandmother was born in Poland (Downary), a Chopin CD, chocolate cookies, pictures of students from both classes (dressed in costume), and more thank you notes than I care to mention in this Journal entry. As at my other morning school, it was hard to hold back the tears. Every student wanted me to see his/her picture in the class photo...every student thanked me for helping them with conversational English...every 10 year old student made me feel like I was making a positive change in their lives. It felt good. It felt real good.

Then it was back to Reymontowka. I don't think I said too much on our taxi-ride back. I was that emotionally drained.

I forgot what we had for lunch...oopps, it was a breaded sole w/ tartar sauce that was outstanding! Now, for those of you who know me, I like to eat. I looked around the table for some leftovers that I usually get from a couple of the volunteers who don't eat that much, but there was nothing left on their plates! I have to talk to Dorota about serving an extra setting next time of the fish dinner.

We went to our rooms and four (4) of us started packing for our return trip home to the States and making last minute changes to our itineraries. I can't wait to get an email from Rita and Jim as they venture through the highways and byways of Poland during the next week. I wish them much luck on their adventures.

We just finished a wonderful dinner in the fireplace room...what a fitting location for our final dinner at Reymontowka! A couple of teachers from Cisie and Spoleczna as well as the Pani Dyrektor from Spoleczna joined us for dinner. We talked and laughed...that's the way it should be.

Thanks for all of your help and support fellow volunteers. I had a wonderful time with all of you. I hope you share my feelings.


By Edmund.

Message of the day (Jim):

No one has the right to take for granted his own disadvantages over others in health, in talents, in ability, in success, in a happy childhood or congenial home conditions. One must pay a price for all these boons. What one owes in return is a special responsibility for other lives. (Albert Schweitzer, author of Teaching Reverence for Life.)

Today we experienced the “going to work” and “construction” traffic jam on the way to the Spoleczna Middle School in Siedlce. I liked the way Andrzej weaved his way around traffic and roundabouts, driving down side roads to get us to school on time.

At Cisie Elementary we had a wonderful celebration in honor of past, present, and hopefully future volunteers. Poland was the first country to request that volunteers teach English and now it’s an option in the Global Volunteer Program for all countries. The celebration began with the 4th grade children, in costume, dancing the Mazur beautifully. Then Iza and Jola led their Scouts in the Belgium dance, followed by songs or performances by several groups of children. The local dignitaries extended words of welcome and thanksgiving to the volunteers and hosts, commending them for their cooperation and efforts to improve the opportunities of the children through sharing language and culture. Afterward the hosts, dignitaries and volunteers gathered for coffee, cake and more conversation.

But that’s not the end of our unusual day. The staff at Cisie Elementary invited us for an evening picnic. It was quite a sight when everyone was roasting kielbasa over a roaring bonfire. We chatted, sang and danced. A special performance was given by Jim and Ed to the song “Pretty Woman” which delighted everyone. I think we have all learned to appreciate and enjoy the people of Poland and their customs!

Message of the Day (shared by Rita):

I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish. (Mother Teresa)

Plates of aromatic crepes greeted us for breakfast. Is there a better way to start the day?
Schedules were announced, amended by the Wednesday Cisie program from 10 to 12 noon. Our taxi driver, Andrzej, would pick us up Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. and take us to Spoleczna Middle School and return us to Cisie by 10:00 a.m.

Pat tells us that rehearsals have been underway for a while and she suspects that her third graders trot out the same song each year. But then, why not?

A beautiful sunny afternoon walk brought us close to several handsome horses changing pastures. Further down the dirt road were two virtually hidden bunkers, left over from the Russian occupation following WWII.

Again the kitchen outdid themselves. At supper Polish Pizza appeared on two large plates. Amazingly the 12 inch long open faced sandwiches discreetly disappeared. The combination of mushrooms, pickles, meat and melted cheese was a unanimous winner. Off to prepare for tomorrow; days are now speeding by as we accept and return party invitations with our host teachers. May the beautiful weather linger a bit longer.

By Carol.