Wendy's on-arrival training

Cześć! / Hi! / Hoi!

Every long-term EVS volunteer - long-term being 2 months or more - has to join a so-called "on-arrival training". As the name implies, this training course takes place soon after a volunteer arrives in his/her new home. Since I arrived in Wrocław the first of May, it was my turn two weeks ago!

The hardest part of my training, no doubt, was Monday morning, when I had to get up around 3 AM in order to catch a bus to Warsaw at 5... Additionally, sleeping in a moving vehicle is not one of my talents, so basically I started the training with almost zero energy. But the sun was shining, the first activities were quite calm, just to get to know the trainers and the other volunteers, and after lunch I could sleep for almost two hours, so from Monday afternoon onward everything was fine.

Overall, the training course was instructive and inspiring, on many levels. The trainers asked us what we wanted or needed to learn and they adjusted the training schedule accordingly. As a result, some of the topics were more relevant to me than others. I really liked the team-building activities and the reflective moments, for example, and it was also very useful and interesting to talk about our situations (e.g., our EVS projects / accommodations / home countries / ...) with each other. On the other hand, the information on how to deal with culture shock was a bit irrelevant to me, because I've never experienced this kind of shock - but I might in the future. And in that case, I am totally prepared!

The training took place in Warsaw. It was my first time in this city and the third city I visited in Poland, after Wrocław en Kraków. Being the capital city of Poland, Warsaw definitely has some interesting sights and a lively 'buzz' to offer, so I'm glad I saw this place, but when it comes to beauty and atmosphere, Kraków and Wrocław knock Warsaw on its head. Sorry, Warsaw!

The on-arrival training is not only about learning, or sight-seeing, but also about socializing with other EVS volunteers. I already knew two of the volunteers in our group (one of them is my roomie Zorica) but all the other faces were new to me. Spending one intensive week together really speeds up the process of making friends, so by the end of the week I had fourteen new friends and two improved friendships. Not only does this make me feel more at home in this foreign country, it also makes traveling around Poland a lot easier. For example, this weekend Zorica and I are going to visit some friends in Gdynia: three volunteers we met during the training!

Na razie! / See you! / Tot de volgende!
~ Wendy

About Michael Bersky!

Let me introduce myself. I am Michael Bersky, 18 years old Czech volunteer in organisation named Semper Avanti established in Wroclaw.

When I was told that I am qualified and I will be volunteering in Wroclaw, I was just so incredibly happy - screaming, shouting and looking for new adventures. And now I am here. Out of my comfort zone, surrounded by different people in an unfamiliar environment. I will not forget the first orgasmic moments when it was certain that I will go to Poland. So now….How can I get angry, how can I get sad knowing that I am here, in Wroclaw, where my heart desired to be. Grateful to all of those people in organisation and Erasmus+.

There is a saying: Try to be a solution, not another problem. For me the main reason behind volunteering is to give without expecting anything back. I will try to follow those sentences and make them my life motto.

I study high school and this is my first long term out of the home experience. And I am curious how it feels live on your own. I hope, this will be a worthy experience which I will acquire during my EVS.

I will be working together with my amazing team in Wroclaw for 12 months, mainly focusing on projects connected to social topics (human rights workshops, discussion clubs and cultural evenings). I also would like to offer my contribution related to different activities besides the main schedule (as a laughter yoga sessions, good healthy habits sessions or something else), but will see how it goes :)

Spanish cultural evening!

Good morning! Dzień dobry! Buenos días!

Last Monday, 30th of July, was the Spanish Cultural evening, in the Spanish library of Wrocław called “Księgarnia Hiszpańska Wrocław” or “La Librería Española de Wrocław”.

 

This event was under the umbrella of the project “Multicultural Language Café” (MLC), powered by Erasmus+. The main idea was to show different aspects of the Spanish culture.

During the presentation, Spanish history was mentioned briefly (since the times of the Roman Empire), which was related with some interesting facts about the country. Spanish World Heritage sites were shown, including the Alhambra of Granada, the Teide’s national park, and the Mediterranean diet.

Speaking about Mediterranean diet, during this event the audience could eat some typical food: Spanish omelette, gazpacho (cold soup), and pà amb tumaca (bread with tomatoes).

 
Finally, we want to thank Księgarnia Hiszpańska Wrocław for letting us using their fantastic library during the evening, and also all the people who joined us.

Bests regards!

Georgian volunteer Avtandil sharing culture with polish children

Last month brought me a lot of good feeling and nice emotions. First of all, I had opportunity to be a volunteer in one polish kindergarten. During all may I have had cultural meetings with small children.

Children were so nice and well educated in this early age. They were really active. I could see that they were waiting for every next meeting, because they wanted to know more about my county.

I want to notice that Georgia and Poland has some similarities, for example both of countries have Christian religion, similarities in education system and so on…But we have so many differences. And my aim during these meetings was to show that differences help us to live life brighter, to develop, to explore this word.

First meeting we have started with animated presentation of my country and my travelling from Tbilisi to Wroclaw.

The most difficult part for children, I think so, were to understand Georgian alphabet and to learn Georgian song. On our second meeting I have just present them song that Georgian children generally sings in kindergarten. Can you imagine my surprise when I came to visit them in one week and they could sing it clearly….I noticed that teachers work really good with children, they supporting them a lot. That is why children have really good contact with teachers.

Georgian cultural evening in Wroclaw

To organize Georgian cultural evening in Wroclaw was big experience for me. I have never done such a big event before. Sharing your culture is very big responsibility. I can say that I have achieved everything that I have planned before.

First of all, I wanted to make cultural evening that no one could see before. In short period of time I have managed to prepare and realize all my best.

In Wroclaw I found Georgians who helped me to make my program more interesting. Georgi Kartvelishvili, owner of “ U Gruzina ” restaurant helped me to make master class about cooking Georgian traditional food khachapuri.

One more Georgian Archil Uridia, who translated Georgian movie “Kvevri” in polish language by his own.

To show how we can learn not just from another culture but also from our own I decided to invite polish folk dance group Dolnośląski Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "Wrocław". They showed us good example that we are different but we can cooperate and develop together.

In the end of this event several people come and ask me about possibility to join these young and active polish dancers. It means that Dolnośląski Zespół Pieśni i Tańca "Wrocław" are really bright and good team.

Thanks to this event I opened taste of my national Georgian cuisine one more time and had opportunity to share it with polish people.

I believe that such kind of cultural events make us open-minded and give us more knowledge about other cultures and countries.

Best wishes,

Avtandil Mamalashvili

Spanish cultural evening

Dzień dobry! Good morning! Buenos días!

We are happy to announce that next Monday we will have the Spanish Cultural Evening! If you want to extend your knowledge about this country, and taste its flavour, don´t forget to join us in the spanish coffee-library called "Księgarnia Hiszpańska", located in Ul. Szajnochy 5, at 19h. And the entrance is for free!

José Escobedo, our spanish EVS volunteer in the project MLC (Multicultural Language Café), will make this presentation. It will be in Spanish, with translations to Polish. 

During this event it will be possible to learn some facts about Spain and to watch some spanish landscapes and great places with videos and pictures, and the main information will be related with the history and culture of this country. But, also, will be possible to taste some spanish food!

Wendy´s experiences :)

Next week many Polish children will be overjoyed, as it's going to be the first week of their summer holiday! Two months of freedom, playing with friends, swimming, devouring lots of ice cream, bothering mama and tata 24/7... Until September, they don't have to go to school - and neither do we. So, before the summer holiday begins and before we will organize different kinds of activities, out of school, I would like to share some of my recent experiences with you. What's it like to be a cultural ambassador of the Netherlands?

Basically, in Polish schools the volunteers of the Multicultural Language Cafe carry out two different types of activities: workshops and cultural presentations. The workshops, about human rights or intercultural education, are meant to be highly interactive. Participation and freedom of thought and expression are important human rights values, and therefore these kind of workshops should be organised in a consistent way. For this reason, we usually conduct workshops in pairs. Cultural presentations, on the other hand, are carried out alone. (It would not make much sense if a volunteer from the Netherlands shows aspects of Ukrainian culture, for example.) These presentations also tend to be less interactive than workshops, although asking and answering questions is an essential (and often the most interesting) part of it.

The first time I went to a Polish school, twelve days after my arrival in Wrocław, I had to give my cultural presentation to five classes in a row, from 08:00 until 13:30. Five classrooms full of teenagers who do not speak your native language and you do not speak theirs... Now that's what I call a trial. But I succeeded, although my cheeks were glowing after the fifth presentation - not because I was blushing all the time, but because I was not used to speaking so much for so long!

Up until now I've had a lot of opportunities to improve my cultural presentation - and my 'speaking muscles'. The audience does not always consist of teenagers, so I had to adapt my presentation several times. So far I made four different versions - one for kindergartens, one for lower schools, one for gimnazja (middle schools / lower high schools) and one for homeless people. All these versions differ slightly from one another. For example, the kindergarten-version contains almost no written text in comparison with the other versions, and the one for homeless people does not mention typical Dutch food or alcoholic beverages. All versions are still not finished: sometimes I change something because of the feedback, or because I stumble upon something that's even more Dutch than what I found already. It also prevents the task from becoming a tedious routine - no matter how much I love the Netherlands, after a while it becomes quite boring to share the same information over and over again.

Because of the feedback I got after my first presentations - "Do you smoke weed?" - I added one slide to the gimnazjum-version of my presentation. Personally, I believe this tolerant/liberal part of my country is more essential to its identity than cheese and windmills (and that teenagers know this - even if I don't mention it), but initially I didn't talk about this topic because I didn't want to upset anyone. The second time I went to a gimnazjum, I mentioned it, but this led to commotion and negative responses every time. For instance, after mentioning same-sex marriage one of the students clearly showed a 'thumbs-down'... Not the kind of feedback I was hoping for. Hopefully there's a way to mention this topic without creating an uproar.

Within less than two months I learned a lot. I improved my cultural presentation, I know more about the Netherlands than ever before, and I heard many times what people from Poland and other countries think of my country and the people who live there - in a nutshell: Dutchies are crazy and open-minded people in a country full of tulips, windmills and weed. As I mentioned before, the volunteers of the MLC also conduct workshops about human rights and intercultural education, but this is an area I do not yet feel familiar with. During the summer holiday, besides organizing other activities and eating lots of ice cream, I hope to get a better insight into what it takes to give effective workshops. Let's hope the summer will be long!