Winter Guests in Górzno

As foreigners living in Poland we -Marine and I- also like to travel and discover a bit more about this country and its culture. That is why we were so happy when the cultural center in Górzno invited both of us to participate in the activities they had prepared for children during the winter holidays.

In case you do not know, Górzno is a cozy little town close to Brodnica, which is close to Toruń. Marine had already been there in a conference about theatre so that is how we met Krzysztof and Agnieszka, the couple who usually manages the workshops in that cultural center.

So there we started our travel on Sunday. Being Górzno a little town, it took us forever and four different trains to get there. The man was waiting for us at Brodnica and took us to their home for dinner -at 17.00, I will never get used to Polish timetables, but it was another proof of Polish hospitality ♥. They are a very nice family and own a goat farm, so that they can make cheese and grow vegetables.

The couple lived in France and in Chile for many years, so that they spoke both Spanish and  French, although little English, so managing a conversation between the four of us was a real challenge. After dinner they took us to the place where we were going to sleep. Since there is a professional high school in the town and students have to sleep there regularly, they have a dormitory building, so we were staying in one of the rooms. 

Regarding our work at the cultural center, Krzysztof and Agnieszka had the three next days super well prepared so that the children would not get bored. The theme of the workshops was the Baltic sea, and the kids had already been learning about the fauna and flora living there and about many other stuff related to the subject during the previous week.

On Monday they tried to repeat the key words of the project and we would tell them how it was in English, French and Spanish. Words as “fish, sea, deep, swallow or  seal” came out, so it was also a great way for us to learn some Polish. That day we also investigated how to filter water and how water bombs work in order to provide fresh water for each place. After having some szarlotka, the whole group went for a walk outside so that we could see the surroundings of the village, and went close to two beautiful frozen lakes. Needles to say that the children were delighted with the snow and the ice.

On Tuesday we had to wake up early to go to Toruń to the museum, the Center for Modernity Mill of Knowledge. Marine and I were lucky that most of the panels with explanations were in English!

It was actually a really educational experience as well as enjoyable, since the museum had a lot of interactive activities and experiments that both children and adults alike. It combined diverse subjects, from the river (topic of the winter holiday) to the outer space, but also nature, experiments with different lights and perspectives, and also technology. I strongly recommend that you pay a visit if you ever find yourselves in Toruń!

   

Wednesday was the last day of the winter holydays. Marine and I had the opportunity to show the children a kamishi bay play, which is an old way of theatre from Japan that consists in exhibit slides in a screen while telling the story. We chose “The Ugly Duckling,” since it is a fairy tale everyone knows and we wanted them to understand even though it was in English. We also proposed some games to play with the children, as “fruit salad,” “orchestra chief” or the “Arabic phone.”



However, the coolest part was stramping tote-bags with our own designs of the animals from the Baltic Sea. We ended up with our hands filledwith paint, but it was totally worth to see the creations! 

Once everyone went home Marine and I decided to take advantage of the last hour of sunlight to go for another walk to the lakes. They are certainly beautiful and we were brave enough to walk over one of them! Let the pictures speak by themselves!

The next day we were coming back home. We were supposed to take a bus from Brodnica to Warsaw but it was another adventure since we could not find the right stop and we missed the bus, hence we had to wait a lot for the next one. In the end, we managed to arrive to Pomiechówek after spending nine hours between the waiting and the buses. Finally, having a nice shower at home was the best reward we could get for such busy days!

I leave here some liks you may find interesting:

The web page of the Gmina: https://pomorska.pl/gmina-gorzno/ar/9965804

The museum in Toruń: http://mlynwiedzy.org.pl/

 Facebook page of the GOK in Górzno: https://www.facebook.com/gokgorzno/