Here is the new volunteer!

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Dzień dobry everyone!


 I'm Marine, the new volunteer who works in the library since September 2019.
I come from France and I'm here until August 2020.

 I took a long time before continuing this blog, for my new life was so full and exciting!
But the good thing is that now I have plenty to say and to show to you! So let's start a recap of the last 6 months!

Who am I?

First of all, I will introduce myself a bit deeper.
So my name is Marine, I come from Rennes, a city in Brittany, in the West of France. I celebrated my 21st birthday in Pomiechówek. 
Before I decided to make an ESC (new name for EVS, now it's European Solidarity Corps, no more European Voluntary Service), I spent 3 years at the university, studying art history. 
I loved it, but I didn't know what to do after that, and I was eager to live on my own, abroad, to have experiences I wouldn't be able to have at home, to confront a new way of life, new people, a new language, etc. 
And until now everything is far fulfilled!

 I work in the library of Pomiechówek, but I'm not alone in this adventure: another volunteer is as crazy as I am to leave all of her comfort life. She works in the cultural center of the village, she is from Austria and she is 18, please welcome Anna!
Together we live, together we struggle with the Polish language, together we travel, and sometimes the 3 at the same time...

My work at the library

I have 3 kinds of work: 
  • The everyday work: to cover books, stamp the new ones, take a picture of them and promote them on the library's Facebook.
  • The regular work: once a week, I go to the kindergarten of Pomiechówek to read a story in English for the children. I do the same twice a month in the primary school, with other activities.
  • The occasional work: I'm in charge of the decoration of the library, following the seasons or the particular events (Valentin's day, etc.). Sometimes I make some presentation of France or of the French traditions, in the library or in the schools. And I participate to some projects with the library, such as the Noc Biblioteka or the Art Bazar.
The first Art Bazar took place in December (the second one will be in March). It's organized by the Cultural Center of Pomiechówek. During one day, the sports hall of the village is turned into a huge market with creators products. The library sent books and had a stand where the children could create Christmas cards. I helped by painting faces of children. I've never done that before and my drawing skills are not very acclaimed, so I admit I was a bit nervous! Finally, the result wasn't as bad as I worried about, but I still have a lot of progress to make! 

During this Art Bazar, Anna (who works at the cultural center) had to create a small concert, as she sings and plays recorder and ukulele very well. In order not to let her alone, I took part of this concert, but just for fun, as I have no musical skill at all 😅 But finally, we decided that I would learn a song at the recorder. So here was one of my biggest and craziest challenges during this project: to learn how to play a song at a recorder in 3 days for a concert... And I did it (kind of...)!

My life as a volunteer

Every ESC volunteer receives language lessons of his new country.
Anna and I started our Polish lessons in October. 
I know French is complicated to learn, but Polish is not far behind! Can we talk about these prononciations (let's begin with "Cześć!" 😵), endless declinations and special cases?
Fortunately for me, I'm immersed in the language all the day thanks to the books and the custumers at the library, so I can practise everyday! And I'm proud to say that after a few months, I am now able to understand a tiny part of a conversation (the main topic, actually) and to order something in a restaurant or a cinema entirely in Polish! 😄🙌

 Every volunteer take part in 2 trainings during his project: one called "on-arrival training", and the other one "mid-term training".
For me, the first one took place in Warsaw in November, and the second one in Toruń at the end of January (it's not really mid-term as 7 months left after that, but anyway...). And our coordination structure organised another training just for us (the volunteers they take care of).
During these trainings, we meet a lot of other volunteers from all around Europe and who are in the same situation than us, struggling with this new country, work, way of life, language, flatmates, etc.
We also think a lot about us, why we are here, how to take advantage of this experience at the maximum, on the professional and the private parts (travels, skills, etc.), how to deal with the distance between our parents and friends, when we feel sad, with the culture shock, etc. These times are precious to gain support, we know that we are not alone.

 For these moments when we feel bad, plenty of people can help us: our parents and friends of course, but they are far and it's not easy for them to understand our feelings. But we also have our flatmate(s) and the other volunteers, who face the same problem sometimes. And most of all we have our mentor, who is the first Polish friend we have! S/he might don't know what is it to be far from home, but s/he is here to support us and s/he knows all the places in the region where we can get better, and what to do!

Travels

Płock

In October, my mentor and the directors of the library and the cultural center decided to take us, Anna and me, to discover the city of Płock. This town offers nice architectures, a huge cathedral, a splendid view on the river and around, and a lovely Art Nouveau museum.
In brief, a very nice city!


Warsaw 

Pomiechówek is very close to Warsaw, 45 minutes by train is enough to reach the capital.
That's perfect for me, as I'm not used to live in such a small town like Pomiechówek. Therefore, we regularly spend a day or a few hours in Warsaw, to visit, to eat specific food (vegan especially 😍), to see movies on screen, to see other volunteers, etc. 
I love this city, it's beautiful and full of activities!

Poznań

On an impulse, Anna and I decided to visit Poznań, a big city 3 hours from Warsaw by train.
On the 1st of November it was freeeeezing and everything was closed, but we managed to visit this charming town (the cathedrals, main square, imperial castle, museum of instruments, etc) and to eat a lot of vegan cakes!

Cracow 

For the New Year with other volunteers and later with a friend, I went to Cracow.
This big city is full of sweet cafes and museums, there is even a Da Vinci (that pleased my art historian side!)

Toruń

With its bricks' buildings, its promenade along the river and its museum of Copernic, Toruń is a highly lovely city!
That's all I have to say for the moment, thank you for reading me until here! I tried to resume my already 6-months experience in Poland, and it's pretty hard. Of course I couldn't talk about everything, but I kept some adventures for later, so stay tuned! 

Cześć! (much easier to write than to say...)

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