EVS in Pomiechówek

Hello everyone! Some weeks ago two volunteers from the SPW organization visited me in the  library and interviewed me about my different tasks and activities there. They made pictures and filmed me while I showed them around the library. So if you're interested in getting a deeper insight of my work there check  the instagram page of SPW out!  The pictures and videos turned out great so it's worth a look - Here's the link to the interview! To the video! Have an amazing week and until next time!

Roald Dahl was my favourite writer when I was a child. And if I think about it now, he still is.  I’ve always been in constant research for something more than the ordinary, and perhaps this has something to do with my name, that’s very predictable! I have the clearest memory of sneaking down the stairs in the middle of a sleepless night at my uncles’ house and choosing Matilda from the bookshelves in the dark living room. I had just learned to read on my own and there was a magical haze blurring the borders of reality; I was completely captured inside that familiar yet scary universe inside my warm blanket shelter on the armchair, avidly turning the pages until sunrise.  As soon as I finished I ran to the library and borrowed as many books by him as I could, and kept going back and forth to read them again!  His outrageous, eccentric stories ignited a long lasting love for reading that genuinely applies to the whole spectrum of storytelling, from visual arts to film to m...

Every year Poland celebrates the “Libraries Week,” consisting on different events and activities during the week for everyone. During my stay in the country it happened from the 8th till the 15th of May and, of course, the library in Pomiechówek wouldn’t be less and plenty of workshops and other events were held here. I also decided to do my part and create a new escape room -once again following the idea of the previous volunteer, Angeline. After much discussion, we decided that the story theme would be “Alice in Wonderland,” merging the fairyland kingdom with the writer Lewis Carroll’s room. The final composition turned out pretty cool in my opinion. The pre-game story explained that the Queen of Hearts had stolen some pages of Carroll’s manuscript, so that Wonderland would never be the same and she could take over it. The participants had 40 minutes to find the 10 missing pages in the room and save the Kingdom. First, the children (though not only did we have childr...

July 16, 2018 Cześć ! My name is Angeline , I am 21 and I come from France. I started my EVS (aka European Voluntary Service) in the library of Pomiechówek, Poland, in September 2017 and this amazing experience will end in August 2018. 12 months in Poland... 12 months of discoveries, meetings, personal challenges and travels... 12 months with everything to learn, a culture shock and a language barrier to overcome and a new environment to adapt... But also 12 months sharing time with amazingly nice people in a place I will miss as soon as I will leave. 12 months, that's a lot to share with you, dear reader ! Let's go step by step and start with the beginning... After two years of French preparatory class focused on Humanities and a third year at the university to study English Literature and Civilization, I finally got graduated in English in 2017. Then I should have naturally kept on studying to obtain a Master and start my professional life... However, I dreamt ...

October 2017 Cześć !  What do you know about Halloween in your country ? Let me give you some short explanations from my French point of view... Halloween is a celebration that takes place on 31st October - the day before All Saints' Day. In France, it's a day when we can wear ghost, witch, pumpkin or skeleton costumes to ask for sweets in the shops and houses or attend to a party. We can also carve pumpkins to put a candle inside, tell frightening stories, watch horror movies or play divination games... This celebration is more or less popular according to the countries where you live. This year, I wanted to make Polish children discover and enjoy this tradition at the library because this celebration is generally a great source of fun and joy for them and it was really popular in my country when I was younger. However, I forgot that Poland was a very catholic country which meant we encountered some resistance from people because this tradition was seen as disr...

September 2017 Cześć ! As time flies and I'm almost at the end of my volunteering, I'm going to share with you some articles about the main activities I did during my EVS in Poland to give you an idea of how I spent my time at work during all these months. To begin with, it's important to notice that I'm working in a library, which means I have the opportunity to participate to many different activities linked with libraries' international events. The National Reading Day is one of them as promoting the benefits of reading is one of the major role of a library. For this specific day, we decided to gather English language and reading promotion so we went to the Kindergarten of Pomiechówek to read a book in English. As I wanted something easy for children to understand, I chose one of the most famous stories I found: "The Three Little Pigs" ! I visited four classes and, each time, the children were really kind and interested. What is so good with ch...