EVS in Pomiechówek

Hello everyone! Last week I took part in my first ESC training at the Agrykola Youth Hostel. Together with 15 other volunteers from all over Poland, who like me have "just landed" here, I spent a whole week in Warsaw. We had the opportunity to learn and gain a lot of new skills and experiences through this training, but also shared what abilities we have already gained during our stay here.  But most of all, we had the chance to meet many new people and their cultures. There were volunteers from Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, and Greece. Through this whole week of spending time together during sessions, team building activities but also just eating lunch or going out together we build up lots of connection with each other. We shared experiences or challenges we face in Poland or talked about things like culture shock and how to deal with it.    An important part was also learning more about Poland, its culture and language. In the morning...

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 veg...

Not many people is totally aware of how EVS projects work.   As volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps, our main job is at our host organization, which for me is the library in Pomiechówek. However, we are part of a bigger organization that coordinates the individual projects of the volunteers, thus, every once in a while, we have the chance to take part in other events different from our own jobs. This was the case of the weekend of the Polish independence anniversary.   On the 8 th of November our team of volunteers was kindly invited to Serock – a little town close to Pomiechówek– to collaborate in the activities the social center had prepared for its users in commemoration of the 100 years of Polish independence. After a short presentation about the function of the institution and a comforting lunch the activities started. To run the workshops the participants and we were divided into three groups, so that they would have 45 minutes of each activity. Travis, vo...

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...