Monday-Funday at Golądkowo

Today, Tudal, Cesar, Chien,Sylwia and me visited a high school in Golądkowo which specializes in agriculture. We had a meeting with the volunteers club and some of the teachers.

First, we have introduced ourselves and talked about our background. We also shared our opinions about Pultusk and the volunteering experience. Then we have started getting know the students better and learned what they study in the school.

 We have talked about volunteering and we thought about how we can do something together with their volunteering club. 

At the end of the meeting, we played Speed dating game where we got chance to talk to the students one by one. We asked them a couple of questions to know them better. At first, they were a little bit shy but later on the game started to be very fun for all of us. 😄

After we finished, the students showed us around the school. It was very interesting and well-designed.

 

                  

😸We all hugged each other and said goodbye until the next meeting.


-Hande Ozdemir

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The new volunteer, Hande!

Hi!

      

         I’m Hande. I am 24 years old. I’m from Izmir which is the third biggest city of Turkey and it locates in the west part of Turkey by the Aegean Sea.  I have studied English language and literature and I have graduated a year ago. I have worked as an English teacher at some private schools in my city Izmir. I have gained experience with kindergarten, primary and secondary school students. I like working with both age groups even it may be difficult to communicate with the kindergarten kids sometimes J However we had so much fun together, even they don’t understand me all the time. We were singing songs, playing with flashcards, making handcrafts and sometimes watching animations in English. They really liked the activities we had done and they started learning the language eventually. At least, they were familiar with the basic daily words that I was using every day and they were able to answer my questions in English.

               

          In my free times, I like reading books and watching series. Since I have studied literature, I am familiar with most of the masterpieces of English and American literature. I also like to cook. I really like to try new recipes. Mostly, I cook Turkish traditional dishes but I also like to try something from different cuisines. Sometimes I can fail but at least I try to do my best J Another thing that I like to do is taking a walk or running in fresh air. I try to go and take a walk by the sea every day. Also I like to travel and explore new places. I like to meet new people from different cultures and introduce my culture to them.

        I really like to participate in cultural exchange activities. I went to Romania as an Erasmus exchange student and I lived and studied there for one year. I have met lots of great people and we had so much fun together. Also, last summer, I went to USA for work and travel program. I worked there in a restaurant as a waitress. Again, I have had very good friends and I have learned a lot. Each day, I was exploring something new. I could have the chance to compare my culture and the new culture that I’m living in. I also had chance to introduce my own culture to people from different countries.

        After one year of working as a teacher, I wanted to participate in a voluntary project. I have heard about European voluntary services when I was in Romania for my Erasmus. Then, I have started researching about it and decided that it is very interesting for me since I really like social interaction and intercultural environments. After I decided that I want to be a volunteer, I have started looking for projects on the database of European Solidarity Corps. I have applied for some of them. I wanted to find one which works with students mostly. Then I finally have found which really attracts my attention and luckily they accepted me. Now, I am a volunteer at International Youth Exchange and Voluntary Service Centre in Pultusk. We are promoting volunteering and we do activities with the kindergarten and high school students and seniors. I believe that it is a great opportunity to take part in such activities because it brings people together as a community and improves us in many ways. It is a good way of self-realization and also a nice opportunity to learn how to be respectful to the differences. 

     
        I am so excited for this 11 months :)


        -Hande Ozdemir



       This project is funded by European Union.

EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES

Tours around schools

On September 26th, we celebrate European Day of Languages to promote awareness of the importance of language learning and celebrate the linguistic diversity all around Europe.

So, we were invited to do some presentations related to this topic in a few schools in Pultusk and its surroundings.

Zespół Szkół Zawodowych im. Jana Ruszkowskiego w Pułtusku.

Japan and Honduras 

I made a presentation about Honduras, followed by a quiz. We talked about historical facts, traditional food, important cities, national animals (The guacamaya and the white-tailed bird), coral reefs and the mayas -the ancient civilization established in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belice, parts of Honduras and El Salvador.-

I must say, the students enjoyed the questions, some were easy and others, a little tricky.

  

Daniel shared what he did in Japan. He was in a two-week workcamp in a small village named Nikko, working with elderly people with nonphysical diseases in a daycare center.

In Japan, he experienced the kindness of the people and visited the most important places in Tokyo and ate ramen soup. Learning about Japanese culture was the most exciting on this trip. 🌍

 

He also met with his Japanese friends. Last year Centrum Międzynarodowej Wymiany Młodzieży I Wolontariatu hosted three motivated students for Japan, here in Pułtusk, to share their culture with polish students. You can read more about it here: Japanese workcamp.

Daniel showed the students some pictures and brochures from Japan and taught them the Japanese alphabet and useful phrases when you are abroad. Did you know they have three different ones?  😮😮

I was amazed to found it out, the Japanese have three alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. 

What an exciting day! 🎉

Szkoła Podstawowa im. Jana Twardowskiego w Gzowie. 

France and Honduras

We went to Gzowo with Tudal, to talk about some fun facts about our countries. 👀

To start, we test their knowledge about France and Honduras with a small quiz full of interesting questions and a very catchy song in Spanish. 

After that, we played Tingo Tango, adding some fun questions and tongue-twisters in Spanish and French. 

💪We also have time to talk with the kids and answers their questions about volunteering, going abroad and the importance of learning a foreign language.

Centrum Naukowo-Biznesowe Feniks S.C.

Honduras

This time I made a presentation about my country to the students of military school, here in Pułtusk. 🙌

In general, they were curious about Spanish and wanted to know every possible word. They were asking questions about Honduras. how is like the weather, the people and the food. I was also glad to discover they know a few words in Spanish like: hola, adiós and buenos días.

They were very interested in learning more words used in daily life and some Honduran slang and curious volunteering abroad and their options in the nearest future.

It's a pleasure to collaborate with the schools and talk with the students. 

😬If you are interested in doing a workcamp during the summer season or just go abroad doing volunteer, visit our sites:

fiyepolska

Workcamps PL

European Solidarity Corps

-Jennifer Soto

Pułtusk Parade

XXI Dni Patrona św. Mateusza

From September 19th to 22th, the inhabitants of Pultusk celebrate their Patron Day: Saint Mathew. There are four days full of activities, competitions, cultural activities, food trucks, and a few concerts.

As every year, FIYE POLSKA participated in the event, this time in the parade on September 21rst. 

So, all of us, the volunteers, got together: the girls, Amélie, and Jennifer from Helenów; Anna and Marine from Pomiechówek; César, Tudal and me, Dawid, Kuba and Gabriela, Kuba, some of the local volunteers here in Pultusk.

This year, the theme of the Parade was „Nad błękitną moją Narwią” ("Over my blue Narew")

The schools, cultural institutions, youth associations, clubs, and organizations gather this day to walk around the longest market square in Poland.

The mascot of Pułtusk is the beaver

The volunteers and our boss Pani Annia, and coordinators Sylwia and Grzegorz walked together, each one of us was carrying a flag from countries all around the world to show the multiculturality of our volunteers and organization. 

Even it was very cold, we all enjoyed it and for me, it was very interesting. This parade was different from the ones organized in my country. 

Here are more photos

Thanks! :) 

-Jennifer Soto

 

NEW FACES IN PULTUSK

A new season has started and new volunteers are coming to Pultusk. 🏃‍♂️

Today, we're introducing these boys. 💪👦

CÉSAR

Hey! I'm César Osorio, I'm 19 years old and I volunteer as an English teacher and assistant in a kindergarten. 

I come from Honduras and I decided to come to Poland to experience a new culture and become more independent, to help other people, learn and discover new things and share my culture with all. 

TUDAL

Hi, I’m Tudal Le Cunff, A 20 years old french boy.

In France I lived in a region called « Brittany » in the north-west of the country. Here in Poland, I work in a Kindergarten as an assistant, I like this project because I have a good contact with children and also I think that be with kids all day it’s a good way to learn the language.

I think « ESC » is really a great opportunity for youngs peoples like me who really want to travel, with an interesting job and also the possibility to meet a lot of people from a lot of different countries around the globe.

POLAND IN MY HEART

Hello!! I'm Begüm. My friends in Poland call me Begüminka, I like it :)

I wanna tell you about my EVS experience. I was volunteering in Poland from October 2 until the end of August. 

Poland became my second home, so when I had to leave, I was very sad 😥😥 I felt in love with this country. 

I'm so happy about this experience and I know it would be inadequate if I told you everything, so you may be wondering: How was my project? What did I do? I was a volunteer in a kindergarten for 11 months. I didn't expect that but It was unbelievable!

I was playing and laughing with kids. They learned soo many things from Turkish culture day by day and for me also, it was an opportunity to rediscover it. I taught them new games and Turkish songs, sometimes we were painting and others, on trips or visiting so places together. We also cooked and ate some delicious Turkish dishes.

I worked with so nice people for a whole year. Most of the time, I was helping the teacher in the class or the playground. It was perfect to teach children new things by doing certain activities on one day of the week. I gain a lot of experience when it comes to kids and their feelings, their abilities, imagination, and creativeness. I love them so much.  ❤❤❤ I'll treasure those memories all my life.

As a volunteer, I had other tasks, too. I joined events, participated in international and local activities, celebrations and a few workshops in different cities in Poland. I made presentations about my own country a few times. I also went to a workcamp about a children festival for 3 weeks in France. Of course, I've had new experiences I've met new people I've worked hard again. 

I had two German and one Taiwanese roommates. We all have different cultures and lifestyles. We learned about each other countries, food, new games, and even a few words in different languages. Thanks to this adventure I have a new sister now, Ann. 😁😁 

I have many friends from different countries in the world 🌍and I can't wait to meet them all again. In my spare time, sometimes alone, sometimes traveling with friends to different countries: Sweden, Denmark, German, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, France, Spain, of course, different cities in Poland. New places, different museums, new routes, beautiful seaside locations, different dishes and lots of things I also met new people while traveling. I know that everything is on my mind. 

It's been a year that I've learned so much about myself. How to deal with problems, what to do in case of risk, how to communicate better with people in a new language, new language structures, new abilities, different cities, and different cultural structures in Europe, different cities and different cultural structures in Europe and many other things. ❤🌞🌄🌈

I had the opportunity to touch the lives of people I didn't know through volunteering. Most importantly, differences make us unique. I realized that every child was special again and again every day. I am grateful to the teachers I work for at school for their help in my organization. I miss Polish people, my polish mom, ciotka, pierogi, delicious polish soups, and my second home.

 I will visit again this wonderful country as soon as possible. For now ''do zobaczenia wkrótce''